Rend Hope

by Josh Webb

  Rosalind smiled, there was no way Markus dodged that! Finally the damned menace was dead! However, her smile quickly disappeared when she watched her beam suddenly change direction and head straight up into the sky, taking the store's roof with it. She quickly turned her attention back to the store and saw Markus standing tall, his hands stretched out in front of him. He was glaring daggers at her.

  "What the hell Rosalind! Didn't you hear me shout my warning?" He yelled at her. The co-founder of Midas City narrowed her eyes at him.

  "No I didn't, but why should I heed your warnings anyway?" She shot back. This seemed to only make Markus angrier.

  "There's an old man in here! If I wouldn't have deflected your blast it would have killed him!" He responded, pointing his left index finger behind him to the counter. Rosalind's eyes widened with surprise as she saw a middle-aged bald man emerge from it, he looked scared out of his mind.

  "D-did you save me?" The old man asked Markus, but the flannel-clad Magi dismissed him, gesturing for him to leave.

  "For now at least, but don't worry about that, get out of here. This isn't the best place for an old timer like you at the moment." He replied. The man needed no further encouragement as he ran out of the store via the hole Rosalind's blast had made. She snorted in disgust.

  "Trying to pretend to be a hero Markus? It's a little late for that." She told him, there was fire in his eyes as he fixed his glare onto her.

  "Are you delusional? A man, a living being would have died and it would have been your fault!" He hissed, Rosalind stopped, blinking once. His words rung true. "You're a co-founder of this city and now you are tearing it apart! Threatening the very same lives you have tried to keep safe! Is this worth getting your revenge for?" He continued. Rosalind felt a sudden surge of anger within her.

  "Don't you lecture me! Who the hell do you think you are?! You've barely been in this city for a day!" She shouted back, Markus shook his head.

  "You don't get to pull the seniority bullshit. Not with this. A life could have been lost just now, not just my life or your life, but a man who has absolutely nothing to do with what's happened between us." The flannel-clad magi stated, he had reigned his anger in, for now at least. He lowered his head so Rosalind couldn't see his eyes. "I'm all for ending the lives of bastards who deserve it. I might even let you end my life, if I was sure it would bring you peace." He continued, raising his head once again and the fury on his face actually caused the blonde woman to take an unconscious step back. "But to take an ordinary person's life. One who has done nothing but try to survive. That, I can't allow you to do. It spits on everything a magi is." He finished.

  Rosalind couldn't respond at first. She had almost committed a terrible sin and Markus was calling her on it. Her mind worked furiously trying to find some rational way to explain her reckless action, but it couldn't. The hoodie-wearing magi had to say something though.

  "What's one life if it means extinguishing a great evil?" Came her reply, mentally she winced, that sounded bad she had to admit. Markus' eyes narrowed.

  "That's dangerous thinking Ms. Hearth." He stated icily. "I've heard enough." And with that the flannel-clad magi slammed his left palm into the floor. Rosalind only had a moment to wonder what he was up to before she was shot high into the air by an invisible force. She was well above the highest rooftops of the city.

  Rosalind groaned in pain, her feet and legs had taken the brunt of the invisible force. They were numb and she was having trouble moving them. The blonde girl was about to summon her wings again when a hand grabbed her face, a hand wearing familiar fingerless black gloves. Suddenly she found herself rocketing away. She desperately tried to right herself in the air but it was no use. Markus had thrown her with too much force.

  Markus followed her, leaping from rooftop to rooftop. Rosalind should land just outside the city wall if he estimated correctly. This way they were free to fight without having to worry about any more people getting in the way.

  **********

  "Whoa." Was all Marie could say in awe as she saw Rosalind go sailing through the sky. From the looks of things it was not under her own power. Judging from the number of smoke pillars rising up from the Northern residential district, the area that Rosalind and Markus were previously fighting at, things didn't look like they would be calming down anytime soon.

