by Ryan Attard
“Five bucks says-”
He stood at attention, his eyes darting to and fro.
“What is it?” I asked.
He shushed me and laid a hand on the ground. “Somethin’ ain’t right.”
Greg unslung his bag and pulled out the pieces of his spear, screwing them in place. “I sense something, too. It’s faint but close.”
The Necromancer put his canteen down. “I don’t-”
A blob of darkness fell on him, silent and lithe, and if not for his brief scream, we’d have missed it.
“The fuck?” I managed.
On top of the Necromancer, stood an elongated humanoid creature, with impossibly long arms and legs. Bat-like wings sprouted from its back.
The creature shrieked and I saw its face: a blank mass with only a wide mouth running vertically from top to bottom. Feelers danced around and it swooped on the hapless Necromancer beneath it.
Twin rocks sprouted from the Necromancer’s sides, stabbing the creature in the gut and lifting it high in the air. Amaymon appeared next to it, a large boulder in one hand, and slammed the rock on top of the creature, squashing it into paste.
Amaymon picked up what was left of its head.
“What was that?” the Necromancer shrieked. “What the fuck is that thing?”
Amaymon smelled the goop. “Whatever it is, it ain’t from around here.”
“No shit,” I said.
“Nah, Erik, you ain’t listening to me.” He frowned. “This is not something that should be here. This does not belong in your plane, or mine for that matter. It’s an…”
“An Outsider,” Greg interjected. He grimaced in my direction. “That is the true power of the Necronomicon. It summons powers from outside of this world — from outside of this universe even. The Lich has now unlocked the power of the book.”
“It looks familiar,” I said, pointing at the creature.
Amaymon cocked his head. “What, this? You seen this before?”
“Yeah. It’s familiar anyway.” I shook my head. “I can’t shake the feeling I’ve seen it before.”
“The other plane?” he asked.
I shook my head again.
No, nothing on Envy’s island was like this. Everything there had a purpose, an evolutionary line, just like in our world.
No, this was something else.
Amaymon looked behind us. “Well, whatever it is, it brought a shit ton of friends.”
“Where?”
Before he could answer, the mountain side exploded, rocks flying everywhere. From the holes, something long, slimy and foul emerged: tentacles, each the size of a minivan reached out by the dozen.
“Run!” I yelled.
Greg swiped his spear at the closest tentacle, slashing a deep wound. Ivy-colored goop and mist dripped from the cut, but whatever creature that tentacle belonged to kept on the assault.
Amaymon raked the air, bringing a rock slide on top of the largest cluster of tentacles. Two seconds later, three more holes exploded, and more tentacles poured out. He swore and grabbed the Necromancer in a fireman carry.
“Get to the top,” he roared.
I felt something wrap around my leg, sending me stumbling down, pulling me closer to the hole where the tentacle came out from. Greg appeared, slashing with his spear, giving me enough time to pull out Djinn and do some damage of my own.
The sound of flapping wings filled the air, accompanied by the skittering and scarping of limbs.
The human-like creatures, thousands of them, exploded from between the tentacles, like termites leaving their mound. They filled the sky, blocking out the scant few rays of early sunlight.
And suddenly I remembered where I’d seen them.
“Nightgaunts,” I yelled, catching up to Amaymon and the Necromancer on his back.
“What?”
“The creatures,” I said. “I remembered where I’d seen them before. It wasn’t on the field. It was in that Lovecraft book Abi gave me last Christmas. There were illustrations and these things look just like Nightgaunts.”
“H.P. Lovecraft?” Greg approached me, swatting away tentacles. “He was a consultant for the Grigori once. We had tried to educate the public about magic by allowing certain authors to write about us. We thought the world was ready for the truth.”
“You can’t handle the truth!” came Amaymon’s voice, along with a stream of stone and debris. The rock shot towards the approaching Nightgaunts, felling four in one go.
The demon grinned. “Too obvious?”
I shrugged — I was two breaths away from doing the exact same joke, but sprinting all the way up the side of a mountain with monsters that inspired renowned horror authors, seemed to have stilted my concentration.
“Does it say how to kill them?” Amaymon asked.
“Nope,” I replied.
“Fucking writers.”
He set the Necromancer down and looked at the oncoming tide of Nightgaunts and whatever tentacle creatures were boring their way through the heart of the mountain itself.
“Get to the top,” he said. “I’ll hold them off.”
Had it been anyone else, I would have said something like “don’t be stupid”.
But this was Amaymon — in the past twenty-four hours he had taken the best defenses and spells the world’s greatest magic users had to throw and shoved them right down their throats.
Instead:
“Can you handle it?”
He raised an eyebrow at me. “I’m sitting in the middle of a fucking mountain. Surrounded by other mountains.”
I rolled my eyes. “Okay, no need to be condescending.”
“I’m an Earth elemental.”
“I get it!”
“I’m spooning enough rock to start a second K-T Event.”
“See, this is why no one likes you,” I said as me, Greg and Necromancer started running ahead to the top of the mountain. “Try to leave us something to stand on.”
He grinned. “Eat shit.”
And with that, the earthquake began.
