A second musician was required to activate the Major Luminescence located in the north.
It would not amount to much, but the act alone would fulfil two things.
The first was generating the mass desire of the Maestros of Flesh to bring forth another exemplary Conductor, but this time under their banner.
And secondly, to defend themselves from the apocalypse.
Mae knew this from the start. Though she was not a particularly high-ranking Maestro of Flesh, she was a Maestro regardless. Her influence was high enough that she was able to participate in vital meetings with the other Impuritas Groups. Not exactly stellar, but it was what led her to meeting Frost in the first place.
At the time she didn’t know how cornered the Maestros of Flesh were. Not only were they being used by the Brightest Star, but they had also made enemies out of the Amalgam. It wouldn’t be long before the Maestros would be swept in the war between Impuritas and the Nexus.
We’ll lose on all fronts. Everyone will die for nothing. If I was able to find my way out of this, then they should be able to as well!
The purple-haired Demon-like woman ran through the empty streets with one place on her mind. Her legs did not stop moving, and she’d occasionally teleport across short distances to save some time.
Beads of sweat shaped like musical notes dripped from her forehead as her eyes latched onto the heights of a Minor Arcane Tower. It was disguised as a clock tower, and Mae could feel a familiar presence within.
The black-brick path led her straight to its grand doors, and she began climbing up a set of stairs made from petrified wood. The area surrounding the clock tower was isolated enough where even an explosion would not be noticed. The situation in the Bellum Empire also guaranteed that there would be no eyes to notice the odd green glow above the tower.
But Mae did, and she could hear a faint buzzing as she rushed up the stairs, panting heavily.
They… need to know! If they know the Brightest Star intends to betray us, then they’ll understand! I need them to understand!
Mae’s reason for acting alone was not because she worried for the Maestros. It was her inner pettiness that wanted her to take something away from Iscario, just as he had planned to take her life away from her.
Desperate steps punctuated the buzzing. The sound of a grotesque violin screeched at her. The skill required to create such sounds was above the abilities of a Virtuoso.
Her hunch was correct.
A Maestro is here!
Mae’s endeavor may have appeared brave or gallant, but in truth, it was a gamble. There were many Maestros whom of which would not be willing to give Mae the light of day.
Maestros of Flesh varied greatly on an individual basis, much like the Painters or the late Artisans they wiped out decades ago. The lack of a collective Heart inspired individuality but made it so that each one sought to become a Heart of their own in a way.
That said, a Virtuoso would have attempted an attack by now. Her approach was obvious, loud and clumsy. But the song went on, and when it finally reached its crescendo, Mae emerged in the exposed heart of the clock tower.
Steel and wooden frames held the ticking clock together as the hands swung like a giant blade. The great mechanism played like a ticking heart as cold breeze swept into the open chamber.
There were no walls within the heart of the clock tower, revealing the entirety of the vacant Capital.
“HELLO!?” Mae called out, nearly tripping as she rushed onto the rickety floorboards. “You’re in here, right!? We need to talk! You remember my voice, don’t you!? The soon-to-be-proper Maestro! FROM ONE OF THE GEARS’ INSTRUMENTS! I was part of the mission to hear a Fractured Nilhim’s testament!”
Exposed gaps littered the pathway. One wrong step and she would plummet a hundred meters into the dark.
“I thought you were already dead.”
A voice spoke from everywhere at once, no doubt thanks to the Lesser Luminescence.
Mae’s eyes burned with fury.
“They didn’t tell you that they were looking for me!? Wait, no, that’s not right. They hunted me down!”
She recognized this voice, as it belonged to one of the eldest members of the Maestros of Flesh. It was accompanied by a sharp buzzing that irritated her ears, but she ignored it for she had grown used to it.
“Mozheart! You can hear me, can’t you! Why don’t you show your face already!”
“You are a traitor.”
Mae warped across the network of gears in search of the Maestro. If it weren’t for her old ties and desperation to rescue them from the Brightest Star, then her pettiness would have caused her to abandon her efforts immediately.
“Cut the bullshit! You think a traitor would come willing all the way here to show their face! I came to warn you before you end up like me!”
“As a false Maestro lacking harmony?”
“Just listen to me! If you have the gall to think that you’re not in as much danger as I am, then think again! The Brightest Star is planning to betray us!”
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“Despite you having lost your way as one of us? Don’t me laugh.”
“I WAS GIVEN A SEED AGAINST MY WILL! WHAT MORE DO YOU WANT ME TO SAY TO PROVE IT TO YOU!?” Mae’s patience wearing thin.
“But we are still here. We haven’t been betrayed. Our goal to become Stars draws near. One performance is all that it will take to make that wish come true. Don’t you want it as well? To be recognized for your efforts?”
She needed to convey her message to them as effectively as possible. But hearing the rebuttals of a fellow Maestro of Flesh was painful. It hurt more than when she fell down the staircase leading into the Underflow, each word like a step jabbing into her ribs.
“Like all Maestros of Flesh… Yeah, I do want that. I want to be recognized more than anything. More than I want to eat as this bag of meat… and more than I want to sleep.” Mae begrudgingly spoke as she lurched atop a giant gear.
It was more than 20 meters long and she stood at the very edge, peering down at the complex mechanism of the clock. Nothing depicted her heart more than that. The overlapping gears made it impossible to see the ground as well as the sky.
Footsteps finally approached behind her following a dull thud. A six-armed man wearing a black suit and a top hat introduced himself with an air of superiority. His compound eyes were no different from most Insectid. A long, razor-sharp probiscis protruded from where his nose was like a mosquito.
