The orphanage loomed ahead—a crumbling relic of forgotten kindness, its windows dark and boarded. The air smelled of wet stone and old memories.
Revan's boots echoed hollowly on the threshold as he pushed open the heavy door, Cassie close behind.
Inside, the silence was thick. No laughter, no footsteps. Just the soft scrape of rats in the walls.
"We shouldn't stay long," Cassie whispered, scanning the shadows.
Revan nodded, but then a faint sound caught his ear—a soft tapping, like fingers drumming on wood.
They followed it to a dusty corner where a figure crouched beneath a broken table.
"Who's there?" Revan asked cautiously.
A pair of sharp green eyes blinked up at them.
"I'm Lira," said the girl, no older than twelve. Her tangled black hair spilled over worn clothes patched too many times to count.
Cassie stepped forward. "You're alone?"
Lira shrugged. "Mostly. I keep to myself. I watch."
Revan's gaze sharpened. "Watch what?"
"The things people don't want you to see. The magic that hides in cracks. The stories the walls whisper."
Cassie exchanged a look with Revan.
"Do you know about shadows?" Revan asked slowly.
Lira nodded. "More than most. I can see the edges where they bleed into our world. And I know how to hide from them."
Cassie's eyes brightened. "Could you help us?"
Lira smiled faintly, but there was steel in her voice. "Only if you're ready to pay the price."
Revan felt the weight of the mark burning at his wrist, a reminder that their path was only getting darker.
But as he looked at Lira's fierce, watchful eyes, he knew they couldn't face the coming storm alone.
"Then it's settled," he said.
"We move forward. Together."
The flickering candlelight cast long shadows across the orphanage's dusty walls as Revan, Cassie, and Lira settled in a forgotten corner. The night was deep, and the dangers outside felt far, but inside, secrets waited to be uncovered.
Lira pulled her knees close, eyes gleaming in the dim light.
"I wasn't always alone," she began quietly. "The orphanage took me in when I was little, but I never really belonged."
Her voice trembled only briefly before steadying. "I have a gift—or a curse, depending on how you look at it. I can see the Echoes."
Revan frowned. "Echoes?"
"Shadows, memories, spirits—things left behind when magic is used or something terrible happens. They stick like stains on the air. Most people don't see them, but I do. Sometimes they whisper to me."
Cassie leaned in, fascinated.
Lira's hands moved as she spoke, tracing patterns in the air. "Because of that, I've learned to slip between moments, to read the edges of reality where the past clings to the present."
Revan flexed his marked wrist, feeling the pulse beneath his skin.
"But it's not just seeing," Lira said, voice dropping. "I can bend the Echoes, shape them, trap them, even send them back where they came from. It's dangerous—too much and it burns you from inside."
Cassie swallowed. "How did you learn all this?"
Lira smiled sadly. "Survival. The older kids here don't like the strange girl who talks to shadows. So I had to protect myself. I found old books in the attic, scraps of magic hidden in forgotten corners. I practiced when no one was watching."
Revan exchanged a glance with Cassie—here was someone who understood the cost of magic and loneliness.
"But there's more," Lira whispered, glancing toward the darkened hallway. "Something's been calling me from the ruins outside town. I think it's tied to the Echo we're chasing."
Cassie and Revan sat a little straighter.
"We'll face it together," Revan said firmly, "with your knowledge and our magic, maybe we can finally put this shadow to rest."
Lira nodded, a flicker of hope lighting her eyes.
For the first time since their journey began, Revan felt they might have a chance.
The three of them gathered in the orphanage's attic, a cramped space filled with broken toys, tattered books, and a single flickering lantern.
Lira stepped forward, her green eyes shining with quiet confidence.
"Watch closely," she said, voice barely above a whisper.
She reached out her hands, palms up, fingers trembling slightly. The air around her seemed to chill, and the faintest shimmer appeared — like a mist curling in slow spirals.
"This is an Echo," Lira explained. "A memory left behind by magic or pain. You can't touch it with your hands, but you can bend it, shape it."
She wove her fingers through the air, and the mist thickened, forming into a vague shape — a ghostly, flickering figure of a child clutching a broken doll.
Cassie gasped softly, stepping closer.
Revan studied the apparition, feeling the faint pulse of sorrow and fear emanating from it.
"Sometimes they get stuck," Lira said. "Lost memories. Trapped emotions. If you can free them, the Echo fades away."
She clenched her fists, and the ghostly figure quivered, then slowly dissolved into a mist that drifted upward, vanishing.
"But it's dangerous," Lira warned, voice tightening. "If you hold the Echo too long, it clings to you. It seeps into your mind. You start hearing whispers, seeing things no one else can."
Suddenly, the room darkened as a shadow flickered near the lantern's flame.
Lira's eyes snapped open wide. "That's why I need to be careful."
Revan glanced at his marked wrist, feeling the familiar, burning weight.
Cassie looked at Lira with new respect. "You've been living on the edge of that darkness longer than I thought."
Lira nodded. "And now it's time to face what's waiting in the ruins. Together."
The air crackled with tension, but also determination.
They weren't alone anymore — and maybe, just maybe, that was enough.
Revan's gaze never left the fading mist. The weight on his wrist seemed to pulse stronger, as if the echo of Lira's power stirred something within his own shadow mark.
"That was... unsettling," he admitted, rubbing his arm thoughtfully. "I've felt the shadows claw at me before, but what you just did—it's like you reached inside the past itself and pulled it out."
Cassie swallowed hard, eyes wide. "I knew magic could be dangerous, but that? It's like touching something that shouldn't exist. I don't know if I could do that without losing myself."
Lira gave a small, knowing smile. "It's not about strength or skill. It's about holding onto who you are while everything around you tries to tear you apart. The Echo feeds on fear and doubt. If you give in, it'll swallow you whole."
Revan's jaw tightened. "Sounds like a fight I'm already stuck in."
Cassie stepped closer to Lira, a new respect in her voice. "We've got to watch out for each other, then. No one should have to face that alone."
Lira nodded solemnly. "Exactly. Which is why we need to be ready—because the ruins won't just test our magic. They'll test our will."
A tense silence settled over the attic as the weight of what lay ahead pressed down on them all.
But beneath it all was a flicker of hope — the hope that together, they could face whatever darkness awaited.