The Sound of Stars

-Gray-

I didn’t really know how to play an instrument.

That was fine, since this was all an illusion.

The stage around me, the instruments fit for a rock band. All an illusion placed on the highest point of the city, a location that can have sound encompass the entire city. And that’s not talking about the dozens of speaker stones placed, with the largest beneath my feet, where my illusory mic was currently sticking out of.

If everything went right, the king would have used his blessing of sound to serve as the mic. Instead, I’m using him as a speaker.

Half a dozen spiders hung around awkwardly, placing webs to both decorate and protect me from the horde of golems I could already hear marching through the tunnels towards me.

Benefits of using a kingdom-wide speaker, huh? Even those you’re hiding from can hear you.

“Are you sure this will work?” One spider asked, noticing how I hesitated with my hand on the guitar.

I didn’t need to know how to play, since the illusion will play for me, but I still needed to know a song.

And I didn’t really listen to music much in my old life. The songs I did, I didn’t know well enough to replicate with magic. Especially with how spotty my memory of those times was…

But, there was one memory that always stuck with me. A song that my mother sang to me when I had trouble sleeping.

“Twinkle, twinkle, little star, how I wonder what you are. Up above the world so high, like a diamond in the sky. Twinkle, twinkle, little star, how I wonder what you are.”

My song echoed through the mountain, accompanied by a simple repetition of notes.

Maybe it was stupid, but this song was at the core of my heart.

“When the blazing sun is set, and the grass with dew is wet. Then you show your little light, twinkle, twinkle all the night. Twinkle, twinkle, little star, how I wonder what you are.”

Shadows flew from the palace, moving towards me with a vengeance. The spiders wouldn’t be able to stop it, and I didn’t have enough magic to risk a fight with Shaddy, so I kept playing.

“Then the traveler in the dark thanks you for your tiny spark. How could he see where to go if you did not twinkle so? Twinkle, Twinkle, little star, how I wonder what you are.”

Shaddy seemed to take particular irritation at that, as throwing knives came at me from a dozen directions and a hundred shadows, but the thin webs of the spiders caught them.

“As your bright and tiny spark lights the traveler in the dark, though I know not what you are, twinkle, twinkle, little star. Twinkle, twinkle, little star, how I wonder what you are.”

On the final strum of the guitar, the note seemed to resonate louder, harder, and music notes formed into existence in front of me, spinning into a circle, and the last note played loudly in front of me, ripping Shaddy out of the shadows, as he clutched his ears in pain.

When the sound stopped, the notes didn’t go away. Instead, the sigil of sound magic stayed in front of my guitar, while smaller ones formed around my fingers like rings, guiding my hand to the notes as I began to repeat my song.

It didn’t feel like the oppressing sensations of Blood or Shadows’ domains, but instead like a loving caress by Sound. A parent patiently guiding their child through playing a guitar.

This time, it sounded better. Like I was playing the wrong notes to the wrong tempo, but now the song was perfect. The guitar didn’t feel like an illusion anymore.

Shaddy forced himself to his feet, staring me down through his hood, his new shadowy arm writhing under the lights of my illusionary stage. He was yelling something, but I couldn’t hear it over the music.

I wasn’t scared though, as he approached. His back was to the palace, so he couldn’t see the flash of lightning in the distance.

A moment later, he did hear the bang as Fulgora’s fist emerged through his torso, followed by lightning writhing through his body. I gave another strum of my guitar, and a sonic wave blasted him off the building, leaving just the remaining thieves finding themselves forced out of the shadows by my sonic blasts or Fulgora’s lightning.

It was definitely risky giving Shaddy a chance of escaping, but judging by the silver eye following him through the shadows… I didn’t think Shaddy was a concern for much longer.

“How’re you doing?!” Fulgora yelled to me over the music, a maniac grin on her face as she began to time her thunder-cracks to the song’s beat. “We were worried about you! And you’ve got some new friends!” She didn’t give the spiders a second glance. Her lightning was burning through webs, but as soon as she was aware of them, she began flipping and zipping through the air, dodging each and every thread.

I would have responded, but I had to focus on the song.

She just cackled. “You never fail to surprise me, Gray! Keep the music coming, I’ll keep you covered!”

With a nod, I strummed the guitar, creating another wave of sound magic, only for the entire city to begin shaking instead.

My illusion began to flicker as small rocks shook loose from the ceiling.

Spiders chittered and moved around, grabbing both Fulgora and I to pull us to cover within the building.

“What’s going on?!” I yelled over the shaking, like an earthquake just hit.

“Something’s… moving.” Vermil, a male spider, said. “Something big…”

The shaking was getting worse.

Until it reached a peak, and I found Fulgora wrapping an arm over me, pushing me down onto the ground as hard as possible as something on the mountain burst.

Then, it was quiet, the only sounds being rocks tumbling down the sides of the mountain.

“Oh no…” The spiders realized what it was first, followed by Fulgora’s eyes widening as her ears twitched.

Half of the mountain suddenly caved in when a giant stone fist struck its side.

Maybe collapsing a cave in a golem factory wasn’t the best idea…