Rend Hope

by Josh Webb

  Markus saw Ebrim's leap and smirked, the bastard had thought he was off-balance and was going in for the kill, now he was overcommitted. As Ebrim started to bring the bone spike down in a wide arc with his right hand. Markus suddenly shot his left arm out, grabbing the inside of Ebrim's right forearm with his left hand and stopping the madman's momentum.

  It was Ebrim's turn to look surprised as Markus buried his right fist in Ebrim's gut. The blue-scarfed necromancer coughed and let out a choked gasp from the hit. The aeromancer then slammed his right fist into the underside of Ebrim's jaw in a vicious uppercut. The impact caused Ebrim's teeth to clack together as the force of the blow knocked him away.

  Ebrim quickly recovered, twisting in mid-air and flinging the bonespike at Markus' right eye. The necromancer's aim was dead-on. Relying on his reflexes, the blonde magi was able to bring his left hand up to block the bonespike. Unfortunately it lodged itself into his palm.

  While Markus grunted in pain, holding his impaled left palm, Ebrim landed gracefully on his feet, about fifteen meters away from the aeromancer. Markus never took his eyes off Ebrim though, keeping him in sight at all times while he yanked the bone spike out of his hand. Both combatants glared at each other, weighing their options, finally Ebrim smiled.

  "I have a good idea who you are now." Ebrim suddenly stated, his smile showing his teeth. Markus raised his left eyebrow

  "Oh really?" The aeromancer asked. Shattering the bonespike in his right hand like it was made of glass.

  "Yes. I'll admit you were an enigma at first, but I believe I've solved the puzzle." The madman answered.

  "You should be paying more attention to staying alive, you don't want to mess with me." Markus threatened.

  "Oh don't worry I came to this city fully expecting to be confronted by powerful magi like yourself." Ebrim replied, raising his right hand into the air and firing off a red blast of magic energy into the sky. "I assure you aeromancer, that I have more than skeletons and ghouls at my disposal."

  Markus heard something then, it was faint at first, but as the seconds went by, it became louder. It was the cawing of birds, a lot of birds. The aeromancer looked up and saw that the inky black night sky was filled with massively large white-feathered birds. Each bird the size of an average land rover.

  "Oh hell." Markus said out loud.

  **********

  Consciousness was slow to return to Vice-Sheriff Janine Garlow, with a groan she slowly opened her eyes. The first thing she noticed was that she was in a dark green tunnel, something was illuminating it with a light-green glow, but her vision was still too blurry to identify it properly. The second thing she noticed was that she was moving, someone was carrying her.

  "You're finally awake I see." She heard a voice say, the vice-sheriff discovered that she was piggyback riding the very same red-haired boy that said he was going to murder her.

  "Why are you helping me?" Janine managed to ask, her voice seemed so quiet, so weak. The boy grunted.

  "Because I don't like killing girls, especially ones who are unconscious and can't even defend themselves." He answered, shaking his head. He couldn't do it, he just couldn't. After the ground collapsed and he lost consciousness, Benjamin awoke to find that he was still alive and that the vice-sheriff was still out cold not even ten meters from where he lay. It would have been so easy to bash her skull in or choke the life out of her, but the red-haired youth just could not bring himself to do it.

  So now here he was, helping the very person he was supposed to kill. Trapped in some weird fucking underground green tunnel and with hardly any supplies. Yup, he was a real fucking winner right now.

  "Well if you aren't going to kill me, then let me down. I'm pretty certain you aren't in tip-top condition at the moment and my extra weight probably isn't helping." Janine informed him.

  "Well, aren't you just fucking perceptive." Benjamin snarled, but he complied, letting her down. Janine took a quick look around the tunnel they were currently walking through.

  "Any idea where we are?" She asked him.

  "Hell no." He replied, "I didn't plan on sending us into this shithole during our battle, it just happened." Janine nodded in response.

  "Yeah I saw that in your expression right before we fell." The vice-sheriff continued to look around. "I think our battle triggered something, ancient sorcery long forgotten."

