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Rend Hope

Page 3

by Josh Webb


  "You want harsh? I’ll give you harsh!" She vowed, pointing her right index finger at Markus and channeling her power through it. A thin blue beam of magic energy lanced out from her fingertip. It made contact with the hood of Markus' flannel jacket, setting it on fire. The “Ordinary” magi yelped and quickly stripped off his jacket, revealing the long-sleeved black shirt he was wearing underneath. Frantically, Markus tried to pat out the small fire on his hood.

  "Damn it Marie! This is my favorite jacket!" He exclaimed, Marie's eye twitched.

  "It's your ONLY jacket moron!" She yelled, Markus had managed to put the fire out, his hood only slightly charred.

  "Exactly! Which means it's my favorite by default." He explained to her, Marie slapped her forehead and groaned.

  "You can't just have it be your favorite because it's your only one." She tried to reason, Markus shook his head.

  "Why not?" He asked her, Marie realized that she didn't have an answer for that.

  "You just can't." She answered back simply, crossing her arms. Markus rolled his eyes.

  "Wow your logic is completely flawless." He replied sarcastically, Marie's glare intensified.

  "You want your hair to be next?" She threatened, the young male magi grinned.

  "Go ahead, the bald look doesn't look too bad on me." He told her.

  The two guards continued to watch the conversation between the two young magi. The two sorcerers continued to argue back and forth. While it was loud, it was clear that the argument between the two lacked any real venom. Henry turned to his partner.

  "I see Lady Marie is as spirited as ever. Good to see she is fine." Henry said. Teivon nodded.

  "Yeah that's a load off our shoulders. Still, the two mentioned encountering a ghoul. That does not bode well." Teivon replied. Henry's expression turned solemn.

  "So there's a necromancer out there?" The sledgehammer wielding guard asked, Teivon placed a hand on his chin, thinking.

  "I'm not going to jump to conclusions yet, but if their story checks out with the mayor and the sheriff then that's what we could be looking at." Teivon answered, Henry cursed under his breath.

  "Another necromancer, I hope we'll be okay." Henry said, Teivon sensed his dread and placed a hand on his right shoulder.

  "It may be rough, but this city's magi has brought us through tough times before. I'm confident they'll do it again." Teivon told his partner. "And I'm sorry about your sister, I know you two had went through hell together." Henry managed a small smile.

  "We did, it was a miserable life for us before we found Midas City, but I'm pretty sure you could get a similar story from nearly everyone beyond these walls. At least now Layla no longer has to suffer." The blonde-bearded man said, eyes glistening with unshed tears. He nodded toward the arguing magi. "We should get those two inside, the mayor will probably want to hear what they have to say."

  "Indeed." Teivon agreed.

  *********

  Ebrim had stealthily circled the place twice. Already he had found several glyphs magically etched into the metal wall circling the city. They were pretty potent stuff too. Probably designed to keep out any foreign magical spells from the ground and the air. A tough nut to crack, but not impossible.

  He was currently hiding in a bundle of palm trees located southeast from the city. Not only did it provide shade from the sun, but it was perfect cover for when he began his spells. He had scouted out the city's defenses, and now it was time to exploit any weaknesses.

  The necromancer smirked as he pulled out a human heart from his pouch. The heart was mostly intact, kept preserved by his necromancy. Ebrim had tore it out of the cannibal he had killed earlier in the day. Placing it on the sandy ground, he knelt down on his right knee and started chanting his spell. A dark violet circle appeared under the heart, as Ebrim continued chanting, various designs began to appear within the circle as it transformed into a necromantic glyph.

  He was almost done when he heard a gun click. The dark-whiskered necromancer turned his head around to find himself staring down the barrel of a rusty revolver. The owner of the gun was a man with a scarlet-colored beard, he glared at Ebrim suspiciously.

