MidReal Story
Echoes of Destiny
Scenario: In another dimension, sound is a commonly visual force used for work, play, healing and occasionally warfare.
Create my version of this story
Elara Voss
sound engineer, friends with Tarek and mentor to Jael, short with silver hair, analytical and curious
Jael Mire
apprentice to Elara and friend to Tarek, petite with delicate features, intelligent and reserved
Tarek Lin
musician and Elara's close friend, collaborates with Elara and is protective of Jael, tall with vibrant tattoos, charismatic and impulsive
I was the first to hear it.
The first to see.
The first to understand.
And I knew, in that moment, that everything was about to change.
I was in the lab, working on a new project, when I heard it.
A sound so pure and so beautiful that I stopped what I was doing and just listened.
It was like nothing I’d ever heard before, and yet it was so familiar.
It was a sound that resonated deep within me, that made my heart ache with longing and my skin tingle with anticipation.
It was a sound that called to me, that demanded my attention, that refused to be ignored.
It was a sound that changed everything.
I didn’t know what it meant or where it came from or how it had found its way into my lab, but I knew one thing for certain:
I had to find out more.
I had to understand it better.
I spent the next few hours analyzing the sound wave, poring over the data, trying to make sense of what it all meant.
It was a new harmonic frequency, one I’d never encountered before.
And yet it fit so perfectly within the spectrum of sound, so beautifully within the scale, so naturally within the key.
It was a sound that was meant to be.
It was a sound that was waiting for me to find it.
It was a sound that would change everything.
Sound was not just a tool in our world.
It was the very essence of our existence.
It was the thing that set us apart from all other creatures in the galaxy.
It was the thing that made us human.
We used sound to communicate, to create, to celebrate, to heal.
And in Caelum, we used sound in ways that other city-states could only dream of.
We were pioneers in sound engineering and music theory and psychoacoustics, and we were always on the lookout for something new, something different, something better.
And now I’d found it.
This new harmonic frequency could change everything.
It could revolutionize our technology, our theory, our understanding of sound and its impact on our lives.
It could be the breakthrough we’d been searching for all these years.
And I was the one who’d found it.
I couldn’t wait to see what secrets it held or how we might use it to benefit our citizens or what impact it might have on our society as a whole…
But I knew I had to be careful too.
I had to be sure before I shared what I’d learned with anyone else.
I had to make sure I understood what I was dealing with before I let anyone else get their hands on it.
So I called Tarek.
Who better than my closest friend and mentor to help me make sense of this new discovery?
He was a renowned musician, with deep knowledge of music theory and sound engineering alike.
He’d been my first music teacher and my first sound engineering mentor, and he remained my most trusted advisor to this day.
Together, we’d created some of the most innovative and exciting projects in Caelum’s history.
So there was no question that he’d be the first person I shared this new discovery with.
There was no question that he’d drop everything and come running when I called him.
There was no question that he’d understand the importance of this breakthrough, and that he’d be just as excited as I was to explore its potential together.
“Hey,” Tarek said as he entered my lab.
“What you got for me?”
He looked at me expectantly, his dark eyes shining with curiosity as he took in my silver hair and bright blue eyes and petite frame from head to toe.
“You’re not going to believe this,” I said, feeling a grin spread across my face as he made his way over to where I stood.
I played the sound wave from the beginning, letting it wash over him, waiting for recognition to show on his face.
His eyes widened for a moment, his brows drawing together in confusion as he listened.
And then he closed his eyes, his breathing deepening as he concentrated on the sound.
“Yeah,” he finally said, his voice barely above a whisper.
“I mean, it’s interesting, I guess.”
“It’s more than interesting,” I said, barely able to contain my excitement.
“It’s… It’s a whole new harmonic frequency, Tarek.
This changes everything.”
He opened his eyes, fixing me with a look that suggested I might be overreacting just a tad.
“Are you sure?”
I launched into an explanation of what I’d discovered, of how I’d come upon this sound wave and analyzed its data, of what I thought it might mean for us if we were able to harness it for ourselves.
And all the while, I watched Tarek closely, looking for signs of skepticism or disbelief or, worst of all, disinterest.