  "Old stuff huh? That makes me nervous, any idea how to get out of here?" Benjamin asked her.

  "The only option we have at the moment is to take the path before us." She answered, what she didn't tell him was that these tunnels might end up going on forever underground. This place could end up being their tomb, it was a very chilling thought.

  **********

  Rosalind managed to right herself in mid-air by conjuring wings made of sorcery on her back. She glared down at Sahiron, who was glaring right back, his eyes bloodshot. She placed both of her hands in front of her and fired out a thick beam of white magic energy. Right before the beam was going to hit Sahiron, it suddenly changed direction and slammed into the ground just a meter in front of him. The former prisoner didn't even budge as debris showered him from the close proximity of the blast.

  "Foolish. You should have known that wasn't going to work, you were the one who stopped me the first time after all." Sahiron stated, Rosalind snarled in frustration. She had forgotten how annoying the straitjacket-wearing necromancer’s ability was to manipulate gravity via his sorcery.

  Sahiron stared hard at Rosalind, with her wings conjured, she almost looked like an angel. A petite guardian ready to bestow divine reckoning upon any who crossed her. He smiled inwardly, it would definitely be satisfying to devour something as holy and beautiful as an angel.

  The former prisoner hopped a few inches off the ground. Using his sorcery, Sahiron drew away most of the gravity from the area around him. As gravity's hold lessoned on the formerly imprisoned necromancer, he propelled high into the air, well above Rosalind's altitude in the speed of an eyeblink. At the peak of his jump, Sahiron drew on his sorcery once more and increased the gravity around him. He plummeted faster than a meteor, the former prisoner stretched his right leg out, intending to smash his foot on Rosalind's shocked face.

  Rosalind barely managed to pull off an evasive roll to her right in time. Sahiron instead impacted the street below her, creating quite the crater upon his landing. As her opponent was busy trying to pull his foot out of the ground, the hoodie-clad magi struck. She twisted around to face Sahiron and shot a massive-sized fist constructed of white energy out of her right palm at him. Her aim was perfect, the giant fist aimed straight at his back.

  Just one second before the fist was going to make contact, Sahiron somehow managed to twist around so that he was facing the giant fist of sorcery. Opening his jaw wide, a black ball of sorcery appeared in his mouth. The black ball sucked the giant fist in, completely nullifying Rosalind's attack and Sahiron quickly swallowed the ball afterwards. He winced slightly at the pain that jolted up his right leg.

  "Looks like you sprained your ankle or worse." Rosalind observed, hovering in the air in front of him. "It'll be difficult to continue the fight like that. Surrender now and I'll be merciful." Sahiron's eyes narrowed.

  "Mercy you say?" veins popped out of his neck and his eyes went wide. "You call letting me rot in a cell mercy!? That's a far more cruel punishment than death!"

  "Life is not the punishment itself. How you've lived it is." Rosalind replied, Sahiron clenched his teeth tight.

  "This is the only way to live now don't you get it!? This is how you survive the world!" He shouted at her. "No matter what you do, no matter how hard you try. You will never bring back the days of old!" The former prisoner spat at the ground. "It's kill or be killed, eat or be eaten. If you don't have the stomach for any of that then you have no business living!"

  Sahiron opened his mouth, a black beam of energy shot out of it. Rosalind managed to notice that her magic energy was mixed in with the beam.
Did he absorb her spell and use it to amplify his? He never used it in their last battle, how the hell could he have learned that while in prison all this time?

  Summoning her power, Rosalind erected a white barrier around her. Sahiron's beam slammed into the barrier and while it held for that crucial moment, Rosalind was still knocked out of the air. The barrier shattered like glass and fell apart soon after taking the full force of the beam, her wings had been lost from the hit as well. Rosalind tucked her legs to her chest and performed three quick backward flips, slowing her descent enough to where she could land safely.

