Rend Hope (3 page)

             
Knowing the way the world was now, it was most definitely something tragic.  Perhaps he lost a loved one or two?  Probably anyone left alive in the world now could relate.  Marie herself had lost some family members to the harshness of the wasteland.  The teenage magi figured that eventually Markus would tell her when he was ready.

             
"So what's this Midas City like?" Markus asked.  She turned toward him.

             
"Well, it started as a haven for any survivors.  However, my master and Mayor Watkins managed to organize them and create some semblance of a society there." She explained, Markus' eyebrows furrowed in thought.

             
"So why is it called Midas City exactly?" He questioned.  Marie put a finger to her chin in thought.

             
"I'm not sure really, our resident lorekeeper says that a long time ago, long before even the Great Purge they found gold near there.  So we decided to just go with that."  The teenage magi told him.  Markus looked disappointed.

             
"Ah damn, I thought it was going to be buildings made of pure gold and other stuff like that." He replied, Marie looked at him incredulously

             
"Seriously?  Look around you.  You really think you can find a structure made completely out of gold in this god-forsaken wasteland now?  Most villages use the small amounts they find as currency for trade." She scolded mildly, the "Ordinary" magi shrugged.

             
"I can always dream can't I? I've already seen some crazy things traveling from the east coast, so a city made out of gold wouldn't surprise me." Was his reply.  Marie was speechless for a second.

             
"You are...something else." She told him, shaking her head.  The two magi continued on toward's Marie's home.  Unknown to them, they were being followed by a tall man with dark hair.

             
"Not a village, but an actual city of people?  This is very intriguing." Ebrim said to himself, a smirk on his face.

Chapter 3

              Ebrim couldn't believe his luck, the trail the young man and teenage girl had left wasn't easy to pick up, but he had eventually succeeded, tracking them from a safe distance.  At first he thought to kill them both right away, but decided to stay his hand in hopes of them meeting a larger group of people.  Gazing upon the city now, he had definitely made the right decision.

             
Oh it was nothing grand, most of the buildings were in a state of dilapidation.  A crude metal wall was erected around the city, it was no higher than thirty meters and made from whatever scrap the people could scavenge.  It could probably keep out the wild animals and a small assault from bandits or cannibals.  Attacks from strong feral magi or necromancers would probably breach it however.

             
Still, this city promised to have lots of people.  Which meant lots of fodder for his necromantic experiments and spells. Once he massacred everyone he could use the place as his base of operations.  Yes, the city had more than just potential, for Ebrim, it was a gold mine.

             
The necromancer quickly ducked behind one of the palm trees scattered around him.  It was best to scout the area out and get as much information about the city's defenses before making his move.  A place like this was bound to have a magi or two with magical defenses as well.  Once he was satisfied with his scouting and had a plan to take out the city however, all bets were off.

             
Ebrim grinned wickedly at the prospect of all those bodies to twist and corrupt to his will.  His ultimate goal could be within his reach sooner than he had expected.

**********

              As Marie and Markus approached Midas' East Gate, two people who were guarding the gates themselves drew their weapons.  One was a lean man in his late thirties or early forties with tan skin and short dark brown hair.  He was of average height and was wielding a machete.  His partner had a more solid physical build and wielded a two handed sledgehammer, he was shorter than his companion and had lighter skin as well.  A blonde mane flowed down to his shoulders and he wore a goatee and beard.  Both men were dressed in what looked like tattered tan military fatigues.  The dark-skinned guard wielding the machete nodded at Marie.

             
"Lady Marie, it is good to see you safe!  When you didn't return a few nights ago we feared the worst!"  The machete wielder said.  Markus raised an inquisitive eyebrow at the word "Lady" but Marie ignored him.  Instead, she smiled at the guard.

             
"It was pretty bad Teivon, some cannibals managed to capture me.  I probably would have been their dinner if Markus here hadn't shown up." She told the guard.  Markus laughed nervously and rubbed the back of his head with his right hand.

             
"Yeah well, I didn't do much, was just kind of at the right place at the right time.  No big deal."  The "Ordinary" magi stated humbly. 

             
"And what about the rest of your group Lady Marie?  What happened to them?" The one with the sledgehammer asked.  The teenage girl's face turned solemn in response, she just shook her head. 

