Rend Hope

by Josh Webb

  Rosalind opened her mouth to cry out in pain, but instead she started coughing. She felt way heavier than usual, Sahiron had used his sorcery to increase the gravity. How come he never used this during their first battle?

  "Last time I went easy on you." The former prisoner said, as if reading her thoughts. "When you use your sorcery you remind me of an angel, a divine being filled with light." Sahiron began to grin, a trail of saliva running down his chin. "And after that battle I began to wonder..." A chill went down Rosalind's spine as she noticed the look in his eyes, like he was eyeing his next meal. "...What an angel would taste like."

  An invisible force slammed into Rosalind, knocking her through the steel gate and the front door of the house. She bounced once on her spine before landing belly-first on the hard wooden floor. She quickly rose to her knees, intending to originally stand, but somehow the gravity was affected by Sahiron's sorcery in the house as well. Could he change the position of the area he affects?

  "The sheer idea of devouring you filled my brain so much I just couldn't concentrate." Sahiron continued, Rosalind snarled in response and fired a blast of white magic energy from her right palm. The former prisoner stopped walking forward and Rosalind could have sworn for a moment the air around him shimmered. Her blast, which was heading right for him, instead suddenly shot straight up through the ceiling, creating a nice-sized hole, but otherwise having no effect on Sahiron himself. "You distracted me with your surreal presence that day, but this time I'm more focused on the task at hand, I won't make the same mistake twice Rosalind."

  The blonde-haired magi woman felt the entire house start to shake. She raced through the house, moving slower than she would have liked thanks to Sahiron's spell increasing the gravity. Managing to find the house's backdoor, Rosalind dove through it just as the house collapsed on itself from the increased gravity. Rubble covered the ground around Sahiron, but he himself was unscathed from the house's destruction. He began to make his way towards her once more.

  Rosalind tried to jump backwards yet again. Sahiron's eyes suddenly widened and the platinum-haired woman found herself slamming face-first into the ground.

  "I'm going to beat you within an inch of your life." Sahiron stated, Rosalind struggled back to a kneeling position. "And then while you're still breathing, I'm going to start eating you. Your screams will be like a sweet symphony to my ears." This time Rosalind conjured up her white wings on her shoulder blades.

  "Not happening." She hissed and leapt back into the air, using her wings to keep her there. Unfortunately Sahiron was trying to bring her back down to the earth in a not-so-gentle way with his sorcery and while she was able to stay in the air, she couldn't get farther than fifteen meters from the straitjacket-wearing maniac.

  "It's useless, as long as I control that vortex above our heads, you can never escape me." Sahiron explained. Rosalind, who was straining to gain more altitude suddenly looked at Sahiron and smiled.

  "I wasn't trying to get away from you." She replied, surprise shown on Sahiron's face as he processed this.

  "What?" The former prisoner managed to say, Rosalind answered by conjuring a lance constructed from her sorcery.

  "Just wanted to get a little distance." She stated, flinging the lance at Sahiron, the increased gravity actually made the lance go faster. The former prisoner concentrated, trying to deflect the lance like he did with her earlier spell. However the lance was stronger, more dense than the magic blast Rosalind had used. He couldn't change its trajectory enough to make a difference.

  "Shit!" Sahiron managed to say before the lance pierced the jacket he was wearing. A moment later the lance exploded, forming a huge pillar of white light that pierced the night sky.

  Mayor Watkins cursed to himself as another shockwave from Rosalind's lance slammed into him and the surviving deputies. Things were getting out of hand. Hopefully her spell was enough to finish Sahiron off. He didn't want to think of the amount of damage the two of them would cause if Rosalind and Sahiron continued their battle.

  **********

  "Any idea what lies beyond this door?" Benjamin asked his companion. Janine was carefully sliding her hand across the surface of a pair of red doors. The doors themselves were tall, easily reaching ten meters in height. There were strange glyphs etched into them which the vice-sheriff was currently examining.

  Janine's eyebrows furrowed in worry. If she had her monocle she could give a more definite answer. As it was she had to rely on the knowledge locked in her brain. And while she did have a very good knowledge on glyphs of sorcery and the history of magi and necromancer's, it was not absolute.

