The Bard's Basement
In a place where music is forbidden, even a whisper becomes a crime."
---
The night was heavy.
Even the moon seemed a little sad tonight—
like it knew… something was about to change.
Sera and I quietly made our way to the old part of the city.
The place where some houses were nothing but hollow shells…
and others were still heavy with memories.
> "Someone told me about this place,"
Sera said softly.
"The girl… the one who used to sing behind the window."
I nodded.
Her humming… it still echoed inside me.
---
After walking through a twisted, narrow alley,
we found a small wooden hatch—
half-buried under the dirt.
Sera knelt down,
placed her hand gently on it,
and sang a low, soft note—
almost like a secret password.
Click.
The lock popped open.
Beneath it… darkness.
But there was something else, too.
A faint hum, waiting for us.
---
When we climbed down,
there was a small underground hall.
Not silence…
but sound.
Four or five people were there—
each with their own instrument.
There was no stage.
No audience.
Just nervous hearts… and a quiet hope.
That maybe, someday,
music wouldn't feel like a lie anymore.
An old woman—her eyes holding a thousand songs—
stepped in front of me.
> "You're Noen, right?"
"Your music… it's already reached the roots of Silencia."
I didn't say anything.
I just picked up my violin,
strummed a small note.
> "I only came to listen."
"You guys should play."
But one of the younger boys shook his head.
> "No… you should play."
"We've only been hiding music all this time."
"But you… you've come to fight for it."
---
That night,
the basement came alive with sound.
One used voice modulation.
One lit fire across his metal strings.
And me—
I wrote a new song.
> "These melodies won't hide anymore…"
"Not in the dirt, not in fear…"
"As long as we have a voice,
we're still alive."
---
When the song ended…
there was clapping.
Shaky.
Soft.
But real.
And in the far corner of that basement,
a shadow quietly closed his notebook.
> "Ravon… was listening all along."
---
To be continued…