The road to the Drowned Valley was a graveyard of rivers.
Once fertile and humming with life, the valley now stretched as a vast marshland, where skeletal trees reached toward the gray sky like fingers frozen mid-prayer. Every step squelched through mud and memory.
Jun Mo Xie stood at the edge of a broken stone bridge, watching fog slither across the water's surface. "It's not just mist," he murmured. "It's listening."
Yue Ling tightened her grip on her spear. "Then let it hear this—if it wants a fight, we'll give it one."
Fei Yan rolled her eyes. "Don't antagonize ancient water ghosts."
Lan Xue knelt beside the bank, her hands glowing softly. "There's something beneath. Not bones. Not machines. Something *older*."
"Songs," whispered Elder Shao. "Drowned songs."
---
They camped near a half-submerged ruin, where marble statues jutted from the water like dying gods. That night, the stars refused to appear.
Mei Yun sat sharpening her blade. "Something about this place is wrong. My wind can't find direction."
Jun Mo Xie nodded. "It's because we're standing inside a memory. The Drowned Valley doesn't forget."
As if in response, the water rippled—and began to sing.
Not with words, but tones. Chords. Harmony that made the skin crawl and the soul ache.
Fei Yan froze. "That... that's the Song of the Hollow Choir."
"But twisted," Lan Xue added. "Bent."
Suddenly, a shape rose from the water.
A woman—pale, draped in kelp and moss, her eyes blank and glowing.
She opened her mouth, and a screamless melody pierced the camp.
Jun Mo Xie stumbled back, clutching his head. The Ember flared in his chest, resisting the sound.
Elder Shao shouted, "She's a *Herald*! A memory-singer left behind to warn—or to *summon*!"
The waters churned. More shapes emerged.
Dozens.
---
A battle broke like thunder.
Yue Ling danced between the drowned, her spear whirling light through fog. Fei Yan vanished into shadows, striking from impossible angles. Mei Yun called wind, though it faltered, and Lan Xue created glowing barriers to shield the camp.
But it was Jun Mo Xie who faced the Herald.
Their voices clashed—hers a haunting song of sorrow, his a burning note of defiance. The Ember in his chest responded, and he began to sing back. No words. Just intention.
**I remember. I refuse. I reshape.**
The Herald shuddered. The song fractured.
She looked at him—truly looked—and whispered, "You carry... the sovereign thread."
"What does that mean?" Jun asked.
But she dissolved into foam, and the others with her.
The song ended.
---
In the silence after, Elder Shao spoke. "This place isn't just cursed. It's a seal."
"A seal for what?" Mei Yun asked.
Shao knelt and traced runes in the mud. "Long ago, the Sovereign of Echoes was cast into the Deep by their own kind. This valley... it is their tomb."
Lan Xue paled. "Then why is the song waking again?"
Jun Mo Xie looked to the sky, where no stars dared shine.
"Because something is calling to them."
---
That night, as the others rested uneasily, Jun Mo Xie sat alone by the blackened water's edge. He tossed a stone, watching the ripples dance outward, distorted by invisible patterns beneath the surface.
He closed his eyes.
The Ember pulsed. A faint melody echoed in his mind—not the song of the Herald, but something different. Faint. Gentle. Familiar.
A lullaby.
One he hadn't heard since childhood.
"Mother?" he whispered.
The water didn't answer.
But for a moment, he felt a hand on his shoulder—soft, warm, comforting. A memory? A ghost? Or something in between?
He didn't know.
---
In the morning, they ventured deeper into the valley.
The further they went, the more distorted the landscape became. Buildings bent in impossible angles, trees grew upside-down, and water flowed sideways along invisible walls.
It was as if the valley itself had surrendered to madness.
And in the distance, they saw it: a cathedral rising from the swamp, covered in coral and barnacles, its spires jagged like broken teeth.
"The Deep Choir's Cathedral," Elder Shao said, voice hushed with dread. "That's where the Sovereign sleeps."
"Not for long," Fei Yan murmured.
As they approached, the song began again. Not as loud this time. Almost... welcoming.
Lan Xue clutched Jun's arm. "It knows you."
He nodded. "And I think I'm beginning to know it."
The air grew colder, and the path to the cathedral began to shift. Runes glowed faintly on the moss-covered ground, activating beneath their feet as if responding to ancient blood.
Mei Yun bent to examine one. "These symbols… they're not just old. They're *forgotten*."
Elder Shao's eyes widened. "These are Sovereign seals. Binding chants. None have seen these in millennia."
Jun Mo Xie took another step. The Ember pulsed in sync with the glow. "It's responding to me."
Fei Yan muttered, "Let's just hope it's not unlocking something that should stay buried."
---
And somewhere far away, in a ruined cathedral beneath a black sea, **the Soverei
gn of Echoes opened their eyes**.
Their first breath stirred the tides.
Their voice... would soon follow.
---
*To be continued...*