Back in the training room, Ed focused his vision on the strings in front of him while the barrier came up around him. There’s got to be a way I can control which one it picks. Playing the same note as last time while focusing on the strings of fate, he sent himself crashing down in much the same way as before.

Picking himself back up, he repeated this action, and once again he was sent to the floor.

Did I play the same note each time I fell over? Thinking back, he realised that this was in fact the case. And the same situation was happening when he was sent flying into the barrier.

Okay, so each note leads to a particular action or future, that’s good to know. But I feel like that’s fairly limiting in what I can do. There’s no where near enough notes to compare with the amount of strings of fate I can see, even when I’m just in this room. There has to be something else I’m missing.

What notes are the strings tuned to? Getting Zara to power down the barrier, he went and got his phone that he had left outside not too long after his first failed attempt.

Okay, so it’s G, D, A, and E. How does my finger placement change it? Woah, that’s a lot. Having pulled up a photo with all of the notes labelled, he took a moment to get a rough idea of where everything was.

If I’m looking at this right, then that means I was playing an F sharp on the E string when I fell over? Yeah, that’s where I had my finger. Will the same thing happen if I play an F sharp somewhere else?

Finding the location of another F sharp on the violin, he returned to the middle of the room and played that note, only for his body to roll backwards instead of falling forwards like he expected. Rubbing his head, he got back up.

Okay, so it clearly does something different. This is going to take a while.

~

After another hour of practice, he came to find that there were some general rules to what the violin would do. Intent and focus are just as important as what I’m playing. Because I wasn’t focused on a particular outcome, it just randomly assigned each note to a different string within reach, which just so happened to be mine.

“Can you summon a live target for me Zara?” He asked.

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After a few moments, the ground rumbled, as a hole opened up in the floor. An imp dressed in training gear similar to what Ed was wearing rose up through the hole, joining him in the barrier.

“I will be your training partner today, please tell me how I may be of use?” The imp asked, half-bowing to Ed.

“Just stay where you are for a moment.” Ed said, propping the violin back up on his shoulder. Blinking the strings of fate back into view, he focused his attention on the new additions brought to the room with the imp.

Let’s see what we have here. Noting the sword on the imp’s hip, he found a corresponding future where the imp readied his sword. Focusing on that, he brought the bow up and played a single F sharp.

And as Ed had predicted, the imp drew his sword, much to his own confusion.

“I’m sorry sir.” The imp smiled awkwardly. “Must’ve just been running off instinct. I’ll try not to do that again.” The imp sheathed his sword again and returned to a neutral stance.

Now let’s see what happens if I play the same note without focusing on anything. Playing the same F sharp again, the imp once again drew his sword.

“I really don’t know what’s come over me. I apologise.” The imp sheathed his sword once again, now slightly embarrassed.

Zara held back a chuckle, having realised what Ed was doing.

Can I assign a different note to the same action? Lifting his fingers up, Ed focused his mind on the imp drawing his sword, and played an open hand G.

For the third time now, the imp drew his sword. It was at this point that something dawned on him, and he realised that Ed was somehow controlling him. “Are you the one doing this?” He asked nervously.

“Sorry, I should’ve told you what I was doing. You must’ve been awfully confused. You can relax now and just go with whatever happens.” Ed said, feeling bad for confusing the poor imp.

The imp’s back broke out into a cold sweat, scared by what Ed was doing.

“Please put your sword back again. I want to test something else.” Ed said with a smile, which only made the imp more scared of him.

Quickly sheathing his sword, the imp hoped that he would be allowed to leave quickly.

Okay, so I’ve proven I can assign a different note to the same thing, but did that remove the first note from that action? Or are they both assigned to it? Putting his finger back down for another F sharp, he played the note without focusing on the attached action.

Again, the imp drew his sword.

~

Eventually, the imp was allowed to leave, which he did with frightening speed, jumping through the hole the second it opened.

Confused, Ed decided to ignore the imp and turned his attention to what he had learned.

I can assign each note on the violin to an action by focusing on that before I play said note. And it will stay assigned to that action even if I’m not focusing on it, or if I assign any other notes to the same thing.

If I want to change what a note is connected to, I have to focus on a different thing and play that note. Doing this will overwrite the original action with the new one. I can have however many notes I want tied to the same action, but I can’t have multiple actions tied to one note.

This could be really useful in a fight, but not at the moment. There’s still a lot I need to learn. I haven’t even touched the other two instruments yet. Who knows if they even work the same way.