"The songs of birds aren't just songs. It's noise that gives everything life. If the entire world went quiet, all life would end. Color would drain from first the trees, then the sky, then all other life. The last sound would be the beating of life's drum: a heartbeat."
Well, that's what they say, at least. It's a story as old as the great trees behind the Academy. No one really worried about it all that much until lately. For as long as anyone could remember, there have been small groups who wanted to stop all noise. They claimed to have found ancient texts saying that the gates to a greater world would open once all sound stopped. They called themselves "antiaud" groups, as in anti-audio. Yeah, it's not a very cool name, but it stuck. Many smalls groups rose and fell, but none had a lasting effect. That was, until, the sky turned gray.
No one knows why it's gray for sure. It's obviously not clouds. We still have cloudy days, and honestly, they're everyone's favorite kind of weather because for a short amount of time, we can forget about sky's lack of color. After the color change, a group called Heaven stepped forward, claiming it as their doing. Although originally thought to be just another antiaud, as Heaven's members revealed themselves, they appeared to outnumber any other group before them. With many members still in hiding, they are suspected to be three-times as large as the second largest antiaud.
In fear of any further consequences, the nations of the world have formed what historians have dubbed, "The Musical Alliance." The alliance founded the Academy of Sound, a training center for a new type of soldier they have called "Composers." Royals from nations across the globe have been drafted into the Academy. Some dreaded the draft. Some were taken as babies, too young to know what was happening. I, personally, was thrilled. I was a kid, so I didn't really know the full extent of what was going on, but music is my passion, and I want to help out in any way possible to fix the skies.
Shortly after the founding of the Academy, some small animals began to lose their color. The grass also began to dull. Training was, as they say, "fast and furious," and although they would have preferred to give us more time to learn, they badly needed Composers.
Within my first few months of joining the Academy, my hearing began to "go." It wasn't an overnight thing; it actually took a while before I noticed it was getting harder to hear stuff. At the beginning of my time at the academy, I usually stood at the back of demonstrations to give the younger kids a chance to hear the instructor. Gradually, it became to hear her, over the course of the next few months I had to gradually move forwards in the crowd until I found myself right at the front. At that point, I was pretty much done with training, so they didn't worry too much about it. One of the weapons developers was kind enough to adapt my Violin to produce much lower sounds.
Although I can't hear my music, I can kind of feel the lower, base sounds. As a kid, I spent a lot of time playing instruments, so I can kind of figure out what higher notes, although on multiple occasions I've had others come up to me and ask me to stop because I'm not very accurate... I've adapted some of my favorite songs to use lower notes so I can feel their vibrations and still "listen" to them, but it's not quite the same as actually listening to them. The Academy was kind enough to find someone to teach me to sign, and I learned pretty quickly. It's not bad being deaf, so don't worry about me! It's a little awkward when people assume I can't do as much as someone who can hear normally, but they usually don't intend to be mean. My friend Princeton usually gets a little defensive when someone treats me differently, which usually embarrasses me, to be honest.
I met Princeton when he was assigned to my same squadron. He's a year younger than me, so he joined the Academy the year after my class graduated. We kind of clicked as friends when we first met. Although I can read lips and communicate through other methods, I taught him and everyone else at my base to sign. At first, I taught him for practical reasons. If we were threatened by an enemy, it was better if we could quietly communicate. Although I taught the basics to everyone, Princeton wanted to learn the more detailed stuff, so I taught him everything I know. We love having our own personal conversations during boring presentations or late at night, past the curfew.
As a group, my squadron travels to gray areas and adds color back into the land. I don't fully understand how our instruments work, but I think they convert sound into some kind of light or magic or something, which we aim at grayed plants and animals, and it restores their color and sound. It's completely harmless and actually is quite pretty, but sometimes the larger animals or plants take a lot of effort to color. It's a hard job, but it's our job, and it's pretty fun to see the world while helping restore color.
For now, we're stuck just restoring color. Heaven is a very spread out, secretive group, so the Academy is having trouble pinpointing their exact location. Although usually more experienced groups are sent to investigate suspected Heavens hideouts, numerous groups around the globe have disappeared without a trace, so there has been a lack of Composers available. My squadron is currently on its way to investigate a base near a busy ocean-side tow. Another group disappeared while investigating this site three weeks ago. Everyone is a little nervous, but I'm sure we'll be fine. We're well trained, and we've never failed a mission, but we've never taken on a mission as large as this. We'll see how it goes, but for now, I'll just hope for the best!
