Author's Note
In this chapter, I wanted to share information about Melody, mainly his music passion and his friendship with Autumn Blaze.
Before the Silence
Of all the Kirin in the village, there is none that loves making music more than Melody Flame.
When he was a colt, his mother took him to a musical theatre show. At first, he didn’t think he’d like it, but as the show went on, he started to enjoy it. Since then, he’s been interested in music and wanted to start making music himself. He started going to more shows as well as some concerts to get a feel for different styles of music. He even started humming to himself from time to time. A few months after seeing that first show, Melody went to his father with an idea of them making a drum set so he could practice making music, to which he agreed. Once they finished, Melody immediately started playing it and loved how it sounded. He’s played and cherished that drum set for years.
As much as Melody would love to sing or play his drums around the village for all to hear, he’s been too shy to do so. He’s kept to himself for the most part due to his social anxiety. That is, until he met a certain talkative Kirin.
A few years later, Melody started going for walks in the woods, be it to clear his mind, sing a bit to himself, or just to explore around. One day, while on one of his walks, he sat down and started to hum to himself for a bit. While he thought no one could hear him humming, it seemed that someone actually could hear him as he noticed a white-furred Kirin with brown hair in the distance who was walking over to him. “Oh, hi there! I thought I heard someone humming. It sounded nice, by the way,” she said to him. “Oh, uh, hi. Yeah, that was me,” replied Melody a bit shyly.
“You know, I’ve seen you around the village a couple times, but never really talked to you, so allow me to introduce myself,” the Kirin said. “I’m Autumn Blaze. What’s your name?” “M-Melody Flame…” Melody answered, shaking Autumn’s hoof. “Nice to meet you, Melody,” Autumn said. She then noticed him looking a bit nervous. “Hey, are you okay?” She asked, “You seem nervous about something. I didn’t scare you, did I?” “No, no, I’m alright; just a bit… shy… is all,” Melody said, starting to look away a bit. “Ooohh. I see,” Autumn replied. “Wait, so is that why you’re not usually talking to any other Kirin in the village?”
“Mhm. I want to talk to the other Kirin, but I’ve just been too shy,” said Melody. “You’ve probably seen me cover my eyes a bit with my hat, and my shyness would be the reason why.” “Aww, that’s okay. I understand some Kirins can be like that sometimes, and there’s nothing wrong with it. I’m sure you’ll be able to get over your shyness soon. If you want, maybe you can come talk to me sometime if that’ll help,” said Autumn, comforting Melody. Melody looked back at her and said to her, “Thanks, Autumn. I’m glad you understand my shyness. You know, you seem pretty nice. Would you maybe like to be friends with me?” “Sure! I’d love to! I think we could be great friends!” Autumn answered. They then talked for a while continuing their walk, sharing some info about each other, and they’ve been best friends ever since.
Melody was happy to have a great friend, and since then, things have been going better for him. After spending about a month talking to Autumn Blaze, he’s been talking to the other Kirin more, and was happy to share his music passion throughout the village. Little did he know, though, of what was soon to occur…
It’s been over a year since Melody met Autumn Blaze, and since then, he’s been more social with the other Kirin, and he’s even been making music on stage. He couldn’t be happier to have met Autumn, and was glad to have her as a friend, however, their friendship may soon be jeopardized.
One day, Melody was practicing his drums on stage since there wasn’t much going on at the moment. “Sighs, wow, I’ve been practicing for quite a bit. I should probably take a break before I wear my hooves out,” he said. “Maybe I’ll go over to the market; maybe chat a bit with someone.” So, he put his drums next to the stage where it isn’t in the way since he planned to head back shortly, and he started making his way to the market, humming along the way. About halfway there, he started to hear a bit of shouting. “Is that someone shouting? They sound kinda mad. I should see what’s going on; I am heading over that way anyway.”
When Melody got to the market area, he found out where the shouting was coming from: a couple Kirin were arguing, and it was only getting worse and worse. Melody was going to try to see what the problem was, but before he could, they ended up turning into fiery Niriks, and when that happened, eventually everyone else ended up doing the same. Melody got so scared, he decided to run off into the woods to avoid their literal fiery wrath.
When he finally stopped hearing everyone shouting, he went back to the village. “Hey, is everyone feeling… better… now…?” Melody started to ask, before he witnessed the result of the Niriks’ fiery rampage: the whole village was burnt down! “What happened to the village?! It’s all burnt up!” He said, freaking out at what just happened, but then he noticed… “gasps My drums!” He ran over to what was left of them as they were incinerated and started to tear up. These were the drums he cherished ever since he and his dad made them, and to see them burned to ashes… not only made him very upset, but it also really riled him up. “My special drums… destroyed…” he said, nearly crying. He looked at the still arguing Kirin, turned into a Nirik himself, and ended up joining in on the arguing.
Because of what all this arguing caused, the Kirin leader, Rain Shine, decided to send all the Kirin to the Stream of Silence, thus preventing any more fiery rampages via big arguments like what just occurred. After the Kirin were silenced and the village was all fixed up, things went back to normal for the most part, but Autumn and Melody were bored out of their minds with hardly anything to keep either of them occupied or even entertained in any way.
A few weeks later, when Melody went to go circle around the village, to his surprise, he heard someone… talking. He went to go check it out, and more to his surprise, it was Autumn Blaze. He went over to her, and when Autumn noticed him, she said to him, “Melody! Bestie! I’ve been looking for you!” Melody tilted his head to the side as a way to show that he’s wondering why she was looking for him and how she was able to talk. “Oh, yeah; I’m sure you’re wondering how I’m able to talk again. Well, I actually found a silence cure! Unfortunately though, I don’t have any more of it. I’m so sorry! I hope you’re not upset at me.” Melody shook his head to show he isn’t upset, having Autumn relieved. Melody would rather not hold any grudges anyway even if he could, especially not against his best friend of all Kirin.
Melody’s music career may have reached it’s coda, but he could still stay as positive as possible knowing his best friend will never leave his side… right?
