Orison | Celeste Academy Series BK #3

Chapter Eighteen ۞ Clandestine Melody

After the meeting, the Twelve figured they needed some time to cool off and think. Each one went in separate ways, one by one, until they fully vacated the lobby. Valeriana was left alone sitting in the chair she was occupying since a while ago.

When she decided she stayed there long enough, she found herself navigating through the long halls of the residence's ground floor. She used to clean the whole place when she first came, so she noticed the build up of dust and dirt under the carpet, not the mention the needing of the frames and smaller sculptures to be buffed and polished.

"I guess I need to start tomorrow, huh?" She whispered to herself, pausing to take in her surroundings as a surreal feeling washed over her.

Was this really happening?

So much had happened so far. It was almost hard to believe she was just trying to find a summer job and enroll herself to her dream university a few months ago. Fate had to take such an unexpected twist and lead her here instead.

As she took a stroll through the halls of the Twelve's residences, a soft melody tickled her ears that she halted and strained her hearing to find out the source. The sound was delicate in terms of pitch and tone, similar to that of a piano's.

The cadence rose and fell, filled with bubbling, building energy before slipping into a calming state. The transition between the notes, in fact, was very quick, with only a split second difference for the melody to be produced. The rhythm was varying, shifting from strong surges of an aggressive combination of notes to a slower paced one. It was a very classical piece, but what made her curious was who on Earth was playing it and how in the world they had pianos.

It seemed to be coming from the door directly ahead of her. She had never entered that room ever since she came to stay in the residences of the Twelve, not to mention she never really asked what was behind it and neither was she too interested to find out.

Pulling on the knob curiously, she cracked it open and found that the melody got louder, a sign she was on the right track. True enough, as she peeked inside, she found that the lights were open down the short flight of stairs before her.

The melody was beautiful in a haunting kind of way. Whoever was playing had exceptional training, with heart poured into the very music itself. The constant crescendo and diminuendo in the different parts was well-placed. At times the pace was aggressive and rocketing before falling back slower--like a slow trudge of some sort.

Valeriana carefully made her way down the steps, watchful of her clumsy tendencies. For some reason, it was was those times that needed stealth that she somehow kept on messing up--those important moments that actually mattered. It might be because she kept on overthinking things. Sure, Valeriana might be slow and horribly bad at comprehension, but she knew she made up for it among other things.

Running her fingers down the hall, she finally stepped on the landing. Valeriana leaned forward to peek around the corner, and saw a familiar person letting his fingers dance on the keyboard. He struck several keys all at once, his transition to the black and white keys smooth and flawless that it was obvious he must've done this a million times.

Valeriana gaped like a fish at this. It was disconcerting how good this guy was in everything! He was a sword prodigy, the first-ranker, heir to his lands, and now an astounding musician? What on Earth was he doing his whole life? How about his childhood? These must all come with a sacrifice--time, to be more precise. Time must be devoted in order to excell.

The room was illuminated by a soft, golden light. Instruments of all sorts were placed in varuous points, filling up the entire place.

He continued to play and she continued to watch. Valeriana wanted to get a better view since the angle she was watching from was a bit uncomfortable. She shifted her foot to accommodate the weight of her body as she moved further when a portion of her shoe squeaked at the movement. Panicking that he heard it, she tried to hide but found that the foot she just moved had suddenly caught with the ankle of her other foot. She released an unceremonious squeak of distress and stumbled slightly. She knocked over an instrument nearby during the course of the accident, making her sob inwardly as she failed to catch it. It was a cello, and so the noise it made was quite large as its size.