"When the world grows quiet, listen
For that is when the music begins."
The sun was setting over Aralia, casting golden threads across the sleepy lake, where whispers of wind danced on the surface like forgotten lullabies.
And there, at the edge of the water, sat a girl the world had yet to understand.
Her name was Talon.
Quiet as snowfall. Gentle as the tide. She was the kind of girl who noticed things others missed the hush between thunderclaps, the shimmer in the air before rain, the low hum the stars made when the night grew still.
She didn't talk much. But she listened.
To everything.
People in town called her odd. The kind of girl who walked barefoot in puddles, who hummed melodies no one else had heard, who stared at clouds like they were singing secrets.
But Talon didn't mind.
She felt the world differently.
Especially today.
The air had a strange taste sharp, electric. The breeze tickled the strings of her imagination. And the lake? It was glowing, just faintly, like it remembered something ancient.
She stood slowly, heart thrumming.
A single drop of rain fell not from the sky, but from the surface of the lake itself. It rose upward, shimmering, dancing in the air like a note suspended in a song.
Then came the light.
It surged from the lake, soft and blue, rising like a spirit no heat, no fear, just warmth. In its center: a crystal. Teardrop-shaped. Pulsing with sound only Talon could hear.
She reached out.
The moment her fingers touched it, the world stopped.
Time, rain, wind everything froze and then the music began.
It wasn't outside her. It was in her ancient, radiant, powerful. A harp's echo in her bones, a melody blooming from her chest. Her eyes flashed with light. Her heartbeat became rhythm.
Talon fell to her knees.The lake answered with ripples of song.
The HarmoniX had been awakened.Talon gasped.
The crystal pulsed brighter not with light, but with sound. Each beat echoed through her, stirring something deep within. Her feet were soaked, yet warm. The wind swirled around her like a protective shield. All of nature seemed to lean in, watching.She looked down at her hands. They shimmered, outlined in gentle streams of water that defied gravity ribbons of blue that danced to the rhythm inside her.
And then she heard a voice. Not from outside. From the crystal."The world is changing. You are chosen."
Talon's eyes widened. "Me?" she whispered.
But the crystal didn't answer again. Instead, it floated gently into her palm, cold and glowing. The water around her calmed. The wind died. The sky brightened once more as if nothing had happened.
But everything had.Talon staggered to her feet, still gripping the crystal. It looked harmless now. Just a pretty stone. But she could feel it humming alive, aware.
She didn't know what it meant yet.
But she knew it meant something.
Something big.
Back at her small cottage, nestled between wildflower hills and the sleepy town of Eloria, Talon locked her bedroom door. She placed the crystal on her windowsill, where moonlight hit it just right.
The light from the stone split into tiny sparkles across the walls. The room sang with color. And still the melody whispered in her chest,she touched the harp that leaned in the corner her late mother's. She hadn't played it in years. But now?
Now it called to her.
She sat. Plucked a string.
The note matched the hum of the crystal.
She plucked another. The air around her shifted, shimmered.
Talon smiled, breathless. "What are you?"
But the better question was — who was she now?
And she wasn't the only one hearing the call.
Far away, in the city of Virelia, a different crystal stirred.
And so did a girl with fire in her hands.
The HarmoniX were awakening.