u/thefuzzsakenone

I’m learning to speak Cantonese and thought it would be fun to listen to more canto songs throughout the day. A lot of the stuff I found on a casual search seemed to be slow adult contemporary style love songs which was cool but not really my style. I found some hip hop and rap stuff which was fun but looking for other recommendations.

I’m open to any genre except screamo rock.

Spears of light pierced the cramped spiral staircase and barely illuminated the three hundred and one steps up to the magician’s keep. Vivaine had climbed these same steps nearly every day for the past five years, ever since Myradin had started asking for her specifically.

That had been a blessing in many ways. It let her leave the hot, stuffy kitchens during the hottest parts of the day and most of the time she would bring him food and tidy up his things while he worked. But other times he would ask her to sit and they would just talk. At first she found it unnerving talking to one of the most powerful men in all of Aved, let alone a mage, but he seemed to like talking to her. She imagined it must be lonely being the King’s magician. Even those he advised feared him. And so, she was happy enough to share his meals with him and listen to him spin tales of wonder every so often. She found him witty and sharp tongued, a combination she appreciated, and she considered themselves friends regardless of the vast difference in their station.

She considered being chosen by one of the most important people in all of Aved, the advisor to the Forever King himself, was an honor, even if she was just his maid. Unfortunately many in the castle didn’t see it that way. Rumors spiraled about the demon spawned wizard and his common born play thing. She still got stares, especially when she walked amongst the other commonfolk. Luckily none dared cross the King’s wizard for fear of him casting a spell on them so they never did anything but gawk.

Her poor husband got the worst of it. Gareth trusted her, and she him. He knew there was nothing untoward happening between them; he had even met Myradin a handful of times. So he put up with the jeers and tried not to let them escalate into fights too often. The saint.

Vivaine shifted her tray of sweets and fresh fruit to one hand as she approached the entry way to Myradin’s chambers. The massive slab of oak always scared her. He had told her that oak had natural magic repellant properties and that the King had installed the door as a preventative measure to stop any of the wizard’s experiments from running amok. Vivaine didn’t know if that was true or not, but she couldn’t help but feel like it made Myradin a prisoner in his own tower.

She pressed her hand against the door and forced herself to take a deep breath. She wondered if this would be the last time she ever came in here. The last time she ever brought him his meal. The last time she ever saw her strange, magical friend. Surely he would not want to see her again after today.

If she ever did see him again, it would likely be from afar as the King’s men tightened a noose around her neck.

She forced herself to exhale before knocking twice on the wizard’s door. She paused for a breath and then rapped three times more. The door responded with a groan and shifted open of its own accord. She pushed it open with her free arm and crossed the entryway, eager to leave the cramped darkness of the stairwell.

Morning light flooded Myradin’s chambers making it glow with a soft gold hue even in the winter. Automatically, her eyes were pulled to his worktable. The desk drowned under a sea of half scribbled pages. The desk alone carried more paper than she could afford in a lifetime. Floating lanterns drifted over the paper like enormous fireflies. One moved over to a stack of books and that’s when she caught sight of it.

A small leatherbound book sitting on top of the stack.

It was there, out in the open only a few paces away from her. She lifted her leg and took half a step towards it but caught herself. She forced herself to turn away from it and approached the four poster bed instead.

The old wizard lay buried under layers and layers of blankets leaving only his head visible. A single floating lantern hovered above him, casting shadows across the deep wrinkles of his face. He was by far the oldest man she or anyone in the castle had ever seen.

“I’m not dead yet, Vivaine. Now hurry and come sit next to me before I prove myself wrong,” the old wizard said without even opening his eyes.

“The day you’re wrong about something is the day a Formorian learns to eat with a fork.”

“Now don’t say that. I’ve been wrong about many things in life, my friend, and the Fomoria are not so different from you and I.”

His friend. Her heart twisted but she forced herself to smile and take her usual seat beside his bed. She placed her tray down next to her and began peeling and slicing an apple for him.

“Maybe not so different from you, but I don’t have nearly as much hair in my ears as you lot.”

“Yes, it is getting a bit harder to hear your poorly crafted jokes of late,” he said, shooting her a wry smile. It seemed to take all of his effort to force himself up into a sitting position. Once he caught his breath, he accepted a thin slice of apple from her. “Now tell me, how are things down below, Vivaine?”

“Quiet,” she replied, munching on a slice for herself. “Not much to do now that the King has sent away almost all of his knights on this big quest. The castle is nearly empty.”

“Go on,” he encouraged, his ghostly blue eyes staring intently into her.

“What is there to say? You know the details of this better than I.”

“Yes, but it matters to me what people who aren’t in the King’s retinue know and think about things too.”

“Fine. Nearly all of the knights have left to go find something the King wants. Gods know what they’re chasing, but those that went took all their men with them like they were headed off to war. Most of them headed east towards the Great Tree so my guess is that they’re going to Anwyn.”

