Volume Three of the Ashborn Saga

The world has changed.

With the Final Chorus shattered and the Ashborn united, the Song that once bound, silenced, and fractured the world now flows freely for the first time in generations. The Choir has fallen. The marks that once cursed now guide. And the seven Ashborn stand as guardians of a world they helped reforge.

But freedom has a memory.

And the Song remembers everything.

When strange phenomena ripple across the land—cities reappearing from the void, forgotten names returning to life, and stars moving against their will—it becomes clear that rewriting the world has awakened something far older and deeper than the Choir ever was.

From the depths of the Hollowroot Basin emerges an Echo—a living remnant of the first Ashborn ever to fall, a child named Elarin, whose soul never found rest. Twisted by time and unfinished melody, he speaks with a voice that was never meant to sing again.

As reality begins to reflect and distort itself, the Ashborn must confront a terrible truth: not every fragment of the Song was meant to survive.

Now, Kairo and his companions face a new threat—not of control or conquest, but of unraveling. To protect the world they helped rebirth, they must descend into the Unwritten Chords of existence and face what was left behind…

…including the versions of themselves that were never meant to be.

For the first time in any living memory—and even beyond it—the harmony of the world had no fractures, no stuttering verses, no silenced gaps. The eighth voice, once a wound buried beneath time and battle, had been restored.


He sat quietly at the edge of the Hollowroot Basin, letting his fingers trace the still air. He wasn't humming, wasn't singing. Just listening. And what he heard made him pale.


"Kairo," he called, "you need to hear this."


At first, it was nothing—just a faint vibration in the ground, like distant thunder or far-off footsteps.


"It's answering us," Yui said, eyes wide.


"No," Kei corrected softly. "It's responding. The Song isn't alone anymore."


Ryn placed a hand on the ground, then yanked it back. "Something is rising from below the Song. Something that's always been there, but asleep."


Lira looked to the sky. "If we woke the world's memory…"


Theren growled, fire rippling across his shoulders. "Then we may have just woken what it was trying to forget."


From beneath Hollowroot, the basin stone split—not violently, but cleanly. A spiral of light and ash rose, humming in perfect fifths.


Neither child nor ancient. Neither living nor spectral. They wore no crown, no marks, no Song-brand.


But all seven Ashborn—and even Elarin—felt them.


And one word sang through all their minds at once:


Skin made of swirling energy and obsidian glass.


Eyes like twin stars—reflecting every Song that had ever been sung.


They spoke not aloud, but directly, into the core of each of them.


"You have remembered yourselves. You have restored the Song. You have healed the fracture."


"And now you must decide what the Song will become."


Kairo swallowed. "Aren't we already doing that?"


"You have only rewritten a verse," the Everborn replied. "But you have not chosen the next theme."


Ryn stepped forward. "You mean… the Song continues?"


"It must. Every Song ends. Every Song begins. But now, you must choose its direction. You have seven voices… and one Echo. You must compose."


Suddenly, each Ashborn felt something open inside them.


Lira saw a world of flame and motion—endless change.


Kei saw stillness—understanding, reflection, balance.


Theren saw strength—unified will, forged bonds.


Solen saw compassion—songs sung to lift the forgotten.


Yui saw healing—songs that repaired, restored.


Ryn saw discovery—music not yet imagined.


Kairo saw all of it—blended, clashing, beautiful.


And for the first time in his existence, he smiled.


"The world will become what you sing next. But this time, it is not a weapon. Not a war. Not even memory."


Chapter 4 - Chapter Four: The Everborn