Ria walked through the giant hall, skimming her fingers on the Walls of Time. Here, the past of her people, her world, is recorded. But sometimes, she wondered, how much was left out. All the minute details none ever remembered, like the death of that one soldier, who never saw his children again, or that woman, who lost her lover to the arrows of the Nether.
She trod silently. Their new intelligence network have informed them of a heavy Voltaris presence in Hailstone, a few kilometers south of here. They have virtually free access to this place. In fact, Ria pondered, whether they have asked the Glacians already to rewrite the Walls in their favor. However, that is not why she is here.
Up a flight of stone steps, Ria turned a corner down a snowy mountain path and entered an oasis. Here, all signs of ice was gone. Trees bore green leaves and red fruit. Flowers, yellow, rose, and blue, bloomed in the sunlight. A small creek flowed down a mound near the border and to the center. The water was fresh and clear. Ria bent down and scooped a handful into her mouth. It was sweet.
At the epicenter of the oasis is why she is here. A Song Shrine, larger than any other she has been to, stood in the grass, its four pillars pointing to the blue sky. Ria stepped into it, and placed the Protesium Prime in the northern pillar and stepped back.
"Okay," she said to herself. "You can do this, Ria Sendaris. You alone are impervious to the corruption. You will wield the Prime Songs!" Stretching her hand out, she closed her eyes and listened.
A noise, a cacophony of voices, entered her head. It was piercing, unorderly, chaos. It became louder. Ria saw, at the same time, thousands of different Songs. Each with their own unique melody. Each one different than the other. Each one, seeking attention, trying to bring themselves to center stage.
"Ah!" Ria broke the connection and collapsed on all fours. Panting, she thought about what she just saw. The Protesium Prime contains every Protesium Song, so the first step to using a Prime Song is…
"I have to separate them." Ria concluded. She stood up, still breathing heavily, closed her eyes and tried again. This time, when the Song came to her, she tried to discern the different Songs. One by one, they fell into place. The wild tunes became a beautiful symphony. Unseen by Ria, the Prime Song quivered inside the pillar. Then, it flew into Ria's outstretched hand, and she fainted, passing out on the stone pedastool.
When she woke up, the sun was still shining in the eternal dusk. Ria stood up. She was still at the Shrine, but the Protesium Prime was missing. She checked her bag, her pockets, the grass, even in the creek. But it was nowhere to be found. The Aggresium Prime, however, was just where she had left it. Then there was only one possibility.
Ria arced her arms in, as Senn always did when he used his Song. A blue bubble, a bit smaller than his, appeared around her. It vibrated under the light. Ria let it pop. Grabbing her spear, she thrust it into the sky, and a vast blue dome materialized over her. Crossing her arms across her chest, she summoned a blue shield as big as herself in front of her. And as she stood there, motionless, Ria became a blue icicle for just a second.
"I've done it!" Ria gasped. "I can wield the Protesium Prime!"
She ran back and placed the Aggressium Prime in the eastern pillar. She stepped back, stretched out her hand, and listened once more. What came was not a swarm of voices, but a peaceful lullaby. Ria focused, and the lullaby broke into individual Songs, each a voracious war cry. Images rushed into her head. Pictures of gruesome deaths, pierced by darts, blown into ash by fireballs, and impaled by spears forced their ways in.
"No! Please stop!" Ria broke the connection and knelt on the ground, hands at her temples. She felt like her head was going to explode. The agony, the pain, the anger, the fury, it was too much to bear.
"No, I have to do this." She gritted her teeth. "For Ardonia, for my family, for Senn." She put out her hand again and tried again.
The lullaby came once more, and as she disassembled them into melodies, something new emerged. A possibility. She searched for it, and after who knows how long, who knows how many fails, she listened to an awe-inspiring orchestra. The red cube trembled in the pillar. It levitated from the bottom. Turning into a million rays of crimson light, it shot through Ria. She collapsed flat on the ground, unconscious.
When she came to, Ria grabbed her spear and began wielding it. Thrusting it forward, she launched a fireball towards the sky. It flew into the distance and out of sight. Bringing her weapon down in a big swing, she created a wall of scarlet darts. With a long jab, Ria summoned seven blazing comets and threw them into the snow. Finally, she raised her spear high in the air. A whirlwind materialized around her, pulling in grass, pebbles from the creek, and snow from outside the oasis.
"Pfft! Peh!" She spat as one flake entered her mouth.
"You have done it." A deep, booming voice rang from the sky. Lightning struck a nearby peak and He emerged from the light. "Now, I want you to surrender them to me."
"Why would I do that, Herobrine?" Ria scolded and raised her spear, ready for a fight.
"Because many before you, older than you, stronger than you, more fluent with the Songs, have succumbed to their allure." He said. "Taking them out of your body regularly prevents that."
"It does?"
"To a certain extent." He landed in the grass beside her. "However, everyone is corrupted eventually."
Ria hesitated, then closed her eyes. After a moment of concentration, the Protesium and Aggresium Primes appeared at her feet.
"Excellent." He thundered, raising His sword. "Now, how about a sparring training course?"
"Let us play." Ria kicked her spear up and landed it in her hand.