  "Marie!" A familiar voice said from behind her, the young magi apprentice slowed her pace and turned her head to see David Watkins, mayor and one of two co-founders of Midas City, running up to her. The middle-aged man was flanked by two deputies, both carrying pistols. The mayor himself looked unarmed.

  "Mayor Watkins! I guess you heard the commotion as well?" Marie asked the older man. He nodded as he and his deputies matched the girl's pace.

  "By process of elimination I'm going to assume Lady Rosalind is battling with the new arrival, Markus right?" The mayor asked, Marie looked at him, a surprised look on her face.

  "How did you figure that out?" She asked him.

  "Sheriff Wallace is too lazy and I sent Vice-Sheriff Garlow on a mission. He's the only one left who could be fighting Lady Rosalind in this way." He informed her, Marie quickly put his theory to the test in her brain.

  "Yeah that sounds about right." She agreed, Mayor Watkins pointed towards Rosalind's falling form.

  "Looks like she's going to land right outside the northern wall. That's a stroke of luck for us, if they would have continued fighting here who knows how many casualties they would have caused." The middle-aged mayor stated.

  She didn't know why, but Marie had a gut feeling that it wasn't a stroke of luck. She got the feeling that Markus had thrown her master there on purpose. The teenage magi-apprentice just could not bring herself to believe Markus was the bloodthirsty type. She kept these thoughts to herself as the four of them began to head towards the north gate.

  **********

  As Markus leapt over the large gate that allowed and denied access into Midas City, a strange sensation passed over him. For a few moments his whole body went numb. As he landed near the smoking crater that Rosalind had created on her impact the blonde-haired man looked to his right to get a better look at the metal wall he had just jumped over. Glyphs etched into the steel glowed brightly over the part of the wall he had jumped over.

  The "Ordinary" Magi frowned, so that's why he got the numbing sensation. Defensive glyphs like those must be all over the City's walls. They probably reacted to any sorcery cast against it, especially necromancy. Markus put his right hand to his chest, did it detect "That." within him? It would explain why he set it off and not Rosalind.

  "I see you've noticed my handiwork on the walls." Rosalind's voice came from the crater. There was a tear on the right shoulder of her hoodie and the left knee of her leggings. Markus also noticed that the wounds he had given her earlier had stopped bleeding.

  "It's what I'd expect from you really." Markus told her, the blonde-haired woman was just stepping out of the crater she had made.

  "I created those glyphs to defend against all but the strongest sorcery. I doubt even you could breach it Markus." She declared, he gave a slight shrug.

  "Well I don't intend to try. I threw you out here for a reason and I don't really have any intention on returning to your city." He informed her.

  "Trying to isolate me?" Rosalind sneered, Markus frowned at this.

  "For your own good." He clarified, the wind began to gather around him. "Now we shouldn't have any more distractions."

  "Fine by me." She replied simply as she began to glow white from using her sorcery.

  At the same time, almost as if they rehearsed it, both Rosalind and Markus brought their hands forward. Markus firing a blast of highly pressured air while Rosalind shot a thick beam of ivory energy. Both blasts collided right between the two magi, clashing for about three seconds before the blasts destabilized and exploded. The resulting explosion left behind a decent-sized crater.

  The dust hadn't even settled yet wh
en both magi charged at each other, leaping into the air and clashing in the sky. Markus struck out with his right fist, aiming for Rosalind's face. The co-founder of Midas City managed to catch it with her left hand though and immediately countered with a knee from her right leg. Markus blocked her right knee with his left, hitting two knees together was not a pleasant feeling, but he powered through it. He reared his head back and gave Rosalind a nasty headbutt, slamming his forehead into her own.

  The blonde-haired woman grunted and was knocked away from the mid-air melee. As soon as she landed she was immediately forced to leap backwards as Markus somersaulted in the air and came down hard with his right foot, the impact sent sand and dust everywhere. Rosalind conjured up her wings and used them to kill her backwards momentum. She then quickly reversed direction, rushing towards Markus and striking out with her left elbow.

