✴

You dismiss the dialogue program running on the virtual machine running on the pattern of the music and immerse yourself in the song itself. A catchy arpeggio dominates this section, repeating itself a lot. Just as Zeta said, the next part takes this theme and modifies it, flipping a few of the notes to a lower octave.

Feeling each of those notes make their impact on your mind, you reach out and grasp one of the octave-inverted wave peaks, a single pixel vibrating in your grasp as you pull it apart from the wave. You feel a strong pull as it tries to rejoin its place in its pattern, but hold it back by your force of will. On the next measure, when the song shifts back to the original melody, you let go of your ground, catching ÆON’s hand to pull Ær along with you. Your captive pixel carries you both across the river above you until it snaps back into place on the peak of its wave.

You let go, flipping your perspective over and settling into place next to Zeta. Its ^^ eye-symbols flash bright on its screen as it happy-stims with its metallic fingers.

You look the way it points, across a wide gap between intersecting walkways and flowing layers of song in between. Far below and far across the valley, a platform stands with an open gate awaiting. But above and below that emptiness lies a darkness that vanishes all pixels falling into it.

Looking at the array floating in the æther next to you both, you try to pull a pixel out of its place. But once you let it go, it vanishes.