Rend Hope

by Josh Webb

  "I know Kendal and Janine, they're survivors, I won't write them off yet." Rosalind replied. Markus gave a small chuckle, rubbing the back of his head with his free hand as he too watched the festivies happening below them.

  "Well there's something I haven't seen in a while." He stated, drawing Rosalind's curiosity as she turned to look at him.

  "And what's that?" She inquired, Markus gave her a small, but genuine smile.

  "Hope. It seems to be something that people have lost over the years." He revealed, Rosalind looked away as she pondered his words. It was true, the harsh world that they lived in now bled the hope from your body, slowly, but surely. Until all you were was a soulless husk looking for another meal to last for another day.

  "Can you really blame them?" She finally asked Markus after a few moments. The blonde aeromancer took a long drink from his glass.

  "No I suppose I can't." He replied. The two sat in comfortable silence for a few moments.

  "So what brings the hero of Midas City to my clinic? You don't look injured, looks like that necromancy of yours healed you up pretty good." At the mention of necromancy, Markus quickly sobered.

  "Yeah that's another thing I came to see you about, I wanted to thank you for not revealing that to everyone." Markus said, taking a pull from his glass.

  "As a show of gratitude how about you come clean and tell me the truth about it?" Rosalind asked.

  "I can do that." The aeromancer agreed, Rosalind turned her head to look at him, hesitating for a moment. She had a feeling she was not going to like the answers to the questions she was about to ask, but she had to know.

  "When did you get it?" The icy-eyed magi inquired, asking her first question.

  "At the end of my battle with Nobellus." He answered, Rosalind suspected something like that.

  "Nobellus gave you that necromancy?" She asked for confirmation, Markus shifted slightly, looking uncomfortable.

  "Well, I wouldn't say 'give' exactly." He replied, Rosalind wasn't expecting that answer.

  "Then what would you call it?" She questioned, the blonde aeromancer frowned and his eyes became distant.

  "I'd call it, 'ripping someone's heart out and replacing it with a necromantic glyph'" Markus drained the rest of his glass. "Yeah, that sounds about right." Rosalind's eyes widened in disbelief.

  "Nobellus ripped your heart out?" She questioned, Markus nodded, his face very serious.

  "He did, tore it right out of my chest." He confirmed, she shook her head in disbelief.

  "No shit..." Rosalind remarked, still trying to wrap her brain around the concept.

  "When I was being interrogated by your sheriff, I said I was looking for a 'Gem' that an 'Old Man' had stolen from me. That was just a cover story." Her old friend revealed, "Nobellus still has my heart, preserved by some god damn necromantic spell of his." Rosalind eyed him closely.

  "This isn't one of your crazy pranks is it?" She asked him, having known Markus for many years she knew he liked to make elaborate and exaggerated stories for pranks at times. She watched his face, waiting for his lips to suddenly turn upward in a big smile and for his laughter to fill her ears. It didn't happen.

  "Look." Markus said, raising his shirt to expose his bare chest, where the glyph was glowing a dim green. Rosalind barely sensed the necromancy emanating from it and was fascinated yet disgusted.

  "Whoa..." She whispered, "I've never seen any necromancer do this."

  "Me neither." Markus told her, Rosalind placed her hand on his chest, tracing the lines of the glyph. The ordinary Magi had to fight to keep from blushing.

  "Why did he do this?" Rosalind asked her voice soft, she moved her hand away and Markus quickly drew his shirt back down. He didn't like showing people the glyph, it reminded him and them that he was blurring the line between life and death.

  "I told him that I'd hunt him down even in death, in order to avenge my friends. He wanted to test that theory." He answered, realization hit Rosalind like a sledgehammer and she stared at Markus with wide eyes.

  "So if this glyph is ever dispelled or runs out of magic energy..." She trailed off, Markus was gazing off into the horizon, his lips tightened into a straight line.

  "Game over." He stated simply, Rosalind shook her head. Torturing someone by forcing them to stay alive through a glyph? It was a very cruel punishment.

  "I-I never knew. I always thought that you suffered a few major injuries, but I never imagined something like this." She told him, shaking her head. "So you said he still has your heart?" Markus nodded.

