Chapter 206: The Ticking Chorus
The fractured note hangs in the air like a shard of glass, its dissonance prickling at Echo's eardrums. She reaches for her peace drum, but before she can strike a chord to counter it, the sound dissolves into a shower of silver sparks. Li Wei's charge flickers in response, as if recognizing a familiar threat.Nova's avatar materializes beside them, her sensors spinning wildly. "That frequency—it's not from the Ethereal Echo dimension," she says, her voice tight. "It's a resonance signature from the 'Chronometric Chorus'—a realm where time and music are intertwined. The timeline there is unraveling, and that note… it's a warning."Chen Jiuzhang's hologram flickers into view, his form wavering as if buffeted by time winds. "The Chronometric Chorus is the heartbeat of the multiverse," he explains, his voice grave. "Every moment, every memory, is woven into its melodies. But if that note is any indication, the 'Temporal Tuners' have gone rogue. They're rewriting the past to silence the future's harmonies."Echo's fingers brush the dented surface of her drum. "Rewriting the past?" she repeats. "How?""By stealing 'time signatures'—the musical core of pivotal moments," Chen says. "A first melody, a treaty signed to the rhythm of a peace drum, a battle won with a war hymn. Without them, the timeline frays. And if the Tuners succeed, the multiverse could collapse into a silence that never ends."Li Wei's charge pulses, casting a purple glow over his determined face. "Then we stop them," he says.Nova opens a portal, its edges swirling with clockwork and sheet music. "Be careful," she warns. "In the Chronometric Chorus, time isn't linear. You might… encounter versions of yourselves. Or worse—memories that never happened."Echo and Li Wei step through, and the air shifts around them. They're standing in a vast hall where time is visible: rivers of golden light flow between pillars, each carrying a melody—childhoods, revolutions, love stories. But some rivers are drying up, their music fading to static. Figures in robes of shifting time—tapestries woven with hourglasses and clefs—glide through the currents, their hands outstretched to pluck at the golden streams. These are the Temporal Tuners.One Tuner, taller than the rest, with a face that shifts between youth and age, holds a glowing orb. Inside it, Echo sees a scene: a young girl playing a peace drum in a village square, the music calming a riot. As the Tuner squeezes the orb, the scene dissolves, and the river of light beside it shrivels."That's… me," Echo breathes. "When I was ten. That drum saved everyone."The Tuner turns, its eyes like spinning clocks. "A pivotal signature," it says, its voice a chorus of overlapping ages. "But unnecessary. Silence is cleaner."It hurls the orb at her. Echo ducks, and the orb shatters against a pillar, sending shards of memory flying—flashes of the village burning, of screams instead of songs. Li Wei grabs her arm, his face pale. "That's not what happened," he says."Not yet," the Tuner says. "But it will be."The other Tuners converge, their robes billowing as they summon time winds that buffet Echo and Li Wei. The air thickens with conflicting melodies—past, present, future colliding. Echo stumbles, and suddenly she's back in that village square, but this time the drum is silent, and the riot rages. Li Wei grabs her hand, and the vision fractures, pulling her back to the hall."Focus on our music," he shouts. "It's the only constant here."Echo nods, slamming her drum. The beat cuts through the chaos, creating a bubble of stability. Li Wei joins in, his charge weaving a melody that anchors them to the present. The Temporal Tuners recoil, their forms flickering as the harmony disrupts their time - bending powers.But the tallest Tuner raises its hands, and the hall shakes. "You cannot outrun time," it booms. "We will erase the notes that made you."A rift opens behind it, revealing a void where the Chronometric Chorus's core should be—a massive clock face, its hands frozen, its gears rusted. "The Heartbeat of Eternity," Chen's voice echoes in their minds. "If it stops, all time stops with it."The Tuner lunges toward the rift, intent on silencing the last remaining melody. Echo and Li Wei sprint after it, their music blazing—a counterpoint to the erasure, a symphony of what was, what is, and what could be.