Silent Crown

“If you want to be a musician, you need to understand who the musicians are. Throwing out all accessories, removing all glories–being a musician is to devote yourself purely to your career. Compared with the musicians of the Dark Age, we cannot even say we love music. Compared with other people, we cannot even say we sacrifice more.

“But there is no doubt that we are most suitable ones for communicating with aether, and we are the ones who can best understand aether, too. Aether is everywhere. It is part of the world, existing even earlier than humans. Whether it is soil, water, fire or air, those are composed of aether. But aether is different from these elements because they can, and only do, respond to sound. Do you understand this premise?”

Ye Qingxuan nodded.

“At first, the communication between humans and the aether relied on runes. Those notes inexplicably transcribed the voice of the Gods, composing music that could shake reality. These notes are known in some places as ‘runes,’ in some places as ‘charms,’ and in the East, they are called ‘Mantra.’

“In that era, humans communicated with the Aether by singing the runes,” Wolf continued to explain. “With time, a lot of things changed. Runes evolved into small sections called measures, and measures evolved into music scores until there was a need for dozens of musicians to release the formation of the ‘symphony.’

“Music division classification also became more and more defined. There are hundreds of special careers in seven specializations. The sages’ explorations formed the road to the ‘Nine Levels of Musicians.’ Even returning to the Originator was not a delusion anymore.

“But before that, there was always a never-changing iron rule–connect with the aether, respect the aether!” Wolf Flute stared at Ye Qingxuan’s pale face, trying to gain a feel for him, but then he slowly shook his head. “You cannot sense the aether, Ye.”

Ye Qingxuan kept silent. After a long time, he softly said, “Mr. Wolf Flute, I can learn musical instruments, I can even-”

“No, you cannot.” Wolf Flute became serious. “A man who has never been close to an animal cannot ride a horse, and a man living in the desert cannot swim

“Ye, perhaps you have a reason why you must be a musician. But if you can’t even sense the aether, you’ll be constructing a building without a foundation. If you can’t sense the aether, you won’t know what the aether is doing.

“At that time, it’ll be a good thing if your music score has no effect. If a single rune goes out of control, the result could be horrifying…” He paused, his eyes turning pained.

“The smallest mistakes I’ve seen were all paid for in death. This is why cities and villages are all built in places of low aether density. Important places must even be set inside silent enchantments to freeze the aether. A musician must also have a unified heart of sound to rid your body of white noise disturbance.”

Here, Wolf Flute realized that he had said too much.

The more he said, the crueler it became for Ye Qingxuan to endure because it became more and more clear to him that his dream was far, far away from him.

Ye Qingxuan was still looking at him, so he could not bear to stop. He sighed, “Ye, these words that I’ve said to you could be considered compensation for your work. But I cannot talk too much, as this information is restricted and is not open to ordinary people. If you are still interested, the stuff you will see later will be my last exhortation.”

Then, he did not wait for Ye Qingxuan to answer, and raised his own hands. He was no longer laughing. His face became serious, then more and more pale.

In front of Ye Qingxuan, Wolf Flute leaned against the wall, his hands folding into his chest, and took a deep breath.

At the end of a long exhale, the slightest strands of sound spread out with his long song. This kind of voice seemed to be deliberately suppressed to be faint, like a vague wind, but also had the essence of a snake’s subtle sound.

But in this enchanted sound, the air in front of Wolf Flute suddenly became blurred!

A trace of a light from the convergence gathered in front of him three feet ahead of the place, surging and brewing. Then, it burst into full bloom. It converged into crystals and grew in the air, reflecting the shadows of roses. Roses reflected irises vaguely. It was magnificent enough to make people intoxicated.

Then, the silky sound suddenly changed by a slight jump, which made it out of place.

In response, the magnificent flower turned into disgusting dark red and dark green. The mixed colors made one feel nauseous, then quickly collapsed while the crystals were broken, and burst.

Snap!

The shock of the bursting sound awakened the sluggish teen.

Wolf Flute put down his hands, breathing heavily. His forehead exuded a cold sweat.

“Those were the so-called out-of-control notes, Ye.”

Wolf Flute wanted to raise his hands, but his body could not bear to, so he gave a bitter smile. “That’s it for today. Ye, I am a little bit tired. Please let me rest for a while.”

Ye Qingxuan was ready to leave, but was stopped again.

“Ye, even if you don’t become a musician, life can still be very good.” Wolf Flute stared at him while lying in the bed. “Do not be too obsessed with its aura.”

“I understand.” Ye Qingxuan reluctantly smiled as he pulled the door.

After a long time, someone knocked on the door again. Not waiting for him to answer, Father Bann pushed into the room.

“He’s gone.” Wolf Flute said lazily, “Congratulations, you will get a qualified little priest, but next time, can you tell him those cruel words yourself?”

Father Bann retorted, “Shouldn’t musicians be cruel?”

“Nobody said that one had to be cruel to be a musician…” Wolf Flute squeezed his eyes and whispered, “But not being cruel enough will not make for a happy life.”

