Light. It shone in the home, brighter than the dying fires. Colors of every shade. Amid the black and white of Noelictus’ lands, Violetta and Idelt saw a red of roses. A flash of yellow like how the sun looked to Cara. A hot pink—the orange of a fruit—

The song was growing louder. Cara sang. The room rang with her voice. But she wanted it to be louder.

Sparks were flying around the cabin. Fire. But it was colored fire. Magic. The product of two Skills.

[Song of Light] and [Melody of Sparks]. They turned the dark rooms into a kaleidoscope of colors.

Wonderingly, Violetta reached up and caught a soft spark of white light. And she heard a second voice.

Then a third, a fourth. They joined together in a chorus.

[Echo Voice]. Cara was singing with multiple copies of her voice. And the song grew louder.

——

The village of Landsmecht was quiet. People hid in their homes, adults whispering to children as they hid under beds or in covers. Alone. Separate. The undead tried to break into the houses, but failed. Yet they terrified.

But then there was a distant voice. Amid the silence, the villagers looked up. A few peeked through cracks in their windows and saw—

“Light?”

Rethis the [Hunter] turned his head as he put another iron-tipped arrow to his bow and desperately tried to hit a deer in the near-complete night. The sudden burst of light was alarming. Had one of the undead broken a window?

No. It came from a home on the edge of the village, so the noise of his hammer work wouldn’t disturb the others. The Geishart home. The [Hunter] narrowed his eyes. He saw…light?

The air was lighting up around the house. Flashes of light, like soundless fireworks, appeared and disappeared. Sparks of light. And there was—music.

Voices. One was loudest. The [Singer] was so loud that her voice left the shuttered windows, filling the night. But she was not alone.

The night sky shone with sparks as Violetta and Idelt picked up the song. Inside the house and out, the shining lights illuminated the darkness. The undead shambling outside paused, attracted to the light.

They clawed at the reinforced wood and doors. But they were drowned out.

The villagers heard all three voices singing as loud as they could. Iridescent by Linkin Park. The music reached even distant houses. And from his perch, Rethis saw more houses lighting up. Inside, people lit up lanterns, kindled fires kept low because of shuttered chimneys. He looked out—and heard another distant voice.

Someone else singing the same song. To chase away the nightmares. To defy darkness and fear.

The sparks flew around the village like an army of lights. The undead stopped attacking the houses, chasing the flashes of color. Color, from a place beyond Noelictus, from blue skies and golden fields.