Re: The Vivacious Deadlock: S3G6: Round Two: BJ
04-20-2012, 10:37 PM
(This post was last modified: 11-19-2021, 06:45 AM by Anomaly.)
A stiff wind blew through the streets of Santa Nada. The Kryesan stood poised atop the small hill near the edge of the town, the one on which a small temple to some nondescript force of nature stood. They'd tear it down, the high priest had said. They would rebuild it bigger, better, to honor their new god. It would last through the ages. Even in a thousand years, the people would praise the great and mighty Sf'rzando, the God of Music.
Adesa almost felt sorry for the priest for spinning such a lie. Nonetheless, it was her duty as the Second Kryesan's central head to ensure their survival by any means necessary. She feared - they all feared - that whatever Kryesan might succeed them would destroy everything they had built up over a hundred years. They had a duty to their people, and that was all that truly mattered.
And yet, she could not ignore Dokona, the triarch's left-hand head, as she voiced her recommendations. Now that they had secured themselves as the "God of Music", they would have little choice but to fight the Phantoms, who were virtually upon the city as they spoke. A weapon, Akraman had conceded. A weapon was what they truly needed, one that could strike down their masked enemies with more power than anything the town had before seen. Santa Nada was sadly lacking in any sort of true defense system - nothing that could possibly destroy the invaders en masse - but such a weapon would take many years to develop, an amount of time the Kryesan certainly did not have.
And so it was, in those waning hours, that Original Synth was forged by Santa Nada's greatest weaponsmiths and artisans alike. A design fit for a god - two rows of keys befitting the multitude of arms "Sf'rzando" could produce at will, attached to two great towers to focus and deliver the full power of the weapon. Perhaps only with such a weapon would the town survive the onslaught, and even more importantly, would the Kryesan survive this infernal battle for the amusement of some higher being. Only four others remained now - with any luck, one of them would die in the battle and they'd be one step closer to returning to Typhra.
The distant sound of organs interspersed with drums heralded the approach of the Phantoms. The time had come.
Santa Nada's fate would be decided on this night.
Nalyg gazed down the streets of the town, hearing the dark tones of the Symphony growing up from Santa Nada's core. Odd, he thought. Why would the Symphony be playing now? The city wasn't being invaded. Not yet, anyway. Something was definitely wrong about the whole situation.
"Is this supposed to be happening?" Kanpeki asked Thovebeen, although the priest's grim expression immediately gave them an answer. He appeared to be detached, contemplative, and paused for a great while before responding.
"The Symphony... it isn't normal. This is not the Symphony that has protected Santa Nada for hundreds of years. This... This cannot be allowed to continue. I don't know what will happen if it does, but I fear that we have worse things to worry about than Thünderwölf. Please, I implore you. Stop the Symphony before it is too late."
"It will be done, my priest," Nalyg responded.
"I'm going as well," Ivan added. He wasn't sure what, exactly, had compelled him to act as such. He wasn't one for fighting so much as staying out of a fight whenever possible. But, nonetheless, something about the Symphony intrigued him. It was the same sort of underlying rhythm that he had earlier felt throughout Santa Nada, but on a much grander scale. The Symphony was the crux of this rhythm, its signature more profound than anything else for many miles around. It was as if the subtle tune of this universe was being routed in full force, channeled into something both great and terrifying.
And for some deep, primal reason, Ivan wanted to go closer. He'd have to play a part in destroying it, almost assuredly endangering his own life, but he felt a sort of pulling sensation. He would go because, on some level, he had to. He was almost afraid not to.
"Very well," Nalyg replied. "Just be careful out there. I fear this may be beyond all of us."
Cedric slowly rose from the cart full of excrement, angrily spitting out whatever had managed to find its way into his mouth. He fished Sigrär from the depths of the muck, unnoticed by the guard as they continued to struggle with Horsegark. His bearings regained, he immediately burst from the shitwagon, spraying the guards with manure as he mounted Horsegark and rode away, not even attempting to take down the guards. Ordinarily he would have enjoyed taking them all on at once (for the minute or two the fight would actually last), but he had a hydra to kill and wasn't going to let them get too far away.
The problem, naturally, was that he didn't actually have any idea where they might have gone. He wandered around the town for a while (wandering, in this case, meaning furiously racing on the back of an extremely large and dangerous horse), but ultimately had little success in locating his target. Some sort of unusual music had begun wafting from the center of town, but Cedric didn't really care enough to investigate. He had more important things to eviscerate than some organ player or whatever.
It was about at the time that Cedric noticed his target hurrying toward the middle of the town that a horde of vikings smashed through the city's gate and began marauding through the streets. Unfortunately, Cedric happened to be directly in the path down which the vikings were charging.
Unfortunately for the vikings, that is.
Isn't that Cedric over there? Razaran questioned. Kanpeki glanced off into the distance, noticing the knight, mounted on his horse, standing around in the street before a nearby gate was smashed in and a bunch of invaders poured in. Assuredly not the full force of Thünderwölf, but a decently-sized detachment nonetheless. The knight had at this point began, as it might be described, rocking out, taking on the full force of the invaders with relative ease.
Strange that they would be invading now, Kanpeki thought to herself. Wasn't the Symphony designed specifically to kill anyone who attacked the city? And yet, with the Symphony plainly audible even from the edge of town, this horde was perfectly willing to charge in and make a general mess of things.
Moreover, a barely-audible second voice slowly came to light, intermixed with the omnipresent fugue which now covered the town. It wasn't exactly clear how long it had been playing as such, as it had remained masked until the hydra had practically run into the building housing the Symphony. Either way, Thovebeen was right - something was definitely wrong if a weapon of mass destruction was suddenly accompanied by a strangely electronic-sounding but inidentifiable instrument.
The opera house now loomed before the Kryesan, very ornate and very, very old. The sounds of the Symphony poured out, the elaborate melodies that had protected the town of Santa Nada for ages now being used for some unknown, possibly-asinine-but-probably-extremely-dangerous purpose. It was apparently up to the Kryesan to stop it, possibly destroy it, and also not die or destroy Santa Nada in the process.
It was these last couple of conditions that worried Kanpeki the most. She watched as Razaran drew Original Synth from the back of the unfortunately-restrictive armor and placed her hands upon the keys.
Someone almost certainly was going to come out of this significantly less alive.
Meanwhile (not that time is extremely relevant in this case), in a dementedly twisted tower only halfway existing within the multiverse as a whole, a dark, ill-defined figure stood over an enormous red worm, its figure almost as indistinct. The Tormentor's multitude of red eyes were fixated mostly on the worm, and his grin was significantly less insane than was the norm.
