"Yes!" Cydel snapped her fingers and grinned.
This time the die landed on the correct side, and with that, Cydel moved her piece up and landed on a ladder, bringing her closer to victory.
While the others were in a daze because of what happened, Tiy noticed something about Cydel's clothing. Realizing what it meant, Tiy grinned.
"So you got ice!" Tiy looked at Cydel's outfit with a smirk on his face.
Cydel's outfit was crystal blue in color, but besides that, it doesn't have any special designs like Tiy's orange flame patterns.
"Yeah... But I wanted wind," Cydel remarked, somewhat downcast.
"I don't really see a problem here, and plus, YOU GET TO BE MY RIVAL!" Tiy replied with fervor and pointed at himself with his thumb.
Cydel was surprised by Tiy's declaration. She wasn't expecting him to declare her as his rival, but she wasn't going to back down. She tilted her head up in an arrogant way and used her eyes to gesture that she was looking down on Tiy, in a light hearted way
"COME AT ME, I'll crush you!" Cydel grinned evilly, matching Tiy's energy.
"LET'S DO OUR BEST THEN, HAHAHAH." Tiy deepened his voice and accentuated his words like a villain.
After that, Cydel reclaimed her spot on the board, and because Shry and Callon were playing in her stead before, Cydel decided to form a team with them, and from then on, they later ended up becoming the victors of this round.
*WOOOOOOO!* The team of three cheered with all their heart
After that round, Shry and Callon each got their own piece. As they continued playing their game, more and more of them were called up to the Resonance Hall.
One by one, the circle they formed that looked like a white ring now looked more like a circular strip of rainbow. Even Sile returned, now with a fresh forest green colored outfit; and at that point the only ones that were left now are Callon and Shry.
"Come on, tell us!" Callon shook Sile.
Ever since Sile returned, Callon wouldn't stop bugging him about the resonance hall, but no matter how much he pesters him, Sile wouldn't tell Callon anything about it. In fact, Callon had been asking everyone in their group when they returned, but no matter how hard he tried, none of them told him a thing. There was one thing Callon was able to get out of them, though, and that was the rules.
In total, there are 4 rules, and each of these 4 rules must be followed. First rule: after the entrance to the Resonance Hall shuts completely, the participant must wait for at least 30 seconds before doing anything. If possible, it is also better to not move at all until those 30 seconds are up.
Second rule: don't make a sound; footsteps are acceptable, but the participant must not speak, clap, or make any other unnecessary sounds.
Third rule: the participant must walk forward slowly, and they're also not permitted to stray away from the main path.
Fourth and final rule: when the participant arrives at the altar, they must clap. Clapping is not the only option, though; other noises are also permitted as long as it is a sound made by the participant's body alone.
*Callon Vultic, I repeat Callon Vultic, please make your way to the Resonance hall!*
Like many times before this, a burst of wind brushed past everyone, carrying a familiar announcement.
"Haaa... I guess it's my turn now." Finally giving up on asking, Callon sighed and slowly stood up with his arms slumped.
"Pfft, good luck!" Shry held back a laugh and wished Callon good luck.
Just like the couple of times before, everyone wished Callon good luck until he got too far away to hear their goodwill.
"Oh yeah, now that I think about it, why haven't you asked us anything about the resonance hall?" Sile's bright yellow eyes widened in realization and then narrowed in suspicion.
Sile was very surprised because it's very unlike Shry to not be excited about discover something new, especially about Node.
"Oh... I just figured that I'll be experiencing it later anyway, so why do I need to find out about it from someone else?" Shry explained himself
(Well... Callon did ask the questions I wanted to ask, sooo...) Shry secretly thought
"Hm…" Sile closed his eyes and nodded approvingly.
"What you said actually makes sense, pretty surprising, especially from you, Shry." Cydel narrowed her eyes, scrutinizing Shry as she threw a friendly jab at him.
While Callon was walking toward the entrance of the Resonance Hall, a man in formal wear interrupted his pathway by blocking his way with his straightened left arm.
The man had long, messy, silver-brown hair that looked a bit illusory, accompanied by some mild facial hair as well as a pair of burgundy-colored eyes.
"Are you Callon Vultic?" The brown-haired man asked.
Kanum looked up at the man, confused, but nodded in confirmation.
"Do you know the rules?" Getting Callon's confirmation, the man went straight to the point.
Looking at the man, Callon surmised that the man in front of him must be the proctor for the Resonance hall. Little did he know, the person in front of him was actually the person who's in charge of the Resonance hall itself.
"Yup!" Callon answered confidently.
Hearing that, the proctor nodded, and a small smile formed on his face.
