Aliyah would find trouble with her words. She felt like Sally, her words barely coming out the way she'd like them to. "This is the observatory. Right? That must be the uh..." Sally would pipe in, her knowledge barely covering for Aliyah's lack of words. She pointed at the spherical object, a single crystalline shard shaped like the tip of a spear that looked straight upwards towards the night sky. From it, one could see how it glowed bright blue, and its energy seemingly flowed down into the dome. "That's where we get the name of this city or at least part of it. Say hello to the Needle." Although she said this, Sally herself knew very little about the Needle other than the fact it pointed straight up and glowed blue occasionally. No one from the outside had been this close to the bloody thing unless you had a scope or worked in the observatory. Presumably, the odd scholar and the endless hallway were parts of this place. Furthermore, anything about the Needle itself has kept away from the government and everyday people in general. It seems that anything surrounding information about Compass' magic and the Needle is a secret held in the libraries of the grand observatory.
"Like the lullaby. Right?"
The noble's voice quivered as she remembered. Turning slowly and looking at Aliyah like she had just spoken in another tongue, Sally questioned her sanity and pondered what she meant.
"Well yeah. The Needle. You know this thing by song better than sight?"
It seemed that the bartender found that to be quite odd, as plenty of people both inner and outer city knew what the Needle looked like firsthand.
"Don't tell me you never went outside or even noticed the giant glowing dot from the center of the world. Seriously, it's hard not to see that."
"Well..." Aliyah tried her best to regain her composure. Her face was hot, and the air around her seemed unbearably humid. "I got locked at home, remember? The whole taking care of the family business thing? My parents were killed, but I had to stay inside of the manor to fulfill my duties and uphold my responsibilities. I might have lost out on the better years of my childhood."
"Like the lullaby. Right?"
The noble's voice quivered as she remembered. Turning slowly and looking at Aliyah like she had just spoken in another tongue, Sally questioned her sanity and pondered what she meant.
"Well yeah. The Needle. You know this thing by song better than sight?"
It seemed that the bartender found that to be quite odd, as plenty of people both inner and outer city knew what the Needle looked like firsthand.
"Don't tell me you never went outside or even noticed the giant glowing dot from the center of the world. Seriously, it's hard not to see that."
"Well..." Aliyah tried her best to regain her composure. Her face was hot, and the air around her seemed unbearably humid. "I got locked at home, remember? The whole taking care of the family business thing? My parents were killed, but I had to stay inside of the manor to fulfill my duties and uphold my responsibilities. I might have lost out on the better years of my childhood."
"Oh, so you're a shut-in as well as a snob." Smirking with her mischievous grin, Sally poked Aliyah's forehead to tease her about it. Somehow, it seemed like she was warming up to the girl. Aliyah returned by trying to punch Sally in return, but the attack was easy to read and slower than any the woman had seen. All she had to do was step backward, and the noble would spin and knock herself off balance. All of Aliyah's weight was in that swing, and her footwork was terrible, so everything turned out well for the bartending champion of knockouts. In the midst of the girl's rotation and fall, Sally grabbed her by the leg and maintained her grip. The noble precariously leaned forward, and she would have fallen were it not for the wonderful save. Pulling the limb back and helping the girl regain her footing, Sally laughed once more and gave her a pat on the back. "Nice try, but we should get going. You can sing me that song if you want while we look around!"
Sulking about like some child, Aliyah looked at Sally with annoyance and finally turned to observe her surroundings. It was right that they still had much to do to get out of the centermost parts of the City, but having to do it with Sally would be less than pleasant. However, they had gone through quite a bit already so by now she was used to her duo's attitude. "It looks like there's just a bunch of wall around us Sally. It's just like the inside, but with real stars and less music." She took the wrong step and quickly almost fell over, but once again Sally would grab her before she could do so. "Lots of this meteorite everywhere too. Wonder what it's for?" The ground around them seemed dark, but suddenly waves of blue spread just a moment after the Needle lit up. The walls were devoid of torches or lanterns, and they were made of standard grey marble like everything else around them. Seeing would be difficult, but the ground lit up like strobe lights and shimmering water with every moment the Needle lit up. This illumination lasted only about five seconds, while they had to wait for the Needle to flash every thirty.
