Screams From The Silence

Sayane was returning as the panic faded. There in Azag’s gentle embrace, where Attis’s familiar fur pricked at her face, she could finally breathe again. Her body felt wrung dry and worn out, but it was returning to its normal self.

Their singing had pulled her back.

When she looked up at the two of them, gratitude welled up as she realized, once again, just how important they both were to her, and always had been.

“From the first note…” she smiled.

“You were there for me, from the very first note.”

“Always,” Azag replied as their heads met.

Attis couldn’t speak. Instead, he merely pressed his head further against her neck. Sayane’s gaze found Azag’s, and a thousand unsaid words moved between them in a simple glance.

“I cherish you,” he whispered.

“I’m so sorry. You’re so exhausted.”

Sayane nodded.

“All of us are.”

Light faded around them, and the world returned. Gasps from the others told them they had truly been in their own space for that moment.

“You sounded so beautiful,” Sayane said.

“We did! I must say I was surprised,” Attis chuckled.

“We had help,” Azag said as he nodded to the Violated Shard.

“From it, and… from you, I think?”

Attis and Sayane both nodded.

“It felt like- I don’t know. It felt like I was… sharing my voice with you? Sharing my... power? Does that make sense?” she asked.

“That’s what it felt like,” Attis agreed.

Once the Shard’s light had dissipated, the others returned to them. Anahita drifted down and nuzzled against Sayane’s neck. Saxum looked at them in wonder.

“You… sang? Together? Truly sang? You… harmonized?” he asked in shock.

Azag chuckled and shrugged.

“IIIIIII guess so?” he laughed as Sayane and Attis nodded.

“What wonder,” Anahita said.

“I have sooooo many things to document in my tomes tonight,” Saxum laughed.

“Put it on our tab,” Attis replied.

“Make sure and document that Azag the Guardian challenged a Great Harmony Shard,” Attis smirked.

“What?!” Sayane and Saxum exclaimed in a laugh.

Sayane playfully swatted at his arm as he nodded to the towering stone.

“Wasn’t a threat or even a challenge, really. More just… letting it know where we stood with one another. I believe it understood me.”

The great Shard pulsed a single blip of cyan, and the group laughed.

Reality returned fully, and Sayane realized the crowd had pulled close to them. They were now surrounded by thousands of nervous attendants, who all sighed in relief when Sayane looked up.

Hands reached out for the touch of confirmation that she was real and still alive. Some found her garments. Others reserved themselves to simply extend towards her. All around them, the hands reached for her in waiting.

“So… you’ll learn this about me. I cry a lot. All kinds of tears. And sometimes it’s just… too much…” Sayane laughed as she wiped her eyes and smiled to the audience.

Chuckles and laughs of understanding sounded out as relief moved through the sea of bodies.

“Sayane! Sayane The Songstress Supreme!!” a voice shouted out.

“Sayane!!” others cheered.

“Sayane The Songstress Supreme!!”

“Sayane The Songstress Supreme!!”

“SAYANE FOREVER!!!”

“SAYANE FOREVER!!!”

Thousands of voices chanted out as fists rose to the sky. Sayane watched the scene with melancholy wonder as more chants continued.

Then, beside them, on the ground, Xentros’s tablet reactivated and turned from blue to red.

Some nearby glanced at the device that had awoken on its own. Erosc stood and looked at it with cautious concern. Red light burned upwards, and Xentros moved to retrieve the device. Sayane noticed that his face had turned to concern as well.

“Internal imperial military signal…” he said to Erosc.

Both paused in listening.

Then the other tablet turned red and activated.

Far away, more tablets from other fallen officers activated.

Beams of electric red rose from the ground like obelisks of sinister luminance.

No voices spoke. Only static could be heard. It was harsh, jittery, and droning. But it rose in volume.

The air seemed to turn still.

Across the battlefield, the chants faded. Sayane and the others turned to the device, and Azag felt something shift in his heart when he saw the nervous glances between Erosc and Xentros.

As every tablet clicked on and shone crimson, the crowd shifted in curious concern.

More static feedback layered in until it sounded like a torrent of chaotic noise.

Then the screams began.

At first, they were faint. Buried deep in the static layers, anguished, enraged, horrified, horrifying wails scratched from the air and on the walls of Sayane’s mind. The static shifted into a growling, clacking, gnashing noise. To Sayane, it sounded like teeth grinding as knives scraped along glass.

The screams rose and rose until they moved to the forefront of the sound.

“Oh, Emptiness, no…” Xentros murmured.

Rising tension spilled across every device until the screaming solidified into a single voice. Sayane sat up and instinctively started to cover her ears, then stopped. It was a single being screaming. Now, each cry was a shattering, lamenting screech of blood-curdling fear, as though whoever was wailing was simultaneously being torn apart and watching all of its most beloved attachments burn to nothingness as it cursed all of existence with pure hate.

“Not Her,” Xentros sighed.

“Her?” Erosc replied with a horrified glance of understanding.

“Erosc?” Azag asked as he forced himself to stand.

Before Erosc or Xentros could reply, the screams returned.

“XENTROOOOOOOOOSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE??????!!!!!!” the voice raged.

Sayane flinched at the intensity of the voice. It was a sound of horror she’d never heard. It was wrath. It was terror. It was in terror. It was horrified. It was confused. It was broken.

“If she’s on this channel, it means she is near. Or, she is getting near,” Xentros said.

“Gaia be with us… Oh, Sounds, no,” Erosc muttered as his eyes darted to Sayane.

What Sayane saw was more frightening than anything yet. Erosc, the mightiest warrior of them all, the one she’d never doubted in any manner of combat or strength, was afraid.

“What is it, Erosc? Who is that?!” Attis asked as the screams built again.

Around the field, Silencers all trembled and whispered to one another in fear. The Revolutionary fighters looked to them for clarity but found only fright. Xentros inhaled, then lowered his head as he turned to Sayane.

Her voice returned in absolute malice.

"SOOOOOOOOONGGGGSTRESSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!"

“The empire’s terror… Vraxlyn The Broken."

A cry of horror moved through the crowd, from both the Silencers and The Revolution. Bodies scrambled to find weapons. Erosc swiftly moved to his comrades and began to hoist them to their feet.

Xentros looked to the heavens with a gaze of heavy, fearful anticipation. 

"I think she will be upon us soon.”