*Shry hhggjhj, I repeat, Shry shjshs, please make hdijhej way to sjksjks resonance hall*
Shry's smile grew radiant as he saw Callon returning, but before he could do or say anything. He, along with his friends, heard the announcement.
Unlike the previous times. The announcement they heard this time was partly distorted. Although some words were indescribable, after comparing the composition of all the previous announcements and the few audible words, it was easy to assume what the announcement said.
"Is that... for me?" Shry turned to his friends and pointed at himself, feeling conflicted.
"I don't think there's anyone else named Shry here, so it must be." Sile looked at Shry strangely and shrugged his shoulders.
"It's fine; even if it's not you, you can just scold then for their mistake." Tiy smiled deviously.
Shry was still a bit conflicted even after being reassured by his friends. He thought he'll have to give it some more thought later, but for now, he figured that it wouldn't hurt to check.
"Alright, I guess..." Shry let out a breath in resignation
Shry turned to the direction Callon was coming from, and began to hesitantly make his way toward the Resonance hall. Shry was clearly bugged by the announcement but part of him also felt a little bit regretful that he had to leave their game
"Take my place AND WIN!" Shry shook his fist in encouragement as he passed by Callon
"I WILL!" Callon answered coolly as he raised a thumbs-up.
Callon grinned widely at Shry's departing figure and went back to their group of friends, taking back his position and temporarily taking over Shry's.
As Shry made his way to the Resonance hall, the same man that blocked Callon's path earlier stopped him before he could get further.
"You're Shry, right?" The proctor questioned as he scratched his head and faced Shry with a slightly guilty smile.
"Yeahhh....." Shry stretched out his answer to express his doubt.
"Don't worry about it, you're the only kid named Shry here today anyway" the proctor said reassuringly as he pulled out a stack of paper from his pocket.
"Anyways, do you know the rules?" The proctor asked Shry with a neutral face.
"Yeah! ... Mostly," Shry responded, but doubted his own answer as he finished
Sliding a sheet out of the stack of paper he pulled out, the proctor held it out in front of Shry and gestured for him to take
"What's this?" Shry looked at the piece of paper strangely but still took it anyway.
Seeing that Shry received it, the man smiled and recited the sentence he'd repeated many times today.
"Read it out loud."
Hearing that, Shry looked at the paper for a second and without questioning it too much, he shrugged his shoulders and proceeded to rear out the rules on the piece of paper.
As Shry read the paper, he realized that some of the rules in his version had some misconceptions. But luckily, he was able to curb his perception of the rules to match the official one before he went in
"Can I go in now!" Shry asked excitedly with stars in his obsidian eyes.
"Yup," the proctor answered and began walking towards the entrance while gesturing for Shry to follow along.
The man remembered that Callon and a decent number of participants previously were confused about how to open the entrance. So, he decided to personally guide this new participant through it this time
"Wow, I didn't realize it was so beautiful up close" Shry said to himself
While they were walking, Shry couldn't help but admire the grandeur of the Resonance Hall. Up close, the building looked even more domineering, and even the patterns on the walls looked even more grand, that even a child could acknowledge how significant they are, despite not being able to understand them yet.
Shry had an urge to stray off his path and jump through the numerous bushes surrounding just to touch the engravings on its walls, but he restrained himself since it was not the right time for him to do that. Although, It is a miracle that Shry hadn't done that already, especially since it wasn't blocked off or restricted
*Tack* the proctor snapped his fingers to get Shry's attention.
"Alright, you can open the door by pressing the center," the proctor said as he gestured toward the implied entrance to the Resonance hall.
Without saying a word, Shry bounced to the entrance gleefully and, without hesitation, instantly pushed its center.
(Wow, no hesitation, huh...) The proctor expressed his surprise internally.
Most kids who just learned about the method to open the entrance for the first time are usually skeptical and mildly hesitant to press it, thinking that they are being tricked. But Shry didn't care about making a fool of himself, he just wanted to get in there as soon as possible
The center of the slowly sunk in on itself, leaving a square indent. Steadily a rectangle segment of the white wall jolted out, taking a full 30 seconds to start sliding to the right
"How does the entrance open like that?" Shry asked the man who guided him here.
Throughout this whole process, Shry couldn't see any machinery moving or even hear it for that matter.
As a response to Shry's question, the man pointed at the ceiling of the entrance and gestured with his eyes for Shry to look closer.
It was then Shry saw it, while the entrance to the Resonance hall was slowly sliding open; a strong metallic slab that had been imbedded into the roof and ceiling of the thick door made from unknown material
The slab had extremely complex mechanisms constantly pushing and pulling in order to move the thick rectangle door of unknown weight
As Shry observed the mechanisms at work, he noticed that the gap between the Resonance hall and outside widened enough for him to take an early peek into the Resonance hall.