  "I remember him putting it into his pack." He informed her, Rosalind placed a hand on her chin as she delved into her thoughts.

  "If he's keeping it preserved with necromancy there's a chance, a slim chance, that we might be able to get it back inside you." The petite woman theorized. "That is if we ever find him." A look of complete genuine surprise crossed Markus' face.

  "We? You mean you actually want to help me?" He asked her, not quite believing what he just heard.

  "Markus I don't think I'll ever truly stop being angry with you for what happened at Havenway. I thought I wanted you dead, but when I thought Ebrim had killed you, I didn't feel better. I just felt incredibly sad, like I had lost another piece of my life."

  "Rose..."

  "No matter how angry I am with you, I can't deny the fact that you were...you are an important part of my life and I don't want to lose that. Yet, I just feel guilty having something other than hatred to feel for you, like I'm letting my family down somehow." Rosalind admitted, avoiding eye contact with Markus. She was startled by the aeromancer placing his left hand over her right.

  "Rose, you haven't let anyone down. If anything, I let you down at Havenway by being so reckless. It's not easy letting go of your hatred, believe me I'm still struggling with it. However our lives are too short to be spending all of it hating each other don't you think?" He asked her.

  Rosalind bit her lip, his face was close to hers and old feelings were stirring up. His logic seemed pretty sound, life was definitely too short, especially in this day and age, to spend all of it hating someone. The question was, could she actually forgive Markus? Was that possible?

  Before she could give a verbal reply, some shouts of alarm from the crowd below grabbed her and Markus' attention. The two magi looked down below to see some people pointing excited fingers to the Northwestern part of the city. A column of smoke was billowing up from there, what was going on?

  "Are we being attacked again?" Markus questioned, Rosalind shook her head.

  "Let's hope not, come on." She replied, conjuring her magically constructed wings and taking flight, the co-founder of Midas City called out to her drunken apprentice before heading towards the column of smoke. Marie was taking a little too much time to get her bearings and so Markus leapt down to the teenage magi-apprentice, grabbed her by her shoulders and pointed her in the direction of the smoke column.

  "Just keep walking that way champ." He told her with a smirk then leapt away, following Rosalind. Although she stumbled a bit at first, Marie was soon running at a brisk pace to the northwestern section of the city.

  ***********

  The old mining tunnel, a relic from centuries past. The entrance to it was large bowl-shaped crater that was large enough for a small town. Nature had partially taken over and vegetation could be seen all around the crater. Bits and pieces of grass and moss littered the ground and there was even a tree at the very center of the crater. A large cavity located just to the east of the tree marked the old mine's entrance. It was this cavity that was now spewing forth the column of smoke.

  Rosalind arrived first, dispersing her wings and landing gracefully near the mine entrance. Markus followed a few moments later, landing gently to her right thanks to his manipulation of the air. He took a quick look at his surroundings.

  "Neat, an old mining tunnel, this must not have been used for hundreds of years." The blonde aeromancer theorized, at this moment, Marie arriv
ed, burping loudly and stumbling down the crater. The teenage magi-apprentice managed to straighten herself though as she stopped near her master and Markus.

  "Reportin' fer duty Masterf!" Marie drunkenly slurred, earning a glare from Rosalind, Markus pointed an accusing finger at the drunken teenager.

  "How come you never showed me this when we toured the city?" He questioned, Marie squinted her eyes at him for a moment before shaking her head.

  "Because no one uses this ol' tunnel anymore duh!" She responded, waving her hands quite animatedly. "Would prolly collapse on'em! then they'd be dead!"

  "Quiet." Rosalind hissed, hearing footsteps coming from the entrance. "Someone's coming." Marie quickly sobered up with that, conjuring up a broadsword in her right hand and a kite shield in her left, she dropped into a fighting stance. Markus meanwhile, had put his hands in the pockets of his red-and-black flannel jacket, assuming a more casual pose, but Rosalind knew better. He liked to seem unassuming to the enemy so they'd underestimate him. It had worked more than once.

  The three waited as the footsteps from within the mine entrance became more audible. A hand breached the column of smoke and the trio of magi prepared to attack, then the figures head burst through and everyone noted the cowboy hat the figure was wearing.

