They reached the bottom without further incident and the ache in his chest had lessened with each moment that passed. By the time they cleared the sloping paths, it had faded completely and Loren returned to gazing speculatively around him.

Researchers were stationed around the glyph on the floor, each taking notes of varying importance as they gathered at the edge. The glyph pulsed with energy, its colours flowing between each branch that stretched for the walls.

"It's beautiful," Natalia commented as Anise released a breath of awe, "I've never seen anything like this."

Jade hummed in distracted acknowledgement, nodding slightly to himself, "Ion," he called, beckoning him with a slight flick of his wrist, "were you aware of the fact that this seal is in the book you sent me?"

Ion frowned, peering up at Jade before looking at the glyph again. "No," he admitted, taking in the lines that twisted around each other and the strange symbol framed in the centre. "This seal… is it dangerous?"

"Not the seal itself but what it's keeping behind it. If we're going to open it, we need to be prepared for the worst," he said. Guy crossed his arms.

"How do you mean?" he questioned, frowning in slight confusion, "what did the book say about this?"

Jade adjusted his glasses and sighed before he spoke, "The book described Yulia City during the Dawn Age as 'the City in Lorelei's Shadow' typically because of the tower that dominated it. The people lived at its base and labeled the tower as holy ground since it seemed to reach for the heavens.

"As you can see, there is no tower now but not because it was destroyed. No, the city actually sank and became the first physical bit of proof of the crust's liquefaction and if I'm right, this room was built at the same time as the passage rings to ensure that it didn't completely go under.

"So, Natalia, you were right. This room is a passage ring just not in the way you'd expect," he gave the princess a bland smile and she gave a hesitant nod in return.

"Yes, alright," she accepted, "but what about the glyph? What is it holding back?"

"Mmm. For whatever reason, a portion of the city below didn't get enveloped by mud and anything that was left alive mutated into what they called fiends. Fiends that somehow found their way up and into the remainder of the city. The Fon Master of the time crafted this seal to keep them at bay and ordered it to never be opened."

There was a moments of silence where even the researchers across the room stopped what they were doing and glanced nervously between themselves and the glyph.

"So," Anise drew out the word, "it's just blocking a bunch of monsters." Her rehashed description seemed to get them to relax but then Jade chuckled and set them right back on edge.

"No, no, fiends," he corrected, "creatures worse than the monsters we've fought previously. Or so they say, anyway. Though, I suppose we won't really know until we go down there ourselves."

"Right," Guy sighed and sent a pleading glance to the ceiling. "Well, as long as we're here," he turned to Teodoro, "I think it'd be best if you and your people left for the time being."

"Yes, I think you're right," the man agreed and gestured to the men across the room. "Be careful," he warned before he turned around and made his way out, falling in step with a woman as she glanced nervously over her shoulder.

"Well then," Jade started once they were sufficiently out of the way, "Ion, if you would."

The Fon Master nodded, stepping out over the glowing strands and into the centre of the room. He took a deep breath to ready himself then raised his arms, holding his hands out to the sides as if to welcome someone. The glyph flashed once, the colours slowing before coming to a standstill.

Loren's breath caught in his throat, feeling a strange sort of apprehension grip him. Then the flow reversed, colours blurring as they twisted towards the centre and pulled the strands of the seal with them. A pressure was building in his mind, growing larger as line after line was tugged away.

He gritted his teeth and pressed a hand against his temple though it did nothing to ease the growing pain. If anything, it seemed to spread, becoming an ache that consumed his limbs and left him shaking.

Loren?

One by one, the branches disappeared though it was achingly slow compared to the strands that were whipped away from them. He gasped as his vision blurred, staggering slightly before something grabbed him.

Guys, something's wrong!

He groaned, voices getting lost in the roar of sound surrounding him. The pressure had turned into unrelenting pounding and he was starting to become cold. So desperately cold.

Loren, can you hear me? Loren!

Ion, stop!

I can't!

Then his knees touched the ground and he didn't have the energy to resist as the rest of him followed, leaving him sprawled on whoever was holding him. He tried to see, tried to find the source of the force that seemed to press him to the ground. But everything swam and nothing made sense and he resigned himself to waiting it out.

He wasn't prepared when everything froze. More, it was a moment that lasted far longer than it should have. Then everything came crashing down and he wasn't able to stop the scream.

