A Tune of Demons Box Set: The Complete Fantasy Series

by J E Mueller

  They wouldn’t stop coming. For every demon we took down, three seemed to pop out until we were starting to feel overwhelmed. Sweat dripped down my face, and my clothes were torn, though for once I had avoided any cuts. Lydia was faring just as well, but some of the others had been at this much longer. I found myself aiding anyone I could. The look of thanks was all any could manage as things continued to get worse.

  “He’s coming,” I heard Lliam frantically state.

  I had no idea who he meant, but something in me filled with dread. I risked a look over at the vortex as the lightning stopped. The outpouring of smoke ceased and the snickering and laughing of demons faded.

  “He’s here.” A demon cackled, and I wondered if any others understood his words.

  There was no time to ponder. The vicious monsters hadn’t ceased their attacks just because something new was on the horizon. The added distraction caused a few to be cut, hit, or pushed over, and the rest of us tried to help our allies regain their footing. Something thundered from the center of the clearing, but I couldn’t risk a look that way. I blocked a set of claws and pushed back, looking for Lydia. Seeing she wasn’t far, I struck and killed my foe before looking at the vortex and saw an arm, much too big to reasonably fit through, make its way through.

  “Aw, hell no,” I said aloud. Those who heard me turned to look. Their faces dropped. While I knew this was bad, I wondered if anyone knew how bad. Clearly, this was all for show and we were very screwed.

  “Ever hear of Beleth?” I heard Lliam ask. “I don’t think most learn real demon lore, but yeah. This isn’t good.”

  “Nope. No idea. Scale of one to ten?” I asked, and saw a few weird glances as I jumped back into the fray. Shoot, I needed to ignore Lliam right now, didn’t I? Keeping myself hidden might actually be a challenge.

  “I’d say an eight. These guys are maybe a two for perspective,” Lliam replied honestly.

  My internal screaming intensified as I tried to keep my reactions down and make sure the demons closest by were taken down. If none were alive to rat me out, no one would know I had this special ability.

  With an audible thud, my attention was drawn once more to the center. Smoke once more was able to make its way through along with the lightning. A creature, standing about nine feet tall and with a massive build now stood next to the vortex. The creature had very human features with only patches of smoldering coal. He gave a loud booming laugh that was deep and dark. With one hand he reached back into the vortex and pulled out a large warhammer.

  At this point, the smaller, more normal for us demons were nearly gone, but enough remained that we couldn’t just turn and run. I was the only one fast enough to escape them, and there was no way I was leaving anyone behind.

  With another laugh I felt the earth shake as the creature Beleth smashed his hammer into the ground causing a quake that knocked most of us off our feet. I pulled the man to my left aside as claws missed his face. The person in front of me wasn’t as lucky and was hit in the arm while another bit their leg. Screaming in pain, the person quickly crumpled, and I blocked the next hit with my sword while kicking away the biter demon. The ground quaked again and this time I stumbled hard to the ground. With only a moment to spare, I rolled quickly and managed to strike a demon as it was about to bite into my leg, and with that thrust, banish it. I felt the magic effectively leave the blade, and I wondered how its blessing was used so quickly. Maybe it took more magic to banish those biters.

  I looked for Lydia but couldn’t see her as I pushed myself to my feet. All I could do was block and deal nonlethal damage now. With a glance, I noted that demons were resuming their entrance to this world via the vortex. There was no time to curse the odds as I dodged once more and tried to get Lydia within my sight. No luck. Another block, block, stab, dodge. That’s when I saw Beleth take a large swing of his hammer. While he hadn’t moved, the energy and magic from his weapon sent a blast knocking us all over. Plenty were able to recover and fend for themselves. Not the person in front of me. He was still struggling from the last attack.

  A claw went through his chest and another slit his throat. His body crumpled to the ground and horror swept over me. I had never actually seen someone die. A few gurgles of blood could be heard before he fully collapsed. Terror ran through me as I was frozen with shock and awe. That’s when I noticed something that I had never considered.

