Origin Seeker

Chapter 15: Music

In the workshop, Dream set up speakers and subwoofers. He also hooked up an amp and a power source and a stereo system. 

Now all he had to do was connect to the system over Bluetooth and play a song from his phone.

"But what song should I play? It has to be a good one. And it needs to go hard. Rap like Eminem? Or maybe house music?"

[You can never go wrong with a classic.]

Sophia spoke up as Dream was debating. And he had a lightbulb moment.

"You're right! It's gotta be a classic! But not too old. Something like Journey. Or Guns n Roses. That one! And only the best one of them all! Oh, this is gonna be fun."

[Preparations are complete. You just gotta click play.]

"Oh and play I will. This is concert level stuff! I just hope I don't shatter any glass..."

.............

........

....

Luna, Iris, and Riddick were around the house doing various things.

Luna was in the kitchen preparing food. They would need supplies for their trip and food was one of them. The had started storing dried meats a couple days ago and already had a sizeable stash. Iris was also helping her dry out the meats. 

Riddick on the other hand was reading a book. It seemed to be a magic tome of some kind considering all the drawings inside. 

None of them worried about Dream as it wasn't weird for him to disappear in his shed for several hours at a time.

"I wonder what he does in there all the time? I've been in there and watched him do some work but I wasn't able to understand how any of his devices worked. He said they had a certain level of intelligence but they also couldn't think for themselves. It's weird..." (Luna)

"He said that's what the technology from his world was. Since they didn't have mana, things were much more difficult for humans. But humans created technology to make things easier. He called them 'machines'. He said they utilize the laws of the universe to do various things. Like magic without mana. That's also how the guns worked. But I still don't understand how such fine metalwork could be created so easily! He said that the guns we used were created by the millions and in thousands of different forms. And all of them were used by armies all over his world to fight each other! You saw those wolves from his fight. I couldn't imagine what it looked like with humans being killed by those weapons..." (Iris)

"Neither could I. The things he showed us like clothes, food, and the stuff for the house is amazing. But the other items can be equally as terrifying. He once told me something about a weapon while we were in his workshop. He said that the weapon was capable of instantly turning everything within 5 miles to ash. And anything within 100 miles would be severely burned. The scale of such a weapon created by people with no mana is ridiculous. Although he said it was never used. But still..."

Luna and Iris always talked about the things Dream told them about. It was new and interesting. Not to mention it was from another world. Dream never held information back and always had stories.

Luna and Iris kept preparing food and Riddick was silent while reading. All was fine in the world. Until a sound was heard that was incomprehensible to them who had never heard anything like it.

*Welcome to the Jungle by Guns n Roses plays*

The legendary guitar solo boomed through the forest, disturbing all that was at rest.

The girls and Riddick shot up and ran to where the sound was coming from. 

"The shed?! What the hell is that noise?" (Iris)

"Dream is in there. Let's check it out!" (Luna)

Riddick and the girls pushed open the door to see Dream banging his head up and down to the noise.

"Dream?! Whats going on!" (Luna)

"..."

Dream didn't respond. Just kept going crazy.

*Bwomm* *Bwomm* *Bum* *Bum* *Bum* *bum*

"WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE! We got fun and games!"

The beat drop came and Dream started mouthing the lyrics with absolute glee. He played an air guitar vigorously along with the music and jumped up and down.

"Dream?! He's not listening!" (Luna)

"Destroy those things making noise! Those boxes! (Iris)

*Bang*

*Crash!*

Iris started punching the boxes and flattening them with her feet until they stopped making noise.

The music cut out.

"Huh? What the hell are you doing?!" (Dream)

"What are we doing?! What are you doing! What was all that noise?!" (Iris)

"That was music! And good stuff too! Did you not hear it?" (Dream)

"Who didn't hear it! The whole damn forest probably got scared by that... whatever that was!" (Iris)

"Dream, we were worried about you because you didn't seem to hear us. That noise looked like it did something to you." (Luna)

*Sigh* "Ya I knew it would surprise you guys, but I didn't expect that Scarlet's first reaction was to destroy my speakers! Whatever. It's about time to show you guys the most popular form of entertainment on my world... Music! Or at least one of the most popular forms." (Dream)

Dream turned around and pushed the destroyed speakers to a pile of garbage in the corner of the room. He then summoned more and hooked them up. Luckily nothing else was damaged.

"...Boy. They know what music is. I've played some for them on an enchanted item. Though that music is nothing like what I just heard. What the hell kind of music did your world make?" (Riddick)

"My world made all kinds of music! Literally everything you could think of. Slow music, fast music, and all types in between. Definitely much more than you could ever hope to listen to in your lifetime. Here I'll play a slowed-down song for you guys. You'll actually be able to hear the words. Hang on." (Dream)

Dream pulled back out his phone after getting new speakers and scrolled through his song list. There was one he actually had in mind

"Ok! This song might be more geared towards this world. Enjoy."

*Toss a Coin to your Witcher by Jaskier plays*

Dream put on a song from a fantasy show and wanted to see how they liked it. Anything like hip-hop, rock, or electronic would be super weird to them. However, he would still play every song on his phone because he loved them all.

No amount of weird looks are going to keep him from playing his beloved music!

The song played and they listened to all of it. When the end came, Dream paused his music to prevent it from autoplaying the next song.

He looked at them expectantly.

"So? How was that song?"

"Uhh, Dream?" (Luna)

"Yea?" 

"The language your music is in, Boy. We can't understand it." (Riddick)

"..."

Dream stopped and looked at them with a dark face. He totally didn't think of that possibility. 

All this time he had been getting everything translated until he finally learned the language of this world. But he couldn't exactly do that to his music.

How would they be able to appreciate the art of modern music if they couldn't understand it?!