  "No idea unfortunately, all I can tell you is that these glyphs are old, very old." She answered the red-haired youth, he crossed his arms and scowled at her.

  "How old?" He questioned, she continued to slide her hands across the door's surface.

  "Centuries old." She responded, Benjamin let out a whistle.

  "Damn..." He said in awe. Janine finished examining the door and took a step back.

  "It looks like the glyphs are a seal of some sort, it's what's keeping the door from opening." She reported.

  "Fuck the seal, let’s bash the door open and get the hell out of here." Benjamin stated, Forming stone around his right hand and molding it into a giant over-sized fist. Janine stretched out her left arm, blocking his path to the door.

  "Wait, we don't even know if this is an exit, this seal could have been designed to keep us away from something." The vice-sheriff replied, "Or to keep something in." She added solemnly. Benjamin growled.

  "So what? We're just going to fucking stand here and stare at it? That'll accomplish something." He grumbled sarcastically, Janine shook her head.

  "There are still some passages we haven't explored, we should check those first. One of them has to be a way out." She told him. He snorted, glaring at the door as he gathered his thoughts. He noticed something then, the glyphs on the door, he had seen them before somehow, but where? He couldn't quite place it.

  "Hold up, let me check something." He told her. Stepping closer to the doors, tentatively he placed a hand on them and the symbols etched onto the doors' surface began to glow with a dim orange light. Janine's eyes immediately lit up at this discovery.

  "Amazing! The door is reacting to you!" She exclaimed, but immediately put her hand to her chin as she thought about it more. "But why is that?"

  Before Benjamin could reply he heard something behind him, the click of a revolver. Immediately he turned around and summoned up his guardian pillar from the ground in front of him. The pillar rose up handle first, blocking a blast of blue magic energy before it could get to him and dispelling it.

  "Step away from the door." The owner of the revolver said. A tall man dressed in mostly blue with a cowboy hat. The revolver itself was gold in color, the look on his face was dead serious. Four other men in tanned fatigues were behind him, all wielding one-handed melee weapons of various sorts. These men were eyeing him more warily. Janine noticeably brightened when she caught sight of the cowboy, she ran to him, wrapping her arms around his neck and hugging him tightly.

  "Kendal! You actually got off your lazy ass and came for me!" She exclaimed happily. The cowboy's serious face quickly took on a look of exasperation.

  "Damn it Janine! I'm trying to look cool in front of the kid here! You're ruining it!" He told her in a not-so-quiet whisper.

  "It’s what I do best!" She said, hugging him tighter. Sheriff Kendal Wallace sighed in resignation, he wrapped his right arm around Janine's waist and with his left he kept the revolver trained on Benjamin.

  "Anyways, I highly suggest you step away from the door kid. You're trapped and outnumbered." Kendal told the red-haired youth. Benjamin growled in frustration, the cowboy was right. He could try to force his way through Janine and the others, but even if he succeeded he'd probably be in a worse condition than he was already. There was nowhere else to run to, they were standing near all the passageways that co
uld lead to freedom. Still, he had one option left, not ideal but better than nothing.

  "Gonna have to pass asshole." Benjamin declared, and with that he turned his back on Kendal. Swinging his guardian pillar as hard as he could, Benjamin struck the red door with it. Instantly the lines and markings on the red door began to glow brightly, illuminating the entire passageway. Kendal, Janine, Benjamin and the rest were forced to shield their eyes from the sudden brightness. The sound of the red doors creaking open could be heard.

  "He unlocked the doors?" Kendal asked in astonishment.

  "Looks like it, it was reacting to him earlier." Janine replied, the sheriff frowned.

  "This, might be a problem." He stated.

  "Agreed." The vice-sheriff responded, while everyone was distracted from the sudden brightness from the red doors, Benjamin plunged forward into the newly opened passageway, hoping to get some distance between himself and Janine's buddies.

