The noise of the early afternoon was one of the time’s that Vincent really enjoyed but really didn’t talk about. It was a time that was a bit more lowkey. The people who came back from missions had gotten the majority of the celebrating out, the people waking up from the night before were just getting into the swing of the afternoon.
Vincent walked the streets of the Free City, his hands behind his head. The ground was soft grass at the moment and he definitely preferred this to the flatter ground or worse the sand. It wasn’t often that he noticed the movement of the city under his feet. It was hard to notice after years, especially after never being home for more than a few days at a time.
Vincent walked toward a fountain in the middle of the road. Water would flow through and be a treat and cool relief in the desert. Samuel’s irrigation project. The circle around the fountain was simple stone with a hooded woman in the center. The water normally would come from the ground and cascade catching every refraction of light. It was always magical when it worked.
He went to sit on the edge of the fountain and took off his sword. He rested it across his lap and stared at the sky and leaning back. The sun was warm and pleasant. It was just nice right now.
“Vincent! Vincent!”
He looked at the sound of his name and saw a trio of children running toward him. “Where’s Alison?”
“She’s out on a mission,” he said simply.
“Boo! We wanted to play with her,” the lead girl said pouting. “When is she coming home?”
Vincent started to respond but frowned to himself, “I don’t know. Hopefully soon.”
“Boo!” a boy said much younger and pointing at him. “Bring back Alison!”
“Bring back Alison!”
“Bring back Alison!”
“Hey now. Leave that pitiful man alone!” Vincent looked over at the woman walking over her hands on her hips. Her face was hidden behind her red scarves, wearing a brown tank top and pants with black gloves like she usually wore. Her bronze skin shown in the sun. She approached slowly shooing the children. “I hear that Annie is making pies and they should be coming out of the oven soon.”
That got their attention and brightened their mood. They ran away toward the inn leaving the pair of Rogue’s behind. Vincent let out a breath and glanced at her. “Thanks Monica.”
“You looked like you needed a hand. The great Vincent. Survivor of the Calamity powerless to a mob of children.” She didn’t try to hide her laughter.
“Ha fucking ha.”
“You look miserable. You miss her that much.” Vincent made a face and nodded. “That’s actually cute. Never thought I’d see the day.”
Vincent scowled, “What are you even doing out here?”
“Just got back,” she said and sat down beside him moving her blades at her hip so that she could be comfortable. “Supply running. Pretty standard.”
“Been doing a lot of those recently. Me and Alison did one a week ago.”
“The city has been growing.”
“Growing at the Lady’s whims,” Vincent said.
“Mmhm,” Monica agreed. “The perks of living in a magic city. It accommodates for you.”
“As long as you provide for it.”
“Exactly,” Monica nodded toward him. “And that means more mouths to feed and more work to do for us.”
“At least the majority of the city agrees on that. You’ve been hearing about Boss being the Lady’s chosen?”
“Hard not to. The Free City’s never had one leader. It’s great. But something feels off. My horse has been uneasy for a while and I haven’t been able to get a good night’s sleep in weeks. And the rumors really don’t help.”
Vincent raised his eyebrow, “Which rumors are those?”
“Guess you’ve been under a rock for a while. People all over have been talking about the dead coming back to life and whole villages being slaughtered.” She shuddered as she said it and Vincent frowned harder looking at her.
“Have you seen it?”
“No. But I’ve heard enough stories that sound alike to believe it. And honestly I’m not jumping to see it for myself.”
Vincent wasn’t sure how much to tell her. To tell her that the end of the world was potentially coming and a necromantic cult was trying to turn the entire world into some undead party. But then again even he didn’t know if he wanted to believe it himself. Despite what he’d seen it was too big to process or fathom. The Calamity was one thing but this, this was something else entirely.
“Rumors are rumors until we see it ourselves,” he said finally.
“Such a simple man,” she shook her head. “But I guess that’s fair.”
“No use stressing out over stuff like this. Doesn’t change what we do.”
“Since when’d you get even remotely smart?” she asked punching his shoulder lightly.
He snorted, “I’ve always been smart.”
He had another comment ready but looked up and watched as a man came jogging their way. He was wearing leather armor around his chest and only had part of his legs covered. He was large around the belly and face, a scruffy beard covering the lower part of his jaw and a mop of hair on his head. His skin was pale, flushed red from the exertion. He was a little younger than Vincent and Monica, barely twenty years old. He slid to a stop in front of them panting hard.
“The hell are you doing Samuel?” Monica asked motioning toward him aggressively.
“I. Was. Coming. To find you. Vince,” he said between huffs.
“Catch your breath first,” Vincent said rolling his eyes. He nodded his thanks, bending over and heaving for a long few moments. Once he was sure that he had gotten it under control he stood up and focused on Vincent.
“Lionel asked me to get you. He saw something weird out by the east gate. Wanted you to come look at it,” he said finally.
“The hell? What’s that old man doing by the east gate?” he said and Samuel shrugged. “Alright whatever. Guess I’ll go see what he wants. Samuel take a breather.”
He pointed at his spot and Samuel took it relieved. Refastening his sword to his hip he walked toward the gate. It was a decent walk over to the gate. He waved to the guards on duty and paused. He thought he saw a black shape on the rampart behind the guard who recognized him and lifted it. He walked out into the sand and saw Lionel waiting for him arms folded.
The sun glared down harsher outside the city. Silently, he thanked the Free Lady for her protection and love. Lionel waved him over and Vincent trudged through the sand slowly. “Hey Vincent.”
Vincent held out his hand and Lionel shook it. Vincent raised his eyebrow before saying, “What’re you doing out here old man?”