"Alright, but I need you to recite this to me, just in case." The proctor rummaged through his pockets and pulled out a small stack of paper tied with a rubber band.
Smoothly sliding one of the papers out of the stack, the proctor quickly handed it to Callon. And after seeing Callon take it, the man tapped on the stack of paper to smoothen the stack before sliding it back into his pocket.
"Do I just read it out?" Callon said as he analyzed the paper and then looked back at the man for confirmation.
Just like what his friends told him, the paper only had four rules. Surprisingly, even the wording was similar to what he was told; although there were some minor differences in writing, the rules and their meanings remained the same.
"Yup, just read it out loud." The proctor gave Callon a thumbs up.
After that, Callon proceeded to read out all the words that were written on the paper. The rules had pretty simple wording, so it didn't take long for him to finish.
"Alright then, you may enter now." The proctor turned his body to the side and gestured for Callon to pass.
Seeing that he's got the proctor's approval, Callon wasted no time and quickly sped toward the entrance of the Resonance Hall.
(How do I get in?) Callon looked at what was presumably the entrance with confusion.
Around Callon, there were lines of bush decor surrounding and indicating that he was standing in front of the entrance, but yet, all he saw was a blank white wall, with no lines or gaps to indicate that it's anything but a wall.
Thinking that he might've gone to the wrong place, Callon looked to his left and to his right, trying to spot the real entrance.
Before he could go elsewhere to find the entrance, the proxtor saw that Callon was confused and quickly cleared things up before Callon went running around like a headless chicken.
"Push the center of the wall!" The man raised his voice to tell Callon from afar.
"Er, ok..." With a tiny bit of hesitation, Callon pressed what was presumably the middle of the entrance.
As soon as Callon applied pressure to the center of the entrance, a square-shaped hole was left behind as the center of the entrance sunk in on itself.
Slowly, the part of the entrance Callon was standing in front of smoothly jolted out.
After 20 seconds the entrance was finally fully out, but still, the entrance hadn't opened a gap for him to look inside. After a second, the door into the Resonance Hall began to slide to the right.
Now that the door is slowly sliding to the side, not only was the inside of the hall finally visible, albeit you can't see anything in there since it's extremely dark
(Why is the inside so dark) Callon questioned internally
As it slowly slid to the side, the thickness of the door and subsequently the walls was revealed to be at least 100 centimeters wide. Far thicker than most walls
The entrance to the Resonance hall is now wide open, enough for Callon to slide in, but before he committed, he took a deep breath to clear his head his mind cleared, and finally walked into the Resonance hall, prepared for what was to come.
"Haaa huuuuu" Callon took a deep breath.
When Callon stepped into the Resonance hall, The entrance behind him slowly began to close, and with each second that passed, the measly light that shone from the outside began to dwindle bit by bit, allowing the darkness to fully engulf the interior of the Resonance hall.
The entrance didn't make a single sound when closing, which made Callon a little bit worried about when he should start counting. But when the entrance fully shut, Callon instantly knew it.
...
All of a sudden, all sounds in the hall vanished. Not even the sound of Callon's heartbeat or breathing could be heard.
It was then, Callon experienced true silence for the very first time ever in his life and combined with the darkness, it felt like he was experiencing how it's like to be asleep but also fully conscious at the same time
Understandably, Callon was stunned, almost paralyzed, and right when he snapped out of it, panic set in; he realized he couldn't hear his heartbeat or breathing, causing him to instinctively hyperventilate.
Outside, no matter where he went, even in an isolated room, there will always be at least some inkling of sound, but in here, even that smallest morsel of sound was erased, leaving Callon with only his thoughts.
...
As he drastically took in breath after breath, his heart pounded and accelerated, his chest constantly rose and retracted.
He felt lightheaded, but because he felt that sensation, Callon was able to realize that his breathing was still there, he just couldn't hear it.
Slowly, Callon began to calm down; it took a while to recover, but after about 30 seconds, his breathing finally returned to a normal pace even though his heartbeat still raced.
Closing his eyes to relax his body, Callon regained his rationality. In his daily life, no matter where he was, it was always noisy to an extent, but now, with all these ambient sounds disappearing, Callon felt very disoriented, kind of like a bat that's lost its hearing.
(1, 2, 3, 4, 5...)
As Callon listed out each number in his mind, his body began to adapt to his current environment; his body started to recognize his own breathing despite not being able to hear it, and he also regained his stability enough to stand straight without any complications.
(.... 28, 29, 30) Callon counted to the last numbers silently.
Opening his eyes after counting, Callon felt like his mind was clearer, and now that everything has been resolved, he lifted his right leg, and within a smooth motion, he took his first step.
*Dung~*