Sitting by a small campfire, Shinryu was silent as the melodies of the forest traveled across the night sky. The crackling of the fire and the snores of the 5 children naturally synchronized.
'These guys are something I've never seen before.' The children Shinryu had stumbled across were clearly some of the escaped captives from the camp he just came from. But they were inherently different from everyone else who was experimented on.
'I can't heal them.'
Like the others the children had corrupted energy in them, but it was implanted in a much more invasive way. Usually, if someone wanted a temporary boost in power, they could absorb the veil energy from a corrupted crystal at a cost.
That's what the Empire did with the adults. Shin didn't know if they experimented on all the children like this, but what they did was implant a corrupted crystal directly inside each of the kids.
This led them to absorb much more energy giving them a substantial boost in their Novice abilities. But the crystal ended up embedded into their core. A resonance core isn't a physical object. So absorbing the entire crystal was unprecedented.
Not only did they absorb the energy, but they absorbed the crystal's properties. Allowing them to produce corrupted veil energy independently.
'They take in veil energy like normal but when it synchronizes with their frequencies it turns corrupted.' Corrupted resonance energy is much more potent than regular energy. Attacks become stronger but harder to control, they produce resonance energy at a faster rate but it deteriorates their core.
That's why those who do partake in corrupted veil energy do so in moderation. What is happening to these children can only be described as bizarre.
'But, I can absorb the negative energy.' The corrupted energy replaced a part of their resonance cores. So if Shin were to purge the energy, any resonance energy left would quickly leak and cause an enormous backlash leaving them dead in a matter of minutes.
But if he were to absorb the miasma that corrupted the energy, he could reverse the negative effects, allowing them to keep the positive ones.
'I should be fine.' A gap in the knowledge of any creature that has lived for hundreds of years is a terrifying thing. 'It's just like father used to say.' "You can live for thousands of years and still not know anything. Keep an open mind or the world will gobble you up before you can react."
The memory of his father brought a somber atmosphere around the campsite. With a sigh, Shinryu got up. Connecting his frequency with the wind, he levitated the children equidistant from each other on the ground.
Once they were in place he tapped into Thaloria's frequency. 'I'm going to borrow this for a bit.' Using their connected frequencies, he synchronized with the veil energy in the air and created a connection of energy to each of the children.
Their bodies jolted at the foreign energy. Carefully weaving the green resonance energy around each of their cores, he gradually absorbed the miasma directly into his own core to be cleansed.
The black-haired girl screamed as if she lost a central part of herself. 'The miasma was like a parasite, making their bodies think they needed it. They should fully recover in a couple of hours.'
The others reacted in similar ways. Shinryu's method was very gentle but there was nothing to do about the phantom pain they were feeling.
Shinryu's hands trembled as his already damaged core began to crack with every bit of miasma absorbed. He was able to stabilize it in time but not without sustaining irreversible damage in the process.
'I'm only delaying the inevitable.' Shin's core had been damaged for over a century now, the speed of deterioration was rapidly growing as of late. What was weird about his damaged core was that with every crack, his bond with the veil and its energy grew stronger.
He didn't know what it meant for his future but no one has been able to give him a concrete answer about his predicament.
A man considered a great sage said he would die. A bard sang of enlightenment. Even a dragon seemingly as old as time itself was unsure. He himself had surmised that he would eventually turn into a stray.
As the miasma buried itself into his core, Shinryu began to expel it into the air using Thaloria's frequency as a filter, effectively recycling the miasma into veil energy. This process was a bit strenuous on his core but he enjoyed doing it once in a while.
It felt like giving back to Thaloria some of what was stolen from her by the Beyond. Sitting back down by the fire, Shin stared at the sky for a while and watched the 2 moons in the sky drift away from their peak.
Shinryu, feeling hopeless about his future but grateful for his past, sang a song for the first time since Aurora died.
"Ashita hamabe wo, samayoeba.
Mukashi no koto zo, shinobaruru.
Kaze no oto yo, kumo no samayo.
Yosuru nami mo, kai no iro mo..."
His voice reverberated for miles as those within the vicinity listened to his song. Some of the humans still displaced in the forest after the rift recognized the song from a popular bard's tale of a village that was destroyed long ago.
Shin continued as his song made the children stir in their sleep.
"Yuube hamabe wo, motooreba.
Mukashi no hito zo, shinobaruru.
Yosuru nami yo, kaesu nami yo.
Tsuki no iro mo, hoshi no kage mo."
Every word felt heavy on the hearts of those listening. His longing for something they could not provide made some of the harmonists sing a song from their own hometown.
The forest too drafted a melody that harmonized with the others. It was a sound to hearken as their songs brought a much needed calm to those who were tortured.
Even Loufin, who continued to guide his people through the night recognized Shinryu's voice and joined in with a song from his village.
"Sinne Fianna Fáil,
atá faoi gheall ag Éirinn,
Buíon dár slua
thar toinn do ráinig chughainn,
Faoi mhóid bheith saor
Seantír ár sinsear feasta,
Ní fhágfar faoin tíorán ná faoin tráill.
Anocht a théam sa bhearna baoil,
Le gean ar Ghaeil, chun báis nó saoil,
Le gunna scréach faoi lámhach na bpiléar,
Seo libh canaig amhrán na bhfiann."
