Andrew walked through the vast underground complex, bound by cold metal handcuffs and shackles, perplexed by everything he saw. Things worked in strange ways here.
The sonotubes did not play the same melodies as Maderiú; here, an old song was used to push things. Maderiú's melodies focused on creating a gust of wind that propelled you forward, not the movement itself.
It was a rather rudimentary system, but it was still functional. In addition, this melody was much less noisy and annoying to nearby melody creatures.
'Well, Maderiú can afford it.'
Andrew looked at Obel's back; he was quite tall. To the old man's left, the woman named Isabel walked with some anxiety, frowning for more than ten minutes, not seeming very happy with the situation. Behind Andrew, four guards escorted them.
'Ah, I guess I shouldn't have acted so quickly.'
Andrew ruined things a little.
***
Forty minutes ago.
Andrew, determined to get out of there, made his move. Obel hugged Isabel for their reunion. The other man, named "Pedro," was also there, leaning against one of the walls of the place.
Andrew watched as people came and went. At one point, a worried pregnant woman approached the guard who was watching over Andrew. While the woman was talking to the guard, Andrew slipped away without taking his eyes off Obel and their reunion until he was right next to the guard, who had his back turned and didn't notice.
Andrew took the sonic weapon the guard was carrying on his back and did the most logical thing he could think of.
He ran.
'Hah... hah, I'm not going to stop...'
Andrew ran so fast that the air began to burn his lungs. Now that he was a musician, Andrew was supposed to be able to withstand this kind of movement and much more, but Andrew had no previous training, and his recent attempt at training did not seem to have worked. Andrew ran toward the large tunnel that had brought him here, planning to take a car and flee as far away as possible. He wanted to take refuge somewhere in this city and then find transportation to Maderiú.
When Andrew looked back to try to see who was chasing him, he met the gaze of the indifferent hunters and Obel simply sighing.
One of the hunters seemed to speak to Obel, and in an instant, the hunter adopted a low stance, one leg forward, muscles tense; as he lunged forward, the air around him shattered. Andrew could see the debris from the cracked ground floating in the air. When he blinked, Andrew was lying face down on the ground, and the hunter was already handcuffing him.
***
'I should have been more subtle, I guess.'
Andrew yawned as he followed his captors, his body feeling anything but energetic. He had done more than he was used to.
"Are we there yet?" Andrew asked.
Everyone fell silent: Obel, Isabel, Jay, and the two other hunters. The four guards hadn't made a sound the entire way.
'Ah...'
He let out a tired sigh. Since the incident, they had not deigned to answer his questions, much less treat him with dignity. They were giving him the silent treatment.
'How dare they treat their savior like this!'
Well, at least that's what Andrew thought his role here would be.
'It wasn't that big a deal...'
Andrew muttered. The others remained the same, impassive. So he simply joined in the silence.
As they walked through the complex, people were working hard. Andrew could hear welding machines running most of the time; they were reinforcing the place. Others were running back and forth with piles of papers; no one was resting.
'This is how big cities are built... I guess.'
Shifting his attention, Andrew looked at a large room to his left. When he turned, the first thing he saw was a woman hitting a man with a stick. The man fell to the tatami mat from the powerful direct attack.
Another man stepped in and raised a blue flag, the same color as the woman's helmet.
'Curious.'
It looked like training disguised as competition. To Andrew, it was a very well thought-out idea. Motivating them to keep improving was great.
'Well, who wouldn't be motivated to save the world?'
Andrew continued on his way, but that image had remained etched in his mind.
'Power'
Andrew had always wanted power, and now more than ever, he needed it. Andrew knew he had very little idea about the current state of the world. In Europe, people didn't usually talk about the situation in other parts of the world, but he knew there were many more dangers out there than he could imagine. This unexpected visit had opened his eyes.
He needed power, urgently.
He couldn't continue to be weak. Now that he had an opportunity to achieve it, he wasn't going to waste it.
After walking for a long time, they arrived at the long-awaited room, which left Andrew with a curious feeling.
It was not what he expected. After seeing enormous and surprising constructions in this area, he believed that the main hall where the leaders lived together would be something totally beyond common understanding.
He was wrong.
The room was beautifully shaped. Upon entering, Andrew saw a huge expanse of chairs and tables, all arranged in a wave pattern. Each staircase had another row of chairs and tables, and at the back, a large screen stretched across the entire wall structure.
It wasn't surprising, it was simply mind-blowing, it was more than Andrew had ever imagined. Hundreds of people were moving around the room, working and informing others about different situations.
Again, no one was resting.
The huge screen was divided into several parts, with various areas showing cameras around this entire sector and the nascent domain of Portugal. People were shown going about their daily lives, walking, shopping, socializing.
The government of this small domain knew how to take care of its people. In the other areas of the large screen, you could see land outside the domain; they always kept an eye on the surroundings; they didn't want to encounter a disaster-level melody creature without knowing about it beforehand.
'Who...?'
A large part of the unreal screen focused on one specific person.
It was a man who was focused on training. In the video, the man was shown easily dominating three musicians in combat. He was sweaty and wearing a black training suit. Andrew could tell that he was about the same age as him.
'Huh?'