"There's a path running through the rocks." Sally would say, the whole exterior of the inner rings of the observatory seemed to be a decent amount of size. The wall took a while to curve by the looks of it, so the circumference must be vast. Either way, the path was there only chance of finding a way out. A question ran through her mind. Did Miriam know they would end up here? Why do the Hanging Gardens even have an entrance to the Observatory? How did anyone get out or in this place? Whatever her curiosities were, she would perhaps get them answered later when the old hag inevitably calls on them for work. There ahead of them, built into the wall, was a small wooden door that appeared to be but a speck in their vision. Sally could just barely make out the frame of it, and she sincerely hoped the path would not lead them astray in this strange circle. The first step to the door produced a sound that echoed across the circle's walls, the tap of the sole against the stone. The acoustics were unnatural, which seemed to be the main selling point for the observatory.
"Sing? I haven't really sung much except for in my head, or back when I was a kid... Are you sure?" asked Aliyah, wanting to confirm. "Go ahead, knock yourself out, I wanna hear more about the Needle from what you know."
"Well... Alright then." responded the girl, her voice a bare whisper that still echoed and amplified through the circle. "Just please don't make fun of me, or insult me, or anything. Just listen."
"No promises."
Of course, Sally was joking, but Aliyah took that seriously and stomped her foot. The small crack grew into an ear-piercing boom that would echo through the city streets. Someone somewhere rolled over in their bed and covered their head with a pillow. Recovering from the ear-shattering explosion of sound, Sally brought the hands that had reflexively covered her ears down to her sides. A slight ringing noise seemed to be coming out of Aliyah's apologetic mouth, which was merely opening and closing at the moment. The half-elf was apologizing to Sally, but she doubted she could hear her. She snapped her fingers close to the bartender's ears, trying to see if she could react to them. Soon Sally jumped back a little as she heard the snaps to her left ear. Her standard human features, contrasting directly to Aliyah's, faced the girl like a weird mirror. "Alright. It's fine! I can hear now!" she had to say over the ringing which was tolerable now. Taking a deep breath, she let it out after two seconds and hummed. A constant and melodious buzz that would serve to set the tone for this lullaby.
O' the light, O' she shines
O'er the city so bright
O' the Shard, O' she sings
For the Stars Ev'rynight
O' it weeps in the day
O' it howls in the night
O' it looks for a way
To escape its bitter plight
"Mayday! Make way!
I must go back today!"
How can the city not see
When tears fall in your tea
O' the Shard, O' she reaches
O'er the city to sky
O' the light, O' it breaches
Through the clouds up high
Her voice echoed through the circular area; it's somber tone and soft whisper resonated with the wind. It seemed to Sally that the city itself was resounding instead of some snobbish girl with pointy ears and a decent voice. As they neared, the Needle itself began to glow more often, to the point that the stones underneath them stayed lit and followed the tune. Every note, the rocks sung along with her, a choir of silent lights reaching highs and lows like never before seen. The Needle itself eventually reached a point where it too would follow in step with Aliyah's song. The city's magic fluctuated oddly that day, but nothing too noticeable or strange at all. In fact, the only people who probably knew what happened would be Sally and Aliyah, who had just reached the doorway. From where they stood, the tall gate of obsidian glimmered in the faint light of the glowing blue stones. It reflected the images of both ladies, like a mirror with a pitch black surface. The bare outlines and faded reflections of the two were strange and foreign.
"Nice singing, but there's no way that a crystal could talk. Best it can do is follow your beat." Sally smirked and looked back towards the light show that met them. Every second, the garden of stars shivered in the Needle's automatic tone. Slowly the glowing shard returned to its steady, slow, and dull thrum. It was as though it forgot the words to the song every time it tried to repeat the tune. Somehow, the noble felt her heart twinge and ache as the Needle lost its creative spark. An unexplainable absence formed in her soul, which she couldn't explain at all. It was like a sudden loss had occurred, or her parents had gone away all over again. Sally noticed how the girl was staring at the shimmering stones with far too much interest, but she felt that interrupting right now would be insensitive. Her fingers ran up against the obsidian; its smooth surface felt cold and pleasing against her skin.
