"What are you doing?" Kanum asked Hytile, his voice sounding a bit twitchy, feeling all kinds of emotion as he watched his son.
Slowly, as the entrance to the Resonance was opening, Hytile walked up to Shry, with two sashes left over from one of their experiments, smiling at his own idea.
Hytile stretched the sashes, straightening them as he looked at Shry's body, prepared for his next course of action.
Finally, not very long after he began stretching the sashes, he began to wrap each sash around Shry's shoulders, draping them along his waist, like a commander from a retro game.
Though Shry was surprised by Hytile's sudden turn-up and his subsequent actions, because Shry had grown quite comfortable with Hytile, he subconsciously ignored it, knowing that his mentor would never do anything bad to him, but that wasn't the main reason. Because it was the emotional weight he's currently feeling.
"Alright, now we stick these onto the sash," Hytile said as he suddenly revealed four Node canisters, two in each hand with a theatrical flare.
Each of the Node canisters had a different color, corresponding to their affinity with each Resonance path. Dark blue=water, light blue=ice/frost, dark green=nature, and finally, brown=earth.
And combined with the Node canisters that were already equipped, light green=wind and orange=fire/heat, all the Resonance paths were accounted for, until...
Right as Hytile finished with sticking the four Node Canisters onto the sash, he stood upright once more, but it looked like he wasn't finished.
Grinning with a mildly devious smile, a side effect from being close with Shry, Hytile pulled out an additional Node canister.
Holding the Node Canister in between his thumb and index finger, Hytile allowed Shry to look at the canister he was holding, immediately causing Shry to momentarily snap out of his trance, as he widened his eyes in shock and mesmerization.
Shry had never seen a Node Canister with that color. At a glance, the Node Canister looked empty and clear; however, once it was held in front of Shry like that, odd wave-like movements like a heat wave immediately became noticeable.
As Shry scrutinized it further, another aspect became visible to Shry as he noticed that there were dozens of wavy lines of pale yellow flowing all throughout the cylinder.
"What is tha—"
"This is the energy Resonance Path," Hytile said, interrupting Shry.
Restraining from speaking, Shry waited for Hytile to continue, but to his disappointment, his mentor never elaborated on what the energy Resonance Path is. All Hytile did after that was put the energy node canister into Shry's hands before quietly leaving, playing with Shry's curiosity.
With that canister, all elements of creation were accounted for, all the factors that form reality itself.
All these resonance paths... if anyone had the ability to fully control all of them, then the possibilities they hold would essentially be endless.
...
Mesmerized by this new variety of activated Node in his hands, Shry played with it and watched the pale yellow squiggly lines go uninterrupted even as he shook the canister around.
Mesmerized by this discovery, Shry didn't even notice the entrance to the Resonance Hall had completely opened. It was only when Kanum put his hand on Shry's shoulders that he came back to his senses.
Quickly glancing around him, Shry noticed that he was bombarded by tens of impatient and curious stares from the audience, anxiously waiting for him to continue.
"It's finally time... My revenge" Shry quietly muttered to himself.
Granting the request of the cheering crowd, Shry took one last breath before he began his final stride.
Because as soon as he walks into the Resonance Hall today, from this day onwards, his life as a mundane, one that should have ended years ago, will finally reach its conclusion.
With both feet entering the Resonance Hall, Shry stood in the familiar thick darkness alone, a darkness that was so potent it not only hid him from the people looking in from the outside, but its density was also able to distinguish itself as it separated the light from outside like oil against water.
He took a breath.
Shut his eyes for a brief moment.
And finally...
Breaking the 2-minute waiting rule, his first step landed.
...
For a moment, it was like everything went silent, even the outside; however, that was an illusion. An illusion caused by anticipation.
Voom, wooo, cruuuck, swuush, ksiing, vrooamk
Suddenly, every single element burst around Shry within a limited distance, cutting through the darkness and allowing everyone outside to see all the flickers of the elements around Shry.
The scene is just like when an adult with a matured Node enters the Resonance Hall, like on that fabled Resonance Day when Hytile went in to investigate after being perplexed by Shry's 2nd run of the Resonance Hall.
However, this is a scene that no one had ever seen: a person with every single element surrounding them.
Though it may be fake and orchestrated, the scene still stunned everyone who was watching.
