Vibe's hands trembled slightly—not from fear, but anticipation—as she clutched her parents' fingers on either side. Her eyes, twin pools of wonder, shimmered as she took in the breathtaking sprawl of Hysteria Academy.
A sanctum of genius and potential, the academy was suspended between worlds—half-anchored in reality, half adrift in the Aural Fold, where sound bent space. Towers of crystalline alloy spiraled into the skies, each one singing in faint harmonic resonance. Gardens bloomed in defiance of gravity, their petals dancing through levitating platforms that hummed softly beneath passing feet. Laughter and conversation mingled with the ambient chimes of the campus—a living symphony of minds and melodies.
> "So this is where paths are composed... and destinies played," Vibe thought, breath catching in her throat.
At the heart of the academy lay the Principal's Sanctum, a warm, wood-paneled chamber tucked inside the central spire. A sharp contrast to the academy's futuristic grandeur, it smelled of polished mahogany, aged parchment, and something else—something older, like memory given scent.
Behind a curved desk of woven mythwood sat Principal Orion, his form flickering briefly between appearances—a man with silvery eyes, then a phoenix, then a living wave of ink—before settling into his default shape: a tall, dignified man with a weathered yet kind smile. As a shifter of forms and fates, Orion had long ceased to be bound by a single identity.
"Mr. and Mrs. Hase," Orion greeted, rising with a warmth that seemed to part the air around him. "Welcome. Please—sit."
Hase stepped forward and placed a crystalline orb on the desk. The moment it touched the surface, it dissolved into a cascading holographic array—strings of symbols, soundwaves, and flickering memories coalescing into Vibe's life profile.
Orion's eyes narrowed, not with suspicion, but fascination.
> "She's a child of resonance… and divergence."
"Ah… Fascinating," he murmured. "Soundwave manipulation with real-time reaction velocity approaching Mach 1.2... and a rare affinity for harmonic frequency weaving. And this... musical composition encoding?" He looked up, brows raised. "Is it true she plays the Lyra by intuition?"
Kimberly chuckled softly. "By emotion, more than intuition. She doesn't read notes—she feels them."
Hase nodded, his voice low with pride. "The first time she played, birds gathered outside our home. The second time… the wind stopped."
"Marvelous," Orion said with quiet awe. "Such harmonic instinct is not taught. It's born from something deeper. Perhaps even… ancient."
As the adults spoke, Vibe had already drifted toward the shelves lining the room. She traced a finger along the edge of a Quarta-Harp made of lunar silver, its strings vibrating faintly in her presence. Near it sat a flask of whispered fog, sealed with a rune to keep the voices inside from escaping. Her eyes sparkled.
Then she saw it.
Nestled in a nook on the Principal's desk, half-shrouded in shadows, was an object that didn't belong—not in this world, perhaps not in any. A crystal-like shard, jagged and pulsing with a pale azure light, floated an inch above its stand. Each thrum of its glow sent subtle ripples through the air—as if space itself held its breath whenever it beat.
The sound it made was unlike anything she'd ever heard.
Not music.
Not noise.
A feeling.
A resonance that matched the rhythm of her heart.
> Like it's… calling me.
"Principal Orion…" she asked softly, stepping closer, her hand almost brushing the air around the shard. "What is that?"
Orion's smile faltered.
Only for a second.
But Vibe caught it—the tension that suddenly laced the air. A silence too sharp, too deliberate.
Hase's shoulders stiffened. Kimberly's grip on her daughter's hand tightened.
Orion cleared his throat, reverting to his usual calm. "That? Just a curious little relic. A side project we're examining. Nothing to concern yourself with, Vibe."
But she wasn't convinced. Something deep within her stirred—as though her very soul recognized the frequency the crystal pulsed with. As though it was hers.
> No… not mine. Part of me.
The hum of levitation platforms outside faded into the background, replaced by a single, haunting sound—the beat of the crystal, echoing in her bones.
Orion watched her carefully now, not as a principal evaluating a student, but as a gatekeeper recognizing a dormant force awakening before its time.
> "So… the song of the void has found its heir."
Unspoken truths curled in the corners of the room like shadows behind candlelight.
And in that moment, Vibe knew—her time at Hysteria Academy would not be just about lessons or friends or youthful growth.
Something vast awaited her. Something lost.
A void of silence that even sound feared to enter.
But her music… her essence… was born to fill it.