  I could see his spirit leaving his body. It started as a small, thin, gray wisp. As he seemed to realize his fate, his spirit grew to his normal size and stared in surprise at his body. In that moment, I saw a demon grab for him.

  “No!” I screamed and blocked him, putting myself between them.

  The spirit looked at me surprised.

  Another demon reached for his spirit, and I turned to block again.

  “Come with me,” I heard Lliam say while I countered the attacks around me. He offered his hand to the spirit.

  Confused as the spirit was, it recognised Lliam’s Blessed garb and accepted his hand. Together they vanished. Relief swept through me. I wasn’t certain what a demon could do, but I knew there was no way they should touch the new spirit.

  “She knows,” I heard a crackling voice say as I spun to block an attack.

  An echo and pointing filled the camp. Variations of her, she knows, and that one could be heard. Well, Marella had tried to warn me, and yet… I couldn’t let them have that soul. There were no regrets.

  I cracked open a shield rune and called the magic to me just in time for the first wave. The Blessed looked confused and surprised that every foe turned away from them and focused on me. I crouched low to the ground, ready for another earthquake, and had my second shield rune ready. Instead of another wave of demons, I heard thundering footsteps and Lydia’s scream. I saw her too far away to do much to help me, and Beleth was running toward me.

  “Well…” I said to myself as I felt the shield begin to break. “I don’t think there’s a way out of this one.”

  I watched as Beleth readied to swing his hammer, this time close enough to hit people. He brought it up high and just as he was about to swing he stopped and looked over his shoulder. A form, about seven feet tall, covered in flames with hair standing on end had our attention. With a wave of its hand the lesser demons turned to ash.

  Surprised, the Blessed trying to help found there was nothing left to fight and turned to look where I was. Beleth pointed his warhammer at the flame beast who, instead of showing any concern, merely smirked and vanished. Beleth vanished as well.

  “What even happened just now?” someone called.

  Similar questions of worry and joy popped up, but one thing was quickly agreed upon. It was time to go. Now.

  Many rushed past us, but I had to join up with Lydia. Together, we retreated. With a deep breath, I released the magic from the rune. The shield was cracked and nearly destroyed anyway.

  “Do you think Beleth saw you?” she asked.

  “Yes,” I replied honestly. “If I could see enough of him to know his next move, there’s no doubt he got a good enough view of me.”

  Lydia cursed under her breath. “We’re going to need a damned good plan.”

  “I don’t know how we can beat whatever that thing is.” It was huge, scary, and clearly strong enough to cause a large group of us worry. Scratch that - caused all of us to worry.

  “Us? No. With divine intervention, maybe. Maybe we can lure it to a spot that can handle both sides for a short time.” She didn’t sound confident, but at least it was the start of an idea.

  “What was that fire thing?”

  “No clue.” Lydia glanced back to make sure nothing was following us. “If I had my guess, as crazy as it might be, I’m going with your demon friend.”

  “Why would Marella expose herself in such a way? The lesser demons were destroyed but the big guy clearly knew who she was. I think he went after her.” We were nearly to the encampment now.

  “If she’s hidden this lo
ng I am sure she knows how to lose him,” Lydia said as she slowed her pace.

  I mimicked her, going from a run to an easy jog. “I’ve no idea how to find out for sure.”

  “She seems to like graveyards,” Lydia replied. “Let’s get far away from here and try one.”

  “What about the guy who died?” I asked, realizing we left his body.

  “Angels can handle it.” Lydia shrugged. She watched a few run by her. “They’ve no idea that he didn’t ascend. They’ve no idea why the demons turned on you.” Lydia glanced at me. “I barely understand. What tipped them off?”

  “What was his name?” I asked instead.

  Lydia dropped her pace to a walk. “I think it was Gentry. He was a Gray Violet. Probably three years younger than me.”

