Time of the Necromancer: Chapter 1

“Hey princess! You’ve got to try this. Come on trust me!”

“No wait. Try this first! My brother doesn’t have good taste.”

“Up yours Gem. Trust me princess this is going to be the bomb.”

“Will you two knock it off!”

Both of the sixteen-year-olds were shoved backward across the street but managed to catch themselves. Mirror images of one another down to their tussled brown hair, beige skin one with amber eyes, and the other with heterochromatic black and white eyes. Standing up and puffing out their chests they tried to whether the gaze of their oppressor.

 But neither had the height or muscle advantage against her. Wearing similar trousers and tunics, Cancer’s being a deep blue and Gemini’s a softer grey they could easily blend in as the other. The only thing separating the twins aside from their personalities were the pendants around their necks and weapons at their hips.

Cancer stood his ground regardless, cradling the small grey container that held a piece of pie still warm beneath his palm and held it up to the skylight. “Come on now Scorpio. Even you can’t resist something that smells this sweet. The nutmeg. The cinnamon. It’s gotta make your mouth drool.”

“No no no. Ignore my brother and his obsession with sweets,” Gemini disregarded him holding up a paper wrapped sandwich that was still smoking. “This is what’s really gotta set your sights on. It’s like a warm loaf of bread with but with slices of ham right off the spit. And the veggies. Come on you know you want a piece. It’ll fill you up and be savory on each and every bite.”

Two years older than the twins and standing almost a foot taller than them made her the responsible one for now. Her usually brown skin had tanned darker in the weeks of their travel, especially her shaved head except for the long black pony tail. Her strong jaw was set with annoyance and her sharp cheek bones helped to emphasize the sharpness of her glare.

Between her shirt and exposed arm’s, the tonedness of her body was obvious. Across her shoulder was a satchel containing a few of their supplies, at her back was her khopesh sheathed, and gold chain around her waist with a diamond buckle. Around her neck, like the twins, was a pendent with an engraved symbol for her station.

“Don’t crowd her. Pretend that you actually listened to the lessons your parents tried to instill in you on proper decorum,” she almost barked out.

“Stingie relax. They just want to share. Both of them smell wonderful,” came the reply from the younger girl directly behind Scorpio. A three year difference separated the two women but the height difference made it seem aggressively larger. At the sound of the nickname, the taller girl’s features softened and she turned to face her.

“You know how over excited those two can get Virgo,” she said softly trying to plead her case but failing.

Virgo looked up at her and smiled her skin darker than any of the others but her golden curls flowed around her face and down her back glowing in the midday sun. Despite her sharp nose her features were overall smaller, her large blue eyes reflecting her happiness. Just like the others, she had a pendent around her neck with her symbol engraved in it. Taking one of Scorpio’s hands in both of her own she squeezed them.

“Relax Stingie. We’re away from home. We can at the very least enjoy the local cuisine, right?”

“Yeah Stingie,” Cancer added. “Relax. We’re here to have a good time.”

She turned her glare back on the crab twin and he shirked back to stand beside his brother whose grin could not be defeated even under the withering gaze of the scorpion. Virgo stepped around her and approached the twins her hands extended. “I tend to prefer sweets, so I’ll start with you Cancer.”

Pumping his fist slightly he lowered the container and then picked it up slightly and cradling it in his palm. Virgo leaned forward biting a large piece out of it and let out a shocked gasp of pleasure. “It’s so warm but it’s so sweet. I love it.

“I know right. It’s fantastic,” Cancer said as she took another bite and then let him have the rest. “I smelled it when we came in and I had to get a piece for myself.”

“Come on princess, you have to try this now. Before it gets too cold,” Gemini said taking one of her hands.

“Alright alright. Let me have a bite,” she said taking it from him. As she took it, it was very warm and rotating it around she bit at the corner and her eyes lit up as well. “I’ve never tasted anything like this before!”

“I know right! I tried to watch the lady cook it but he put it in a giant furnace like thing,” he shrugged and happily watched her take another bite. “I’ve got to find her again.”

Virgo reached out to Scorpio, taking her hand and putting the food in her palm. “Try it Stingie.”