"...You did what."
"I did what they thought I couldn't, Tormy," the worm began. "I created life. Not even alive, and yet I still did it! Do you know how that feels, Tormy? Do you?"
The Tormentor sighed. "Look, you and I both know what you did. You tore yourself apart, and for what? This? You were so despondent over one little reverse-gendered you! You were planning on doing what, making babies with a reality-bending manwhore? But of course that wouldn't have worked. You just tore yourself into several pieces and called them life! And that's great. Really pretty respectable!"
The Spectator made little in the way of movement, still sprawled across a floor which existed in a different number of dimensions each time anyone looked at it. "Why did you kill him, though, Tormy? Do you know what that was like? It was no different from killing me! I had to do this, Tormy. I had to."
The Tormentor gave an entirely inappropriate laugh, as if the Spectator had done nothing more than tell a vaguely-amusing joke. "That wasn't even slightly you, Speccy! That idiot should never have existed in the first place! You didn't see me having a psychotic fit when I ripped the Tormentress to shreds, did you? You're different, Speccy. You're better than he was. I mean, other than the whole going-insane-and-tearing-yourself-apart thing, but even that seemed to work out.
"You see," the Tormentor started, "the difference is that you are supposed to exist. He only existed like that because of the Tormentress, and she was placed there by me in the first place. She wasn't actually like me, you're right. Just an inferior copy. But things still played out the same way there, so there you have a false Spectator. It was all good fun, but you know I had to destroy them and repair things before both realities collapsed on each other. So I did! The point I'm making here is seriously stop going crazy and fragmenting yourself into pieces. I'm not even talking to all of you right now!"
The Tormentor stared directly at the Spectator's face-analogue, projecting to it a simultaneous view of all events of the Vivacious Deadlock up to the present point. "You do remember this, don't you? You know, the battle you're supposed to be running? Looks like something moderately entertaining is about to happen. Another of your sacrifices is about to meet their end you're not even paying attention are you."
The Tormentor sighed as the worm failed to give a response.
Utter chaos. A madhouse. An unimaginable degree of lunacy.
These things are exactly what Razaran saw as the hydra, followed by Ivan, entered the opera house and found their way to the main auditorium, the site of the single most bizarre battle he had ever seen. Even counting the recent duel with the knight when he had been forced to sing just to survive. He desperately hoped this wouldn't be the case again.
Either way, the auditorium was very much unlike any performance hall he had ever seen (not that he had ever been that much into performing arts) - where there should have been seats and carpet there appeared instead to be restraints (probably for torture) and blood-stained metal. In front of the stage lay a swirling black mass, pulsating and spasming violently, but not yet an immediate threat. Nalyg attempted to and failed to identify what it might have been. Even Kanpeki had no idea beyond it being connected to the Symphony in some way, as if it weren't already obvious.
On the stage stood Cascala and Harmon, the former playing the previously-heard electronic instrument and Harmon singing above it. The organ had somehow simply become accompaniment, background to the mage's playing and the scientist's crescendoing vocals. The black mass seemed to be reacting violently to this singing, which was apparently almost at its climax as soon as they had entered.
And then the mass that was the Symphony exploded. Figuratively.
Cedric laughed as he shredded on his guitar, sending another wave of vikings flying into several different buildings simultaneously. Poor bastards. Probably misinformed or something. Expected there to be a full-on invasion going on by now, but nope. Just a knight. Of rock. Not that Cedric really even knew what rock was as far as music was concerned. What he did know was the doling out of pain.
It was a bit depressing to watch, actually. What could have, with backup, been a truly devastating invasion force was being beaten back by one man. The vikings carried on with their various horns and synthesizers, but wave after wave of destructive sound was countered by furious guitaring. From the start it was a hopeless situation for the forces of Thünderwölf, and it went downhill from there. Pretty soon the attack broke off. Cedric heard one of them shouting something about the Symphony being abnormal and the commandos actually succeeding for once before the whole mass sprinted back out through the gate.
Deprived once again of any semblance of challenge (not that any of the vikings would likely have provided any), Cedric remembered that he really did have a hydra to kill, and brought Horsegark to a swift gallop toward the center of Santa Nada. Above him soon stood the source of the Symphony, the opera house that his target (and maybe some others?) had fled into. Cedric dismounted Horsegark and began walking toward the entrance, Sigrär at the ready.
And then the roof of the opera house exploded. Literally.
Ivan watched, perplexed, as the fluid form of the Symphony expanded, pouring out through the ceiling but continually flowing from the unseen depths of the orchestra pit. Given the fact that it had just smashed the opera house's ceiling to bits, he wasn't really sure that it was even under the Maestro's control anymore. What sense would it make for a defense system to destroy what it was supposed to be defending? Maybe Cascala and Harmon had done something with their song, though why the Symphony could be overcome so apparently-simply was another item on the growing list of unknowns.
Easily felt and heard by everyone in the building were the tremors and crashes as the Symphony began tearing buildings apart, piece by piece. Unnoticed, however, by anyone besides Ivan was the fact that a large mass of people appeared to be storming into the city. Whether this was simply due to panic amongst the destruction or further members of Thünderwölf was uncertain, although the fact that they were running toward the opera house gave credence to the latter. Strange that they would decide to invade in full force considering the state of the city, but perhaps they assumed they were in control of it somehow. Maybe they were in control of it somehow.
For now, at least, the black liquid mass wasn't focused on killing anyone inside of the opera house. However, the red-armor-clad, guitar-wielding knight who had just charged through the door seemed much more ready to do so. Nalzaki instinctively played a note on Original Synth, sending a burst of lightning to the ground at Cedric's feet.
And now Cedric looked ready to retaliate. Nalyg, however, was shouting over the still-overbearing (and apparently endless) organ fugue, something about "mutual destruction" and "everyone dying". Cedric unflinchingly refused and started playing his guitar. Razaran interjected with something about Harmon and the Symphony, causing Cedric's guitar riff to suddenly fall flat.
Ivan, however, was more concerned with the unpredictable actions of the Symphony, attempting to come up with a method of stopping it. He couldn't tell what it was even made of, let alone how to kill it. As far as he could tell it was an imbiguous sort of liquid, or a shadow given form.
A shadow given form. Sounded familiar. Ivan took a glance at Klendel, who was apparently engaging in a rather one-sided conversation with the scientist. Maybe it would work after all. But they'd need to distract the mass, or the Cog would probably be able to to little against the destructive force of the Symphony. As such he rushed to Nalzaki's side, frantically eloquating his possibly-crazy idea to the hydra (and, consequently, Cedric as well). Feeling especially industrious, he swiped the microphone Cedric was keeping at his side and ran to the stage. He first handed the microphone to Harmon, and then began to tell Klendel his theory as well.