Sally looked for a handle or a secret mechanism to open the gate; her fingers ran across the door from where she could reach. This sort of thing was her expertise, as you could probably guess from her background, but even this entry was difficult to analyze. There just wasn't anything that anything that seemed to be in sight, much less anything that could be used to clear this obstruction. Aliyah looked as the bartender searched for some way out of here. However, she could tell that there wasn't anything there to help them. Not a knob, not a button, not a lever, just nothing. She approached the door as well, looking upon the empty void of obsidian and scanning with Sally. Both of them had viewed at and around the door, even the frame itself. There wasn't a way to force it open or try and get around. So, in her defeat, Sally sat down and let out a deep sigh. Her clothes fluttered in the wind, and the sound of her voice echoed once more. Sally took a few more seconds to give up, but she would lean against the door and surrender to being locked in here as well. It was just one trial after another. Truly fate had some sort of grudge against these two.
Since there was nothing else to do, Aliyah figured that she might as well find something to entertain both of them. Going back to the scholar seemed impossible, and moving forward was probably their only option. If anything, maybe someone would find them in this circle tomorrow. After all, she doubted it was just the one person hanging out around the observatory. She cleared her throat, doing her best to be quiet about it, and hummed a quick tune. The stones lit up as expected, the blue lights shining upon the doorway. There wasn't a song that came to mind, so she experimented with different tunes and various notes that came to mind. Once she had a melody that sounded alright to her, she stayed the course and continued with her hum. The timbres of her voice resounded once more off the walls and echoed through the circle. It sounded as though a cello had just begun playing, followed by the strings of a violin, and finally the double bass. The songs of the ocean came like tidal waves, with all the stones following along like a school of fish. The Needle at the top of the Observatory, which looked nothing more than a small line in the distance, caught on to tones and produced its quiet song of light that did not match, but instead complemented and created a duet to the song.
It was the most beautiful thing Sally had ever seen, and this is not a statement to take lightly. The crystals, the rocks, even the walls added to the effect, and all this simple humming was apparently tickling them all or something. She didn't understand what it was, but apparently, Aliyah's humming was enough to trigger a strong reaction within this garden of meteorite. The bartender crossed her arms, closed her eyes, and sighed, just appreciating the music.
Facing the Needle, Aliyah experimented with different changes to her tune and watched as the celestial object resonated with her. There was something special going on here, and she doubted that this was something that happened all the time. It was beautiful, yes, but the stones and light told her this musical experience was of a different sort entirely. Then suddenly, the lights all focused on the one path they were on, the ground itself began to glow blue like the sky during the daytime. Sally noticed it too, as evident by her immediate freakout and hugging of the obsidian door. Unfortunately for her, the door began to glow as well. The light continued to thrum in song, and the obsidian shook and quivered like it was in fear. However, this song and the beautiful nature of everything meant that the door was not quaking in fear. Instead, it shook with joy.
"Is the door... opening?" Sally felt it shake from her back, and she slowly moved forward to get away from it. The obsidian shook; the light eventually changed the color of it to the ocean, and the massive slab stuck within the entrance of the circle sunk into the floor. It was like watching a ship get swallowed up by the sea, except this ship was a giant slab of obsidian stone the size of a yacht. "Sally, I think music opens the door." Aliyah would say, quite obviously. "You don't say..." responded the bartender with her palm on her face and a look that said she was exhausted and tired of all these strange things going on today. It was almost like a whole new side of Compass, one she had never seen before, opened up to her. The same could be said for Aliyah, who had never seen anything other than changing canals and the garden of her family manor.
As the mass of obsidian finally disappeared into the ground, and the Needle returned to its sad state of normality, Aliyah once again felt that strange pressure in her heart. However, this sensation was the opposite of pain or grief. As it turns out, she felt lighter than before, like a stone had been taken out from her heart. Sally grabbed her by the shoulders, still freaked out by all that glowing and weird song magic, and proceeded to drag out the girl from the circle. To be honest, Aliyah found being carried off by someone to be an oddly pleasant experience at the time. The bartender and the noble left the circle together, the obsidian door began to rise behind them, and the Needle disappeared in sight, and something that resembled the dark hall from earlier greeted them. Only, this whole area was littered with books, shelves, hundreds of flasks, thousands of lenses, and even more things categorized by whatever insane system the Observatory used. Staring at them from behind the flipped over tables, makeshift bookshelf barricades, and fortifications of paper were the thousands of scholars that appeared to be slightly less suspicious in appearance than the one in the center of the Observatory.
