Story 10 - The Spy Who Rocked Too Hard (39🎸)
When my band finished playing everything they had co up with, which included the lyrics sung and mostly written by Gold String, I was fucking floored. These guys weren’t slackers at all. They’d all improved imnsely while I was solving the sect’s alchemy issues.
There were still a few places where the song needed sothing more or had to be improved for emphasis.
I cleared my throat. “The part where you sing, ‘sleeping in silence, unbothered by ti. Dragon beneath the waves, still and subli.’ We need to change those lyrics. It doesn’t give the feeling of being injured and alone that you think it does.”
Dread Lotus tapped her chin with her fan. “What about replacing it with ‘Shattered sword shards, cut deep beneath the skin. Dragon abandoned by blood and by kin?’”
I pointed to her. If anything scread injured and alone, that would be it. Holy shit.
Gold String’s face turned red like he was about to argue that he would never abandon his ancestor. But then he cald down and hung his head, likely rembering how his family did nothing to save that important figure leading to his clan’s complete destruction. “Yeah, that... works for this song incredibly well.”
Dread Lotus grinned. “As Sister Lin said earlier, I understood the assignnt.”
Wait, when did I say that? Whatever. I probably had.
I pointed out a few more places we could alter to elevate the song from pinnacle quality to perfection.
I knew for certain that the few changes I made would cause sothing incredible to happen once put together, so I had us practice each section of the song in separate parts. Mostly I focused on the newer parts that needed the most attention and adjustnts. Then everyone practiced it in full by themselves.
Several hours later, Little Spring stood nervously next to Noxious Fangstrike. That Nascent Soul fucker must have heard say that we were finally ready to play in front of an audience, because he arrived just after the kid, making it hard for us to ask him to leave.
The little protagonist bit his lip and grabbed the necklace that was hidden beneath his robes. “Junior Linlin, are you sure you’re ready to play? You haven’t had a break in days. I didn’t even see you while you were helping Senior Noxious Fangstrike.”
“I’m fine. And I ate a grain liberation dan a few hours ago.”
He frowned at and crossed his arms. “That’s not food.”
The poison master nodded. “Junior Verdant Spring has a point. You’ve only been back here for half a day. Is that really enough ti to finalize a song?”
I played a power chord that caused the wind to rush through the trees and blow everyone’s hair. “Stop worrying and listen up!”
“Yeah, uncle. Stop worrying. You’re lucky we aren’t throwing you out.”
He frowned and looked very sad. “How could you say that to your own beloved uncle?”
She huffed. “Fine, stay. And be surprised. This is the first ti we’ve played this all together, so it will be a treat.”
“Wait, Sister Linlin, what is the song called?”
All of us froze.
Yeah, we still hadn’t co up with an official na. A song couldn’t be perfect without a title!
“Shattered Shards,” Gold String said.
“Boo. No!” Dread Lotus said.
“What? Do you have sothing better?”
“How about, ‘Pure Living?’” Azure suggested.
They both frowned but said nothing — obviously not liking it, but not sure why.
I began playing. “It’s called, ‘Dragons Never Die.’”
Their eyes widened like they realized I’d said the most obvious thing.
Our song was guitar-heavy in the beginning, so I picked single notes in quick succession. Gold String added in his bass, blending our sounds together.
I sang the intro phrase just before Dread Lotus crashed a cymbal and began drumming, expanding the music while bringing a fullness and depth to it that was missing before.
Azure lodic River used her keyboard to add a delicateness that would be missing without it, making the spaces where I didn’t sing absolutely lovely and filled with emotion.
A healing energy I’d never felt before, not even during our practices, built up. Maybe it was because a song was never complete without an audience, or maybe it was the battle formation pulling everything together, but this was sothing special. Utterly beautiful.
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I might have hugged him if he’d had an actual body. Instead, I placed my palm on the cool table. It wasn’t like my hands had been shaking or anything. Especially not because I’d been worried about this fucker for weeks and I finally felt relieved. Not at all.
I cleared my tight throat. “Welco back, Ghosty.”
Little Spring leaned in. “Senior Ghosty! We were worried about you! How are you feeling?!”
The dragon briefly squeezed his illusory shoulder. “Humph. I knew you’d be okay.”
Ghosty clasped his hands behind his back and looked up at the enchantnt-filled sky. The tips of his translucent ears reddened.
“It’s good to be back.” Once he’d regained his composure, he turned to us. “Did you all go through a lot to heal ?”
“A lot?” I crossed my arms. “No. I only spent a better part of this month infiltrating an unorthodox sect and building up a band that was good enough to write a perfect healing song while risking both of our necks. I wouldn’t necessarily call that a lot.”
Little Spring looked at , shocked. “Sister Lin! That’s a bit…”
But I didn’t let him stop and continued. “Since you’re worth it.”
Ghosty bit his lip and our eyes t.
Little Spring’s face turned red. “Oh. I thought you were being…”
What? Sarcastic? Fucking brat.
Casually, I rested my head on my hand. “I’ve also decided to move up the collection of supplies to create a new body for you. I think we can have one ready in fifteen to twenty years, as long as we can get out of this backwater continent.”
He opened his mouth to say sothing, but I cut him off.
“This is, of course, so you don’t bla us for making you use your shield to save our asses and those of the three alchemy disciples.” I leaned back. Xiao Bai hopped onto my lap and I ran my hands through his soft fur.
Ghosty’s jaw clenched. “Senior Lin!”
I kept going. “We’re all alive right now because of you. But I think that we shouldn’t keep track of things like who saves who from now on.”
He looked exasperated, then nodded. “I agree. We shouldn’t bother with that. And what I’ve been trying to say is thank you!.”
Actually, I thought he’d get irritated because I’d made him overextend himself too far. Maybe even threatened to leave our group directly after I prepared a body for him. This amount of gratefulness was outside of my expectations — though it was definitely deserved.
He smiled. It made him look a little younger. Or maybe I was just an old monster. “And, Senior Lin. That was a damn good song.”
I paused, then grinned.
Fuck yeah, it was.
“I’d like to hear it again soti.”
“Of course! I think you’ll enjoy learning about the Dao of Rock.” maybe I should introduce him to the music of Ghost. Muahahaha!
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