For The Story Has Only Just Begun

Every instrument rose in full, unleashed splendor.

Sound was stronger and clearer than ever before.

Adrenaline shot through Sayane’s body like a rushing wave, and she felt like the stilled winds had stopped, but it was all inside of her. She didn’t have lyrics. She had no plan. All she could do was sing her soul and hope it was enough.

Pounding drums sent out shockwaves that shook the earth as every note built in strength.

Then it paused, and a single piano note echoed out. All of the other sounds softened, save for the piano and cymbals.

Sayane’s eyes opened.

“Fragile, unfamiliar skies.

Sending unknown light into my eyes.

Fragile, uncertain faces.

In fragile, unfamiliar places.”

Far away, they listened in silent wonder. Sounds never before known to so many of them echoed across their walls and great halls and simple homes. Her voice was unlike any beauty they’d ever felt or heard, and something unknown stirred in their beings as they listened.

The notes quickened, with piano melodies dancing with hurried loveliness as the drumming tapped in waiting. Stringed instruments hinted at notes as though answering questions from their sacred siblings.

It was already draining Sayane. She barely had any strength left, and her heart was straining, but she continued.

“Wounds still bleed.

Tears fall.”

Her voice was fragile, weakened, soft, and pleading as she pulled her hands to her chest in prayer.

“We need

To please heal all.

We can’t go back

To the way things were.

So please hear my cry.

Help me heal and run towards that brand new sky!”

Beams of light hurled and spun around her as the music’s intensity returned and the chorus began. Sayane felt the force ricocheting off of her struggling body as it flung itself out into the crowd around her. The Violated Shard began to rise as its majesty ignited.

“HOOOOOOOOOLD to that beautiful view!!

Keep it close and feel the sun!

Look to the sky as we’re born anew.

Please stay together.

I’ll be here with you!!

Foooooor the story has only juuuuuuuust begun!”

She was sobbing again. He was her everything. Beyond every beautiful thing she’d come to know, he was the one singular truth of tranquility in the chaos, and the very idea of losing him was threatening to pull her into the abyss. Without realizing it, she had become fully in love with him and having him in her life.

So he had to heal. She had to heal him. The second verse began, and the instruments regained their softer temperament. All around them, the Violated Shard’s striking warmth was bolting into every soul. Beyond The Revolution, if anyone deserved to hate The Silence, it was that Shard for what they had done to it. Yet still it was helping.

“Thank you,” Sayane whispered.

It flickered ever so slightly, and she knew it was acknowledging her.

“From the first note of the first sunrise

Feel that light as it floods our skies

Shattering the broken

Words no longer unspoken

We can make this world anew

But I can’t do it without you.”

You.

All of you.

That’s what she thought.

The Silence. The Revolution. Her friends. The Instruments. The Shards. Him.

Her strength faltered as The Shard continued its draining of her. Whatever power it was heaving into the world, it was pulling first from her. Pain was now radiating through her teeth. Cold numbness bit at her fingers. She couldn’t do this alone. She needed help.

“Please, sing with me!” she cried out in suffering and hope.

“It’s the chorus again. Sing with me, I beg you!” she sobbed as her knees bent from strain.

To set them up, she repeated the last line.

“But I can’t do it without you.

So I’m begging you, please…”

Her hands rose like a conductor as she called for the others to help. It was almost too much to open her eyes, lest she see no one daring to rise. But she forced them open, and to her wondrous relief, she saw hundreds forcing themselves to stand.

“ Hold to that beautiful view

Keep it close and feel the sun.”

Voices rose to join her. Choruses of unrefined, wounded, exhausted souls lifted from the bloodied ground and met her. Now the instruments were glowing. The Shard was high above them, pulling its power from her and sending it out in waves across every visible inch of existence.

“Look to the sky as we’re born anew

Please stay together

I’ll be here with you

For the story has only just begun.”

Husky, gruff attempts formulating behind her told her that Erosc and Attis had joined. Glowing trails swirled around her as Anahita soared beside her, singing in a nurturing, womanly voice. Growling, explosive roars of a slightly different cadence let her know that Saxum was thundering his raging anguish in aid.

Lights began to glow across every wound and cut. It was working.

Drums thundered out.

Boom boom bo-boom. Boom boom bo-boom.

Strings bent and melded with the concussions.

Sayane stomped her feet and pounded her chest as she demanded her body continue. Her hands flung back to her sides as the energy began to howl in every direction.

“Wounds stop bleeding!

Tears stop falling!

This gentleness

Is what the world has been needing!

And it’s for what I am calling!”

Dun-dun-da-da-dun. Boom boom bo-boom.

Violins cried. Energy erupted. Sayane couldn’t control her voice as it devolved into an anguished shout.

“NO MORE CRYING!

NO MORE TEARS!

NO MORE DYING!

NO MORE FEARS!”

As she shouted, the others continued to sing the chorus once more. More and more were joining in.

Across the land, voices rose, coating all of Illarios in sacred song as Sayane’s voice carried in the very sky. Homes filled with weeping singing. Great halls echoed with the vocals of those attempting to help. Song had returned to the entire world.

Light appeared beneath Can-Mo’s tentacles, and he felt a pleasant softness drift along his touch. The insides of Azag’s body began to shine as the wound welcomed the healing.

“Oh! Oh my!” Can-Mo teared up as his bloody tentacles slid from their task.

