Chapter 97: Voice of Arallia

“Whoa…” Amlie’s eyes went wide in amazement as they stepped into the stadium. It was gigantic. Aegis could tell from a quick glance that the stadium was designed similar to the arenas that he did his Shield Mastery and Leadership intermediate quests in. It was circular in shape, the pillars had been removed, it was much larger, and a stage had been set up down at the bottom in the back where the door to monsters had been. The arena had round rings of benches going up several stories in all directions around the stage, and there were plenty of players already filling up the seats near the bottom as the sun began to settle in for the evening show.

“How much time do we have until the show starts?” Aegis asked Sapphire.

“I think like, two hours.” Sapphire shrugged.

“Really? And people are already sitting down?” Aegis asked apprehensively.

“Of course! Have you never seen Yumily’s concerts? The best seats always get taken fast. Come on!” Hae-won nudged him forward into the arena, pushing her way past the crowds of players around them. The others held Hae-won’s enthusiasm and excitedly followed after her, while Aegis and Chax hung back.

“Do you know anything about Yumily?” Aegis asked Chax.

“Huh? Of course, her music is great. I mean, I’m not as big of a fan as them, but, why? You don’t?” Chax confirmed.

“Nope.” Aegis shrugged uncomfortably.

“Oh, you’re in for a treat then. Not only is her music beautiful, you’ll get to see first hand just how powerful a skilled bard player can be.” Chax patted him on the back. “Come on, let’s get seats.” Chax cheered. Aegis looked up to see his viewership was now sitting at 300 000 before he moved with Chax to join the girls as they sat three rows from the lowest row, getting a clear view of the stage in front of them. Aegis could make out several contraptions and trap doors built into the stage, with a scene of the city of Arallia painted on the backdrop of the stage and enchanted lanterns built into it to give life to it. Looking around he could see that the audience was filled up with players and Arallian NPCs, and not just the ones that’d come with them from Rene, but also the ones that had stayed back in Kordas.

Hae-won was right to get seats early though, within 30 minutes of them having sat down, the stadium was full and filled with loud chatter. Aegis saw the girls discussing in depth which of Yumily’s songs were the best, and singing lyrics of them together. Lina was joining in with them, which surprised Aegis - he’d never really seen her acting girlishly with other girls before but she was fitting right in with them without any trouble, and instead Aegis was feeling like the odd one out for not knowing anything about Yumily.

When the sun had finished setting and darkness overtook the stadium, Quinn stepped out onto the stage with Trexon walking behind her.

“Did you amplify my voice? Oh.” Quinn asked Trexon behind her, but she’d answered her own question as it echoed loudly throughout the entire stadium. “People of Kalmoore, welcome to our first official concert in Kordas. Due to the recent tragic events that befell the Island of Kriene and the good people of Arallia, Yumily the Bard and her companions have been kind enough to visit us all the way out on the edges of the known Shattered World.” Quin said, as the crowds in the stadium went still and silent and listened to her speak. Trexon had used a Lumina spell to make it so that Quinn was lit up, the only source of strong light in the stadium.

“Before Yumily begins, I would like to ask that we all have a moment of silence to remember the friends, families, and loved ones that were lost during this tragedy.” Quinn said, then put her head down and went silent. Aegis looked around and saw that all of the Arallian NPCs didn’t hesitate to do the same, including Princess Savika and most of the players, so not wanting to be rude, he put his head down as well, and the silence carried for quite some time.

“Thank you. Now, without further delay, allow me to present to you the wonderful music of Yumily, the bard.” Quinn bowed politely before walking off the stage. Once she had gone, a moment later, from the back, a beautiful woman stepped out onto the stage. Aegis could tell right away that the clothing she wore was of incredible craftsmanship and beauty, undoubtedly made by Yuki. She had on her a sleeveless, v-neck dress with sandy colored waves rippling down to the bottom that ended above her knees. Without saying any words, she took out from her inventory several instruments and placed them on the stage around her, while a large muscular orc stagehand could be barely seen wearing all black, moving out a piano from the back onto the stage.

She took a position in the middle of the stage, then her hands began to glow light pink as she began casting spells with light finger movements. The result was that notes on the piano began to play without her touching it, a gentle slow tune that echoed around the entire stadium. Moments later, a violin, clarinet, and flute that she had set down on the stage around her began to float upwards, glowing pink and playing notes in beautiful harmony with the piano keys being pressed.