It was then another surprise was revealed.
A new element had joined the fray; concentrated balls made from strings of energy, each with their own color, flew around Shry, the unstable lines around the balls flinging around unstably, creating a spectacle for the eye more mesmerizing than fireworks night.
...
Shry thought he had experienced everything the Resonance Hall had to offer. So, although it is still a momentous occasion for him, he didn't expect much from the Resonance Hall itself. But now, getting to see the spectacle around him was as if this was the reward for his perseverance.
Amazed by this spectacle, Shry walked as slowly as he could, taking in the scene around him as light surged through the hall with each step, and flowers within the limited radius both bloomed and closed as they followed Shry's movements, while the other flowers in the hall glowed but stayed unbloomed.
*Frwoooort* the mixture of elements continuously produced sounds, blending with each other as the elements interacted.
Every step closer to the altar, Shry saw a whole new view, something so familiar to him for the past 3 years, but yet, so drastically different that it's changing his perception of the Resonance Hall, despite knowing almost everything there is to learn about it.
Finally... Shry made it to the altar, now finally realizing that this is the first time he had navigated through the halls with his vision, as the elements lit up the only stagnant thing in the Resonance Hall that's not supposed to glow: the altar.
Hues of red, yellow, blue, brown, and green lights illuminated the altar.
"Finally..." Shry muttered.
His face held a contained smile, a smile that stretched his lip muscles to the limit but never showed his teeth, as his eyes held conflicted but clear emotion, like reaching the conclusion of a fun journey you never want to end.
With that, Shry turned around, and finally, he performed his last act of defiance, running, following the light that shone through the still agape entrance of the Resonance Hall, a decision made by Hytile himself, even though it broke one of the most important rules. Well... It's not like they hadn't done something like that already anyway.
Now standing in the middle of the hall, Shry looked through the entrance at everyone watching him. Thoughts of his parents began to surface, shining so brightly, luminescent but not without blemishes or shadow.
It was then...
With everyone watching, Shry recalled the many times he had seen a sequence be cast, remembering their hand movements when they conjured an element, layering those memories over his hand.
And with a flick...
*WOOOOM*
The whole resonance erupted in flames, shrouding Shry's figure in its soft inferno, as, despite its appearance, the flames were no hotter than a summer's day.
*OOOOM WOOOM*
Without letting up, Shry followed the flames with the other hand, injecting his will into the gauntlet like it was part of his hand, before flicking with a different motion, generating a tiny gust of wind, which started a chain reaction.
*FEEEEEEE FEEEEWWW*
At first, the wind wasn't very visible, overwhelmed by the flames, but soon, it finally began to separate, revealing visible green wind effects spiraling throughout the fire like a lollipop.
*FEEEWOOOMM*
Following that, one by one, Shry unlatched each of the Node canisters strapped to the sashes he's been wearing, and subsequently, each element burst through the Resonance Hall, settling in its place until the view of the entrance looked like a swirled rainbow.
And there, for the first time ever, the nature and water resonance paths appeared in the Resonance Hall at the same instance, the two opposing elements separated by the laws of the universe.
...
Finally... One canister was left, the most unique and near impossible to acquire Resonance Path, the energy Node Canister, just as much of an anomaly as Shry.
(I wonder what this will look like.) Shry grinned to himself, his heartbeat accelerating in excitement.
Ejecting the glowing dark green Node Canister from his right gauntlet, Shry quickly stuffed away the barely used Node Canister into his pocket like the rest before finally connecting the one he's been excited for into the socket.
Unlike the previous elements, Shry didn't know how to use this one. Through his friends and parents, he had been able to see how the standard 6 Resonance Paths work and how to conjure their respective elements, but now, not only does he not know the way to activate it, he hasn't even seen this element before.
With no other choice, Shry hesitantly injected his will into his right gauntlet and messed around, trying to get a spark going, because that's all he needs for the Resonance Hall to respond.
Trying every signal he could think of, Shry waited for one of them to trigger, but none of them did anything.
And now, as the elements began to set, ready to transition to the final phase of every examination, Shry suddenly began to pick up some ideas from how he moved his fingers to activate the previous elements. It was then he realized all 6 of the activations lined up to form a circle.
With that discovery and how desperate Shry was to get this new element to activate, Shry confidently drew a circle with his finger, and surprisingly...
