Part 1
"Kael, hurry up! We're gonna miss out on the limited-edition melon bread at the cafeteria!"
Leo Maxwell's enthusiastic voice echoed through the crowded hallways of Stellara Apex High, pulling Kael out of his daydream. The lunch break had just begun, and as usual, Leo's top priority was food.
"Yeah, yeah, hold on," Kael replied, tidying up his books and putting them in his bag.
He glanced at the seat behind him. Lyra, as always, was already standing quietly, her school bag slung neatly over her shoulder, ready to follow Kael wherever he went. Her striking presence—the long silver hair and sapphire-blue eyes—was still the center of attention in the class, but after a week, most students were getting used to it (though the gossip continued to circulate). They simply saw her as "Kael's very quiet and protective relative."
"Lyra, do you want some melon bread too?" Kael asked.
Lyra just tilted her head slightly, a gesture Kael had learned meant, "I'll eat whatever you're eating."
"Alright, two melon breads it is," Kael said with a smile.
Just as Kael was about to get up, Lyra suddenly took a step forward and gently took hold of the cuff of Kael's uniform shirt. The movement was so light it was barely noticeable, but it was enough to make Kael stop.
"Lyra? What is it?" Kael asked, a little confused.
Leo, who was getting impatient, turned around. "What's wrong now? The melon bread is going to be sold out, you know!"
Lyra paid Leo no mind. She looked at Kael with her clear blue eyes. "...Don't go," she whispered very softly, just for Kael to hear.
"Huh? Go where? I'm just going to the cafeteria. We're going together," Kael explained patiently.
Lyra shook her head slowly, her grip on his sleeve tightening slightly. "The cafeteria... it's crowded. Lots of people. You... could get lost."
Kael almost laughed, but he saw the seriousness and a hint of genuine anxiety in Lyra's eyes. To her, whose world until now had been only emptiness and Kael, a crowded place like the school cafeteria probably felt like an ocean that could swallow her one and only "anchor."
"I won't get lost," Kael reassured her, his voice softening. "Here," he held out his hand. "If you're worried, just hold my hand. That way I can't go anywhere without you, right?"
The offer seemed to make sense to Lyra's logic. After a moment's hesitation, she released her grip on his sleeve and carefully took Kael's hand. Her hand felt cool, but her grip was firm. A faint, almost invisible blush appeared on her pale cheeks as she bowed her head, hiding her face.
Leo, who had witnessed the entire interaction, stood with his mouth agape. "I... I don't know what to say. It's either incredibly cute or I need a barf bag because that's so sweet," he muttered, earning an annoyed glare from Kael.
"Alright, let's go!" Kael said, trying to ignore the curious stares from a few classmates who saw them.
They walked down the corridor, with Kael and Lyra holding hands. Of course, this sight immediately became the center of attention. Whispers and pointed stares followed them.
"Look, Kaelen Vance is holding hands with that silver girl!"
"Seriously? Since when were they that close?"
"I can't believe it! Plain-old Kael?"
Kael could feel his face getting hot. This was far more embarrassing than he had anticipated. Meanwhile, Lyra seemed unaffected by the stares, focused only on holding Kael's hand, as if it were the only thing in the world that mattered.
They managed to get the last three melon breads and found an empty table near the window. Only after they sat down did Lyra reluctantly let go of Kael's hand. She ate her bread with very careful and elegant movements, a stark contrast to Leo who devoured his in three large bites.
"Okay, I take back what I said. That was seriously cute," Leo said suddenly, making Kael choke. "You've really become her tamer, huh? But be careful, Kael. With a girl that beautiful, you could become a target for jealous upperclassmen."
"Shhh! Don't say weird things," Kael hissed, his face still a little red.
Kael's life was now divided into three overlapping parts. First, as a normal high school student with Leo. Second, as a big brother to Elara and a "guardian" to Lyra at home. And third, as a Resonator for the Chronosentinel Order, with secret training sessions with Rina almost every afternoon. It was exhausting, but also… fulfilling. For the first time in his life, he felt like he had a purpose.
"By the way, Kael," Leo said after swallowing his food, "did you hear the weird news from the Old Artist District?"
Kael raised an eyebrow. "What weird news?"
"There are reports of people suddenly acting strange over there. They become silent, their gazes are empty, like robots. Some street artists even stopped painting mid-stroke and just stood still for hours. The police said it might be a minor hallucinogenic gas leak or something, but it sounds creepy."
Kael's heart beat a little faster. Symptoms like that… were too strange to be a common incident.
"Only in the Artist District?" Kael asked, trying to sound casual.
"So far, yeah. So, stay away from there for now, okay?" Leo advised.
