Rend Hope (23 page)

             
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 of 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.

             
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.