Before Klendel could respond, though, Cedric charged onto the stage, grabbed the Cog by the gear, and tossed him headfirst into the Symphony. Ivan stared, dumbfounded, as the knight immediately began flirting with Harmon or something. Apparently now was the best time for that.
The Symphony was not pleased with the fact that it now had a being inside of it intent on its death. With only a moment's delay, its mass began pouring back in through the ceiling, now focused more on killing these (dangerous) pests rather than destroying the city that had imprisoned it for hundreds of years, used it for their own purposes. It thrashed around as Klendel tried to take control, giving Harmon enough time to make sense of what the hell was even happening and make an attempt at counteracting it.
[color="SeaGreen"]Accompanied yet by no instruments (even the organ had slow dropped down to nothing), she began to sing slowly, voice growing up from silence.
Oh mama, I'm in fear for my life from the long arm of the law
Lawman has put an end to my running and I'm so far from my home
The Symphony smashed itself against the walls in its struggle, accentuating a heartbeat-esque "THUMP-thump" in the background.
Oh mama, I can hear your crying you're so scared and all alone
Hangman is coming down from the gallows and I don't have very long[/color]
"YEEEEAAAAHH!" Cedric was inexplicably compelled to shout, before he began accompanying Harmon's lyrics with his own guitar. Cascala seamlessly joined in, harmonizing with the chords the knight belted out. As the increased level of instrumentation came in, parts of the Symphony's formless mass began smashing into the nearly-indestructable metal floors and chairs at a much more rapid, but still consistently rhythmic, pace.
[color="SeaGreen"]The jig is up the news is out they've finally found me
The renegade who had it made retrieved for a bounty
Never more to go astray
This will be the end today of the wanted man[/color]
Nalyg listened to the very sudden, apparently improvised spectacle onstage, which was having a notable effect on the mutual now-enemy of everyone in the room. Even Cascala, who had caused it to go free in the first place, was now assisting in subduing it. But even the increased level of music wasn't enough to stop such a formidable weapon as the Symphony. Tendrils of unidentifiable black matter began to extend from its mass, smashing chairs off the ground they were bolted to, attempting to reach and destroy the combatants onstage. It would take much more to stop such an enemy.
And much more is exactly what Razaran and Kanpeki, working in union, delivered. Three of their four hands flew across the keys of Original Synth, powering the two heavy Tesla coils strapped to their armor. Focused bolts of electricity shot into the dark mass, accompanied by a sound that could perhaps only be described as "tuned lightning". The Symphony convulsed at the sudden use of the legendary weapons, yet did not yield.
[color="SeaGreen"]Oh mama, I've been years on the lam and had a high price on my head
Lawman said get him dead or alive now it's for sure he'll see me dead
Dear mama, I can hear you crying you're so scared and all alone
Hangman is coming down from the gallows and I don't have very long[/color]
Ivan, too, prepared to join in as soon as he could. Not long after Harmon had begun her song, he had unstrapped his newly-acquired laser harp, set it in place, and activated it. A beam of green light shot up from the box, stopping at the ceiling and fanning outward to form the familiar harp-esque shape. As Harmon segued back into the chorus, he layered in as well.
[color="SeaGreen"]The jig is up, the news is out they finally found me
The renegade who had it made retrieved for a bounty
Never more to go astray
The judge'll have revenge today on the wanted man[/color]
The hall grew quiet for a moment as Cedric rapidly strummed Sigrär, not simply overpowering the other players but, for a moment, quite literally forcing all sound away. This effect could not be held for long, but Cedric at this point had begun, and he was not easy to stop. Harmon took a break as Cedric continued his solo, now completely absorbed in his extremely violent craft.
Unlike Cedric, Klendel was not having nearly as good of a time with himself. He was only vaguely aware of the impromptu concert that had broken out below, focused much more on the fact that he was lodged inside of an enormous, destructive, music-powered force that was intent on destroying everything around him. This was one of the worst possible situations the Cog could have found himself in, all because he had failed to pay attention to the lumbering idiot in red. Everything was completely out of hand. Klendel loathed to be out of control for even a moment, and here he was, inside of a shadowy musical deathblob and expected to keep it under control.
Sure, he was having some success due to its nature, but it was resisting, and strongly. Trying as he might, Klendel could not keep the Symphony under control past preventing it from destroying everything entirely.
A thought crossed his mind. Perhaps he should simply have stopped fighting it and instead just let it kill someone. Just like that, all of his problems would be solved, and he'd be back in full control in a less cacophonous, chaotic locale. This thought immediately dissolved when he remembered that the Symphony was also making an active effort to kill him, and any lapse in concentration would probably lead to a rather messy death. Though disgusted with the whole affair, he continued to play his part.
It wasn't working.
Cedric was easily playing with enough force to knock a man unconscious (and flying across the room), perhaps even to wound a run-of-the-mill Typhren, but the Symphony was neither of those things.
Even the Maestro had joined back in by this point, accompanying Cedric with his extremely out-of-place, deep, and loud organ tones. Somehow, though, he managed to make a Bachesque fugue fit with the musical stylings of more than two centuries later. But the instrument could no longer control the Symphony as it once had - the chains had been broken, the amorphous creature unbound.
It was then that the Symphony convulsed violently and smashed the front end of the stage into the now-empty orchestra pit, sending a rain of splinters and scrap metal at anyone unfortunate to be nearby. In spite of everything, they were still fighting a losing battle. Razaran eyed one of several dials and switches on the front of the keytar he grasped, noting that Original Synth was not yet turned up all the way, but merely to the highest apparent "safe" settings.
We're not at full power, Razaran hurriedly thought at Nalyg, allowing Kanpeki to take full control for the time being.
Then turn it up! This whole place is going to come down!
We should just aim at Cedric, instead. It'd get it out of here and we'd have nothing to worry about! At this point, Razaran was mentally shouting at Nalyg.
You know we can't do that, Razaran! We kill him, and then what? Everyone in Santa Nada dies! We release this thing on the world!
It's not our world, Nalyg! What's the sense in dying for this? Typhra needs us!
Who said anything about dying? What kind of leader would I be- would we be, if we let everyone here die after all of this? Turn it up!
Razaran begrudgingly did so, bringing the bursts of electricity to near-deafening levels, increasing also the magnitude of each bolt the coils emitted. In spite of everything, Razaran could see Nalyg's point. Why lead an entire city, or perhaps an entire culture, to believe that their god was defeated, or abandoned them? Besides, they were practically indestructable. Nothing could possibly go wrong.