"Uh... Hello there!" Aliyah said to them, waving and doing her best to keep her balance. The whole experience, plus the gazing eyes of others, made her feel a bit light in the head and light everywhere else as well. Sally in the meanwhile was preparing her fists, raising them up, getting ready to grab whatever she could as a weapon. She wasn't scared of anything here, just sick of having to talk to scholars and weird robed people. "It's them! The Nodes are leaving the Resonance Chamber!" shouted one of the scholars from behind a table. "They aren't armed!" roared another. "What do we do?" added a short one from the very front. Sally and Aliyah would both look at each other, confused as can be about just what was going on. "Do Miriam's men go through this crap every time they come out here? How'd they even get a tunnel?" wondered Sally. "What are Nodes? Why are they yelling? That noise is unbearable." thought Aliyah.
The hallway of scholars seemed loud enough to Sally, but she slowly began to hear the endless and high pitched ring. "The fuck?" Her voice sounded quiet in this flood of white noise.
Whatever this ringing was, it seemed Aliyah was unable to hear anything Sally said. The noble saw lips move and an attempt to speak, and despite the noise jamming, she could guess that the other woman was saying something entirely offensive or vulgar. The scholars in front of them said more things to each other, but the girl could only guess poorly at what they were trying to communicate. Her hands reached for Sally's shoulder, trying to calm down her agitated companion as she challenged an entire building full of robed figures.
"Calm down!" she would yell next to the bartender's ear. Sally slowly but hesitantly lowered her fists and trusted the noble. Despite wanting badly to try and at least punch a few of the enemy, she knew that the result would be bad for the two women. Once she shifted closer to the half-elf, fists still halfway up but closer to her body, the bartender gave the scholars an ugly glare and stood her ground. A stone of light rolled out towards the two, it was rounded and had strange runes and markings etched into its crystal. One of the scholars, someone who appeared to be standing in front of the barricade, unafraid, signaled for the half-elf to pick it up. Aliyah didn't trust this after all that had happened today, but she would much rather take the chance than being killed or imprisoned. She had a feeling anything could happen at the moment, so what was there to lose?
Knee on the ground, her fingers pinched the blue orb between the index and thumb. She anxiously brought the glowing sphere up to eye level, holding it in the palms of both hands. Cupping it and containing half the light with her digits, she could sense an obscure whisper from the object of interest. Magic. The very same energy that coursed in the glowing sea, the force that permeated buildings and stones all over the city, the very same sensation brought on by singing with the Needle. It was as if this small gem was a Needle in itself or at least a very well made replica of the meteorite forming it.
"Oi. Node. Shut your mouth and don't sing."
The noise died out, and Aliyah kept her mouth shut. She could finally hear the whispers of thousands of scholars conversing on this issue. However, the voice from the stone snapped her attention back towards it, demanding that the noble stay focused on the words to come. It did so without words, magic forcibly keeping her mind attached to the stone when she held it. The whispers drowned out once more, but the noise she heard was only music.
Meanwhile, Sally stared at Aliyah as the girl's eyes went blank. It was ominous, the way the color faded as she closed her eyes. Trying to snap her out of whatever was happening, the bartender tapped her shoulder, yelled, tried whatever option was possible without violence, and finally decided to resort towards throwing a punch. Right before she swung her fist towards the face, Aliyah snapped back into her body and looked at Sally in surprise. The half-elf held up a hand, scooted the balled-up fist away with a finger, and slipped the orb into one of the bartender's many vest pockets.
Sally looked down at the now glowing blue spot of her vest, where the light shined through the fabric. Oddly enough, she did not hear anything from it. The bartender thought that the noble was being a complete nutjob, possibly having lost it after all this time. The way she seemed to be almost possessed. That brief moment in time where she lost all consciousness and stood still. All of this magic, all of this new crap, she didn't like it at all. She wondered if a punch would fix things, but knew by instinct it wouldn't
"So what are you doing here Node, and how did you get in the echo chamber?" The orb glowed with every change in tone and shift in voice. It was hard to identify what the voice belonged to, for it was incredibly inhuman and vastly foreign to her ears.
"I don't know. We just ended up in a dark hall like this, but emptier and with only a single robed man in there. He had glasses with golden eyes under them, old robes that looked almost regal, and he acted strangely..." Aliyah was speaking honestly, relaying whatever she could. It seemed that her trust had suddenly been gained, which was odd.
