Crimson Knight (Crimson Series Book 0)

by K. L. O Johnson

  “Yes but I need a clear answer!” he retorted and I felt my fist clench. I knew then and there that I detested this man and everything he stood for. Who was he to go demanding anything of our empress?

  “Fine.” the empress played, “A ship has crashed.” She mouthed the words slowly and I held back a giggle. She was speaking down on him. something I couldn’t help but internally laugh about. It took every ounce of my strength to not smile.

  “Are you mocking me?” he asked surprised.

  “Maybe.”

  TWENTY-TWO

  The Undead Walk

  “I’m the President of Russia.” he announced and I frowned. If he was so high up what was he doing out in the open? Russia had many enemies, wasn’t he afraid of dying? The empress must have thought something similar because her eyes were hard but her features blank. At least now I know where Kal gets it from. I thought, those two are so similar it defines their relationship.

  “And I’m the President of the United Council.” she announced. “In my court you’ll speak when spoken to or granted permission to.” The man froze and I watched his body guards behind him glance at each other before staring back at the empress. When she put her foot down, she never messed about. That in itself was something to treasure. “None of these demands you humans make.” she exasperated in a mutter.

  Crack! Buildings in the distance tumbled, creating a cloud of smoke. I glanced at the sight in horror—several buildings had crashed due to the impact of the ship and several buildings had their glass cracked if not shattered. Kal was quick to skid to her mother’s side—she held out the full cup to her mother and the empress took it. Her eyes glued to the tumbling building’s.

  “What happened?” Beatrice asked.

  “Couldn’t you tell?” I questioned and she shook her head.

  “I’m in my idol form remember?” she teased and I smiled realising she had transitioned a while ago.

  At the moment, at least one of us knew how to joke. But with the building in the distance tumbling down, level by level I wasn’t surprised by the amount of gasps of shock and fear from where the bystanders stood off in the distance. “The buildings are collapsing.” I assumed and watched as another tall glassy one tumbled down then another, followed by another.

  “By the stars,” Astaria mourned and I glanced at a tense Randolph.

  “You know what’s going on don’t you?” I asked and he was silent. He glanced over at the empress then over to me.

  “Maybe,” he replied and I started:

  “Tell me.” I could always use submission on him but figured against it—I’d trust he’d tell me the truth if not. I’d find out eventually.

  “Do you know there are evil undead?” he asked. I nodded. Of course I did, I dealt with them before. “These aren’t the vampieres you’ve come across princess.” This caught my full attention. “They’re not like zombies portrayed in movies either—they are the mortuss. In Latin they’re referred to as debitum naturae it is translated in the human English as ‘Debt of Nature’. They are a plague that feed on the souls of the living and those that wander the earth. So, while in some stories, they feed off of the flesh of humans—in reality—they feed off your very existence. Destroying your energetic core until it becomes nothing but a memory.” He paused and added, “Then by a spell casted by the ancient demon lord, they were resurrected with imaginable strength, speed and heightened senses—hunting the energy that they feel.”

  That was kind of scary. So if that was a story—or reality, this just became even more dangerous. What was next to come? The Dark Cartel’s army? Our energetic core was like a beating heart it was the source of our power and the source of our life. So to have that threatened really did put me in a bit of a bind. I watched as several more buildings collapsed feeling my idol form plump in gooseflesh. I glanced at Zarlach and watched from a distance as he scanned the danger on approach—danger I knew couldn’t be destroyed. I glanced back to the dirty smoke that surrounded a crumbling building and watched as each building that separated us became destroyed. It was like a giant bulldozer descended, running the building’s over because once one building fell—another did.

  I watched in horror.

  I noticed the empress, at the corner of my eye stood erect and alert. She called, “Run!” No one moved and this time I watched as the empress, that I was so used to seeing, transform into a large towering dragon. She roared and the humans bolted, I watched as some were knocked over. I transitioned once again and I leaped high into the air before shooting down, people parted away from me and ran around us. I stood over a woman and held out my hand.

