Sound Village

Markus looked at me with proud eyes and patted my back lightly. I sat next to Elena and began to explain how to use the spell I casted before, "I gave the spell a name since it is newly created. I call it Sound Tunnel. The reason for this is simple. Since song magic manipulates the sounds i make with my voice, I can then control where I want the sound to move. When I woke up Zeph, I made the sound travel in a controlled path, like a tunnel, to his room instead of letting the sound bounce off the walls to get there. This will let only the person who intercepts the sounds hear it."

Elena thought for a moment, "Okay, I think I got it down."

I looked at Markus, "Father, would you mind helping mom with her training?"

Markus immediately answered, "Of course I will! What do you take me for? A horrible husband?"

They both laughed for a bit and I smiled, holding back a laugh.

"Father, can you move a few meters away from mom?"

"Sure thing," he said with a half smile from laughter.

He walked a few feet away from mom, his back to the rising sun.

"Now, this time I will break Sound Tunnel into steps, like how I did for Zeph earlier. First, imagine a carriage going into a tunnel, there is an entrance and an exit but walls confine the carriage leaving the exit the only way out."

Mom shut her eyes, "What's next?"

I continued, "Step two is to replace the carriage with your voice. Like in a tunnel, your voice will bounce off the walls. In the same manor, create sound walls around your voice and use those walls to guide it to its destination. Step three is control. Basically just don't disperse the magic and guide it to Father. I make it sound easy but it takes a lot of control to keep the spell active over long distances. Although, the distance is only a few feet this time."

Elena spoke but no words came out, only when Markus came back did we know if it had succeeded.

Markus smiled immensely, "I love you too, dear."

Elena laughed with delight, "I really did it!"

Of course this was not an impressive feat. She only had to make it go in a straight line and only a few feet at that. When it has to make a turn or an arc over a long distance, it becomes quite tricky to maneuver. Although, I didn't want to spoil Elena's win and let it go.

"I will help you improve upon it everyday since it gets a little tricky with turns and distance. But for now lets wait for Zeph to finish and then go shopping at the town!"

I was very excited to see what kind of civilization this world had. Our house looked to be not too far off from the town. Zeph did not complete Sound Barrier within the next hour so we stopped him and went back inside to get ready before we headed out. I got dressed in the bathroom and came out looking cuter then in my pajamas! I was wearing a nice white dress shirt with a short skirt and a red ribbon around my collar.

Elena saw me come out, "You ready?"

I nodded and we left the house. Zeph rode on Markus' shoulders and I held Elena's hand as we walked into the thick forest.

***

After walking for about a mile we arrived at a large town bustling with hundreds of people. as soon as one entered they would see merchants selling products, taverns, and many shops. In the distance a giant building taller than the rest stood, looming over the town. It made one feel small, like a speck of dust.

I decided to ask, "What's that giant building?"

Markus responded, "That? Its a guild hall. Those who want to become professional adventures usually join a guild. This is the Sound Branch, there is one in every Sound Valley village."

One in every village? That seemed impossible! The amount of time and resources needed to build such a structure was overwhelmingly high! How could such a gigantic structure exist in all of Sound Valley's villages? I did not respond and just kept walking along, staring at that monstrous building.

Eventually, we walked into a clothing store of the name 'Mystic Boutique' and looked for clothes that would look good on me and fit.

Elena had a realization, "That's right! we have to get your measurements.

Oh crap I forgot! Girls wear bras. And to get measured that means... I have to get naked!

Elena called over a worker to take my measurements and I entered a changing room with the worker.

The worker smiled, "Okay, remove your top and I'll take your measurements."

I got undressed reluctantly and she started to take my measurements. I looked away embarrassed and tried not to scream.

She smiled, "Your a 30B." She motioned me to follow her out of the dressing room and led me to the bra section. I picked a few I liked and went looking for clothes elsewhere in the shop. Soon I had picked out a few outfits and me and Elena went to pay at the register. I knew my breast size was small but jeez, I was practically a loli! After we paid for the clothes, we left and started to walk back to our house. When we were nearing the entrance of the town we saw a crowd surrounding something.

I looked to Elena, "I'm going to see whats going on. I'll be right back."

Elena looked worried, "Okay, be safe."

I decided to go alone since I was small enough to squeeze through the crowd. When I got to the front I saw two men verbally harassing a girl that looked to be around my age; sixteen.

Man #1, "Such scum should just die in a ditch somewhere!"

Man #2, "You freak, your a disgrace to this entire town. Why is a freak like you coming into my store huh!"

Man #1, "I can't believe your mother had a gay daughter, she must be devastated!"

These words, I've heard them before. In my past life I was ridiculed and made fun of because I wanted to be a girl. It's not our fault we were born like this, its nobodies fault. This world is just like mine. This made a fire ignite in my heart and I couldn't stand and watch anymore. The first man went to grab her but I ran to him and grabbed his wrist.

I was furious, "Enough! What has this girl done for you to ridicule her? You have no right to judge her when you yourself cannot even fathom what she is going through!"

The crowd went completely silent and stared in disbelief at this girl who had grabbed the man's wrist. Was she crazy! I felt the gazes of the crowd on me but I did not care. This man deserves to be punished.

Man #1 locked eyes with me, "I would let go if I were you girly. You don't wanna get hurt do you?"

I looked at him coldly, "What are you going to do? Scold me to death?"

He scowled, "All of your kind are the same, disrespectful, ill mannered rejects of society!"

I was flaming with rage and I felt an icy coldness build up in my chest. As the man went to hit me I grabbed his punch with my unoccupied hand and let the icy cool feeling release into the man. Instantly his whole fist was frozen in ice.

He widened his eyes, "What the..."

I was surprised as well. this icy cool was the same feeling that I had felt when I woke up in the plateau. I looked at him with dead eyes and mockingly said, "I would back off if I were you. You don't want to get hurt do you?"

The man looked incredibly frightened. He got free of my grip and left with his friend. Everyone in the crowd who had just witnessed this were dumbstruck. They never imagined that this girl could cast ice magic, an incredibly rare hex of water magic! Even Markus and Elena were looking on with a dumbfounded expression.

I turned to the girl and asked, "Are you alright?"

She looked like she was about to cry and suddenly hugged me. I hugged her back feeling empathetic of her situation.

She let go and looked at me with grateful eyes, "Thank you so much for standing up for me, I am in your debt. My name is Melody, lets be friends okay?."

That name seemed familiar... wait... This is Melody!?