A Tune of Demons Box Set: The Complete Fantasy Series

by J E Mueller

So it began.

  The first wave peered around the corner while the rest of us waited for them to move and continue on. It took several moments with them whispering among themselves about the different magics to use for how the spider was facing, and then they were off.

  The second wave was ready to go. In less time than I expected, they were around the corner ready to fight and take on the beast. I was not feeling ready but Consta was set.

  She took the corner with ease glancing around it and letting me know what was what. “It’s almost in position, and no, nope. This thing is fast. Fast as you already have imagined.”

  I nodded and waited, trying to keep calm around me as I could feel my nerves working to unravel that with all their might. This was not my thing. I shouldn't be here. I shouldn’t be trying to take on the thing that was not one of my biggest fears, but the biggest. This was stupid and insane, and yet, I already agreed. Would backing out now hurt them? Would backing out sooner have made a difference?

  Then Consta grabbed my arm and we were rushing. We were exactly behind it, the rump was not as terrifying as the eight billion, nine thousand eyes I was expecting to see. I could do this, I had to do this. I was here.

  Sword in hand, I rushed it without thinking, without any extra worry. I knew from the corner of my vision that Consta was keeping right up with me. We flew toward it, and I dashed to slice it’s under belly as Consta threw her exploding rocks. As soon as we struck, the thing turned to try and strike us. The fear gripped me, it’s fangs suddenly in my face.

  Consta had a shield up in front of me in a second and shoved me aside as she threw the rocks into its face, causing it to let out a horrific scream. The shriek could almost wake the dead, but it had to turn and move to take on the others.

  With the eyes out of my face, the fangs just a stabbing memory, I could at least move again, and move I did. I went back as far as I could. I shouldn’t be here. I was a hindrance.

  As I moved back I heard a shriek from Ellyn and saw the spider had struck her with acid. Fucking giant spiders, but I knew the cure for it. It was simple, and something I could handle while Benz and Kip shielded her and forced the spider to backup a step.

  I quickly made my way to a giant spot of web and cut off a chunk. “Ellyn!” I called as I pitched it to Season who continued to throw over to Ellyn.

  Benz grabbed it from her and applied it to the wound before giving me the thumbs up, before dread covered his face.

  I furrowed my brow in confusion. We both had been around long enough to know the web would get rid of the acid burn, though it was a temporary solution at least it was a good one until we killed the thing. Still, as he pointed I turned and noticed my mistake. The mass of web was covering a nest.

  Hundreds of little black spiders were crawling out. Little, about the size of your ankles of course. I reacted as best as I could as the first one climbed my leg and screamed with all my might. I kicked hard sending it flying off of me.

  There was no way I was doing this.

  I swung and swung, not really aiming my sword since it didn’t matter. There was something to hit, and if I hit hard enough I could hear the crunch of the exoskeleton.

  I don’t know if I ever stopped screaming while I fought, until Kip’s fire lit the area around me. Someone pulled me back and I swung at them, nearly hitting them before realising it was Benz.

  “It’s over.” He motioned to the spider, laying in a heap of blood and guts.

  I let myself crumble to the ground. “Just find the damn artifact,” I managed to say before shaking my head hard enough that it should have dislodged the image of all those spiders.

  It didn’t.

  Too many eyes, too many legs… the crunches rang through my ears. I could still feel them crawling on me despite the fact I knew they were gone now. The team destroyed them all.

  Someone plopped down next to me and I looked over to see Gretta sitting beside me. She shrugged as she waved the others away. “Go find the stupid artifact. My girl here needs a moment.”

  I wasn’t sure what to say in response. “I’ll be fine, you can go help.”

  “You are far from fine.” The fact didn’t make things any better. Gretta continued anyway. “I know it doesn’t help any, but I’m still here for you. I’m spider free, you’re spider free. We can look away from the carnage together in blissful peace.”

  I gave a small tired laugh. “I guess there is that.”