  “I saw his soul leave when he died. He was lost, unsure what had happened, and the demons wanted to take advantage of this. They tried to grab his soul, and I blocked them. I knew right where they were aiming for. Anyone else would have seen them leaping for air and likely just sidestep them since they weren’t being attacked. I did that twice, but I couldn’t just let them take Gentry’s soul. I couldn’t….” I felt tired. I had no idea how to save that soul and it was only by luck the demons hadn’t taken him.

  “What happened after? Is his soul okay?” Lydia asked softly.

  “Lliam retrieved him. I’ve no idea where they vanished off to, but I assume they’re fine now.” Was there a way to even contact Lliam to find out?

  Lydia stopped as someone rushed up to her. I hadn’t noticed Leon on the field but recognized him from the Black Violets.

  “We’re breaking into groups to head back. You should probably stay in a larger group.” Leon stated, nodding my way.

  Lydia shook her head, dismissing his concern. “It’s a long story, but we’ll be better off traveling just as a pair.”

  “No way.” Leon argued, looking appalled by the idea. “Every last demon jumped your friend for no obvious reason and Beleth clearly was ready to take only her out. We’re lucky to be alive. Anyone closer certainly would be dead.”

  “Did you see what saved us?” Lydia asked, crossing her arms. Her posture conveyed that she wasn’t going to lose this argument.

  He hesitated to answer as he looked around. “Yeah, I don’t think anyone missed that. It was a level two demon, maybe even top tier. We’ve no idea why they’d destroy their own kind like that. We don’t even know which one it was. We need to leave now to be safe.”

  “Then leave,” Lydia replied sternly. “I’ve an idea who it is, and if we’re right, then we need to find them sooner rather than later. We can’t keep Tella alive, but that rogue might be able to.”

  “Deals with demons are too dangerous,” Leon spat back.

  “It’s not a deal, clearly they are fighting on their own terms.” Lydia brushed past him. “Report back. We’re going to need more help no matter what answers we find.”

  I didn’t give him a chance to continue and jogged to catch up with Lydia. “This is going to be interesting.”

  “Probably going to get written up when I get back too. It’ll be fun to see what rumors spread from this mess.” Lydia chuckled. “Guess we’ll have to make it back alive first.”

  “As bad as things are, the odds don’t seem too terribly out of our favor,” I replied, adding a silent prayer I was right.

  “Can I offer a bad idea?” Lydia asked as we gathered our packs.

  “What’s life without them?” I asked, curious to hear what she would suggest.

  “Let’s have someone else take the horses and walk,” she stated simply.

  My pack already felt heavy from all the traveling we’d done recently. “Going to need some convincing on that one, dear.”

  “So, the demons are aware we have horses and they aren’t all stupid, as much as we wished most of them were,” Lydia explained. “So, they’ll start searching with a radius based on our rate of travel with horses once they’re able to gather forces together. Without the horses, yes, it’s a long walk, but they’ll be looking for us in the wrong places. That’ll give us a shot at finding what's-her-face and hopefully give us time to get answers, or at least come up with a better plan.”

  “You can’t outrun the demons, though,” I said tiredly. It was my only argument. The horses gave her the speed she needed in case we were ambushed.

  “Unless they’re going to attempt to use me as bait, they really don’t care enough about me right now.” Lydia shook her head. “Let’s go, I know we’re only about a day away from the perfect town. Unless you have a better plan?”

  I sighed. What better plan was there? She had a point about the demons not expecting us to walk. Though at least with the horses we could get to wherever faster… But then the horses would be stranded if something happened.

  “Fine,” I agreed with some reluctance. I was already mentally tired of walking and camping. An extra long journey home didn’t sound fun. If we even made it back.

  “I’ll be right back then. I’m sure someone could use the horses,” Lydia said as she disappeared from view.

  “Well, this isn’t the worst plan I’ve heard,” Lliam said.

  I spun around to face him, both startled by his voice and grateful. “What happened to Gentry?”

  “He’s fine. Adjusting to his new unlife. Now that he’s more stable he’s not in any danger of demons harming him,” Lliam replied as if it was nothing.