Razaran joined in on the keytar again, coordinating with Kanpeki a solo line to match Cedric's own. Almost immediately, they had engaged in a sort of musical duel, except for the fact that the destructive waves of sound were focused on the Symphony rather than each other. Each of the hydra's heads could feel the increased power of the coils, almost beyond the ability of the armor to absorb. They weren't exactly sure what would happen if the armor were to fail, but it probably wouldn't be good.
The Symphony was weakening. For the first time in its existence, it was being fully counteracted, perhaps even overcome. Perhaps it was that its host was insufficient for it to attain full power, but this was very obviously not the case. What had once been Crowe had only added to the power of the Symphony. It should have been invincible. Fury welled up within the mass. It stopped massacring vikings and destroying buildings as it came to the realization that the townsfolks' so-called "God of Music" was, in fact, the reason for this change.
The Symphony's full mass entered the opera house, and immediately flew toward the hydra. The amalgam of music and hate crashed against the Kryesan, attempting to destroy its weapons but only succeeding in cracking its armor before being forced to pull back.
This wasn't good at all. The already-barely-sufficient armor was now physically damaged as well. Nalzaki felt the sheer destructive force of Original Synth seeping in, slowly ripping at their beings. Even Kanpeki momentarily considered killing Cedric or maybe Cascala in order to save themselves. Nevertheless, they kept up their playing. Surely the Symphony would fall before the Kryesan did. Cedric and Nalzaki finished their dueling solos in unison, dropping away to nothing as Harmon and Cascala began singing.
Oh mama, I'm in fear for my life from the long arm of the law
Hangman is coming down from the gallows and I don't have very long
As Cascala began to segue back into a final restatement of the chorus, the Symphony put forth all of its rage, flinging its entire mass at the Kryesan, fighting back the extreme musical assault coming from every direction simultaneously. Nalyg, Razaran, and Kanpeki each found their protective helmets ripped off and smashed to pieces, their armor broken apart. Even Original Synth, for a moment, faltered. Its full force now course through the hydra, and each began to feel themselves weakening.
But they refused to give in. Now only barely aware of Harmon's yells of "no, no, no, no," Kanpeki and Razaran desperately poured everything into their music, completely absorbed by it. It was all they could do to stay conscious, but, eventually, the massive amounts of musical lightning blasting through the Symphony took their toll. Blobs of black liquid Symphony tore from the main mass, splattering across the battered auditorium.
With his last ounce of strength, Razaran turned every dial on Original Synth up to the maximum. Kanpeki played a final chord, and the keytar, the tesla coils, and the Symphony all exploded violently, spraying black liquid, electronics, and a very pissed-off Cog across the hall. Nalzaki, meanwhile, collapsed to the ground.
Vala stared at the half-destroyed city of Santa Nada, unable to pull her eyes away. The plans had failed. Everything had failed. Thünderwölf's greatest victory had, in less than half an hour, turned into their greatest failure. The advance guard had fallen before the Symphony had even attained full force, and when it did, it was not even under Thünderwölf's control as had been planned. The raid turned into a massacre, but not just on the people of Santa Nada.
The prophecy had been broken when Phere disappeared, of course. But it might as well not have been. At least the prophecy foretold victory along with the great loss. Not this. Hundreds, perhaps even thousands of members of Thünderwölf, dead at the hands of an unbound Symphony. There weren't even enough left to take on the city after the Symphony was apparently destroyed. After all, whatever had stopped the Symphony from destroying the city was probably not on the side of Thünderwölf.
Vala walked, dejected, toward the longboats that the remnants of the clan had started boarding. Santa Nada had, perhaps unintentionally, won the ages-long struggle. Peace was at hand for them, at least for the time. For the clan, of course, there would be no peace. Only shame.
Akraman slowly lowered Original Synth, gazing out at the wreckage of Santa Nada. The bodies of both the citizens of the town and the invading Phantoms lay strewn across the rubble. At Adramna's feet, their leader, torn to pieces by the power of the keytar. The Second Kryesan had led Santa Nada to victory, Pyrrhic as it may have been.
Dokona pointed out to Adesa, however, that one of their opponents in this interdimensional battle had also fallen. Though not yet dead, the human lay in a pool of his own blood. He didn't have long, and none of the constituents of Adramna saw any reason to be there as he died. After all, he had decided to side with the Phantoms. He deserved what was coming.
The Second Kryesan instead met up with Amadeus, the first citizen of Santa Nada they had seen and the one who was to become High Priest of the newly-founded Temple of the Score, a temple devoted to "Sf'rzando". Adesa spoke one final time with the man, informing him that soon, Sf'rzando would move on, returning to a higher plane of existence to watch over Santa Nada. The first part, at least, was very technically true. He made a vague promise to return, though he sincerely hoped that no future Kryesans would be subject to this same sort of ordeal. As a final act, Adramna removed the armor and the coils, placing them along with Original Synth at Amadeus's feet. The new High Priest gazed down at the items for a moment, nearly brought to tears as he asked for Sf'rzando's blessing in his pursuit.
When he looked up, Sf'rzando was gone.
"Sf'rzando" wasn't quite gone, yet. Nalzaki gained consciousness, finding themselves still in the wrecked auditorium, the other contestants being held back by the city guardsmen. Thovebeen, of course, was at their side.
"Sf'rzando, you're awake! I must thank you for saving our city, among your companions here. Please, accompany me back to the Temple of the Score. We wish to honor you, great and powerful God of Music."
"We... We won't be going," Nalyg told the priest. "We can't go any further."
"What do you mean?"
You should have... listened to me, Nalyg... Razaran mentally gasped. Now we're... dying, leaving Typhra without... a leader.
It isn't as bad as you think, Razaran, Kanpeki replied. We pass on, now. Onward to a better plane of existence.
I guess... I guess being dead... won't be that bad. Got some questions... for the Second Kryesan, anyway...
Shouldn't we tell Thovebeen the truth, though, Nalyg? Kanpeki's thoughts were unusually clear even as the Kryesan's blood leaked out, their trio of hearts growing erratic.
No, Nalyg finally replied. After all of this, we can't just tell them that their god isn't real... The truth would do... more harm than good.
After a long pause, Nalyg spoke. "We must once more move on, my priest. Your time of need has finally passed. Go forth, and lead Santa Nada to better times. Never allow your society... to stagnate. You have my blessing, subject..." Nalyg slumped over.
Thovebeen could do nothing but stare. "Sf'rzando... I thank you. ...But why are you bleeding?"
