The chamber felt too small after the shockwave.
The elders murmured in frightened circles, some clutching their lanterns like shields, others refusing to look directly at Aurelianth.. as if eye contact alone might trigger another explosion of raw creation.
Aurelianth sat with his back against the cold stone wall, knees drawn up, breath shaky. His veins had dimmed from blazing silver to a faint moonlit glow, but the runes still twisted across his skin like living script trying and failing to interpret him.
Lioren knelt beside him, lantern resting in her lap.
"You're trembling," she said softly.
"I shook the world," he whispered, voice fraying at the edges. "I didn't mean to. I didn't even know I could."
"You couldn't know," she soothed, placing a hand over his. "You were never taught how to be what you are."
He swallowed hard.
"What am I?"
Her thumb smoothed over his knuckles. "Someone the world fears. Someone the Hollow Pulse desires. Someone the runes will judge."
Her calmness made the fear worse.
Aurelianth pressed his palms over his face. "I didn't ask for any of this."
"No one asks to be born into prophecy," Lioren murmured. "Or into unfinished worlds."
Her lantern dimmed, its moonlight coiling inward as though bracing itself for what was coming.
"Tomorrow," she whispered, "the Moon Carved Cliffs will decide."
He let out a hollow laugh. "Decide if I deserve to exist."
Lioren didn't correct him.
That silence felt sharper than a blade.
The elders eventually dispersed, vanishing into tunnels carved into the cliff's ribs. The matriarch was the last to leave, pausing only once to give Aurelianth a look that wasn't unkind… but wasn't hopeful either.
"Sleep," she ordered. "If the cliffs deem you worthy, you will need strength. If they do not…" She exhaled. "You will also need strength."
Then she disappeared down a corridor that hummed with ancient runes.
Aurelianth felt cold.
Lioren helped him stand, her hand lingering at his elbow until he steadied himself.
"This way," she said, guiding him deeper into the cliff.
The passage was dim, lit only by her moon-lantern and the faint glow of his veins. The walls whispered as they passed.....soft echoing hums like distant whalesong, the language of stone remembering old stories.
"Do the cliffs always judge newcomers?" he asked.
"No."
Her voice trembled slightly.
"Just you."
"Because I'm Lumen-Born?"
"No."
She hesitated.
"Because you carry runes that do not belong to this time."
The words made him stumble.
"This time?"
She nodded. "Runes shift with eras. With cycles. With the world's evolution."
Aurelianth stared at her.
"Are you saying these…" he lifted an arm "these runes are from another era?"
"A forgotten one," she whispered. "From before the Unfinished grew… unstable."
He looked down at his glowing, writhing runes symbols pulsing like frantic wings, rearranging themselves into shapes he didn't recognize.
"What does that mean for me?"
She didn't answer.
She didn't have to.
They reached a small chamber carved into the cliff's inner heart.
A bed of woven kelp.
A bowl of glowing water.
A shell-carved window overlooking the moonlit sea.
"This will be yours for the night," Lioren said.
Aurelianth stepped inside.
The moment he crossed the threshold, the air tightened....like the room exhaled in relief or braced for collapse.
Lioren lingered in the doorway.
"I'll stay with you..."
"No," he said quickly. "You need rest."
Her brow furrowed. "But....."
"Go," he whispered. "Please."
She hesitated… then set her lantern by his bedside.
"Call for me if anything feels wrong," she said. "Or if anything feels right. Or if something happens that shouldn't. Or if....."
He managed a faint smile. "I'll call."
She bit her lip....then slipped away.
The room darkened, lit only by:
the faint pulse of moonlight from her lantern
the slow radiance of Aurelianth's veins
and the distant reflected gleam of the Shadow Sea below.
Aurelianth lay down.
The woven kelp smelled like salt and moss.
His body sank into the bedding..then vibrated.
His heartbeat synced wrong again.
clickTHUMP
clickTHUMP
clickTHUMP
He pressed a hand to his chest.
"No… not now…"
The clicking sound grew louder, vibrating through the walls. For a moment, the entire cliff shuddered like a sleeping beast having a nightmare.
Then.....
a voice whispered inside his mind.
Not words.
Not a sentence.
A question.
A question shaped like hunger.
A question shaped like recognition.
A question shaped like:
Why do you live?
Aurelianth bolted upright, gasping.
The clicking vanished.
The room stilled.
But the question remained in his skull, echoing long after the sound faded.
He curled his knees to his chest, breath shaking. His veins dimmed. His runes flickered. The world outside was silent... unnervingly, unnaturally silent.
Sleep didn't claim him.
Exhaustion did.
He woke to the sound of someone singing.
A soft voice.
A sorrowful melody carried by the wind.
A song without words....only raw emotion etched into the air like a scar.
Aurelianth sat up, disoriented.
His runes had settled.
His veins glowed faintly.
The moon had dipped lower, though it still washed the sea in silver light.
He rose slowly. His limbs obeyed him more fluidly than before....like the world was beginning to accept his weight.
Following the sound, he stepped into a balcony carved from the cliff.
Mist curled around him.
The air tasted of salt and sadness.
At the far edge of the cliff, silhouetted by moonlight, stood Lioren.
She faced the Shadow Sea, singing to it..not in language, but in emotion.
"What are you doing?" he asked softly.
She jumped, startled, then smiled weakly.
"I… couldn't sleep either."
The sea whispered back, rippling like an animal sensing its name.
Lioren hugged her arms to her chest. "We sing to the Sea when we're afraid. It's an old custom. My mother taught me."
Aurelianth joined her at the cliff's edge.
"What frightens you?" he whispered.
She didn't answer right away.
Finally.....
"You," she said.
He flinched...but before he could speak, she added quickly:
"Not because you've done anything wrong. But because you're the only thing in this world that doesn't have a place yet. And anything without a place can change everything."
Aurelianth stared at the shimmering sea.
The waves shimmered with violet light.
Islands flickered in and out of existence.
The world's heartbeat thrummed beneath the sand.
"Do you think the runes will erase me?" he asked quietly.
Lioren exhaled. "I think they will try…"
His heart dropped.
"…but I also think something else will stop them."
"What something?"
She turned to him with eyes full of moonlight.
"You."
He opened his mouth...but a sound cut him off.
A deep, resonant crack.
The cliffs themselves shuddered.
Moonlight twisted, pulling itself into spirals across the sky.
A beam of silver descended like a divine hand reaching down.
Lioren's eyes widened.
"It's time."
Aurelianth felt the runes across his chest ignite, glowing like white fire.
"The Moon-Carved Cliffs are awake," she whispered.
"And they're calling your name."