TBOSOCT Lyric Round 1 Ch. 4

Chapter 4: Royalty and Rebellion.
The next morning they found an open field to practice in.
Lyric admired the pendant that Kali had given him. It had a kind of beauty in its simplicity. A small ruby at the center of a disk with symbols representing the various elements surrounding it. She called it a "Matrix Former." It was supposed to help out starting mages with molding their raw mana into simple spells.
"Ok, so with the amulet all you have to do is connect with it through some means, give it a simple image or intent, and let the mana flow through it and it should handle it from there." Kali instructed like a school teacher. She had changed that morning into a dark green dress with a gold thread edging it in a leaf pattern.  The two of them matched in looks now and in her playful ways would neither confirm for deny to Lyric if it was intentional.
"So I think at it and just go along for the ride?"
"Basically." She stepped back out of his field of view on the field. "In the future we can move on to you doing it without the aid of the amulet. But for now let's just get you into the habit of accessing your mana."
The Song was interested as well, he could feel. It seemed to think, Lyric felt, that if it paid attention it would be able to not be so impotent. Though this worried him a little, it was far outweighed by the bards want to join Kali in spell slinging. There was something a little addicting about the thought of just willing something to happen.
He focused on the amulet trying to "connect" to it. Part of the problem, though was that he didn't know that to try to cast first. He was drawing a blank, not knowing what might be considered "too much" and not having any particular needs at the moment.
"If it helps, try to do what you saw someone else do in the past. A town mage showing off for the children or something." Kali offered, trying to help.
Or my mother he thought, remembering back to when he was a kid and she would use her Rain Singer talents to help the local farmers.  He knew what he wanted to do, he was going to form a rain cloud.
He focused, willing a small dark cloud to form in the sky where his eyes stared. After a few moments of straining, a smudge seemed to appear, and a few moments later, they could see a small patch of grass a bit off getting wet from rain.
"Good! Great in fact for your first try." Kali complimented.
But Lyric wasn't happy with it. He felt like a dam with a leak in it and he couldn't get the leak to open wider. It was almost as if he was missing some big piece to this magical puzzle.
The Song gave his arm a nudge. He felt it move to his back, touching his guitar before he took back control of his appendage.  
"Rain Singer…" he whispered.
"What was that?" Kali asked confused.
Lyric whipped is trusted friend off his back and began to play the tune that his mother had sung all that time ago. He concentrated on the song, a simple constant melody with the occasional high notes, like raindrops hitting the ground. He felt the mana flow through the instrument, into the amulet and out into the world.
The rain cloud grew bigger until the field was covered in a downpour. It stopped just short of the pair as it started to grow, and started going around them, leaving them an island of dry in the falling sea.
"Very... very good." Kali said a bit amazed.
Lyric wasn't done yet. He could feel the storm building in him and wanted to let it out. His hands produced a hollow, breezy sound and was met with a slow but growing gale. The pouring notes became hard and fierce, the rain turned to hail that assaulted the ground.  He roughly plucked the base notes and thunder echoed though out the forest. He felt exhilarated, addicted almost, to the power that he was commanding. It was a river pouring forth from him, through the amulet that was growing hot on his chest, and he couldn't, wouldn't stop it.
His hand moved on its own. Up it went and down it strummed, hard fast and violent, a single cord starting high and landing low. As if thrown by the gods themselves a bolt pierced the black clouds and struck the ground with a killing force.
He felt the hot amulet get yanked from his neck and the mana smash against the sealed dam. His body jerked with the contain force of it and the next thing he knew, he found himself on the ground, staring up at a disapproving and soaked through Kali as she dangled the amulet over him from one hand.
"I told you to take it easy. Not because I didn't think you could handle it, but because I know this amulet can't." She held it closer to him so he could inspect it better. It was glowing red hot in a few places.  "Now, you can have it back if you apologize for almost breaking one of my things and promise you will hold back a bit in the future."
"I'm sorry. I promise." The bard said, adopting the tone of a scolded child.
She laughed and helped him up, offering the necklace back to him. He let it cool for a moment before adding it yet again to the small collection around his neck.
"So, feel like we could go solve your little problem?" She asked with a grin after drying herself off with a bit of magic.
He picked up his instrument, and with a quick flourish reproduced the last note he played. Lightning streaked from where his hand met the strings across the field, colliding with a rise in the terrain and blowing a small hole in it.
"Yes, I would say I do."