Nalyg and Razaran had already lost consciousness. Kanpeki, barely able to lift her head, took the time to interject. "Thovebeen. We are... We are..."
"You are what?"
Kanpeki smiled weakly. "Nothing... Have a good life, Thovebeen."
Kanpeki fell to the ground. The world grew dark.
The Ninth Kryesan was dead.
Adesa almost felt sorry for the priest for spinning such a lie. Nonetheless, it was her duty as the Second Kryesan's central head to ensure their survival by any means necessary. She feared - they all feared - that whatever Kryesan might succeed them would destroy everything they had built up over a hundred years. They had a duty to their people, and that was all that truly mattered.
And yet, she could not ignore Dokona, the triarch's left-hand head, as she voiced her recommendations. Now that they had secured themselves as the "God of Music", they would have little choice but to fight the Phantoms, who were virtually upon the city as they spoke. A weapon, Akraman had conceded. A weapon was what they truly needed, one that could strike down their masked enemies with more power than anything the town had before seen. Santa Nada was sadly lacking in any sort of true defense system - nothing that could possibly destroy the invaders en masse - but such a weapon would take many years to develop, an amount of time the Kryesan certainly did not have.
And so it was, in those waning hours, that Original Synth was forged by Santa Nada's greatest weaponsmiths and artisans alike. A design fit for a god - two rows of keys befitting the multitude of arms "Sf'rzando" could produce at will, attached to two great towers to focus and deliver the full power of the weapon. Perhaps only with such a weapon would the town survive the onslaught, and even more importantly, would the Kryesan survive this infernal battle for the amusement of some higher being. Only four others remained now - with any luck, one of them would die in the battle and they'd be one step closer to returning to Typhra.
The distant sound of organs interspersed with drums heralded the approach of the Phantoms. The time had come.
Santa Nada's fate would be decided on this night.
Nalyg gazed down the streets of the town, hearing the dark tones of the Symphony growing up from Santa Nada's core. Odd, he thought. Why would the Symphony be playing now? The city wasn't being invaded. Not yet, anyway. Something was definitely wrong about the whole situation.
"Is this supposed to be happening?" Kanpeki asked Thovebeen, although the priest's grim expression immediately gave them an answer. He appeared to be detached, contemplative, and paused for a great while before responding.
"The Symphony... it isn't normal. This is not the Symphony that has protected Santa Nada for hundreds of years. This... This cannot be allowed to continue. I don't know what will happen if it does, but I fear that we have worse things to worry about than Thünderwölf. Please, I implore you. Stop the Symphony before it is too late."
"It will be done, my priest," Nalyg responded.
"I'm going as well," Ivan added. He wasn't sure what, exactly, had compelled him to act as such. He wasn't one for fighting so much as staying out of a fight whenever possible. But, nonetheless, something about the Symphony intrigued him. It was the same sort of underlying rhythm that he had earlier felt throughout Santa Nada, but on a much grander scale. The Symphony was the crux of this rhythm, its signature more profound than anything else for many miles around. It was as if the subtle tune of this universe was being routed in full force, channeled into something both great and terrifying.
And for some deep, primal reason, Ivan wanted to go closer. He'd have to play a part in destroying it, almost assuredly endangering his own life, but he felt a sort of pulling sensation. He would go because, on some level, he had to. He was almost afraid not to.
"Very well," Nalyg replied. "Just be careful out there. I fear this may be beyond all of us."
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Cedric slowly rose from the cart full of excrement, angrily spitting out whatever had managed to find its way into his mouth. He fished Sigrär from the depths of the muck, unnoticed by the guard as they continued to struggle with Horsegark. His bearings regained, he immediately burst from the shitwagon, spraying the guards with manure as he mounted Horsegark and rode away, not even attempting to take down the guards. Ordinarily he would have enjoyed taking them all on at once (for the minute or two the fight would actually last), but he had a hydra to kill and wasn't going to let them get too far away.
The problem, naturally, was that he didn't actually have any idea where they might have gone. He wandered around the town for a while (wandering, in this case, meaning furiously racing on the back of an extremely large and dangerous horse), but ultimately had little success in locating his target. Some sort of unusual music had begun wafting from the center of town, but Cedric didn't really care enough to investigate. He had more important things to eviscerate than some organ player or whatever.
It was about at the time that Cedric noticed his target hurrying toward the middle of the town that a horde of vikings smashed through the city's gate and began marauding through the streets. Unfortunately, Cedric happened to be directly in the path down which the vikings were charging.
Unfortunately for the vikings, that is.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Isn't that Cedric over there? Razaran questioned. Kanpeki glanced off into the distance, noticing the knight, mounted on his horse, standing around in the street before a nearby gate was smashed in and a bunch of invaders poured in. Assuredly not the full force of Thünderwölf, but a decently-sized detachment nonetheless. The knight had at this point began, as it might be described, rocking out, taking on the full force of the invaders with relative ease.
Strange that they would be invading now, Kanpeki thought to herself. Wasn't the Symphony designed specifically to kill anyone who attacked the city? And yet, with the Symphony plainly audible even from the edge of town, this horde was perfectly willing to charge in and make a general mess of things.
Moreover, a barely-audible second voice slowly came to light, intermixed with the omnipresent fugue which now covered the town. It wasn't exactly clear how long it had been playing as such, as it had remained masked until the hydra had practically run into the building housing the Symphony. Either way, Thovebeen was right - something was definitely wrong if a weapon of mass destruction was suddenly accompanied by a strangely electronic-sounding but inidentifiable instrument.
The opera house now loomed before the Kryesan, very ornate and very, very old. The sounds of the Symphony poured out, the elaborate melodies that had protected the town of Santa Nada for ages now being used for some unknown, possibly-asinine-but-probably-extremely-dangerous purpose. It was apparently up to the Kryesan to stop it, possibly destroy it, and also not die or destroy Santa Nada in the process.
It was these last couple of conditions that worried Kanpeki the most. She watched as Razaran drew Original Synth from the back of the unfortunately-restrictive armor and placed her hands upon the keys.
Someone almost certainly was going to come out of this significantly less alive.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Meanwhile (not that time is extremely relevant in this case), in a dementedly twisted tower only halfway existing within the multiverse as a whole, a dark, ill-defined figure stood over an enormous red worm, its figure almost as indistinct. The Tormentor's multitude of red eyes were fixated mostly on the worm, and his grin was significantly less insane than was the norm.
"...You did what."
"I did what they thought I couldn't, Tormy," the worm began. "I created life. Not even alive, and yet I still did it! Do you know how that feels, Tormy? Do you?"
