WOLINM

The First Silence had been broken, and the world began to stir. Nara sat on its soil, watching the green shoots spread across the gray earth. The faint note she had heard had grown into a melody, and the melody was weaving itself into the soil, the air, the light.

Elara appeared beside her. "You have done more than heal a world. You have given it a new song. One that it will carry forever."

Nara looked at the growing green, at the life returning to the silent land. "Will it ever go silent again?"

"The song will never fade," Elara said. "But it will need a keeper. Someone to listen, t

The command center was vast, filled with holographic displays and banks of computers. In the center of the room, on a raised platform, stood the enemy commander—a figure in black armor, his face hidden behind a mask.

Lieutenant Kaelen Voss crouched behind a console, his team spread out around him, their weapons trained on the enemy soldiers who guarded the room. The commander was giving orders, his voice cold, his movements precise.

"That's him," Mira whispered. "The one in charge."

Kaelen studied the room, the guards, the exits. "We take him out, the facility falls."

"How?"

Ka