A World in a Shell

More about A World in a Shell

The Last Echo

Lyra was a collector of whispers. Not the ones carried on the wind, but the silent ones trapped in things the ocean left behind. She walked the shores at twilight, the fragile time when the world between the sun and the moon was thinnest.

One evening, she found **a large sea snail shell**, more perfect than any she had ever seen. At first, it was cold and silent. Other children would have heard only the dull roar of the sea, but Lyra held it to her ear and listened *past* the noise. She listened for the quiet.

As the last sliver of sun dipped below the horizon, a warmth bloomed from the shell's core. A soft, golden light pulsed within, and a sound unlike the sea emerged – a gentle, harmonious hum.

Peeking inside, she saw it: **Lumina**, the city of the Tide-Singers. It was a legend her grandmother used to tell—a city built from solidified starlight and ocean lullabies, a place that vanished ages ago, leaving only one last echo of their world behind, waiting for a heart quiet enough to hear it. Lyra wasn't just its finder; she was now its keeper. Her duty was to listen, and in listening, keep its light alive.