*A few hours later*

Lyric and Kali flew together over the city walls. He had to admit, to himself at least, that he really enjoyed the excuse to press against the remarkable woman he found himself allied with.
Putting aside such thoughts for now, he focused on the plan ahead of him.  The idea was simple, they had no idea what to do, so they decided to do what they felt was right until something presented itself. As far as plans go it was terrible, they admitted, but it was either depose of a tyrannical, music hating king or sit around doing nothing. The choice was obvious.
First to the dungeons to get some recruits. They flew over the city fast, wanting to take from the guards any time to react. As the castle came near, Lyric reached around Kali to take over the Broom and he aimed it down at an angle. Just before they hit the ground, Kali released the spell she was weaving and the earth and stone moved away from their path, forming a tunnel strait into the castles lower levels.
Luck smiled upon them when they came out of the tunnel directly into the dungeons. They landed, with Kali halting the Broom and Lyric using the momentum to tumble off of it. Mid roll he pulled his guitar off of his back and as he came to his feet he strummed a cord and a bolt shoot off into the gut of a confused guard.  Lyric ran down the passage, turning the Arrow into a spear yet again, checking to make sure that they were all clear for now.
He signaled back to Kali, who had stored the Broom into her magic bag yet again. She formed another spell with gestures and words, and in an instant all the cell doors were open.
Lyric locked the only exit and turned to them and their blank faces. They didn't seem to know what to do. They hadn't planned for this, though it wasn't all that unexpected to Lyric. Unlike Kali, he had dealt with these "people" before, he had just hoped that it was in the roles they played to rebel if the opportunity presented itself. I guess it wasn't. he thought to himself as he heard the other puppets start storming down the stairs, fulfilling their programming of repelling all assaults on the castle.
Lyric thought fast as Kira melded the stone walls and floors into crude clubs, continuing with the plan regardless of this hitch in it. He needed to get them to act, to get them to stop just playing some part. Looking around for some answer, his eyes fell upon the old armless man from yesterday. Their eyes locked, Lyric staring into the blank haze of the old musician. Something itched back in his memory, he just couldn't place it.
"They weren't always blank…" he whispered. And inspiration struck.
He pocketed the Arrow and drew his instrument yet again. From the depths of his soul he played loud and fast, a song of rebellion of freedom, a song of tyrants slain and days won, of brave deeds done by brave men. He sang, something he rarely did, and his pleading and urgency slipped into his voice.
The old man stirred first. First it was just a hum, but soon he was singing along as well, and it spread like an infection. Within moments the haze started to lift from the eyes of all the prisoners, and they started to sing a chorus of rebellion.
The guards slammed on the dungeon door, trying to break down the only barrier between them and the rebels. Its echoing sound set off a wild fire in the prisoners.  As one they rushed to the pile of clubs and as one they pushed for the door. Lyric only had time to get out of the way as the door fell to the guards and the guards began falling to the rebels.
The guards only tried to push through to get to the bard and the mage. They didn't respond at all to the assault of the rebels aside from falling and dying. Guess it's not in their programming to fight rebels, just invaders. Lyric thought as he played on. Who ever or whatever was responsible for their creation must not have thought a rebellion would happen .
The flood of rioters trampled the guards and forced its way up the stairs.  Lyric and Kali followed right behind.
"This whole situation is just plain strange." Kali mentioned.
"Maybe the king will have some explanations." Lyric offered without real conviction.
"We shall see."
The fighting was bloody and quick, guards falling left and right, never thinking of defending themselves. Soon the flood of bodies reached the throne room. Staring up at the grand doors as the rebels pounded relentlessly on them, Lyric turned to Kali and asked, "You ready for this? Still good on mana?"
"I could use a bit of yours if your offering." She said with a small grin.
"Um, sure. But how-" he was interrupted as she grabbed his head and connected her lips to his. He could feel their energies connect and feel her drawing a bit from him. Euphoria rushed into fill the small void in mana as their lips parted and he wasn't entirely sure it was just from the exchange of energy.
"…You didn't need to kiss me to do that did you?" he asked after a moment.
"Nope." Was the only word she offered before the grand door burst open ant he flood of bodies poured in.
It was almost over before it began and Lyric was a little more them disappointed.  The Tyrant stood at his throne in armor of black and gold. His honor guard flanking him on all sides. He started to deliver what sounded like a prepared speech, "You fools, do you think you can kill me!? I am the slayer of Music, the Bloody Dragon of the West! You will never dispose of-" it was about there that he was cut off, being buried under a tide of rebels as they swept aside the guard and pelted him with stone clubs until he couldn't deliver his speech any longer.
The villain slain, the hero's standing triumphant if a bit confused, the rebels lifted up the body of the dead tyrant and paraded it out of the castle, Lyric's song still playing upon their lips. All too soon the bard and the mage were left standing there alone in the throne room with the corpses of guards as their only companions.
"…What in the Nine Hells just happened?" Kali asked, looking to Lyric for answers.
He shrugged. "I guess the guardians of The Book were right. Stories are falling apart. They can't handle anything new and unplanned."
"Any idea what we are going to do now?"
All Lyric could do was shake his head, staring out after the celebrating mob.