Reality Falling (The Book Wielder Saga 2)

by Davies, Sean

  The winds picked up, rustling the canopy of green leaves above, and the skies slowly but surely became overcast. Veronica was annoyed that she’d wasted some Sunshield Potion on a cloudy day, but even more so when the rain started falling. Her long black hair stuck to her muddy face and her clothes were completely soaked within the first few minutes of the shower. All she could hear was the pattering sound of raindrops hitting leaves and muddy soil. The hard shower subsided into a light rain, and Veronica stopped in her tracks. She could sense something unnatural above.

  A giant dark green spider about the same size as Veronica, covered in moss, long thick hairs, and the occasional bit of brightly coloured fungi, dropped from the thickets above with its legs spread ready to close around her. Veronica reacted quickly. She held Xavier’s sword above her head, and as the spider toppled on top of her it impaled itself, spraying thick green blood that reeked of compost out of its mortal wound. The Vampire Bloodmage crawled out from underneath the creature’s closing chitinous legs, soaked in the foul smelling blood. She saw more of the giant spiders drop down from the tree tops, poised ready to pounce.

  She used her blood magic to pop one of them inside out, turned another two against each other in a telepathically fuelled fit of rage, and sliced and diced any that got to close to her. But more of the hideous giant spiders kept coming, either from the tree tops or charging through the gaps in the tree’s trunks. Veronica turned and ran, using all of her strength to propel her up the ever steepening incline. The spiders weren’t much of a match for her, but she was worried that Lewis wouldn’t be too far behind. If he only drained half of her powers, it would be over in a mere few moments.

  The trees began to thin slightly and then suddenly, as Veronica was charging blindly through some low hanging branches, she entered a large clearing. It was the mansion from her dreams. The building was old, verging on ancient, but it wasn’t unkempt, and it was clear that someone had been looking after it. The windows were immaculately clean. There wasn’t a tile missing on the roof, and the grass surrounding it looked like it was regularly mown. There were a few mounds of bricks running around the perimeter, right by the thick surrounding treeline, which was the only remaining evidence of a surrounding wall; a wall that Veronica wished was still in place as the spiders ran into the clearing after her.

  She was half way to the house when she risked turning to face her chasers. She sliced one spider in half that had used her momentary pause to pounce, and Xavier’s spell-forged sword glimmered with white magical energy as it cut through the Gloom-creature’s body just before it could clamp into her face with its mandible jaws. Veronica hurled a few bolts of wispy red blood magic at two more spiders and caused their insides to sizzle and burn, and with her telekinesis she ripped all eight legs off another and left it to die slowly.

  Veronica thought things were looking up until she heard the sound of snapping branches and falling trees. She backed up towards the house, killing spiders as they got too close, and watched as the trees nearby began to topple. Then, in a cloud of wooden splinters and foliage, a Spider Demon crashed into the clearing, swinging a massive serrated obsidian longsword to rid itself of any further obstructions.

  The Spider Demon wore a full masquerade mask over its face, divided into four square sections that were oppositely coloured bright pink and black. It had a long pink ponytail pluming upwards then down from the back of its masked head, and underneath the silver and black plate armour, the Demon had an extremely full female figure which could easily rival that of Veronica’s. However, its humanoid appearance ended at the torso where it joined onto an extremely large pink and black spider body. Its eight legs were divided into three sections, each as long as a person, and armoured and bladed at the very tips.

  Just before Veronica turned to run for the mansion, she glimpsed a humanoid shape hobbling out of the trees nearby. A shiver ran down her spine, for at first she thought it was Lewis, but after a daring moment of focusing she saw that it was someone else. What she saw didn’t comfort her all that much, though. It was a male Mage, or at least it had been. Now it was a twisted and deformed being, a victim of Gloom-exposure before anyone knew the risks of prolonged contact with the other plain. On one half of his face he wore a psychotically happy expression and on the other half he wore a blue mask, similar to the ones that Demons always had. His body looked strangely out of proportion in places, and patches of his skin were pale while others were blackened, bruised and rotten.

