A Tune of Demons Box Set: The Complete Fantasy Series

by J E Mueller

  Joy, another creature I didn’t know, but I bit my tongue in order to help keep the silence.

  “There’s a Moglozas nearby as well…” Mare added, still just as softly.

  “Anything going to sneak up on us?” Clove asked, voice guarded.

  “Not right now, but we can’t stay here for too long,” Mare replied, and slowly inched closer to the end of the hall.

  Clove was hot on her heels, but I stayed a few extra steps back. After the Agmon deciding it wanted to destroy me, or eat my essences, or whatever, I had no desire to encounter more things. Sticking with Mare had helped me avoid everything, but I had no doubt that luck wouldn’t last long.

  Once Mare reached the end of the hall, she called out her blades, as did Clove. It seemed so natural, and instinctive. Every time I saw anyone call on their gift it seemed to come just like breathing. I couldn’t say I wasn’t envious, but at least I knew eventually I could learn this. Possibly.

  “...at three,” Mare whispered. I had missed the first part. Not that knowing what something was would help me a ton.

  “Will it pass us and go for them?” Clove asked.

  “If it sees us, no.” Mare motioned for me to come a little closer. “Stay close, Taggollur respond most to motion. Do not move.”

  Well, at least standing frozen should be easy. Her tone was serious so I steeled myself for the creature to come.

  6

  I watched them grip their weapons tightly, but couldn’t hear or see anything from my spot in the hall. The Agmon was fairly loud, with its long bladelike arms scrapping on everything. I wondered what this thing would be since it moved so silently.

  I also wondered if it would also have blades for something.

  As we waited, and the tension thickened the air on a tangible level, I started to doubt it was actually coming. Maybe it would move down a side hall. Then it was slowly coming into the open.

  If the Agmon was a demonic bat creature with blades for arms, the Taggollur was a hellbeast snail with a trail of fire instead of slime. How did this thing exist inside a building without burning it all to the ground?

  The creature slowly inched down the hallway, head only a few inches from the ceiling, red and black snail type body glowing like cooling coals. It’s shell looked exactly like a chunk of charcoal making the trail of small lingering flames look like it was creating the path to hell. To add to the nightmare, the creature had arms and was carrying what looked to be a war axe made of coal.

  I did my best not to gape or react as its head turned slowly toward us. Mare and Clove didn’t move a muscle as the Taggollur stared us down. For a moment I was certain it stopped, it was moving so slow.

  Thankfully, it finally passed us and I allowed myself to collapse back on the wall. What the heck was that?

  Mare and Clove glanced back at me and snickered.

  “Kinda neat in an awful way isn’t it?” Mare whispered. I shook my head, trying to rid myself of the thought of that thing.

  “You didn’t move, so perfect. It’ll keep going until it sees something move and then attack. It’s far quicker than it looks once it sees motion,” Clove explained before she carefully looked down into the hallway.

  I admired her guts for looking down the hall after that thing. I would not want it to see me. “So, how do you kill it? Better yet, if you do have to run from it, what’s the best way to escape?”

  Mare shrugged as Clove looked back at us. “Best way to escape is to find somewhere to hide and don’t move. If you’re still, it will overlook you. But, heavy breathing can give you away so you really need to calm yourself, get out of sight and hide.”

  Clove smirked. “As for killing the beast, the best way is to break its shell. Swords and magic are the best for this guy, though you can blind it with other attacks which make escape possible.”

  I nodded my understanding. Blinding it shouldn’t be terribly hard. Maybe. I was a woman from a fishing town. I could garden and clean a fish. This was not something I desired to add to my expertise. I just prayed Melly was faring better than me.

  Clove nudged Mare and they slowly headed down the hall. I carefully followed them, seeing the trail of fire slime slowly fading into nothing from where it came. It didn’t seem to last long at least. The problem seemed to be staying far enough behind it that you didn’t have to avoid the trail and that it had no reason to turn and see you.