  “Don’t stop.” I said, she took my hand, thanking me than sprinted off into the general direction where all the humans rushed towards, away from the tumbling buildings. Several police and military helicopters remained and I watched the sight unfold. It felt like a few seconds that the mortuss descended upon us. They stood in a long line their skin sickly grey, their eyes black with scalar and I saw their teeth were like the vampieres I came across—sharp and jagged like a sharks’. Their jaws held many rows of teeth and I knew that they were nothing like the vampieres I had come across because they couldn’t be controlled. And when something couldn’t be controlled it was automatically dangerous.

  They watched us, as we watched them. “Get the young ones out of here!” the empress barked and I heard Kal scream a tearful cry. Dante was quick to pick her up and dart towards a woman that I wasn’t familiar with and watched as he handed Kal to the woman who flew towards far from where the mortuss were.

  Once Kal was gone, Zarlach glanced at the empress and she nodded, that single nod caused my sudden surprise to surface. “Time to go.” he dragged me behind him.

  “Let me go!” I growled aware I could get out of his hold but my body chose not to react to my surprise—maybe it was because I was scared and wanted Zarlach to drag me away, from the danger, from the pain, from the potential suffering.

  The mortuss were fast. I smelt their desire for power and sensed the danger they posed. The ground thumped under each impact and I pushed against Zarlach. “Let me stay!” He didn’t budge, “Let me help!” I growled.

  One word caused me to freeze in place, “No.” He locked his arm around me and took off to the sky, I watched as the ground began to retreat from me. The adult Knights stood ready in a line, the empress signalled an assault and they ran forward. They looked like an army—proud and disciplined.

  “Why won’t you let me fight?” I asked feeling my skeets lock around my ears and the screen concealing my eyes, they helped in blocking out the pain of the wind and its roaring whisps.

  “Because, you are the next heir. The only heir, our existence rests on your shoulders—you know that.” He continued to look on ahead.

  “But I’ll be of age and then what—will you still not let me fight.”

  “Yes! If it means you won’t change,” he growled and I fell silent. We remained quiet for the rest of the journey as several other Outlander knights flew high in the sky away from the battle cradling children, women and men. There was humans too, I noticed, while Zarlach was the only one who carried an Outlander.

  “Where are we going?” I asked.

  “To an underground bunker,” he replied. I glanced onhead and watched as a crowd of humans on approach and spied Beatrice, Kristian and Bella ahead. They landed on the ground and turned their gaze up at the sky, I smiled and knew they could see me as clearly as I could see them. That was the best part of being in my Vampieruz form—nothing was too far away to see.

  “With the humans?” I asked, afraid that some were more a monster than the mortuss. He didn’t say anything as we descended towards where my friends stood. Zarlach glanced at Bella.

  “Protect her.” he said.

  Bella nodded and declared, “I will, it’s my job to.” Zarlach was quick to take to the sky leaving me staring up after him until he was far out of my Vampieruz sight.

  “Where’s Randolph a
nd Astaria?” I asked.

  “Here.” Astaria called and she ran passed a few humans who continued to watch her out of curiosity. Several couldn’t help but stare and I watched as Randolph glared at them. Internally, I smiled at his protective nature and knew Astaria had a good gentleman to look after her.

  “So what’s happening now?” I asked once Astaria met up with us. Randolph followed behind, he looked tired and drawn—weary from the amount of trouble I seemed to cause.

  “Now we head inside where it’s safer.” Randolph replied, I saw he eyed the people around us cautiously. It was as though he wasn’t sure if they were safe to be around or not. I believed that was one of the best ideas I’d heard all day. It wasn’t like I really cared—all I wanted to know was who survived. I started to feel down all of a sudden, I had no idea or reason why. David . . . only if you were here. I mournfully thought and watched the humans as they gathered around us—several were wary of us, others didn’t seem to care, as long as they survived.

