Trash: Chapter 158 Phantoms of the Parlor (Patreon)

Chapter 158

Phantoms of the Parlor

When it comes to music there are certain waves, variations of sound that can echo and bounce back, telling you of hidden dangers if you know what to listen for.

Stepping into a haunted place, I was already prepared for the changes to expect. The immediate darkness, the intense chill caused by apparitions pulling the ambient energy in the room to power their dark curses. I was even ready for the unwanted attacks as noted by books and other infused objects coming to life and being thrown at me. These were all things that I have come to expect after years of living in the DiVoratore estate. What I was not prepared for, was the way music seemed to enhance my sensitivity to the surroundings.

First, I used two Skills in conjunction with each other. I used my Divine Music Resonance to help infuse each note with holy energy, that began acting as a partial barrier to the hostile magic around me. While a more simple method might be to create a salt ring around me, something that is crude and largely ineffective against elder ghosts. My music now allows me to surround myself with a slowly falling cascade of holy magic.

Magic that is both amplified and directed thanks to using my second bardic Skill of Stringed Instrument (Violin) Specialization. Together the two Skills allow me to use infused music sound waves to cascade out from me, surround the room and echo back the location of various objects. Objects that would normally be hidden from my eyes in the dense darkness of space that surrounds the entry way, but thanks to both my music and my Divine Sight, my mind is able to map out the building before me.

An open trap door lies ahead and to the right of the entrance, right next to a large couch that seems to have been moved just to make it more of a tipping hazard. Such a structure might seem out of place by modern building standards, but then again this building has a lot more history than one can expect from the exterior alone. Fortunately, my music bounces back to me at odd angles with a slightly delayed reverberation, letting me know that one part traveled back faster than the previous part. The delayed echo from the open hatchway tells me that there might be an entire room or more downstairs just waiting to be explored. But first, I will have to deal with the apparitions.

Floating forward, I can see the way the ghosts begin to burn as they enter my sphere of musical influence. Watching them, is like watching a slug slowly melt itself by purposefully trying to crawl over a salt pile. Then entire thing seems incongruous to life, as the apparitions are doing the equivalent of seeing a burning hot oven, touching it, and then continuing to touch said oven despite the body’s natural response to the pain. Had this been my first time interacting with apparitions, I wouldn’t think too much about this incongruity, as most people assume that the dead have no feelings. The idea being that once you lose your body and decide to stay, that all pain disappears. However, this is not true.

Unfortunately, ghosts can be made to suffer. Spiritual pains are often far worse than mere mortal scars. With scar tissue, the skin becomes hardened, the nerve endings dulled, all so the body can adapt and overcome the challenges that await. With spiritual damage, there are no scars, for the spirit cannot harden itself to the outside world, it can either let go of the pain that caused it to stay or continue to suffer until its final goals are achieved.

Seeing the intensity of my music and the fact that I am continually playing layer after layer of divinely infused musical notes into the air, yet the sprits continue to come forward tells me that something is clearly off. Either the spirits here have grown to be resistant to holy energy, highly likely given the schooling, or something more sinister is afoot.

It only takes a moment for two of the stronger spirits to harden their resolve and brave the ring of divine energy surrounding me to show that it is likely the latter at play here. For while these spirits are clearly older and have developed some casual resistance to divine energy, they are still wearing away at them. Yet, it is the thick dark cord that echoes back in my mind that tells me that something far more sinister is afoot here.

Having been in the DiVoratore family for so long, it is clear to see when a spirit is bound against their will. While there are multiple forms of spirit bonds that can be used, everything from mutual bonds where a Necromancer offers energy to a spirit to strengthen it, there are far more morally reprehensible forms of spirit bonding that can also take effect. These are shown by direct chains that forever link a master to an enslaved spirit.

Had it not been for my infused music reverberating back to me, telling me that something odd was being dragged behind the spirits, I might have overlooked this crucial detail. Suddenly the whole encounter seems to make sense. Well, it makes more sense, as the chains that these spirits now carry all lead down to the open staircase in the floor.

I have two options, the first is free the spirit, and hope that my action is enough to prevent the powerful and bound spirits from attacking me once they are freed. Or I can do what comes naturally to me, an act that is literally within my blood.

Just feeling the spirits come near, I can feel my blood begin to pump violently on its own, as generations of selective breeding cause my body to come alive with an automatic response. Without even realizing it, I am channeling energy for my Soul Devour bloodline Skill directly into my instrument, both the violin itself and the bow that I am using to strum it. Once both are fully saturated with violent purple energy, I begin infusing my clothes and shoes, making it so every inch of my body is now weapon to be used against spirits. Then I do the impossible, I wait.

I continue to play my song, desperately directing golden motes of light to flash out with each musical note hit, but it does little to deter the unstoppable spirits before me. What I am doing is the equivalent of flashing a sparkler at a crazed beast. While the sparks might cause some pain, they are not enough to deter the truly determined. Then again, most of their determination comes from the fact that my class is almost cursed to be naturally attractive to the undead as every magical Skill I use is infused with a bit of healing energy.

