Resonance answers resonance.
Not through force but through balance.
“We make another bell,” I say.
Brohm stares at me like I have finally lost my mind. “Now?”
“Yes. Now.”
“The town is collapsing!” he blurts out.
“And so will everyone in it if we do nothing!”
The words crack out of me harder than intended. Silence instantly follows.
Then Khaivor steps beside me despite the visible tremor running through his body.
“What do you need?” he asks, grunting fiercely.
My throat tightens painfully.
“Keep the resonance stable long enough for me to work.”
His exhausted eyes hold mine for one lingering moment before he nods once.
Then he turns toward the town.
The air bends instantly around him.
Resonance surges outward from his body in expanding rings, colliding violently against the destructive waves tearing through Bellmere. The impact shakes the square hard enough to send dust cascading from rooftops.
Khaivor staggers.
But the incoming wave splits apart.
Cheers erupt nearby from people who do not fully understand what he is doing, only that they are still alive because of it.
I force my attention toward the forge equipment.
The familiar motions steady my breathing.
I thrust bronze into the furnace while sparks roared upward into the night. Around me, Bellmere continues shaking beneath violent resonance, yet the closer I move toward the work itself, the quieter the fear becomes.
Khaivor once told me sound lives inside everything.Now I finally understand. The bronze hums before I even touch it.
Not loudly but patiently as I lift the hammer to strike.
The tone rings sharp and unfinished and another strike follows immediately after.
The resonance changes beneath my hands.
Not separate from the metal but within it.
I stop thinking about shaping bronze and begin listening instead.
The sound tells me where to strike and the heat tells me when to wait.Somewhere nearby Khaivor gasps sharply in pain.
I look up.
