Spirit's Lullaby

by J E Mueller

  We met halfway.

  “Where did you go?” Lydia asked, just as concerned as I had envisioned.

  “I wandered farther than I had realized,” I replied honestly. “Then I found an abandoned graveyard.”

  Lydia looked surprised for a moment before something clicked. “Oh, right. We must be near old Little Brook. Disease wiped most of it out some time ago and the survivors relocated. I know some Blessed that won’t go near there. They claim it’s haunted.”

  “That would be cool to see,” I replied, kind of excited. “If... no when. When we get this crossing thing fixed I could easily fix that.” I nodded approvingly at the thought.

  Lydia laughed. “It’s probably just stories, but that would be cool.” She lead the way back to our small camp and the horses.

  “I did run into Marella again,” I said. There was no use not mentioning it.

  “I thought she just hung around our hometown graveyard.” Lydia glanced at me, confused, but kept walking. “What on earth would she even want?”

  “To warn, me actually,” I replied as I relayed the facts. “She confirmed that demons are hunting anyone with my gift very actively right now. If they were to catch wind of it, I’d be an instant target.”

  “How would they catch wind of you? It’s not like they see wandering spirits. Do they?” Lydia looked at me for answers.

  “From what I read, angels and demons can only see a soul as it leaves the body. If it gets stuck in limbo they are none the wiser,” I replied. “Really, I can’t think of how they’d know. There’s no easy way.”

  “Good.” Lydia took my hand in hers. “One less thing to worry about, though I guess the warning is appreciated. However weird the source is.”

  I nodded. Marella had given me a lot more information than usual. She had been born on that side. I couldn’t imagine what that life and upbringing would even be like or how she had become what seemed like a fairly decent being.

  When we reached the meetup place the other group was already setting up camp. The trio nodded towards Lydia but gave me a curious look. One I was used to. The Blessed could sense one another with little issue, so in moments like this I stood out like a sore thumb. It had stopped bothering me some time ago, though. I dismounted my horse and went about getting her ready to be brushed down while Lydia did the chatting.

  “Lydia, well met!” the guy closest to her called as she walked up to them.

  “Ryan, it’s been some time. I heard we were meeting two people.” She nodded towards the two behind him. “Guess something changed?”

  Ryan had a scar across his cheek, but aside from that he looked like any other twenty-something. He had brown hair, brown eyes, and travel-worn clothes with the standard guild cloak thrown over them. The black lily that was normally sewn onto the sleeve was instead gray. Was that the only difference in the factions? A simple color change? I’d have to ask later.

  “About that.” Ryan nodded towards his comrades. “Ryan Bennett over there was on his way elsewhere, but demons overran his crew. So, he’s with us until this is over.”

  “Two Ryans?” Lydia scoffed. “One of you is bad enough.”

  “Hey!” the other Ryan called. “Not fair. I’m worlds different. I mean, just look, his face was beaten with an ugly stick and I got the looks of a god.” He stood tall and proud.

  While he did look better than average, it was still the same brown hair, brown eyes, and way too much arrogance for me to do more than roll my eyes.

  “Whatever. You’re going to be Bennett until this is done,” Lydia decided. Without another word to the slightly insulted demon slayer, she turned toward the girl in the group. “Sorry you’re stuck with this lot.”

  “Depending on the night I am too,” she agreed as she went to shake Lyda’s hand. “Liza.”

  “Pleasure. Please tell me aside from Bennett’s mishap there hasn’t been much in the way of demons,” Lydia asked curiously.

  Liza moved her dark hair out of her face. Her braid was nearly falling out. “Well, there aren’t as many now. We took down plenty. Now they’re just ashes.” Her tone was neutral.

  Lydia and her locked eyes for a moment. “That bad?”

  Liza nodded. “We haven’t cleaned up scum in this area in a while. Maybe five or six months? It shouldn’t be a surprise.”