  “That’s it? You vanished and suddenly he’s fine?” It seemed too simple.

  “Actually, yes,” Lliam confirmed calmly. “When you first die, if you’re going to go somewhere for certain, somehow that side knows and is there. Damned angels won’t explain that bit, so we’re stuck accepting that is just how it is. Anyway, the ones not ready, or in this case, not able to go anywhere, are stuck in a crucial spot for about five minutes while they adjust to being just a wandering soul. Once they adjust, nothing can take them. They need a guide to bring them where they are supposed to go.”

  It still seemed much too simple, but I didn’t have the energy to question it further. “Fine, as long as he’s all right.”

  “Well enough, all things considered. He’s certainly mad about what’s going on, but there are several of us stuck in this limbo to help him,” Lliam explained.

  “And yet you’re the first Blessed spirit I’ve seen.” I watched him curiously as I considered that fact. If this had been a problem for years now, how was that possible?

  “To be fair, none of us knew to look for you. When I finally learned about your kind of magic, I started looking. Spirits all look the same. Humans look weird, sort of gray scale. The colors aren’t as vibrant as they should be… but you, you’re just a bit brighter. Not enough to cause attention, but once it’s noticed, it cannot be unnoticed,” Lliam elaborated.

  That would explain why not every spirit bothered me. Not everyone noticed me. They were just able to overlook me, but only just. “What made you look for me?” I asked curiously.

  “Someone was looking for volunteers to find everyone like you. She was certain there were plenty, ones that weren’t trained or didn’t know enough and therefore were not on any demon’s radar. I can’t remember her name though…” Lliam thought for a moment, shrugged, and continued. “Anyway, it sounded a bit far-fetched, but I wasn’t going to sit around any longer waiting on angels who didn’t have answers and who didn’t look like they were uncovering anything, so I took my fate in my own hands.

  “There were about eight of us who started the search. She said the best place to start was where we were most familiar and then make our way out toward the small villages. Anyone with dark secrets that no one wanted to mention. Kids that somehow defied all odds and survived death. How you look for that as a spirit is beyond me, but it seemed to work out quickly enough. A few weeks and suddenly you were by the guild. Seemed strange you’d show up out of nowhere, but I decided to hang back and follow a bit just to be sure. Sure enough Kegan gave you som
ething to confirm my guess. It was great timing. None of the others have had any luck.”

  That was a lot more information than I was expecting. “Wait… Are you just hoping some of us can figure this out? I might be the only one with material to learn from.”

  He nodded. “In a sense. Actually the goal now is to find anyone like you, help you figure out how to visit the spirit side, since you can do that somehow, and take you to this person who can apparently teach you. I don’t think she was expecting anyone to come across Kegan. Actually, I should find and mention that to her. Maybe she knew Kegan and knows what book would help.”

  Excited by the idea, Lliam disappeared.

  “But wai-” I felt the frustration mount and the exhaustion settled in deeper.

  “What’s going on?” Lydia asked.

  I turned to look at her and shook my head. “I’ll explain on the way.”

  Confused, but willing to accept the delay, Lydia led the way.

  11

  As we traveled away from the few remaining at the camp, I started to explain what Lliam had told me. It was just enough information to be excited, but not enough to get me very far.

  “So, if he was supposed to bring you somewhere, why didn’t he mention that before?” Lydia asked the obvious question.

  “Not really sure.” I glanced around. “He was too excited to ask this mystery spirit something and just left. Then again, it’s not like I’d just follow some random spirit. Blessed or not. I have no idea how being dead can change a person.”

  Lydia was about to argue, but stopped. “You know, you might be right. We were promised a lot of things, and suddenly dying for your cause and having all of it denied with a vague we’re working on it... I could see it getting to someone. Not right away, but didn’t they say it’s been years?”

  “Yes, years with no answers,” I confirmed with a nod. “But why didn’t this person, this spirit looking for people like me do the looking? Or is she and was just gathering extra help? Damn it Lliam, we need answers, not more questions,” I grumbled and looked around once again for him.