...
After completing that gesture, the whole hall went completely silent, all the elements disappearing with the sound. But... although no one could see the elements, the Resonance Hall was still somehow lit up, as everyone from the outside felt a tingling feeling welling up and getting more and more powerful.
*Zoooooom*
A surge of purple, fog-like energy flowed from behind Shry, from the altar to the entrance.
And after that, for a moment, like the Resonance Path had a preference for theatrics, the hall went silent again, before...
Glowing violet web-like tendrils blinked into existence, filling the halls with a unique aesthetic. Like lasers in a spy movie but crooked like lightning.
Even after that, the theatrics of this Resonance Path didn't stop. The violet webs began to vibrate; at first they vibrated at a steady and consistent pace, but as each second passed, the webs got more and more violent until the whole hall was covered with numerous curtains of violet.
*Eaaaaaacccchhhhkkkk* the violet webs produced a scratchy noise, matching its movements.
When the vibrations reached their climax, the violet webs began to separate, suddenly splitting into separate paths drifting all throughout the hall.
...
Finally, after all that craziness, the violet webs abruptly stopped all movements, revealing that the once magnificent forest of violet webs had changed.
Like a picture taken in the rain, the violet particles now looked like raindrops stuck in place, creating one final mesmerizing scene before all the violet particles began to turn, aiming at Shry.
Moments later, like a barrage of lasers, all the violet particles sped toward Shry.
Immediately, as the lasers bombarded Shry, his shirt was slowly torn apart, revealing a plain white shirt with some slick designs, kind of like a magician's outfit, behind the decoy shirt.
After the plain white magician's shirt was revealed, it was immediately covered by all the violet beams, hiding it from everyone's eyes.
Right as the final violet beams gathered and fused into Shry's shirt, before Shry could catch a glimpse of his clothes, the thick darkness of the Resonance Hall immediately reappeared, cascading through the entire hall once again.
However, this time, unlike the beginning, the hall wasn't just drowned in darkness now, as the engravings lining the inside of the Resonance Hall began to glow with a soft hue of colors from every Resonance Path.
...
"Wow, can I do that as well next time?" Kanum shamelessly voiced out his thoughts to Hytile after being quiet the entire time ever since Shry had entered the Resonance Hall.
"No," without even letting Hytile say anything in response to Kanum's question, Shelt immediately cut in with a blunt and concise answer.
Besides their playful bickering, to the left of Hytile, he could hear a conversation between the pair of sisters.
...
Estin was in complete shock from what she just saw, the implications of this new invention. Although it seemed minor on the surface since it only solved a very specific issue one person faces, with the knowledge she has, she could immediately tell that this invention could split off into numerous highly effective pieces of equipment for offense.
"Big sis, what was that!?" You ask her older sister, Estin, with a slightly trembling voice, still amazed by the spectacle that just occurred.
Hearing her sister ask her a question, Estin was snapped out of her stupor.
As a high-status doctor, Estin immediately knew what that violet web was as soon as it showed up.
At first, she was very surprised by its appearance, but after realizing that it was just the result of a Node Canister. Although they are pretty rare to acquire, since there is such a small population of people around the world with the energy resonance path, with the right connections, it is not impossible to get.
"That's from the energy Resonance Path; it is an extremely rare, one in a hundred thousand chance Resonance Path," Estin explained, entering professional mode.
After that quick explanation, before Yuwwe could ask more questions, the crowd suddenly began to cheer.
While they were distracted, Shry's foot had exited the Resonance Hall, causing a tsunami of cheers to blare out like he had just performed the best play anyone had ever seen.
Slowly, Shry's figure revealed itself, maneuvering into the dimming evening light and revealing his new outfit.
Shry now donned an almost glowing violet upper shirt, the new color complementing its design, making it look like an actual magician's shirt.
"TAA DAA!" Shry suddenly blurted out, his body forming into a Y shape.
After saying that, the crowd grew quieter and quieter until they all stopped cheering entirely in mere seconds, causing the scene to grow awkward.
However, even after that setback, it was like Shry wasn't even slightly affected by the social awkwardness he just incited. Instead, he just ignored and ran to Hytile and his parents, curious as to the mysterious Resonance Path he just invoked through the Node Canister.
____
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