> "When a voice is not just heard... but felt — even silence begins to scream."
---
A thick fog draped the mountains of Varael like a quiet shroud.
With every breath, the wind carried both peace… and an ache left unspoken.
When Noen first stepped into the borderland kingdom, it felt like an old melody kept brushing against his heart — always reaching him, but never quite arriving.
Varael.
A place once known for its reverence of music.
Where every birth was welcomed with a song, and every death was returned to the soil with it.
But now, the world called it something else —
"The Land of Lost Voices."
> "Someone tried to sing here once... and their voice was lost forever,"
Sera whispered as she walked beside Noen.
Their path wound along a worn stone road, flanked by broken music halls, silent shrines, and wind chimes that had long since forgotten how to sing.
Everything looked like it was trying to speak… but had forgotten what words meant.
Noen closed his eyes and gently hummed a melody.
But the moment the resonance escaped into the air — it shattered.
Nothing responded.
Not the earth.
Not the wind.
> "Why is my note... hiding from me?"
he murmured under his breath.
Sera glanced at him but said nothing.
As they passed an ancient library, they saw a girl in white — standing still.
Her eyes held a song, yet her lips remained sealed.
Her name was Oriah, the guardian of the Shrine of First Song.
They said her Soul Note had been lost long ago… and with it, her voice.
Noen looked into her eyes —
and for the first time, he realized:
Someone could sing without ever making a sound.
That night, Noen tried once again to play a melody.
This time, he opened the diary — the one his mother had left behind.
The page read:
> "When the night hums softly, just know… I'm there, within your breath — as a quiet tune."
As the note left his fingers, a blinding flash surged through his mind —
Ravon, playing a twisted version of that same melody on a black violin.
His mother… screaming.
He was screaming too.
And then —
Silence.
When Noen opened his eyes, he saw the resonance had collapsed a part of an old house.
People had gathered outside… but no one spoke.
They just stared —
in fear.
Sera gripped his hand.
> "Your melody… it doesn't just heal anymore.
It reveals truth.
It exposes pain.
And people… are afraid of pain."
That night, Noen wrote:
> "I was born to be a voice…
But maybe now, I've become the pain itself."
And for the first time,
he asked himself:
> "Am I still music…
or just an echo?"
Through the mist, Oriah appeared.
She didn't speak.
She simply reached out and took his hand.
And in that single touch,
Noen finally heard it—
> "Even silence can scream."
---
End of Chapter 1.