  A thin stream of blood and saliva exited from Markus' mouth as Rosalind's elbow connected with his abdomen. She was about to pull away, but Markus prevented that by grabbing the woman by the back of her head with both hands and planting his right knee firmly into her face. Blood trailed from her damaged nose, but Rosalind ignored it. Instead the hoodie-clad magi struck out with her right fist, connecting squarely with Markus' jaw.

  The "Ordinary" Magi's head snapped back, his lips peeled back into a snarl as he twisted around clockwise and struck out with his own right fist in a spinning backhand. He hit Rosalind on the right side of her face, causing her to stagger back. Both magi stuck their left hands out simultaneously and fired their respective magic attacks nearly point-blank. The force of the clashing magic energy was powerful enough to knock both of them far away from each other.

  When the dust had settled once more, both combatants had risen to their feet. Markus wiped his mouth and spat out some blood while Rosalind was wiping at her upper lip with her left hand, trying to clean the blood from her bleeding nose. The two glared at each other.

  "You won't leave this place alive Markus! I will avenge my family's deaths!" Rosalind vowed, a white aura engulfing her.

  "You're seeking vengeance in the wrong place, but it's your funeral!" Markus shot back, the wind gathering around him violently yet he stood perfectly still.

  The power of the magic energy both combatants were gathering around them could almost be felt tangibly by a normal person. While Rosalind was trying to glow as bright as the sun with her white energy, Markus' sorcery was a violent typhoon, ready to shred to pieces anything in its way. Before either magi could unleash their attacks a green blur crashed down between them.

  The green blur turned out to be a woman in a dark green skin-tight suit, with dark grey gloves, boots, shoulders and a dark grey helmet shaped in the form of a dragon. The helmet covered the girl's eyes, she quickly stood up and glanced at the two fighting magi. When she spoke, Markus recognized the voice as Marie's.

  "Stop this Rosalind! Markus!" Marie called out, the killing intent in the air was almost palpable.

  "I'm not stopping until he is dead. Now step aside Marie." Rosalind replied.

  "Please Rosalind! There are more important matters to attend to now!" Marie pleaded, Rosalind turned her angry gaze upon her apprentice.

  "Nothing is more important than this! I don't expect you to understand, you weren't there. The crimes he's committed! The lives that were lost!" The co-founder of Midas City ranted.

  "But...!" Marie was about to try again, but was interrupted by Markus.

  "It's alright Marie." Markus said calmly. "This situation is not your fault so don't blame yourself for it." he let out a long sigh. "I always knew my past would eventually catch up to me, it's no use running from it."

  Marie could only look helplessly between the two. Her master, the one who was teaching her to control her sorcery, who was like her big sister and Markus, who could be annoying as hell, but seemed like a decent guy. The "Ordinary" magi had also saved her life in a world where one usually only thought about saving themselves. If not for Markus she would have been some cannibal's meal and that held a lot of weight for her. She could count on one hand the people who went out of their way to help her.

  "No please, don't do this..." Marie tried once again. The thought of them both fighting each other so fiercely and possibly killing each other was awful. And yet as she watched the two of them continued to glare at each other with such intensity that she knew there was no way she could stop them if they were dead set on this.

  "As your master, I am ordering you to stand aside Marie!" Rosalind bellowed. Marie frowned, her plea falling on deaf ears. She reluctantly began to back away when another voice called out.

  "That's enough." David Watkins called out. He was still flanked by the two deputies who were nervously fingering their pistols in their holsters. Rosalind's eyes widened in surprise.

  "Mayor Watkins, you're here?" She asked. Markus raised an eyebrow and looked at the middle-aged man. So he finally got to see the mayor of the city. The "Ordinary" magi immediately got the "Old, but tough." impression from him.

  The mayor glanced at each one of them with a stoic gaze. He immediately noted the heated glares from Rosalind and Markus and the determined look on their faces. David knew those looks from experience, they really were planning to kill each other.

  "Just what do you think you're doing?" He asked them.

  Chapter 11

  "Get ready, we're coming up close on the vice-sheriff's location." Kendal announced to his team of deputies. They all announced their acknowledgement. The gun-slinging magi determined that they'd finally be able to get a visual once they reached the summit of the sand dune in front of them.