Aegis was amazed to see a single player manipulating 4 instruments at once, he could see that though the melody was slow and calming, Yumily’s fingers were moving a mile a minute, each finger bending and extending out rapidly as she used the motions to control her bard magic and play the song. And as he watched he found himself staring up at her face. She had long black flowing wavy hair that went down her lower back just above her waist with wide dark eyes, beautiful earrings reflecting the pink light that began to glow softly all around her, so that she alone was the focus of everyone in the stadium. When she opened her mouth to sing, her voice carried through the arena.

{Author note: writing this song has had me stuck for awhile, I will skip it and write the lyrics later}

Silence fell over the stadium as the final notes of the song played, and tears rolled down Yumily’s cheeks.

“I am sorry everyone, I wish I could have been there to help all of my friends.” She said with a sniffle as she wiped her tears away. Aegis turned to his sides and saw that not just Princess Savika, but Sapphire, Lina, Amlie, Ruffily and Hae-won were all crying along with her. He then double checked and saw Chax was tearing up as well.

“But I am eternally grateful for the people of Kalmoore who stepped in and put everything at risk to save so many. And I am so happy to see that so many familiar faces are still with us. So let’s turn this into a celebration of life, and new friendships!” She shouted in a much more, obviously forced, joyful voice, but as she did, she whipped her hands out with a pink glow and began playing another song, this one much faster and upbeat. As she did, behind her a lumina spell began to glow on a set of drums, and a 2nd player was now on the stage playing them with drumsticks - a male elf with short black hair wearing fantastical sandy-toned clothes to match the sand on the backdrop behind him.

Moments after he began playing, Yumily began singing, and a third player wielding a staff came out onto the stage, waving his hands around and creating flashy lights and mist all around the stage using magic. Aegis wasn’t expecting it, the creative use of wizard spells to put on a lightshow was captivating and made the performance that much more exciting. At the same time, Aegis saw a buff appear on himself in the interface. [Song of Vigor], it was increasing Aegis’ maximum stamina and stamina regeneration rate by a significant amount, no doubt the effect of hearing Yumily’s music, but as he looked around, everyone in the stadium was getting the buff.

From that point, song after song was played by Yumily with little to no breaks in between. There were fast paced songs, slow songs, romantic songs and aggressive songs, and Aegis felt himself getting caught up in the aura of the stadium as everyone jumped along, or sang along with the songs as they were played. He could see Hae-won and the others having the time of their lives.

“Found it.” [Quiver - 105] said excitedly as he rummaged through the corpses of Arallians. He'd been wandering the streets of the ruined city as it was completely submerged in the abyss, drowned in black mist. He was standing near the southern gate of the city, kicking around bodies of NPCs until he’d found a shiny golden crown and lifted it up, showing it to his party members who were searching the streets nearby.

“Good. That tribute will do nicely. The rest of the spoils are yours.” [Avatar of Greed(Elite) - ??] spoke to him as he glided towards Quiver. He wore black robes that covered his entire body, adorned in golden belts with various trinkets hanging off of them. He moved as though he wasn’t walking, but like the wraith of Anger and the Banshee had. His only visible feature, his head, was made up of various crowns and tiaras piled upon each other, a pair of two red eyes barely visible beneath all of them.

“We really gotta give this up to the Avatar?” Another player, [Joltblade - 112], said with disappointment as he saw Quiver preparing to place the King of Arallia’s crown on the Avatar of Greed’s head.

“That’s the deal with Avatar of Greed. He gets the crown, we get the rest.” [Cheryl - 109] replied as she held Joltblade back.

“Yeah, but we did all the work to make everyone so greedy. I’ve even still got this stupid tabard on.” Joltblade complained as he motioned down to his Blacklion tabard. “I can take it off now, right?” He asked.

“No.” An authoritative voice spoke as it's owner joined the others on the Arallian street. [Vogash - 150]. “Stay in their guild a bit longer. No one will get suspicious if a member of the Blacklion’s guild is selling Arallian treasure on the Savringard and Lanusk markets. In particular, those Great Prophet of Eirene jewelry pieces.” Vogash instructed him, to which Joltblade let out an annoyed sigh.

"I ain't selling these, they're souvenirs." Joltblade jingled a necklace he was wearing with a star pendant of Eirene hanging on the end of it.

“I can’t believe you convinced the guild leader to log back in to try and kill the princess. If you hadn’t, he would’ve gotten away with the crown.” Cheryl looked at Joltblade impressed.

“Eh, he was an idiot. This island was easier than the last one.” Joltblade smiled with pride. “Did you at least get the quest completed?” He asked Vogash.

