Silent Crown

As if seeing its mortal enemy, the gray-white cat instantly exploded in anger. Growling, it flew at the mouse. The mouse fled, scrambling around the small piano room. The big cat chased the mouse crazily. The yellow mouse was not weak, and kept throwing things at the cat.

Sometimes, it was a great chase. Other times, they were entangled together or beating each other up. But for some reason, neither of them were injured at all. Instead, everything fragile around them was destroyed.

The water pitcher was shattered, the wooden floor was ripped up, the wall was covered in paw prints, the carpet was covered in scratches, the framed picture on the wall fell with a crash, and even one of the piano legs broke. Like a tornado, the cat and mouse destroyed everything, turning the overture into a comedy. When the music ended, the cat and mouse disappeared. The classroom was in ruins.

Charles was calm while Ye Qingxuan was completely in a daze. Abraham left shaking his head, unable to look at his room.

“So you see now, right?” Charles’s hands left the piano. “No matter what I perform from the School of Summoning, it will turn into this. The Emperor Waltz, the Fourth Fantasy Impromptu…there are no exceptions. But it’s gets easier when you get used to it. I kind of like the cat and mouse now. I’ve named them Tom and Jerry. Aren’t they cute?”

Ye Qingxuan felt his forehead. He was not hallucinating, but it was still hard to believe. “Why don’t you try music from the School of Modifications?”

Charles shrugged. “The instrument would explode.”

“School of Mind?”

“It’ll be like I’m drunk, and I’ll run around naked somewhere…haven’t you seen it?”

“Yeah,” Ye Qingxuan wiped the cold sweat off of his forehead. “School of Illusions?”

“The listener would see a hallucination of a muscular and tanned man wearing a black trench coat and shades. He would open his hands and see a pink pill and a green pill…”

“…Revelations?”

“The listener would return to the past and discover that humans evolved from monkeys.”

“…” Ye Qingxuan could not bear to ask anymore. It was a painful history full of blood, sweat, and tears that no one else would believe.

Seeing his face, Charles knew that he understood the pain and held onto his shoulder, his eyes reddened. “All these years, I ruined whatever I learn. No matter what instrument it is, it’ll explode in my hands. But despite this, I’ve still passed the sacred city’s level ten examination for instruments. You must work hard too, junior.”

Ye Qingxuan shook at those words. The sacred city’s level ten examination for instruments was infamous for being a difficult, precise, and hellish test.

“What did you do?”

“…the triangle.” Charles gazed up at the sky, his eyes full of tears. “Only the triangle doesn’t explode.”

“Senior, I don’t know why but I want to cry.” Ye Qingxuan suddenly had the urge to hug Charles and sob with him. If Ye Qingxuan had been in that messed up situation, he would have given up long ago. He had not expected Charles to be so strong mentally, and so determined. After all those years, Charles had turned from a respected and famous genius to the embarrassment of the academy, but he still continued living happily.

“Ha, you don’t have to cry.” Charles patted his shoulders. “Anyway, it’s getting late. You should go sleep now. According to my calculations, you won’t be able to learn this piece in a short time.”

Ye Qingxuan sighed, understanding what he meant. Unlike single notes, the notes in and interval’s connections and changes become extremely tight when put together in a measure. The relationship between the notes created an interval, and intervals created measures, and two or four measures could become a phrase. With each advancement, the precision for manipulating the aether would double. For Ye Qingxuan, that was as difficult as rowing a boat through angry waves, or galloping on a wild stallion. He would be completely dragged around by the aether and lose his own tempo. Even if he used his professor’s translation method to find the best grouping method, he still needed a lot of work over a long period of time.

After all this time, he had barely managed to play the first measure and still made mistakes. He did not wish to be like Charles and play every piece smoothly like flowing water. Just the simple goal of being one hundred percent accurate and successful would need at least three months of practice. He envied Charles’s and Bai Xi’s natural talent.

Bai Xi was not as messed up as Charles and did not like to learn, but the few times she went to class, it was as relaxing as a walk in the park. Sometimes she would fall asleep during class but still learn the material after flipping through the book.

Thinking about that, Ye Qingxuan felt a wave of hopelessness. “Whatever. I’ll just wait until I’m rich, and then I’ll buy a bunch of rune stones and make it work for me.”

Charles could only laugh at this. “Junior, you look good, and you have pretty dreams too.”

Ye Qingxuan scoffed. “Who knows, maybe a giant pile of rune stones will fall from the sky when I’m walking.”

“Psh! That possibility is even smaller than if I woke up on King Arthur’s hidden treasures…”

“Whatever, I’m not talking to you anymore.” Ye Qingxuan rolled his eyes. Ready to sleep, he turned back before leaving, “Oh right, do you know where I can buy marbles?”