“Intuitive as ever, Vivaine. And what do you think of this quest?”

“It sounds dangerous. And doubly stupid, if you ask me.”

“Aye. Both of those things are true.” Myradin’s lips pressed into a small, sympathetic smile. “I’m sorry Vivaine. I know Sir Dane took Orfeo with him.”

She tore her eyes away from his and forced herself to look down at her hands instead. “Why would he go and do that? What’s the point in taking a hunting dog with you to the Underworld?”

“I’m sorry Vivaine. I know that dog meant much to you and Gareth.” The wizard averted his gaze for a moment before looking back at her, his eyes intent on her’s. “Would I lose your friendship if I told you that this whole quest was my idea? Or if I impressed upon you just how important this quest is?”

She didn’t reply. She just stuffed another slice of apple into her mouth to try to stop the sobs and hateful words from spewing from her mouth.

He seemed tired all of a sudden, and she almost saw how years of hard decisions had etched the wrinkles into his face. “Here. Go to my desk and bring me one of my books. You’ve seen it. The small skinbound book with a purple cover. You know the one. It’s on my desk over there.”

Her heart stopped and she hoped she caught herself before her face showed any reaction.

She did as he commanded and got up to fetch the book from his desk. It was small, hardly larger than her palm, and bound in thick, old leather. The book looked like it had been heavily abused before it fell into Myradin’s hands. Its cover looked as if it had been burnt before and half of its pages were torn out.

When she returned to his bedside, she tried to hand the book to him but he shook his head. “It’s useless to me now. My eyes can hardly make out the symbols anymore. I have it memorized anyways. No, no, you hold it. I wanted you to look at it.”

Vivaine was sure he could hear her heart pounding in her chest. She had retrieved books for him countless times but this was the first time he had let her actually look at them with him.

“This here is one of the most important books in my collection. Its title was lost to the ages, so I’ve simply been referring to it as the Book of the Worlds. It dates back to the days of the Great Flood, if you believe it. Now open it to the page that I marked. Gently, please.”

She did as he asked and carefully turned the pages until the book revealed an ornate three tiered drawing of an enormous tree.

“That’s a map of the Worlds, Vivaine. At the bottom, that’s the Underworld, Anwyn. There in the middle is where we live, Aved. And at the very top is Abbaron. And connecting all three Worlds is Prenafal, the Great Tree. Or at least it used to connect all three, before Abbaron left on its wandering journey.”

Myradin’s bony finger gestured at the book and Vivaine flipped to the next marked page. It was another drawing but the page was almost entirely black with ink. It looked to be another map with features labeled with writing so small she had to squint to make them out.

“Anwyn, home of the Fomoria,” he said gravely. “It’s been many, many years since I’ve been there. And that drawing that you’re looking at is the only reason I was able to survive, Vivaine. That’s the most complete map of the Underworld that anyone on Aved, and probably anyone in all three Worlds, has.”

Vivaine’s eyes grew and she didn’t have to pretend to be in awe of it. She already knew the book contained the map of Anwyn, that’s why she needed it, but she never expected that Myradin himself would show it to her and explain it to her. She poured over the map, tracing her finger over the tiny scribbling indicating the Underword’s endless marshes.

“Down there, the Fomoria are growing stronger than ever. They’re unifying, Vivaine. I never would have believed it if the stars hadn’t shown me. I suppose it makes sense though. Annwyn and Aved have always been twins, their fates parallel to each other. It was only a matter of time after Arto unified Aved that the same thing happened in Annwyn.

“The Fomoria have magicks we know nothing about. If they manage to gather their strength and attack as a unified force…it will be like nothing we have ever faced before. I fear we may not be able to stop them.

“But there is still hope. Somewhere down there in the muck and mud is a very important, very powerful item that we need, that the King needs. Something I believe will save us all. And we must recover it before Abbaron arrives in a year.”

Myradin stared through her, past her, his mind far away planning campaigns and contingencies she couldn’t even hope to imagine.

“Abbaron? What does that have to do with the Fomoria? I don’t understand.”

The old wizard shook his head slightly and brought himself back to the present. “I think I’ve rambled enough for today, my friend. I’m sorry but I believe I need to cut our time together short. Can you please see yourself out? I’m much more tired than I expected to be. To think this is what I’ve been reduced to.” He smiled one last time at her before he gave in and let his eyelids sag closed. He turned away from her and buried his face deep into the blankets once again.

Within seconds Myradin was sound asleep and a thin line of drool was already carving its way down onto his pillow. Vivaine stared speechless at the tired old man and then down at the priceless artifact clutched in her hands. Was it really so easy? Was betraying her friend really so simple?

She rose quietly and pressed a kiss to the sleeping wizard’s temple.

“Sleep well, friend. And I’m sorry.”

Vivaine slipped the book into the folds of her dress and left without another word.