I stood on a floor made of quartz that glowed with a pulsing light. Every step I took made the ripple and change color like throwing a stone into a still pond. Isabella was beside me holding her Frost-Blight Rapier and she was breathing really fast. Elara had the Ledger of Lost Souls. She kept looking up at the sky where the weird swirly clouds were moving.
"The sound here is trying to match our heartbeats " Elara said quietly her voice sounding weird and metallic. "If it succeeds it will just stop our hearts. We will become part of the building."
"We will not let that happen " I said. My voice was loud and clear. It made the nearby crystal pillar crack.
[CURSE STATUS: 6.8% DIVINITY]
[OBJECTIVE: SILENCE THE CHOIR.]
Above us in the middle of the clouds was the Heavenly Choir. They were like a thousand lights that were singing and moving in perfect harmony. They did not have mouths. The music came from their whole being.
At the center of the choir was Lyric, the Cantor of Existence. She was like a conductor leading the song with her hands and eyes. She looked down at us with eyes that were like vibrating strings and her hands were moving in a pattern.
"Alaric von Valerius " the song came down to us. It was so beautiful that it hurt. "You are a note in a perfect song. You are the silence between the stars that should not be. We will sing to you until you believe you are nothing."
The music got louder and stronger. It was not just sound; it was like a force that was pushing against us. I felt my skin vibrating. My body was trying to move to the rhythm of the cathedral.
"Isabella, use the counter-point " I said. "Elara find the chord."
Isabella stuck her rapier into the quartz floor and a wave of energy came out. It did not just freeze the ground; it froze the sound itself. The air was filled with music that fell to the floor and broke. Elara opened her book. Started crossing out the notes, which made the frequency of the attack weaker.
I walked forward using my cane for support. Each time I hit the floor with my cane it made a purple sound that helped keep our reality stable.
"You have been singing the song for a very long time Lyric " I said, my voice low and angry. "It is time someone changed the music."
I raised my cane and my Eclipse Vanguard came out of my shadow. They moved in a jerky pattern that disrupted the harmony of the cathedral.
"Lets see how you sing when the audience is screaming " I said.
[Status: The Resonant Cathedral is broken. The Song of Erasure is failing.]
[Condition: The Choir is struggling to keep the melody.]
The clouds above us started to change color from silver to a purple-red. The air in the cathedral got thick and heavy. The crystal pillars started to crack.
The Heavenly Choir did not panic; they just sang louder. The music changed from a song to a loud painful shriek. It was like they were trying to vibrate our atoms
I felt my ribs vibrating and the divinity in my body was fighting against the soundwaves. It felt like a thousand tiny needles were trying to pull my soul out of my skin.
"They are targeting our soul-binds " Elara shouted, her hands glowing as she closed her book. "Master if we do not break their rhythm the Duo and I will be erased."
"I will give them a finale " I said.
I did not run. I just tapped my cane on the floor in a steady rhythm. With each tap a pulse of energy came out warping the light around us. I looked up at Lyric, who was getting frantic her hands moving fast to keep the music going.
"Vanguard, silence the choir " I said.
The Eclipse Vanguard jumped into the air. Slammed into the choir like stones. The beautiful music was broken by the sound of shattering glass.
I turned to Lyric. Raised my hand. The Ink of Rewrite came out of my fingers turning into musical notes that floated in the air.
"Isabella, the chord " I said.
Isabella jumped forward her rapier leaving a trail of time behind her. She reached the center of the choir. Stuck her blade into the heart of the music. A blast of energy froze the sound itself turning it into a physical wall of frozen noise that hung in the air.
In the silence I appeared behind Lyric. My hand filled with energy grabbed her throat. Her skin felt like metal under my touch.
"The song is over Cantor " I whispered.
I did not use a blade. I just forced the divinity into her being changing her frequency. I was not killing her; I was changing her.
[CURSE STATUS: 6.9% DIVINITY]
[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION: FREQUENCY OVERWRITE IN PROGRESS.]
[NEW ASSET: THE VOID-CHOIR ( Ability to silence or shatter reality with sound).]
The thousand voices of the choir did not disappear. They turned black their forms becoming shadows that knelt on the floor of the cathedral.
Lyric fell to the ground her eyes empty and dark. The Fourth Heaven was no longer a place of light; it was a tomb. I was the only one who could speak.
[Status: The Resonant Cathedral is silenced. Lyric is changed.]
[Condition: The Fifth Heaven is aware of the 'Great Silence'.]
I stood in the center of the nave my cane on the ground. The thousand members of the Void-Choir knelt around me like statues. Lyric was at my feet her skin now dark and twisted.
"The frequency of the universe has changed Master " Elara whispered, her fingers tracing the dark runes in her book. "By silencing the Fourth Heaven you have not just broken a layer of reality; you have disconnected the Gods from their hearts."
"They do not need hearts where I am taking them " I said.
I raised my cane. Hit the floor. The sound did not travel through the air; it traveled through our souls. The Void-Choir opened their mouths. No sound came out. Instead a wave of energy tore through the cathedral shattering the crystal pillars and revealing the gateway to the Fifth Heaven: The Archive of Souls.
[CURSE STATUS: 6.9% DIVINITY]
[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION: FOURTH HEAVEN ANNEXED.]
As the gateway opened the sound changed. A new vibration came from the Fifth Heaven, a heavy pulse that felt like a heartbeat.
Isabella stepped forward her rapier shining. "Someone is waiting for us, Alaric.. She does not look like she wants to fight."
Out of the rift came Sia, the Keeper of the Unwritten. She was the deity of forbidden desires and secrets. She looked at the destruction I had caused her eyes filled with a knowing hunger.
"The others tried to sing you into Sovereign " Sia said, her voice low and sultry. ". I want to hear the sound you make when you finally find something worth keeping."
She beckoned me with her finger stepping back into the shadows of the Archive. The air, around the rift got thick and heavy smelling of old parchment.
I felt this power the Divinity surge it was like 6.9 percent and the thing in my blood people called it a parasite it was reacting to something. It was not like it was scared or anything it was more like it was excited. The next big step, the 7.0 percent was, behind that door and I knew I could not get it by fighting or being quiet.
"Wait here " I told the Duo my voice sounded different it was like I had this power inside me.
I walked into the dark it was the Fifth Heaven. The door did not shut, it just. That meant the Archive was open and the Sovereign could take what it wanted.