  “We’ll get you back. You can have a nice long hot bath and you’ll be good as new.” Gretta gave a friendly smile.

  A bath would help, but I doubt I would be anywhere near good as new.

  “I found something,” I heard Consta call out.

  Despite the direction the call came from, I turned to look, trying to ignore the guts, gore, and twitchy legs.

  Benz, Ellyn, and Season were swarming her now while Kip hung back frowning.

  Gretta noticed it as well. “What is it Kip?”

  “I just don’t get it. I thought there was only one spider out here. How does only one spider have the ability to lay eggs?” He stated.

  A chill ran down my spine.

  Gretta stood up and did a slow turn, looking up and down the entire area. “Don’t know, but I don’t see anything.”

  “Me neither, but still…” Kip sighed and called louder to the others. “We really should be going.”

  The group moved back toward us as my magic tingled. Quickly, I moved to my feet.

  “We need to move now,” I called, already moving back to the entrance.

  Gretta was at my side, and with the sounds of a dozen running feet I knew the others had heeded my words.

  “What’s going on?” Benz asked as soon as he was close enough again.

  “We killed one of the spiders. I did not know until it moved into range a moment ago but there’s two. We should pick up the pace.” I didn’t wait for a reply.

  The others easily mirrored me, not wanting to deal with another spider.

  I was done and ready to be out of this place, and started to push myself to move faster. None of these people were newbies, we had all gotten used to the run or die lifestyle here so I wasn’t about to feel bad for upping the pace.

  In fact, I felt pure joy as I skidded to a halt right before the entrance to the hedge garden. Freedom was just a hop, skip, and a mad dash across the yard.

  21

  Remi

  The floor was cold under me, and I cherished the feeling of the stone under my cheek. What happened? I tried to sit up and stumbled back, looking at my hands they moved from solid to transparent. I watched them change for several minutes before I snapped out of it. I needed to get up and move.

  But to where?

  I could have sworn Cane tripped me. While I didn’t have any actual proof, I knew I needed to go with my gut feeling on this. So, let them think I was dead. That was fine.

  How do I find the others though?

  Marella came to mind.

  On shaky legs, I pulled myself to my feet and stumbled out of the kitchen. Ahead I saw a small group of Hedgeish. The small squeaky hedgehog creatures were not a welcome sight. My bow wouldn’t summon, and I noticed I was transparent. Sighing, I didn’t know how to take what was going on. The souls stuck here were solid. I continued on, shaikly walking through a mess of confused creatures, and went on my way. They look as horrified as I was.

  I simply walked through them and I felt rather satisfied I could scare the creatures instead of them scaring me. I was surprised how tired I was for being incorporeal, but did my best to ignore the wave of sleepiness that threatened to push me into the ground.

  When I reached the puddle room, I more stumbled into it, falling to the ground instead of entering like a coherent person.

  “Oh no darling…” I felt Marella near my side but she quickly left and I heard the door shut. “We need to get you back to normal.”

  I tried to mumble something in reply, but my eyes refused to open, my body refused
to move.

  “It’ll just be a minute.” I felt her watery form lift me up and then we plunged under the water.

  After a few moments the water vanished around me and I was laid on something soft. This room felt cozy and warm, but my eyes still refused to open.

  “This will take a moment, but I know exactly the problem here.”

  I tried to say ‘that's good’, but nothing that resembled words came out.

  Marella started to sing in a language I did not recognise. As someone who grew up in a port town, I had heard plenty of accents and language but this one was more gritty, yet somehow she turned it smooth.

  The longer she sang, the stronger I felt, but the more I wanted to sleep. It was getting harder to retain consciousness and then…

  “There we go…” I could hear the smile on her lips.

  I found I could open my eyes finally and forced them open as I finally sat up. I was sitting on a cream colored sofa. All around me were plush chairs, sofas, and round tables. The entire perimeter of the room was lined with shelves of books.