  A few men stood guard with rifles before the entrance of the bunker. One stopped us, “What are you lot doing here?” he asked.

  “Heading inside,” I replied.

  “No. This is a human bunker.” he replied.

  “So were not allowed in?” Kristian asked, the humans scanned Kristian carefully taking in his blood red Vampieruz scales. The silver armour that protected his body gleamed under the harsh white lights overhead.

  “That’s exactly right.” He nodded his head behind us and several humans cut off our exit. “Take them.” I was quick to duck but ended up knocking over an elderly woman, I was stunned and apologised. Pulling myself to my feet, I shoved a few humans out of my way and bolted towards the exit certain the others followed after me. With the amount of humans around—being small did have it advantages. I curled a small smile as I ran out of the entrance, aware the guards weren’t following me. As I ran against the flowing crowd of humans, I heard the sound of more and more collapsing buildings in the distance. There were more and more screams of terror and agony or was it fear? I had no real idea but all I knew everyone was eager to get to somewhere. I felt my muscles and bones become light as a feather. As I ran my feet began to lift off the ground, it became like an invisible platform, I felt as though I were running up hill. The grounding beneath my boots were marked in a red glow it surrounded my feet like mud.

  As I ran, I learned many new things, that this sensation—of lifting plates as the technique was called, allowed me to soar high above the crowd. I saw in the distance the mortuss arriving from a different direction, they weren’t coming from the west like before but south-east. I gasped in horror, humans were attacked as were other Outlanders—several fought back, some prevailed others failed.

  They continued to chase after those humans far below. I was near a building that wasn’t in their path or completely destroyed from the impact the ship caused and alighted upon it. As I landed on a nearby rooftop decorated in cracks and slitting stones—all of which were sprinkled in ash from the carnage. I watched in the distance as rounded bright explosions spanned—they weren’t combustions of fire but instead a massive release of energy. The power technique I believed was called: celestial bomb, it was an advanced energetic technique used by Outlanders, mainly by the Nefaliem.

  I felt the cold air on my cheeks and the ice cold wind around me. My silver hair danced behind me swaying like the ocean waves and I was aware of someone nearby. “There you are.”

  I glanced over my shoulder and gasped, the demon commander stood a few feet from me. “You!”

  “Yes it’s me. I’ve been looking for you all over the place.” he replied. I noticed something different about him, he wasn’t in full body armour.

  “What do you want?” I asked.

  “Isn’t it obvious. I’m here to offer you as a sacrifice that way I can kill two birds with one stone.” I felt my body freeze in fear. He was going to use me as a sacrifice.

  “A . . . sacrifice?” I asked, hoping he’d tell me and to my surprise he did.

  “Yes, a purebred sacrifice to Lucifer’s innocence or rather Satan’s innocence.” he said and I backed away. I felt a stone wall behind me, it was a guard to keep me from falling off the edge, something I held onto.

  “Satan’s innocence?” I asked wondering where I had heard of that before.

  “You have no idea do you? Why your parents didn’t tell really confuses me.” The demon spoke, “Ah well, not my problem. However, if you’re interested I’ll tell you a little story. Once upon a time, there was a king and his three children, all of which wanted those in mortal image to live in the light of heaven. One day the king declared a way to allow mortals to walk in the light and to be saved from temptation—he wanted to persuade them to enter the light even though one son decided it was better to force the mortals to follow. The second and third son disagreed. There was an argument and in that argument the eldest son left. He decided to create a new world a world where mortals weren’t allowed to disobey his command. So he left heaven and wandered to the darkness of the underworld. He changed his name and there he met a two women, both were tossed from heaven. The king of heaven felt horrible and missed his son dearly, so as you know, he sent Gabriel with a codex—a box that contained all of the innocence that Satan once had. Then, he was struck down by Prador—the first demon-angel hybrid—the first Nefaliem.”