Diverting his attention to the Resonance hall itself, Shry ran up to the entrance and pressed himself in between the moving door and the stagnant wall, trying to get an early preview on what the Resonance Hall looked like on the inside.
Unfortunately, Shry would be met with disappointment, because no matter which angle he looked from, he could never see the interior. Looking around the entrance, he discovered something odd about the lighting.
When he looked at the floor below the revolving entrance. He noticed that there was a hard cut off of light and darkness between the outside and inside of the Resonance hall. A blatant line in the middle separated the light and the darkness at the doorway like water and oil
As Shry observed the line mesmerized by the phenomenon, he noticed the gap was now big enough for him to fit his head in. Taking a couple steps back he took a stance and got ready to sprint.
"Don't do th—" The proctor saw what was doing and tried to stop him, but he was too late.
Shry ran at the entrance, and right before he slammed into the door, he jumped and spun his body sideways, safely making it in while also landing gracefully.
(I guess there's a first time for anything, huh? It should be fine, though...) the man thought as he scratched the back of his head while looking at the Resonance Hall with knowledgeable eyes.
*Huuup-* Shry accidentally let out a noise when he landed but quickly stopped himself when he remembered one of the rules: no making any unnecessary sounds.
(That should be fine... right?) Shry nervously thought to himself as he looked back to see the entrance closing.
Since it was so dark, Shry quickly made use of the remaining light through the gap to guide him on which way to walk forward before he ends up tripping on his first step
When he turned his body in the direction he was supposed to be going, he truly couldn't see anything, even though he knew that there was still enough of a gap for the light from the outside to shine in.
(W-wait, how would I know when to start counting? Does the entrance make a sound when it's completely shut?) Shry thought to himself, worried about breaking another rule.
....
As the entrance closes, Shry widened his eyes as he found out the answer to his question.
The silence in the hall wasn't like anything he had ever experienced. Even though he did go through a similar experience, in the form of an experiment he came up with last year
Back then, after learning about Node from his teacher, Shry begged his mother, to help him with an experiment because she can conjure and warp metal. After being rejected dozens of times, his mother finally relented when he asked her on his birthday
The experiment they did was fairly simple, they just surrounded Shry with metal walls that were approximately 50 centimeters wide with a recording decide and a air freshener that can produce oxygen.
Once he was done with his experiment, Shry had believed that he had experienced the world in its most silent state. But now, he can see that his experiment was far from what true silence really is.
Subconsciously, Shry couldn't help but begin to compare the two, identifying their differences one by one. Like, for example, Shry noticed that the walls he was surrounded by back then actually emit a very minuscule sound. which brings him to another question: what is the resonance hall made of?
*Badump badump* Shry's heartbeat resounded in the infinitely silent resonance hall.
As his excitement wore off, Shry began to get a bit unnerved by the silence, but being able to hear his own heartbeat and breathing really helped him a lot.
*Hmmph* (alright then! 1, 2, 3, 4, 5) Shry huffed and began counting in his head.
As Shry counted, he couldn't help but look around him or try to at least since he couldn't see anything due to the darkness.
Without stopping his counting, Shry shut his eyes in an effort to get them to adapt to the darkness quicker, but it didn't work. It was like the concept of light itself doesn't exist in the hall, or maybe it was taken away since light itself produces a sound as well.
But if that were true, then that would mean that Shry, Callon, and everyone who had gone through the hall wasn't actually breathing in air but a separate source that acted as its substitute.
Through the untrained eye, you wouldn't be able to notice anything odd and would think that air is still being circulated through the hall, but if that were to be the case, then the resonance hall wouldn't be able to work as intended since the whole purpose of the resonance hall is to detect the node signature of a person to figure out their biology's natural association with certain frequencies that connect them to all manner of creation.
To achieve that, it is important that the resonance hall stay isolated from all sounds except for the participant's. Which is why, if you look closely at Shry's mouth with the eyes of an expert, you'll be able to notice that, on the opposite ends of his mouth, there seemed to be two thin and barely visible green threads floating and invisibly connect Shry's mouth to the entrance and subsequently the air from outside
(27, 28, 29, 30...)
Shry counted to the final numbers, and right as he ended, his mouth curled into a grin and his breathing accelerated.
Even though he still couldn't see anything, he knows that once he takes his final step and leaves the Resonance hall, his life will change depending on his results
*Badump badump* Shry's heart thumped in the soundless hall.
(Alright, let's go!)