  As they reached the summit and looked down, all the team saw was a large cloud of dust. Sand particles within the cloud floated lazily in the air.

  "That's one big dust cloud." One of the deputies said.

  "Is the vice-sheriff really in that?" Another asked, Kendal shrugged, the binoculars Janine had given him in his right hand.

  "That's what these binoculars indicated." He answered his subordinate.

  "Maybe the stupid things are broken. What a hunk of junk." A third deputy stated, Kendal's left eyebrow twitched.

  "I'm sorry, what was that?" The sheriff asked, half-turning his head to his left and glaring at the deputy that just spoke with a suddenly bloodshot left eye. Said deputy panicked, waving his hands furiously in front of him in a placating gesture.

  "N-nothing sir! I was uh just saying that my um glasses were broke yeah! Stupid glasses!" The third deputy quickly stated, Kendal continued to glare at him, making him squirm.

  "That's good deputy. Because if someone was trashing my girlfriend's hard work they'd be patrolling the city sewers...for a month!" The sheriff replied ominously, the offending deputy shook his head vigorously.

  "Nope no trashing going on here sir! Why the thought never crossed my mind!" The third deputy responded, laughing to cover his nervousness.

  "Glad to hear it." Kendal said, turning his attention back to the dust cloud. The last deputy yet to speak, walked up to the third deputy, leaning in close so their conversation couldn't be heard.

  "You don't wear glasses." The fourth deputy whispered, the other deputy glared at him.

  "Shut up dude, are you trying to get me demoted to sewer duty?" The third deputy hissed back, the fourth deputy smiled mischievously.

  "Maybe. You pulling sewer duty for a month means the rest of us don't have to." The fourth deputy informed him.

  “Screw you." Was all the third deputy said, Kendal took a few steps forward, his gold revolver gripped in his right hand.

  "Surround that dust cloud and form a perimeter, but don't move in unless I give the signal. Everyone brought short-range radios with them right?" The pseudo-cowboy asked, all four of his deputies told him they did. He nodded.

  "Go." He told them and his team split off to carry out their orders.

  **********

  Rosalind was currently in a waiting room at the Mayor's office all by herse
lf. She was sitting indian-style on the floor, attempting to get in some meditation to calm her nerves. She had come dangerously close to losing control of herself while fighting Markus and she had to make sure that incident didn't repeat itself.

  After Mayor Watkins had broken up their fight. The deputies had taken Markus back to the sheriff's department, the blonde-haired aeromancer had cooperated peacefully with them. Meanwhile David had summoned her to his office and here she was in the waiting room, trying to meditate before he called her in.

  The hoodie-clad magi slowed her breathing and allowed her mind to relax, not focusing on any specific thought and just letting her brain wander. Surprisingly, it wandered to a certain incident eight years ago, when she was a lot younger and more naive.

  **********

  2227 A.D.

  Near Havenway, located in what was once Michigan.

  Rosalind was lying on a stone slab, her arms raised above her head in a Y-shape and held down by restraints. Her legs were slightly spread and held down by similar restraints as well. She was dressed in denim jeans and brown hiking boots with a plain white shirt. Dust and dirt clung to her skin and clothes and she was sweating profusely, though not because it was hot. It was actually quite cold.

  She was in some sort of underground dungeon made of stone. The ceiling was high above her where the room's only source of light currently was. It was a lantern kept lit up by sorcery. The lantern cast an eerie light bluish glow about the room, a light which played tricks on the eyes and made shadows seemingly dance.

  The stone slab she was currently lying on was at the top of a large altar. The slab was positioned to be perpendicular to the stairs leading up to it. She was restrained so that if she looked to her right she would see the stairs and that if she looked to her left she would see a small archway twenty meters away which lead to some place she had no clue of. The stairs themselves were wide and went down a good distance, easily over sixty meters. After which there was a wide archway that looked like it was the entrance, or for her hopefully, the exit.