  As he continued to run down the corridor his eyes readjusted and he was finally able to see clearly. But what he saw in front of him stopped his feet in their tracks. The red-haired youth's jaw dropped and his eyes widened at the sight before him.

  "Holy shit." Was all he could manage to say.

  Chapter 21

  Markus paused for as long as he dared, trying to buy himself as much time as possible. There was also the problem of Marie behind him, having trouble killing all of Ebrim's dead birds. The necromancer wasn't about to let Markus just head over there and save the day, he was going to be an obstacle. An idea suddenly popped into the blonde aeromancer's head, perhaps there was a way to turn this situation to his advantage.

  He sprang towards Ebrim, using his sorcery to give his dash an extra boost. Closing both hands into fists he prepared to punch the living hell out of the dark-haired bastard. His sudden maneuver caught Ebrim off-guard, now was his chance.

  Markus lashed out with his left fist, putting everything he had into it. Incredibly, the tall necromancer was fast enough to duck under it. Ebrim retaliated by slamming his right palm, glowing red with sorcery, into the blonde deputy's chest. Markus felt like his entire torso was on fire, the impact tore a huge hole in the front of his shirt. Ebrim's blow was strong enough to send him flying back. Blood trailed from the aeromancer's mouth as he sailed through the air, he grunted in pain, but his grimace quickly turned into a grin.

  This was just what he was waiting for. Ebrim had indeed got the better of him, however, he had also unwittingly knocked him closer to Marie and the huge flock of undead birds. He wouldn't be able to intercept him fast enough now.

  "Marie! Save the girl!" He called out to the teenage magi-apprentice. Not wasting another second, Marie leapt for the six-year-old girl about to be eviscerated by three undead birds. Spreading her fingers wide, a glowing green glyph appeared on the palm of Marie's right hand. A one-handed sword popped out of the glyph. Deftly, she gripped the handle of the newly conjured sword in her right hand and in one smooth motion decapitated the trio of birds zeroing in on the little girl with it. The girl screamed as the birds' blood sprayed all over her, but she was otherwise unharmed.

  Seeing this, Markus channeled his magic energy through his hands, forming blades from highly pressurized air in each of them. He then began spinning rapidly, like a top. The blonde aeromancer proceeded to slice through the massive ranks of Ebrim's birds from the rear, easily felling dozens. Markus landed on the same rooftop that Marie had occupied a few moments ago. Scanning the area for the biggest threats. The aeromancer winced as his chest continued to throb from Ebrim’s attack.

  While the necromancer was still clearly the strongest enemy at the moment, he was almost a hundred meters away from Markus and the rest of the city. The more immediate threat was the seemingly endless flock of undead birds that still ruled the skies. Markus braced himself, holding both hands out in front of him, he channeled his magic energy once more into them.

  He should've used this spell of hyper-erosion earlier with Ebrim, but the spell was highly destructive, using the wind to disintegrate everything within a large radius. Even if it was enough to stop the necromancer, Markus would have still destroyed a good portion of the city. All the more reason for Rosalind to try and banish him or worse, execute him. He didn't doubt that she would still try do it, even if she was more tolerant of him recently.

  However, these birds were in the sky, well above the highest buildings in Midas City. While it was a sound strategy for them to stay high in the air, picking off civilians with little retaliation. It left them open for his spell.

  Markus finished gathering magic energy into his hands, releasing the spell of hyper-erosion. The spell connected and the undead flock began to literally be torn to pieces by the powerful winds, their white feathers thrown about all over. Flesh, feathers, and even other pieces of what was left of the ghoulish birds were blasted away into nothing. By the time his spell had finished, the skies were clear of any undead creature. Only Ebrim stood in front of him now, and he didn't look too pleased.

  The dark-haired necromancer had a deep frown on his face. Seeing Markus destroy all his undead birds while standing on top of a tall building, towering over him. It touched a nerve, he recalled the last time someone was standing like that, a time when he was more naive. When a damned bandit of a mayor in Stonehollow caused him to be left with nothing, no family and not even a place to call home. Ebrim had been forced to wander into the Desert of Despair with little more than the clothes on his back and he had seen many things while in that damned sand-filled wasteland. It was there where he saw the fallacy of the human body firsthand. How quick a human's body surrendered to hunger and thirst, how easy their bones broke and how swiftly their blood spilled.

