The Moon Spirit's whisper did not enter Elara's ears for a long time. Perhaps it would have been easier if it had echoed in her ears. Because an echo meant a voice was moving away. But this sentence had not fallen into her ear. It had fallen directly into a nameless place inside her body.
This is my first body.
The faceless silhouette that had appeared inside the third channel did not move. The letter A on its chest burned with darkened moonlight. The light did not spill outward. It seeped inward, into the body. As if the letter was not a name, but an old sealed wound.
Kael's fire rose beside Elara. But this time, it did not come out like flame. It stayed beneath his skin. Elara noticed it. Kael wanted to burn. He wanted to burn that faceless thing, that channel, the entire mechanism connecting Darian and Seren's images to one another. But his mouth was closed, and his hands were bound too.
