The Harbinger's Lullaby
( Sorry for the late release I was studying for my finals and lost track of time.)
After their encounter with the Keeper at Echo’s Mirror, Delphine and Kora made an unspoken agreement: no more supernatural adventures. They were determined to live normal, uneventful lives in their sleepy little town. But trouble has a way of finding those who have already glimpsed the unknown.
This time, it started with music.
Kora first noticed it during a restless night, lying awake in her room. A soft, haunting melody floated through the air, so faint it felt like it was seeping through the walls. At first, she thought it was her imagination. But night after night, the music returned—gentle, eerie, and impossibly beautiful.
When she finally mentioned it to Delphine, her friend’s eyes lit up with the same dangerous curiosity that always spelled trouble.
“Music in the middle of the night?” Delphine said, grinning. “That’s got mystery written all over it!”
“Delphine, no,” Kora groaned. “It’s probably just someone playing their radio too loud.”
“In this town?” Delphine scoffed. “The only people with radios are Mr. Fletcher and the librarian, and they’re not exactly known for jamming out at midnight.”
Despite her reluctance, Kora agreed to let Delphine come over the next night to investigate. Armed with flashlights and notebooks, they camped out in Kora’s room, waiting for the mysterious melody to begin.
It started just after midnight, drifting through the air like a whisper on the wind. Delphine sat up straight, her eyes wide.
“Okay, that’s not normal,” she said.
Kora shivered. “I told you. It’s been happening every night.”
The two girls followed the sound, creeping through the house and out into the backyard. The music seemed to be coming from the woods behind Kora’s house—a place neither of them had ventured since their last harrowing experience.
“You’re kidding me,” Kora muttered.
Delphine shot her a mischievous grin. “Come on. What’s the worst that could happen?”
“That’s what you said last time,” Kora hissed, but Delphine was already heading toward the trees.
As they ventured deeper into the woods, the music grew louder, wrapping around them like a spell. It was a strange, lilting tune, both beautiful and unsettling, as if it carried a warning hidden in its melody.
The source of the music turned out to be an old carousel, sitting in a clearing where no carousel had any business being. Its paint was chipped, its horses frozen in mid-gallop, their glass eyes glinting in the moonlight. The carousel’s lights flickered faintly, and its calliope wheezed out the haunting tune that had lured them there.
“What is this doing here?” Kora whispered, her voice trembling.
Delphine approached the carousel, her flashlight beam dancing over its weathered surface. “It looks ancient,” she said, running her fingers along the peeling paint. “But how did it get here?”
Before Kora could respond, the carousel jolted to life, its lights flaring brightly and its platform creaking as it began to spin. The music swelled, louder and more urgent, and the horses seemed to shift, their glass eyes following the girls’ every move.
“Delphine, we need to leave,” Kora said, backing away.
But Delphine was mesmerized. She stepped closer to the carousel, her eyes locked on one of the horses. “Kora,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper. “I think it’s calling to us.”
“What?”
Delphine pointed at the center of the carousel, where a small, ornate box sat on a pedestal. It was covered in strange, swirling symbols that seemed to glow faintly in the flickering light.
“We have to open it,” Delphine said.
“No, we don’t!” Kora snapped, grabbing her friend’s arm. “We don’t even know what this thing is!”
Before Kora could stop her, Delphine climbed onto the carousel, making her way toward the box. As soon as she touched it, the music stopped abruptly, plunging the clearing into an eerie silence.
The air grew heavy, and a deep, rumbling voice echoed through the woods.
“You have awakened the Harbinger,” it said.
Delphine froze, the box clutched in her hands. “Uh… sorry?”
The voice ignored her. “The cycle begins anew. The world will fall under the Harbinger’s lullaby, and only the chosen may silence its song.”
Kora stared up at Delphine, her heart pounding. “What did you do?”
Delphine opened her mouth to respond, but before she could speak, the carousel began to spin faster, its lights flashing wildly. Shadows spilled from the pedestal, coiling around Delphine and dragging her into the center of the carousel.
“Delphine!” Kora screamed, rushing toward her friend.
The shadows swirled around them, and the world seemed to tilt, the clearing vanishing in a blur of light and darkness. When the spinning finally stopped, the girls found themselves standing in a strange, desolate landscape.
The sky was an unnatural shade of gray, and the ground was littered with fragments of broken music boxes. In the distance, a massive figure loomed—a creature made of shadows and twisted metal, its form shifting constantly as it emitted a low, mournful hum.
Delphine clutched the ornate box tightly, her face pale. “I think this is the Harbinger.”
Kora shot her a furious glare. “You think?”
The Harbinger turned its glowing eyes toward them, its voice resonating through the air. “Return the box to its cradle, or the lullaby will consume all.”
“What cradle?” Delphine shouted.
Before the creature could respond, the ground beneath them began to crumble, and the Harbinger’s hum grew louder, filling the air with a bone-chilling melody.
The girls realized they had no choice but to find the cradle and return the box. As they navigated the surreal, crumbling world, they encountered strange beings—fragments of the Harbinger’s song brought to life, each one guarding a piece of the puzzle they needed to solve.
Their journey tested their courage, their friendship, and their resolve. And as the Harbinger’s song threatened to pull them apart, they discovered the true power of harmony—not just in music, but in the bond they shared.
But as they reached the cradle and prepared to silence the Harbinger’s lullaby, they were faced with an impossible choice: destroy the box and risk unleashing something even darker, or leave it intact and allow the Harbinger to remain forever trapped in its haunting song.
In the end, their decision would shape the fate of both their world and the Harbinger’s. But one thing was certain: the music would never truly stop.
ns 15.158.61.11da2
