The wind did not stop whispering.
It curled through the streets of Evershade, carrying fragments of symbols that no book had ever recorded. Zephyr Vale stood at the city's edge, his cloak snapping in the gale, his eyes closed as if listening to a voice only he could hear.
Cassian Thorn watched him, coin hovering faintly in his palm, glowing with the same pulse as the wind. "What do you hear?" Cassian asked, his voice low, wary.
Zephyr's lips parted. "Not words. Not dreams. A tower. A sixth tower. It breathes."
Nova Quinn staggered forward, her fractured glyph burning across her collarbone. The symbols around her rearranged themselves, forming constellations in the air. "The towers were locks," she whispered. "Five locks. But if there is a sixth…"
Lyra's marked palm pulsed violently, the broken spiral searing her skin. "Then Aurex Vell lied even deeper than we thought. He didn't bury five truths. He buried six."
---
The Wind's Prophecy
The gale intensified, carrying a chorus of echoes. Zephyr's hair whipped across his face as he raised his arms, surrendering to the storm. The stitched child stepped beside him, their fire flickering in rhythm with the wind.
The stitched child's voice was soft, but it carried like thunder: "The sixth tower is not silence. It is echo. It repeats what was forgotten. It repeats what was erased. It repeats until the world breaks."
Cassian's coin spun in the air, trembling. "Echo," he muttered. "Then it doesn't just remember. It amplifies."
Nova's glyph flared. "If it repeats everything… then every lie, every betrayal, every wound will return."
Juno Blaze clenched her blade. "Then we fight it before it speaks."
Zephyr shook his head. "No. You don't fight an echo. You listen."
---
The City Trembles
The people of Evershade felt it too. The wind carried memories into their homes, their dreams, their blood. Children cried out names of ancestors they had never met. Merchants screamed as glyphs carved themselves into their stalls. Elders collapsed, clutching their chests as forgotten wars replayed in their minds.
The city was drowning in echoes.
Lyra's voice cut through the chaos. "If the sixth tower awakens, it will not give us choice. It will force us to remember everything. Even what should have stayed buried."
Cassian's coin pulsed violently, spinning faster. He caught it, his hand trembling. "Then we find it before it finds us."
----
The Listener
Zephyr Vale fell to his knees, the wind howling around him. His eyes glowed faintly, symbols flickering across his irises. The stitched child touched his shoulder.
"You are chosen," they whispered. "The sixth tower speaks only to listeners. And you… you have always listened."
Zephyr gasped, clutching his chest. The wind poured into him, filling his lungs with glyphs. He coughed, and symbols spilled from his mouth, glowing in the air.
Nova translated quickly, her voice shaking:
"The sixth tower drifts. It is not built of stone. It is built of breath. It waits in the sky. It waits for the listener to call it down."
Cassian's eyes widened. "You mean… it's above us?"
Zephyr nodded weakly. "It's always been above us. We just forgot to hear it."
---
The Loom Responds
The sky cracked.
The Loom appeared faintly above the city, threads of fire weaving across the clouds. It pulsed once, twice, thrice — each beat shaking the towers of Evershade.
Cassian felt the final thread in his hand burn hotter. The stitched child's fire flared. Nova's glyph rearranged itself into a spiral. Lyra's mark bled ink. Juno raised her blade, steady but trembling.
The Loom whispered through the wind:
"Five towers were locks. The sixth is the key. The loop will not close. The loop will break."
---
The Choice of Memory
Cassian turned to Zephyr. "If you're the listener, then you decide. Do we call it down? Or do we keep it hidden?"
Zephyr's voice was hoarse. "If we don't call it, it will come anyway. Echoes don't wait. They repeat."
Lyra stepped forward, her palm glowing. "Then we prepare. If the sixth tower is echo, it will not only repeat truth. It will repeat lies. It will repeat pain. It will repeat betrayal."
Nova's glyph flared brighter. "And it will repeat Aurex Vell."
The stitched child's fire burned higher. "Then Aurex will rise again. Not as silence. As echo."
---
The Gathering Storm
The wind screamed. The sky split.
Above Evershade, a shadow formed — vast, spiraling, stitched with air and flame. It was not stone. It was not flesh. It was a tower made of breath, drifting like a phantom.
The sixth tower.
The people of Evershade fell to their knees, some in awe, others in terror. The stitched ones glowed, their threads vibrating in resonance. The academy's fractured headmasters screamed, clutching their temples as echoes of their lies returned to haunt them.
Cassian raised his coin. It spun violently, glowing brighter than ever.
Zephyr whispered, "It's here."
---
The Echo Speaks
The sixth tower pulsed once.
The wind carried its voice across the city.
"Remember what was forgotten. Repeat what was erased. Begin what was ended."
The stitched child's fire roared. Nova collapsed, glyphs spilling from her skin. Lyra screamed as her mark burned. Juno raised her blade against the sky. Cassian's coin shattered again, fragments hovering like stars.
Zephyr Vale stood, his eyes glowing with the tower's symbols. He raised his arms.
"The echo has chosen me," he said. "And I will listen."
----
The sixth tower descended slowly, its spiraling form blotting out the sun. The city trembled, the towers hummed, the Loom pulsed.
Cassian Thorn turned to Zephyr, his voice sharp, urgent. "Then tell us — what does it want?"
Zephyr's eyes burned with glyphs. His voice was not his own.
"It wants everything."