Chapter One: The Message After Midnight

Su knelt before him, bloodless with shock. “How do you know what she said before she died?” When the vision withdrew, Shen discovered that he had forgotten his father's voice. He remembered strong tea, snow at the funeral, and hands webbed with cracks. But he could no longer hear the way his father had spoken his name. The impossible address flashed again. Beneath SILENT, a new line appeared: “One memory for one life.”