The stairwell descended in a spiral of obsidian stone, etched with faded runes that pulsed gently as Ezra passed. He could feel the magic in the walls—old, deep, and hungry. With every step, the song in his soul grew louder. It wasn't sung aloud, yet it rang inside him like a memory too vivid to be forgotten.
Kael followed closely, torch in one hand and pistol in the other, her jaw clenched. Echo moved silently ahead, clearing the path, while Galen brought up the rear with Vesper, his axe already humming with anti-magic resonance. None of them spoke.
They couldn't.
The moment they crossed the threshold, the air stole sound.
Voices fell dead in the throat. Even footsteps made no echo. The only thing that persisted was the music.
Ezra had no idea how long they walked. Minutes. Hours. Time slipped strangely here, stretched thin between each beat of his heart. The only light came from the marks on his body and the faint glow of Kael's torch.
Then, suddenly, they stopped.
The stairwell ended at a great obsidian door, carved with the shape of a skeletal conductor holding a baton of pure light. Beneath his feet, hundreds of skulls were locked in song—each jaw open in a scream or note, impossible to tell which.
As Ezra stepped closer, the door responded. His necrotic mark flared. The conductor's baton glowed, and the door began to split down the center.
The silence shattered like glass.
Music flooded the air.
Not a melody this time—but a cacophony. Discordant. Wild. Half-formed symphonies and forgotten dirges clashing all at once.
Ezra's vision blurred. He staggered.
[Passive Skill "Deathsong Resonance" is resonating][Mind Stability Check: Passed][Warning: Entering Relic-Class Dungeon – "The Choir Below"][Threat Level: Variable / Ascending][Dungeon Status: Incomplete Symphony Detected]
He stepped through.
The chamber beyond was vast.
A cathedral beneath a cathedral, stretching out for miles in every direction. The walls were made of bone. Literal bone—stacked femurs, ribs, and skulls, all carefully arranged in perfect acoustical geometry. The entire space sang.
And in the center stood the remains of a great choir pit—a sunken amphitheater where hundreds had once stood.
Now, they were statues.
Figures made of bone and shadow, frozen mid-performance. Some held instruments. Others had mouths agape, expressions of pain and rapture molded into their skeletal visages.
Ezra descended into the pit, each step echoing strangely.
He didn't command his undead. He didn't need to.
They followed—drawn by instinct, like iron to a lodestone.
Kael touched his shoulder. "Ezra… something's off. These aren't just dead. They're preserved. Like they were waiting."
He nodded. "Because they were."
[Dungeon Effect: "Symphonic Preservation" Active][The Choir Below awaits their Conductor.]
The moment Ezra reached the center of the pit, the air cracked.
A single note rang out, deep and guttural—like the groan of the world itself. Every bone statue turned its head. Instruments floated to spectral hands. The amphitheater lit up with soulflame.
And a new notification appeared.
[Trial Initiated: The Incomplete Symphony][You must finish what was started centuries ago.][Conduct the Choir. Complete the song. Survive the finale.]
The statues moved.
Not hostile. Not yet.
They turned to Ezra. Waiting.
Kael raised her pistol in caution. Galen's axe thrummed louder. But Ezra lifted a hand and took a deep breath.
He closed his eyes.
And he conducted.
It wasn't music he knew. But it knew him.
As he lifted his hand, the song burst from the pit.
Instruments of bone and spectral light began to play. The choir sang—not words, but raw feeling. Sorrow. Fury. Loss. Triumph. Ezra moved like a conductor in trance, his body swaying in rhythm, guiding the chaos.
Vesper joined in, voice rising in counterpoint.
Kael lowered her gun, awestruck. Galen stood still, eyes wide, watching Ezra become something more.
But something else stirred.
From the edge of the chamber, darkness rose.
It came in the form of discord—a twisted mockery of melody. The Off-Key, creatures formed of broken notes and shattered rhythm. They screamed with no mouths, slashing at the edges of the choir pit like vipers in a storm.
[Hostile Entities Detected: Off-Key Wraiths][Objective: Defend the Symphony. Maintain Control.]
Ezra's eyes snapped open.
"Protect the Choir!"
Echo lunged, halberd spinning in perfect sync with the rising tempo. Kael fired bursts of pure disruption at the charging wraiths. Galen became a wall, holding the line with his axe while Vesper's song turned to a hymn of resistance.
Ezra conducted through the chaos.
Every gesture of his hand translated into new effects—his summoned undead responding like an orchestra.
At his left flick, a phalanx of bone guards formed a shield wall.
At his right wave, skeletal archers released spectral arrows in a volley.
At a full sweep—his favorite part—an explosive crescendo triggered from the backline: explosive bone mines detonating beneath the Off-Key's ranks.
But it wasn't enough.
The more they played, the more powerful the Off-Key became. The Symphony was feeding them, dragging them in like moths to a flame.
Ezra clenched his teeth.
He needed to finish the song.
Then he heard it.
A note.
Clear. Pure. Rising from the chaos like a candle in the storm.
It came from deep within the Choir.
One of the statues—taller than the rest. Wrapped in tattered robes, head bowed.
Its hands rose.
And it began to sing.
Ezra's breath caught.
It wasn't undead.
It was alive.
Or had been, long ago. Its soul remained—a relic of the first Conductor. The one who had failed to finish the Symphony.
[Resonance Link Detected][Do you wish to synchronize with Forgotten Maestro "Lirien of the Ninth Score"?]
Ezra didn't hesitate.
[Synchronization: Accepted.][Your power is temporarily enhanced.][You may access Lirien's Final Movement.]
Ezra opened his mouth.
And sang.
It wasn't just melody—it was command.
The Choir responded in full. The Symphony reached its final act. The statues burned with blue-white fire, their instruments glowing, their notes fusing into a weapon.
The music turned from defense to assault.
The Off-Key Wraiths shrieked as harmony ripped them apart. Spectral bows became spears. Notes turned into blades. Even Vesper transformed, her body radiating with divine necromantic power.
Ezra's voice rose with Lirien's.
And then—
Silence.
Total, absolute silence.
The last note faded.
The pit calmed.
The Choir knelt.
[Symphony Complete.][Trial Passed – You are now recognized as Conductor of the Hollow Score.][Dungeon Cleared – The Choir Below][Rewards: Title – "Maestro of the Hollowborn" | Item – Relic Baton: Lirien's Final | Trait – "Conductor's Instinct" (You may anticipate and counter undead-based attacks with music-based reflexes)]
Ezra fell to his knees.
Breathing hard. Sweating. Hands shaking.
But alive.
Kael knelt beside him, touching his shoulder.
"You okay?"
Ezra nodded slowly.
"I finished it."
She smiled faintly. "What now?"
He looked at the altar as a new stairwell opened beneath it.
"Now we find out what the song was hiding."