             
"They didn't make it Henry, I'm sorry." Marie answered, Henry's face paled slightly, but then he nodded.

             
"I see." He replied, almost in a whisper, the teenage girl felt a pang of sadness.  Henry's sister had been a part of her group before they were massacred.  She knew all too well how badly the pain of losing a loved one felt like.  While Henry walked off a little ways to compose himself, Teivon turned his attention toward Markus.

             
"And what's your story?" The dark-skinned guard questioned, Markus smiled.

             
"Oh nothing much, I'm just a wandering ordinary magi." He answered, Teivon's eyebrows furrowed.

             
"There's no such thing as an 'Ordinary' magi, those born with the gift of sorcery are rare." The machete wielding guard stated, almost in a challenging tone.  Markus was taken aback by the man's sudden zeal.

             
"Well okay, magi-wise, I'm just average is that better?" Markus tried, Henry managed to compose himself and returned to the group.  He turned his gaze toward the blonde-haired magi.

             
"So you saved Lady Marie?" The sledgehammer-wielding guard asked, Markus nodded in response.

             
"Yeah I guess.  I was cold, and all I was trying to do was sit by a nice cozy fire, but then some cannibals with thumbs up their asses got all mad.  Tried to make me their next meal so I had to take them out." Markus explained, he interlocked his hands and placed them behind his head, raising his face slightly to the sky.  "It's kind of ironic now that I think about it.  Their remains are probably some vulture's meal now.  The predator became the prey." He finished, Marie glared at him.

             
"Uh no, they most definitely are NOT food for the vultures.  Don't you remember the huge damn poison cloud that got thrown into their camp while you were fighting that ghoul?" She scolded him.  "That damn poison cloud dissolved everything, there was nothing left!  Not even vultures could get a meal from that."  Both guards’ eyes widened at the mention of a ghoul, but neither magi was paying attention.

             
"Yeah sorry, sort of forgot about that." Markus replied nonchalantly, Marie hissed in frustration.

             
"You were IN the fucking poison cloud for Savior's sake!  How the hell could you forget about that?"  She yelled, Markus' eyebrows raised in mock surprise.

             
"Damn, getting pretty vulgar there.  I don't think someone who's referred to as 'Lady Marie' should be using such harsh language." He told her with a grin, the young female magi fixed him with a severe glare.

             
"You want harsh? I’ll give you harsh!" She vowed, pointing her right index finger at Markus and channeling her power through it.  A thin blue beam of magic energy lanced out from her fingertip.  It made contact with the hood of Markus' flannel jacket, setting it on fire.  The “Ordinary” magi yelped and quickly stripped off his jacket, revealing the long-sleeved black shirt he was wearing underneath.  Frantically, Markus tried to pat out the small fire on his hood.

             
"Damn it Marie!  This is my favorite jacket!" He exclaimed, Marie's eye twitched.

             
"It's your ONLY jacket moron!" She yelled, Markus had managed to put the fire out, his hood only slightly charred.

             
"Exactly! Which means it's my favorite by default." He explained to her, Marie slapped her forehead and groaned.

             
"You can't just have it be your favorite because it's your only one." She tried to reason, Markus shook his head.

             
"Why not?" He asked her, Marie realized that she didn't have an answer for that.

             
"You just can't." She answered back simply, crossing her arms.  Markus rolled his eyes.

             
"Wow your logic is completely flawless." He replied sarcastically, Marie's glare intensified.

             
"You want your hair to be next?" She threatened, the young male magi grinned.

             
"Go ahead, the bald look doesn't look too bad on me." He told her.

             
The two guards continued to watch the conversation between the two young magi.  The two sorcerers continued to argue back and forth.  While it was loud, it was clear that the argument between the two lacked any real venom.  Henry turned to his partner.

             
"I see Lady Marie is as spirited as ever.  Good to see she is fine."  Henry said.  Teivon nodded.

             
"Yeah that's a load off our shoulders.  Still, the two mentioned encountering a ghoul.  That does not bode well." Teivon replied.  Henry's expression turned solemn.

             
"So there's a necromancer out there?" The sledgehammer wielding guard asked, Teivon placed a hand on his chin, thinking.

             
"I'm not going to jump to conclusions yet, but if their story checks out with the mayor and the sheriff then that's what we could be looking at."  Teivon answered, Henry cursed under his breath.

