I watched as the sound waves left my bass. I was suddenly with them, moving among them, and just seeing myself in this position changed the way I played.
My eyes closed, I let my hand do the work as I dropped into a sweet groove that Iris almost instantaneously picked up on. I kept my eyes closed, just letting the music take over, merging with the sound as I swayed back and forth, occasionally adjusting some of the effects on my pane of vision.
Iris strummed a long, thick, beautiful tone that fit perfectly in the grooves between the soundwaves. I opened my eyes again and saw that everything I'd seen with my eyes closed was still there: the soundwaves, the electric auras of each person in the crowd as they got in tune with the music we were playing.
Nodding my head up and down, I started to adjust my groove, really feel it, dip into it, and it was at just about that point that Dalton strutted out onto the stage.
He started beatboxing along with the groove we were playing, adding in a few oohs and aahs as he pumped his shoulders up and down.
“The Alpha Duooo, the Alpha Duooo, you got one, you got two, you got a…”
We stopped playing.
“Alpha Duo,” he whispered just as we cut back in.
The crowd clapped as we continued to play.
Now at the center of the stage, Dalton introduced himself. “I’m the one, the only, the meaningful, the sound, the color, the love, the feeling, the wave, crashing down, crashing down, crashing dowwwwnnn. Crashing down, crashing down, crashing dowwwwnnn.”
With that he melted into nothing and returned, snapping his fingers to the music as his body rose from the stage.
He was a stellar front man, and as we continued playing, watching the soundwaves all around us, I became more in tune with our environment. I felt a sense of happiness that I only felt in this place, on stage, the music all around me, within me and without me.
( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
“Damn that was a fun gig,” I told Iris after we logged out. It had been hard to leave, but I had been in EverLife all day and felt like returning to my own world. Or rather, to Iris' place, as we were still in her studio apartment.
“And now we have a gig tomorrow in Kingdom Sana,” she said, both of our visors still over our faces.
“Definitely, two birds with one stone.” I remembered promising Aya and Lady C. that we would go to the outlet mall there.
“It's pretty awesome that Dalton was able to get us some other gigs. We have another one in Kingdom Ignis in a few days too. I hope he doesn't expect us to play every night though, a girl’s got to rest.”
I laughed as the NV Visor powered down.
My eyes still closed, I just sat there for a moment next to Iris, feeling her body next to me. I should have realized it earlier, but I was so busy watching the sine waves disappear on the inside pane of my NV Visor that I hadn't noticed we were holding hands.
My first reaction was to take my hand away, but all I ended up doing was tensing it a little bit, which caused her to squeeze my hand in return.
“I don't know if we should be hitting his hookah next time,” Iris said. “It was cool and all seeing the music play out before me, but I don't know if I could do that every time. I noticed that we were looser, that was for sure, but I don't know, it was just kind of distracting.”
“Definitely distracting,” I said as I took off my visor and turned to her. She was looking at me, and as soon as our eyes met, she turned to fully face me.
“It was cool seeing all the colors though, I will say that,” she said.
All the colors, I thought as I stared into her eyes. Her glasses were off, and a few strands of her blonde hair had fallen into her face. Her cheeks were rosy red, and there was a slight paleness to her lips.
The colors...
I felt goosebumps sprinkle across my arms. “Iris...”
“What is it?”
“The colors ...the sun over EverLife ...the music.”
She gasped. “You don't think?”
The revelation had struck me so hard that I was finding it difficult to say the next words. “What note is the color red?”
Iris sat up, both hands over her mouth as she began searching for information over GoogleFace.
I was too excited to perform an adequate search. I knew she was better at it anyway, so all I could do was sit there next to her, picking at my nails as Iris did her thing.
“It’s chakra-based? Notes correspond to colors. How didn’t anyone know that?”
“What do you mean? Chakras?”
“The chakras,” Iris explained. “Chakras are focal points on the subtle body, part of the Hindu belief system, you know, chakras.”
She touched the center of her chest.
“I’ve heard of them, but what does that have to do with the Steeple?”
“Each chakra, and there are seven of them, relate to a certain color. Each of those colors is related to a certain musical note. The base color, red, is activated by vibrations through C major. The next color, orange, D major; yellow, E major; green, F major; blue, G major; indigo, A major; and violet, B major. In other words, each color is said to rest within the vibrations of these notes.”
“And if we play these notes, we will be able to get to the top of the Steeple,” I said, finishing her thought.
“It has to be it, it has to be it!”
“We have got to try it right now,” I told her. “You ready to log back in?”
“Just let me use the restroom and brush my teeth; I have a feeling it's going to be a long night.”
“You're not the only one,” I told her. “And I’m next in the bathroom.”
“This is so exciting!”
( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
Once we performed our very worldly duties, Iris and I logged back in to EverLife.
“Aya! Lady C.!” I cried out as soon as our avatars took shape at our Dojo. I put my fingers in my mouth for the lightning horses.