  "Kendal!?" Rosalind exclaimed, dropping her fighting stance and running to him. "You made it back!" The sheriff of Midas City looked at her with tired eyes, but his cracked and dry lips managed a smile.

  "Yeah, but it was one hell of a walk though." Kendal replied, there were small rips and tears in his outfit and he was covered in dust and dirt from head to toe, he looked like he'd been in dozens of battles. Two deputies appeared from the smoke doubling over and breathing heavy. "Plus we got wounded." The sheriff turned behind him and cupped his hands to his mouth. "Come on out! It's safe! We made it!"

  Three more figures emerged from the mine entrance, one was a young lady wearing a very familiar red eye patch. Marie brightened upon seeing her.

  "Janine! You're safe!" She shouted giving the vice-sheriff a big hug. Janine winced and hugged back with her left hand. As Marie released the hug and stepped back she noticed the eye-patch wearing magi's bandaged right hand for the first time. "Oh my god! You're hand!"

  "Yeah it's in pretty bad shape." Janine told the teenager, they had been down in the tunnels for more than a week. Even with the medical supplies that the deputies had brought, her right hand was becoming an unhealthy shade of purple.

  "Let me have a look at that." Rosalind said, heading over to the injured vice-sheriff. She glanced over Janine's hand with an analytical eye, before her hands began glowing white. Janine felt the soothing magical energies flow into her right hand, the burning pain she was feeling moments before was now more bearable. "This is the best I can do for now, it'd be better to get you back to my clinic." Janine nodded in agreement. They were about to leave when a commotion behind them demanded their attention. Markus and Kendal were staring each other down.

  "Sheriff." Markus said simply, hands still in the pockets of his jacket.

  "Blondie." Kendal replied, left hand hovering over the revolver near his left hip. "I see that you're still around."

  "Yeah I didn't want to miss seeing your ridiculous cowboy getup again. I need the laughs." The blonde aeromancer retorted.

  "Yeah well, you won't be laughing much after I shoot your lower jaw off of your face" The sheriff countered, the tension skyrocketed around them. Marie, having seen the two men at odds before, was about to intervene when Kendal suddenly stood straight and yawned. "But that'll be for another time. It's been a long day and I need a nap, we can settle this tomorrow." with that, Kendal walked past the surprised Markus and ventured into the city.

  "Did he really just brush off a scuffle with me in favor of a nap?" Markus asked incredulously, Janine sighed.

  "Yeah, that's my boyfriend, he'd rather avoid fights, not because he's a pacifist, but because he's too lazy put the effort into it." Janine confirmed, she eyed the blonde aeromancer curiously. "You must be new, I don't remember your face."

  "I'm Markus, the ordinary magi." The short blonde man informed her, Janine raised an eyebrow.

  "Really? I don't think you can put the words 'Ordinary' and 'Magi' together like that. I think that's an oxymoron." Janine replied.

  "An oxy-what?" Markus questioned, a puzzled look on his face.

  "She means that there's no such thing as an ordinary magi! A magi is rare!" Rosalind clarified, getting annoyed with her old friend. Markus threw her a challenging look.

  "Oh yeah Rose? I tell you what, I'm going to be the first 'Ordinary magi' in existence! And nothing is going to stop me!" The blonde aeromancer announced proudly. Janine scratched the back of her head as she processed what Markus just said, Marie just groaned.

  "There's no way you can be ordinary Markus! You saved the entire city from Ebrim." Marie explained, Markus stopped his train of thought as he considered this.

  "Yeah I guess you're right Marie." He admitted.

  "So wait, who's Ebrim?" Janine inquired, shaking her head. "Good god what'd I miss? It's only been a little over a week!" The vice-sheriff exclaimed. Rosalind placed her left hand between the young woman's shoulderblades and began to gently guide her into the city.

  "We'll get you up to speed in due time. Right now let’s get you back to the clinic, I'm really concerned about your hand." The co-founder of Midas City informed her.

  "Sounds good." Janine agreed, then her face turned somber. "Kendal and I have some bad news too. You're not going to like it."

  Epilogue

  "Kendal, Janine, it is good to see you are well." Mayor David Watkins stated, seated in his chair, the other occupants of the room. Markus, Rosalind, Kendal, and Janine were all scattered about. Janine shook her head sadly.