  “It’s not.” Lydia gave a reluctant sigh. “I was just trying to be optimistic. We had a less than exciting journey here so I thought maybe it wouldn’t be so bad.”

  “That’s lucky,” Ryan stated, a bit surprised. “I would have thought you’d have hit a few on the way. Didn’t you pass by Little Brook?”

  “Yes.” Lydia nodded firmly. “No trouble whatsoever.”

  I watched her carefully. I knew Lydia didn’t trust Marella ever since I had told her about her more or less demonic origins, but it seemed she wasn’t interested in mentioning her at all. Maybe Lydia was waiting for more information as much as I was.

  “Now that is a surprise,” Liza said, genuinely amazed by the idea. “Someone always has trouble near there. Abandoned areas are always breeding grounds for fear.”

  “Last group I know took down eight,” Bennett agreed.

  “I think Mara’s taken down twelve once near there,” Ryan considered.

  As they bantered about the demon hot spots in the area, I thought about our journey. It had been dull. Usually, we’d run into at least two or three demons on any adventure no matter how short. Could Marella have had something to do with it? No. That wouldn’t make sense. If she was hiding out, why would she slay her own kind? Or maybe she could ward them off by some other means. There was too little I knew about her. We had spent years and years talking, and I felt I couldn’t even write a page about her.

  “So can your friend over there even fight?” Ryan asked.

  I hadn’t been paying attention to their conversation and wasn’t sure how it had turned over to me. No matter, Lydia was already ready with a reply.

  “Better than you, no doubt,” she said without hesitation.

  “Yeah?” Ryan snorted. “She’s not even Blessed.”

  I chuckled. “It’s going to be such a shame when I show you up without that fancy angel magic.” I moved to get Lydia’s horse brushed down.

  “Yeah, right,” Ryan scoffed. “Holding a sword isn’t the same as truly slaying demons.”

  Suddenly, I was behind him and tapped on his shoulder. He jumped three feet and almost fell over Lydia who was laughing too hard to care.

  “Oh, I’m sorry. Were you expecting a slow comeback?” I snickered.

  “How did you move like that?” Liza asked, awestruck.

  “My normal magic lets me move as fast as a demon.” I smiled sweetly. “It’s not a terribly uncommon gift, and it’s tremendously useful in a fight.”

  “Nice.” Liza gave an approving nod.

  “That doesn’t mean she can slay a demon,” Ryan said, having dusted himself off.

  “Now, now, be nice. It isn’t fun to judge a book by it’s cover now is it?” I said, casually walking back to the horses. “I am one of those people who can wield Blessed weapons. That’s plenty common enough. The enchantments may not last terribly long, but it’s more than enough for a fight.”

  “Fine.” Ryan waved me off. “Let’s just get this camp set up already.”

  I chuckled to myself as I continued my task. Among the Blessed it was known that non-Blessed could wield specially enchanted weapons, but not always. There wasn’t a sure-fire way to tell if a normal mortal would be able to use one or not, but most believed it had to do with how sinful a person was. Angels refused to explain one way or another, so the theory stuck. The only exception were the Cursed born, who sadly just had the ill luck of only having half a soul. They were never able to use one as long as a curse remained.

  I did find that the enchantments didn’t last as long for me as for anyone else. My working theory was that it was because of my speed magic. I was moving, blocking, and hitting at
a much quicker rate than an average person could. Luck would be on my side with this battle, though. Thanks to Auntie Juni’s runestones I could easily have a shield if I ran out of Blessed enchantment magic. I would need to pocket them correctly before the fight just in case. While I hadn’t thought things would go bad originally, the more unease everyone spoke with, the more concerned I grew. Lydia had assured me hardly anyone ever died and yet… Everyone seemed to be nervous.

  The standard Blessed bravado would always come back quickly. As we got the camp ready, and the protection perimeter was set, Liza struck up a song. I had no idea how Lydia seemed to know every last song ever brought up, but she joined right in. Half a verse later so did Ryan, and in short order, Benett seemed to reluctantly get pulled in too. I listened to the words and tried to set them to memory, but I felt distracted.