"Who are you talking to? The orb?"
Sally held up a hand in front of Aliyah's face, to which she swept away in mild annoyance. Both were well aware of how strange this whole situation was, and it just got stranger with every second.
"Yes. I am talking to an orb, and this is mysterious, but for some odd reason I think the orb doesn't mean anything bad."
Aliyah would pat the pocket near Sally's stomach where the blue light was located. She smiled and once again looked the bartender in the eye, trying her best to calm down her companion. Sally found this to be weird, she was confused about this orb, and things were way too awkward for her to begin reacting. Heck, if she had to put it in words, Aliyah was acting a lot like someone on some very illicit substances for recreational use. Not to mention, she was talking to her stomach, er, a glowing orb, and petting her belly. If anything, any rational person would have slapped that hand away or punched Aliyah. However, once again this day had been less than normal.
"Glowing eyeballs, dark and empty hall, and a lot of weird shit. It sounds like someone's got barnacles in their brain. How did you two get in the circle in the first place? A half-elf and a human at that. Don't you two supposedly hate each other?"
Aliyah excused the voice's rude manner of speaking, but Sally had a far worse attitude and a physical threat. The disembodied person communicating with them was more of a goblin or some being that was all talk without a walk.
"We rose from a tunnel." She avoided saying Miriam or mentioning the Undercity, but the stone hummed anyway and moved on.
"Alright, a tunnel. Suuuuure. No tunnels exist under the Observatory. No one even knows how to get inside anymore."
"What do you mean? Don't you study the Needle?"
"The scholars do, but from a distance, and we've never been able to open the door to the circle at all. We've never figured it out, yet somehow some half-elf floozy and a crook ended up breaking in. Are you two going for some sort of heist?"
The noble found herself sighing as the crystal called her accused her of being a somewhat unsavory character. Facing the scholars, she looked around for who might be communicating with her. Sally watched as well, unsure of what to look for, other than the ugliest faces around. The robes gazed in fear and curiosity. It unsettled Sally, making her feel like everyone was staring at the scar on her neck. Aliyah, on the other hand, felt very little shame. Somehow, she was used to the pressure.
"Whoever's speaking through this stone, please show yourself!" The noble looked around and waited for a response.
"You'll have to try better than that. You're the one surrounded, not me. What are your names?"
The stone glowed brighter in Sally's vest, practically acting to illuminate the area around them.
"I take it the person on the rock isn't having none of it?"
"I'm afraid not Sally... I'm afraid not."
The half-elf took a step forward, approaching the crowd. The scholars held up an assortment of makeshift weapons and various tools. Broken glass vials, scalpels, telescopes, sticks with pieces of meteorite on their end, broken table legs, all sorts of stuff. Sally expected them to be holding some secretive black magic weapon or something, but disappointment faced her instead. Although they were surrounded by scrawny scholars and people who had most likely never fought in their lives, the sheer numbers of the scholars meant that fighting their way out would not work. This was probably the seventh time the bartender had considered this, but even she would feel bad about getting beat up by academics.
The bartender reached into her vest, pulled out the orb, and held it up in front of Aliyah like she was putting it on display. Pacing in a circle and showing it to the crowd, its shine, visible from all angles. The noble's eyes trained on the ball, following it as Sally lifted it high and brought it low. Finally, after a short and dramatic pause, the bartender tossed the orb on the ground and shattered it into a million pieces.
"Now they have to talk."
The bartender reached into her vest, pulled out the orb, and held it up in front of Aliyah like she was putting it on display. Pacing in a circle and showing it to the crowd, its shine, visible from all angles. The noble's eyes trained on the ball, following it as Sally lifted it high and brought it low. Finally, after a short and dramatic pause, the bartender tossed the orb on the ground and shattered it into a million pieces.
A man shouted bloody murder in the background.
Stomping through the crowd, pushing away everyone, some sort of scholar in a set of robes, the color of blue instead of the average white, fumed on stage and confronted his captive audience.
"DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW MUCH TIME AND COIN IT TOOK TO MAKE ONE OF THOSE!? ONE OF THOSE FUCKING THINGS? IT'S A MARVEL OF SCIENCE, MAGIC, ENGINEERING, MAGITECH, FUCKING EVERY-"
Sally put a mouth on the man, looked to Aliyah with a questioning gaze, and waited.
