Novel & Cerita Forbidden Odd Melody

Then, quietly, “Center floor. From the variation. I want to see it again.” Valeria obeyed, walking past Elena close enough that the faint scent of her sweat and something darker (something like crushed jasmine left too long in the sun) slid across Elena’s skin. She took her place, lifted her chin, and waited. The music began from the small speaker on the piano: the slow, poisonous pulse of Strauss’s Salome. Valeria started to move.

It sounded out of concern. I smiled. Whatever Harper's plan was, it had backfired. A house free of Harper, a house of happiness. Maybe I would make an oath to eat no more strawberries too, they just saved me a headache.

Liam boasted proudly, "See that? Zara can perform the Melodic Strike at such a young age. Can you do that? If not, then just leave already!" Felix frowned, finding Liam's constant flattery extremely irritating. He didn't bother to waste another word. With a flick of his hand, he also sent out a silver needle, producing the same clear, resonating sound. This time, Liam's expression changed. He hadn't expected Felix to be capable of making the needle sing too. Still, Zara remained calm, her expression unchanged. She simply said, "Besides me, you're the third person among us nine who can perform the Melodic Strike. Let's continue!"

Then… The darkness answered. A low, sinister laugh drifted through the trees. Another quickly followed. Then another… Until dozens of voices merged into one chilling chorus. The laughter echoed beneath the ancient canopy, slithering through the forest like an unseen predator. It carried no joy… no amusement… only malice. It was the sound of men and women who had long since abandoned their humanity, reveling in the promise of violence and the anticipation of bloodshed. The very air seemed to grow colder as the haunting chorus spread in every direction. An instinctive chill crept through the forest, as the wilderness itself recoiled from the darkness gathering within its depths.

Worshipped and ruined. And then they moved. Not frantic. Not fast. Slow. Cruel. Synchronized. Hades pulled back just an inch as Laxon pushed in deeper, dragging against her walls, sliding against each other inside her with obscene friction. It was a sick kind of coordination, like they were one organism, two minds devouring her in harmony. She screamed, but her voice cracked in her throat, lost under the weight of everything. “You feel that?” Laxon’s voice was low, feral. He bit her shoulder, not hard, but enough to make her cry out. “Feel how we fúck you together? You’re fúcking soaked, baby. You need this.”

With the way he bent his head awkwardly, it’d be easy to snap his neck for ruining my shoes and my mood. But not today, I promised myself as I snatched another man in the next change. Frustration bubbled up fast when partner after partner, Leonidas was still several paces out of my reach. Fuck this. I was ready to break protocol and simply walk up to him for a dance when the music took a sudden flow into a slower melody. The crowd shifted, catching me off-guard. Tripping lightly on my dress, I stumbled forward, bracing myself for a clumsy collision. Instead, I slid into the croon of rock-hard arms.

It played the silence of the friends they had lost along the way. "I can't... I can't check them," Zane groaned, his massive obsidian frame vibrating so violently that small cracks began to appear in his skin. "Every time I get close, the music... it tells me I’m too heavy. It tells me I’m just a mistake in a beautiful song." "It’s a Dissonance-Attack!" Rhys shouted, his voice straining against the rising crescendo. "They're trying to resolve us! They want to turn our 'Glitch' into a 'Minor Chord' and then delete the note!"

Saat sentuhan pertama menyentuh senar, nada rendah yang dalam dan bergetar seketika memenuhi ruangan—bukan bunyi yang riang gembira seperti yang biasa didengar di jamuan istana, melainkan nada yang membawa kesan dingin, sepi, namun penuh kekuatan yang tak terlihat. Jari-jariku bergerak melintasi senar dengan gerakan luwes yang lahir dari latihan bertahun-tahun, seolah menari mengikuti irama yang hanya aku yang bisa dengar. Melodi yang kupetik adalah kelanjutan dari puisi yang baru saja kubacakan: tentang musim dingin yang panjang, salju yang menutupi tanah, pohon yang tetap berdiri tegak meski rantingnya hampir patah, dan harapan yang tetap hidup di bawah lapisan es yang tebal.