Return of the Echo Elder

The first stone had risen.

It hovered now — inches above the ground, humming low like it knew what came next. Kai stood at its edge, still catching his breath. Sienna was sketching in her notebook again, not words but shapes. Cairo crouched nearby, tracing the ring’s circumference with care.

And then… the wind shifted.

Not in warning.

In welcome.

A new figure approached from the ridge above — their silhouette long and steady against the light. Their coat caught the air like a banner. As they drew closer, the air around them softened.

Kai turned first. “Do you see—?”

Sienna stood slowly. “Yes.”

Cairo smiled. “It’s him.”

Orion Skye descended with calm steps, his boots barely stirring the soil. There was a stillness about him that didn’t stop movement — it shaped it.

He paused at the edge of the ring and looked at the stone.

“It’s not just beginning,” he said. “It’s listening.”

Kai stepped forward. “Did you hear the signal?”

Orion nodded. “I remembered it.”

He pulled a small, weathered journal from his coat. Its cover was cracked, its edges soft with age. On the first page, a single word: Resonance.

“I’ve followed echoes like this before,” Orion said. “Most fade. A few loop. But this one?” He looked up, eyes calm and clear. “This one chose to return.”

Cairo offered him space in the circle. Orion stepped in with reverence.

Sienna asked quietly, “What do we do now?”

Orion set the journal on the ground beside the stone. “We don’t rush. We remember with care. And when the next stone rises, we don’t just build around it.”

He looked at each of them in turn.

“We build with it.”

The stone pulsed once in response.

And the wind, as always, listened.