The girl nodded.
Just like that, the bartender brought her arm back and punched the scholar in the face. Needless to say, he was knocked out promptly, and the whole room went crazy.
Through the yelling, Aliyah dragged the now less than angry man and his blue robes back further and closer to the obsidian door. She looked to Sally, who would hold back swarms of scholars just by looking at them. Keeping the crowd under control, the two woman grabbed the blue-robed man by his arms and lifted him up between them. Both Noble and Bartender, waiting for the group to make a move. The half-elf girl looked every man and women dead in the eye, staring down robed strangers, and suddenly raising her voice.
"Step any closer and... I'll sing?"
Voices rang across the crowd staring them down. Everyone seemed to murmur, debating if Aliyah was dangerous or not. At least, the noble thought they might be thinking about that. It appeared that a lot of the robed strangers were quite afraid of her voice. Honestly, she could only guess that her singing was dangerous to them. Perhaps it was magic; maybe it was superstition. Aliyah really hoped it was magic.
"Let us out of here! We want nothing more than that. We'll leave and have your man stay back here!" Aliyah's shout echoed across the hall, reverberating through the passage.
She lifted up the unconscious blue scholar on her end, his arm shifting up before coming back down. The noble would let go, having Sally bear the burden of her latest unconscious victim, and then she gathered her breath and held it before the enemy. Suddenly, every scholar in the area, despite how smart or speculative they were about her ability, none were willing to take a chance. They cleared the barricade and scattered everything they could to the sides, all while keeping away from the two now. Walking forward, slowly, she let go of her breath but continued to take in another gulp the moment someone took a step forward. Makeshift weapons of meter sticks, large books, and plenty of candles waited by her sides. Sally lifted herself up, efficiently carrying the man that equaled her size. She adjusted her grip and pushed his body a bit higher over her shoulders. Together, they walked through the sea of scholarly idiots.
Candles flickered right next to the half-elf's face. The girl didn't flinch. The bartender just kept holding onto the man; his neck was in a position for her to quickly snap, though she had no plans too. At this rate, Aliyah figured that they were the equivalent of criminals carrying out a heist. A bad taste was in her mouth, it was sour, and her throat felt as though it could close at any moment. Her heart began to beat wildly, her breathing quickened, but still, she carried on and left behind her pride. Sally felt as though the constant itch in her throat had been relieved. Though she kept telling herself that this was the only time, a small part of her felt enjoyment in this act of roguishness. If anything, her heartbeat quickening made her feel like a queen. It was as though all the trouble in her life was going away. However, she shook her head and kept herself focused. She told herself that this wasn't what she wanted.
There it was, the last light they would hopefully have to see at the end of the tunnel. Both were sick of today, and they wanted nothing more than to meet tomorrow. Hopefully, this would be the end of it for now. Somewhere in Aliyah's mind, she was both happy and sad to be over with today. It seemed like more had happened this day than the rest of her life. Sally wasn't thinking at all really; she was just taking in the joy of reliving her glory days. The scholars kept watch until the very end, and this extended scene of them awkwardly keeping at bay was getting more awkward by the second. There was a set of wooden doors that had been pulled open; they could see the very first entry for the Observatory. At this point, everyone was sick of today. Scholars, Sally, Aliyah, and most of all the man who had just waken up on the bartender's shoulder. He screamed like a girl, which caught Sally off guard, and he tried to hit slap her arm and get her to release the grip. It worked, but Sally had dropped him rather hard and his lungs most likely felt the impact.
As this happened, Aliyah grabbed Sally and dragged her out of the gates. The two ran as fast as they could, with Sally slowly gaining speed and passing the noble. Aliyah, having never run that much in her life, got winded quite easily. The night sky and the cold that came with it greeted them. Compass, the actual central part of the city, had finally come full circle. From Undercity to Observatory, and now to the outside. People looked at the two, but neither could care much for they were ready to leave at a moment's notice. Aliyah looked towards Sally, the bartender looked back at the noble, and the two ran as fast as they could through the crowd and back into obscurity. Leaving behind the Needle, the Hanging Gardens, whoever that blue robed man was, this would be the break they were looking for from the terrible and mysterious events of today.