“Marbles? Why?”

“I promised it as a thank you gift.”

“Oh, I’ll take you tomorrow afternoon. I’ve finished all my alcohol.” Charles yawned and sighed, “The quality of my sleep is getting worse these days, I keep having nightmares. Could it be that another girl is stabbing my voodoo doll?”

“…”

—

The next afternoon, Ye Qingxuan carefully packed a map of Avalon, and reminded Bai Xi to take Old Phil and get him from some ditch if he went missing. And then, taking a deep breath, he finally went out with Charles!

“Senior, are you sure you’re reliable?” Ye Qingxuan looked around with every step he took, scared that Charles would take him to some weird place again.

“Don’t worry, I’ve been walking this path for five or six years. I can find it even with my eyes closed!” Charles walked in front, full of confidence, while Ye Qingxuan still was not convinced. There was no way he could feel relaxed after seeing that guy’s talent at leading! Was there anyone else who would take their junior to the cafeteria and end up at the Avalonian police station?! Just explaining to the police that he had been lost brought Ye Qingxuan close to tears. In the end, he could only go home when Bai Xi came with proof from the Academy. And Charles, on the other hand, had crawled out from the girl’s dorm. He had been so close to being discovered and beaten in public!

“It’s okay, there’s Old Phil if you do get lost.” He patted Ye Qingxuan’s shoulder but suddenly remembered, “Have you seen Old Phil recently?”

“No, maybe he went running around again. Why?”

“…Nothing.” Charles’s expression changed. “You know, after Hariti disappeared, there’s a new member of Avalon’s top ten legends now?”

Ye Qingxuan suddenly had a bad feeling. “No way.”

“Yes way. The new legend is a mysterious dog,” Charles said, slightly scarred. “All the kids in Avalon know not to walk by themselves, otherwise an evil dog will jump out of nowhere and scare them half to death, and steal their valuables…

“Two days ago, when the Yunlou ambassador group was leaving, the royals hosted a banquet. All the officials were talking and suddenly, a dog with a drumstick in its mouth jumped out. And in front of everyone, it bit the Crown Prince’s leg and made him pee his pants. Before anyone could process what had happened, the dog ran away. Apparently, its judgy eyes had created some emotional trauma for a lot of people. The Crown Prince is still hiding in the sheep pen…

“‘This is a conspiracy! A despicable conspiracy to destroy the friendship between our countries!’” Charles imitated the Secretary of State’s angry words and shook his head. “Now all of Avalon is on the hunt for dogs. You should tell Old Phil to hide and not be used as a scapegoat…”

Seeing the sadness in Charles’s eyes, Ye Qingxuan’s facial muscles quivered, not sure what he should say.

They walked out of the Academy as they talked. But for some reason, a crowd ran past as soon as they left the school. Then a few pigeons flew to the sky and disappeared. There were still people running for some reason.

“What’s going on?” Ye Qingxuan studied their backsides suspiciously.

“Who knows?” Charles shrugged, “Maybe they’re playing with pigeons.”

“Avalonians have too much time on their hands.”

“Yeah.”

—

Ten minutes later at a bar downtown, smoke hung above the song and dance. Indian girls wearing golden hoops and silver chains danced to the single-strand fiddle and clay drums. Singing a hymn-like song, they swayed and twisted. In front of the stage, a bearded man lay on the cot. Smoking hookah, his eyes squinted as he enjoyed the drugs and hummed along to the music.

Amidst the entertainment, a thin man with a turban pushed open the door cautiously. Bowing, he walked up and prostrated before the cot reverently, “Lord Shahrukh, Lord Shahrukh…”

“Hmm?” Shahrukh opened his eyes. Seeing the man, he sat up and put down the hookah, “Is there news?”

“The Eastern kid has appeared,” the man replied in a low voice. “They came out and are headed towards downtown. They seem to be looking for something.”

“You are not mistaken?”

“No!” The underling nodded his head forcefully.

“Very well.” Shahrukh felt the ivory dagger at his waist, “What of the others?”

“According to your commands, the pigeons have been stopped by Master Puspotkata. All moles have been taken care of.” Fierceness flashed in the thin man’s eyes. “No one escaped. Only we’ll know where the kid is before they realize that their moles have disappeared.” He paused and mimed a slashing sword. “Should we take the opportunity to…”

“No hurries. This is a blessing from the heavens to give us the advantage. We’ve put in so much. How can a little kid be enough?” Shahrukh licked his lips hungrily. “Tell everyone to get ready! Prepare for an ambush, and use the kid to draw them all out. We’ll do something big this time!”