The Tormentor sighed. "Look, you and I both know what you did. You tore yourself apart, and for what? This? You were so despondent over one little reverse-gendered you! You were planning on doing what, making babies with a reality-bending manwhore? But of course that wouldn't have worked. You just tore yourself into several pieces and called them life! And that's great. Really pretty respectable!"
The Spectator made little in the way of movement, still sprawled across a floor which existed in a different number of dimensions each time anyone looked at it. "Why did you kill him, though, Tormy? Do you know what that was like? It was no different from killing me! I had to do this, Tormy. I had to."
The Tormentor gave an entirely inappropriate laugh, as if the Spectator had done nothing more than tell a vaguely-amusing joke. "That wasn't even slightly you, Speccy! That idiot should never have existed in the first place! You didn't see me having a psychotic fit when I ripped the Tormentress to shreds, did you? You're different, Speccy. You're better than he was. I mean, other than the whole going-insane-and-tearing-yourself-apart thing, but even that seemed to work out.
"You see," the Tormentor started, "the difference is that you are supposed to exist. He only existed like that because of the Tormentress, and she was placed there by me in the first place. She wasn't actually like me, you're right. Just an inferior copy. But things still played out the same way there, so there you have a false Spectator. It was all good fun, but you know I had to destroy them and repair things before both realities collapsed on each other. So I did! The point I'm making here is seriously stop going crazy and fragmenting yourself into pieces. I'm not even talking to all of you right now!"
The Tormentor stared directly at the Spectator's face-analogue, projecting to it a simultaneous view of all events of the Vivacious Deadlock up to the present point. "You do remember this, don't you? You know, the battle you're supposed to be running? Looks like something moderately entertaining is about to happen. Another of your sacrifices is about to meet their end you're not even paying attention are you."
The Tormentor sighed as the worm failed to give a response.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Utter chaos. A madhouse. An unimaginable degree of lunacy.
These things are exactly what Razaran saw as the hydra, followed by Ivan, entered the opera house and found their way to the main auditorium, the site of the single most bizarre battle he had ever seen. Even counting the recent duel with the knight when he had been forced to sing just to survive. He desperately hoped this wouldn't be the case again.
Either way, the auditorium was very much unlike any performance hall he had ever seen (not that he had ever been that much into performing arts) - where there should have been seats and carpet there appeared instead to be restraints (probably for torture) and blood-stained metal. In front of the stage lay a swirling black mass, pulsating and spasming violently, but not yet an immediate threat. Nalyg attempted to and failed to identify what it might have been. Even Kanpeki had no idea beyond it being connected to the Symphony in some way, as if it weren't already obvious.
On the stage stood Cascala and Harmon, the former playing the previously-heard electronic instrument and Harmon singing above it. The organ had somehow simply become accompaniment, background to the mage's playing and the scientist's crescendoing vocals. The black mass seemed to be reacting violently to this singing, which was apparently almost at its climax as soon as they had entered.
And then the mass that was the Symphony exploded. Figuratively.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Cedric laughed as he shredded on his guitar, sending another wave of vikings flying into several different buildings simultaneously. Poor bastards. Probably misinformed or something. Expected there to be a full-on invasion going on by now, but nope. Just a knight. Of rock. Not that Cedric really even knew what rock was as far as music was concerned. What he did know was the doling out of pain.
It was a bit depressing to watch, actually. What could have, with backup, been a truly devastating invasion force was being beaten back by one man. The vikings carried on with their various horns and synthesizers, but wave after wave of destructive sound was countered by furious guitaring. From the start it was a hopeless situation for the forces of Thünderwölf, and it went downhill from there. Pretty soon the attack broke off. Cedric heard one of them shouting something about the Symphony being abnormal and the commandos actually succeeding for once before the whole mass sprinted back out through the gate.
Deprived once again of any semblance of challenge (not that any of the vikings would likely have provided any), Cedric remembered that he really did have a hydra to kill, and brought Horsegark to a swift gallop toward the center of Santa Nada. Above him soon stood the source of the Symphony, the opera house that his target (and maybe some others?) had fled into. Cedric dismounted Horsegark and began walking toward the entrance, Sigrär at the ready.
And then the roof of the opera house exploded. Literally.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Ivan watched, perplexed, as the fluid form of the Symphony expanded, pouring out through the ceiling but continually flowing from the unseen depths of the orchestra pit. Given the fact that it had just smashed the opera house's ceiling to bits, he wasn't really sure that it was even under the Maestro's control anymore. What sense would it make for a defense system to destroy what it was supposed to be defending? Maybe Cascala and Harmon had done something with their song, though why the Symphony could be overcome so apparently-simply was another item on the growing list of unknowns.
Easily felt and heard by everyone in the building were the tremors and crashes as the Symphony began tearing buildings apart, piece by piece. Unnoticed, however, by anyone besides Ivan was the fact that a large mass of people appeared to be storming into the city. Whether this was simply due to panic amongst the destruction or further members of Thünderwölf was uncertain, although the fact that they were running toward the opera house gave credence to the latter. Strange that they would decide to invade in full force considering the state of the city, but perhaps they assumed they were in control of it somehow. Maybe they were in control of it somehow.
For now, at least, the black liquid mass wasn't focused on killing anyone inside of the opera house. However, the red-armor-clad, guitar-wielding knight who had just charged through the door seemed much more ready to do so. Nalzaki instinctively played a note on Original Synth, sending a burst of lightning to the ground at Cedric's feet.
And now Cedric looked ready to retaliate. Nalyg, however, was shouting over the still-overbearing (and apparently endless) organ fugue, something about "mutual destruction" and "everyone dying". Cedric unflinchingly refused and started playing his guitar. Razaran interjected with something about Harmon and the Symphony, causing Cedric's guitar riff to suddenly fall flat.
Ivan, however, was more concerned with the unpredictable actions of the Symphony, attempting to come up with a method of stopping it. He couldn't tell what it was even made of, let alone how to kill it. As far as he could tell it was an imbiguous sort of liquid, or a shadow given form.
A shadow given form. Sounded familiar. Ivan took a glance at Klendel, who was apparently engaging in a rather one-sided conversation with the scientist. Maybe it would work after all. But they'd need to distract the mass, or the Cog would probably be able to to little against the destructive force of the Symphony. As such he rushed to Nalzaki's side, frantically eloquating his possibly-crazy idea to the hydra (and, consequently, Cedric as well). Feeling especially industrious, he swiped the microphone Cedric was keeping at his side and ran to the stage. He first handed the microphone to Harmon, and then began to tell Klendel his theory as well.
