Seris did not speak for a long time. The ledge was wide enough for them to sit side by side without danger of slipping, but Ravel could feel her tension as clearly as the cold rock at his back. The ravine hummed with a pressure that felt almost physical. The strange patterns etched into the walls gave off a faint outline, hardly brighter than moonlight, but enough to hint at something vast that slept deeper below.
Ravel hugged his knees and tried to steady his breathing. His muscles trembled. His head still swam with fragments of those images. A sky scattered with falling stars. A gate made of light. A heartbeat that did not belong to him. He kept replaying them, trying to make sense of details that slipped away like water through fingers.
Seris finally spoke. "Tell me everything you saw. Exact details."
Ravel nodded slowly. "I was climbing. The light wrapped around my hand. And then it was like someone turned my thoughts inside out."
"That is not helpful. Start at the beginning."
Ravel tried again. "There was a sky. Not ours. Darker and clearer. Stars everywhere, but they were moving in a pattern. Not falling, more like… drifting. Almost like they were choosing where to land."
Seris tilted her head. "Shapes or trails?"
"Both. Some left lines across the sky. But the lines were straight, not curved. Like they were cutting paths."
Seris absorbed this quietly. "Continue."
"There was a hand reaching for me. Not human. More like carved stone lit from the inside. And a gate made of light. Bright enough to hurt but not in a painful way. It felt like it was waiting."
"For what?"
"Me." Ravel swallowed. "It felt like it was waiting for me."
Seris's jaw tightened. "Nothing waits for someone who is twelve years old unless that someone has already been chosen."
Ravel hugged his arms tighter. "Chosen for what?"
"That is what I intend to find out before the empire does."
The ravine wind picked up and whistled through the cracks. Pebbles clattered down the far wall, bouncing until they vanished into the black. Ravel tried not to imagine the depth or the shape of what might be breathing there.
Seris reached for his satchel. "May I?"
Ravel hesitated, then handed it over. Seris unfastened the flap and revealed the sphere. Its surface had settled into a soft glow, like the last red of a fading ember. She studied it closely, eyes narrowing.
"I do not like how quickly it reacts. Most resonance artifacts need time to build. But this one responds to you immediately."
"It did not used to."
"You did not used to walk into ancient chambers or wake sleeping forces under valleys either."
Ravel almost smiled, but the tension in his chest kept it tight. "Do you know anything about this kind of light? The one from the ravine."
Seris shook her head. "Only theories. None comforting."
Ravel waited.
She sighed. "Our texts speak of old foundations under the continent. Ancient networks woven through the rock. They say the first civilizations used them to communicate, or to channel energy through nature itself. But none of it has been proven."
"Until now," Ravel murmured.
Seris nodded. "And the empire already suspected something existed. They built their strongholds on ley points for a reason. But they never found proof of anything still alive."
Ravel looked at the faint silver glow etched into the ravine's walls. "Alive might be the right word."
"Which is why we are leaving before this place decides to introduce itself."
Seris stood and dusted her hands. The wind tugged at her cloak. "We climb the rest of the way down. No stopping. The patterns might return if the energy pulse builds again."
Ravel forced himself to stand. His knees felt weak, but he took a steadying breath. "Will it get stronger?"
"Probably. That blast from the echo siphon awakened something buried. When something dormant wakes, it never lies back down quietly."
"Then the empire will come investigate."
"Yes." Seris gave him a grim look. "And if we are still inside this ravine when they do, we will be sealed inside stone. Or shot before we reach the top."
Ravel swallowed hard and nodded.
Seris checked the rope, pulled it tight, and motioned for him to start descending again. They climbed lower, hand over hand, feet searching for holds in the dark. The ledge faded above them. The walls narrowed slightly. A cold draft rose from the depths, carrying the scent of wet stone and something faintly metallic.
The glow on the ravine walls returned, softer now, pulsing like the embers of cooling metal. The sphere reacted with a faint heat against Ravel's chest, warming the cold air around him.
"Seris," he whispered, "do you feel that?"
"I feel a lot of things," she said without looking up. "Be specific."
"It feels like the ravine is breathing again, but slower."
Seris listened for a moment. "That is the wind. Probably."
"I do not think it is."
"Then keep climbing."
They descended for several minutes in silence. The drop was impossibly deep. Ravel's arms burned, but he pushed through the ache. Every now and then he glanced upward, expecting to see glider silhouettes or a blast of violet light from the siphon. But the sky above remained empty.
At last, a thin ledge came into view far below. It stretched along the ravine wall like a narrow balcony. Seris guided him toward it, and they both dropped onto it with relief.
She exhaled slowly. "We follow this ledge south. It wraps around to the lower slope. From there we can climb up the western wall. Much easier."
Ravel rubbed his sore palms. "What if the patterns appear on this side too?"
"Then we keep moving and pretend we do not see them."
Ravel started walking. The ledge was narrow but manageable. The silver patterns glowed more clearly now, running along the walls in long arcs and spirals. The air felt heavier, as though they were walking inside a deep vibration.
"Seris," Ravel said after a long silence. "Do you think this has anything to do with my father?"
Seris shot him a sharp look. "Do not lose focus."
"I am serious."
"So am I. This is not the time to explore your family trauma."
Ravel stopped walking. "It is not trauma. I need to know if he knew something about me. About the sphere."
Seris hesitated. "Your father is a complicated man."
"That is not an answer."
She sighed. "Fine. Yes. I believe he knew the sphere was not normal. I believe he knew you were connected to it. And I believe he feared that someone else would notice."
Ravel felt something twist in his chest. "Feared it enough to lock the sphere away?"
"Yes."
"Feared it enough to give the order to kill me?"
Seris looked away. "I do not know. But if he gave that order, he believes the threat is real. Whether you are the threat or the thing hunting you is the problem."
Ravel's voice dropped to a whisper. "Then I need to know which one I am."
"You are a boy climbing through a ravine while forces older than the empire wake beneath your feet." Seris touched his shoulder. "That is enough for now."
Ravel nodded and began walking again.
They rounded a bend in the ledge. The air grew colder. The walls opened slightly, revealing a broader cavern-like space. The silver lines on the stone gathered into intricate patterns, all converging toward a single point deeper within the rock.
Ravel slowed. "Seris… look."
She did, and her face paled.
A circular mark was carved into the stone. Not naturally. Not recently. Old. Older than any empire script. It glowed faintly with the same silver light.
Seris whispered, "That is a seal."
Ravel felt the sphere pulse.
The seal pulsed in return.
And the stone shuddered.
Seris grabbed him. "We run now."
Ravel did not argue. They sprinted along the ledge, the sphere blazing hot, the seal brightening behind them. The walls rumbled as if something deep inside had heard Ravel's presence and now started to rise toward the surface.
Ravel stumbled once but pushed forward. The ledge began to slope upward. Rocks cracked. Dust filled the air. They climbed, scrambling, gasping, reaching for any hold.
A final burst of light flared from the seal behind them.
The entire ravine shook.
Seris hauled Ravel up a final handhold. "Up. Now."
They climbed the last stretch in a frantic rush. Ravel felt the sphere burn almost painfully. The tremor grew until the stone vibrated like a living thing.
With a final desperate pull, they reached the upper slope and rolled onto solid ground. The ravine groaned behind them, the seal glowing like an eye trying to open.
Seris dragged Ravel to his feet. "We are never coming back here."
Ravel looked at the ravine, chest heaving.
Something far below exhaled again.
Slow. Heavy. Expectant.
Ravel turned away, heart pounding.
He had awakened something.
And whatever it was, it had noticed him.