As Sacrifice, now aware of Daniel’s movements, prepared for his eventual arrival, the trio made preparations of their own. Or so Daniel called them.

The three were gathered within the trigate, all facing a gargantuan inter dimensional portal that journeymen cultivators and champions of the various domains seemed to avoid like the plague. Yet, there the three stood, letting just as many different emotions leave marks on their faces.

Der, now rid of the armor he usually wore, was dressed in simple clothes. A loose linen shirt with undone buttons and sleeves rolled up to the middle of his forearm, revealing his hairy arms, a pair of strained leather pants that threatened to rip at the faintest flex of his muscular legs, and a pair of military boots. His grizzled hair, now grown to shoulder length, was tied into a rough ponytail, uncovering his stern features and carefully-trimmed beard which failed to hide his impatience.

He pressed onto the joints of his fingertips, searching for the comforting snap the action would create, but doing so too many times for the familiar sound to once again be heard, leaving him to find comfort in the motion alone.

Next to him the lord of the elementals, who, still dressed in the same element-resistant loose robe, had been standing nervously in place, looking back at the direction they had come from with worry. “I still don’t understand why we had to leave the armies in Sacrifice’s domain. They cannot be safer there, alone, than they would be with us.” He complained once more to Daniel, who rolled his eyes and let out an exasperated sigh.

“I don’t know how else to explain it to you, just do what I say.” Daniel responded in an attempt to bring an end to the exchange that had lasted for the entirety of the last few days.

Unfortunately, Roley was not willing to drop the subject. “Why don’t you explain it to me as if I was an idiot, then? Help me understand.” he lamented.

“Fine.” Daniel’s palm pressed heavily against his forehead, briefly rubbing onto his skin in a pacifying manner before moving back down. “Melodia, the domain of the primordial aspect of Sound, is the dimension where most sound elementals live. Beings formed from concepts of sound essence that can easily break your eardrums, or enchant you with melancholic sounds from your past, leading you to insanity. That is why they had to stay, and he had to take his armor off. Sound waves can bounce off metal like light on a mirror, and I can’t protect you all.”

Daniel’s explanation, while only based on the rumors he had heard about the domain of sound, was quite accurate. Melodia, just like the Spiritual Plain and the Underworld, were dimensions reserved for certain forms of creatures. In it the elementals of sound would find refuge, free to produce as much existential power they could for the entity they looked at the same way the elemental army looked at their lord.

Roley grimaced. “Then why are Der and I going?” He asked.

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“Okay, I get it now.” Roley said, more nervous than ever. Daniel’s description of the place they were about to visit was not too flattering. Promises of burst eardrums, nails against the board and much worse. And yet, Melodia was the only place where Roley could ever find a treasure of primordial sound essence. No other universe or domain could have one, and he knew so, for he had looked almost everywhere. “Alright, let’s get moving them.” He said.

“Finally.” Daniel muttered, failing to hide his excitement. He had always wanted to visit the domain of sound, especially after learning that the aspect it belonged to, despite being one of the few primordial beings in existence, had always maintained her impartiality. ‘She always lived for the music, and nothing else.’ her peers would always answer, when asked about her.

Without giving Roley a chance to change his mind, Daniel dove into the portal’s surface, with the others following right after.

When Daniel emerged from the portal, he immediately felt the pressure of gravity. A gravity far beyond that of his planet of origin, but that to the bodies of cultivators only served to keep them grounded. Their fall was only a few feet high, and their landing was softened by door-sized dried leaves, pine needles twice the length of a human being, and cold dirt.

As the eyes of the three moved up from the improvised landing platform, they soon recognized the familiar elements of a forest, but also somewhat different. The trees stood several miles tall, dwarfed by the half-buried presence of the inter-dimensional portal, but high enough to hide its upper curve as efficiently as the earth it was buried into had. Their crowns, full and lively, allowed close to no light through, leaving anything that might have lived under their shadow in almost perpetual darkness.

“This is Melodia?” Roley asked. “It looks like a normal forest. A big one, but not unlike any oth-what?!” His head snapped to the side, where a breeze of air had made futile attempts at lifting one of the enormous dried leaves. His eyes focused on one empty point in space. “Why would you say that?” He asked.

By his side, Der was bent forward, his hands covered his ears, as if attempting to block a deafening noise. “ARGH!” he groaned painfully. His eyes looked for his companions, narrowing at the realization that both were experiencing something different. Or at least, Roley was. Daniel was simply standing there, observing his surroundings with curious eyes.

Through the eyes of Karma, this forest looked all but normal. Countless white shadows drifted in the air, dancing around each other and sometimes merging into one, some carrying whispers while others carried shrieks of metal, and screams of agony, yet all producing the very same form of existential power-colorless and formless like sound itself.

“What’s wrong, Lig? Did your cousin trick you into working his shit again?” Roley asked as his hand rose to the height of his eyes, reaching for a shoulder that was not there. His hand dug into the air then fell against his leg, reminding him that he was not spending the evening with his old friend, but was being played with by powers he could not see, or protect himself from.

