Chapter One
From the beginning, I heard it in my head. It was a strange sound I could never fully identify, so alien it was to me. Cascading waterfalls of sound that spiraled up and down in glittering waves filled my head whenever I met the eyes of anyone who lived in a different region of my world than I...the sounds plagued me.
You may know them as music.
But I lived in a society where music was forbidden and unknown to the general population, so I was alone in my struggles to comprehend what I had heard.
Strange words would echo in my head as I slept ... chord ... arpeggio ... octave...melody... Then I would awaken, having heard my name...
* * *
“All students of Augmen High School report to the General Hall for history class today; the main history lecture hall is being used for other purposes,” The scratchy, monotone intercom blared incessantly out of its grey speaker as Melody Arrenon attempted to balance her school books as she walked through the hall. She brushed back a long and silky lock of waist-length azure hair from her face, her blue eyes bleary because it was so early in the morning. She spent each day here, at Augmen High School, and nothing ever seemed to change. Each different region of Consiva, the nation she lived in, had its own seperate high school for the students who lived within each border. The region of blue, Augmen, was Melody’s home.
“Melodyyyyyyyyyyyyy!” She heard an all-too-familiar voice behind her, and turned to see her little sister barreling toward her from the end of the hall. “Wait up!”
Like every other human being in Augmen, her navy blue hair and eyes matched the trimmings sewn onto her school uniform perfectly. Her hair, unlike Melody’s, was short and tied up in a small ponytail that bobbed merrily as she walked.
“Kirya, don’t do that!” Melody staggered a bit as her books fell back into balance. Her sister, a freshman, had to be one of the most voracious and loud people Melody knew, and yet she never seemed to get in trouble for breaking school rules.
“But I can’t remember where the General Hall is...You’re a senior, you can show me where it is!” Kirya whined, tugging at Melody’s sleeve and nearly upsetting her books again. The students streaming around Melody stared as they passed, and she reddened.
“Kirya, can’t you just be quiet for one instant? You’re going to get punished one day!” Melody hissed, and gestured for Kirya to follow. “It’s this way.” Kirya pouted, but followed her all the same.
“I don’t see why we even have to go to history class...it’s the same thing every time,” Kirya grumbled, her eyes wandering aimlessly around the hall as randomly as a pendulum.
“Kirya, it’s what we’re supposed to do. Don’t question it. You should know by now that people are taken away is they protest anything that has been established. It’s just better to stay quiet,” Melody said in a low voice, glancing around a bit shiftily in case a teacher was listening.
They finally reached the stark steel doors that led to the General Hall, flashing our wrists in front of the scanners that verified our identities. Every citizen in Consiva had been installed with their own microchip when they were born for personal identifcation, and it was installed directly in the outside of the wrist.
Kirya’s gaze strayed to the very end of the hall where a locked door loomed ominously, but Melody tugged her away from it; students were never allowed to go into rooms not authorized by teachers.
The same sea of blue haired heads met Melody’s eyes as we entered, colored blue by genetic alteration at birth to enhance conformity and national pride. The door clicked shut, locking itself. In Consiva, all locks were controlled by Consiva Center, where the central government resided, and were activated by computers at certain times each day.
A sharp rapping of a yardstick on a podium caught the crowd’s attention just as Melody and Kirya settled into their seats. The two turned mechanically toward the speaker. A girzzled old man stood hunched with the yardstick in his hand, a lazy eye straying to the ceiling. His name was Salan, the leader of Augmen, and he was one of the most frightening people Melody had yet to encounter in her lifetime.
“If I am not mistaken, history class has begun,” Salan’s voice was surprisingly young for his appearance, deep and smooth like the inside of a steel bell. “Thank you. Seeing that it is the first day of the second semester, I will being with the formations of the regions of Consiva, such as our very own Augmen.”
“Here we go again...” Kirya yawned and closed her eyes.
“In the beginning, there were three original regions: Augmen, Dimin, and Zicato. Each region’s people were engineered of a different color- Augmen blue, Dimin red, and Zicato yellow. The authorities of Consiva kept the three separated by walls of stone so that the bloodlines of each would remain pure,” Did Salan make an emphasis on that particular word, or was it just Melody’s mind hearing weird things again?
"We have guests from each region today who will show you how different they are from our own Augmen. They have signed up for an exchange student program, and have been staying here for awhile. View them with pride of your own Augmen identity," Salan rapped his yardstick on the podium, and four citizens entered the room, two of Zicato and two of Dimin.
A tired man from each region held each a teenager within their grasp, and all four scowled. The Zicatoan youth, a girl, glared ferociously at the crowd, her golden eyes furious under a mass of curly blonde hair. The Diminian, a pale boy with shaggy crimson hair, glowered at the ground, not meeting the gaze of anyone.
"Say hello, Sonata!" Salan's voice was cheery and bright, which made the girl scowl even further.
"Hi," She said gruffly, her voice revealing her distaste for her current situation. The adult holding her kicked her swiftly in the shins, and she winced in pain.