  With a hysterical high-pitched giggle, the Demon-Mage hybrid launched an orb of molten hot witchfire that detonated just short of Veronica’s sprinting feet, showering her with mud and grass. The Vampire Bloodmage made no attempt to fight back. She knew that if Lewis was anywhere nearby it would be the end for her, and even if he wasn’t it wouldn’t be long before the Archmage got him there to make her powerless. Instead Veronica redoubled her efforts to get to the mansion’s front door, praying that her vision would lead her to safety. The Demon-Mage, his Spider Demon mistress, and her eight-legged minions pursued her mercilessly with startling speed.

  - - -

  After the eventful meeting with Winston Reynolds, Alice had made her way back to Fallowne with Kaine, which was a very awkward drive considering she was depressed and he was completely naked. Luckily the Trinity owned bar had some spare clothes that fit the old Werewolf, and he had quickly got changed while Alice filled Jonathan in on the calamitous confrontation between them and the Gloom-dwellers in the ghost town.

  They had made their way back to the Catacombs, and Kaine left to discuss his new alliance and position in greater detail with Silvario and Cherriesa (Alice got the feeling they had a lot of ground to cover with their apparent tenuous history), which left her and Jonathan idle. They checked in with some of the Trinity’s operatives to see if there were any new major developments in the war, but according to the Trinity’s information there was no new activity in or around Tropica. The Dogs of War and Supernatural forces around the world had parted ways more or less amicably, Sanctium production was beginning to build up to a usable quantity of fluid, and that was about it. Alice hated sitting around doing nothing, especially after she’d come so close to swaying Winston’s mind and ultimately failed, so she decided to stay with Jonathan in lieu of sulking at the top of the Central Tower.

  They had got some food in the living area but Alice only nibbled at it; her stomach was churning. Jonathan took her back to his room for some more Alchemy lessons, but the information just wasn’t going in. She had tried for hours and hours to get her mind off her troubles and focus on Jonathan and her book’s instructions, but it just wasn’t happening.

  “There was nothing you could’ve done,” Jonathan had reminded her as he finished a complex Vitality potion.

  “I know,” Alice sighed. “I was just so damned close.”

  “Say what you will about Winston, but he sounds like an intelligent guy. The things you and Kaine told him won’t just float out of his head,” Jonathan said confidently.

  “We planted the seeds of doubt, but will they sprout in time?” Alice grumbled.

  Jonathan exhaled loudly. “There’s nothing we can do about it right now. We’ll have to just wait and see what happens next. Well, unless you fancy flying over to the Capital in an airship and littering Omniosis’ tower with Sanctium rounds, hoping you’ll get a lucky shot in.”

  Alice’s head picked up and her eyes widened as she considered the idea.

  “It was a joke Alice.” Jonathan said shaking his head. “That would be total suicide.”

  Alice went to argue the point but realised with a shock that General Wallace had utilised a similar tactic to little avail. More pointless deaths were the last thing they needed, even if they were their own.

  “I want to go to the Gloom,” Alice had said after what seemed like an eternity of silence and frustration.

  “Not a chance. You’re not in the right frame of mind for it, Alice,” Jonathan said sternly, putting his han
ds upon her shoulders.

  She looked up at his sweet purple eyes, filled with the usual annoying concern that made her thoughts go crazy. She wanted to hit him. Or kiss him.

  “I’ll go... out with you, if you let me go,” she said embarrassed, her cheeks going bright red.

  “Go out with you?” Jonathan quoted. “You sound like a school girl.”

  Alice went to smack him in the face but somehow instead ended up embracing him tightly, her lips touching his. Her heart was beating a mile a minute and she felt tingly all over.

  “Whoa,” Jonathan breathed in shock. He went back for another kiss but Alice stopped him.

  “Let me go to the Gloom, Jonathan,” Alice demanded playfully. “I need to do some damage to something unnatural, and it’s either going to be those Gloom creatures or you...”

  “Fine, you can go,” Jonathan said reluctantly. “But you’re letting me take you out for dinner tomorrow night, somewhere proper in Tropica.”

  Alice thought about it for a while. With her spontaneous kiss it seemed that she had gone too far to turn back now. Her relationship with Jonathan was going to happen and that was that. While there was still a world left for them to have a relationship in.

  “Fine, you have a deal mister,” Alice said, going to shake his hand.