  "You have three seconds to convince me what you’re doing is completely reasonable." He accused, keeping the revolver trained on Ebrim. The necromancer heard four more pairs of footsteps and drew his attention away from red-beard to find four other men approaching him. All five of the men wore tan military fatigues and lean physical builds. Two of the four were armed with one-handed hammers, while a third had a one-handed hatchet. The last man wielded a long wooden pole with a sharp knife taped to the end of it, a makeshift spear. The fifth man of course, had the revolver. The one with a spear walked up to the gun-wielder, examining Ebrim's glyph. As soon as his eyes made contact with the human heart at the center of it his face paled.

  "Sir! He's...he's a necromancer!" The spear-wielder said.

  "What!?" The gun-wielder and apparent leader of the group exclaimed, turning his attention away from Ebrim. It was a fatal mistake.

  A giant skeleton hand glowing with dark violet energy burst from the ground beneath the gun-wielder. The bony fingers closed around the shocked gun-man, its thumb reaching just above his collarbone and its pinky reaching just below his knees. The trapped man only had time to gasp before the fingers closed around him, crushing him. Sounds of bones breaking filled the air as the man was squashed like an aluminum pop can. Blood exploded outward from the man's eyes, ears, mouth and was even dripping out of his boots. By the time the skeleton hand released him, his torso, arms and legs were nothing but a crunched up mass of flesh, bone and blood. The gun-wielder's eyes stared lifelessly into the sky as he bled onto the sand underneath him.

  "My, my, it looks like I've been discovered." Ebrim said in a sinister hiss, wiping some of the blood from the gun-wielder off of his right cheek with his right thumb, then licking it with a grin. "You leave me no choice gentleman, I'll have to take your lives to keep my secret."

  The spear-wielder tried to quickly stab Ebrim in his left side, but the giant skeleton hand was quicker. It grabbed the wooden shaft of the spear and broke it in two, then quickly followed with a flick of its bony fingers. The impact sent the spear-wielding man flying back, the necromancer thought he heard ribs breaking as well.

  While Ebrim was distracted by the guy with the spear, the two hammer-wielders tried to catch him unawares. They were charging forward, hammers ready to be brought down to break his bones. Before they could crush the necromancer's skull, the giant skeletal hand once again protected him. It formed a fist and caught the two strikes from the hammer-wielders on the back of its hand, absorbing the impact. Ebrim smirked, they'd need more than those meager weapons to kill him.

  A battle cry to Ebrim's left drew his attention. The hatchet-wielder was charging at him full speed. With the skeleton hand occupied by his companions he had a clear shot at the necromancer. The hammer-wielders were merely to get Ebrim's attention, he was mildly impressed. These guys were more skilled than the dark-haired villain had originally thought. The tactic they employed would have worked if a skeletal hand was all Ebrim could do. Unfortunately for them, Ebrim could do a lot more.

  Just as the hatchet-wielder was getting into range to strike, the ground beneath him exploded in a shower of sand and dust. He was knocked back several meters, landing hard on his back. The hatchet-man grunted in pain as another giant skeletal hand reached up from the ground, grabbing purchase in the sand. A giant skull followed and soon a huge ten meter high skeleton stood before the men in tanned military fatigues.

  "Impressive tactics from lowly beings like you." Ebrim complimented, "But all your efforts are useless against my skeleton friend here." The giant skeleton lifted its right foot above the downed hatchet-wielder. The man's eyes widened and he quickly rolled out of the way as the foot crashed down on where he was less than a second before. The impact from the skeleton's stomp sent him tumbling across the ground once more. Ebrim then turned h
is attention to the hammer-wielders, who were desperately trying to get away from the giant skeleton, he smiled a sinister smile.

  The skeleton flattened its hand and drove it towards one of the retreating men. Its fingers pierced the unfortunate man's back and severed his spine at his lower back. Blood was everywhere as the sheer force of the skeleton's attack shoved the dying man hard into the ground. As the skeleton extracted its hand from the hammer-wielder, Ebrim saw that he was dead. He couldn't help himself, he laughed, it was all so glorious. Killing people and making them into one of his creations was always the source of his greatest joy.

  The remaining man had managed to get out of the skeleton's melee range for the moment. That did not last long as the skeleton took two long strides with its long bony legs and brought its right palm down on the running fool, crushing him. As the skeleton lifted his hand, the man's corpse was twitching uncontrollably from the sheer force of the impact. The man's limbs were at all sorts of unnatural angles, to Ebrim, it was a beautiful sight.