"Something's here." The twins, tall and proud, scanned the miasma, leaning against each other as they always did. …What?

"What is that? It feels almost…" One whispered, clutching at her sister's arm as something sparked in her eyes. … Safe?

"It can't be…" They turned, the elder standing just steps behind them and staring off into the distance. No…no…

"Elder?" Their heads tilted, expressions asking their unvoiced question. Not safe, this… please…

"Where is he?" She whirled upon them, somehow looming despite her stature, "Where is the oath breaker?" Asch…

The twins looked at each other and shared a frown. "We don't know, madam," one started, refusing to meet the elder's eyes.

"He's been hidden from us ever since that wretched-"her sister tugged on her sleeve and she stopped, lips thinning as she glared at her feet. The elder's hand had raised, crooked digits curled into a fist as she stared at something unseen. …!

A wide grin stretched across her lips, "Not well enough it seems." She seemed to stare directly at him, her eyes glinting with a deadly promise in the low light. No…

"Call the others," she barked, "I found him." Asch!

Everything was a blur. Shadows blended together and objects formed and faded before he could register where they were. Panic raced through his veins, urging him to move, to leave, to run because they weren't safe. No, they couldn't be safe, they'd never be safe. They would always-

He choked, hands going to his neck to cover the sudden pain as he doubled over. Then his arms were pulled away and something pressed sharply into the centre of his back before his chest slammed against the floor.

He groaned weakly, blinking rapidly as the haze cleared away and he finally recognized the room he was in.

"Are you awake now?" Asch growled above him, clearly displeased, and he nodded as best as he could with his face pressed against the carpet. "Good," his arms were released and the elbow lifted, "now what the fuck was that?"

He coughed and cleared his throat as he shook his head, lifting himself so he was sitting on his knees. "I don't-" he coughed again and rubbed the base of his neck, "I don't know."

"Was it the spirits?" Asch kneeled next to him, elbows braced on his knees.

"The what?" Luke looked at him, confused. Surely he couldn't mean-

"The spirits of Akzeriuth." His eyes widened as he jerked back and Asch's lips twisted in a grimace. "They're hardly a figment of your imagination," he answered the question that had yet to form, glancing to the light before he refocused on Luke.

But that glance showed something else that Luke had yet to notice; a scar that splashed across Asch's brow and over his left eye that was previously hidden by hair and shadow. His breath left him in a rush. "They're real," he swallowed hard, "they're actually real." His hands shook as he clutched at the carpet.

'I'm not-' Asch's frown changed.

"They're not just-" His heart was in his throat.

"Luke, what?" His vision blurred and his breath came in short gasps.

'I didn't-' He curled on himself, pressing a hand to one of the bandages on his arm. His chest hurt.

"Luke?!" Asch's hand landed on his shoulder, trying to get him to straighten. His nails dug into the fabric and a high keening sound echoed in his ears. He wasn't-

'They're real. They're real, they're real, they're real.'

"Luke, you need to breathe." The keening stopped and left his ears ringing. "Breathe, Luke." He sobbed and pressed his forehead to the carpet. Relieved tears soaked into the fibers and he released his grip to cling to Asch's wrist.

"They're real," his voice was tight and he got the sense that Asch was nodding above him. "I didn't dream them up."

"No." His voice was soft, so uncharacteristically soft. Luke coughed in an attempt to stifle a sob and warm fingers threaded through his hair.

"I'm not crazy."

"No."

Fingers pressed against his face and hands pulled at his arms as voices murmured in his ears and lights flickered fleetingly through his eyelids. The fingers left with distant shouting, the words unintelligible aside from the fierce emotion behind them.

The hands replaced the fingers, shifting him, moving him almost desperately. They pressed against his neck then fluttered over his eyes before running through his hair and disappearing.

Energy flowed in circuits around the room, extracted, consumed, converted, released. Ever moving, never still.

Five shining beacons, the focal point of it all, firm in their stance as the sentinel. Shadows curled at the center, writhing at the edges and lashing at the corners.

Gold laced the room, arching through the beacons unnoticed and unhindered. You are me yet not. Darkness twisted within it. You were never... in my future. It grew, trembled, and shifted. Perhaps... this?

The shadows pulsed and suddenly he was aware. Loren sucked a harsh breath, taking in the scene in an instant. Everybody was fighting, surrounding the beast at the center of the room and keeping it where it was, away from the edge, away from him. It struck at them with jagged claws and gleaming teeth, pale eyes unseeing as it used its wide, pointed ears to find them.