There were mummies waiting for us — of course there were mummies waiting for us!
We had fought our way through whatever had slipped past Amaymon’s assault: Nightgaunts, tentacle monsters, and when we made it to the top, a Sphinx.
This one was less tough than the one we had previously fought, and Greg and I made short work of it.
The Necromancer whimpered on the side, while I called him the shittiest cheerleader in history.
Ahead of us was an archway.
A door had been carved into the peak of the mountain, leading to an open enclave. Columns decorated with sigils and hieroglyphs surrounded a large summoning circle and a magic formula that was glowing and pulsating.
The Lich — still inside his decaying mummy body — stood in the middle of the formula with the Necronomicon held in both hands.
You didn’t have to be a Kresnik, Necromancer, or a demon to know that shit had hit the fan about ten minutes ago and it was now raining monsters.
The mummies approached us, carrying a variety of weapons: spears, staffs, short swords, maces. I felt Necromantic energy from each of them: one hit and I was toast.
Greg and I launched ourselves at the mummies, taking them by surprise, while the Necromancer clasped his hands together and began chanting undertone.
The ground spilt open and the undead rose: zombies, skeletons, Draugar. They climbed from beneath the ground at the Necromancer’s call. He gave an order and the army spread out, holding at bay the mummies, Sphinxes and Nightgaunts that protected their master.
I never thought I’d say this but…
Hurray, new zombie army!
The Necromancer’s army pushed them back, giving me and Greg an opening straight towards the Lich. Instantly, six mummies, better armed than their cousins appeared out of nowhere and engaged us.
The Lich laughed sinisterly.
“Get the summoning circle,” I yelled at the Necromancer.
I swiped Djinn to intercept a mace being swung at my head and pulled out my gun, blowing both of the mummy’s kneecaps. As it went down I stabbed its head and channeled a small explosion of magic just to be safe.
“Keep them occupied,” I yelled at Greg, looking at the Lich. “I’m going Super Saiyan.”
My shadow powers were never meant to be used outside of life-threatening situations. As an expansion of my healing magic, they basically came into effect when all was lost and the Grim Reaper sharpened its scythe.
But ever since I started using them more frequently — thanks to the two Sins I’d faced so far — I could forcefully bring out a portion of that power and still retain some control.
Shadows draped beneath my leather coat, before working their way around my body.
The Lich sent black lightning my way. I raised Djinn, deflecting his spell and swung my free hand. Shadows formed a lance and shot towards the Lich. The mummy’s shoulder was torn off, revealing a writhing mass of obsidian scarabs beneath, before yellowed bandages covered up the wound.
The Lich screamed, releasing a foul purple gas from its mouth. The effect was instantaneous — had I not been in this enhanced form I would have died instantly.
Acid hissed as it ate through my face. I screamed, pulling back, and my healing magic struggled to repair the damage.
From beneath me, the summoning circle became active again, and I felt something foul and otherworldly wrap around my waist. I opened my eyes, now fully healed, and saw a portal shimmering to life.
A thick black tentacle, twice the size of the ones I saw outside, was squeezing the life out of me.
The Lich snarled and black lightning arced through me. I could barely breathe. Every cell in my body was decaying and frying at the same time.
“I told you I would kill you,” the Lich said. “Human.”
Suddenly, the summoning circle burned bright crimson. The portal snapped shut, bifurcating the tentacle holding me. It flopped on the floor writhing erratically before shriveling up.
“What?” The Lich turned its mummified head and saw the Necromancer kneeling beside one of the sigils in the summoning circle, a black ritual dagger plunged into the ground.
The summoning circle fizzled, its energy fluctuating out of control. Some of the Nightgaunts began dying at random, either exploding into black goop or just evaporating.
“You!”
The Lich flew towards the Necromancer with impossible speed and backhanded him. The Necromancer was sent flying. He crashed against the wall and fell limp on the ground. Blood gushed from his head.
The majority of his zombie army fell dead on the ground, skeletons becoming a decayed pile of bones, while the Draugar simply melted into nothing.
“I own you, little insect,” the Lich roared. “How dare you use my magic against me?”
The Necromancer chuckled and pulled out a second ritual dagger.
“Give me back my powers,” he said, slicing his finger with it. “You outdated piece of toilet paper.”
The dagger exploded in his hand, as did its twin planted inside the summoning circle. Necromantic magic whipped around in tendrils of black and purple, sickly arms of death waving around erratically.
The Lich extended his influence over the summoning circle and opened the Necronomicon he clasped in his hands.
“I’ll show you,” he said as foul power emanated from within the book. “I’ll teach you all a lesson.”
Greg’s cruciform spear sailed across the room, knocking the Necronomicon from the Lich’s hands. He screamed as the holy light inside the spear burned his hands and followed the Necronomicon as it skittered on the ground, far from his grip.
“You!” he screamed looking at Greg. “I’ll rip you apart limb from limb. I’ll-”
I plunged Djinn into his back, reaching all the way up to his heart.
“School’s out,” I growled, pushing magic into the weapon.