Watching the spirits come closer is a chore, as I know I have but one real attack available to me. While I have the two most powerful spirits next to me, there are others that have been cowed by the flames of purification that are illuminating the world around me.

Then at long last, I feel a strike lash out and claw at my arm.

A wince of pain erupts from my skin as I feel melting and burning spirit residue clawing its way into my skin. That’s when I react. I am already instinctively casting my Streamline Healing* on myself to heal my wound, while I am lashing out and striking at the two apparitions. I can tell these spirits are not used to true resistance as they seem to be shocked awake from their mental bindings, if only for a second as my infused violin crashes into the spirit to my left, while my infused bow is used to slice the spirit to my right. There is a moment of resistance, as if striking into a standing glob of jelly, before the external membrane of each spirit burns away, and ultimately releases the collected spiritual energies.

Just like popping a balloon, I feel a burst of air explode across my face, as sticky particles of spirit membrane burst out, only to quickly dissolve against my coated layer of clothing and my impromptu weapon. With the two biggest threats removed, I lunge forward, going straight and avoiding the clearly open trap door. My instruments lashing out and slicing into and through the weaker spirits, these are the spirits that stayed back and continued to power the all-encompassing bubble of darkness around me. While they were hidden outside the boundary of visible light, they were easily visible to both my Divine Sight and my Divine Music Resonance. Given that the apparitions opted to stay still, only made this easier as stationary targets are more convenient to hit than moving ones.

Once again there were two more wet popping sounds, followed by the cover of darkness falling around me revealing the fact that the sun was still up and shining outside. A quick glance out showed that Luna and Lucia both had come closer during my brief time here. Seeing that they were almost ready to join me filled me with both gratitude and fear. Gratitude that they both clearly wanted to help, even if they were clearly incapable of helping the way I needed. But fear due to the fact that I still had a deeper threat lurking below.

With the smoke gone, and my vision now able to see the world in all its various colors of mana, I saw the four chains that still led to the hidden basement entrance. Four chains that were burning away as I stared at them, a fleeting reminder that an even greater threat remained.

Just as I prepared to go down the staircase, Luna was the first to come in, followed closely by Lucia. Seeing that Luna was still carrying my giant stone sword, I realized this might be for the best.

“Good thing you are here,” I called out. Shaking off the remaining melting spirit fragments from my instrument as I went to Lucia.

“Can we help?” Luna asked, a note of excitement in her voice.

“Yes, you can,” I began then proceeded to hand my violin and bow to Lucia.

“I need to switch out weapons as I take out whatever lies beneath,” I declare as I hand off the violin to a surprised Lucia who stares at me for a moment, before realizing that she has my violin case on her back. Then turning to Luna, I hold out my hand asking for the giant stone sword. The sword that feels oddly comfortable in my hands despite it being larger than needed and extremely dull. Seeing my gesture, Luna uses both hands and with a bit of effort manages to lift up the sword so it rests in my hand hilt first. As my fingers clasp the blade, I feel a level of comfort that I didn’t realize I had been missing. While it had been my initial instinct to use the violin to enter this building, deep down I knew that only a blade could handle what lay beneath the floor.

Raising the blade easily, I maneuver the blade over and past the two fellow warriors of my team.

“Stay here, I’m going to go down,” I declare as I get to the staircase and see the last residue of divine magic slowly melting away from the floor below. The good news is that it is only a ten foot drop to the ground below. The bad news is that, the light from outside will only give me a few feet of visibility as I make my way through room below.

“You’re hurt?” Lucia calls out, seeing the cut that I got from the spirit, the attack I took on purpose, not realizing just how powerful these spirits truly were. Fortunately, other than a bit of dried blood, and an open cut in my clothes, I am fine, as my body has already healed the cuts I took.

“I’m fine, just using it as a reminder to be better,” I say, looking at the cut, and using my Trash Skill to remove the traces of blood before I head down.

“Should we do anything?” Luna asks, stepping forward as if she too is willing to help me down below. Seeing her, I feel the need to ask.

“That depends, can you do anything against powerful necromancers that can control midlevel spirits?” I ask honestly.  There is a pause as both seem like they want to answer in the affirmative, but ultimately end up telling me the truth.

“No,” they answer in unison.

“Then just wait for me to call out if I need any help,” I add, knowing that telling them to wait would be pointless. That they would need to feel like they were engaged, as I know I would in their place.

“Okay,” Luna declares as she gets closer and proceeds to try to help me down the rickety metal staircase. It’s a vertical climb, but fortunately even with the added weight of my blade, the staircase somehow holds, despite its intense groans of protestation the entire way.

Getting at the bottom, and having my feet rest upon a solid surface, I turn and take in the sight before me. My eyes glowing an intense golden color as my Divine Sight lets me see the horrors before me. And there are horrors.

“What the heck is that,” I mutter as I ready my blade and prepare to fully cleanse this house.