Volume 2, Chapter 64: The Color of Nothing
I spent twenty minutes this morning rubbing rendered animal fat into the leather of my left boot. It was a messy, deeply unglamorous job. By the time I finished, my hands smelled like old bacon and I had managed to get a grease stain on my trousers.
But when I walked down the academy hallway and heard nothing but the solid, quiet thud of my heel on the stone? Pure bliss. Who knew the cure for a world-ending annoyance was just a little pig fat? Sometimes you have to appreciate the small victories.
I was sitting at my desk, enjoying the quiet, when a paper bird fluttered through my open window. It smelled like ash and incense. A message from the Phoenix Hall.
The note was short. A village a few miles east, San Isidro, had gone completely dark. No messages, no travelers, no resonance. It was like someone had taken an eraser to the map. Chen Feng was testing his new weapon again, and he was getting better at it.
I stood up and grabbed my coat. I couldn't go fix it myself. Arbitrator Vane was watching my every move, waiting for me to slip up and show my hand. If I went out there and cleared the sickness with a wave of my hand, the Hall of Execution would be at my door by sunset.
Who decided that teenagers make the best soldiers anyway? Oh, right. I did.
I walked out to the training yard. Yuhao and Qiu'er were already there. They were sitting on the grass, a few feet apart, breathing in a synchronized rhythm. Ever since they fixed the crystal, they had this strange pull toward each other.
"Get up," I said, clapping my hands. "Field trip. We have a problem in San Isidro."
Yuhao scrambled to his feet. Qiu'er stood up slower, brushing the dirt off her knees. She looked at me with those intense pink eyes.
"We are not going alone, are we?" she asked.
"No, you're not," a new voice said.
A girl walked out from the shadow of the weapon racks. She was shorter than Qiu'er, with dark hair tied back in twin buns. She wore a simple green uniform, and she was spinning a dark bamboo flute between her fingers.
This was Xiao Xiao. On paper, she was a quiet, top-tier student from the inner courtyard. But in reality? She was my secret. She was the daughter of the Great Priest of the Phoenix Hall, and she carried the Three Lives Cauldron and the Nine Phoenix Dancing Flute. More importantly, she knew exactly who I was.
"Professor Lakas," Xiao Xiao said, bowing slightly. Her voice was perfectly respectful, but her eyes were laughing. She shot me a quick, knowing smirk.
"Yuhao, Qiu'er, this is Xiao Xiao," I said, ignoring the smirk. "She's joining my special class. And she's coming with you to San Isidro. You leave in ten minutes. Figure out what's wrong with the village and fix it. Do not destroy the town square. I will know if you do."
•••••••
The trip to San Isidro took two hours by foot. I didn't go with them, but I didn't have to. I sat in my office, closed my eyes, and listened to the faint, lingering thread of Xiao Xiao's flute. I could see what they saw.
The village was gone.
It was still physically there, but it looked like a faded pencil sketch. The grass at the edge of the town line was brittle and grey. The wooden houses had no color. Even the sky above the village looked like a dirty sheet of glass.
There was absolutely no sound. The wind blew through the trees, but it didn't rustle the leaves. It was a void. Chen Feng's corruption had eaten the local resonance entirely.
Yuhao stepped over the boundary line. He immediately stumbled, grabbing his chest.
"The movement of energy is gone," Yuhao gasped, his voice sounding flat and muffled. "It's completely empty. It hurts to breathe."
Qiu'er caught his arm before he could fall. She didn't flinch at the silence. She just held him steady. Her hands were warm, and for a second Yuhao just stared at her. He didn't pull away.
"The earth here is dead," Qiu'er said, looking at the grey dirt. "Something forced the life out of it. It's unnatural."
Xiao Xiao stepped across the line next. She didn't stumble. She spun her flute in her hand and tapped it against her palm.
"It's not dead," Xiao Xiao corrected. "It's just forgotten how to move. We need to remind it."
She brought the Nine Phoenix Dancing Flute to her lips.
This was the reason I chose her. The world is built on a specific vibration. I made it that way ten thousand years ago. When Chen Feng introduces his cold, rigid method into a space, it cancels out that vibration. You can't fight it with raw power. You have to fight it with a better rhythm.
Xiao Xiao played a single note.
The sound didn't travel through the air. It felt like dropping a heavy stone into a still pond. A ripple of pure, piercing green light shot out from the end of the flute.
The grey world shattered for a fraction of a second. A patch of grass near her feet turned violently green.
"Yuhao!" Xiao Xiao called out, taking the flute away from her lips for a breath. "I can give you the rhythm, but I can't push it through the whole village. The sickness is too heavy. I need a battering ram."
Yuhao nodded. He looked at Qiu'er. He didn't need to say anything. The understanding between them sparked to life.
"I have the power," Qiu'er said. Her golden hair began to float, glowing with the raw, untamed light of the Auspicious Beast. "Tell me where to push."
Yuhao activated his Spirit Eyes. His pupils flared with a pale gold light. He looked at the grey void, scanning the air. He wasn't looking for enemies. He was looking for the weak points in the silence.
"There," Yuhao said, pointing to a large, withered oak tree in the center of the village. "The silence is thickest there. It's the anchor. Hit it, Qiu'er. Follow Xiao Xiao's note."
Xiao Xiao raised her flute again. She didn't play a single note this time. She played the first bar of the Seven Tone Chaos Nirvana. It was a human imitation of my Adarna song — flawed and rough around the edges, but it was still beautiful.
A massive, illusory cauldron materialized in the air above them. The Three Lives Cauldron. It acted as an amplifier, catching the notes of the flute and throwing them forward like a shockwave.
Qiu'er moved. She didn't run; she lunged forward in a blur of gold. She followed the path of Xiao Xiao's music straight toward the withered oak tree. She pulled her fist back, her knuckles shining like a miniature sun.
She punched the trunk of the tree.
The impact made no sound at first. Then a massive crack echoed through the village. It sounded like glass breaking.
Color flooded back into the world. It didn't happen slowly. The grey washed away in a violent tide of green leaves, brown dirt, and blue sky. The wind howled, the birds in the distance screamed, and the local resonance snapped back into place like a rubber band.
Yuhao collapsed onto his knees, gasping for air as the natural stream of soul power rushed back into his lungs. Qiu'er turned around and walked back to him. She offered him a hand.
"You found the center," she said, pulling him up. "Good eyes."
"You broke it," Yuhao replied, wiping sweat from his forehead. He gave her a small smile. "Good punch."
Xiao Xiao lowered her flute. The giant cauldron vanished into mist. She looked at the two of them, shaking her head in quiet amusement.
"Alright, you two," Xiao Xiao teased, putting the flute back in her belt. "Let's sweep the houses and make sure the villagers are actually awake. The Professor is probably waiting for a report."
•••••
I opened my eyes in my office.
The thread of the music faded away. They did well. Xiao Xiao was exactly the catalyst they needed, and the bond between the boy and the dragon was growing fast.
But I didn't have time to celebrate.
I looked at the window. Standing in the courtyard below, staring directly up at my office, was Arbitrator Vane. She had a squad of Executioners with her, and they were rolling a large metallic device covered in glowing warning runes through the front gates.
I let out a long sigh and rubbed my eyes.
My boot was quiet, but the rest of the world was getting entirely too loud.
End of Volume 2, Chapter 64