Andrew was curious. This young man was receiving a lot of attention from the government of this domain. He seemed really important.
Andrew wanted to ask.
'It wouldn't do any good.'
Andrew knew that Obel and the hunters would just ignore him. There wasn't much else he could do. Determined to get as much information as possible, Andrew kept quiet and watched, paying closer attention than ever.
Obel led the way down, and with each row they passed, Andrew was looked at curiously by the workers. Some were frightened to see him in chains, while others were simply perplexed.
Several people even smiled when they saw him.
Once again, Andrew wanted to know the reason for his kidnapping.
When they reached the command center, several people rose from their desks and bowed to Obel.
"Welcome back, boss. I can see your short trip was fruitful."
Andrew frowned in annoyance. The woman welcoming Obel spoke in a tone that irritated Andrew. He didn't like it at all.
'Another stuck-up woman, really?'
The woman frowned when she saw Andrew's annoyed face.
"He's not very friendly, from what I can see," the woman said before smiling.
"No, it's not," Obel replied, holding back his anger.
No one liked Andrew's inappropriate behavior. Stealing a weapon and trying to run away was not well regarded anywhere.
'I don't blame them, maybe they're right.'
Andrew accepted it; his plan was pretty bad. He wouldn't act again without thinking twice, or maybe three times.
"Did you bring him here so we can explain?"
said one of the men who was typing at his desk. Andrew stifled a laugh. The man was very short, resembling a goblin Andrew had seen in a movie a long time ago.
"Yes, he needs to understand why we need him."
Andrew sighed. He hated it when they talked as if he weren't there, or worse, as if he were deaf.
"I'm here listening, you know?"
Everyone nearby listening turned to look at him, many curious about Andrew's voice. Hearing him spoke to their curiosity.
"Oh, I know."
said the woman with glasses, smiling. Andrew looked her in the eye, frowning. He had just met this girl, and he hated her with all his being. Being treated like an object fueled the fire of revenge inside Andrew. He wasn't going to forget this.
Andrew clicked his tongue.
"Well? What are you going to show me?" Andrew said angrily.
"Look, kid. This is your purpose."
On the large computer screen, a specific area changed its image. The new image showed a strange map, on which two locations could be seen. The first said "Island of Nadira" and the other read: "beginning of the true Nadira."
"Are you really taking this seriously? It's impossible for anything else to exist there. More than four explorations have been made! Where did you get this?" Andrew said, annoyed by these people's foolishness.
"Oh, from no one in particular. The emperor of the African domain gave birth to this map," said the cunning woman with glasses.
Andrew opened his lips slightly, about to say something and try to argue why this was impossible, until he analyzed the woman's words.
"...Who do you say?" Andrew asked, perplexed.
"The Emperor of the African domain created it."
Andrew's mouth fell open as he looked at the enormous map. This meant that humanity knew much less than it thought it did about Nadira. This changed everything.
"It can't be..." Andrew said, scratching the palm of his right hand.
"Well, it is, and we need you. The world needs you."
"Why? What use will I be?"
The woman sat down at her desk and typed a few times. The huge image of the map changed, showing a cave painting. It depicted two people, one holding a guitar and the other with his palms facing upwards; in his palms, there was a curious detail. A large number of treble clefs lay on the second man's hands, deliberately drawn there.
"What's this?" Andrew asked curiously.
"In front of you, you have a cave painting drawn two centuries ago. Before the score brought the creatures together. It was drawn by our ancestors to foresee the future and warn our civilization."
Andrew looked at the drawing curiously. He wanted to know more.
"How was that possible?"
"A vision, divination, perhaps. We're not sure."
Andrew stifled a laugh, then, after analyzing the whole situation, simply sighed. It was a very surreal situation, but something told him that this was true. If this were a lie, it didn't seem logical to Andrew that they would be spending so much time on this when they had a domain to protect.
"And what does this represent?"
"Two musicians, from different classes."
Andrew's eyes widened; this interested him. He even felt as if his ears were trying to stretch to hear better.
"Explain it to me," Andrew said curiously.
"Hmm... I'll be very honest with you, we don't have a clear idea of what this painting is trying to communicate, but we are sure that these two are representations of musicians."
Andrew looked closely. It was very strange. The first musician perfectly represented all musicians in the world. The guitar was the most widely used instrument among musicians. It was versatile and easy to use, perfect for combat.
But the second was a very different case.
He seemed to be controlling musical energy without an instrument.
'Who does this remind me of?'
It was obvious; it reminded him of himself.
"I guess you already understand why we brought you here."
The woman with glasses wouldn't stop bothering Andrew; he hated the way she behaved. She was the perfect embodiment of everything he hated: the conceited and the self-centered. Andrew knew that these concepts were very similar, but to him, they were two very different things that, when combined, created the type of person Andrew hated with all his being.
"Yes, I understand. But what is the main reason?" Andrew asked, afraid of the answer.
This time, Obel finally decided to speak to Andrew.
"You, personally, will use your defensive songs and reinforce one of our ships and accompany us. We will go to explore beyond the island of Nadira."
Suddenly, all the sounds around him faded into the background, and Andrew's vision blurred. His blood ran cold. Andrew could barely survive in the safest regions of Nadira.
'I must... I must escape.'
It was madness.