Chapter 102 - Dormant Echo
Tave opened his eyes slowly, the weight of sleep still clinging to his limbs. It was midnight, he could tell from the pale moon, just slightly shifted from its peak in the sky.
But... What is that sound?
A soft hum, gentle as the wind. No, not quite a hum. More like a lullaby carried by moonlight. Not a song in any traditional sense, but a flowing cadence of tones that soothed without needing melody.
Fully awake now, Tave pushed himself upright and turned toward the source.
There, Panpan.
She stood with both arms raised, bathed in moonlight that streamed through a break in the canopy. The silvery glow caught in the waves of her blonde hair, making it shimmer as it moved gently in the breeze. Around her, soft green elemental particles danced, glowing faintly, visible even to the naked eye.
The sound he’d heard wasn’t from her lips exactly. It was deeper, older. Like the forest itself was breathing with her, singing through her. A serene chant, almost sacred in its stillness.
Tave leaned back, watching in awe. She wasn’t just standing there. She was communing. With the elemental particles. With the Rift itself. And, faintly, with the presence of the World Tree that somehow still touched even this dimension. The connection wasn’t strong, but it was there.
Only the forest elves could do this. Of all elvenkind, they alone held the deepest bond with the World Tree, far more so than their kin, the High Elves or Dark Elves.
Tave felt the urge to capture this moment, this delicate, wordless beauty. A part of him wished he could bottle the sensation and keep it, replay it whenever the world grew too heavy.
And then she turned.