A soldier shouted as he continued hacking at a long dead corpse of a zombie. The dead littered the courtyard of the church. Former citizens that had been murdered by the zombies and then risen again to be put to the sword. It was enough to make any normal man lose a bit of their sanity. Huffing and taking in the air he lowered his weapon. But for the red zombies, he was now an easy target.
Umbra darted to his side putting himself right in the zombie’s path. He thrust with his sword piercing it through the stomach. Cancer stepped forward and pierced its neck and hip with his katars.
“Defend Cancer,” he backed off along with Umbra as a bubble of water appeared around the zombie. It exploded evaporating the water instantly but the twins were safe.
“Don’t drop your guard,” Umbra said glancing over his shoulder and Cancer nodded quickly.
A beam of blinding light erupted from the ground before fading away almost as fast as it appeared. Turning they watched as the cloaked necromancer jumped to a building for safety as the Speaker pointed his staff. Another beam tore through the air and they were already jumping down from the house as the light passed by.
But when they hit the ground a circle glowed to life underneath their feet. Bars of light rose up and melded together forming a cylinder around them. When the Speaker tapped his staff against the ground he sighed the exhaustion showing on his face. His hood had long since been blown off by the explosions, his long black hair singed from explosions.
“You are imprisoned now. You cannot continue to cause trouble for this city or it’s people,” the Speaker said narrowing his eyes. “You will be shackled, questioned and punished for your actions.”
The necromancer hit the bars of the cage and it flashed rebuffing them. Snarling they grabbed the bars of the cage and ignored the searing pain in their palms. The bars continued to fizzle and shine underneath their hands turning them redder and redder.
“You know Pride said this would be easy. Cause some trouble with Gluttony, distract them and kill you. Wouldn’t be an issue. But you’ve really been pissing me off,” they said grinding their teeth together and the depths of the cowl started to glow red. The lights from the bars started to fizzle as they dragged apart.
The Speaker took a step back pointing the staff forward but the cage shattered. The necromancer was still standing chest heaving. Grasping the staff with both hands the speaker held it to the sky as a beam of light pierced the clouds and struck the staff head on. The wind kicked up and billowed about as the twins stumbled backward from it.
“What the hell is this?” Umbra shouted from the door of the church.
“You really think I know?” Cancer shouted looking back at him. “This is brand new to me too.”
Taking a step forward the Speaker thrust the staff forward and a beam of light engulfed the necromancer. They let out a shout of pain taking a step back as the light consumed them. When it ceased finally, the Speaker fell to his knee.
But when he looked up the necromancer hadn’t fallen down. They were standing with their skin bright red and the top half of their robes burned away. Their skin was smoking but smoke emanated from their mouth and eyes. No hair remained on their scorched head, a glow remaining in the pit of their eyes.
“Is that the best you got Speaker?” they said finally emitting plumes of smoke. And then he burst into flame like a living inferno. “Guess it’s my turn.”
They leaped forward grabbing the Speaker by the throat and slammed him into the. The ground shook under the impact and the Speaker let out a scream so raw that it made everyone who heard it freeze in their tracks. Another fist came down and this time there was a crack and the scream was louder this time.
“We have to help him,” Umbra said;
“Be smart,” Cancer said. “What can we do against that?”
“Anything is better than nothing!” he replied hearing another fist hit the man with a louder crack and this time no scream accompanied it. “Is he?”
“No he isn’t. Now move aside.”
The twins were shoved backward as a man walked past. He pulled back his hood revealing long chin length white hair and stubble lining his jaw as if they had shaved recently. His features were sharp and he wore a grin that was almost ear to ear. Lacing his fingers together he chanted under his breath.
Pointing forward a green skeletal arm appeared in the air and grabbed the necromancer. Lifting the flaming necromancer off the ground he stared at them and chuckled. “Would you look at that? We haven’t seen a necromancer like you before. Playing with you will be fun.”
Flames exploded and the skeleton’s hand shattered as they fell to the ground. The flames had died down but the snarl on their face was somehow even larger. “Vayne Krios,” they growled. “Why are you here?”
“You know who we are?” he repeated raising his eyebrow. “Now we’re even more interested.”
Umbra ran forward to the crater where the Speaker was lying. He seemed like he was unconscious and his staff was broken in three pieces. He lifted him from the crater and the necromancer shook their head, “He’s coming with me.”
He darted forward throwing a ball of fire in their direction and Umbra flinched raising his hand. A skeletal hand caught it out of the air and crushed the flames as Vayne stepped forward. “We’d rather you didn’t. We don’t know why you’d want the Speaker’s corpse but we can’t imagine it’ll be good for our health either.”
“Then you can die too Krios,” they said and ran forward the flames blazing higher. They couldn’t get close enough as a second skeletal hand grabbed them and slapped them into a nearby wall. They pulled themselves out of the wall and slammed a hand into the ground. Trails of fire spread across the ground latching onto any of the undead that they could touch.
Vayne watched as the dead came back to life slowly but their skin turned red like lava. They stumbled and then stood up right like any man. Their mouths opened wide dripping fire and hunched awaiting their commands.