  The landing was far from perfect, the hoodie-clad magi hit the ground with her feet, but her momentum was still great enough to cause her to slide backwards. She reached for the ground with her left hand to assist in stopping her slide, finally after about seven meters, she succeeded. Quickly relocating her foe, Rosalind saw that Sahiron was dashing towards her. His eyes were bloodshot and a slight bit of drool was trailing from his mouth. She frowned at the sight, his anger and adrenaline were making him more dangerous than she anticipated. He wasn't even letting his injured ankle bother him at the moment.

  Sahiron leapt in the air and lashed out with his left foot at Rosalind. She performed a swift cartwheel to her right and he hit nothing but air. Once her feet contacted solid ground, Rosalind rushed forward and delivered a solid right hook to Sahiron's face as he was turning to face her again. The punch snapped the former prisoner's head to his right. Sahiron rolled with the punch, spinning completely around and countering with a roundhouse kick.

  Rosalind ducked under the kick and responded by slamming both of her fists into Sahiron's gut as hard as she could. The former prisoner grunted in pain as he slid backwards a good six meters. He roared in anger and frustration and fired a black orb at the blonde-haired woman.

  Watching from afar, Mayor David Watkins noticed that the orb Sahiron was shooting at Rosalind was of a similar type that the straight-jacket-clad maniac had used to crush the group of deputies and devour them. He cupped his hands to his mouth so he could project his voice better and shouted.

  "Rosalind! Move! That's not an ordinary spell! It'll crush you into paste if you stay there!" He shouted to his fellow founder of the city. Rosalind looked in his direction in response to his shout. In that precious second the black orb activated.

  What appeared to be black electricity danced around the orb and suddenly it expanded, increasing its size tenfold and engulfing anything unlucky enough to be caught in it. Which unfortunately included Rosalind. She only had enough time to stare at the orb as it engulfed her arms then her body. As it reached her face she opened her mouth wide, whether it was a scream or a curse Mayor Watkins couldn't tell as soon that was smothered by the growing black orb as well.

  Sahiron smiled at his handiwork, using his sorcery, he willed the orb to detonate. More black electricity danced around the orb as it suddenly compressed into the size of a baseball once more, then exploded. Mayor Watkins and the remaining deputies were forced to take cover behind whatever debris or buildings they could find. Large pieces of metal, wood and other debris flew towards them like missiles. One unlucky deputy was crushed by the remains of a gutted automobile as it crashed on top of him.

  Finally the explosion subsided, Mayor Watkins anxiously waited for the dust to clear where Rosalind last was. What he saw crushed his hopes, where Rosalind once stood was nothing but a large crater. Was she killed by Sahiron's spell?

  Chapter 20

  "Get out of here! Head to the sheriff's office! It'll be safe there!" Marie called out to the civilians desperately trying to flee the giant undead birds that were now descending upon them. The ivory-feathered raptors were either plucking people from the ground with their talons or diving into them and impaling them with their sharp beaks.

  Watching from the rooftops, Marie did what she could to keep the people from a frenzied panic. She kept directing the ones who could hear her to the relative safety of the sheriff's office. The southern areas of Midas City had become a battlefield, but perhaps they could keep the necromancer and his ghouls from spreading further north. The undead birds that Ebrim had unleashed were fast becoming a big problem though.

  Marie's armor, crafted from her sorcery, offered some protection from the birds' razor sharp beaks, but the rest of the civilians didn't have that luxury. The teenage magi-apprentice did what she could, making a stand killing any rotting buzzard that came near a civilian. There were so many though that no matter how many she slayed, some always got past her.

  Every time she heard the sound of someone crying out with their last breath, Marie felt a little piece of her heart torn out with it. She had to think of the bigger picture, stopping to save one individual life would open the way for the rest of the flock of birds to get past her and start picking away at the entire city. That's how she rationalized it in her brain, but ignoring the cries of help, the howls of pain as someone's life was snuffed out. It was something that Marie didn't think she could ever get used to.

  A high pitched scream suddenly pierced through the sounds of battle. Marie quickly realized it was close by, smashing an undead bird's skull with a roundhouse kick, she found herself with a brief window of reprieve. She quickly examined her surroundings and saw a little girl, no older than six, trying to keep up with a crowd of civilians evacuating. Unfortunately her tiny legs could not keep up with the adults and she was starting to lag behind. To her horror, Marie saw that at least three of the undead raptors were starting to descend towards the little girl.