"...This problem needs to be fixed. Sophia?"

[I may be capable of teaching them the language of your world. I just need permission from them to directly input information and a mana channel to do it with.]

"Ok guys! I have a way to fix this! Everyone come here."

Dream enthusiastically did what Sophia told him. He made contact with all of them and created the mana channel just like when he borrowed their powers.

Turns out, there's a skill for that

<The skill [Thought Communication] has been acquired by [Sophia]!>

'Hm? Sophia? I didn't know you could gain skills.'

[Yup! But don't worry, as I am your skill, all I have is yours. All my abilities can be used by you freely. Though some things require my processing.]

'Oh, nice! I am very much fine with that. Especially since I'm not capable of doing what you're doing right now.'

[Hehe, thank you!]

Sophia was happy with the praise and completed transferring the English language to the family.

When they looked more focused, he asked them.

"You all got it?"

"Amazing... I didn't know it was possible to transfer information like that. I thought you could only transfer your voice using [Telepathy]. Is that a skill?" (Riddick)

"It is but I just got it."

"....Forget I asked." 

Riddick gave up trying to understand Dream's standards. 

And now that they could all understand his language, it was time for the music.

Dream replayed the song previously. He then played another, and another. 

He played music until other things became more important, like preparing for the trip.

Riddick spoke up after another song had ended.

"Sorry, Boy. It's interesting but I can't stand here all day. I have some more things to prepare." (Riddick)

"And I got more food to cook." (Iris)

"Ugh, fine. Although there will be more later!"

With that, Riddick and Iris left. Luna and Dream were left alone in the workshop. The mood calmed.

"So how did you like it?" (Dream)

Dream asked Luna while pulling up a chair to sit. He also summoned one for her.

"It was nice! Though it's different from what dad played for us, I still like it."

Luna sat down in the chair next to him. 

"Your dad said that he used an enchanted item. It sounds cool but troublesome. This thing I have in my hand is called a phone. Nearly everyone on my world had one. This device allows you to do anything from listening to music, to talking with anyone, anywhere. I can summon you one if you like. And I could put my music on it."

"Sure. But I doubt I can go around listening to it all the time. It's pretty loud."

"Oh, you don't need to worry about that. We have things for that called headphones. Using them, only you can hear it and no one else. I have one right here actually. Try it on."

"Ok."

Dream handed her the pair of headphones he summoned earlier and put it on for her. Once it was on nice and snug, he connected it with the phone.

"Alright, I'm gonna play a song. Just know that no matter how loud you think it is, I can't hear anything. Ok?"

"Umm, Ok."

Once she nodded, he played a song. Dream chose a gentle one with a chill beat.

*I'm Yours by Koosen plays*

After Dream pressed the play button, Luna flinched but didn't do anything. And after the song kept playing, she relaxed and lost herself in the music. 

After 2 minutes, the song was over and faded out. Dream then took the headphones off of her.

"How was that?"

"I...I like it. Your world has more music like that? I've never heard something so... relaxing..."

"It definitely does have more. All of my favorite songs that I have collected since young are on my phone. Music has always been a big part of my life. I remember very few times when I wasn't listening to music. I would always have headphones like these over my ears and losing myself in the music. But not just relaxing music. There's some music to get you excited, happy, sad, sleepy, and more. Music can activate all our emotions. The really loud song I played earlier was one of them that got you excited and pumped up. And that one you heard just now was one to calm down."

"How many songs were there on your world?"

"A lot. I wasn't exaggerating when I said that you could never listen to all of it. Though there are famous songs and songs nobody likes. It's a bit complicated how it works, but a lot of the music I have on my phone are the famous ones. Here, I'll show you."

Dream summoned another phone and put his music on it. He then showed Luna.

"Each picture is a picture for the song. Each song also has a name. The people who make the songs give it a name. You can scroll through the list and tap a song, then it'll play on the headphones like earlier. But in case you can't figure it out, just..."

Dream explained how to work the music app. Luna listened attentively.

Dream had Sophia reprogram the phone so all Luna had to do was say 'Music!' to open the music app like a status screen. He also made it so that the headphones never disconnected.

When Dream taught her everything she needed to know...

"Here."

"Huh?"

"You can take the phone and headphones."

"Really? But doesn't it have your music?"

"Yup. What, did you think I was just teaching you something for nothing?"

Dream put the phone in her hand and the headphones around her neck.

"I have my own and can summon more. You'll be seeing me walk around with the same headphones in the future."

"Like in the house?"

"Yup. In the house, in my bedroom, when we're eating. I really do love music and I listen to it all the time. And now you can too."

"...Thanks Dream."

Luna knew that Dream could summon more devices, but he was giving her his music too. Like he said, it was an important part of his life and now he was letting her into that.

"Heh. Come gimme a hug."

Dream spread his arms and Luna complied. 

She got out of the chair and accepted the bear hug that wrapped up her head as she buried her face in his chest.

As they stayed like that, Dream started to notice something.

'Is it me or is her heart beating awfully hard...'

[It is. She seems to be very nervous right now.]

'Well this is definitely not the first hug I've given her.'

[Don't start being dense! She probably wants to do something but is too embarrassed to do so. This is when you take charge! Where's all that 'Men have to be bold!' talk!]

'Hey! I'm definitely not that good with girls! You know it's all talk!'

[Well then shut up and start going for it! The good stuff!]

Turns out Sophia is a matchmaker! It's not surprising though because that's what happens when you have access to the whole internet. Romance is one of the most popular movie genres.

'Ughhh!! This is so awkward! I hate this!'

[Do it you coward!]

'Insulting doesn't help!'

Dream was totally screaming in his mind, but he shut up when someone called out with a nervous voice.

"Dream?"

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