  “Where am I?” I asked as I but I already remembered the answer. It had been a long time since I was here. “Oh… I really wish I remembered this place sooner.” I had been here so many times in my dreams, how could I forget?

  Marella smirked. “What’s done is done. You remember now and can rest. The others are set so no worrying about anyone but yourself.”

  That didn’t sound good. “What happened? Have I been gone that long?”

  Marella nodded. “What happened was your essence took too long to reform and rebuild. It has been about three days. The group of them have retrieved an artifact that can find all other artifacts. They are making headway on all the easy ones, and working their way out. You, my dear, rest. Soon, we have things to do.”

  I didn’t like the sound of it, but nodded. “I’m not surprised, but what do we need to do?”

  “You made a deal to revisit Estella. That must be taken care of first.”

  I frowned as I tried to dig up the memory. I shouldn’t have been surprised that the banshee-like library creature had a name. “I am still unsure what that’s about.”

  “You’ll find out, and that will help more than sending you off to find the others,” Marella said.

  “How do you know about that anyway?” I asked, rather confused.

  “Her name is Estella. She likes to rip off faces. We get along splendidly. She can travel through the floors but can only become solid on the third. She paid me a visit when you didn’t return.”

  I wasn’t sure I needed some of those details but I nodded along anyway, not wanting to argue with someone who gets along with another that rips off faces. “Okay, I will go there, but how can I protect myself? I can’t fight most of the things on that floor.” I had to admit the truth there.

  Marella sighed. “That is sadly true for the moment. We will use your weakness to our advantage.”

  “What is that and how?” There was at least a two page list of weaknesses so I couldn’t figure out which exactly she could mean.

  “I have stabilized you but it’s weak and temporary,” Marella explained. “Just picture yourself as you were on your way here. Feel the emptiness, bring it to the front.”

  “Oh, really like any other weird ability here.” I nodded my understanding. The less I thought into it the easier the magic seemed to work. After a deep breath I did exactly as she said and was once more incorporeal. Pulling the feelings of life around me once more I was stable flesh and bone. “Will that work even on the Agmon?” Now that was the real question. Those things were out for blood, er rather essence.

  “Yes, it will. I would ask Estella to escort you back down a level at least. Best not to wear yourself out too much. You may go.”

  I stared at her for a moment and sighed. I knew there was one puddle in the room and walked over to it. It wasn’t a straight shot back, but I had done this more than a million times as a young Dreamer. Now that I remembered it, I could do it in my sleep.

  Diving back into the water, I took the route I knew was true and quickly found myself back in the room with too many puddles. When this was over, I better have every last freaking memory back. This place would not defeat me.

  I felt tired, but at least I knew nothing could attack me. Setting off, I went to find Estella and see what was going on. She was an interesting spirit creature for sure. Whenever we got things solved, I hoped to understand how some were just mindless killers and how some actually seemed to have personalities and thoughts intact.

  The climb up to the third floor hurt my legs more than I was expecting. After running around for days you’d think my sorta dead self would have this down, but of course not. Ignoring the pain, I couldn’t help but wonder how one would purposefully find a creature when one isn’t actually with a Tracker. It might have been better to wait for Mare, but Marella had been insistent about coming up here.

  I felt Marella knew more about things than she was letting on, but there was nothing I could do about that until this was resolved. Tiredly, I made my way into the library where I last saw Estella and sank down into one of the chairs.

  If I had to guess, I would say she could sense someone was at least in here. I wasn’t sure if I needed to be corporal again or not for that to work. Willing myself to be solid again, I could feel a greater weight of exhaustion overcome me as my eyes threatened to shut. Would it be safe to sleep here?

  No, my luck would have it so a stupid Agmon would find me before I could do anything about it. With a sigh, I forced my eyes open, and pushed myself up. I needed to move if I were to stay awake.

