Another fine weather outside.
Angor told Toby that he was not going to the Sky Tower today, so Toby left to explore the woods on its own early in the morning.
The boy watched as the bird disappeared in the distance and revealed a wicked grin. In the villa garden, he began to deploy a small illusion.
The illusion was a simple one because he did not change many things in it. The fences, the mistletoe tree, and the house were almost left as they were.
The only thing different was the window. In reality, Angor closed the right window and opened the left one. But in the illusion, the right window was still open like how it was in the morning.
Such a small difference would not be obvious even for people who always lived in the house.
Toby spent the whole day outside and finally returned at dusk. Angor stayed in the villa hall and observed the bird using his spirit feelers.
As he expected, Toby did not feel anything wrong in the illusion. The bird aimed straight for the right window.
Pong!
Sounded like something just hit solid glass using its tiny little head.
Angor held back his laughter while Toby was still puzzled at what happened. The window was wide open, so why could he not get in?
Toby hovered in front of the window and reached out a claw at it. Then it realized that in spite of what was shown, the window was actually closed.
Toby could not understand. He chose to enter by the top window of the attic.
The attic window, too, was already manipulated by Angor. When Toby tried again, it crashed into the glass for a second time. The bird was now walking on the rooftop in a circle. Several tinier Tobies flew above his head.
When Angor saw what just happened with his spirit feeler, he could no longer suppress his laughter.
And Toby quickly heard him.
The creature immediately realized what was going on since Angor had been practicing illusions all these days.
Toby glared at Angor furiously.
“Okay okay, no more joking. I lifted the illusion, come on in!” Angor came to the attic and smiled at the bird outside.
Toby did not move. The animal had its cheeks plumped in frustration.
Angor climbed onto the rooftop and apologized to Toby with a smile. The bird turned around and put its tail under Angor’s nose.
“Come on, just a small joke,” said Angor. He smiled wider as he said, “I think I’ll take you to a feast later. I heard the salesman just imported some fresh deep fish. Want some?”
Toby looked around just a little and remained silent. His little eyes showed some sadness this time.
Angor began to feel a bit sorry. He really meant to play a harmless joke on Toby and while at it, maybe also testing out his illusions a little.
He cleared his throat. “Okay. I’ll borrow your Echo Flower for a bit. I have a gift for you.”
With that, Angor took an Echo Flower in the attic and went to his soundproofed room.
After Angor had left, Toby’s plumped cheeks finally shrank. He came in front of the window with a doubtful expression and made sure that the window was really open before going inside.
Toby waited in the hall. He was not really angry at Angor. He only acted like that in the hope of forcing Angor to give him another Echo Flower.
He did not expect that Angor would take a flower away instead.
Toby wondered what kind of gift awaited.
…
A moment later, Angor returned from the basement with a flower pot in his hand and saw Toby staring at him with all seriousness. Or rather, Toby was looking at the Echo Flower, fearing that Angor might accidentally damage it.
From a quick look though, the flower was fine.
“Tweet ta tweet!”
Thanks to his max-level bird language skills, Angor quickly understood that Toby was anxious to know where the gift was.
He only gave Toby a mysterious smile and placed the flower on the table. Then he asked Toby to step on the flower’s exposed root.
The flower was an alchemy material used for sound-related products. Toby had been using it as a recording tool.
The bird tilted its head and looked at Angor in doubt. When Angor urged again, Toby finally put a claw on the flower root albeit a little hesitantly.
The pale, violet petals of the flower twitched a little.
Gentle music was then heard from the flower.
Distinctive instruments were played in harmony and brought a peaceful melody. A stringed instrument played in the most outstanding tone of all and it sounded like the peaceful humming of a skilled singer as she seized the senses of her audiences.
This was the second time Angor listened to this piece, and it still raised goosebumps on his entire body because it was simply enjoyable.
City of Sky.
A masterpiece from another civilization.
The divine music held a power that touched the hearts of people.
The Echo Flower was able to record the sound of a large frequency range. Complicated octaves were all recreated perfectly.
The music was played by the Echo Flower flawlessly, filling the hall with an intoxicating atmosphere.
Toby’s small figure was completely frozen. The quartet it had been singing with the flowers felt like random dust on a giant castle when compared to this very song.
Previously, the bird thought he was doing music. Now, it finally realized how real music had rises, falls, and emotions in its melodies. The creator of a music piece had to imprint his or her wills into the music.
As the music reached its last note, Toby quickly pressed the flower root again.
As a low-level plant though, the Echo Flower could only play its recorded sound once. The music was already removed from its memory.
Toby kept trying without hearing the beautiful tone again.
“Pip…” The animal gave Angor a pleading look.
Angor smiled and did not answer Toby’s pleading right away. “The song is called City of Sky. Consider it an apology for tricking you. So how was it? A nice gift, right?”
Toby tweeted quickly, hoping to hear the music once again.
Angor pretended to be hesitating before finally said, “I see. If you give me two Echo Flowers, I can try to make a music box for you. But it’s not for free, mind you.”
Toby revealed a sad look: I don’t have money on me!
“I don’t need money. Just do me a favor.”