  Instead, Jonathan leaned in and kissed her again. This time their tongues brushed, and Alice’s mind filled with sparkles and stars. “Deal,” he said softly afterwards.

  “Why don’t we go tonight?” Alice asked. “After I’m done in the Gloom.”

  Jonathan chuckled. “It is the night, Alice. By the time you get back from the Gloom it will probably be morning.”

  Alice shook her head. Being a bad sleeper and goddess-knows how far beneath the surface did not mix well. “Okay, tomorrow night it is then,” she said happily.

  Jonathan had been right. By the time they had gathered some free Trinity and Inquisition guards, got themselves equipped and headed to another safe house, it was already in the early hours of the next day. They had arrived at a mansion in north-western Rura, deep in the forested hills near the mountains at the far edge of the continent, which was used regularly as an outpost and a Catacomb entrance and exit for Trinity members in the region. Unlike her other safe house visits, this time they had been greeted by other members of the Trinity of Old, all dressed down in casual wear but clearly Supernaturals with their red, purple and yellow eyes. The place was also very old but it had been looked after a great deal more than the other safe houses that she’d seen. Like the times before, Alice occupied one of the rooms on the second floor to make her crossing, and Jonathan stayed in there to await her return while the guards mingled with the mansion watchers.

  The trip had been just what she needed, a chance to vent her rage and clear her head, although she had avoided obvious harm and danger a little more than her other visits; she had plans with Jonathan that she definitely wanted to be intact for. Alice stocked up quickly and carefully, only entering combat when she knew that she could win without a doubt, and left the dark dimension without a scratch.

  After the sickening blur of inter-dimensional travel had ended, Alice minimised her book, slid it back in the thigh compartment of her power armour, and turned to greet Jonathan. She had expected to see him standing close to her with a big smile on his face, but instead he wasn’t even in the room. Alice left the room and saw him standing by the wooden balcony that ran alongside the inside of the second floor.

  “What’s going on?” she asked frantically. There were guards downstairs by the front door peeking out of the windows and arguing about what to do.

  Before Jonathan could answer, an extremely voluptuous Vampire woman covered head to toe in dirt and green gore smashed through the wooden front doors. Armed with a glistening sword, the woman made for the central staircase that would take her up to where Alice and Jonathan were standing.

  Alice gripped her hammer and moved towards the staircase when a second intruder smashed into the mansion, taking the front door and most of the surrounding wall with it. Trinity guards and Inquisitors were blown away from the scene, and Jonathan and Alice fell to the floor.

  From the floor, Alice watched an armoured Demon woman, who was a horrendous pink and black spider from the torso down, as it shook off the debris and make room for itself within the building’s large hallway entrance. It immediately swung a gigantic obsidian blade at the Vampire woman. The Vampire narrowly dodged the attack and hit the stairs face first with a thud. Without thinking twice, driven purely on instinct, Alice got to her feet and launched herself over the wooden railings.

  The Spider Demon reversed her hold on the serrated blade and lifted it, ready to execute the Vampire before it could get up. Alice wasn’t in range to strike with her spell-forged hammer so she drew her submachine gun and fired wildly at the foul creature. Plasma bolts pinged off its black and silver plate armour or sizzled into its chitinous hide with little to no effect. Spotting a large crystal chandelier above, Alice aimed at it and fired as accurately as she could whilst still advancing towards the Demon. The bright blue energy bolts connected and the chandelier came crashing down onto the creature’s shoulders and abdomen, and slid off onto the floor. The Lord Inquisitor’s attack had little effect, but the Demon turned away from the Vampire, and with a distorted hiss it slammed one of its armoured legs down towards Alice. She rolled out of the way only to find herself in the path of the Demon’s massive black sword, but a shockwave from above deterred the attack.

  It was Jonathan. However, the Mage couldn’t help for long; a giant dark green spider ploughed through the window at his level, and was soon followed by another. He blasted them to pieces with his force magic but more made their way into the building, and soon the place was filled with the horrible Gloom giant spiders. Trinity Supernaturals retaliated with guns, melee weapons, fangs and claws, and magical attacks. Alongside them, the Inquisitors swept through the eight-legged horrors with swaths of plasma energy and high powered bullets.