  Thankfully the creature seemed more interested in looking down side halls and continuing forward. I wondered if the monsters fought one another ever, but kept the comment to myself. There was no way I was having a demon snail chase me. I tossed the idea from my head. There was every likelihood something would once again chase me, even after I figured out my gifts.

  For several minutes we carefully followed behind the Taggollur. The voices of Canton, Benz, and one other became clearer and clearer as we approached. They were discussing something about an artifact from what I could pick up.

  Suddenly we heard Canton exclaim, “Taggollur! Down the hall.” After he said that Canton, on some sort of genius level glanced out of the room, saw the giant snail, then promptly shut them in the room.

  The Taggollur roared, which was horrifying to hear from a snail, and at a much faster pace than I was expecting, slid down to the door and started pounding on it, axe splitting wood quickly.

  Clove and Mare dove down the side hall, with me right on their heels.

  “We don’t want to be around here now,” Mare explained as we rushed down the hall. “That will attract the other creatures.”

  “Then why were we following it?” I was really not sure how well any of these plans were thought out.

  “It was either follow and see how things go, or wait for the Moglozas to catch up to us.” Mare shrugged.

  Well, at least that made some sense.

  “Though with all this noise it’s probably -” Clove nearly ran into Mare as she came to an abrupt halt. At least it wasn’t me this time.

  “Well, we can either take on a different Taggollur, or go up against a Moglozas. There isn’t a route without creatures so, what poison would you like?” Mare directed the question at Clove.

  “And hiding until they pass to go attack Canton isn’t an option?” I asked curiously. There were at least a dozen rooms as options here.

  Clove snorted. “We’re not injured. We fight.”

  Ah, so that was why. I was not the fight or die type, but if I chose to hide on my own I’d be left behind and lost. “Well, here we go then.”

  “The Moglozas is quick enough. Let’s go that way,” Clove declared, and Mare started along that route.

  “Is there anything I should know about this thing?” I really hated that I needed to know this information. Why couldn’t I just wake up?

  Mare set a quick pace. “Well, it doesn't exactly pick favorites like the Agmon, and it’s not as easy to hide from as the Taggollur…”

  “The important thing to know is to just stay out of the way. We’ve got this. It’s unlikely to single you out, and it does spit lightning,” Clove added quickly as we took a quick turn.

  “How the hell does something spit lightning?” I was ready for this day to be over.

  “In a glob.” Mare cringed as she said it.

  Great. I took as deep of a breath as I could. “Let’s do this.”

  “That’s the spirit.” Mare laughed.

  “Oh, it kind of rolls,” Clove declared as we stopped.

  Down the hall we just turned I saw a strange creature that reminded me of something I only saw out of a book. It was an oversized barrel shaped creature with what looked like leather armor on its back. It must have heard us, and turned to look our way. It’s face had beady glowing gold eyes and a snout.

  “The heck is that thing?”

  Clove chuckled. “A Moglozas.”

  The creature didn’t seem that interested in us and just stared for several moments before it started to make a gagging sound.

  “Run forward i
n three… two.... one…” Mare and Clove dashed forward and the Moglozas started to spit something up into the air.

  Instinctively, I ran backwards away from the globs of neon green that had sparks tingling throughout them, even in midair. As the globs landed you could see the sparks arc out and take hold of the ground. A line of sparks and lightning blocked me from Mare and Clove.

  The two, no longer paying any attention to me, dashed at the creature. Seeing its first trick hadn’t worked at all, it curled up into a ball and started to roll toward them for a few moments before it became a ball of spikes.

  Mare and Clove dodged away from it and the spiked ball unraveled itself once more and began coughing up another round of fun.

  To your left.

  Ah, good old random voice in the head was back. I glanced to my left and saw another creature altogether. It looked like a floating eel, carefully swimming in the air toward me. I glanced back over to the other two. The sparks were still blocking the way and I felt confident enough that I shouldn’t touch them.