"And you, Forte?" Salan smiled sweetly at the boy as if he were a doting grandfather.
"Hello," the boy nearly growled, his face as red as his hair with fury.
"He looks like a tomato," Kirya whispered, giggling. Melody elbowed her.
Sonata the Zicatoan scanned the crowd, and then suddenly locked eyes with Melody. Everything seemed to stop. Slowly escalating, those sounds once again filled Melody's ears like the roar of a helicopter slowly drawing toward her.
Melody could see Salan still talking and gesturing with his shabby yardstick, though no sound of his deep voice reached her ears. A heat slowly rose within her, and she felt herself slowly losing conciousness. In a last fight to stay awake, Melody wrenched her gaze away from the picture, clearing the sound from her head. She shook herself, trying to rid the last echos of the sound from her head. Suddenly Melody realized that nearly everyone, including Salan, was staring at her.
“Excuse me, girl? I asked you a question!” Salan glared at Melody, and she quailed beneath his eyes. “What was it you said? You spoke while I was in the middle of a lesson!”
“I...I...I didn’t say anything!” Melody felt her blood pressure rising and her face slowly turning as crimson as they eyes of the Diminian that now gazed placidly at her from the screen.
“...See me after the lecture. Immediately,” Salan said coldly, his voice flat like a sheet of ice. Melody nodded shakily, and sank into her seat in a vain attempt to hide. Kirya was staring dumbfoundedly at her, her eyes wide like sapphire dishes.
“I heard what you said...!” She whispered, almost so quietly that Melody could barely hear her. “ ‘Music...Consiva shall unite!’ What in the world did you mean by that? And what’s music?” For the life of her, Melody could not remember saying anything at all, especially not a word as strange as “music.”
“I...I..don’t know,” Melody felt at a complete loss for words, completely baffled. She tried to concentrate on the lecture again and put Salan’s threat out of her mind.
“Anyway, as I was saying before our little interruption, there were originally three regions- red, blue, and yellow. But unfortunately, some-“ Salan coughed rather theatrically at this point. “inbreeding occurred, and the results were the green, orange, and violet crossbreeds of Vivo, Issimo, and Molto, respectively. They grew in number so much that eventually Consiva granted them each independent regions to call their own,” Salan’s face darkened, and Melody felt anger rise in her throat. "You would do well not to mingle with them. "
In all her years of schooling, she had never had such a history lesson like this. Salan had spoken of the different regions before, but never so...scornfully as this. There was no word for what he was doing, and that fact distressed Melody even more so than the looming prospect of meeting him after class. Her thoughts raced, zoning out the lecture once again.
“Melody Arrenon!” A sharp voice jolted Melody out of her stupor, and I was then prodded by an equally sharp yardstick. “I said for you to meet me after class, did I not?”
“Yes, sir,” Melody said sheepishly, not meeting Salan’s eyes. She noticed that the foreigners had disappeared from the stage. The man grabbed her arm with a clawlike grip and pulled me forcibly down the hallway away from the flowing crowds. Melody met Kirya’s gaze for an instant, but then the girl was lost within the mass of swirling blue. Down the hallway they dashed, Salan running like a wolf about to catch prey. This man, he scared her. Salan seemed so old and worn out...but he seemed almost superhuman in his strength and voice. He sounded almost mechanical, almost like some sort of robot.
Man and girl strode further down the hall than Melody had ever been before, and uneasiness overtook her like a wave of frigid oil. The room at the end of the hallway had always been locked all throughout Melody’s memories, yet now it stood ajar, leading into empty blackness.
“Sir...where are you taking me?” Melody squeaked timidly, her hand throbbing now as Salan’s fingernails dug into her skin. Salan didn’t answer. Instead, he opened the steel door and tugged her through, the door slamming behind them and shrouding the room in darkness. There was a solitary click, and a dim light flickered weakly on, illuminating Salan’s face eerily like an ancient specter.
“Why did you speak that word?” Salan’s voice was hushed and urgent, his face masked in the dark.
“I did not realize I said anything. If I said something that was offensive, I apologize,” Melody said truthfully, careful to keep her voice emotionless.
“You lie, girl. ‘Music...Consiva shall unite.’ Consiva shall never be as one. We have always been divided; the creators made it so. They would not have it any other way, you wretch!” Salan’s voice escalated almost to a yell. “This trespass against the nation of Consiva and the conformity of Augmen shall not be forgiven! You will not be returning to your family; you will come with me and do as I bid.” Melody’s insides froze.
“W-What?! I can’t-“ Melody stammered, shaking.
“You will do as I say,” Salan glared dangerously at her. “I speak for Augmen in Consiva, and I have the right to do as I please with dysfunctional members of society. I already have in mind a place for someone like you...you’ll see soon enough.”
Two unearthly screams broke the silence that had just fallen, and Salan shot upward.
"Come with me. I'll decide your fate momentarily." And with that, the man dashed out of the dark room, pulling Melody along behind him.
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