## The Echo Architect Rain slicked the pavement outside the Atlas Building, mirroring the neon glow of a diner sign that read “Stella’s.” Elias Thorne tugged his collar higher, the damp clinging like a second skin. He’s been staking out…
The dust tasted like old pennies. Old pennies and regret. Kaelen traced a fingertip across the basalt face of a crumbling sentinel. It wasn’t stone, not exactly. More like…compressed night. The air hummed, a low thrum against his teeth. He’d…
Elka traced the brittle edge of the parchment. Dust motes danced in the single shaft of light slicing the gloom of the archive. Each fragment felt less like paper, more like sun-warmed bone. She wasn’t *searching* for anything specific, not…