Scorpio made a face but at the consistent urging from the girl she relented and took a bigger bite out of the middle and her eyes widened. Wiping at the corner of her mouth she continued to chew. “This is really good.”

Gemini and Virgo cheered together before coming back to Cancer’s side picking off what was left from the slice of pie. The four of them stood on one side of the street of the town, carts being pulled along in the middle but many vendors were marketing their wares to anyone who could pass by.

The town wasn’t bigger than Celestial or even Orrin but it was a step up from the villages they’d passed on the way over. There were proper roads with stone paths and built along a river. Several bridges, one of the main ones built on stone but the majority of them were wood. There was a large manor near the center of the town but that was about it.

Once they finished eating Scorpio pulled one of the new maps they’d bought from her satchel. She spread it out tracing where they were and how far they had come since entering the country. “We’re on the edge of the Sanctum. But once we’re in it we won’t have many ideas of where we’re going. We have to ask around to find the orphanage.”

“An orphanage with a shooting star right? People have got to know about that.” Cancer said then took a deep breath. “The air is different here. I can’t describe it. Not cleaner but I guess crisper?”

“I think that’s a good word for it,” his brother echoed. “We’re far away from Nerodala that’s for sure.”

“Farther than any Zodiac before us has gone,” Virgo echoed and smiled. “Besides Aquarius that is.”

“She’s the one that found you two,” Cancer said. “So I guess it’s like coming home.”

“Nerodala and Celestial are my home,” Virgo said shaking her head.

“As is mine,” Scorpio echoed. “We may have been born here but that’s simply circumstance. However, it doesn’t change the fact that we were drawn back here.”

Gemini took a step closer to Virgo and looked down at her, “You haven’t had the dreams since we set foot here, right?”

“No, I haven’t. My sleep has been easy. So, I believe that’s a sign from our Mothers that this was the correct choice.”

Scorpio stood up sharply and glanced around them but they were alone on their side of the street not many other people walking near them at the moment. She turned to Virgo with narrowed eyes and hissed out, “I know your closeness to Alpha and Omega means you can’t help but speak of them but refrain as much as you can in this country.”

She frowned her eyes downcast slightly, “But their blessings extend here do they not?”

“They may but that does not mean these people recognize them,” Scorpio responded more gently.

“More often than not people will attack what they don’t understand,” Cancer said before looking around them. “Again, this isn’t our home.”

Scorpio nodded, “Right. And I don’t want to see you harmed for being who you are.”

“Okay,” Virgo frowned understanding their words and their concern but still not liking it. “I still need to visit a Church privately. I’ve been feeling exhausted in a way that sleep can’t fix.”

“Pretty sure I saw one on the other side of the river,” Cancer said around and just above the homes there was a spire that poked toward the heavens.

“Then let’s go there then retrieve our horses,” Scorpio rolled up the map and slid it into the satchel. Virgo took one of her hands and squeezed it as they started walking.

The twins brought up the rear mostly relaxed. Gemini took a deep breath looking around at all the people, hearing the accents to the languages around them. He couldn’t not stare at the people and wanting to deviate and talk to them just to hear more. His brother was watching him the entire time amused.

“How many stories has Aqua told us about going beyond the country?” Cancer asked.

“So many,” Gemini replied. “More than I can even name. We’ve been to Lyria and Xye and all of it felt like an expansion on home. But this is different. It’s normal enough that I know how to talk and work my way through but its new enough that I’m just excited.”

“Honestly me too,” Cancer said as they walked past a home and he touched the wall of it. Even the masonry here was different than back home. He knew they used frameworks back home. Setting things into wooden frames and letting the stone and cement harden over that framework.

But here from the ground up it seemed that the buildings were built stone by stone. Stacked and reinforced one brick at a time. It would probably take much longer but just staring at it now he felt like it was sturdier than immediately met the eye. His first instinct was to find someone to talk to and just ask them about their day to day lives.

The four of them crossed over the bridge hearing the echoing of their boot soles across the cobble stone. Virgo walked over to the side staring at her reflection in the waters. It wasn’t quite dirty but there was definitely debris within the murk.