Before Klendel could respond, though, Cedric charged onto the stage, grabbed the Cog by the gear, and tossed him headfirst into the Symphony. Ivan stared, dumbfounded, as the knight immediately began flirting with Harmon or something. Apparently now was the best time for that.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
The Symphony was not pleased with the fact that it now had a being inside of it intent on its death. With only a moment's delay, its mass began pouring back in through the ceiling, now focused more on killing these (dangerous) pests rather than destroying the city that had imprisoned it for hundreds of years, used it for their own purposes. It thrashed around as Klendel tried to take control, giving Harmon enough time to make sense of what the hell was even happening and make an attempt at counteracting it.
[color="SeaGreen"]Accompanied yet by no instruments (even the organ had slow dropped down to nothing), she began to sing slowly, voice growing up from silence.
Oh mama, I'm in fear for my life from the long arm of the law
Lawman has put an end to my running and I'm so far from my home
The Symphony smashed itself against the walls in its struggle, accentuating a heartbeat-esque "THUMP-thump" in the background.
Oh mama, I can hear your crying you're so scared and all alone
Hangman is coming down from the gallows and I don't have very long[/color]
"YEEEEAAAAHH!" Cedric was inexplicably compelled to shout, before he began accompanying Harmon's lyrics with his own guitar. Cascala seamlessly joined in, harmonizing with the chords the knight belted out. As the increased level of instrumentation came in, parts of the Symphony's formless mass began smashing into the nearly-indestructable metal floors and chairs at a much more rapid, but still consistently rhythmic, pace.
[color="SeaGreen"]The jig is up the news is out they've finally found me
The renegade who had it made retrieved for a bounty
Never more to go astray
This will be the end today of the wanted man[/color]
Nalyg listened to the very sudden, apparently improvised spectacle onstage, which was having a notable effect on the mutual now-enemy of everyone in the room. Even Cascala, who had caused it to go free in the first place, was now assisting in subduing it. But even the increased level of music wasn't enough to stop such a formidable weapon as the Symphony. Tendrils of unidentifiable black matter began to extend from its mass, smashing chairs off the ground they were bolted to, attempting to reach and destroy the combatants onstage. It would take much more to stop such an enemy.
And much more is exactly what Razaran and Kanpeki, working in union, delivered. Three of their four hands flew across the keys of Original Synth, powering the two heavy Tesla coils strapped to their armor. Focused bolts of electricity shot into the dark mass, accompanied by a sound that could perhaps only be described as "tuned lightning". The Symphony convulsed at the sudden use of the legendary weapons, yet did not yield.
[color="SeaGreen"]Oh mama, I've been years on the lam and had a high price on my head
Lawman said get him dead or alive now it's for sure he'll see me dead
Dear mama, I can hear you crying you're so scared and all alone
Hangman is coming down from the gallows and I don't have very long[/color]
Ivan, too, prepared to join in as soon as he could. Not long after Harmon had begun her song, he had unstrapped his newly-acquired laser harp, set it in place, and activated it. A beam of green light shot up from the box, stopping at the ceiling and fanning outward to form the familiar harp-esque shape. As Harmon segued back into the chorus, he layered in as well.
[color="SeaGreen"]The jig is up, the news is out they finally found me
The renegade who had it made retrieved for a bounty
Never more to go astray
The judge'll have revenge today on the wanted man[/color]
The hall grew quiet for a moment as Cedric rapidly strummed Sigrär, not simply overpowering the other players but, for a moment, quite literally forcing all sound away. This effect could not be held for long, but Cedric at this point had begun, and he was not easy to stop. Harmon took a break as Cedric continued his solo, now completely absorbed in his extremely violent craft.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Unlike Cedric, Klendel was not having nearly as good of a time with himself. He was only vaguely aware of the impromptu concert that had broken out below, focused much more on the fact that he was lodged inside of an enormous, destructive, music-powered force that was intent on destroying everything around him. This was one of the worst possible situations the Cog could have found himself in, all because he had failed to pay attention to the lumbering idiot in red. Everything was completely out of hand. Klendel loathed to be out of control for even a moment, and here he was, inside of a shadowy musical deathblob and expected to keep it under control.
Sure, he was having some success due to its nature, but it was resisting, and strongly. Trying as he might, Klendel could not keep the Symphony under control past preventing it from destroying everything entirely.
A thought crossed his mind. Perhaps he should simply have stopped fighting it and instead just let it kill someone. Just like that, all of his problems would be solved, and he'd be back in full control in a less cacophonous, chaotic locale. This thought immediately dissolved when he remembered that the Symphony was also making an active effort to kill him, and any lapse in concentration would probably lead to a rather messy death. Though disgusted with the whole affair, he continued to play his part.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
It wasn't working.
Cedric was easily playing with enough force to knock a man unconscious (and flying across the room), perhaps even to wound a run-of-the-mill Typhren, but the Symphony was neither of those things.
Even the Maestro had joined back in by this point, accompanying Cedric with his extremely out-of-place, deep, and loud organ tones. Somehow, though, he managed to make a Bachesque fugue fit with the musical stylings of more than two centuries later. But the instrument could no longer control the Symphony as it once had - the chains had been broken, the amorphous creature unbound.
It was then that the Symphony convulsed violently and smashed the front end of the stage into the now-empty orchestra pit, sending a rain of splinters and scrap metal at anyone unfortunate to be nearby. In spite of everything, they were still fighting a losing battle. Razaran eyed one of several dials and switches on the front of the keytar he grasped, noting that Original Synth was not yet turned up all the way, but merely to the highest apparent "safe" settings.
We're not at full power, Razaran hurriedly thought at Nalyg, allowing Kanpeki to take full control for the time being.
Then turn it up! This whole place is going to come down!
We should just aim at Cedric, instead. It'd get it out of here and we'd have nothing to worry about! At this point, Razaran was mentally shouting at Nalyg.
You know we can't do that, Razaran! We kill him, and then what? Everyone in Santa Nada dies! We release this thing on the world!
It's not our world, Nalyg! What's the sense in dying for this? Typhra needs us!
Who said anything about dying? What kind of leader would I be- would we be, if we let everyone here die after all of this? Turn it up!
Razaran begrudgingly did so, bringing the bursts of electricity to near-deafening levels, increasing also the magnitude of each bolt the coils emitted. In spite of everything, Razaran could see Nalyg's point. Why lead an entire city, or perhaps an entire culture, to believe that their god was defeated, or abandoned them? Besides, they were practically indestructable. Nothing could possibly go wrong.
