Chapter 4165: Unity! II As countless Living Existences sent their authorities into the Tree of Unity, verdant brilliance gushed forth and bathed their figures in light that suggested belonging to something greater than individual power. The tree grew ever larger, its branches spreading across dimensional boundaries with each new contribution. Melancholic Sovereign Drai stepped forward, his perpetual aura of depression somehow lighter than usual...though still heavy enough to make nearby space consider giving up. "For an occasion such as this," he said, his voice carrying its characteristic weight of inevitable ending, "even though my mood is not the best...and it never is, I would like to invite my colleague to set the appropriate atmosphere. Her disposition is considerably happier than mine, though that’s not saying much." He gestured toward the Living Emotives behind him, where a figure stood that Noah had been discretely observing with growing interest! A beautiful woman in a dark dress that seemed woven from midnight emotions, holding a lute whose strings gleamed with crystallized feeling. Noah’s enhanced perception read her power with careful assessment...hundreds of trillions in complexity and purity, perhaps approaching the quadrillion marker. The Living Emotives, he was beginning to understand, wielded a different kind of terrifying strength. Not the raw force of Origins or the reality-bending of Paradoxes, but something that attacked the very core of what made beings exist as conscious entities. Melancholic Sovereign Drai waved toward her with theatrical melancholy, as if even the act of introduction exhausted him emotionally! "For the sake of unity and to commemorate this grand occasion that will probably end in tears anyway, I present to everyone Duke Euphonia Mournsong, the Bitter-Sweet Resonance of Living Emotives." WAA! A moment later, Duke Euphonia floated forward with grace that made movement itself seem like music. While brilliant verdant lights continued to shine as the Tree of Unity gained thousands of new authorities with every passing second, she positioned her lute and began to play. DING! DING! DING! The melody that emerged transcended simple sound! It was terrifyingly sweet and glorious, each note crafted from crystallized longing, each chord woven from the memories of things that might have been. All who heard it felt their existence beginning to burn with a sense of power and brilliance, as if they could accomplish anything...while simultaneously understanding that everything accomplished would eventually fade. Then she began to sing. Her voice resonated across the amphitheater and began spreading through the Temporal Folds themselves, carrying on frequencies that existed between sound and meaning: "In the Folds where first we wakened, When the concepts learned their names, Ten arose from formless nothing, Each one different, each the same. Oh, remember how we danced then, In the light of unnamed stars, THE Living learned their purpose, Before we knew what purpose was. Emotive taught the others feeling, Paradox showed truth in lies, Origin built the first foundations, While Dimensional painted sunset skies. But the dance, it could not last, friends, For dancers learn to step apart, What was one became the many, What was whole became the heart. Origin forgot its ending, Law forgot that it could bend, Spirit wandered seeking bodies, Concept wondered: ’What’s a friend?’ In the shadows of our glory, In the echo of our fall, Do you remember, do you remember, When we didn’t fight at all? Now THE Creature lies in silence, Some say sleeping, some say dead, While its children wage their battles, Over words THE Creature never said. Paradox became the hunted, Order crumbled into dust, Emotive learned to hide its weeping, While the others learned mistrust. But tonight beneath this new tree, With its leaves of verdant gold, Can we dance again, if briefly? Can the young respect the old? For The Dead are always watching, And they remember how to dance, They remember all our stories, Every ending, every chance. So we bind ourselves together, Not from love but from our fear, That alone we face the darkness, That alone... we disappear. In the Folds where first we wakened, We were never meant to be, Yet we were, and are, and will be, Till existence sets us free. Oh remember, please remember, When the Tree of Unity falls, That we once stood here together, That we once... we once were all." ...! HUUM! The song continued, verses weaving through the history of existence itself...the rise of the first Living Existences, their gradual separation, the wars that followed, the losses that accumulated like sediment at the bottom of an ocean of time! Nearly all the Living Existences froze in place as they listened, their eyes flickering with the particular light of beings seeing memories they didn’t know were theirs. Shared memories, inherited from the very fabric of what they were, rose to the surface under Euphonia’s voice. Noah remained perfectly still throughout, though his mind raced with analysis. The song wasn’t just emotional...it was archaeological, excavating layers of existence that had been buried under eons of conflict. As the last notes faded into silence that felt heavier than worlds, prompts materialized before his vision. |You have experienced the Mournsong of Unity| |Emotional resonance has awakened dormant false memories| |Effect: Temporary understanding of Living Existential origins| |Effect: +100,000,000,000 Complexity from processed memories| |Effect: +100,000,000,000 Purity from emotional catharsis| |Warning: Memories may not be entirely accurate- emotion colors recall| |Benefit: Resistance to Emotive manipulation increased by 200%| |Benefit: Can now perceive emotional undercurrents in authorities| |Special Note: The Mournsong has marked you as witness to history| |Duration of effects: Permanent, but understanding will fade unless preserved| Noah’s expression grew unfathomably stern as he processed these prompts. The power of Living Emotives wasn’t in their ability to destroy but in their capacity to make beings destroy themselves through feeling. This song had just demonstrated that on a scale that encompassed hundreds of Duke-level existences simultaneously! An unfathomable silence stretched after the song ended, broken only by the continued playing of Euphonia’s lute. The melody now was simpler, sadder, a accompaniment to the weight of what had been shared. The Tree of Unity stood taller, its verdant gold leaves rustling with wind that came from nowhere, carrying the echo of voices that had sung together before they learned to hate!