But there were none.
In fact, he seemed even more intrigued than before, if that were possible.
He listened patiently as I explained what I’d done and how I’d come to these conclusions.
And when I finally ran out of words, he simply nodded, his expression unreadable.
“I’d like to take a closer look at the data,” Tarek said, still keeping his thoughts to himself.
“I’d like to see for myself what you’ve found.”
I nodded, moving aside so he could take my place at the console.
I watched over his shoulder as he zoomed in on the frequency and started playing it back and forth, listening closely, making notes on the computer screen in front of him.
He looked up at me after a few minutes, and I saw the first signs of a smile tugging at the corner of his lips.
“Okay, Elara,” he said, turning back to the screen.
“You were right.
This is definitely something special.”
I felt my heart start to race, my palms beginning to sweat as I waited for more.
“What do you think it is?”
Tarek shrugged, still studying the data.
“I’m not sure yet.
But it’s not just another minor or major scale, if that’s what you’re worried about.”
I gave a nervous laugh.
That’s definitely not what I’m worried about.”
“This is something… different,” Tarek said, his expression growing serious once again.
“This is something… else.
Something that’s never been heard before, never been documented before, never been charted before.”
He turned to face me, his eyes meeting mine in an unspoken challenge.
“This is something big, Elara.
Something so far beyond anything we’ve encountered before that I’m not even sure how to describe it or explain it or… or quantify it.”
He shook his head, clearly at a loss for words.
“It’s like… It’s like the Fibonacci Sequence of sound.”
That was all he needed to say for me to understand exactly what he meant.
He didn’t need to explain any further for me to appreciate the beauty of what we’d found, the elegance of what we’d discovered, the power of what we’d uncovered.
This was not just a tool in our ever-expanding arsenal of sound technology.
This was something so much more than that.
Something so much better than that.
Something so much more dangerous than that…
Tarek shook his head again, clearly overwhelmed by the implications of what we were seeing and hearing and feeling and yet utterly powerless to explain any of it.
“We can replicate it,” I said, filling in the blanks for him.
“We can manipulate it.”
He nodded slowly, still lost in thought as he considered the implications of what I was saying and what he was seeing and hearing and feeling and yet still utterly powerless to do anything about it.
“We can’t control it,” Tarek said eventually, his voice almost a whisper as we stood side by side in my lab, staring at the sound clip on the screen in front of us.
“It’s too big… too vast… too complex…”
“The note lasts for over an hour,” I reminded him, watching as his brain went into overdrive, trying to process the data and understand the power behind the frequency.
“It’s not just one note,” Tarek corrected me gently, already several steps ahead of me as usual.
“It has overtones… harmonics… cascading in patterns… that go on forever…”
“And ever…” And ever…
“This is not something you want to be playing around with,” Tarek said, his tone becoming more serious with each word he spoke.
We have no idea what this frequency is capable of… We have no idea how this frequency was created… We have no idea how to control this frequency now that we’ve found it…”
“The implications are staggering,” I said, feeling a shiver run down my spine as I realized just how right I was and just how wrong I’d been to think this was just another advancement in sound technology, another tool in our arsenal, another way to give Caelum an advantage over all the other citystates out there.
I’d thought I’d stumbled across a new weapon, a new resource, a new innovation that would put Caelum ahead of everyone else in terms of power and prestige and progress.
But I’d been wrong—so very, very wrong—on so many levels…
“Imagine if we could use this frequency for warfare,” Tarek said, his voice suddenly taking on a whole new tone.
“A whole citystate could be obliterated with a single note…”
“Imagine if we could use this frequency for healing,” I countered, my tone equally dark and desperate.
“We could bring the dead back to life with a single note…”
Tarek shook his head again, unsure what to say or do or think or feel, just like me.
We were standing before something so great and so grand and so glorious that we knew we were unworthy to comprehend what we were seeing, hearing, feeling.
We were standing before a barrier of light, knowing something incredible lay beyond but utterly powerless to see for ourselves what it was.
We were standing before a new horizon, knowing something incredible was waiting for us but utterly powerless to reach out and touch it for ourselves.
