For a moment, no one moved.
Ren stood in the center of the village path, Lyra gripping his sleeve, Borin poised like a wall of muscle and steel, Draven half-hiding behind a barrel with only his terrified eyes visible.
The rider from the Ascending Ladder Sect stayed perfectly still, one hand resting lightly on the hilt of his short sword — not drawing it, not threatening, just reminding them he could.
Ren's heart hammered.
The echo listened.
Lyra stepped forward first, placing herself squarely between Ren and the rider.
"What exactly does your sect want with him?"
The rider nodded as if expecting the question.
"Information. Observation. Safety."
"That's vague on purpose," Borin growled.
"It is vague because it must be," the rider said."Whatever happened last night resonated across multiple spiritual detection arrays. We have records of disturbances like this stretching back centuries — most of them associated with either calamity or great opportunity."
Lyra's jaw tightened.
"And you're here to decide which one he is?"
The rider didn't deny it.
Ren exhaled shakily.
"What happens if your sect decides I'm… dangerous?"
The rider met his eyes.
"Then we escort you to a safer environment for training."
"Safer for me," Ren clarified.
"Safer for everyone," the rider corrected.
Lyra stepped closer to Ren instinctively.
Borin's hand tightened around his axe.
Draven whimpered.
The elder approached slowly, leaning on her cane.
"The boy is twelve," she said firmly."He belongs to no sect and owes none of you anything."
The rider bowed respectfully.
"And yet the world does not care about age when ancient forces awaken."
Ren swallowed.
He knew that was true.
The sealed one hadn't been old when they begged for silence.The Shadow didn't feel like an adult.The echo didn't recognize childhood at all.
The rider continued:
"Our sectmaster believes an echo-bearing child must be monitored. Not to control him, but to prevent… unfortunate outcomes."
Borin scoffed.
"Say what you mean."
The rider sighed.
"To prevent another Shadow."
Shock rippled through the villagers.Lyra stepped closer to Ren, practically shielding him with her body.
"He is nothing like her."
"I agree," the rider said calmly."That is why I am speaking politely."
His gaze softened.
"But polite or not, the world is moving.Other sects will detect the same ripple.Some will send scholars.Some will send hunters.Some will send chains."
Ren's stomach twisted.
Lyra grabbed his hand.
"We're not handing him over to anyone."
"I didn't ask you to," the rider replied."I came to give warning. And to offer alliance."
Borin snorted.
"Alliance. With a village."
"Alliance with a boy who carries a relic of an era lost to us all."
Ren's breath caught.
Relic.
The echo pulsed faintly.
Lyra's grip tightened painfully.
"What does your sect want from Ren?"
The rider met Ren's eyes again.
"I want to know your answer."
Ren blinked.
"My answer… to what?"
"To the echo's question."
Silence fell like a blade.
Lyra stiffened.Borin frowned.Draven inhaled sharply and immediately regretted it.
Ren felt cold.
"You… know the question?"
"No," the rider admitted."But echoes always ask.They always have."
Ren's chest tightened.
"So you came here for me."
"I came to see if you survived."
Lyra looked ready to fight.
"He did. Now leave."
The rider shook his head.
"Leaving now would only make things worse."
Borin scowled.
"How?"
"Because leaving without speaking to him," the rider said, "would make the other sects believe we already claimed him."
The villagers murmured anxiously.
Ren felt dizzy.
Lyra steadied him.
"You're saying," she hissed, "that just your presence puts him in danger?"
"Yes," the rider said."And that is precisely why I must speak to him clearly, on neutral ground."
The elder sighed deeply.
"Then speak."
The rider took one step closer.
"Ren," he said softly,"the world is coming.Not today. Not tomorrow.But soon."
Ren already knew that.
He had felt it in the echo's hum.In the forest's trembling.In the sealed one's warning.In the Shadow's bow.
"What do you want me to do?" Ren asked.
The rider bowed slightly.
"For now? Nothing.Stay here. Rest.Grow.Learn."
"And you?" Ren asked.
The rider straightened.
"I will tell my sectmaster that you are stable — for now — and that we have no right to interfere."
Lyra exhaled, relieved but cautious.
Borin lowered his axe, slightly.
Draven sobbed with joy.
Ren blinked.
"That's all?"
"No," the rider said, expression darkening."There is one more thing."
He reached into his cloak.
Lyra drew her bow in an instant.Borin stepped forward.Draven attempted to hide inside his own shirt.
But the rider only produced a small, smooth stone engraved with the sect's symbol.
He held it out to Ren.
"This is a contact stone.If anything happens — if the echo shifts, if the world arrives too quickly, if hunters come — break it."
Ren stared at it.
"What happens when I break it?"
"Help comes," the rider said."Fast.And without hesitation."
Ren hesitated.
The echo pulsed.
And the rider added quietly:
"And if you ever choose to join a sect one day…this will let you come to us safely."
Lyra's breath caught.
Ren did not take the stone.
Not yet.
"What if I say no?" he asked.
The rider smiled faintly.
"Then I will leave it at your feet."
He placed the stone gently on the ground in front of Ren.
"Because choice," he said, "is the only thing that keeps an echo-bearer human."
Ren's heart trembled.
The echo pulsed.
Soft.
Listening.
The rider stepped back, mounted his horse, and pulled his hood up.
"Farewell, Ren of the Village."His gaze sharpened."And remember: I am the first visitor.Not the last."
He rode away.
Leaving Ren standing in the center of the village as whispers rose behind him—
fearwonderhopedoubt
Lyra stepped to his side.
"You don't have to go with anyone. Ever."
Borin placed a heavy hand on his shoulder.
"And you're not facing whatever's coming alone."
Draven sniffed.
"I vote we flee the country."
Ren didn't answer.
He stared at the contact stone.
At the symbol carved into it.
At the world that had finally noticed him.
And whispered:
"…the world is coming."
The echo pulsed again.
Agreeing.