Chapter 86. The Hollow Echo

It began with whispers—not spoken, but carried on the resonance.

Aria felt it before anyone reported it: a strange, hollow vibration pulling on the edge of her awareness. Not pain. Not pressure. But something thin and sharp brushing against her senses like broken wind chimes in a locked room.

By the time Jules reached her, she already knew.

“They’re trying to copy you,” they said breathlessly. “Not just the symbol—the whole resonance. The Thornspire elders started a binding circle this morning.”

Aria closed her eyes.

“Did they ask permission?”

Jules gave a bitter laugh. “Since when do they ask anything?”

Aria stood and gathered her coat without another word.

***

The Thornspire valley had always felt distant—not just geographically, but emotionally. The clan had remained neutral in every major dispute for the last three decades. Isolation was their dogma. Observing, never engaging.

That was what made their action today so da