Connie looked around with shock on her face the moment we were all in the soul realm. “Whoa, this isn’t what I was expecting at all.”

  “Yeah, it’s kind of strange here. I don’t really understand it, and without Otis to give us more information, it’s going to be all guesswork,” I replied, spotting two new bridges off of the same hub as before.

  “I’ve read about similar System maintenance rooms, but the details are vague on exactly how they work,” Elody added.

  “I considered those too when I first saw the place. Wouldn’t be surprised at all if there are a few rooms at the top of the Spire that look pretty similar to this place. Which is all the more reason to worry about what this means for us. The big players are rarely happy when someone else gets to see their toys. I know this from experience,” Karlinovo replied, already heading for the new bridges.

  “Wait, what? Why didn’t you say that before?” I said, almost questioning how much the man knew that he wasn’t saying. But considering who he was, he had multiple lifetimes of experience with the strangeness of the Spiral. I hadn’t quite hit a year yet. What he knew that I didn’t would likely be a great deal of information for the foreseeable future.

  “I wasn’t entirely sure yet. I'm still not. Didn’t really think you needed another thing to worry about until we had more concrete information,” Karlinovo yelled back from across the first bridge.

  That was probably a good answer. With the amount of stressful mysteries occupying my mind at any given time these days, it was shocking that my anxiety hadn’t gotten out of control. “Yeah, that’s probably fair. Okay, we need to head to those two bridges out there. One of them will lead to a platform for Elody, and the other one for Connie. If I’ve got the strength after Connie’s, we can take care of Elody’s, though you might be able to do that without me. Chip did his own.”

  “What do we do on our platforms?” Elody asked as we followed Karlinovo.

  “So far, it’s been figuring out some kind of deeper meaning involving yourself. It’s been different for every person. But considering how developed the jester is within Connie, the hard part is likely going to be what comes after,” I answered, remembering how close the fight for the Twinoges had been. I didn’t want anything like that to happen again.

  “Is that supposed to be me?” Connie asked, pointing to a figure at the center of one of the new platforms.

  It was flickering between a Dwarven reflection of Connie and then something that looked like a jester with her hair and clothing. I suppressed a shudder as I tried to get a good look at it. Considering how much I disliked the body horror element of that second form, there was no way Connie was taking the sight well.

  “Yes, and this is likely all the more reason we need to get that thing out of you now,” I answered, turning my head to Chip and nodding at him to start the process. “As soon as the light show starts, that means Chip has gotten the bridge safe to cross. We’ll start the second we’re across.”

  “That is beautiful. Is it really Chip doing it?” Elody asked.

  “As far as I know. I don’t know if there is something special about Pumakeys at work here or if it's just our own bond, but he was able to do this before I soul-bonded him,” I replied as I quickly walked across the bridge.

  “Perhaps. I’ve already requested several books on his species from the Paladins of Conservation, but I have not received them yet…” Elody’s words were cut off as Connie’s horrifying mana reflection began to shriek.

  The sounds coming from it were equally ear splitting loud as they were terrible. It was a discordant assault on my entire being. Reality started to slip away as the sounds crashed against my skull unrelentingly.

  I fell forward, desperately trying to hold myself together as notifications from the soul chat poured in. Choking down my stomach’s attempt at emptying itself, I pulled up the chat window.

  I closed the chat, having barely managed to send the message. Using what little defense Apollyon was able to provide, I pushed my core energies across my shield orb, reinforcing it with soul energy as best I could. It helped.

  My body still felt like it was on the verge of being ripped apart, but I could stand, and that gave me the strength to put shields around everyone else. Only Apollyon and I were still on our feet. Unlike the others, who were moaning on the ground, Connie was moaning, floating in mid-air.

  My shield seemed to have halted her in some sort of transformation. Her face had started to meld into that of a jester’s. It was all I could do to keep the mana flowing to the shields. I couldn’t help her beyond that. I could only buy time until the other cores arrived.

  “Connie, fight it! Help is coming!” The words came out more like a bark than a yell, but as her face started to shift back to normal just slightly, I hoped it meant she had understood anyway.

