?Nova was now advancing through the peripheral districts. Here, technology died. Where the glow of imperial neon failed to reach, the world was made of mysticism, rust, and a reddish dust that seemed to impregnate the very soul. The air was heavy, stagnant, carrying the scent of a time Vantus had tried to erase.
?She stopped before a shack that seemed to hold itself up by sheer stubbornness. The odor was a pungent mixture of burnt herbs, oxidized metal, and something that recalled ancient ozone. Before her hand could reach the rotting wood of the door, a voice, tired yet vibrant as the string of a double bass, emerged from the shadows.
?"Hello?"
?The medium appeared. He was a middle-aged man with eyes that seemed to have witnessed the collapse of a thousand empires and the agony of ten thousand stars.
?"You noticed my presence?" Nova asked, her hand instinctively dropping to the hilt of her stellar sword. Her fingers sought the comfort of the cold metal. "Do you know how to break a spell of..."
?"Mental control woven through the absolute frequency of sound?" The man completed with a crooked smile, revealing a silver tooth that glittered in the gloom.
?Nova hesitated, adjusting her cloak over her scorched armor. The weight of the secret she carried seemed greater than the Lumen itself.
?"Yeah... yes. They say you’re good."
?"Me? I am spectacular, my young friend." He gestured for her to enter the dimly lit room, where candles made of animal fat struggled against the darkness. "And yes, I know how to disarticulate Vantus's invisible chains. I am one of the few who still remembers the music that existed before he turned the universe into a monotonous funeral march."
?Nova had no patience for mystical flourishes or nostalgia for past eras. With a sharp movement, she slapped a handful of imperial credits onto the creaky wooden table.
?Cling!?The sound of noble metal echoed in the silence of the shack like a gunshot.
?" 'Spectacular'? Don't push your luck, old man. Take the money and tell me what I need to do to free a man from that cursed symphony."
?The medium slid the coins into his pocket with the agility of a professional thief. His eyes flashed with a momentary greed that soon gave way to a somber seriousness.
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?"Now you're speaking my language!" He changed his tone, his voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper that seemed to vibrate against the mud walls. "To unlock a mind enslaved by Vantus’s frequency, there are paths that the sword does not cut and raw power cannot reach. Since your target is the prodigy, Kallos... well, you will need more than luck. You will need a miracle. Or an impeccable plan."
?He placed three pulsating crystals on the table. They emitted a rhythmic light, etched with runes that seemed to writhe like worms of light.
?"Vantus’s sonic control is a prison of perfect repetition. It can only be broken by peaks of Human Dissonance: raw emotions, violent feelings, and lost memories."
?"Are these spells?" Nova picked up one of the crystals. It was warm, pulsing against her palm like the heart of a captured bird.
?"They are shock catalysts," the medium explained, retreating into the interior shadows. "You will need to strike his 'Resonance Mark.' Vantus is vain; he branded the boy’s chest, right above the heart, so that sound dictates the rhythm of his life. If it were on his neck, he would be a slave; on his chest, he is a weapon that beats according to the maestro’s baton."
?Nova felt a chill run down her spine.
?
?"Since it involves Vantus’s General, you will need all three crystals," the man warned. "But, for your sake, I hope two are enough to take him down before he erases you from existence."
?Imperial Mansion – Elite District?While Nova crossed the city under the cloak of night, moving like a shadow through the ventilation ducts, Kallos watched Caelum’s moon from the balcony of his luxurious suite. The silence there was absolute, a dome of acoustic isolation that cost a fortune. The only sound was the clinking of ice against fine crystal as a trembling servant brought his drink.
?"Has Vantus completed the Eight Symphonies?" Kallos asked without turning. His eyes reflected the cold light of the moon, two points of metallic and impenetrable brightness.
?"Yes, sir. The formation is complete," the servant replied, keeping his head so low it almost touched his chest. "But we have been informed that the official classification will be redone in the Grand Hall, before His Majesty."
?Kallos frowned. The crystal glass cracked slightly under the pressure of his fingers.
?"Redone? Why? Did he find someone stronger than me while I was in Lanvar?" The question carried a veiled threat, a vibration of power that made the servant stagger.
?"Probably not, sir..." the man hesitated, cold sweat running down his temples. "But they say the power levels among the new members are dangerously close. The Emperor wants... competitiveness. New blood to keep the blades sharp and the orchestra in harmony."
?Kallos let out a short laugh, a dry sound devoid of any trace of humor.
?"If I am not the Ninth Symphony, I will be genuinely hurt."
?"Surely you will maintain the post!" exclaimed the servant, his voice rising an octave in pure panic.
?"Do not feed my ego, worm," Kallos’s voice suddenly became frigid, a sharp drop in temperature that made the servant retreat two steps. "I was only joking. I don’t give a damn about numbers or titles. What matters to me is whether Vantus’s instruments are properly tuned... or if they will go out of tune and break on the first note of a real battle."
?Kallos went back to looking at the dark horizon of Caelum. He felt a subtle restlessness in the air, a parasitic vibration that did not belong to the Emperor’s frequency.
?He did not yet know it, but the "dissonance" that would change the course of his life was already on its way, hidden in the pockets of a woman who had already died inside once and was not afraid to die again to silence the maestro.