Sio didn't know where she was. All around her were prismatic stones and pillars jutting out in every direction. The ground beneath her was covered with a soft, powdery snow. One moment she was in the town center, the next she was here in an unfamiliar place. A melody played in her head, one with warm tones, but underneath was something darker. The stones and pillars refracted a light that seemed to come out of nowhere and cast shadows from pillar to pillar.
She could hear someone else in this place. She moved toward the rustling sounds and saw Otheyo from a distance, banging on the walls and calling out. Sio crouched behind a pillar to avoid being spotted. Otheyo was a killer, after all, even though he had saved her once before. The Melody went silent, and so did Otheyo's pleading.
Sio looked past the pillar and no longer saw Otheyo. Then, as if from nowhere, she felt herself being picked up from behind. Sio screamed and kicked at the air, but she could not escape.
"Sio," said Otheyo, "Enough, do not fight me." But Sio struggled still. Otheyo put her down and she scrambled away from him, only to find herself with her back to a pillar a few feet away.
"Stay away from me!" She shouted as Otheyo turned to face her, his mask off. His eyes were red as though he were crying, but Sio didn't have time to think about that. She had to get away. She pushed off the pillar and jumped down a ledge to the right and landed roughly on her feet as she scrambled away one more step toward the chamber-like walls. "Someone, help me!" But no one could hear her except Otheyo.
"Sio, I'm not here to harm you." He called from the top of the ledge, he jumped down and landed with ease. He raised his hands with palms outward in a sign of peace, but Sio could not shake the primal fear overtaking her. Where was the Melody? As though reading her mind, Otheyo began to speak.
"You don't hear it anymore, right?" He asked her, stopping a few feet before her. "The Melody has fallen silent."
She was still. Did he have something to do with that?
"Believe it or not Sio, I'm here to protect you." Otheyo continued to approach Sio. Shakily she replied.
"I don't believe you. You killed them! You killed my parents!" She screamed as she lunged past Otheyo to another area in the chamber. He lunged at her, but she was quick enough to dodge his grasp. She found a hole big enough for her and moved inside just as Otheyo grabbed at her leg.
"I knew it before they did, Sio. That you were an asterthan. You've been lead to believe the Obelisk will restore Creation. It will not." Otheyo knelt to meet Sio's eyes, her face uncovered as she took her mask off to breath easier.
"Then what will it do?" She asked him, her steel eyes meeting the black of her enemy.
"It will destroy everything we know." He spoke softly. "It will consume everyone who serves it. Ava and your parents wanted nothing more than to serve it, and everything we've built would be destroyed."
"How do you know this?"
"Because I've seen it. The vision of the Obelisk showed me that if I had let your parents and Ava live, their influence upon you would have led us to our doom." He bowed his head to the floor, forehead touching the powdery snow. "The things they would have you do, Sio! I couldn't allow it!"
"What would I have done?"
"Terrible things, little one." Otheyo met her gaze again, eyes wet from tears. "Terrible, terrible things."
Otheyo reached out his hand gently, "If you would come with me, I know a place where you would not live in fear of the Obelisk or the Melody. A place where the Symphony truly dwells and people who do its will."
"I don't trust you!"
"Then what do you trust? The Melody that leaves you to question everything? The Obelisk that ensnared your parents? Ava, who killed your grandmother? Auburn, who left her to die?"
"Please, anyone, help me!" Sio called out once more, and at this, something dragged Otheyo away from Sio's foxhole. Sio peeked to find Otheyo grabbed by his shell-suit in midair. Standing there was Kivtius. Sio had never been so happy to see her strange Geminidi friend. Kivtius threw Otheyo away from the foxhole Sio was in and gave her his hand. At this, Sio reached and allowed herself to leave. Otheyo leapt to his feet and lunged at Kivtius who swatted him away once more. Sio cleared of the hole, stood behind Kivtius as he turned to face Otheyo once more.
Otheyo took out a knife, a laser-tipped dagger, and lunged at Kivtius, who caught the blade in his forearm. He did not wail, but Sio could see magma start to bleed out of the wound. Kivtius shoved Otheyo to the wall, and an unnatural crack resounded in the chamber. Sio saw blood coming out of the side of Otheyo's head as he collapsed to his knees.
"Find Nocturne," he whispered as he lost consciousness. Kivtius turned to Sio, who leapt into his arms. Unsure of what to do, Kivtius returned the embrace gently.
"Dunestrider," Kivtius said as he let go of Sio, "let us go and meet your friends. They are worried for your safety."
Sio did not say anything but nodded, then looked to Otheyo on the floor. "What about him?"
"Let the Symphony decide his fate." Said Kivtius as he reached for Sio's hand. Sio took it, and Kivtius caught light in his hands and tapped it to the side of the chamber. In a bright white light they emerged into the sanctuary where Sio and Auburn found Ava.