Razaran joined in on the keytar again, coordinating with Kanpeki a solo line to match Cedric's own. Almost immediately, they had engaged in a sort of musical duel, except for the fact that the destructive waves of sound were focused on the Symphony rather than each other. Each of the hydra's heads could feel the increased power of the coils, almost beyond the ability of the armor to absorb. They weren't exactly sure what would happen if the armor were to fail, but it probably wouldn't be good.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
The Symphony was weakening. For the first time in its existence, it was being fully counteracted, perhaps even overcome. Perhaps it was that its host was insufficient for it to attain full power, but this was very obviously not the case. What had once been Crowe had only added to the power of the Symphony. It should have been invincible. Fury welled up within the mass. It stopped massacring vikings and destroying buildings as it came to the realization that the townsfolks' so-called "God of Music" was, in fact, the reason for this change.
The Symphony's full mass entered the opera house, and immediately flew toward the hydra. The amalgam of music and hate crashed against the Kryesan, attempting to destroy its weapons but only succeeding in cracking its armor before being forced to pull back.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
This wasn't good at all. The already-barely-sufficient armor was now physically damaged as well. Nalzaki felt the sheer destructive force of Original Synth seeping in, slowly ripping at their beings. Even Kanpeki momentarily considered killing Cedric or maybe Cascala in order to save themselves. Nevertheless, they kept up their playing. Surely the Symphony would fall before the Kryesan did. Cedric and Nalzaki finished their dueling solos in unison, dropping away to nothing as Harmon and Cascala began singing.
Oh mama, I'm in fear for my life from the long arm of the law
Hangman is coming down from the gallows and I don't have very long
As Cascala began to segue back into a final restatement of the chorus, the Symphony put forth all of its rage, flinging its entire mass at the Kryesan, fighting back the extreme musical assault coming from every direction simultaneously. Nalyg, Razaran, and Kanpeki each found their protective helmets ripped off and smashed to pieces, their armor broken apart. Even Original Synth, for a moment, faltered. Its full force now course through the hydra, and each began to feel themselves weakening.
But they refused to give in. Now only barely aware of Harmon's yells of "no, no, no, no," Kanpeki and Razaran desperately poured everything into their music, completely absorbed by it. It was all they could do to stay conscious, but, eventually, the massive amounts of musical lightning blasting through the Symphony took their toll. Blobs of black liquid Symphony tore from the main mass, splattering across the battered auditorium.
With his last ounce of strength, Razaran turned every dial on Original Synth up to the maximum. Kanpeki played a final chord, and the keytar, the tesla coils, and the Symphony all exploded violently, spraying black liquid, electronics, and a very pissed-off Cog across the hall. Nalzaki, meanwhile, collapsed to the ground.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Vala stared at the half-destroyed city of Santa Nada, unable to pull her eyes away. The plans had failed. Everything had failed. Thünderwölf's greatest victory had, in less than half an hour, turned into their greatest failure. The advance guard had fallen before the Symphony had even attained full force, and when it did, it was not even under Thünderwölf's control as had been planned. The raid turned into a massacre, but not just on the people of Santa Nada.
The prophecy had been broken when Phere disappeared, of course. But it might as well not have been. At least the prophecy foretold victory along with the great loss. Not this. Hundreds, perhaps even thousands of members of Thünderwölf, dead at the hands of an unbound Symphony. There weren't even enough left to take on the city after the Symphony was apparently destroyed. After all, whatever had stopped the Symphony from destroying the city was probably not on the side of Thünderwölf.
Vala walked, dejected, toward the longboats that the remnants of the clan had started boarding. Santa Nada had, perhaps unintentionally, won the ages-long struggle. Peace was at hand for them, at least for the time. For the clan, of course, there would be no peace. Only shame.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Akraman slowly lowered Original Synth, gazing out at the wreckage of Santa Nada. The bodies of both the citizens of the town and the invading Phantoms lay strewn across the rubble. At Adramna's feet, their leader, torn to pieces by the power of the keytar. The Second Kryesan had led Santa Nada to victory, Pyrrhic as it may have been.
Dokona pointed out to Adesa, however, that one of their opponents in this interdimensional battle had also fallen. Though not yet dead, the human lay in a pool of his own blood. He didn't have long, and none of the constituents of Adramna saw any reason to be there as he died. After all, he had decided to side with the Phantoms. He deserved what was coming.
The Second Kryesan instead met up with Amadeus, the first citizen of Santa Nada they had seen and the one who was to become High Priest of the newly-founded Temple of the Score, a temple devoted to "Sf'rzando". Adesa spoke one final time with the man, informing him that soon, Sf'rzando would move on, returning to a higher plane of existence to watch over Santa Nada. The first part, at least, was very technically true. He made a vague promise to return, though he sincerely hoped that no future Kryesans would be subject to this same sort of ordeal. As a final act, Adramna removed the armor and the coils, placing them along with Original Synth at Amadeus's feet. The new High Priest gazed down at the items for a moment, nearly brought to tears as he asked for Sf'rzando's blessing in his pursuit.
When he looked up, Sf'rzando was gone.
"Sf'rzando" wasn't quite gone, yet. Nalzaki gained consciousness, finding themselves still in the wrecked auditorium, the other contestants being held back by the city guardsmen. Thovebeen, of course, was at their side.
"Sf'rzando, you're awake! I must thank you for saving our city, among your companions here. Please, accompany me back to the Temple of the Score. We wish to honor you, great and powerful God of Music."
"We... We won't be going," Nalyg told the priest. "We can't go any further."
"What do you mean?"
You should have... listened to me, Nalyg... Razaran mentally gasped. Now we're... dying, leaving Typhra without... a leader.
It isn't as bad as you think, Razaran, Kanpeki replied. We pass on, now. Onward to a better plane of existence.
I guess... I guess being dead... won't be that bad. Got some questions... for the Second Kryesan, anyway...
Shouldn't we tell Thovebeen the truth, though, Nalyg? Kanpeki's thoughts were unusually clear even as the Kryesan's blood leaked out, their trio of hearts growing erratic.
No, Nalyg finally replied. After all of this, we can't just tell them that their god isn't real... The truth would do... more harm than good.
After a long pause, Nalyg spoke. "We must once more move on, my priest. Your time of need has finally passed. Go forth, and lead Santa Nada to better times. Never allow your society... to stagnate. You have my blessing, subject..." Nalyg slumped over.
Thovebeen could do nothing but stare. "Sf'rzando... I thank you. ...But why are you bleeding?"
Nalyg and Razaran had already lost consciousness. Kanpeki, barely able to lift her head, took the time to interject. "Thovebeen. We are... We are..."
"You are what?"
Kanpeki smiled weakly. "Nothing... Have a good life, Thovebeen."
Kanpeki fell to the ground. The world grew dark.
The Ninth Kryesan was dead.