“Looking at you, I understand exactly what you mean.” Father Bann nodded, which made Wolf Flute unable to breathe for a while.

After coughing for a long time, he finally uttered, “Hey, Father, why are you so bored that you have to destroy young people’s dreams like poking at soap bubbles? Everyone wanted to be a musician when they were younger, right? How wonderful to be a musician! I was cheated when I was young and thought that the musicians were so handsome and fun, and they could save lives, but the result was that it turned me into this messed up state. He would have understood it sooner or later.”

Father looked at him coldly, shaking his head. “This child is not the type to dream of all that glory. I am worried about his pursuit of some even more dangerous things.”

“Dangerous?” Wolf Flute grinned. “Could it be more dangerous than my situation?”

Father Bann seemed to be puzzled, wondering for a long time, then raised his eyebrows slowly.

“You mean, your mission being revealed?”

“I was really ordered to come, but my whereabouts were to be kept top secret. Everyone should think that I am now in my home in the desert to herd sheep, but unfortunately, on the way here, I actually encountered the world’s most wanted black musician. The most terrible thing was that he was the one from the School of Modifications, which counters me the most. I was not able to use my full abilities.

“So, I suspected that before I received the Master’s letter, that order had been leaked out. And, I doubted a more troublesome thing.”

“Oh?”

“I might not have gotten rid of the Rain Artist.” Wolf Flute was still laughing but his eyes narrowed coldly. “Maybe he followed behind me, and now is hidden in a little town far away enough that there is no help there. But I…I don’t even have any strength to catch a chicken.”

Father Bann was shocked.

For a moment, the room was full of silence.

—

Under the noon sunshine, Ye Qingxuan walked out of the church alone.

Hot sunshine mixed with the smell of salty ocean waves. He squinted his eyes at the sun, feeling the sunshine disperse the coldness in his body, but he still felt no strength.

Like falling from the abyss and staring at the darkness under his feet, he felt so weak.

“You have no talent…” he whispered as if he had told this to himself.

The finger with the ring flashed with pain. He pressed his finger and tried to hold in the pain. It seemed like it vanished cunningly, as if it had gotten into his bones and left the same illusion.

“Oh, talent.”

He scratched his head and sat tiredly on the base of the saints. At this time, he suddenly wanted to chat with Victor. If Victor was here, at least the two could go together to make some trouble, or do something crazy. Perhaps doing something stupid could not solve any problems, but at least it would make him feel better.

Now, he could not even find his friend when he was sad, which made him feel so lonely.

But soon, Ye Qingxuan found something that made him feel even more uneasy–Victor was missing.

—-

It was the afternoon when Ye Qingxuan heard the news that someone attacked the Thomas family’s brother Martin, breaking his hands.

He searched every place in town, but did not find a trace of Victor. The workers on the dock said that they had seen him the night before, but he disappeared after he and a few other people went to the bathroom.

The tramps and the orphans did not see Victor back in the town’s broken house where they gathered. He was not found anywhere they used to be together.

At first, Ye Qingxuan suspected the Thomas brothers’ revenge. He even risked stalking them outside of their house, only to find that the three brothers stayed at home nicely. The father roared at the defeated guards, ordering them to put the d*mn little kid into the prison.

He did not know where Victor was hiding, and even the garrison couldn’t find him.

The town of Lute was not a big place. For a street kid, it was an even smaller place to hide.

Since the night before, no one had seen him, and no one cared about where the little thief was.

Where was Victor?

After running around for an entire afternoon, Ye Qingxuan tried to catch his breath, squatting on the ground. He looked around at a loss, and then started to curse.

But when he saw a creature walking calmly towards him in the distance, his eyes suddenly lit up.

“Looking for someone really depends on you!” He rushed to hold the big yellow dog that wandered around every day. “Old Phil, please help!”

“Arf.”

In his arms, the dirty old dog gazed at him, puzzled. It stuck out its slobbering tongue and licked its forepaws, and then put the front claw on Ye Qingxuan’s shoulder. This was probably Old Phil’s most special, comforting action. The whole process was so smooth like flowing water, but also had a trace of elegance, like a king canonizing a knight. There was no other dog that could imitate that.

“Hey buddy, this is all on you!” Ye Qingxuan shook Old Phil. “Go and find Victor!”

Old Phil was not happy with this. Its tail swatted at him, indicating that it was upset that Yezi had put him down. It then squatted on the ground, sticking his tongue out and showing no interest. The dog looked at Ye Qingxuan full of disdain.

“Do not be angry!” Ye Qingxuan squatted and rubbed its head. “I saved some sausage for you from last night!”

Upon hearing what he was saying, Old Phil sneezed. Its eyes became pleasant. Then it turned and used its tail to slap him twice to punish him for daring to rub its head “disrespectfully.” It lowered its head, sniffed around, and began to run.

First, Old Phil circled around the whole town, and sniffed around the broken house in the east of the town, then went straight to the south.

Ye Qingxuan followed Old Phil, passing the pier, passing the back door of the church, and passing the backyard of the Town Master’s house. Old Phil was still running forward…

And they were almost out of town.