  Beta

  Beta arrived at the house as quick as they could, and managed to catch Alpha and Gamma just before the two touched the soul anchor. The scene of the core’s manifested forms reaching out for it hit Beta with a crushing realization. They still couldn’t manifest. Would it work otherwise?

  They touched the soul anchor with their knife. Nothing happened. They moved closer and tried touching it directly on the socket where they were inserted into the knife. Still, nothing happened.

  Beta was worried. What if Dave needed their help in the soul realm? If they could just manifest like all the other cores, this wouldn’t be a problem. Why the hell couldn’t they?

  Their flaring anger was accompanied by a new chat notification. Beta quickly opened it, hoping the others were alright.

  The other cores needed Beta. Dave needed Beta. Everyone might all die without their help. The Empire would be lost. The Empire of Dave could not fall. Beta would not allow it.

  A new feeling swept through the core as the fear of losing their home surged deep inside themselves. The jesters were still here. This was the last of their intrusion into the place Beta had sworn to protect. The faces of the friends Beta had made here flashed through their thoughts as a sense of total responsibility overtook the feeling of failure.

  The floor groaned as a giant creature plopped from the air onto it. Several of the floorboards cracked under its weight. Beta had finally manifested. They touched the soul anchor, ready to answer their friends’ calls for help. They would end the final jester incursion.

  Dave

  “Alpha, just try to keep the soul reflection off of Connie. Gamma almost has my mana channels working correctly again,” I yelled. I wasn’t sure how true the claim was, but we needed Alpha focused. There was nothing they could do to help Corey otherwise.

  “Jester, you do not want to see the horrors of my mind. Stay out!” Apollyon’s roar of rage was loud enough to knock the soul reflection back several steps.

  Despite the small gain, we were still far behind. Everyone else was unconscious or worse, and Connie had started shifting back toward a jester. With Corey taking the brunt of the assault on me, I was having issues cycling my own mana channels, and it was only with the added help of Gamma that I was able to do anything again.

  Why the hell was the jester so powerful here anyway? One of the regular ones wouldn’t have been able to fight us all like this outside of the soul realm. So just what was going on here that we didn’t understand?

  “I am coming!” Beta’s voice screamed from the central platform as the sound of loud hooves colliding against hard stone filled the soul realm.

  I barely had time to register my confusion about what was happening before the form of a huge hippopotamus charged past me, ramming its head into the soul reflection. The force of the crash boomed out, entirely silencing the horrible noise that had forced its way into our heads. Beta had finally managed to manifest, and it was just in time.

  “Alpha, Beta, keep the thing quiet. Apollyon, control the thing in Connie’s head as best you can. Gamma, try to get the others up and fighting. I’m going to rip the soul knot out of Connie while we have a chance!” I yelled out the orders, my body now ready for the fight.

  I felt the healing magic surge from me as Gamma went to work. Chip was the first back onto his feet, and he began leaping about the others, trailing his own mana behind him as he went. He was pushing his abilities harder than I had ever seen him do before.

  Not willing to let the effort go to waste, I triggered soul detection and took a hard look at the knot inside of Connie. While I wasn’t sure what would happen when I took this out before we dealt with the soul reflection, I also didn’t think we had a choice anymore. The soul reflection could be handled after we saved her.

  Horrible music briefly started again, but was quickly silenced as Beta’s mouth closed around the soul reflection’s head. Alpha continued slamming into its chest, as Beta started to violently shake it. Ignoring what would happen if they ever did that to someone made of flesh, I forced my focus onto Connie.

  The blackened channels inside the Dwarf had gotten much worse in the brief time since I had last looked at her soul. There had been a radical growth of the parasite. Why had the soul reflection caused this?

  The answer to the question was purely academic at the moment. I doubted that information could do anything toward curing her. There was no longer a soul knot in Connie. There was only the form of a small jester connected now to both her soul and mana channels.

  “Apollyon, change of plans, help me force this platform under our control,” I yelled to the dungeon core. I wasn’t willing to rip it free anymore, at least not without the guided help of displaying her soul directly in the realm.

  Reaching out with my soul energy, I followed Apollyon’s lead. We both grabbed onto a small thread that connected the reflection to the platform and back into Connie. Suddenly, we were in a clash of wills. What was left of Connie was fighting as hard as she could against the jester and the soul reflection.

