The Endless Search [Legendseekers]

Pantalaimon and Troia stood amongst the crowd, awaiting what Chiptune had to say.

Chiptune cleared her throat before continuing to speak to the crowd of xyns before her. "I'm calling all of you here today because I've been told that every single one of you has heard a magical melody in your sleep within the past week... some sort of power from beyond is calling to all of you; and it's important that we listen to what it has to say. I have this gut feeling in my heart that we need to follow it- it's no coincidence that this is all happening before Mooneach goes to war," she said. "We might be able to save all of Moonreach with it, if we can understand what this melody is trying to tell us..."

The xyns below exchanged glances with each other, and began to murmur amongst themselves, looking about with some dissatisfaction. Some began to express their doubts aloud:

"A lot of us are average citizens, not knights. How are we even supposed to help?"

"If this is a compass, are we supposed to try to go somewhere outside of Moonreach? It's too dangerous to leave the city now!"

"Why should we believe you?"

Chiptune bit her lip, and circled above the crowd even more anxiously as she thought about how to answer their questions. But one sky-colored vexyn with feathered wyvern wings flew above the crowd to join Chiptune in circling above them.

"I'm Bravura," he introduced himself- his voice was gentle, and very pleasing to the ears. The crowd quieted to allow Bravura to speak. "I know this is a difficult time for us all. But, every time I heard this song in my sleep, I've had dreams of seeing our beautiful world reduced to ashes and corruption ooze with nothing left- and every time, I hear a haunting melody play, and the world turns a blinding white- I felt peace wash over me as I heard it’s final notes... Have any of you dreamed of something similar?"

The xyns in the crowd looked amongst each other again; and virtually all of them agreed with a resounding "YES!"

“Do you want our world to become what you had just seen in your dreams?”

“NO!” shouted the crowd.

"Then you need to listen to Chiptune and hear what she has to say,” Bravura said, firmly. “It's hard to have faith in these times. But if we stand by and bicker and never get started with finding a solution to all of this, we won't get any closer to saving our world and our loved ones."

Bravura nodded to Chiptune, allowing her to speak. Chiptune smiled, gratefully, before facing the crowd again.

“Thank you, Bravura. And thank you all,” she said, “For giving me a chance to speak. Every single one of you has a unique song that only belongs to you, and you alone; it’s the song of your soul- your Soul Song- that the compass uses to guide you in a specific direction. Let me demonstrate. I think we all need to see the exact direction our Soul Songs take us…” 

She furrowed her brows in thought as she conjured an enchanted lyre out of thin air, together with her own Clef Compass. She played her Soul Song to the crowd- a cheerful, bright, fast-paced tune. But something seemed wrong with her Clef Compass- the dial spun in all directions, rapidly, not pausing or stopping on a single direction until she gracefully ended her song. 

Pantalaimon and Troia looked at each other, and many Xyns in the crowd began to mutter amongst themselves again- even more confused than they already were before.

“That’s odd.” Chiptune frowned, and brought her Clef Compass close to her face to study it carefully. “This shouldn’t be happening. It’s almost like how the telestones and warpstones all across Lunerest suddenly stopped working- even shattering to pieces- in recent weeks… is something magically interfering with my Clef Compass? I played my Soul Song perfectly…”

She turned to Bravura, perplexed. “Can you try playing your own Soul Song, Bravura?” she asked. 

Bravura nodded, and sang a tranquil, slow-paced song. But the needle of his Cleff Compass hung around his chest, too, rapidly span in all directions- not landing on a single direction until he ended his song. 

Bravura was equally as baffled. “I played my Soul Song perfectly too. It’s never acted like this before whenever I’d play mine. Something’s wrong...”

Pantalaimon looked at their compass, intrigued by this development. “Is every unique Soul Song song supposed to make it’s Cleff Compass point in a specific direction?” they asked aloud. Troia put a law to her own, touching it briefly with a golden claw as if she was checking if anything might have been wrong with her own before she even played her own Soul Song.

Chiptune scratched her head. “Yes, normally. But these circumstances seem like they’re far from normal.” She turned to the crowd, slowly. “Even if you’ve never played your soul song before- even if you’ve never played music at all- please try your absolute best to compose and play something from deep within your heart. Don’t worry about embarrassing yourself; many of you will be newbies here! Just try yoru absolute best. The compasses will always respond, as long as what you play is deep from your heart.”

One by one, xyns followed her instructions- some were more musically talented and immediately played a beautiful piece, only for their compasses to spin out of control. Many were not as skilled- some had never even had experience in playing music before- yet their compasses would still respond.

But regardless of the type of song, or the level of skill between xyns, the result was the same with every Clef Compass; the dial always spun out of control, never settling for a second until the song ended…

Pantalaimon frowned. It was apparent that no the result would be the same for them too, even before they played. They rummaged through the knapsack that they wore on their back to bring out an aged flute with their levitational magic. It was one that they had kept since their younger years- their favorite instrument- and they brought it to their lips to play it quietly...