The tremor did not begin with sound.
It began with stillness.
Elara was halfway across the courtyard when she felt it. Not in the air. Not in the ground.
In her blood.
A pause between pulses.
A held breath.
She stopped mid step.
Mira nearly walked into her back. "What is it?"
Elara did not answer immediately.
Her gaze drifted toward the southern cliffs.
Toward the reinforced stone that hid what Ravenspire had buried.
It pulsed once.
Soft.
Deep.
Like something testing its own heartbeat.
Then—
The stone beneath their feet shuddered.
Not violently.
Just enough to unsettle.
Guild members turned instinctively. A few hands moved toward blades out of habit.
"Dock side?" someone muttered.
"No," Kael said immediately from the balcony above. His eyes were already fixed south.
The tremor came again.
This time it carried something else.
A low vibration.
Almost like a distant hum trapped under layers of rock.