  “The fact that Lilith’s sister Hella decided to use the serpent within the Garden of Eden as a ploy for her plans was brilliant, might I add. The Nefaliem were or rather are a glorious race.” He eyed me with a daunting gaze and I knew he was going to drag me away to Ivan, so he can devour the rest of my blood.

  “Why are you telling me this?” I asked not understanding his motives.

  “Because every Outlander needs to understand the past and their heritage, in order to make a better future. In this case, you need to understand what comes next.” he replied.

  “And what’s that? The end of the world?” I retorted. I backed away as he moved closer towards me.

  “Pretty much, you do realise the humans and the rest of the mortal races within each galaxy were nothing but experiments. Their existence is supposed to be wiped.” He smiled, devilishly and I glared. That would mean Ryan and his family would die, that would mean my friends too. He snapped his fingers and shadow-like-people ascended from the ground—they were slightly transparent and I could see all the ruined buildings behind them, through them. They surrounded me and I felt my fingers heat—it was a comforting sensation and I felt metal lay heavily between my fingers.

  I held a chain attached to it was a metal mace—the metal spiky ball was large and weighty. It was something I recalled I knew how to use. I remembered practicing with various weapons back at castle haven while using the power to summon those same weapons from my central core. Sure it was hard learning the technique and getting it right but I knew I’d get there it would take a while but one day, I knew I’d get there.

  So to find this weapon in hand I knew I could handle this, “You’re going to abduct me again?”

  “I wouldn’t have to if you didn’t cause such a fuss.” I glared at him and spun the chain the ball around—taking down all my opponents in the process. “I see they really have taught you something.”

  “I’ve learned a lot more than that,” I replied and tossed the mace at another opponent. My fingers warmed again and I felt my broadsword mould into my hands along with a silver sterling shield on the opposite wrist. My body felt warm and I was unfamiliar with this sensation. The demon commander was quick and used trice tread to slip behind me, I felt his presence and dodged the sharp jagged blade that was lined by his arm, it to my surprise was his arm. As he attacked, I received a few blows but also dealt out a few ones of my own.

  As my body continued to fight, I felt a warming sensation because of this, my movements were, quicker, stronger and more powerful than ever before. I learned that I matched the demon lord—just barely but it was eno
ugh because I managed to throw in a few quick jabs, “How did you get so strong and so fast so quickly?” he demanded, in shock.

  I launched a roundhouse and sent him a few hundred metres from me I smiled, “I don’t know but I’m enjoying it.” I ran full force at him with my fist pulled back ready to make contact. I punched him square in the jaw and sent him further away from me, I leaped and chucked out a spinning tornado kick that sent him flying even further away from me. I landed on the ground with ease, he wiped his jaw and launched at me, I dodged his attack and strung together a few of my own. My attacks were pulled together very quickly and I blocked his next attack easily. Taking me off guard with a double kick, I rolled along the ground and quickly pulled myself into a crouch. He seemed to bubble in laughter and I sprinted towards him only to have my next attack thwarted as he sent me from him and through two thick stone walls. “You kids will never learn, will you?” he taunted and I glared at him through the hole I created.

  “Don’t you know, it’s against the law to harm a child?” I mocked and felt my body burn in pain. I was badly injured and knew that even though my scales were as strong as steel those of Resoncretalian descent were a lot stronger than steel.

  “Huh,” he replied. “You pull that card and yet you speak as though you’ve already grown up. Normally, I would be above harming children but you need to be taught a lesson or two.” I watched as he trice treaded towards me at full speed. Pulling up my arms, I flipped over the pile of stone and onto my feet once more. I brought up my arms and blocked his next assault. Snikt! My forearms were cladded in silver armour. No way! I thought,am I really getting stronger that must mean . . . I was round housed across the debris before landed in a pile of stones. “Don’t ignore me!” he growled.

  “Who said I was?” I retorted annoyed and felt my energy fissure against his. Something was happening to me and I had no idea if was a good thing or a bad thing.