The stars were out of rhythm.
Leo stood still, eyes fixed on the heavens. The constellations no longer aligned. Some had drifted. Others pulsed to a heartbeat not his own. One in particular—a crooked W-shaped pattern—throbbed every few seconds with a faint red hue.
> "Celestial Sync Deviation: 0.87%"
"Warning: Astral framework is adjusting to Composer Presence."
"Causality Threads destabilized in Zone: Velmark."
"...What the hell did I just break?" Leo muttered.
Kaldris rose slowly beside him, joints creaking. "Not a break. A tuning fork, struck too early. The system is echoing your frequency, attempting to match."
"Match what?"
"The Composer that never finished his song."
---
Aerin was silent for once, perched on a fractured pillar with a cloth pressed to her cheek where one of the Choir's harmonics had sliced through flesh and memory alike. Her gaze stayed distant.
She finally spoke. "I heard something back there. When the third figure vanished. A voice, but… older than words."
Leo turned to her. "What did it say?"
She met his eyes. "It said 'The fifth movement has begun.'"
---
> "System Notice: Resonant Anomaly Materializing."
"Item Created: Choir Keystone – Unstable."
"Location: Immediate."
"Note: Composer contact required for stabilization."
A shriek split the air—not a scream of pain, but of reentry. A streak of light tore downward, embedding in the center of the plaza. The impact carved a clean crater, from which floated a single object: a prism of translucent crystal, refracting invisible notes into the air around it.
Leo approached carefully.
> "Choir Keystone – Unique"
A fragment of harmonic structure, once part of the original Veil Song. Its melody has forgotten itself. Can be tuned by a Composer.
Options: [Stabilize] | [Absorb] | [Silence]
Three choices.
Three paths.
And the system, as always, refused to explain the consequences.
Aerin moved beside him. "Whatever you do... this time, don't act alone."
Leo's hand hovered above the prism. The crystal's surface rippled—not in response to his proximity, but to his emotion.
He was angry.
He was curious.
He was... afraid.
> "Composer Trait Engaged."
"Keystone reacting to: Dissonance."
Leo clenched his fist and made his choice.
> [Stabilize]
Light burst from the prism—sudden, searing, silent. The system didn't chime.
It sang.
A single note resonated outward, pure and haunting. And the world... shifted.
---
> "Harmonic Map Updated."
New Location Revealed: The Cadence Depths.
Status: Forgotten Sanctum – Sealed by 4 Choir Keystones.
Estimated Choir Presence: High.
Risk Tier: Lethal (A–S+ Echo Entities).
> "Composer Thread Initiated: Melody of the Forgotten."
"Objective: Recover the remaining Keystones. Complete the Choir Sequence. Reclaim control of the Veil's Voice."
---
Kaldris stepped forward. "The Depths were never supposed to awaken. Not unless the system was fractured beyond repair."
Leo looked at his palm, where glowing script now curled in a slow spiral across his skin. It wasn't just text—it was a score.
"Then we'd better find out who—or what—is trying to finish the song."
---
Far away, beyond the Veil, in a place neither corrupted nor system-aligned...
A figure sat alone in a floating hall of silence, surrounded by broken Choir relics. Her mask was etched with five empty lines—the kind musicians used to write notes.
Only one line had a note marked on it.
She reached toward it with a trembling finger and touched the sigil that had just activated in Velmark.
"A new Composer," she whispered. "Out of time. Out of tune."
Her eyes flickered open.
"Let the Discord begin."