14 Devil's Flute

"Wait." Kasko suddenly came to a halt as he stood still. He and Ayani had been running for a while now farther and farther from their homes. His sensing of the essence that was causing the enchantment led both children to Alhari Temple.

Alhari Temple was a monastery that stood at the top of a small hill located at the outskirts of Coast Town. It was so far from all the hustling and bustling of the small town that it felt as though the place was totally deserted and uninhabited. The temple was built several centuries ago and used as a haven for physical and mental training. Not many people were interested in such hectic training, hence, this place was almost always empty.

It was thus, a little strange to Kasko that the essence he had sensed in the beginning was at its strongest here. Ayani felt it too because her small brown eyes squinted with wary. "There's someone in the temple." Ayani whispered. She almost did not hear her voice, however, Kasko heard her well. He nodded in agreement.

Without saying another word, he energetically ran up the stairs leading up the hill. He did not even need to use his essence to ran with such vigour. As someone who was already fifteen and had not yet awakened his soul armos, Kasko was always relentlessly training his body in hopes that it would trigger the awakening.

Due to this, Kasko was incredibly fit and hundreds of stairs was not an issue to him. Ayani trailed behind him, her orange essence hovering around her body.

A few minutes later, Kasko and Ayani were at the top of the hill, ready to enter the temple. Under normal circumstance, it would take an ordinary person without any essence about thirty minutes to make it to the top of the hill. However, for these two, it was a lot easier. In fact, it would have taken even less time for someone of a higher essence.

The layout of the temple was rectangular. Even if it was a small temple compared to others found in larger towns and cities, it was still quite large with a lot of space. There were golden lights illuminating from many lanterns hanging at various points in the temple. The architecture of the building was ancient, yet, it was incredibly beautiful and gave off an atmosphere of serenity.

Kasko had been here to train a few times, and thus, knew the layout quite well. As for Ayani, however, this was her first time here. Her face could not hide her wonder at how beautiful the place was. She knew the temple existed, however, this was actually her first time seeing it up close. Due to how far Alhari Temple was from everyone in the town, they usually only saw it from afar, towering with pride atop the hill.

"Listen." Kasko said, slightly putting his index finger on his lips. His eyes were still and unblinking. "Can you hear that?" He said.

Ayani nodded. At first, it felt like the night's wind was playing tricks on her ears, however, after listening closely, she could finally hear it; a slow melancholy music that sounded like it was coming from a wind instrument. This music did not sound like any kind of music they had heard before. It was almost like the music was alive.

Kasko bit his lips unconsciously while clenching his fist. This must be the music Savyrran was talking about. Even though they had not heard it in the town, they could now clearly hear it since they were at the source. Ovandarrak and the others must have heard it because it was meant to have an effect on them. Even though the music could neither make them sleep nor lose their mental faculty, Kasko still felt uneasy hearing the depressing and strange music. He could feel goosebumps crawling all over his skin.

The two children carefully entered the main temple hall, which was exactly where the music was coming from. In the large empty hall sat a young man. He was sitting directly on the stone floor with his legs crossed over each other. From their position, Kasko could see that the man had closed his eyes and he was playing a long flute with a bizarre design. With all the lanterns hanging around, Kasko could see the man's face clearly. Endless streaks of deep red and green light surrounded the man as though he was in a storm of red and green lightning. It seemed, however, that the young man had not noticed the presence of the two children and he continued to play on in oblivion. The man was sitting right at the foot of a life-sized bronze statue of an old man with outstretched arms. In both palms of the statue was a bright green orb. The orb was so shiny that it was surreal to look at.

In the beginning, while Kasko was tracing the mysterious essence, he wondered why it was leading farther and farther away from the town proper. Why would anyone go to Alhari Temple which was so far away from the town, to cast a spell on the town? But now that Kasko was right here in the temple, he clearly understood. He gasped with horror when it dawned on him. This was probably why everyone with a soul armos, even including Master Bufan and Mayor Danjo had fallen victim to the music.