  “Um, there’s a thing coming this way,” I called loudly.

  Mare glanced at me and cursed. “Should have ran forward.”

  “Going to have to run,” Clove called as she swung at the Moglozas. “The sparks will die with this thing.”

  I cursed my luck but wasn’t surprised. I took off running down the hall behind me wondering if I could hide from the thing or if I just needed to figure my way to another floor. Preferably the first floor. This thing didn’t look like it could open doors though. Then again, it could blast it with a fireball for all I knew.

  Instead of hiding, I ran down the hall, around a corner and kept running. When I reached the end of the hall I paused and saw the eel like thing leisurely keeping up with me. To the right however, I noticed a Taggollur and to my left a staircase heading up. The Taggollur hadn’t noticed me yet, but if I ran it surely would. The eel was starting to close in on me and I dashed for the stairs, pushing myself as hard as I could. At least possibly upstairs I’d have a moment to figure this thing out.

  I reached the top of the stairs and saw the eel thing ram into the Taggollur and watched as the snail-like monster turned and whacked it. The two quickly vanished from sight. Well, it seemed they could fight, but I wasn’t sure if that was a standard thing.

  And now I was alone on the third floor.

  Once more I glanced down the stairs and knew it would be several minutes before I would be safe enough to head back down. Was it safe just to wait it out here or were they just going to wait, lurking around the corner for me to come by? I wasn’t sure how clever these creatures were, but if I were them that would be my plan, set an ambush.

  Sighing I glanced along the hall I ended up on. Nothing seemed particularly dangerous here, but I knew the Agmon lurked up here and who knew what else. What was the final count on creatures per floor? I should have asked that.

  You should move.

  Thanks, voice. But where should I move that could be safe on murder floor?

  To the left, down the hall and around the corner to the right. Third door on the right.

  It was probably not the safest thing, taking advice from random voices, but it seemed I had few options or better advice.

  Who was this voice?

  They call us the Creators. For now, I’ll have to withhold my name. They’re watching you.

  Who were they? Why the heck would anyone want to watch me?

  You’ve got power, power that few here have. They seek to manipulate you as they have the others.

  Ah. Of course, the only thing was, I didn't have access to any power nor did I know what I could even do.

  They see the potential just as clearly as I can.

  Well, mystery voice, how do I use it then?

  The voice was silent for a moment. Call your inner light forward and push it outwards, release it and your gifts will show.

  That sounded straight forward, except I didn’t know how one even accessed an inner light so I couldn’t just push it forward. Still, I finally reached the designated room and opened the door. To my surprise, Benz was sitting on a bed in there, leg covered in cuts and blood. He looked up at me in surprise before grimacing from the pain.

  “What the heck happened?” I asked, closing the door behind me.

  “Are you alone?” he asked, equally confused. Taking a deep breath he shook his head. “How do you keep losing your group?”

  I shrugged and replied honestly. “They said to rush forward but the gobs of lightning slime freaked me out and I moved back.”

  Benz gave a tired laugh. “Ah, good old Moglozas. They’re pretty startling.”

  I nodded dumbly.

  “So, how did you end up here?” Benz asked simply, taking a deep breath as he grimaced in pain.

  “You never answered my question,” I pointed out instead.

  Benz shrugged and tried to shift his leg but cursed in pain before replying. “We accidentally attracted a Semill which was fine to deal with except we forgot that usually attracts more Taggollur. We already slayed two of them, so it’s really weird another even appeared but that’s life lately. Anyway, we all escaped, just a few injuries. I just needed to rest.”

  “Rest on the third floor? That sounds stupid.”

  “Says the one who came alone to the third floor,” Benz retorted.

  “There was an eel thing chasing me and then I saw another Taggollur and well this was the only safe way to go.” I crossed my arms. “I figured I can’t just head right back down.”

