I lost myself in the performance of Requiem Vitae, pouring all of my mana into it. I took my time, coaxed the song out one note at a time, melding them together. I hit every note, every refrain. I felt ?something I had never felt before. A wholeness. I didn’t perform that song, on that stage, in the room we had all gathered and laughed and joked within. I became the song.

  I played, my fingers dancing across the strings. My thumb knuckle knock-knocking in rhythm. The patrons listening caught on and began stomping in time with the knocks.

  The performance was different than it had been at the water station the night before. That had been a vigil between friends. A quiet, private thing. This was loud, energetic, a celebration of life and a screaming denial of grief. The sounds thrummed through the tavern, shaking the glasses lined along the back of the bar and the empty dishes on tables. It washed over the room, a tangible wave of emotions.

  I finished the performance with a flourish, receiving a notification

  Song performance 100%! Song greatly strengthened by the perfect performance!

  The last note of the song echoed in the silence, a silence that lasted for two heartbeats. Someone near the back of the crowd sniffled.

  Everyone erupted in a roar of applause. A wave of sound hit me as people shouted, stomped their feet, clapped their hands. One woman stood and screamed. I heard a multitude of overlapping voices crying out.

  “My Bobby, lord rest his soul..”

  “Granpops, such a great man…”

  “Lizzy I miss you so much…”

  So many voices overlapped that is was difficult to distinguish between them. Half of the listeners made no sound at all. Some cried quietly, others stared into half-full steins of ale with serious expressions. Every face I saw held some degree of a smile.

  Katarina jumped on the stage, hugging me.

  “That was incredible!” she shouted into my ear. “Even better than last night! So powerful!”

  I smiled, hugging her back before beginning to leave the stage.

  The sound in the inn died down as I moved to leave the stage. Someone in the crowd shouted “Encore!”

  The shout was echoed from various people in the crowd, becoming a chant.

  “Encore! Encore! Encore!”

  “Okay, okay,” I said, “One more!”

  The crowd cheered. Katarina hopped off the stage and I performed once more. It wasn’t the same, a 93% success, but everyone still enjoyed it.

  At some point during the performance, Katarina tossed a hat — one of the woven straw hats, this one with a wide red cloth tied around the outside — on the front of the stage. She tossed a few coppers to get it started, initiating a chain reaction that had the cap brimming with coppers by the time I finished the second performance.

  I looked at the capful of coppers in awe.

  “Thank you all!” I said, bowing. I climbed off of the stage as Katarina grabbed the hat. Several patrons slapped me on the back as we walked back to our table.

  “That was incredible,” Abernathy said. “Truly incredible.”

  “Very well done,” Encore hopped down from Abernathy’s lap and gently headbutted my leg.

  “There are over fifty coppers in this hat,” Katarina held out the hat in shock.

  “Wow. We should divide it,” I said.

  “Divide it? Why?” She asked.

  “If not for you, and all of our friends, that song wouldn’t exist. I insist.”

  “You wrote it and performed it, you should keep the money,” Abernathy shook his head while he spoke.

  “Why don’t we put it towards the group,” I offered. Abernathy opened his mouth to say something, but I continued. “I know you aren’t going on missions anymore, but you’re still a member of this party. Take your cut and put it towards supplies for Katarina’s leg or something else that will help us. Or use it to pay for your dinner and room, I don’t care, but it’s yours. We earned it together.”

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  “Alright, if you insist,” He acceded.

  The innkeeper approached as Katarina divided up the copper.

  “That was the most beautiful performance we’ve ever had here. I talked to the missus, and we aren’t charging you or your friends for the night. And don’t worry about paying for the meals either. On us. That song took me somewhere. Haven’t remembered my mam that clear in many years. Thank you, son.” He put a large hand on my shoulder, squeezing gently.

  “Thanks for your generosity,” I replied.

  “And don’t worry about healing the drunks tonight either. Enjoy your night.”

  “So, want to go see what other fine drinking establishments this city holds?” Katarina asked, wiggling her eyebrows and returning the straw hat to her inventory.

  “Sure,” Abernathy nodded.

  I opened my mouth to agree when I felt a familiar vibration from my lute. I lifted the lute and heard a muffled voice. It was too loud in the room to make out what was being said.

  “Sorry, getting a lute-call, I need to step away for a second,” I said, standing and hurrying out of the room.

  “Lute-call? What the hell is that?” I heard Katarina ask Abernathy.

  I hurried up the stairs, Encore on my heels, and into my room. I closed the door and lifted the lute, pressing in at the correct location.

  “Hello? Cahl? I couldn’t hear you. Can you say that again?”