  Marie found herself conflicted, if she saved the girl, the huge flock of birds would get past her and attack the rest of the city. If she ignored the girl, she would die. Time seemed to slow to a crawl as she debated the decision endlessly in her head. What should she do?

  **********

  Markus had to give Marie credit, she was able to hold back a majority of the flock of birds that Ebrim had summoned. It would not be enough though, eventually she would be overwhelmed. He had to break free from his engagement with Ebrim and help her.

  "Thinking of assisting your friend?" Ebrim guessed, "More importantly, do you think I'll just let you?" Markus let out a hollow laugh.

  "Yeah I already figured you'd try to stab me in the back or something if I went to help Marie." The aeromancer's eyes narrowed. "However, what makes you think you could stop me?" Ebrim smiled at that.

  "Interesting, let’s see what becomes of this then aeromancer." The dark-haired necromancer said. Both of them dropped into fighting stances. Neither one of them making a move as they tried to gauge the other.

  Clearly his usual aeromancy wasn't going to get the job done. Markus realized he was going to have to try some of his other spells if he was going to stop Ebrim. The necromancer was too strong and had obviously prepared for this assault, he wouldn't be stopped so easily.

  Slowly, Markus began gathering his power, He had mastered this spell after leaving Havenway a few years back. It would still take some time to prepare though. Hopefully it would work, if not, then more and more of Midas City would become a battlefield. Something that the aeromancer would try to avoid doing at all costs. After all, he did not want to fail protecting another city like he did with Havenway.

  **********

  Mayor David Watkins could hardly believe it. Where Rosalind Hearth once stood, was nothing but a giant crater about thirty-five meters in diameter. Had she been killed? Was she really gone?

  Sahiron, the necromancer stuck in a straitjacket by choice, admired his handiwork. When he heard a noise from behind him. He smiled, it was the sound of someone breathing heavily and in pain.

  "Very nice, how did you manage to escape that?" The formerly imprisoned necromancer asked, turning around to face Rosalind.

  "I have my ways..." She responded through clenched teeth. While she did escape certain death by phasing through the ground before Sahiron's spell detonated. The bright blue-eyed woman did not go undamaged. A line of blood ran from the top o
f her head all the way across her face, right between the eyes, and down the right side of her nose to finally dribble down the right part of her chin. Her hoodie was destroyed and the long-sleeved dark red shirt she wore underneath had its left sleeve torn all the way up to her left shoulder. Rosalind's left arm was littered with bruises, her leggings were torn in several places and there was a nasty gash on the outside of her upper right leg.

  Pain wracked the blonde woman's entire body. Rosalind had to fight to suppress a groan. If she had been a second later when she phased through the ground she might be dead now. She put her left leg back, preparing to create some distance between her and Sahiron. Best to play it safe while she recovered a little from that spell.

  "Never realized you were quite the escape artist Rosalind, that changes things." He informed her, raising his head to the sky and firing a small ball of black magic energy into the sky with his mouth. Rosalind eyed the ball carefully until it expanded, transforming into a small two meter in diameter black vortex. The outside lines of its shape glowed orange and suddenly Rosalind felt like an anvil had been dropped on her shoulders.

  The co-founder of Midas City felt her knees almost buckle from the strain, but she managed to stay on her feet. The sudden pressure also aggravated her wounds and she let out a long hiss of pain through her clenched teeth. She looked up to see Sahiron smirking at her.

  "Not used to dealing with heightened gravity huh?" He asked, crouching slightly. "Sucks to be you." Sahiron dove head-first for Rosalind, who tried to leap up to avoid his charge. However, she only managed to leap one measly foot off the ground before gravity started pulling her down. Sahiron drove his skull right into her gut and Rosalind felt the wind rush out of her lungs. She doubled over, arms and legs nearly parallel to the ground as she was knocked backwards. Slamming into a rusty steel gate that was designed shoddily to keep trespassers out of a two-story run-down house.