Chapter 9 – Whispers Beneath the Ashes
"The blade remembers. The fire listens. The truth bleeds."
The Festival of Crimson Ash ended with laughter, fireworks, and firework-induced blindness for half the lower market square. For most of Serenthia, it was another year of drinking, dancing, and dodging overenthusiastic duelists.
But for Zayne...
It was the beginning of something far more dangerous.
---
Morning – The Broken Candle Inn
Zayne sat in silence, running his finger along the chipped edge of a tea cup. He hadn't slept.
The face beneath the mask.
The name he almost heard.
The burning voice locked inside a music box.
He was being watched. That much he knew now.
Velka leaned against the doorframe, arms crossed. "You gonna talk about it?"
"No."
Whisp was louder. "You dueled like a lunatic last night and nearly lost half your damn face! And you still won't tell us who that guy was?"
Zayne didn't respond.
Instead, he turned toward the window. "He knew my mother."
That shut them both up.
Saphren, their elven arcanist companion, entered with her usual grace, holding up a small crystal shard.
"Trace magic confirms it—his teleport spell used a signature glyph specific to The Aria. The same school your mother trained at."
Zayne's heart skipped.
The Aria was an ancient combat-magic sect. Secretive. Musical. Deadly. His mother had once called them orchestra assassins.
"Then we're hunting ghosts," he muttered.
---
Flashback – Zayne, Age 10
The fire crackled as Solenne—his mother—tuned a stringed blade, humming.
"Zayne," she said, "listen to the note."
She played a five-note melody.
"If you ever hear this… run."
"Why?"
She smiled faintly. "Because it means someone wants you to become a killer."
---
Back to Present
Zayne's fists clenched.
He hadn't run.
He had stood and fought.
And now that man had let him live—not out of mercy, but expectation.
As if Zayne had passed a test.
---
Elsewhere – Serenthia's Underbelly
The Black Ribbon Syndicate, Serenthia's largest underground network, met beneath a forgotten bathhouse.
A woman in a violet hood adjusted a broken mask on the table before her.
"The boy lives," she muttered.
Another voice, cold and deep, replied from the shadows.
"Then let him come. He carries her blood. He deserves to see the truth."
The woman's fingers twitched near a blade.
"She never told him what she did, did she?"
"No. And that secret will break him before we do."
They smiled.
---
Later – Saphren's Discovery
In the city's arcane registry, Saphren slammed an ancient book on the table.
Zayne read the title aloud: "The Fire Requiem: Techniques of the Silent Aria."
Inside were burned pages, sealed diagrams, and inked notes matching what the masked man had used.
One stood out:
> "Infernal Verse – 2nd Movement: Blazing Dirge."
Caution: users not attuned to harmonic bloodlines will suffer emotional degradation and memory collapse.
"Harmonic bloodline?" Zayne asked.
Saphren looked up slowly. "It's rare. Only passed down through blood—usually through song-activated mana resonance. Your mother had it."
Zayne froze.
"I might have it too."
Saphren nodded. "And so did the masked man."
---
Training Begins – New Resolve
Zayne stood shirtless in the courtyard behind the inn.
Wind. Dust. Silence.
He closed his eyes, remembering the tempo of the battle.
> Technique: Echo Step – Initiated
His form shimmered.
One step. Two.
He vanished.
Velka blinked as he reappeared behind a tree, gasping.
"That's new."
He smirked. "I've got more."
Each night's dream grew clearer. Each morning, his muscles hurt more. But something inside him felt… unlocked.
Not just his mother's legacy.
Something else.
Something buried deeper.
---
Meanwhile – A Merchant's Message
A traveling merchant delivered a black letter sealed with wax shaped like a broken lyre.
Zayne took it.
Inside:
> "Find the Hollow Chord beneath the Opera Ruins. There you'll hear the truth."
— S.
"Who's S?" Whisp asked.
Zayne didn't answer. He was already packing.
---
Scene: Journey to the Opera Ruins
Serenthia's outskirts gave way to the forested ruins of an old opera house—once the grandest in the continent. Now, vines and dust claimed it.
Saphren used a detection spell.
"No illusions. No traps."
They entered anyway.
Inside, music echoed faintly—though no instruments played.
A single staircase led downward.
Beneath the stage.
To the Hollow Chord.
---
Underground Encounter
In the stone chamber below, music hummed from the walls.
And standing at the center—was a woman in chains.
No older than thirty. Hair silver. Eyes bright gold.
Zayne stared.
She looked almost like…
"Mother?" he whispered.
She raised her head.
"No, child. But I raised the man who killed her."
TL/N:
This is not Solenne—but a former ally or rival. Likely one of the Aria's ex-members. Her connection to both Solenne and the masked man adds fuel to the larger conspiracy.
---
The woman gestured toward the music box on the altar.
"Open it. Hear the truth. But know that once you do… there's no going back."
Zayne stepped forward.
Fingers trembling.
He opened it.