  "I apologize for the delay in our return." The vice-sheriff informed the mayor. "What we faced was beyond any of our expectations."

  "And what exactly did you face?" Rosalind asked, Janine began pacing the room.

  "Over ten days ago, I was trying to find a scouting team that had gone missing. I found them, well what was left of them. Lying in wait to ambush me was a teenage boy, he was a necromancer's apprentice." Janine explained, the mayor, Rosalind and Markus tensed.

  "A necromancer's apprentice eh?" The middle-aged man questioned. Janine nodded solemnly.

  "Yes, I was unable to get who his master was out of him during the ensuing battle. I had gained the upper hand on him when the ground unexpectedly disappeared from under us. Turns out we discovered a whole underground labyrinth." Janine revealed, Rosalind focused her eyes on the floor, deep in thought.

  "I don't think Sahiron was the apprenticing type, that means he must have been Ebrim's apprentice." The co-founder of Midas City stated.

  "Just how big was this underground labyrinth?" Markus inquired, Kendal adjusted his cowboy hat on his head, he was currently relaxing in a chair, but his eyes were sharp and serious.

  "We didn't get a chance to fully explore it, but I think it's safe to say that it's larger than Midas City." Janine answered, Kendal nodded in agreement.

  "The labyrinth had a huge door sealed with ancient glyphs. My team and I had been trying to breach it for a little bit when we finally caught up to Janine and that blasted necromancer brat. When I tried to apprehend him the little punk somehow opens the door and takes off. The door shuts behind him and then the labyrinth went batshit crazy." The sheriff reported.

  "What exactly did you find down there?" Rosalind asked, Janine turned to face her.

  "Golems surprisingly, but not just those. There were creatures down there, things we've never seen before." The vice-sheriff answered.

  "Ghouls?" Markus asked, Kendal shook his head.

  "No, not ghouls, or cannibals or even more necromancers. I've never seen anything like the things we saw in there. We decided it was best to get out of there and alert the city." The sheriff explained.

  "And what of the necromanc
er-apprentice? What happened to him?" The mayor inquired.

  "Not sure, we lost him during the chaos of our escape." Janine admitted.

  "Probably dead then." Rosalind stated, Janine snorted in response.

  "That kid? Somehow I doubt it, he was a tenacious bastard, I don't see him dying so easily. Also add to the fact the labyrinth was treating him like some long-lost family member or something and I'm sure we'll meet him again soon." The energetic woman replied.

  "How big of a threat to the city are these creatures?" Rosalind asked,

  "Well, we managed to cave-in the main entrance tunnel, that should slow them down. But once they are free, they could wipe out not just the city, but everything from the West Coast to the East Coast. Everything." Kendal informed them.

  "My god..." The mayor breathed.

  "And I thought the worst was past us." Markus said, shaking his head and looking out the window of the office. An entire colony of creatures that would spell doom not just for the city, but perhaps for the entire human race as well. The aeromancer sighed, looks like his search for Nobellus would have to be delayed once more. This was a threat that could not be ignored.

  **********

  Benjamin Carmichael found that he missed the sun's rays upon his back, he'd been in this underground labyrinth for days. He had lost track after the fourth one, since there was no way to see the sun or moon down here. Too many things were distracting him.

  For one, there were more of those strange green vines the further he went and upon these vines grew something he hadn't seen since a small child, fruit. Apples, oranges, pears and grapes, all of these gave Benjamin sustenance and kept him from starving to death. To his surprise there was also an underground waterfall, with plenty of fresh water. Hell, there was even a room with a nice soft bed made from large broad green leaves. This area was much different than the one he was exploring with that vice-sheriff, it was like a lost section of paradise. Whoever had made this tomb had to be loaded, or had people who thought mighty highly of him.

  Benjamin spent his days resting in the "Bedroom." and exploring the passageways with his waking hours. Each day he had gone further into the labyrinth, with any door or obstacle he encountered opening up for him, something about his sorcery allowed him unrestricted access. It mattered little to him, all the flame-haired teenager cared about was finding a way out. If he didn't report back to Ebrim in time, then Rebecca's soul could be in jeopardy.