Lady C. ran out of her cabin, full battle armor equipped with both swords at the ready. “What is it?” she asked, confusion trailing across her face as she glanced around.
“We've got to go, now.”
Rather than call Aya's name again, I ran to her door and began beating on it.
Much to my surprise, Altsoba answered; even more shocking was the fact that she was shirtless and had taken a form that was the splitting image of me, only with muscles and without glasses.
Her dark skin quickly boiled over, returning the shifter to her base form. “I thought you'd like that.”
“How long have you been roleplaying as a stronger-looking version of me?”
The door slammed shut, likely by Aya’s ghost limbs.
I took a few steps back, and the Thulean stormed out seconds later, an embarrassed look on her face.
“I don't want you telling anyone what you saw there,” she said to me, grabbing me by the front of my shirt.
“Do you normally have her turn into a stronger version of me? I'm still asking this question, I know, but she didn't answer.”
“It is my private life, Chase! And it's none of your business what I have her do, or what I do to her when she is in your body.”
“Hey, no judgment here.”
Aya's orange eyes softened. “I've told you before, you're not my type.”
“But apparently, with a few adjustments, I could be your type.”
“Watch it, and what is the meaning of this anyway?”
The lightning horses landed behind me, Iris and Lady C. quickly mounting up.
“I think we know the secret of EverLife,” I told her.
“The secret of EverLife?”
“Yes! Iris and I may have cracked the secret that will let us in. We have to go to the Steeple now, which is why we're here.”
“In that case,” she said, “I will get ready. And keep what you saw to yourself.”
“Will do.”
It took a little while for us to get to the Steeple.
Rather than hi
t the normal lane we took to get to the center of Kingdom Lune, we made a beeline to the great beacon in the distance, traveling over other Dojos, parks, and a few smaller city shopping areas.
The sun was violet, and as we grew closer to the structure, I saw that it was in its most organic order, Roy G. Biv.
Red on bottom, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet, corresponding to the musical notes: C, D, E, F, G, A, B.
It has to work, I thought as we began our descent toward the Steeple. Hope welled inside my chest, and even though I knew I could just as easily be disappointed, I wasn’t able to swallow it down.
We landed, and the first thing I noticed was that no one was around.
The guards were still stationed out front, but they looked to be asleep, and I confirmed this by walking over to one and snapping my fingers in front of his face.
“Why isn't anyone here?” I asked Iris.
I recalled how many people we’d seen the last time we visited, which was, from what I could remember, around midday.
Does it really just shut down at night?
“I don't know, but the quicker we test this out, the better,” she finally said.
Iris and I equipped our instruments, and I instinctively checked the tuning.
With Lady C. to our right, and Aya to our left, Iris and I stopped in front of the red door, exchanged glances, and started riffing in C Major.
She strummed slowly, and I grooved along, a running C Major bassline, nodding my head up and down as I got into the pocket.
The red door before us started to shake.
We stopped, Lady C. gasped, and Iris and I started up again.
The guards around the door did not respond, and I realized then that maybe these guards weren't even there to guard the door, just as a show of unity for the kingdoms.
And even as the red door shook, I continued to keep a watchful eye on the guards to see if they would acknowledge the fact that we were playing our instruments.
Once I realize they wouldn't be responding, I focused on the music, moving up the C Major scale as the door broke free from its hinges, shattering into a glistening red goo that seeped toward us and stopped at our feet.
“In the name of the Empress,” Aya said.
“Let's go in,” Iris said as she led the way.
She was the first to breach the barrier and make it inside, followed by me, Lady C., and finally Aya.
The second that we were all in the structure, the red liquid rose off the ground and reformed into a door behind us. For a moment I thought we were locked in, but when I turned and played a C, I saw the door begin to quiver again.
“We’re good,” I told Iris. “We can still get out.”
My bass at my side, I took a look around the room and noticed that it was actually a hallway that spiraled around the Steeple.
The air inside the place was filled with sparkling glitter, a fine dust even. I turned to the right, ready to keep moving.
“Follow me,” I whispered.
There was something about the space to be revered, a feeling I'd only experience when entering one of the older churches in Manhattan.
This was a holy place, and I wasn’t the only one feeling its power.
Aya, who couldn't seem to go a few minutes without teasing someone or making a quip, mumbled something in Thulean as we walked.
I assumed it was a prayer, but it could have been anything.
For her part, Lady C. was also saying something, her words a foreign tongue as well.
They weren't real in the sense that I was real, yet they had their own language, history and culture. Every day that passed with the Huntresses by my side made me question my own humanity, the humanity of those who called New York and the planet Earth their home.
They are vibrations too, I thought as we reach the next level. Everything is a vibration.
The door before us glowed orange, and as we had done on the bottom floor, Iris and I started a freestyle jam in the key of D major.
D major had a different vibe from that of C major, a different feel to its major scale.
And we went with it, Iris adding a layered effect to her ukulele sound, while I used an octave effect that added a high note to every low note that I played.
