Silent Melody

Chapter 3: Echoes Beneath the Silence

The academy shimmered in the morning light, humming with energy. My dorm window faced the east tower where mist floated around its spire like a veil. It was peaceful from here, but deep down, I knew things were about to change. Something was shifting. I could feel it in the air parang may bagyong parating, pero tahimik lang ang paligid.

Classes had intensified. Soundweaving theory, tonal alignment, elemental cadence training lahat bago sa akin. I couldn’t even pronounce half the words our instructors used, but I watched, listened, and learned in silence.

One day, Headmaster Kael announced the arrival of the Royals.

"The Primoris shall join us this week," he said. "Show them the honor they deserve."

Primoris. That’s what they called the elite—the descendants of the founders of this world. They were gifted beyond comprehension. Legends, even among the gifted. I only heard whispers, but they sent ripples across the academy.

And then, they arrived.

First was Vince. He walked with a confidence that wasn’t arrogance it was authority. His eyes, deep and sharp, carried storms inside them. The girls gasped. The boys stepped back. Vince Elioterio, heir of Senaiha, the current High Cantor and the most powerful wielder of this realm. The air around him thrummed.

They say Vince could echo any ability used near him. Kapag ginamit mo ang lakas mo sa paligid niya, nagiging kanya ito. He could absorb it, refine it, twist it. But what they didn’t know what no one knew was his other gift: Deathnote. A forbidden frequency. The power to kill with a song. Only he bore it, hidden beneath layers of charm and mystery.

Trailing behind him was Tasha, reborn in sunlight and sass. She ran to her cousin and pulled him into a tight hug.

“Kuya Vince!” she grinned. “Tara, let me show you Room 314. May bago kaming roommate!”

I froze.

Vince’s eyes met mine for a moment, and I swear just for a second parang tumigil ang lahat. My chest tightened. The Song inside me stirred, uneasily.

Behind them were Zeina and Zach, earth-borne twins. They weren’t just strong; they were grounded. Literally. They could command the land, call roots from beneath floors, split stone with a hum. Their connection was deep hindi lang kambal sa dugo, kundi sa ritmo.

Then came Yves, their quiet companion. Pale and observant, he moved like ice calculated and cold. He could freeze anything with a whisper. I saw him turn a goblet into crystal frost in the dining hall without lifting a finger.

They called their powers Sonique. A refined art of controlling elements and emotions through harmonic resonance.

Me? I had none. Or so I thought. I remained the odd one out.

Tasha pulled Vince into our dorm.

“Kuya, this is Lara. Mysterious, tahimik, pero kakaiba. Look at her eyes!”

Vince turned his gaze to me, and I looked away. Ayokong makita niya. I didn’t know why. It felt dangerous.

“Pleasure to meet you,” he said.

I nodded.

He tilted his head. “Don’t speak?”

“Hindi siya mute,” Tasha piped in. “Ayaw lang niya magsalita. But she hears everything.”

He nodded thoughtfully. “Understood.”

The rest of the week went by like a blur. Everywhere the Royals went, attention followed. They trained apart from the rest, in a private section of the academy where the walls sang and the ground pulsed with energy.

Ammara, ever the sunshine, dragged me into a training session by accident.

“Lara, come on! I want to see Vince fight Zach!”

Inside the amphitheater, students gathered, watching with bated breath as power met power. Vince mimicked Zach’s earth wave, mirrored it, then amplified it, crashing it tenfold. The crowd erupted.

“That’s Sonique adaptation,” Ammara whispered. “Only he can do that.”

Tasha joined, sending waves of water spiraling into the sky, creating art midair. Yves froze it, Zach shattered it, and Zeina turned it into a blooming crystal tree with a stomp.

It was breathtaking.

But I didn’t belong here. I was a silent echo in a world built on rhythm.

Later that evening, I sat alone beneath the Harmonic Tree a sacred spot where the oldest roots of Aethera reached into the heavens. The Song there was stronger.

I closed my eyes.

The wind brushed my face, soft. I didn’t speak. I didn’t need to. But inside, something wanted to rise. A melody. It clawed from my chest to my throat.

But I bit my lip. No. Not now.

I wasn’t ready.

Not for that voice.

Back in the dorm, Ammara hummed while brushing her hair.

“Lara, you’re so mysterious. But you’re not scary. I think... I think you have something great inside you.”

Tasha, from her bed, muttered, “Or something dangerous.”

They didn’t know I was immortal.

They didn’t know that when I sleep, I see the world’s memories.

They didn’t know that I could feel the Song’s origin inside me, vibrating like a sealed relic.

I didn’t speak because every word I said in my village caused echoes that shouldn’t exist. My first word made glass tremble. My second cracked a tree.

I stopped talking before my third.

They think I’m weak. I let them.

But every night, when the moon rises over Aethera, the Song calls to me. The colors in my eyes flicker beneath closed lids red, gold, blue, violet.

Rainbow hues of a melody not yet sung.

And when it finally is

This world will remember.

But not yet.

Not yet.