The wind howled louder the deeper they rode into the northern borderlands. Snow swirled not just from the sky, but from below—winds twisting ice from the ground as if the land itself were exhaling. The group had not spoken much since leaving the city. There was something in the air—an old weight returning.
Jun Mo Xie felt it first.
The Ember, tucked safely inside a hidden compartment of his robes, pulsed erratically. Not in danger—but in warning.
Fei Yan rode ahead, silent. Yue Ling scanned the horizon with narrowed eyes. Mei Yun kept her fingers close to her weather talismans. Lan Xue had conjured a warmth spell around the caravan, but even her magic seemed strained.
"The frost is… layered," she finally said. "This isn't natural snow. It's residual. Built upon itself for centuries."
Jun Mo Xie nodded. "The letter wasn't lying. Something here has been stirring long before the Gate ever cracked."
---
They reached the frozen cliffs of Baiyin's Drop—an old mining village abandoned long ago. Icicles clung to the roofs of half-buried homes. Bones littered the ground, perfectly preserved.
"Frozen mid-motion," Yue Ling said, kneeling beside a skeleton. "There was no battle here."
Mei Yun squinted at the walls. "The wards are still active. They should've been protected."
Fei Yan unsheathed one dagger. "Something bypassed protection. Or rewrote it."
Lan Xue's hand shook slightly as she touched the runes engraved on the doorframes. "They've been inverted. These are not defensive runes anymore… they're invitations."
Jun Mo Xie turned toward the town square. A well stood at its center, entirely iced over.
From it, he heard singing.
---
The sound was faint. Beautiful. Sad. Like a lullaby sung through cracked glass. It echoed up from the depths of the well, reverberating inside their chests.
Lan Xue covered her ears. "It's not just sound. It's spiritual."
Fei Yan blinked rapidly. "I see… my sister. But I don't have a sister."
Yue Ling gritted her teeth. "It's forcing visions. Confusion."
Jun Mo Xie stepped forward. The Ember burned in response. His mind cleared slightly—but not fully.
He saw a figure at the bottom of the well. Pale. Woman-like. Draped in ice.
Then it vanished.
"Whatever's down there," he said, "is aware of us."
---
That night, they camped in the temple ruins. The wind outside the stone walls howled like wolves. No fire would stay lit for long. The Ember alone provided warmth.
Lan Xue sat with Jun Mo Xie.
"You think this is connected to the Beyond?" she asked.
He nodded. "It's not the same energy, but it feels… ancestral. Like the Beyond left behind a daughter."
"Or a jailer," she whispered.
He looked at her.
"What if that thing in the well… isn't trying to escape?" she asked. "What if it's holding something back?"
Jun Mo Xie didn't respond right away. He looked up at the sky, where the stars were faint behind veils of snow. "Then maybe it needs help."
Lan Xue's expression darkened. "Or maybe it wants out because it can't hold back the darkness any longer."
---
In the morning, three of their horses were dead—frozen solid, no signs of struggle. Ice covered their eyes. Mei Yun clenched her jaw.
"Whatever it is, it's probing. Testing our boundaries."
Fei Yan stepped toward the well. "So we test back."
She dropped a fire bead into the dark shaft. It vanished in silence.
No sound. No light. Just more singing.
Jun Mo Xie closed his eyes and summoned the Ember fully. Flames flickered across his arm as he muttered an incantation. A sliver of fire peeled from his hand and hovered over the well.
The singing stopped.
Then a voice boomed:
**"Flesh of fire. Heart of ash. Why do you come?"**
The ground shook. Ice split along the street. The well cracked, and something began to rise.
Not quickly. Not aggressively. Just… upward.
Yue Ling raised her blade.
Jun Mo Xie held up a hand.
"Let it speak."
The entity that emerged was not monstrous.
It was a woman. Tall, regal, draped in veils of frost. Her skin was pale blue, eyes glowing white.
"I am Calisynth," she said. "Last warden of the Choir. Keeper of Silence."
Mei Yun whispered, "Choir… as in Frozen Choir?"
Calisynth nodded. "A prison. A covenant. A price."
Jun Mo Xie stepped forward. "Why are you here?"
"To warn. And to choose."
Lan Xue narrowed her eyes. "Choose what?"
Calisynth turned toward Jun Mo Xie.
"You've sealed one fracture. But the Beyond… never acts through one path. It fractures through time, through belief, through sound. The Choir was our answer—music to confuse the timelines. Cold to freeze the echoes."
Fei Yan muttered, "She's not making sense."
Jun Mo Xie did understand. "You're telling me there are echoes of the Beyond. Like… shadows across realities?"
Calisynth's eyes narrowed. "One echo is stirring now. The Frozen Choir cannot hold it alone. We need a new harmony. A new conductor."
"You want me to lead this… Choir?"
"No. Not lead. Weave. Only one with flame can melt old sounds and forge new ones."
The Ember pulsed violently.
Jun Mo Xie stepped back. "And what if I say no?"
"Then time will break. Sound will rule. And memory will turn against itself."
She raised a hand. Images swirled in the air: entire cities looping the same hour. People aging backward. Beasts born of distorted song. Rivers flowing in reverse. Suns rising at midnight. Echoes of laughter becoming screams.
Calisynth lowered her hand. "We have days. Maybe less. The echo is growing."
---
That night, Jun Mo Xie sat alone, staring at the Ember. Its glow reflected in his eyes as memories—real and false—danced behind his thoughts.
Mei Yun joined him.
"You'll say yes," she said.
"I don't know what it means."
"You never do. You just do it anyway."
He chuckled softly. "Maybe I'm just tired of being the one they call."
She nudged his shoulder. "Then stop thinking of it as a call. Think of it as a song. You've always known the melody."
He looked at her. "What if I forget the tune?"
"Then we'll hum it together."
They sat in silence for a long time, the snow falling lightly around them.
---
At dawn, Calisynth waited at the edge of the frozen well.
Jun Mo Xie approached. "I'll do it," he said.
She bowed. "Then come. And listen."
They descended into the Choir.
The steps were made of sound, not stone. Each step resonated, a different note in a scale not meant for mortal ears. Jun Mo Xie felt his senses stretch, each vibration painting visions in his mind—cities made of ice and song, ancient towers that hummed warnings into the stars, and a throne made entirely of silenced screams.
He did not descend alone. Behind him, his companions followed. Mei Yun, clutching a song-wind charm. Yue Ling, blade drawn, ner
ves like iron. Fei Yan, ready to strike at shadow. Lan Xue, her aura calm but fierce.
And beyond them, the storm they left behind began to howl.
---
*To be continued...*