“Yes. It’s done. Where’s your master?” Vogash turned to the Avatar of Greed and watched as he shivered with joy as Quiver placed the crown on his head.

“He is here. He is always here.” The Avatar of Greed motioned behind Vogash, where a formless silhouette of thickened black mist began to form around a pair of red eyes. [?(Elite) - ??].

“That thing gives me the heebie-jeebies.” Cheryl whispered as she moved to stand behind Quiver.

“The Kingdom of Arallia lives on.” A deep, echoing voice came from the dark silhouette.

“The quest was to destroy Kriene, not the Kingdom of Arallia.” Vogash replied.

“You have failed.” The dark voice replied angrily. “Arallia survives on the island of Kalmoore.”

“We didn’t fail, we did what you asked, Next time be more specific.” Vogash replied back with equal aggression.

“The incompetence of other-worlders knows no bounds.” The Avatar of Greed cackled behind them. “You only live because we will it. Would you prefer I break our contract and take all of the spoils for myself?” The Avatar of Greed spoke angrily towards them.

“Good luck convincing other players to sink the islands for you.” Vogash sneered back at him.

“Silence.” The dark voice shouted at them, and they all listened obediently.

“You will have your reward if you accept my next task.” [?(Elite) - ??] spoke to Vogash.

Quest: Destroy the Island of Kalmoore, and with it, the kingdoms of Arallia and Kordas.

Objective: 0/1 Kordas destroyed

0/1 Arallia destroyed

Reward: ??

Difficulty: Extreme(II)

Restriction: Must have favor with one or more of the Avatars of Darkness.

Vogash looked at the quest and hit accept, turning to the others.

“Island of Kalmoore is next.” Vogash said.

“Figures.” Quiver shrugged.

“That island’s gonna be a bit tough, won’t it? It’s filled with all those friendly players and guilds.” Cheryl commented. “Which Avatar are we going to use this time? Greed again?” She looked at him.

“No, we shouldn’t use the same Avatar more than once, or people are going to start figuring out what we’re doing. Especially since that Aegis player did the Hrath’mir quest.” Vogash replied as he thought about it for a moment, turning to the dark silhouette. “I know the perfect Avatar to use.” He smirked. “But first, let me get this quest reward for destroying Kriene, and my new advanced class.”

The concert was winding down and the last song had ended. Yumily thanked everyone for coming and was joined on stage with all of her musicians and party members, including Yuki, and gave a bow to the people of Kalmoore and Arallia.

“That was amazing, wasn’t it?” Hae-won cheered.

“Best day ever!” Amlie squealed with joy.

“She’s even better in person, woof!” Ruffily barked excitedly.

“What’d you think?” Chax turned to Aegis and asked.

“It’s incredible how they used all those skills. Even the wizards.” Aegis nodded. They were getting ready to head out of the stadium alongside the crowds of other people when the notification popped up in all of their faces.

[WORLD NOTIFICATION]

The player [Vogash - Level 150] has become the first player in the world to unlock the Advanced Class [Harbinger of Darkness]

The NPCs in the stadium continued to funnel out as if nothing had happened, but all of the players stopped moving when they saw the message. Aegis turned to look at Lina and Hae-won as if they’d have answers, but they both looked back at him equally shocked.

“Who just got that class?” Aegis asked Hae-won.

“I’m not sure. It wasn’t Seraxus.” Hae-won answered as she started waving her hands around at her interface frantically. “It doesn’t look like it’s a streamer at all, whoever Vogash is, they’re playing privately.”

“Aegis…” Lina started speaking as she too had fiddled with her interface, looking up the new database entry on the class. “The requirements to get that class… It’s to destroy an island, and have favor with the avatars of darkness.” Lina said as her eyes went wide, Aegis staring at her. He looked at Savika, then to Chax, Sapphire, Ruffily and Amlie who all looked back at him expectantly.

“We at least know his name. Doubtful he’s working alone though. I gotta go, Quinn’s calling a meeting. Good luck.” Sapphire waved as she started hopping away.

“What should we do? Should we worry?” Chax asked Aegis.

“We should prepare for the worst, if we don’t want Kalmoore to sink. There’s a lot of questions that need to be answered, such as how a player was responsible for the invasion, but for now, focus on securing Rene. Building a wall around it wouldn’t be a bad idea.” Aegis said to Ruffily and she nodded.

“And what about you, what are you going to do?” Amlie asked Aegis.

“Me?” Aegis said as he looked down at his hands. “I think it’s about time I learn how to deal damage.” He answered.

END OF PART 1