This man was Mozheart, one of the greatest Maestros of all the Maestros of Flesh. He was a master of the piano and the violin and was famous for his grand symphonies that levied the power of thousands of Instruments.
However, none of these were here with him, much to Mae’s suspicion. A Maestro’s strength came from their Instruments. The more one had, the more powerful they were. Without them, then they were no better than an ordinary Insectid.
Seeing this glint of suspicion in Mae’s eyes caused him to answer immediately.
“The Towers are dysfunctional. We had a supply of Instruments readily available. But there is problem. The Blood Festival has large supply, but we have yet to receive a word from them. You wouldn’t happen to know why?”
Mae had a hunch – no, she knew why the Blood Festivals were unresponsive, but she kept her mouth shut. Her emotions were usually worn on her sleeves so Mozheart should have known that she was somehow involved.
But a sudden anger concealed this. Mae couldn’t believe that after searching high and low for the Maestros she was blamed for their misfortune.
“I came all this way… just to be called a traitor, and then you accuse me? Does it look like I know!?” Mae bared her fangs, biting her lips to prevent herself from singing.
Amongst the types of music that could be produced by the Maestros, singing was considered the weakest. It did not rely on the flesh of others to produce a sound, nor could it easily fit with a symphony.
The sound of a person’s humming was not guttural enough to convey the power of a Maestro’s music.
“… I thought so. Our failure means that we must rely on the captured Musician. However, I also have not received a word on their success. Indeed, I can only assume that they have also failed.”
“The Brightest Star isn’t going to stay silent on these strings of failures. I’m telling you – you all need to bail out before this is over!” Mae thrashed at the air before tugging on her ear-like horns. “We’re fuel for the Piece of a Fallen Star!”
“You are missing the point. A lesser Maestro would not understand. Remember, our wish is to erase the Amalgam. That way we can all rise as Stars without fear of repercussion.”
“We’ll be wiped out before the Amalgam disappears! The Amalgam…!”
Mae knew the truth regarding the Amalgam, but before she could explain that she could fulfill the promises of the Brightest Star, the Maestro gestured for her to remain silent.
Her body froze unexpectedly. She was so used to seeing that gesture that she lost the will to fight back. But the condescending nature of the Maestros irked her, and it was made worse by how she knew that they didn’t even see her as one of them anymore.
I was born as a Maestro of Flesh. I was never an Insectid or a human like you.
“I would avoid interrupting me. You’re not one of us anymore. Your good intentions are wasted. Did you think we would believe a word from an obnoxious, false Maestro? The Brightest Star’s plans are in action. Look out there. It’s already begun.”
Mae was self-aware of her obnoxiousness, as was the expected personality of a low-ranking Maestros. Her rambunctious personality often saw her facing unnecessary trouble. She wasn’t taught to think before acting. After all, she came from a place where her deeds went unpunished.
But was she underserving of respect because of her obnoxiousness? Her disharmony? Her status when she was a Maestro? Her voice?
Was a transformation all it took for them to turn their backs to her?
Mae was outnumbered. If they attacked her now, then there was no guarantee that she would leave alive. Once again, the idiot inside of her used up her mana while searching for Mozheart. She truly believed that they’d listen to her.
… even the Amalgam was willing to listen to me. Me… a Maestro of Flesh. Someone who wished for her to disappear.
Her heart became heavy as she wondered if warning the Maestros of Flesh was the right thing to do. But could Mae even go back? She didn’t know if Deiman and Autumn could trust her with her ties to the same people who nearly killed them.
But it’d be better than being here… feeling like an idiot...
“But –”
Suddenly, Mozheart extended a hand to her, like it was a gesture of goodwill.
“We can fix this. It’s a broken composition that requires a Musician. We have no instruments. But you…”
His voice made it sound like he was doing her a favor. They needed her. She knew this. It was the only reason why she hadn’t been killed on the spot or captured.
They didn’t want Mae.
They wanted a replacement for Ara…
I’m more glad that she’s fine than these people. I thought they were worried about me. I’m just a means to an end to them…
… An instrument. That’s all I am. Just like how we see everyone else.
She smiled silently.
It was a forced smile. She had known this Maestro for a long time. To her, the Maestros of Flesh were family.
“Your name?”
But he did not know her name.
“Mae.” She softly said, dropping her shoulders in resignation. Her eyes trembled as she came to a realization.
“Mae. You have a… ‘gift’ for singing. You do not require Instruments, though I recall that you did use them in the past.”
I never mattered to them.
She was never acknowledged by even her own peers.
“I can offer you a chance to change that. Call it a way to redeem yourself. Since you are already here, you must also know why we required a Musician.”
The only people who remembered her were, funnily enough, the ones who she briefly brushed by in this new body of hers.
“Through you, we can support our friends in the north. They will be invulnerable to the Sins. The Lesser Luminescence will respond to you quite nicely. You understand their frequencies. All you need to do is give your heart to our cause again, then you will be able to produce a song to help our friends.”
The Brightest Star tried to kill me when we first met. Why should I have to help them? Why should we… no… why should ‘I’ have to keep taking the fall?
An idea suddenly came to her.
She tilted her head forward as if to bow. Her messy bangs darkened her face.
“I will. Anything to be a Maestro again… anything.”
“I’m glad you at least have a brain. Attune yourself to the Lesser Luminescence. The one in the north will match your resonance. Provide ample benefits to our friends, so that they can withstand the fury of the Red Wing. We will all be present for the light of the Advent of Desire.”
Unbeknownst to the Maestros of Flesh was that Mae had no intentions of returning to them.
And hiding behind the shadows of her hair was a deceptive grin.