Immune to the temporary control of familiar melodies, Der was disposed of with the brutality of sound. Forced to his knees, retching in disgust at the eye-aching and never-ending screeches and deafening hammering.

“Enough!” Daniel roared once the novelty of his surroundings ran out. Power of karma rushed out of his body, stretching outwards like the blast of an explosion that only halted its expansion once it completely covered his two companions. 

The sound elementals who had been torturing his companions immediately backed away, fearful of the golden lights that, had he wished it to, could have erased them from existence. The same power that had prevented them from approaching Daniel to begin with. “Are you okay?” Daniel asked Der and Roley struggled to regain their composure for a few moments, their minds still echoing with sweet voices and deafening noises, leaving them somewhat dizzy.

“They were just curious. Do not take offense.” Said a voice so sweet and melodic that music itself paled in comparison. 

The voice came from behind the closest of the large trees, carrying an existential power that easily pierced the field of protection Daniel had erected. At its source, Daniel could feel a concentration of existential power purer than any he had ever felt before.

Struggling to stop his body from buzzing in a long shiver, Daniel leaned to the side, in a symbolic yet futile attempt to catch a glimpse of the entity that had spoken. “I am-” He said before being immediately interrupted.

“I know who you are.” the voice said, melting the heart and reminding those who heard it of their most comfortable memories. Yet, despite interrupting Daniel’s introduction, as if in agreement to his invitation to show herself, the entity stepped out of cover, revealing her unique appearance.

A fair-skinned woman barely thirty years of age, with long transparent hair emerged from the woods. Her facial features, almost as lovely as her voice was, struggled to prevent Daniel and the others from noticing her perfect body, for she stepped forward with no more clothes than she had been wearing the moment of her birth, in the beginning of times.

Daniel nodded in greeting, uninterested by the woman’s naked appearance, but that was not the case for his two companions, who could not help but let their eyes wander. Yet, whenever their gazes would approach one of the parts a woman would usually want to keep hidden, a litany of sounds would effortlessly pierce the protection of Karma and reach their ears, distracting them from doing so. 

Soon, the two realized that taking a peek at anything worth seeing was virtually impossible.

“An honor to meet you, Lady Sound.” Daniel worded out calmly before coming to a shocking realization. He had spoken each word clearly, and with confidence, yet no sound had come out. “I-We are here for..” he tried once more, still failing to produce anything that could be called a sound.

The woman’s eyes, clear as diamonds, had only briefly lingered on Daniel’s figure. Moments she had indulged in the novelty of a new color, and a new flavor of power, but soon she lost interest. Her heart had beaten for other sights, a young man that looked around in confusion, struggling to keep his eyes above her shoulders.

With feathery and soundless steps she approached the young man, unhindered by any of the barriers Daniel had put in place. A visceral interest, powerful enough to demand of her to allow her other senses to experience his nature, and so she did. 

Once the two stood one in front of the other, the woman came closer, and reached for his neck with deft fingers. At the same time, her head inched closer, stopping over his clavicle long enough to inhale deeply. As his scent entered her nostrils, her hands became greedier, wrapping behind his neck and pushing his head against her own shoulder.

Roley did not resist. He too, in a sort of primordial way, felt a sense of longing for the woman, despite never meeting her before. Her approach did not scare him, and the lines her fingers traced onto his skin felt familiar, and comfortable. Every touch, every whiff of her scent, the warm slippery fleeing of her tongue brushing against his neck, he let her do anything she wanted, until finally, her fingers stiffened, and began to tremble.

With the power allowed to a woman of her stature, Roley was pushed back, away by the now furious woman. “What is this?!” She screeched in anger. “Where is the sound?!” She had been woken from her trans in the worst way possible, causing her to lay all of her frustration into the sound of her voice.

In Roley she had seen a world. A world of primordial nature that contained light, darkness and each of the natural elements. It was devoid of shape, and time, but that did not bother her. What did, was the lack of sound. The soundless existence of each element was an affront to her own nature. She detested the absence of sound to a point where she wanted it corrected more than she wanted it destroyed.

Daniel observed in silence. He knew this would happen. In fact, he had planned for it.

Sound, like Fate, existed to serve the power that had birthed her. To her, Roley’s existence was as absurd as Destiny was for Fate. He could speak, and create sound like every other sentient creature, but that was only a layer of his persona. In her eyes, he was an almost complete existence of mana who failed in its representation of the existential power, and essence of sound. 

She could not allow such an existence to exist. It was against her nature, and she hated it. Destroying it would be of little effort for her, but then, the abomination would live in her memories, damaging the validity of her existence for the rest of eternity. Those were her thoughts as she looked down at Roley, furious and confused, until a thought formed in her ancient mind. The young man in front of her was a painting, lacking only a few colors to reach completion. If she could not destroy it, she would help complete it.