The cat-girl opened her eyes and turned to Findir. “Where’s the Knight? Is he-?”

  Upon seeing the cat-man’s expression, she knew something was wrong. The girl followed his line of sight and saw the Onyx Knight still lying on the ground, unmoving. Her eyes widened as she asked in a trembling voice, “W-Why didn’t it work? You said the song was working, Dragon Rider!”

  “It did! The Knight clearly had a reaction to the song! It doesn't sound like you miss or mess up any notes, and we’re still able to hear it as we’re fighting! I don’t know why it didn’t work!” Ryder then covered his mouth as his eyes moved frantically.

  “Then… Then I just have to play it again!” Aoede pressed the keys again.

  “I don’t-”

  The Knight thundered as it pushed itself up, toppling Ryder down, and went straight for the duo at the piano.

  “RUN!”

  Findir snatched the girl from the chair and crashed onto the floor, narrowly avoiding the specter's humongous hand. The two dragons used their magic to force the Knight down, but it had already learned their tricks. It dodged their attacks handily while forcing the both of them back with its greatsword. At the same time, the cat-man had stood up and helped the girl to do the same. Aoede glanced back at the piano with gritted teeth before peeling her eyes away from it and running back to the city as fast as she could with Findir.

  “Dragon Link!”

  The rider and his dragons’ eyes all lit up in red as monstrously huge vines and waves of mud pushed the Knight as far away as possible. The phantom grew more powerful in response as the dark aura became so thick that it obscured all details on its body, leaving only a black silhouette.

  “Fuck!” Ryder bit his lip and asked, “Do you think we can escape if we obscure its sight?!”

  “We can try!” Brown shouted.

  “Okay! Green, you go ahead and make the slingshot! The two of us will create a sandstorm-” The rider was cut off as the Knight swung its greatsword at him like a bat and sent him flying.

  Green howled in worry and tried to chase after his rider, but Brown stopped him. “Do as Ryder says! He’ll be fine!”

  And he was, just barely. The human was still grimacing as he noticed the coating on the sword was completely stripped. He pulled his weapon out and blocked the attack at the last second, which was why he was still in one piece. Wind formed beneath his feet as he hovered above the target. He and the earth dragon hastily combined their magic, causing a circle of sand particles to start surrounding the specter.

   As Brown was the closest target to the Knight, it tried to assault her, but it was smashed to the ground by a chunk of earth the rider lobbed at it. It almost instantly got up again, but the rider continued to use the gaining power of the sandstorm to lob more chunks of earth at it. When the barrage finally halted, the specter could no longer see anything but sand in front of it. It still tried to charge toward where Brown was previously standing, but she was already gone. And because of the loudness of the sandstorm, it couldn’t hear anything either. So, all it did was shout and swing its sword around.

  As the storm died down, so did its aura. When the piano reentered its vision, it also saw a crude, wooden contraption that looked like a giant slingshot with three seats on the “rubber band”. Since its targets had disappeared, it slogged back to the instrument and attempted to clean it up.

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X

  A thrashing sound could be heard from within the room, which was accompanied by a series of curse words in a crying voice. Syrinx winced as she stood in front of Aoede’s room before heading back to the living room where the guests from yesterday were resting.

  “What happened?” The old woman asked as she sat on her rocking chair.

  “The song had an effect on the Knight, but that was it. There must be something missing from the song, but the whole thing fits with what I remembered. Did Cybele mention anything else about the song itself? Maybe she’s playing an alternate version of the song?” Ryder questioned.

  The blue-ear shook her head. “She was going to play this song according to the sheets exactly the way it is. The only thing that may be relevant is that she mentioned there was going to be a ‘surprise’ at the wedding, but she never told us anything about it.”

  “Shit…” He laid his head back and closed his eyes.

  “I can tell you all are exhausted, perhaps-”

SLAM!

  Aoede rushed out of her room and stared at the rider with red, teary eyes. “Let’s go and do it again, Dragon Rider.”

  The human opened his eyes and gave her a mild scowl. “No.”

  “I checked the sheets again, and I made sure I memorized them perfectly!”

  “So? What makes you think it’ll be different this time?”

  “Because- Because I didn’t try out the pedals! Maybe I needed to use them!”

  “There wasn’t any indication from the first two sheets that the usage of the pedals is necessary,” Findir commented.

  “Maybe Cybele decided to use the pedals because she thought it sounded better! Let’s go, Dragon Rider! I’ll-”

  “Aoede.” The cat-man straightened his back. “I know how you’re feeling, but-”

  “YOU DON’T KNOW HOW I FEEL!” Tears welled in her eyes. “I promised Grandma that I’ll save Attis! I promised to show everyone who made fun of me that I’ll be a hero! I promised Papa and Mama that I’ll make them proud! I must break the curse! I must! I must…” She slumped to the floor and started sobbing.

  Syrinx was about to stand up, but Findir did it first. He sat next to the crying girl and gently patted her back. Then he spoke in a soft tone as he hugged her. “Yer Papa and Mama are definitely already proud of ya, Aoede. Ya managed to play a song perfectly while the Onyx Knight was practically next to ya. Most people would’ve run away or got so scared that they can’t play, but ya didn’t do either of those thin's! Yer braver than all the kids in this city. They make fun of ya because that’s the only thin' they can do compared to ya. Don’t worry, the Drag’n Rider and I will figure out what’s wrong, and ya will get another chance to be a hero. Right now, he and his dragons need rest, and so do ya. Once we all recharge ar batteries, we can try it again tomorrow. Whaddya ya say?”

  The green-ear wiped away her tears before nodding reluctantly.

  “That’s a good girl. Now, I need to leave for a little while, but I’ll be back after dinnertime with my instrument. When I do, I'll play nice songs for ya with it if ya promise not to disturb the Drag’n Rider, okay?”

  “...Okay.”

  “Good girl!” He patted her head with a smile.

  “I’ll take it from here, Mr. Findir. Thank you for your help.” Syrinx kneeled down next to Aoede and helped her granddaughter up.

  “It’s my pleasure, Ms. Miuzika.” The yellow-ear nodded and stood.

  “All of you are welcome to join us for dinner again,” the old woman offered.

  “There’s-”

  “I insist.”

  “Very well, Ms. Miuzika. I’ll be back as soon as I can.” He then turned to the dragon rider and Brown. “See ya two later.”

  “See ya,” Ryder replied, while Brown waved.

  After Findir left, Syrinx told the duo they can stay if they want before escorting her granddaughter into her room.

  “Guess I’ll take a nap.” The teenager covered his eyes with clay and slept next to the window.