"He is using the power stone." Kasko whispered more to himself than to Ayani. It was no wonder now why the person chose Alhari Temple of all places. From the red light surrounding the man, it was clear that this person only had red essence. Under normal circumstance, whatever he was doing should have no effect on more than half of the town. On the contrary, due to the green power stone, his power had been elevated to unprecedented levels.

There were numerous temples scattered throughout Dream Kingdom used as resting or training grounds for pilgrims or people in search of enlightenment. Power stones were found in every temple. They were transparent balls which came in different colours depending on how powerful they were. Power stones harnessed a lot of soul energy which was useful in enriching one's soul and led to a more efficient mental and physical training. In Alhari Temple, the power stone here was green, and thus, fairly powerful.

"What do you mean he is using the power stone?" Ayani asked. She knew about the power stone, and from the little she had learned, it was a source of soul energy which aided in one's training. However, there was nothing too special about it since anyone could still train well without a power stone.

But what Ayani did not know was that there was another use to the power stone. It was exactly what Kasko knew. Kasko remembered he was told this by Teacher Ruyo. There was no doubt this was exactly what was happening. Kasko was three years older than Ayani, hence he was her senior in the academy. There were things he had learned that Ayani did not yet know. Moreover, since he was an avid reader, there were things that he knew that many children his age did not yet know.

When a person connected with a power stone, they gained the essence power of the stone and could use it as they willed. Even though it was a false power which was not as powerful at the real thing, it could still be dangerous if used well. Obviously, this musician in the temple was a red user however, by connecting to a green power stone, he had been able to raise his strength. This was the only reason the man was able to subdue so many people stronger than him at once. Kasko knew there was only one thing to do. Once he did, it would be easier to fight the man, after all, Kasko was an orange. Recollecting the things he had heard from Teacher Ruyo, Kasko began to formulate a plan in his head. They needed to disconnect the man from the power stone. For now, the man had not yet seen them, hence, they were a little safe. But once he opened his eyes, they were as good as dead.

The only way they could disconnect the man from the power stone was by rendering him unconscious. Or if they were lucky, it would be automatically disconnected after the two hour time limit. But Kasko knew that depending on the latter was not an option. From the time the spell started, an hour had not even passed yet. To wait for another hour or more to stop it would be too late. What if they never saw the kidnapped children again? His brother. No, he needed to stop this man here and now so that the others could find the children.

Looking intently at the man, Kasko formulated a plan. He wasn't sure it would work, but he had to try. Before he did anything else, he had to stop the man from playing the music. That was what was holding the entire town captive in dreamland. So, turning to Ayani, Kasko said, "you see that flute he is holding? I'm going there as fast as I can to take it from him and destroy it with my essence. If that is indeed his soul armos, then it would also cause damage to his soul and he will not be able to summon the flute anymore. I need you to be very alert. If he tries something, attack immediately."

Ayani nodded in understanding. She already knew why she was here. And she would do it as best as she could.

Without saying another word, the light brown pupils of the young boy transformed into deep orange while numerous strings of orange light encircled his entire body. In a blink of an eye, Kasko dashed towards the man with incredible speed that anyone who looked at it with ordinary eyes could only see a trail of orange light. Since Ayani had revealed her orange essence in anticipation for any danger, she could clearly see Kasko as though he wasn't speeding up at all.

But just before Kasko got to the man, the tune of the song changed suddenly and two two adult human sized dummies without faces appeared out of thin air right in front of the boy. Then the music stopped. There was an eerie silence dominating the temple. For a moment, Kasko wished the awful music would be back. The strange looking dummies stood between Kasko and the man like they were guarding the latter from harm.

At least, something good came out of this. Kasko thought. He was trying to stop the man from playing, and now the music had stopped. Maybe, that must have broken the spell. Maybe.

The man suddenly opened his eyes, and just like the red and green streaks of light surrounding his body, the colour of his pupils were both red and green. No one had two essence at the same time; this was clearly the effect of the power stone. The man's young handsome face morphed into a smirk that belonged on the face of a savage beast. Then he laughed hysterically. "Little boy, did you really think you could stop my Devil's Flute?"