The first deep, resonating BONG struck the air, followed by a second, then a third, and finally, a fourth. The massive sound was not just loud; it was primal, shaking the very earth beneath our feet and vibrating deep in our bones. It was the sound of iron meeting fate.
We stood frozen by the cemetery gates, the white markers of my fallen team silent witnesses behind us.
Alexandra's hand shot out and clamped onto my arm, her fingers digging in tight. She was trembling, her eyes wide with a cold, pure fear that was not for herself, but for what the sound meant.
"That… that's it," she whispered, her voice barely audible over the fading metallic thrum. "That's the Meddas Bell."
"The Meddas Bell?" I asked, confused. I'd spent this life in this territory, yet the name was unfamiliar. "What is that? I've never heard anything like it."