  As Alice recomposed herself she saw that the Vampire woman had got up onto her feet, slung her bag to the side, and readied herself in an uneasy attempt at a sword fighter’s stance. Underneath her soaking wet raven black hair and layers of dirt and grime, Alice could see a beautiful and determined face, and she immediately recognised her from the Omni’s propaganda. It was Veronica Reynolds, Winston’s wife.

  An intensely hot explosion from behind made Alice stumble forward, and she turned to see that room behind her had been incinerated by witchfire. Some Inquisitors and Supernaturals had been caught in the blast, and they wailed and screamed as the unnatural magical fire consumed them. As a Trinity Mage sent waves of frost and ice towards the green flames, a demented humanoid stumbled in through the charred hole in the wall that its attack had created. It was some sort of repulsively deformed half-Mage half-Demon, and Alice was sickened to the core at the sight of the cackling crippled hybrid. It sent another blast towards the Trinity Mage but Alice quickly suppressed it. The Mage sent two long lances of ice flying towards the hybrid and they shot right into its chest, pinning it to the floor at an awkward angle. Alice ran towards it and smashed her hammer down onto its madly laughing half-masked head, knocking it clean off its shoulders. The body slumped onto its icy restraints, and parts of it bubbled and melted into a bubbling black pool that stank of death itself.

  Veronica was going toe-to-toe with the Spider Demon, dodging its stabbing bladed legs and sweeping obsidian sword, striking back where possible, but the Demon was giving her little opportunity for retaliation. The Vampire Bloodmage shot her wispy red magic at the creature but it only managed to singe a few blood vessels and scorch some patches of pink and black skin, and any magic directed against the Demon’s armour simply dissipated on impact. Veronica finally got a lucky break when Jonathan directed another shockwave at the Demon in-between fighting its dark green minions. She savagely hacked at one of its front legs, and her blade flashed as it bit through the arm
our, corrupt chitin and blackened flesh within, severing it completely.

  The now seven-legged Demon screeched so loudly the glass in the mansion cracked, and it redoubled its assault on Veronica. As Alice rushed to join the fight as she had originally intended, she noticed that the Demon was unusually obsessed with attacking the Vampire. It was surrounded by enemies, but the only thing it was interested in was Winston Reynolds’ wife.

  Alice swung her hammer sideways, snapping another one of its legs off. The wound gushed out black coagulated blood, and the Demon screamed and suddenly slashed downwards at the Lord Inquisitor. The serrated blade gouged along her shoulder pad and into down into her breast plate, before the Spider Demon wrenched it out with such force that the shoulder section of her power armour was torn off completely, and Alice was launched off her feet. She crashed into the wall but moved as quickly as she was able. A bladed leg shot right into the space that she had landed in only seconds before.

  Veronica didn’t waste any time, deftly launching herself towards the humanoid body of the Demon and clambering behind it. She began rapidly swinging her spell-forged blade at the Demon’s head, but as the creature bucked and rocked, the best she could manage was glancing strikes on its well armoured torso. Veronica grabbed a hold of its pink ponytail to steady herself as the bucking beast tried in vain to rid itself of its vampiric rider.

  Down on the ground, Alice was dancing dangerously around as she deftly dodged the six remaining bladed legs. As Veronica continued to pester the Demon’s upper form, Alice was afforded with more chances to strike. Unfortunately the damage to her armour had caused her right arm to seize up at random, leaving her to fight less effectively with her wrong hand. The sound of metal clanking on metal continued from above and as Alice dodged another stabbing leg she smashed through another, without pausing for a breath she ran under the Spider Demon’s hideous body and slammed off another on the other side.

  The Demon thrashed, bucked and screeched. It could no longer sustain its own weight and crashed to the ground. Veronica let go of its plume and slashed sideways, cutting through hair and then neck, and in a flash of bright light the Spider Demon was decapitated. The masked head rolled off along the floor towards Alice and she stopped it with her foot like it was a football. The Lord Inquisitor swung her hammer down with her left hand, and with a bright spark of white light and a massive crash, the head burst into rank black pieces. Alice felt like she was developing quite the knack for crushing Demon skulls into bits.