The iridescent letters of the [Maestro's Codex] pulsed softly in Alex's mind-vision. He could still see his childhood bedroom through it, a semi-transparent overlay. He blinked. It remained. He closed his eyes tight, then opened them. Still there. This wasn't a hallucination born of shock.
He tentatively thought, 'Search: Ed Sheeran - Thinking Out Loud.'
Instantly, the display shifted.
[Ed Sheeran - Thinking Out Loud]
Original Release Date (Timeline A): June 2014 (Album: X)
Key: D Major
Tempo: 79 BPM
Instrumentation: Electric Guitar (clean, with slight reverb), Bass, Drums (soft, brush-like), Strings (backing), Vocals (lead, harmony).
Full Orchestration Available: [Access]
Lyrical Content (Full): [Access]
Production Notes (Original - Jake Gosling): [Access] - Includes specific mic placements, EQ settings on key elements, master chain suggestions.
Timeline A Popularity Index (Peak): 98.7/100
Current Timeline Suitability Score (2015): 95.2/100 (High appeal due to acoustic prominence and timeless lyrical themes).
Alex's breath hitched. It wasn't just a list. It was… everything. The DNA of the song laid bare. He thought '[Access Lyrical Content]' and the full lyrics scrolled by, perfectly formatted. He then tried '[Access Production Notes]'. Technical details flooded his vision – details only a seasoned producer would fully grasp, details he did grasp. This was an insane level of detail.
"Alex? Pancakes are getting cold!" His mom's voice, a cheerful anchor in the storm of unreality.
He mentally commanded the System to minimize, and the display vanished, though he felt its latent presence. He swallowed hard. "Coming!"
Breakfast was a surreal blur. His parents chatted about his dad's upcoming business trip, about Aunt Carol's new dog. Normal, mundane 2015 chatter. Alex picked at his pancakes, his mind racing. Every song they absentmindedly hummed along to on the small kitchen radio was generic, forgettable. A Top 40 from a world devoid of true emotional powerhouses.
His father, a shrewd but kind man even in this timeline's younger iteration, peered at him over his newspaper. "You alright, son? You look like you've seen a ghost."
Alex forced a weak smile. "Just… first day jitters, Dad. Sophomore year, you know." If only you knew the half of it.
His dad, David Vance, clapped him on the shoulder. "You'll be fine. You've always been a smart kid. Just… try to focus a bit more on the schoolwork this year, eh? Less time lost in your headphones with those… well, whatever it is you listen to."
Alex flinched internally. In his original timeline, by fifteen, he was already deep into music production software, annoying his parents with booming bass and odd synth experiments. Here, apparently, he was just a typical teen with "headphones." What had this version of him been listening to? The System didn't seem to catalog his personal memories, only objective musical data.
The bus ride to Northwood High was an exercise in sensory overload. The fashion – a jarring mix of what 2025 would deem "vintage" and simply outdated. The slang. The phones – clunkier, smaller screens. He felt like an anthropologist studying a familiar yet alien tribe. During first period English – Romeo and Juliet, again – he discreetly reactivated the System.
He searched for artists he himself had worked with in 2025, relatively unknown indie darlings whose careers he'd helped launch. Nothing. It was as if the entire branch of musical evolution he knew had been pruned from this reality's tree.
Then, a thought struck him, cold and electrifying. If these songs were gone, what about the foundational influences? The Beatles? Still there, according to the System. Led Zeppelin? Present. Mozart? Some Intact but not all. It seemed to be a divergence point, somewhere in the late 20th or early 21st century, specifically affecting popular music of this generation and the one immediately following.
Lunchtime. He found an empty corner of the bustling, cacophonous cafeteria. He brought up the Codex again, scrolling, scrolling, the sheer volume of missing music making his head spin.
All of "Shape of You" to "Peaches." Every verse Ed Sheeran poured into "Perfect." The Weeknd's unforgettable "Blinding Lights." Shawn Mendes' breakthrough "Stitches." Lewis Capaldi's heartbreaking "Someone You Loved."
This wasn't just a few missing hits. This was a cultural void. An entire generation of defining artistry, erased.
And he, Alex Vance, a displaced composer with a head full of melodies from a future that no longer existed for him, was the sole archivist.
The System pinged softly, a new notification appearing:
[Analysis Complete: Current Timeline Musical Landscape - Summary]
Dominant Genres: EDM (mainstream, somewhat formulaic), Pop (traditional structures, less lyrical experimentation), Indie Rock (retaining early 2000s influences), Hip-Hop (regionally strong but lacking cross-genre fusion innovations seen in Timeline A).
Opportunity Identified: Significant vacuum for introspective, lyrically complex pop; artist-driven narratives; fusion genres.
Recommendation: Begin with broadly appealing, emotionally resonant tracks with proven Timeline A success to establish presence.
Alex stared at the "Opportunity Identified." His original career had been about meticulously crafting sounds, helping artists find their voice. Here… here the voices themselves were silent. The opportunity wasn't just to produce; it was to introduce. To recreate.
The weight of it was crushing, yet beneath it, a flicker. Not of excitement, not yet. But of purpose. A terrifying, audacious purpose. He was an experienced music composer and producer. This System wasn't just giving him songs; it was giving him the blueprints.
He thought back to his studio in 2025. The years spent mastering Pro Tools, Ableton Live, learning music theory until it was as natural as breathing. He knew how to build a song from the ground up, how to coax emotion from a melody, how to arrange instrumentation to make a track soar. He wasn't just some kid with a magical cheat sheet. He had the skills. The System was the ultimate reference library, but he was the one who would have to understand, interpret, and bring these sounds to life in this new world.
He needed a starting point. Something powerful, familiar, and relatively easy to replicate with the basic tools a fifteen-year-old in 2015 might conceivably have access to (or could get his father to invest in).
He brought up Ed Sheeran again. "Thinking Out Loud." Simple elegance, undeniable emotion. The System even provided popularity metrics relative to the 2015 soundscape here. High compatibility.
A plan, wild and improbable, began to form in the ruins of his old life. This wasn't just about surviving a temporal anomaly. This was about… revolutionizing a silent world. And maybe, just maybe, finding his own voice again in the process. The silence felt less like an ending, and more like a blank page. An unnervingly blank, stadium-sized page.