  It all disgusted him greatly, humans were a relic of the past, part of a lost civilization that will never be regained. The only thing they were good for now was materials, materials so that they could be remade into something stronger and better. Something that was better suited for this new era. Ebrim began walking towards Markus, closing the distance between them slowly.

  "You really are becoming quite annoying aeromancer. Or should I say Markus Logarr." Ebrim announced. Markus' face blanched, the tall dark-haired necromancer noticed this and smiled. "That's right I figured it out, Nobellus' prized apprentice. So this is where you ended up."

  "Yeah I was doing my best to stay discreet and now you had to go and ruin it." Markus responded, regaining some of his composure.

  "Well I hate to say, but your last little stunt gave you away. I can narrow down just a select few who would be capable of sorcery that powerful." Ebrim stated.

  "How about we keep it on the down low? Just the two of us?" The blonde deputy tried, Ebrim shook his head.

  "No can do, someone like you would be a possible threat to my goal." The tall dark-haired man responded, Markus cocked an eyebrow.

  "Your goal? You mean the age of the dead thing you were rambling about?" The aeromancer asked.

  "Yes, after all even you must admit watching humanity cling to life so desperately is quite pitiful." Ebrim stated.

  "Every human being has a right to life Ebrim." Markus replied.

  "And look what they've done with their 'Right'. Nearly annihilating each other in The Great Purge and now they scavenge the land like rats, it's pathetic. Humankind needs to be put out of their misery so the next step of evolution can begin." Ebrim explained, Markus grunted in response.

  "Sorry the whole twisting the bodies of the dead into monstrous creatures isn't really the next step in evolution. It's just you defiling cadavers with your necromancy." The blonde magi said. Ebrim shook his head.

  "But don't you get it Markus?” The dark-whiskered necromancer questioned. “Ghouls are never hungry, never thirsty, they never tire. It's only natural they inherit the Earth."

  "Ghouls run on the caster's magic energy.” Markus answered, raising a skeptic eyebrow. “You telling me you're going to maintain them twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week?"
>
  "No, not me, but I'm close to finding a spell that will do it." Markus' eyes widened at that.

  "What!?" He exclaimed in surprised, Ebrim smiled wickedly.

  "There are powerful items of sorcery out there Markus. All I need to do is find the right one." The blonde man's eyes narrowed.

  "I won't let you." Markus hissed.

  "Of course you won't. You’re just like all the other idiotic magi in the world who believe in trying to help Humanity survive." Ebrim glared at him then and Markus could see the clear killing intent in his eyes. "Let me show you how foolish your beliefs are."

  **********

  2220 A.D.

  Location Unknown.

  "This is the only way Sahiron, we have no more food." A man's voice, his father's voice said.

  "No! We can go out hunting! Surely there's a small rabbit or squirrel we could find!" Sahiron heard his own voice speak in protest.

  "We are both too weak and feeble to hunt effectively now. Very soon we will perish and I don't want that for you son." His father replied sadly.

  "I won't do this! You can't ask me to do this! You just can't!" He heard himself shout.

  "I know what I ask isn't fair Sahiron, but I want you to live. It's what every good father wants of their children."

  "It's wrong! This is just wrong! Eat another human being? It's insane!"

  "It's the only we choice we have son." His father said, handing him a knife. "We have to make do with what we got." Without another word, his father began carving up the dead human body.

  **********

  2235 A.D. Present Day,

  Midas City, Southwestern district.

  Consciousness returned to Sahiron with much difficulty, he found himself lying prone on some rubble that used to be a house. The formerly imprisoned necromancer tried to move, but his muscles refused to obey his commands. Everything hurt and he couldn’t even open his eyes, yet despite the pain, what bothered him the most was the memory that just flashed in his mind. Why was he remembering that now of all times? Some lorekeepers say your life flashes before your eyes before you die, was that what was happening to him? Was he dying?