  He was interrupted from his thoughts at the sound of metal whistling through the air, turning to his left he saw a hatchet flying towards him. The resilient hatchet-wielder was on his knees, his right arm was extended in a finished throwing motion. Ebrim casually lifted his left hand and caught the hatchet by its blade before it could hit him.

  "I admire your perseverance, it will be useful when I turn you into one of my undead experiments." Ebrim told the hatchet-wielder, although the man glared at him in defiance, Ebrim saw the fear in his eyes. The man's fear was as thick as butter, he loved that fear, it gave him sustenance, made him stronger.

  The hatchet glowed dark violet and disintegrated before the man's eyes. A moment later a bolt of energy the same color slammed into his chest. The hatchet-wielder suddenly found himself without breath as he was knocked at least ten meters backwards. He couldn't even cry out in pain when he landed because the bolt had knocked all the air from his lungs. The disarmed man tried to rise to his feet, but excruciating pain racked his entire body, he collapsed back down onto the ground. The man looked up as Ebrim walked up to him to tower over his fallen form.

  "D-Damn...you..." The man managed to wheeze out. "Necromancer...scum!" Ebrim smiled and knelt down on his right knee beside the man. He reached into his pouch and pulled out his knife.

  "I prefer to think of myself as a pioneer." Ebrim replied, hovering the knife over the man's chest. "You and your friends will be the products of my innovation. With my help, you will become the perfect minions and I will use you to kill as many people in your little city as I can. A pioneer in necromancy has to have a lot of research material to work with don't you agree?" Ebrim asked, his response was only harsh coughing from the man. "Now hold still, this is going to hurt." And with that, Ebrim plunged the knife into the man's chest cavity. The injured man's screams echoed across the desert wasteland.

  Chapter 4

  David Watkins, Mayor of Midas City, sighed in relief. The leader of a scouting party he had sent to the North had come back with good news. They had found a well in a ruined village that was still in working order. That should solve their low supply of drinking water, for the time being at least.

  He shuffled the few papers he had on his desk, papers he had handwritten himself. The documents contained the estimated population count of Midas City and the amount of food and water the city had. It also held the report of how the new construction of houses was progressing. He'd have to send another team out to the ancient ruins in the west to see if they could salvage additional lumber and metal for building materials.

  David was no longer a young man, he was fast approaching middle-age, with greying short black hair and bushy eyebrows. He did his best to stay on top of shaving, as he didn't like the way a beard made him look even older than he was. For a middle-aged man he was still in good physical shape, you had to be in this dismal day and age or you didn't survive. David Watkins was definitely a survivor. Surprisingly, David had a decent wardrobe, nothing great, but decent. Currently he was wearing a white long-sleeved button-up shirt with black pants. The outfit was finished with some steel-toed black leather boots.

  The sound of his door opening roused David from his thoughts. Walking in at a sedated pace with a lazy look in his eye was Kendal Wallace, sheriff of Midas City. In the sheriff's left hand was a dead doe, probably caught it in the small stretch of forest to the north. The deceased animal was trailing blood onto David's whitish-grey carpet. The mayor was not amused.

  "Did you really have to drag that thing in here and get blood all over my carpet?" David asked, Kendal smiled.

  The sheriff sported a brown cowboy hat, which was in stark contrast to the rest of his outfit. The denim trench coat he wore was blue, while the shirt he wore underneath it was red. Dark blue denim pants and brown steel-toed boots completed his wardrobe. Kendal's hat hid his long brown hair, which went to his shoulderblades, he kept it in a ponytail with a rubber band. Dark brown whiskers also covered his jaw and upper-lip.

  "Just showing you proof that I’ve actually been out hunting boss." The sheriff replied, dropping the dead animal to the floor with an unceremonious thud. He quickly found the nearest chair and plopped himself down on it, interlacing his fingers and placing his hands on the back of his head. Then with a satisfied sigh he slouched in the chair, put his feet up on David's desk and crossed his legs. Although David's face remained impassive, his right eyebrow did twitch slightly at the display.

