Chapter 5
The Guardian of the Garden
Sofia enters the Sunken Gardens, meets Nereus, a guardian of the Solitary Ones, who grants her the fourth shard after hearing her purpose. She proceeds to the Hall of Echoes, where a masked figure confronts her, but the shards' song makes it pause and reveal its identity as the one who sang when the city fell.
The corridor sloped gently downward, and the faint trickle grew into the sound of many streams. Sofia’s footsteps echoed on wet stone. The walls here were covered in carved vines and flowers, their petals worn smooth by centuries of water. A soft green light glowed from ahead, filtering through what looked like curtains of hanging moss.
She pushed through the moss and stepped into the Sunken Gardens.
The chamber was enormous, a collapsed dome open to the sea above. Through the crack in the ceiling, pale sunlight fell in shifting beams, illuminating a maze of stone pathways winding through pools of crystal-clear water. Giant kelp rose from the pools, their fronds swaying even though no current touched them. Flowers grew along the edges—white blossoms that glowed faintly, casting their own light. The air smelled of damp earth and something sweet, like jasmine after rain.
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