Just then, Kael felt something. A cold touch in his mind. Not from outside, but from beside him. He turned to Lyra. The girl had stopped eating, her sapphire-blue eyes narrowed slightly, staring towards the window as if sensing something far away.
"Lyra? What is it?" Kael asked softly.
Lyra turned to him, her expression hard to read. "...Something is wrong," she whispered. "A song... but without a melody. Silent."
Before Kael could ask further, his phone vibrated. A message from Rina Volkov.
The content, as usual, was brief and to the point: Old Artist District. Anomaly detected. Pick me up after the final bell.
Kael looked at Leo, who was still absorbed in his phone, then at Lyra, who was now looking at him with concern. His new normality, it seemed, wasn't going to last long.
Part 2
After school, having said goodbye to Leo with the excuse of "family matters," Kael and Lyra met Rina at the deserted back gate of the school. Rina had already changed from her school uniform into lightweight, dark tactical gear, a thin bulletproof vest over a black shirt and cargo pants. Her serious appearance was a stark contrast to Kael and Lyra, who were still in their uniforms.
"You brought 'her'?" Rina asked, her eyes glancing at Lyra. Her tone wasn't judgmental, just a statement of fact.
"She wouldn't be left behind," Kael replied with a shrug. "She said she felt a 'silent song'."
Rina raised an eyebrow slightly. "That matches our reports. Our remote monitoring teams detected a strange spectral distortion, but with none of the energy spikes that usually mark a Phantasm's emergence. It's more like… an energy dampening. Everything is becoming quieter, flatter. Including the brainwaves of the citizens in the affected area."
They got into a plain civilian car that turned out to be an Order vehicle. Rina drove, heading efficiently towards the Old Artist District.
"So, what's our plan?" Kael asked, looking at a tablet Rina had given him, which displayed a map of the area marked as an "anomaly zone."
"Observation first," Rina replied. "Commander Kirana wants you to try and resonate from a safe distance. We need to know what we're dealing with before sending in a response team. Given the anomaly's passive nature, we have a little more time."
Lyra, sitting in the back seat, remained silent. However, Kael could feel a faint restlessness from her. The "silent song" seemed to be bothering her, like static disrupting the harmony of her world.
As they entered the outskirts of the Old Artist District, the change began to be felt. The atmosphere, once vibrant with colorful graffiti and murals, now felt duller. A few people they passed walked with slow steps and vacant stares.
"This is… creepy," Kael whispered.
Rina stopped the car on a safe street, about two blocks from the anomaly's center. "We go on foot from here. Stay alert."
The three of them got out. The air felt heavy and empty. The deeper they walked, the more real the change became. The colors around them—from movie posters on the walls to flowers in pots—seemed to have lost their vibrancy, as if viewed through a gray filter.
Kael tried to do as Commander Kirana had instructed. He closed his eyes, trying to reach for the source of this strangeness with his senses.
He found it quickly. An "emptiness" different from Lyra's. Lyra's emptiness felt like a vast, cosmic sorrow, but this emptiness felt… flat. Intentional. Like a canvas deliberately painted white to cover the painting underneath. There was no sadness, no anger. Just absence. An absence of emotion.
"I feel it," Kael said to Rina. "The source is in the square up ahead. It's... it's not angry or sad. It's... empty."
Suddenly, Lyra, who was beside him, tensed. She stared into a narrow alley nearby. "There."
"What is it, Lyra?"
"...The smell of paint," Lyra said. "But it has no color."
Curious, Kael and Rina followed Lyra's gaze. They entered the narrow alley. And there, they found the same scene from the Prologue. A street artist stood frozen in front of his mural, which had now become a monochrome sketch. Nearby, several paint cans lay on the ground, their contents turned into a thick, gray liquid.
And as Kael got closer, he saw something else on the wall, above the faded mural. A new sketch. Not made of normal paint, but of spectral energy that left a dark gray trace. A simple drawing.
A drawing of a little girl with long hair in two ponytails, holding a large brush. Next to her, the silhouette of a larger man was drawn, holding her hand.
Under the drawing, a single word was etched in a childlike handwriting:
"...Dad?"
The emotional resonance, which had been flat, suddenly trembled. Behind the emptiness, Kael felt a flicker of a very deep and buried emotion. Not sadness. Not anger.
But an overwhelming longing.
"It's... it's not trying to erase everything," Kael said softly, his eyes fixed on the drawing. "It's looking for someone."
Just then, Rina received an emergency call on her headset.
"Commander? Yes, understood." She turned to Kael, her face serious. "The anomaly is moving. And it appears to be heading in one specific direction."
"Where?" Kael asked.
Rina looked at him with a concerned gaze. "The Stellara Central Art Museum. The grand exhibition of works by the late maestro, Vincent Volkov, opened today."
Kael was stunned.
"Vincent Volkov...?"
Rina nodded. "My father."