  My mind drifted back to Marella. Was she trying to and protect me? Why would she do such a thing? There seemed to be something bigger that she had full knowledge of but was unwilling to explain just yet. After this I’d need to track her down and have a serious conversation with her. I wondered if it would be as easy as meandering over to the nearest graveyard. She seemed to pop up there without fail. Did Marella like graveyards? Or was it because I tended to end up in them alone? Too much to wonder, I shoved the thoughts aside. I would get answers, just not this night.

  Instead, there was a light dinner with some plotting and planning for the short journey ahead and then gossip between the Black and Gray Violets. Hilarious blunders and boastful accomplishments surrounded the campfire. I was much too happy to call it a night, though. With all the recent warnings, it seemed a good night's sleep would be very much needed.

  Chapter 9

  Morning came too fast. My head spun for a moment as I considered all that had happened recently. It had started with basic demon hunting while I tried to find answers about my gifts and then quickly turned to nonsense. On the other hand, waking up wrapped in my girlfriend's arms was a plus and I did have some answers. I just had no time to fully read them and kept them tucked away in my pocket while we prepared for large scale demon extermination. I didn’t know what was more unreal at this point – having a demon warn me of a possible threat, or having a magical chest of books.

  I carefully untangled myself and tried to get up before I was pulled back down.

  “It’s too early to be up,” Lydia grumbled at me, her voice barely above a whisper.

  “You say that every day,” I muttered back. I shook my head at her. “Get up, you potato.”

  She grumbled some more. “And every day I’m right.” She insisted trying to pull me back down.

  “Come on. You can’t be a vegetable all day,” I insisted, breaking free from her grasp.

  “Hmpfh,” she muttered. “At least potatoes are loved for who they are.” Slowly Lydia sat up and stretched out.

  “You’re loved for who you are.” I rolled my eyes. “Even non-morning people need to get up, though.”

  “Eventually. Not at the break of dawn,” she replied, glaring mildly before turning to get ready for the day.

  There was silence for a moment.

  “I had a dream,” Lydia suddenly announced.

  Her tone surprised me, and I glanced at her as I finished dressing. “And?”

  Lydia shrugged as she pulled things from her bag. “It was confusing. I don’t know what it was supposed to mean but…” She made a vague motion with her hands as she talked. “We were running, and we knew the place we needed to go was just up ahead. Just out of sight. For whatever reason, you were staying the same speed as me, but then…” Lydia looked at me, lost for words. “You hit some sort of barrier. I was able to continue on ahead but try as you might, you couldn’t go with me. I knew I had to get you through it, but I can’t remember why.”

  “That is a weird dream,” I said as I began to pack everything away.

  “Normally my dreams are about battles or nonsense. This one felt different.” Lydia looked at me, uncertainty was in her eyes and how she held herself. “Could something have affected my dreams?”

  “Yes,” I replied simply as I tried to consider what could have happened. “Really, anything can. Angels, demons, spirits. They can’t control the direction of the dream, just send out an influence. You know that.”

  Lydia gave another shrug, still uncertain. “I’ve heard such things. Magic is strange, and so many things have been exaggerated. Do you think that it’s true?”

  “I do.”

  With a nod, Lydia took a deep breath and started getting things together at a quicker pace. “Then something wants me to make sure you get somewhere. But where? Why?”

  It was my turn to shrug. “I haven’t a clue, but if I had to guess, it sounds like whatever we’re running from or to is important, and as much as you want to me to be there, you have to accept I can’t get there.”

  “Psh,” Lydia snorted. “What could possibly create a barrier that I could pass through but you could not?”

  “Not a clue. It could just be a dream,” I pointed out.

  “We’ll go with that. That actually makes sense,” Lydia agreed.