             
"Another necromancer, I hope we'll be okay." Henry said, Teivon sensed his dread and placed a hand on his right shoulder.

             
"It may be rough, but this city's magi has brought us through tough times before.  I'm confident they'll do it again." Teivon told his partner.  "And I'm sorry about your sister, I know you two had went through hell together." Henry managed a small smile.

             
"We did, it was a miserable life for us before we found Midas City, but I'm pretty sure you could get a similar story from nearly everyone beyond these walls.  At least now Layla no longer has to suffer." The blonde-bearded man said, eyes glistening with unshed tears.  He nodded toward the arguing magi.  "We should get those two inside, the mayor will probably want to hear what they have to say."

             
"Indeed." Teivon agreed.

*********

              Ebrim had stealthily circled the place twice.  Already he had found several glyphs magically etched into the metal wall circling the city.  They were pretty potent stuff too.  Probably designed to keep out any foreign magical spells from the ground and the air.  A tough nut to crack, but not impossible.

             
He was currently hiding in a bundle of palm trees located southeast from the city.  Not only did it provide shade from the sun, but it was perfect cover for when he began his spells.  He had scouted out the city's defenses, and now it was time to exploit any weaknesses.

             
The necromancer smirked as he pulled out a human heart from his pouch.  The heart was mostly intact, kept preserved by his necromancy.  Ebrim had tore it out of the cannibal he had killed earlier in the day.  Placing it on the sandy ground, he knelt down on his right knee and started chanting his spell.  A dark violet circle appeared under the heart, as Ebrim continued chanting, various designs began to appear within the circle as it transformed into a necromantic glyph. 

             
He was almost done when he heard a gun click.  The dark-whiskered necromancer turned his head around to find himself staring down the barrel of a rusty revolver.  The owner of the gun was a man with a scarlet-colored beard, he glared at Ebrim suspiciously.

             
"You have three seconds to convince me what you’re doing is completely reasonable." He accused, keeping the revolver trained on Ebrim.  The necromancer heard four more pairs of footsteps and drew his attention away from red-beard to find four other men approaching him.  All five of the men wore tan military fatigues and lean physical builds.  Two of the four were armed with one-handed hammers, while a third had a one-handed hatchet.  The last man wielded a long wooden pole with a sharp knife taped to the end of it, a makeshift spear.  The fifth man of course, had the revolver.  The one with a spear walked up to the gun-wielder, examining Ebrim's glyph.  As soon as his eyes made contact with the human heart at the center of it his face paled.

             
"Sir! He's...he's a necromancer!" The spear-wielder said.

             
"What!?" The gun-wielder and apparent leader of the group exclaimed, turning his attention away from Ebrim.  It was a fatal mistake.

             
A giant skeleton hand glowing with dark violet energy burst from the ground beneath the gun-wielder.  The bony fingers closed around the shocked gun-man, its thumb reaching just above his collarbone and its pinky reaching just below his knees.  The trapped man only had time to gasp before the fingers closed around him, crushing him.  Sounds of bones breaking filled the air as the man was squashed like an aluminum pop can.  Blood exploded outward from the man's eyes, ears, mouth and was even dripping out of his boots.  By the time the skeleton hand released him, his torso, arms and legs were nothing but a crunched up mass of flesh, bone and blood.  The gun-wielder's eyes stared lifelessly into the sky as he bled onto the sand underneath him.

             
"My, my, it looks like I've been discovered." Ebrim said in a sinister hiss, wiping some of the blood from the gun-wielder off of his right cheek with his right thumb, then licking it with a grin.  "You leave me no choice gentleman, I'll have to take your lives to keep my secret."

             
The spear-wielder tried to quickly stab Ebrim in his left side, but the giant skeleton hand was quicker.  It grabbed the wooden shaft of the spear and broke it in two, then quickly followed with a flick of its bony fingers.  The impact sent the spear-wielding man flying back, the necromancer thought he heard ribs breaking as well.

             
While Ebrim was distracted by the guy with the spear, the two hammer-wielders tried to catch him unawares.  They were charging forward, hammers ready to be brought down to break his bones.  Before they could crush the necromancer's skull, the giant skeletal hand once again protected him.  It formed a fist and caught the two strikes from the hammer-wielders on the back of its hand, absorbing the impact.  Ebrim smirked, they'd need more than those meager weapons to kill him.