As soundwaves bounced around us, I saw Aya and Lady C. stand off to the side, both their eyes closed, another one of those spiritual moments that I would never forget.
With the orange door mush beneath our feet, we continued forward.
We kept to the right, spiraling around the Steeple until we reached the next barrier, a blazing yellow door that created coronas of light on my pane of vision as I looked at it.
E major poured out of our instruments, this one a slow yet poppy jam that had me bobbing my head almost immediately.
It was a fun groove, and I was sad to leave it when the yellow door melted away and we were allowed into the next hallway.
The vibrations in this next hallway were tangible, heavy, the air musty and sparkling. Aya sneezed, apologized, and kept to the back of the group as we made our way up the spiral stairs to the next door, the green door.
Green is life.
That was the only thing I could think of as I started up a faster melody in the key of F. Rather than strum her ukulele this time, Iris picked up my tune and played it simultaneously with me, strengthening the sound.
It wasn't long before this door filtered away and we entered into the next hallway. Each hallway was smaller, and our trip to the next floor was becoming shorter.
We reached the blue door in a matter of moments, and sunk into a melody in the key of G.
There was always a soulful feeling when playing in G, maybe because it had all the same notes as C major, aside from the F sharp.
And similar to C, it had a warm hiss to it, a familiarity. As the door opened, Iris and I continued playing for a moment, just enjoying the space.
“Let’s go,” Lady C. whispered, a hand on my shoulder.
“Yeah,” I said, letting the soulful tune twist to its natural end.
We found an absolutely stunning indigo door on the next floor. Something about it reminded me of the sea, the area just between a coral reef and the top of the waves. Some light, but darkness settling in, a peaceful, relaxing place that held mystery and danger.
Iris started the next tune, and it was absolutely magical.
Her eyes were closed now, and as she continued playing in A major, her notes matched the majesty of the indigo hues shining from the door.
The door opened, and we both stopped.
“This is it,” I told Lady C. and Aya. “The final door.”
“I'm almost too excited to talk,” Iris said, her voice barely squeaking out of her mouth.
“Let's just get to the top and see what's there.”
The air was thick in the final chamber and as we made our way to the final door, the violet door, I began to feel a little light-headed.
The violet color of the door sparked and whirred, a million galaxies twisting together.
I started to play to this galaxy, and it was a little bit harder to play because B major was difficult to get right.
But Iris and I eventually found a strange tune using distortion feedback and stacked effects.
The purple door opened, the four of us exchanged glances, and Iris was the first to enter.
( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
The room was entirely white, a blinding white, lit by the white panels on the walls. It was a small room, no larger than my bedroom back in Bushwick, and all sounds were dampened as soon as we stopped into the middle of the strange space.
I felt like we were in a vacuum, and there was no smell associated with the place, not even the musky smell I’d noticed in the hallway leading up to the room. I opened my mouth to speak to Iris, and no sound came out.
We relied on gestures from that point forward.
Iris pointed around the room in a way that indicated we should check it out.
Aya’s g
esture indicated that there was nothing to check out, and Lady C. simply held back, her look a mixture of curiosity and fear.
I walked to one of the walls and placed my hand on the backlit panel.
Hello? I thought aloud, wondering if there was a telepathic component to all this.
One glance at Aya and I saw that her hand was on the hilt of her buster sword, her stance indicating she was ready to move into action at a moment’s notice.
Well? I gestured.
Iris looked to me and shrugged, the whiteness of the room playing out across the lenses of her glasses.
I moved to the far corner of the room, touched the wall, and smoothed my palm against it. I knocked on it; again, no sound.
Iris sat down in the middle of the room, her legs crossed under her body. She stared at the ceiling, squinting as she looked for any edges or anything else that would offer up a clue.
Lady C., who still had a look of apprehension on her face, moved to the opposite side of the room as me and drew one of her swords. She cast her flame on it, and as she did, it quickly fizzled out.
I brought my bass up and played a note, noticing that it too made no sound.
This is it? I thought as I made my way to her side. Since the birth of EverLife, people had been trying to get into this room. And when a few finally did…
Nothing.
Disappointed, I’d turned back to the door when a prompt flashed across my pane of vision.
Iris and I locked eyes and we both scrambled to the exit.
The door had never completely sealed, which made it easy to get back to the hallway. As soon as we were out, the sound returned to our ears.
“What’s going on?” Aya asked, catching up to us.
“We have to get back to the Dojo, now!” I said as I took to the stairs.
“Can’t we port back…” Iris lifted her finger. “Nope. Shoot, we’ve got to go.”
“We have to make our way back down?” Lady C. asked, her sword resheathed at her side.
“Yes, and we need to hurry!”
“Hey, you never answered my question,” Aya called out to me as we ran down the stairs. We got to the next door and I struck a loud A major chord, which Iris then peppered with some fast picking.
Monster Hunt NYC 2 Page 24
