The Irish girl sang. The light filled the air. Using up electricity, a lifeline. She let it. She had little time left of her own.

More instruments joined the guitar. She closed her eyes as she walked. Her voice rasped. But she sang.

With all her strength. Because there was nothing left to do. And the nightmares—faded. The music chased them away.

She looked around. But no one came for her. So, she walked alone.

Alone. But terribly proud. She confessed, as if the song were singing her life.

It was not her song. Someone else had made it. And it had been the most popular song of the year—a decade ago. But music had an eternity like the dead.

Chasing Cars, by Snow Patrol.

The young woman wandered on. Singing, ignoring the dying battery of her iPhone. For a moment, a second, a song—she walked on. And her fears died. Slain by music.

It wasn’t even her favorite song. But it spoke to her now.

And it spoke to the dead. She sang, her eyes closed in concentration as her hand found each passing tomb, running her fingertips along the rough stone. Walking in another world.

She could sing. She could act. They were not talents that would save her life now. But if she died—

She died singing. Not in the darkness, not in silence.

Say your lines, take a bow, and walk off the stage with a smile on your face. She smiled and sang.

Her voice gave out after the song. Her knees buckled.

In the darkness, she collapsed. And lay upon the ground. The young woman closed her eyes, listening to the music playing. She’d sleep like this. Her mind drifted. Her body, exhausted, began to turn itself off.

Oblivion gnawed in, taking her waking mind to sleep. She didn’t fight it. She’d just sleep without waking up…

And she heard the voice.

It did not welcome her to this world. It was impartial. Even cruel, as it delivered a reality. A reward? It spoke in her mind, the first sound she had heard that she had not brought with her.

[Singer Class Obtained!]

[Singer Level 3!]

[Skill – Song of Light obtained!]

[Skill – Melody of Droplets obtained!]

[Skill – Clear Voice obtained!]

She opened her eyes as unconsciousness faded.

“…What?”

1.01 P

She lived. In the tomb of the dead, the young woman’s head rose as she delayed dying.

“What the fuck was that?”

Levels? A—class? [Singer]? It was impossible. But the voice had spoken in her head. In her very soul. She hadn’t heard it with her ears. Even had she been deaf, she’d have heard it.

[Song of Light]. [Melody of Droplets]. [Clear Voice]. Those were—Skills?