The horizon broke into glass.
Ka'thar rose from the desert like something unearthed too soon—a city half buried, half alive. Shards jutted from collapsed towers, catching the last light of dusk and bending it into fractured veins of color. From where they stood, the skyline looked like a wound that refused to heal.
The Five stood in silence.
Wind carried the faint hum of resonance—the kind that crawled under skin and nested in the bones. Even before they crossed the final ridge, the pulse was already there, faint but insistent, echoing with every heartbeat.
Law tightened the wrap around his scarf and studied the ruins ahead. His golden eyes reflected the distant shimmer. "So this is Ka'thar," he said softly. "The city that never stopped dreaming."
Zero adjusted his cloak, gaze steady and cold. "Dreaming or remembering," he said. "Either way, it feels wrong."
Nysera's tail brushed the sand behind her. The wind caught her scent, carrying it into the still air. "It smells like metal and old storms," she murmured. "Like lightning struck here and never left."
Liora knelt, tracing the sand where it darkened to stone. Faint lines glimmered beneath the surface—shard veins, reaching outward from the city's edge. "It's spreading," she said. "The lattice extends beyond the walls now. Even the desert remembers Ka'thar."
Laura's pendant glowed faintly against her chest. She felt the vibration before she heard it—a quiet rhythm, not unlike a heartbeat buried deep underground. "It's syncing," she whispered. "Trying to align with us."
Law stepped forward until the wind carried dust across his boots. "We stop here for the night," he said. "The city's pulse grows stronger after dark. We need to study the rhythm before we step inside."
Zero's gaze flicked toward the skyline. "You're thinking it's alive."
"I'm thinking it's aware," Law answered. "And awareness changes behavior."
They made camp on a ridge overlooking the outer wall—if it could be called a wall. The structure looked melted in places, like stone and glass had been fused by heat far beyond natural flame. Every so often, a shard embedded in the surface flared and dimmed, as if breathing.
Nysera prowled the perimeter, claws scraping against rock. "The silence isn't natural," she muttered. "No beasts. No wind beyond the boundary."
Liora sat cross-legged, threads of silver light weaving between her hands. "The shard resonance dampens sound," she said absently. "It's like the air doesn't want to carry anything uninvited."
Zero threw a glance over his shoulder. "You've noticed it too—how the hum changes when Law moves?"
Laura looked up. "It responds to energy signatures. His shard's resonance leads the field. It's like Ka'thar knows his rhythm."
Law didn't answer immediately. He stood at the ridge, watching the horizon shift as the last sun faded. The city glowed faintly beneath the twilight, pulse syncing with the darkness.
When he finally spoke, his voice was low. "This place remembers something. Maybe us. Maybe everything we're trying to forget."
Later, when the stars began to scatter across the sky, they gathered near the faint warmth of their fire. The flames burned low—no need to attract attention. The shardlight from Ka'thar painted the world in alternating gold and blue.
Nysera stretched, restless. "Tomorrow we enter," she said. "We'll see what kind of ghosts this city breeds."
Zero's knives reflected the firelight as he cleaned them. "Ghosts don't scare me," he said. "Echoes do."
Liora tied off her thread and let it dissolve into the air. "Then prepare yourself. Ka'thar is nothing but echoes."
Laura's eyes lingered on the city's edge—on that faint ripple of distortion just above the wall. She could almost see movement inside the shimmer, shapes that flickered and vanished before her mind could catch them.
She whispered, barely audible, "It's not waiting for us. It's calling."
Law turned slightly, hearing the tone more than the words. His expression hardened. "Then we answer carefully," he said. "Ka'thar's tests start the moment we step inside."
The shardlight pulsed again—once, deep and resonant, spreading through the air like thunder without sound. The ground beneath them trembled just enough to remind them: Ka'thar was awake. Watching.
Tomorrow, they would enter. And the city would remember their names.