  Forcing myself to move, I went to the endless shelves of books to glance around. I wasn’t expecting to find anything useful, but it was better than falling asleep and potentially dying. Again. I had no hopes to survive if I died in the current state I was in. If maintaining a physical body was this hard, I was certainly doomed anyway.

  As long as I could help the others solve as much of this problem as possible, it would be worth it. The only thing that would ensure my sister stood a chance of being safe was keeping those demon and angel creatures away.

  As I glanced through the shelves, I started to notice something. The books didn’t just have boring and useless titles, they had light magical energies to them. Instead of searching visually for something to look at, I closed my eyes and ran my hand along the spines until an energy stood out to me and grabbed the book.

  “Herbs for life…” I read the title aloud to myself before opening the book. “I’ll be damned.” The book wasn’t just about plant life around here, but the creatures most commonly around those plants and how to defeat them.

  I quickly started flipping through and reading about every creature I saw, taking in the best ways to incapacitate and kill them. This was exactly what I needed to study.

  “You’re late…” I felt a breeze on my neck as Estella’s voice suddenly sounded in my ears. It was soft and sinister, exactly what I imagined a vengeful spirit would sound like.

  Closing the book, I turned to look at her. “I accidentally died,” I replied honestly.

  Estella gave a knowing nod. “You’re worse for wear.”

  Shrugging, I didn’t know how else to respond. I probably looked two steps from death if not already in a grave.

  “Come, there’s something you need to see.” She offered her hand out to me. Her voice sounded softer now at least.

  This was still less strange than the sentiant fog trying to convince me of things, so I accepted her hand.

  I saw myself lose physical form again as she pulled me along, but didn’t say anything. It was less exhausting being essentially a ghost anyway. I let her pull me along, her body almost vanishing as we went up the stairs in the library to the fourth floor.

  I remembered Lydia saying there was an artifact here. I glanced at Estella as she gently tugged me along. “What is it I need to see?”

  Estella shook her head. “It’s�
�” She seemed puzzled as she tried to think of the right words. “There’s a tiara in the wall and it won’t come out.”

  Well, that was about right for this place. I gave her a nod. “That is something you probably don’t often see.”

  “It didn’t appear until shortly before you were looking at that floor. I think it came for one of you,” Estella continued on. “The others are not all worthy.”

  I nodded once more. “I agree, but how do you know?” I wondered what she could tell that wasn’t immediately obvious to the rest of us.

  She stopped and stared off into the distance. Time slowly ticked by as she thought of things I could only begin to guess at.

  Finally, Estella replied, “I am the last of my kind. There was an offer here, to help reap the souls here if I become tied to this place. Those souls trapped here cannot kill me, it’s too complicated for their minds. I learned how to avoid and maneuver around the rules and magics in place. As time stretched on, so does my memory. They cannot kill me so I remember all…”

  She glanced at me for a moment before looking once more off into the distance. “It’s dull here, so I observe them all. I see their deeds, their sins. Some have not grown at all since they came here.”

  I couldn’t judge her. If she could move and travel, why not take things in? With so many avoiding the upper levels… I would have likely done the same thing.

  “They cannot find this one.” Estella started walking again, leaving me to follow. “It comes and goes at random intervals. I think it knows it doesn’t want to be found by just anyone.”

  Nodding, I kept up until we reached the spot Lydia had mentioned at the far end of the fourth floor. Glancing around it struck me there wasn’t another way down. You had to come and go through the library.

  Estella motioned to the wall that was blank. “It’s here when it appears.”

  I could only nod. “When was the last time it appeared?”

  Estella shrugged. “We wait.”

  And so we did.

  At some point, I dozed off. I woke to Estella saying ‘it’s here’ over and over until I finally opened my eyes. Sure enough, it looked like a tiara had been molded into the wall. There was no way that thing was just going to be tugged out. Still, I willed myself to take form, feeling a rush of energy leave me as I did. The nap was enough to get me through that moment.