  Apollyon and I joined the fight on her side. As we both pushed against the invading force, I released my grip. Trying to catch it off guard, I instead grabbed the parasite’s invading will and yanked it straight out of Connie. A scream of pain erupted from her body as I felt the creature’s soul tear free into my control.

  Elody and the brothers were all up fighting against the soul reflection alongside the cores now. I couldn’t distract them, even with a need for help to destroy the monster that was quickly growing in my grasp. That meant trying something I wasn’t entirely comfortable with.

  First, I triggered soul drain, causing the parasite to bite deeply into my arm, as other parts of it tried to force their way into my channels. Gamma was working to stop it, but with Corey still down, they couldn’t do much. That left me to follow up with soul absorption.

  I channeled every bit of soul mana I could spare into the ability, ripping the creature apart faster than it could infect me. Its energy surged into my soul, only for me to push it right back out into my attack. Chip leaped onto the creature, rending the back of it before jumping onto me.

  With Chip’s added surge of mana, I channeled a blast of fire into what was left of the creature. The parasite crumbled to dust. Pushing aside the worry of what absorbing some of its soul energy could mean for later, I rushed to Connie.

  “Connie, can you hear me? The soul knot is gone, but we still need your help to get rid of the soul reflection. For whatever reason, it’s somehow infected too.” I started patching up her wounds as best I could while I spoke.

  She coughed as her eyes opened. “Dammit, Dave, everything hurts. What the hell did you do?”

  “Ripped part of you out of your body in a completely uncontrolled manner using soul energy. But we can focus on that later, right now, I need you to sing,” I replied, having an idea of how to stop this thing.

  “Seriously?” she replied, in more of a cough than a word.

  “Yes, anything at all will work, I think, but we need to stop the reflection.” I was starting to suspect soul reflections grew in strength based on how many presences were on the platform, but it still didn’t fully explain the jester infection in it.

  Connie, still coughing, pushed herself to her feet. My scans went wild with how badly she was torn up inside, but for the moment, we had her stabilized. She wouldn’t die on my watch.

  Chip left my shoulder, climbing gently onto Connie’s. The little guy looked exhausted, but he gave her what energy he could, and she used it. What started as a quiet hum rapidly built into a diva’s solo.

  Her voice held for less than a minute, but it was all it took. The reflection melted away with every new note. And finally, as her voice died, so vanished the reflection. Connie was cured of her soul knot and still alive, if only barely.

  Elody ran to us, her own healing magic joining mine as we worked to put the Dwarf back together. Her channels were a mess, but she had managed a performance, and that hopefully meant she would recover. And despite the effort this had all taken, I didn’t feel nearly as drained as I had last time.

  That thought was joined by a new System notification.

  Otis

  “There, I did it just as you asked. He’s got his own soul realm now. Why’d you want it anyway?” Otis asked the shadow floating in front of him. He had no idea what it actually was, but it had promised him a chance at seeing some of the spaces beyond what he had found, and that was enough for him to help some new faction play around in the soul plane.

  “Safety. Thank you, Otis. I owe you a debt greater than you understand,” the figure replied, its voice near monotone.

  “Yeah, well, it was interesting. I wasn’t lying to Dave when I said I had never watched a soul realm grow that early,” he replied. On the other hand, he had left out just how much he knew of the process.

  “Still, I thank you again. Meet me here in a year’s time, and I should have just the crack ready that you are looking for.”

  Sometimes, in the darkest moment, a musician can find that last bit of strength inside themselves for one desperate performance. If they can reach into their soul and force that energy out, channeling it into their music, the impossible becomes possible. I call this a soul dirge.

  I’ve personally used it twice in my life. Both times, I was sure the end was nigh, but it seemed my soul had other ideas. Sadly, despite the power that comes with it, I’ve found no way to control its manifestation. And from those few I have found who have done something similar, neither have they. Perhaps it is tied to a force greater than any of us. Or perhaps it is the last-ditch effort of our souls to cling to life. Or just maybe it’s an attempt to witness one last act of beauty before we die.

  A History of Music in the Spiral by Emwood Greens

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