Chapter One: The Day the Walls Spoke
On the morning the walls began to speak, everyone thought it was a prank.
Virel City had always been old—older than the maps admitted. Its streets twisted like unfinished sentences, and its buildings leaned toward one another as if sharing secrets. But walls did not speak. Not until that morning.
Eira Solace heard it first while unlocking her small repair shop on Ninth Bend. The key paused in the lock when a whisper brushed her ear.
You're late.
Eira froze. The street was empty except for drifting dust and the hum of faraway engines. She turned slowly, scanning doors and windows. Nothing moved.
She shook it off. Lack of sleep, she told herself. Virel had a way of getting inside your head.
Inside the shop, she set her tools on the counter—wires, lenses, salvaged chips—things people no longer knew how to fix. That was Eira's work: repairing the forgotten. Watches that no longer kept time, radios that caught voices from nowhere, doors that refused to open for anyone else.
Then the walls whispered again.
The clock is already broken.
Eira stepped back. This time, the sound came from the bricks themselves—low, layered, as if many voices spoke through stone. Her chest tightened. She pressed a hand to the wall, feeling only cool mortar beneath her fingers.
Outside, a scream cut through the street.
Eira ran.