[ A few days before the hum... ]
The forest of Grayshade had a strange silence to it.
Not the peaceful kind, like birds napping in the trees.
The kind that made your skin itch. Like the world was holding its breath.
Reve stumbled forward, one hand pressed to his stomach, the other gripping a crooked stick. He hadn't meant to wander this far chasing that thief—but now, hunger and fog blurred his path.
He was just about to turn back when he saw it.
A clearing that shouldn't exist.
No birds. No breeze. Just stillness.
And in the center… a sword.
Black. Old. Unmoving.
It jutted out from a moss-covered stone, half-sunken into the earth like it had been waiting there for centuries. Runes curved around its base in a language he didn't know—but somehow felt.
Not read. **Felt.**
He stepped closer.
The stick dropped from his hand without him realizing.
There was something about the blade… not threatening. Not glowing. Just **watching**.
Curious.
He circled it, heart beating louder with each step. The sword didn't hum. It didn't whisper. But his mind felt heavier—as if **something ancient had opened one eye.**
He reached out. Paused.
And then touched it.
Nothing happened.
No lightning. No wind. Just… a sudden warmth in his fingertips, like the sword had acknowledged him.
> *"Peace… you seek it too?"*
The voice wasn't loud. It wasn't even clear.
But it **was there.**
Inside him.
Reve pulled his hand back, breathing hard.
**Had the sword spoken? Or was that… him?**
He didn't know.
But for the first time in his life, he didn't feel alone.
He felt seen. Watched.
Not by people.
By **something far older** than people.
---
He sat by the stone for hours. The sun dipped. Shadows stretched.
Eventually, the fog returned, and with it, the sound of the forest. A bird. A breeze.
He stood. Looked once more at the sword.
And walked away.
But as he turned, a whisper followed in the wind.
> *"Not all gods are born. Some… are made."*
Reve blinked. Looked around.
Nothing.
Just forest.
He didn't know it then…
…but the blade had chosen him.
And somewhere far, far away…
**something else had noticed.**