My shadows coalesced around Djinn’s blade, dulling the fiery azure light with strokes of black. I twisted the blade and Djinn’s magic snaked outwards from his wound, until the shadows sprung out, shredding the Lich’s mummified body into tiny disgusting pieces.
I felt the Necronomicon, lying still by itself, burn with power as the Lich was pulled back towards it.
The malignant spirit was once again trapped inside.
I looked at Greg and sighed, giving him the thumbs up.
He smiled, before suddenly convulsing. He fell to his knees, eyes wide open, unable to breathe.
“Greg,” I cried, running towards him.
Before I could reach him, I felt something punch me in the gut. My shadows flared against the intrusive magic.
I felt the life being sucked out of me, as if someone was tearing away every last drop of blood, every muscle fiber, pulling the very bones away from my body.
The ground opened beneath us, swallowing both me and the Kresnik. Darkness and panic lasted only for a split second before we were regurgitated back up, more than ten feet away from the summoning circle.
I saw Amaymon check Greg’s pulse. He nodded at me — Greg was just unconscious.
“What the hell is going on?” I managed to say.
Amaymon remained silent, his eyes focused steady ahead.
I followed his gaze.
The Necromancer stood up, cradling the Necronomicon in his hands, and began giggling victoriously.
Chapter 28
It should have come as a surprise, but it didn’t. I’m not as jaded as to think people never change but the ones who genuinely do turn over a new leaf are a rare handful.
The Necromancer, despite being given the opportunity to do so otherwise, kept insisting on proving he was the world’s largest asshole.
“So,” I said, straightening up. “You’re the new bad guy?”
The Necromancer grinned. “From my perspective you are the bad guys because you’re standing in my way.”
He paused and absentmindedly caressed the book in his hands.
“No, wait,” he said. “I’m still the bad guy. I quite like being the bad guy. Feels good. Powerful.”
I sighed. Always the same shit with these guys.
“So what,” I asked. “You’re gonna become the new Lich now?”
“That old thing?” The Necromancer scoffed. “He couldn’t bring out the Necronomicon’s true power. Real Necromancy requires a living being. Here, let me show you.”
Blobs of mist and darkness began forming around the Necromancer, solidifying into horrors.
“Amaymon,” I said, craning my head to look at my familiar. “Time to cut loose.”
He cracked his knuckles and neck. “Hell, yeah!”
A dome of earth cocooned Greg’s unconscious figure and I knelt down, shadows burrowing deep into the rock beneath me. The entire room shook and I could feel the entire mountain strain under the influence of Amaymon’s powers.
“How far do you wanna take this?” he asked.
I looked at the Necromancer and his stupid, terrified look.
“Tear the whole thing wide open,” I snarled.
And that was exactly what Amaymon did.
The mountain peak exploded as the Earth Elemental pulled it apart, exposing the hall we stood on to the elements. Tons of rock rolled down the side of the mountain and the ground beneath us was reduced to rubble.
The Necromancer looked around. He opened his mouth to say something, when he remembered the summoning he had initiated and poured more magic into the spell.
Nothing happened.
I pointed at the shattered ground.
“The summoning circle is gone,” I said. “No more summoning.”
I turned to Amaymon. “Stay back. I got this one.”
“Your call, boss.” He raised a boulder shaped like a throne and casually sat on it, crossing his legs.
“You think you w
on?” spat the Necromancer. “You think that just because you possess a demon you have defeated me?” He shook the Necronomicon. “I have millions like him at my beck and call. In fact, I have just the one.”
He flipped the book open and smeared blood on a page. The spell took effect and leaping from the pages, a chimera came in full view.
Easily five times my height, this monstrosity was an amalgamation of a lion, with a scorpion tail and two bull horns emerging from within its mane.
“Not as subtle as my master’s,” the Necromancer said, “but it will do nicely.”
The chimera leapt on me and I swiped with Djinn. The magical blast stopped the monster in its tracks. The scorpion tail came around and I blocked with my short sword, before two lion paws threw me to the ground, tearing at the shadows around me.
“This is the best you can do?” I said through gritted teeth as I held the monster back. “Your teacher must blow.”
“My teacher is the greatest,” the Necromancer replied. Clearly, I had hit a nerve. “He was the one who taught me all of this, the one who raised me from the gutter. No more petty crime for me. Now I am the Necromancer, Lord of the Undead.”
I punched the chimera’s lion face and got some leverage on it. One of its claws dug into my shoulder and blood oozed along with the shadows.
“I’d love to meet him,” I said. “Maybe I could kick his ass too, once I finish up with you.”
The Necromancer spat out a laugh.
“Oh, you have met him,” he said. “Or rather you met his private group of magic users.” He grinned. “I believe you know them as the Black Ring Society.”
The chimera leapt back, and pounced on me. Debris exploded everywhere, obscuring my vision.
But I didn’t need to see it anymore.
I held my hand out, stopping the chimera’s swooping paw with ease. I felt the monster strain against the puny human but to no avail.
The Necromancer sensed the change in the tide of battle.
“So your master is the guy who controls the Black Ring Society,” I said. “Interesting.”
I looked at the chimera struggling to rip my head off. Shadows wrapped around its neck.