  Cahl’s voice came back, now understandable in the relative silence of my room.

  “I said, I know what they’re planning. It took longer than expected, the papers were deep in the archives, but I know. There isn’t any time to waste. Meet me at the entrance of the catacombs, at the base of the mausoleum. Go there now. Gods I hope we aren’t too late.”

  I looked down at Encore, who cocked his head to the side in confusion.

  “Let’s go!” I said, turning and running out of the room. I hurried back downstairs and ran back to the table.

  “I have to go meet Cahl. Right now. There is some kind of emergency, we are going into the catacombs.”

  “Catacombs?” Abernathy squeaked.

  “Emergency?” Katarina asked, standing. “What are we waiting for? Let’s go!”

  “I..” Abernathy looked down for a moment. “I can’t bring myself to...”

  I placed a hand on Abernathy’s shoulder, which was a knot of quivering tension. “It’s okay, Abe. Don’t worry about it. I understand.”

  Encore gently headbutted Abernathy’s leg. Abernathy looked down at the kitsiho and tried to smile.

  “I’m so sorry.” He said.

  “Don’t be. We’ll see you in the morning.” I smiled, then looked at Katarina. “Are you sure you want to come?”

  “Didn’t you just say it’s an emergency? Why are you wasting time asking me? Let’s go!” she turned and hurried out of the inn. I ran after her into the night.

  “Where is this mausoleum?” Katarina asked, slowing so I could catch up.

  “It’s this way. We went there for the first group mission we took, before you joined. It isn’t too far.”

  “The mission with the undead, and that door you couldn’t get through at the bottom, right?”

  “Yeah, Cahl said that the door leads to a labyrinth, and it seemed like someone was trying to get in. He went to look for more info on it and just called me, telling me to meet him there.”

  “Called you? You have a lute-phone? Is that like a… batphone or something? Are you lute-man?”

  I glanced over at her as we ran, the readied retort dying on my tongue as I saw the glimmer of mischief in her eye.

  “Cahl can communicate with me through the lute, some kind of enchantment. I just took to calling it a lute-phone and didn’t really think about it.”

  “Cute.”

  We ran through the empty streets of the city. Katarina whispered, coaxing the wind to aid us. Encore leapt and flew into the air, keeping pace easily.

  We arrived in front of the massive chapel-like building a few minutes later, rounding it to see Cahl standing outside of the door.

  “Good time, you got here quicker than I thought you would.” He opened the gate and led us in.

  “My friend helped. Cahl, this is Katarina. Katarina, Cahl.”

  “Nice to meet you,” Katarina bowed slightly as she closed the door behind us. Cahl eyed her for a brief moment, his gaze lingering on her prosthetic limb for a half second.

  “Likewise. The pleasure is mine.” Cahl replied, turning and hurrying down the catacomb tunnels in a light jog. We followed.

  “And this is Encore,” I said. Encore leapt, shifting his body into smaller proportions and landing on my shoulder as we traversed the underground. He was heavier than I expected for such a small body.

  “Greetings and well met,” Encore bowed slightly, dipping his head down.

  “Well met to you as well. It is nice to see one of the kitsiho has bonded. It’s been far too long. You are a rather… formal one, aren’t you?”

  “I am myself. If that defies your conventions, so be it.” Encore raised his head slightly, looking away.

  Cahl laughed. “I love it! Fie upon conventions!”

  “Okay, Shakespeare,” Katarina mumbled.

  “Who is Shakespeare? Never heard of a Shakespeare.” Cahl turned his head slightly.

  “He is a… bard…” Katarina replied. I laughed.

  “Hmm, I would like to meet this Shakespeare, then. Perhaps learn his music.”

  “Oh, he doesn’t play music,” I cut in, “more of a playwright.”

  “Oh, that kind of bard.” Cahl sounded disappointed.

  We followed Cahl deeper into the catacombs, taking familiar twists and turns, following the same route we had taken for the mission. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, and no undead appeared as we made our way deeper into the catacombs. Cahl maintained a steady pace until we began passing through the three circular ritual chambers.

  I saw the door at the far end of the chambers, which had been firmly closed and locked with no obvious way of opening, was now open. Cahl cursed.

  “The Senc, worshippers of Sranthic, are a group — primarily consisting of various snake beastkin — that strive to remake the world in their deity’s image. Sranthic is the ancient god of chaos and blood.” Cahl said, whispering as we approached the open door.

  “That doesn’t sound good.” Katarina replied.

  “No, it isn’t, though they haven’t surfaced in more than a hundred years. Organizations such as theirs tend to be pruned quickly for obvious reasons.”

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