He released a slow breath and stood. The flow of fonons was something he was intimately familiar with, each element answering the call with bursts of fire and flashes of lightning. Except...

He inhaled and raised his hand, pulling at the seventh fonons that refused to circle through. They flocked to him, licking at his hand and wrapping eagerly around his arm, desperate to please, to be of use. A strange sound rung in his ears, a low note at discord with another.

His eyes alighted on the beast, the fiend that roared its anger at them. He exhaled, the words of his arte drifting off his lips with barely a whisper.

"Grand Discord."

The reaction was instantaneous. None of the others heard it but the beast clearly did as it shrieked and seemed to collapse upon itself. It writhed in the center, shaking its head and clawing futilely at its ears. The fonons danced around him, joyous and proud.

Loren breathed.

The arte dissipated and the beast shook its head wildly, nostrils flaring. Loren picked up his staff from the floor. It found him within moments, bloody claws tearing grooves into the ground as it leapt over the stunned circle of warriors for him.

He didn't hear his name as it filled the room in a chorus of fear. Adrenaline filled his veins, his fingers held his staff loosely. He waited, one beat, two.

"Null."

The beast slammed into the wall erected before him, a shuddering barrier of sound. He moved. It could still smell him and its tail whipped around in retaliation. He leapt, watching it with wide eyes, tracking every twitch. Time seemed to slow.

What is this energy...?

Seventh fonons gathered around him, anxious and anticipating. He inhaled. He needed more, needed to finish it. There were so many, where...? He gripped his staff and pulled. Someone fell with a gasp. He grinned, eyes gleaming with victory.

He landed, flipped backwards to avoid the claws, then let it go. "Dissona's Requiem!" The beast threw itself backwards with an unholy sound, curling and flipping and bashing its head against the floor to relieve the pressure of the attack. Then, with a piercing cry, it buried its claws in its own head and Loren allowed the fonons to dissipate back into the air as it fell limp to the floor.

He breathed, heart strangely calm in his chest.

"Loren?" He blinked and turned to the rest of the party still in the center of the room. Tear was on her knees, a hand pressed to the center of her chest with Natalia crouching at her side. Seventh fonons, different from his own, wrapped her palms in a healing arte. Guy was behind them, concern furrowing his brow and next to him, Jade watched Loren with piercing analysis. Ion stood on Guy's other side, a white knuckled grip on his staff and Anise was coming towards him with caution in every step.

"I'm fine," he said automatically, slinging his staff to his back as he turned fully towards them then paused when he realized, he wasn't wrong. He lifted his hands, staring at them in wonder when they remained steady. "I'm fine," he repeated, flexing his fingers then stared at Anise when she stepped in front of him.

"Are you sure?" Her hands took his, curling their fingers together and Loren nodded resolutely.

"It's strange," he admitted, his gaze sliding away from Anise's imploring look. He stared at the fiend instead, it's thin fur matted and bloody. "I feel," he paused, searching for a word that could describe the energy running through him. Great, fantastic, powerful, boundless, "Alive," his breath left him in a rush, "like I could do anything."

"Loren," Anise's voice was quiet and her grip on his fingers tightened, "you killed it when our attacks barely touched it." Loren frowned, surely she was exaggerating. "Razing Phoenix and Indignation were the only things that hurt it and you, you ended it in two hits." Loren's blood ran cold.

"In two hits with artes we've never seen," Jade continued and Loren couldn't bring himself to meet his gaze. Because he knew with burning clarity the reason for his scorching look. He knew that sound was never basis for such an attack before and he knew that none of the fonons could even support what he just did and yet-

"It's the seventh fonon," he said because that was where they came from, the fonons that still surrounded him and weaved around his limbs even if they didn't quite fit the bill anymore. But with the way Jade adjusted his glasses out of the corner of his eye he knew the man didn't believe him, not when the excuse sounded flimsy to his own ears.

"Maybe," he said and Loren found himself growing tense, "yet considering its history, I'm disinclined to believe that's the case. While the seventh fonon may be sound based, it is calming, healing. It is a fonon that's disinclined towards damage, going so far as to even rebel when attempted. The seventh fonon is euphony. That," Jade tilted his head towards the fiend, "was not."

Adored child of sound…