Azag choked and coughed to life as every muscle locked. The light attached to his body was now blinding as it crackled and swung from him to The Shard to Sayane. Cyan glows flickered in his eyes as he forced himself to join in the chorus. When he was finally able to lift his head, he saw his love engulfed in an inferno of power as her hands locked towards the heavens.

“HEALING!"

Sound clashed.

"BREATHING!"

Notes cut like knives.

"HOPING!"

Audacious hope and desperate prayer lined every syllable.

"LIVING!!"

Her hands stayed raised to the sky.

"Please, stop the bleeding.”

Her knees buckled, and she collapsed to the ground.

“Sayane!!” Attis cried out as the friends rushed to her.

But she continued. Every sound was ear-splitting as the purple light spread out onto the hordes of hurt. More and more light was rising from the bodies of the wounded as their gashed and mutilated bodies cauterized themselves with Sayane’s life force.

“Sayane!!” Azag cried out, but she didn’t hear.

He fell forward, then lifted himself onto his hands and knees.

“SAYANE I’M HERE! I’M COMING!!” he shouted, but she couldn’t hear.

Tentacles wrapped around his arms, and he looked up to see Can-Mo there helping him.

“I’ve got you! I’ve got you, my friend!” Can-Mo cried.

Together, they began to crawl towards the fury of the songstress’s nurturing.

As they crawled, they saw beams of red lifting from the bodies of hundreds. Not just there before them, but across the land. Crimson and cadmium glitched in rage as it was expelled from the hearts and bodies of thousands.

“Dissonance…” Azag whispered.

More and more red rose as it was exorcised and cast away, but it didn’t fade. Instead, it began to pool into a swirling ball of hate that rose higher and higher into the sky. Sayane didn’t see it. Her eyes were still closed from strain.

The final chorus was beginning.

“I NEED SOME OF YOU TO KEEP SINGING THE CHORUS. EMPIRE, SING THAT! REVOLUTION, SING THIS NEW PART WITH ME!!” she shouted as she grit her teeth for the ending.

“Tonight, when I close my eyes. Hold to that beautiful view

IIIIIIIIII knooooooooow Keep it close and feel the sun

I’ll awake to a true sunrise Look to the sky as we’re born anew

For a healing world Please stay together

Please meet me at the sunrise I’ll be here with you

The rest of our lives maaaaaaaaay start Fooooooor the story has only just begun

In the morning sky!!”

Millions of souls sang out around the world. Sayane could feel their support, and the pain in her body finally began to subside. It was working. It was almost done.

Then his hand was there against her.

A broken gasp was all Sayane could vocalize, and her heart shattered and remade itself in a millisecond. Azag was alive.

“I’m here, my love. I’m here, I’m still here. I’m still here,” he said as he pulled her against him.

All of the others continued to sing their parts as Sayane crumpled into Azag’s embrace.

Sobs shook both of their chests as they clung to one another like they were the only things tethering them to the world.

“I can’t do this without you…” Sayane cried.

“I can’t either…” he admitted.

“Sayane!!” Attis shouted, pulling them back to reality.

Above them, the cloud of Dissonance had solidified. The old enemy was not fully gone, but Sayane knew she could erase it once and for all.

“I need you to help me up,” she asked as she held up a weakened hand.

“Always,” Azag replied as he forced himself up.

His hand took hers, and he hoisted her up with one strong motion, pulling her onto her feet. The others rushed beside her and braced her in support. Even Attis and Anahita were at her feet, offering their tiny reinforcements.

“KEEP SINGING!!!” Sayane commanded as the Dissonance glitched, then bent into preparation for its final attack.

“EVERYONE SING THE FINAL SECTION!!! EVERYONE AROUND THE WORLD! SING WITH ME!!” Sayane shouted.

“Toooooooonight, when I close my eyes

IIIIIIIIII knooooooooow

I’ll awake to a true sunrise

And a healing world!”

Souls unified for a brief moment and dared to sing for something hopeful. Radiant purple light soaked the entirety of existence. Energy funnelled around them. Millions sang out.

The Dissonance paused, then exploded down.

““Toooooooonight, when I close my eyes

IIIIIIIIII knooooooooow

I’ll awake to a true sunrise

And a healing world!”

It struck the crowd, but just as it reached them, every single body shined out in purple and the Dissonance was incinerated. Sayane held out her hands once more and basked in the loving support of those beside, before, and behind her.

““Toooooooonight, when I close my eyes

IIIIIIIIII knooooooooow

I’ll awake to a true sunrise

And a healing world!”

Every vein of Dissonance burned away, and the clouds vanished. Pure, glowing sunlight returned and enveloped the battlefield in golden dusk.

It was done.

Sacred sounds faded as the instruments completed their efforts. Pulses of warmth continued to emanate from the Violated Shard, but it still lowered itself back down to the ground.

Every wounded soldier was healed. Though blood still coated their clothes, their bodies were made new. Nervous, inquisitive hands patted flesh in inspection, only to be validated that they were indeed now healed.

Each instrument settled to the ground, and its glow faded.

Quietness returned to the world, and none dared to speak.

Only Sayane’s gasps of broken exhaustion sounded out.

Then Xentros fell to his knees.

“All hail… Sayane… The Songstress Supreme…” he muttered in absolute awe.