  Benz gave an approving nod. “Very true. At least you’ve got that down.”

  “For the head of the opposing team you don't seem as evil as everyone makes you out to be,” I blurted suddenly.

  Benz laughed as my cheeks grew red. “Oh, I’m sure both Clove and I do have our evil sides. That doesn’t mean it’s the default.”

  He was a bit too nonchalant about that whole statement. I felt the bracelet on my wrist and wondered what he was thinking. I decided against using it for now.

  “Anyway, you should leave before Canton gets back with our healer,” Benz stated firmly.

  “Why does he want to kill everyone not directly linked to your team?” I asked, genuinely curious since it seemed everyone else was on a team just to survive.

  “Because he is just that evil.” Benz shrugged. “He’s hard to keep under control as it is.”

  “Why don’t you do away with him then?”

  Benz crossed and uncrossed his arms as he thought. “Because no matter what anyone says, neither Clove or I have stooped that low. We won’t kill another soul stuck here just to be rid of them. That doesn’t mean Clove may not find someone willing to get their hands dirty for her.”

  “What about you?”

  “Does it matter what I say?” Benz smirked. “You’ll have to make up your mind on your own there.”

  “Mare said you and Clove used to be friends,” I commented, getting the feeling I should leave, but still didn’t move.

  Benz nodded. “She told you correctly. What of it?” He tilted his head as he waited for the answer.

  “Why are you at each other’s throats now?”

  Benz sighed and gave a slow sad smile. “It’s complicated, and what’s done is done.”

  “That’s not an answer.”

  He nodded and tried to get to his feet. “The truth is, neither of us can give an actual answer, even if we want to. The layers complicating matters are much deeper than you thought. But you need to go.” Benz struggled over to the wardrobe and motioned for me to follow.

  “Another passage?” I asked as he opened it and pushed the backing of it aside.

  “Of course. I wouldn’t just trap myself somewhere.” Benz gave me a look that screamed ‘really’.

  That made sense. I looked at the passage for a moment. “Where do I go?”

  “Follow your gut. It seems to be working well for you, as usual,” Benz replied simply.

  “As usual?”<
br />
  Benz sighed. “We don't have time for that conversation.”

  Nodding, at least I had that answer. We did know each other at one point. Without wasting more time, I got into the wardrobe and pulled myself up into the passageway. At least the wardrobe with it’s height made it easier to climb up.

  I crawled a little bit and wondered if the voice would come back and give me directions. When nothing happened, I continued on, hoping to be getting near the stairs, before I pulled up a ceiling tile and glanced down. I clearly had no sense of direction and was not near the stairs. Below me was an Agmon who must have heard the shifting tile because he glanced up.

  Quickly, I shoved the title back into place and could hear the should of pounding on it. The tile had been light so I could only assume it was some weird safe zone magic at work and continued my crawl in the opposite direction. I was not going to deal with that thing on my own.

  7

  I crawled for a few more minutes and tried opening another tile only to see a different creature. I closed the tile again before the weird walking guppy like thing could notice me. I did not want to know what it was, what it could do, or why the hell it had legs. So, once more I continued on vaguely wondering if I would get dropped from the ceiling or find a way down on my own. Did opening the tiles reset things at least? Did this place know I was trying to get out, just safely? Did it care if I wanted to be safe?

  Yes.

  I was part relieved that the voice inside my head agreed, but I still wanted to know where there was a safe place.

  Not near enough. You can take on the creature nearby. Just hit it in the eyes, go past it and around the corner, there are stairs heading down.

  I wondered why I couldn’t just crawl to the stairs when a tile fell out from under me.

  With a painful landing I pushed myself back to my feet and looked around. Nothing was directly here yet, but I was fairly certain something had to have heard my magnificent landing. As if on cue, I could hear what sounded like many hooved feet heading my way. Oh great demon moose? Demon mule? What could possibly be next?