  While the sheriff was an amazing man with amazing abilities. He tended to be a tad lazy, usually procrastinating important things like hunting for food for the city, keeping the bandits at bay or dealing with a domestic dispute. While his deputies did their best to keep him on track, it seemed only his girlfriend and vice-sheriff, Janine Garlow, could give him the kick in the ass he needed sometimes.

  "While I appreciate that sentiment Sheriff Wallace, could you maybe just leave it outside the building next time? This office is already dirty enough as it is, I don't need a dead animal bleeding out on the carpet to add to my cleaning problems." The mayor told him, Kendal shrugged.

  "I thought it'd give the place more character, make you look tough. How intimidated would an outsider be if he came into your office right now and saw this dead deer? He'd think you were a complete bad ass!" Kendal exclaimed, being a little more animated than usual, David shook his head.

  "I don't want to scare people, I want to help them." He responded, Kendal waved his hand dismissively in reply, returning it to the back of his head after finishing the gesture.

  "Yes yes I know boss. Now, you said you had something else you wanted to talk about?" The sheriff questioned with obvious disinterest. Mayor Watkins nodded, placing his hands on his desk and making himself comfortable in his seat.

  "Deputies Teivon and Henry have reported that Lady Marie Livingston has returned." He told the sheriff, who was shocked.

  "Really? Well shit! Finally some good news! I thought she was dead for sure." Kendal said, David sighed.

  "Glad to see you were so optimistic." He said sarcastically, once again Kendal shrugged.

  "Just being realistic. She was out in the Desert of Despair to the east for over three days. A small group like the one Marie had with her is usually eaten by either the wildlife or the roaming bands of cannibals that like to wander around there." The sheriff explained, David had to admit he made sense.

  "Yes well, she is in fact alive, however, she didn't return alone." David continued, Kendal sighed in exasperation.

  "Of course! She was with a small team." Kendal replied, David shook his head.

  "Lady Marie's team was killed, she was the sole survivor." This got Kendal's attention, he uncrossed his legs, put them on the floor and put his hands on the armrests of his chair. He was giving David his full attention now.

  "Really? So then who came back with her? How many?" The sheriff asked, David put a hand up to stop his questioning.

  "We of course don't know who this person is
that came back with her. From Teivon and Henry's report, it appears that this person rescued Lady Marie from a band of cannibals. The report also says that Marie and the stranger encountered a ghoul." The Mayor explained in a serious tone. Kendal put a hand to his chin, thinking.

  "A ghoul huh? Well another necromancer running around really puts a shitter on things." Kendal said out loud, voicing his thoughts. "This mystery person got a name?"

  "He called himself Markus according to the report." David answered.

  "Markus huh? Looks like I'll have to have a chat with Markus..." Kendal announced, rising from the chair slowly. "...Right after I take a nap. I'm pretty tired." He finished, making his way to the door. David was sorely, sorely tempted to bang his head onto his desk at that moment.

  "No sheriff Wallace, I need you to take care of this now. If Lady Marie and this Markus encountered a ghoul, I want all the information about it that I can get out of them. Also, I need you to find out more about Markus, see if he's going to be a danger to the city." David ordered, the sheriff of Midas City yawned.

  "Can't all that wait? I do my best work after a nap you know." Kendal replied, David grit his teeth in frustration, rubbing a hand through his greying hair in an attempt to calm himself.

  "Fine, but if you do not do this by tomorrow night Sheriff Wallace, I will have your vice-sheriff assigned to the task instead. I will also definitely be sure to inform her of your lack of initiative as well." The mayor informed Kendal, whose eyes widened. In truth, David was bluffing. He needed Kendal's partner for a different mission.

  "Aw come on Boss! You know Janine is already not happy with me for lounging around my house for three straight days last week instead of spending time with her!" Kendal whined, David shook his head.

  "I'm not budging on this. I want a report on my desk with information on this Markus character by tomorrow night or else I have vice-sheriff Garlow do it. Understand?" The Mayor ordered, Sheriff Kendal waved his right hand dismissively, his back towards David.

 

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