Chapter 75: The Sound of Shattering Glass
The first thing that happened in Silverfang Keep was that a young apprentice engineer named Bren, who was monitoring long-range comms for atmospheric disturbances, spilled a full cup of bitterroot tea all over his console.
It wasn't a sound that came through his headphones. It was… clarity. A signal so pristine and powerful it felt like someone had poured liquid light directly into his ears, cutting through the usual static and hash of the northern bands. He stared, dumbfounded, as his scopes, which usually showed messy, overlapping waveforms, displayed a single, perfect, unwavering carrier signal.
Then the voice started. It wasn't a voice he knew. It was calm, genderless, and spoke with an accent he couldn't place, using words that were at once familiar and alien.