  It didn’t take us long to set out. As we traveled I got to hear more about our destination. Since this place had become a hotspot for demons it was heavily warped and ruined. Parts were spliced from the realm below us, leaving the area not only in havoc, but also a wasteland with a nontypical climate. Instead of a land with a cooler temperature, it was more tropical. The heat and humidity made for the perfect environment for plants that sounded and looked like they could be demons themselves.

  “The black bat-flowers are probably my favorite,” Ryan commented.

  “No, those things creep me out too much.” Liza shook her head. “Dangling fruit shouldn’t look like bats.”

  “Come on, the octopus stinkhorn is way worse.” Lydia laughed. “It looks like bloody tentacles coming out of the ground, just waiting… plotting to latch onto your ankle the second you get too close!”

  “Add a little bit more of a coal-like appearance and it’s a demon,” Liza replied nonchalantly before tossing in her favorite-least favorite plant. “No, the doll’s eyes are creepier than that.”

  “Where are we going again?” I asked, unsure if we were demon hunting or walking into a horror story.

  “Oh, you know, just the place where walking by bushes causes those prickly devil's claws to stick to your clothes.” Bennett laughed. “I swear you get close enough to see them and suddenly a dozen are already on you.”

  “And some of these are from the other realm?” I asked curiously. When I had been there it was mostly ash, dirt, barren bushes, and some evergreens that were looking pretty shabby.

  “Yep.” Lydia sighed. “Those things grow abundantly right in this spot in the other realm, so with how weak the realms are in that spot, and plants being their own things, some have slowly crossed over. Give it a few years and they’ll happily spreading out of their own accord until they reach the spots here where the climate is its normal cool self.”

  “Is there a way to make these spots stronger so less crossover is possible?” I asked curiously.

  “Slay all the demons,” everyone replied at once.

  “Oh.” It was a simple answer, and yet, I was sure it would be much more difficult than that. “So, since my simpleton knowledge here isn’t helping… How come this hasn’t happened? You’ve been at it forever from the sounds of it.”

  Liza chimed in right away. “We slay a large amount and leave because if we slay too many it entices the bigger demons to come fight. The more of them we manage to kill, the more bigger demons we attract. We’d need more angel help, and the more powerful Light Warriors in order to take down those demons and then we’re back to having that terrible unbalance that could quickly and easily destroy the world we live on.”

  “That really stinks. I wish there was a way to really fight back without the possibility of messing up the balance,” I replied, not liking the
added knowledge.

  Lydia nodded, her sad eyes agreeing with me. “It wouldn’t be terrible if the angels could power through and get down a realm, but they’re weaker than demons on that level, and visa versa. This is the only realm where they are at even footing.”

  “And we’re stuck in the middle while they use us to duke it out,” I mumbled.

  “I wouldn’t say ‘use us’. We did agree to this willingly,” Ryan argued.

  “It’s for the greater good. Angels come through with their promises,” Bennett agreed. “And they don’t make us kill someone to get there.”

  While they launched into a discussion about contracts, I noticed the varying plants they had mentioned before slowly appear around us. At first, it was just one here and there, but the temperature quickly warmed and more strange plants sprouted around us. I shrugged off my cloak as I took in the odd plants and tried to make sense of the sudden humidity. My clothes were starting to stick to my skin, and not for the first time, I wondered what I was getting myself into.

  Slay some demons. Go home. I prayed it would be that simple.

  After another half hour of riding, we came across the main encampment. Out of sight, I could hear the clash of swords and the sounds of fighting. As we entered the ring of tents a tingle went through me and I knew we had passed through the barrier that prevented demons from sneaking up on us.

  As we reached the center, a person approached us. She was short, with dark hair pulled into a tight bun. Her face spoke a combination of business and pain – likely from the break in her leg that a makeshift cast was hiding.

  Lydia quickly jumped down to help her.

  “It’ll pass,” the person said as she shook her head.

  “What?” Lydia looked confused and then something clicked. “Oh, venom?”

  “Sadly.” She nodded in response before pointing out a few tents a short distance away. “Those are free. Drop your gear and get going.”