The moment his fingers touched the strings, the ruins shifted. The melody resonated through the stone, and the golden symbols blazed with light.
The Keepers did not move, but their whispers rose, blending into the song. The wind carried their voices like echoes of a forgotten age.
Then, everything changed.
The desert vanished.
Elias found himself standing in a vast chamber of polished obsidian, the walls lined with towering pillars. The ceiling arched high above him, its surface painted with constellations he did not recognize.
At the center of the chamber stood a pedestal. Upon it rested another harp, identical to the one Elias carried, yet untouched by time.
A figure stood beside It.
Not a shadow, not a ghost. A woman.
She was clad in flowing robes, her dark hair cascading over her shoulders. Her golden eyes met his, and Elias felt a strange sense of recognition, though he knew he had never seen her before.