Vayne stroked his chin “We’ve never seen a zombie like that before. Who taught you this necromancy?”
“Maybe I’ll tell your corpse after I kill you,” they said and closed their fist as the zombies sprinted at him.
Watching the zombies move he put his hand into his pouch. Flicking his wrist he tossed bones into the air. They began to glow green as his magic latched onto them. Full skeletons sprouted out of them outnumbering the zombies. They ran into their paths, grabbing the zombies or tackling them to the ground. Some of them were blown to pieces from the raw strength of the zombies but they put themselves together not long after.
Whereas the necromancer’s zombies were tearing a path toward him, Vayne’s skeletons were just being distractions to slow them down. One managed to break through the line before being crushed into a red puddle by Vayne’s glowing arms.
“Your zombies have power but not much durability,” Vayne commented. “Not difficult to deal with. We were hoping for a challenge but we’re bored.”
His words were the best weapon that Vayne could have deployed. The necromancer sprinted at Vayne the flames on their body burning even brighter. Vayne’s large arms moved swiftly to stop him but they swung their arms and blew through them breaking them into pieces.
The necromancer closed the distance between them forcing Vayne to act. The necromancer punched the ground blowing smoke into Vayne’s face. Jumping through the smoke Vayne raised his hand blocking one punch but his arm was blown free of its socket. Glancing at his missing arm he ducked under another attack and touched their flaming chest.
His palm glowed green and a bigger hand wrapped around their chest like a vice. He turned and slammed him into the ground like a rag doll. The hands squeezed tighter choking the flames out of them. But he paused dropped his hold on the necromancer going back to the church.
Gluttony came forward clapping their hands together, several other zombies following behind them. “Wow. Vayne Krios. Pride didn’t know you’d be here. That changes things.”
Vayne scoffed curving a smile on his face, “Oh another one. Have you come to play as well?”
Gluttony shook their head waving their hands back and forth, “No no no. I know when I’m outclassed. Unlike my friend here. He’s a bit too stubborn for his own good. Isn’t that right Wrath?”
Wrath struggled to his feet, the fires on his body flickering in intensity. Gluttony walked over to him and hit him on the back like they were friends but Wrath stumbled forward slightly and hissed. “You took your sweet time getting here,” he growled.
“I assumed you would be able to take care of it,” they shrugged. “And I needed a quick meal. I was starved raising this many zombies.”
“Always thinking of your stomach,” he shoved Gluttony away as the fires ignited again. “Help me finish him off and grab the Speaker.”
“Are you that eager to die again?” Gluttony asked scratching their hooded head. “I won’t throw my life away fighting Vayne. But be my guest.”
Wrath glared at them but looked back at Vayne who raised his eyebrow at the two of them. He looked just like any other person and he felt he could take him but then he stopped. Vayne’s eyes glowed a darker green and a shape slowly started to manifest behind him.
Wrath took a step back blinking rapidly and the shape was gone and Vayne was just staring at him with a tauntingly amused expression. The flames died down on Wrath’s body and he stood, his skin still red but he had calmed down. His eyes were dark brown without the flames inside of them.
“Fine. We’ll leave,” he stared at Vayne and narrowed his eyes again. “I don’t know why you got involved Krios but this isn’t over.”
Vayne chuckled and waved as the pair of them walked through the horde of zombies. As they walked the zombies remained for a few seconds and then one by one they sank to the ground, crumpling like a house of cards. The red zombies fell over the red fading away and returning to a more normal pale color.
The courtyard was still as the two mages walked away and no one moved, no one spoke. The zombies didn’t groan and the wind didn’t blow. After a few minutes passed Isaac, Scorpio, Virgo and Luce appeared, on a different road than the necromancers had taken.
Umbra and Luce raced to one another’s side and merged together back into Gemini. Leaning against his swords Gemini groaned and then looked back at his brother and then his friends.
Virgo rushed over to the Speaker her eyes aglow. She slid across the ground and pressed one hand to his side. The man groaned in response but for a moment his eyes cracked open. She met his gaze and both of their eyes glowed, a bright flash of light in the depths of their pupils. For the barest of a moment, she saw a being made of stars in his eyes, something greater than she was in every sense of the word.
She looked at her hands and saw the stars glittering across them, from the tips of her fingers to the base of her palm. The energy warmed her skin and she shook like she’d engorged herself on sugar. Looking down at the Speaker she knew what she had to do. The words flitted through her mind, echoed by dozens of that were and weren’t her own.
“Virgo Restore,” she said squeezing his shoulder and the energy that coursed through her leapt from her hands and into him.
The Speaker jerked as the energy raced through him but the redness of his skin and the bruises and blood along his body began to fade and heal. She continued with this as long as she could and eventually the Speaker’s face of anguish and pain settled into a peaceful one like sleep. When it was done Virgo slid to the side the glow leaving her. Scorpio caught her before she could hit the ground.
Vayne walked to his discarded arm and picked it off the ground. Throwing it to his free hand the skeletal one faded away and he shoved it back into the joint. Rotating his arm several times to make sure it fit in the socket properly he stroked his jaw. “Well now. You four are certainly interesting. We think we should have a talk.”
The Harlequin Library 