Events like these happened quite frequently. Whether it was before an excursion or in times of war, music brought people together. Everyone was always proud to share a piece of their culture.
Soon the sun began to rise.
"Hayachi tachimachi, nami wo fuki.
Akamo no susozo, nurehijishi.
Yomishiware, wa subete iete.
Hamabe no masago, managoima wa."
Stirring in her sleep, the little blonde girl awoke to the end of Shin's melody. She was able to sense his emotions due to her innate gifts but could not understand why he would feel this way when he could sing so beautifully.
Feeling her gaze, Shinryu lifted his head revealing his purple eyes from under his straw hat. Staring closely at the girl, he was surprised by her attitude that was in stark contrast to when he first met the kids.
"What is your name little one?"
Realizing she was rudely staring at the man who saved them, she began to blush as she shyly looked away. Scratching her cheek with her index finger she began to stutter.
"Um... m-my name i-. Ek heiti Ingrid!" Suddenly switching from Lumeris to her native tongue, Ingrid shrunk into a ball out of embarrassment.
"Ingrid... Hvat fagrt nafn. (What a nice name.)"
Wide-eyed, Ingrid looked at the man as if he were a demon. "EH! You know my language?!" Excited for the first time in months, the 14 year old jumped up and down like she received the best gift ever. Before she could get too excited, her legs suddenly gave out.
Shinryu appeared behind her and caught her as she fell. Resting her on the ground, he scolds her. "Don't move too much, your body is still adjusting."
Returning to her shy demeanor, she stared at the floor in shame. Shin didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
'This kid...'
"You didn't know, it's alright." Before Ingrid could reply, the others started waking up as well.
The kid with fiery red hair that controls fire was the first to react as he got into a defensive stance. The white-haired kid with lightning abilities followed the lead of the older boy.
Their frequencies synchronized much easier with the elements than before. Novices aren't usually able to weild elements. At that rank their main focus would be learning to stabilize their frequencies and destabilize others.
'That's more than likely their natural talent instead of the results of the experiments.' It would be terrifying if an empire can pump out talented children like this so easily.
"Ahhh!" A scream that sent out lethal vibrations was sent toward Shin. The black-haired girl was clearly more proactive than the two boys as the first thing she did after waking up was attack.
Sighing, Shin flicked his wrist and dispersed the sound by destroying the connection of her frequency with his own. Becoming frustrated, the wild child looked at the boys next to her.
"What are you idiots doing?! Kill him!"
Shaking his head the tall brown-haired boy interrupted her madness. "Stop, Aiko! Can't you see he doesn't want to hurt us? Our corruption is gone, he saved us!"
Stopping in her tracks, the 15 year old girl named Aiko re-evaluated the situation.
'He's right. The corruption is gone?' Gripping her abdomen, she tried her best to sense her core. They were all inexperienced children after all, it was surprising that even one of them noticed their improved conditions right away.
Standing up, the 16 year old boy with brown hair stood in front of the others as he introduced himself to set an example.
"My name is Friedrich. Thank you for your kindness." Bowing slightly, he urges the other kids to follow.
The 15 year old red-haired boy went next followed by the final 13 year old boy.
"You can call me René."
"Malin."
Chuckling at them, Shinryu returned to the fire that was still burning as if it would never run out of fuel. Sitting, he pulls out some dried meat from the inside of his pocket. It was wrapped in paper to prevent dirt from contaminating it.
Unwrapping the meat, he began to chew on one as the kids stared at the food in his hands. Aiko who still hadn't formally introduced herself backed away from the group and sat under a tree. She watched the man like a hawk. All she wanted was to keep her friends safe.
Shin, seeing the looks on the kids faces answered their silent question. They did not want to seem ungrateful by immediately begging for food, that would just put them more indebt to the harmonist.
"Eat to your heart's desire." Using the wind, he floats the paper toward the group and watched as they ravaged what was left of his food reserves. Patting his pockets for anything, he found 3 bronze resonance tokens.
'Hahaha, perfect! Just enough for 3 separate rooms.' One for him, another for the boys, and the last one for the girls. Not the most efficient use of money, but Shinryu felt that the children deserved some privacy after what they went through.
Resting the bronze back into his breast pocket, Shin refocused on Aiko who had not eaten anything. The children had left a few pieces for her on the paper.
"Aren't you going to eat?" Hearing Shin's voice, the kids looked toward Aiko since they were also curious.
Scoffing the girl gave Shinryu the middle finger in protest. "Fuck you!"
Pointing at himself in disbelief, the innocent harmonist was very confused by the girl's rebellious attitude. "Me? What did I do?"
Grumbling in frustration, the children heard a few words like "Stinky old man." and "Idiot." While Shinryu could hear every insult she slung at him. Feeling aggrieved, the man who hadn't dealt with teenagers in a long time tried to calm her down.
"How about this. I will get you guys a room in one of the nearby human towns. Then we can go on a few missions to earn some money."
Confused, Ingrid scratched her cheek. "Why would we need to go on missions? Shouldn't we buy a carriage and leave this place? Those evil men might come looking for us!"
Lifting an index finger, Shinryu nods. "Good point, but you see..." Scratching head underneath his hat, Shin looks away in shame.
"I'm broke."