The Silence Below All Things

There is a place where even echoes dare not linger. It lies below the breath of the Grove—beneath the roots, beneath the threads, beneath the names. A place older than sound, deeper than light. A place not meant to be entered, only remembered. Here, the silence is not empty. It listens. And in that listening, truths shift. Faces fade. The ones who walk these tunnels will not return unchanged—not because the path has altered, but because they will. There is no guide through the silence. Only those who can bear its weight. Only those who no longer need to speak. The roots no longer whispered. They listened. Deep beneath the Grove—beyond the shimmer of the stream and the warm breath of glowing moss—something ancient stirred in stillness. Not in anger. Not in grief. But in recognition. It had waited too long to be surprised. Above, the Grove had shifted. Threads tangled. Paths reversed. Names forgotten. But here, in the hollow beneath all things, there were no threads left to sever. Only veins. Only silence. Only memory. A paw touched stone. Then another. Not a sound. Not a word. But the cavern knew them. It always had. The one-eyed sentinel whose gaze pierced the veil. The ginger flame who held the Grove's stories in his fur. The shadowed brother who trusted nothing but instinct. And those who followed not from fear or order—but because they, too, remembered. The silence was not empty. It had teeth. It had breath. It had been waiting. And now, it opened.