She made a face watching them and laughed as it splashed and dove into the water. Turning on her heel she continued to lead Scorpio and by extension the twins along with her. Across the bridge the homes were more based around farms. Most of the homes were further spread apart and had several crops that they were cultivating behind the homes.

The church in question wasn’t far from the bridge. It was a simple wooden one with large windows along its front but smaller ones along the sides. As they walked Virgo waved to almost every person they met and got a wave back and in some cases hellos.

A dog and a trio of children ran past her and the dog stopped jumping up at her eagerly. She laughed crouching down and playing with it as the children caught up and crowded around her. “Whoa I’ve never seen you before.”

“You’re really pretty.”

“Do you want to play with us?”

Virgo’s smile grew wider but she shook her head. “I’m sorry but I have something that I must do first.” A collective groan went up amongst them. “But perhaps I can find you once I’m done.”

“You mean it?” one asked

“I’ll do my best to try,” she replied and they cheered backing away as the dog darted away something catching its back. She watched them run away and sighed softly as Scorpio watched her. “What?”

“Nothing. People truly love you,” Scorpio replied as she looked toward the sky and the sun.

Gemini came by to help Virgo to her feet and walked her toward the church. Cancer walked over to stand beside Scorpio and grinned. “Even over here princess is popular as always.”

“She earned that nickname from the others for a reason,” Scorpio sighed. “Watching over her is difficult.”

“You don’t have to watch over her. We’re essentially on vacation looking for the place princess was born. Why? Who knows. But at the very least let’s follow her and relax,” he said gently.

She let out sigh and scratched the back of her head lightly, “It’s difficult to do that.”

“I know,” he said and stood next to her with another smile. “But you’re with your family now. So breathe. Let princess recharge, get some more tasty food and then get on our way.”

“You twins and your food,” she said rolling her eyes but finally cracked a smile.

He laughed, “Gem already eats for two. I have to make sure to get mine!”

The pair walked over to the church, the door creaking open as they came by. There weren’t many pews for them to sit at and the church itself was much smaller. Just a single pedestal at the far side of the room and a corner with a few closets. Virgo was sitting at one of the closer pews her head bowed.

Cancer was looking at the symbol on the wall, a diamond with three interlocking ovals within it pointing toward the bottom of the diamond. Gemini approached his brother and also looked at the symbol. “I guess that’s the symbol of the Father right?”

“Yeah, one of Alpha’s children that spread to this part of the world.”

“Think the people who live here know that?” he asked.

Cancer raised his eyebrow, “You mean know that their God is real and also the son of another? I wouldn’t believe so. Most wouldn’t like to accept that their lord is second to another that they’ve never heard of.”

“You’ve got me there,” Gemini shrugged.

He looked over at Virgo and she was sitting, her head bowed and praying. It was how she often recharged herself and her powers. They knew she was tied to the Goddesses Alpha and Omega but they didn’t understand the specifics of it. They weren’t sure that Virgo understood much of it either, working on instincts.

Virgo took a slow breath and whispered the end of her prayers, “Amen.”

Looking up she looked toward the others and smiled one by one. “I’m sorry if I’ve made you all wait too long. I feel ten times better. Just full of energy!” She stretched her arms above her head and the happiness in her voice was palpable that the others smiled along with her. “So, what are we doing next?”

“We’re going to retrieve our horses,” Scorpio said. “And then start toward the orphanage. Get as far as we can today which may not be that far.”

“Isn’t that on the opposite end of this town?”

Scorpio nodded and Virgo blushed brightly lowering her head. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to drag us all the way over here.”

“It’s not a problem princess,” Gemini and Cancer said together.

“Let’s go then,” Virgo said standing up and taking the hands of the twins and pulled them into the middle of the church with her.

Before she could get far the door to the church burst open. A man stumbled forward his neck and shoulders covered in blood. He reached out to them before collapsing to the ground with a meaty thud.

The four froze in place horror across their faces as they stared at the suddenly dead man in front of them. So when the man began to drag himself off the ground into a standing position their horror intensified. The man’s head jerked upward, his jaw slack and gurgling as both hands outstretched to him. They all knew what it was like to kill and so they knew the eyes of a dead man when they saw one.

And now there was a dead man walking toward them.