“Found something out here this morning. Big hole in the ground. Wanted to investigate but figured I’d have someone with me in case I fell.”
“You mean in case I fell,” Vincent replied dryly and he laughed.
“This way Vincent.”
They walked together, Lionel in the lead and Vincent barely able to keep up with him. With the sun beating down on their heads they walked the length of the desert for about five minutes. Vincent looked over his shoulder and saw the city was a ways behind them along with the tracks long. They walked over a hill and there it was in front of them.
A large gaping hole in the sand, that he could barely see within it. Vincent jumped forward slowly and slid down the dune to get closer to the hole. Peaking over the edge he stared into the darkness below. He couldn’t see the bottom of the hole it was so dark. Even following the walls of the hole it was impossible to guess.
“What even is this?” he asked. “It’s like a sinkhole. Except huge as shit.”
“That’s about right,” Lionel replied coming up behind him. “No idea. Or what it’s doing out here. But it gives me a bad feeling. Wanted to get a second opinion.”
“It’s not making me feel sunshine and rainbows. Think some kind of demon is going to come bursting out and attack the city?”
Lionel laughed, “I wouldn’t go that far. But I wouldn’t write it off either.”
“Right. I wonder what else I wouldn’t write off,” Vincent said carefully and stared at the sand. He watched the sand trickle down and the shadow of Lionel walking over. Vincent lowered his hand digging it through the sand. It was moist to touch and hard packed in some areas. “Hey old man. Can I ask you something?”
“What is it Vincent?”
“Do you remember that time me and Blaze got lost out in the sand storm?”
“You mean back when you were barely fifteen?”
Vince smiled, “Yeah that. You remember how I made it through?”
Lionel paused thinking before saying, “You found an oasis. Deep underground. Found barely enough water for you and Blaze to survive the night. You think that’s what this is?”
“Yeah except way way deeper. One more question.”
“Not like you to ask so many. Shoot.”
“Who are you and what have you done with the old man?”
Lionel stopped walking a few steps away, “What are you talking about?”
“I mean, what makes you think that I’d get tricked by that shitty disguise.”
Vincent dropped his hand to his gun and drew it. Turning on his heel he shot at Lionel but the bullets were stopped short, floating just out of the old man’s hand. Lionel’s eyes narrowed and he looked at him with a mixture of contempt and frustration.
“I knew getting rid of you first was the right choice,” he said slowly with a sinister tint that didn’t match the man he’d known his whole life. He rushed forward grabbing Vincent’s gun and threw him to the ground.
Vincent rolled across the ground struggling and trying to pop back to his feet. His feet dug into the sand and he stumbled drawing his sword to keep his balance. Stumbling forward he spun the gun around and pointed at this thing impersonating his friend.
“What tipped you off Vincent?” the imposter asked.
“A few things. But mainly because the old man’s been limping for years. No way he’d be out here walking through the desert let alone outpacing me. But I knew something was up when we met up. Old man rarely calls me by my name. The real question is how did you know about that sandstorm. Only the old man knows because he’s the one who found me.”
He frowned, “Another question? Can you take the answer?”
“Where the hell is the old man?!”
“What’s it matter where the owner of this form is?” Lionel asked throwing his hand out. “You won’t live long enough for it to matter.”
He drew his sword and pointed it at Vincent. Vincent squared his feet trying to figure out how to approach this. He knew this wasn’t Lionel. He knew that it wasn’t the old man but it was still hard to stare him down like this. But then he moved forward like blur and he had to bring both weapons up to block as fast as he could.
The force behind the sword sent him almost made his knees buckle. Eyes widening, he tried to balance and almost fell into the hole. Swinging his arms to the side he deflected the swing and rolled across the sand diving to the side. He stumbled down the dune almost falling again.
He whipped his gun out and fired it at him. Lionel’s blade blocked each shot sending the bullets into the dirt. Vincent tackled man down the dune along with him. He flipped forward spinning around in the sand and that’s when he watched it happen.
As he pulled himself back to his feet the simple armor he wore shifted into dark black robes. The tanned old skin got younger and features softer. The balding hair sprouted thick brown hair going down to their back. Their face turned into a scowl and they discarded the sword into the sand. They barely got off the ground and waved their arms forward.
A gust of wind slammed into Vincent that had no place out here in the desert. It picked Vincent off the ground and sent him flying back against the ground. He rolled through the sand and stabbed his sword into the ground to slow his fall.
He got to the lip of the hole before he stopped, his toe just barely going over the edge. He pulled on both weapons and dragged himself forward reloading quickly. The imposter jumped forward floating over the sand and thrust both hands forward. Instead of a gust of wind something raced across the ground slicing the sand into pieces.
Vincent threw himself to the side as whatever force it was lashed over the spot he’d been in. Sand exploded in a geyser behind him. He rolled to the side and darted at the mage pumping his arms. The mage threw his arm forward as more of the blades came and he covered his face. Invisible blades appeared out of the air and slashed open his arms and exposed skin.
He ducked his head down as the blades came back hitting at his legs. He stumbled under the blow and almost fell to the ground. Catching himself he whipped his arm forward and fired. The shots rang out and the bullets hit home but Vincent tsked. He knew what it felt like to hit a magic barrier.
Digging his foot into the ground he kicked as much sand as he could right at the mage. He dug the sword in afterward and blasted that at the mage’s face. The mage raised their other hand catching the sand and blowing it away like it was nothing but that distraction was all he needed.
He had closed the gap enough that he could attack for real. Spinning his sword around he thrust it forward. The mage threw up a hand and he was locked in the air. He kicked at the air trying to attack the man but whatever magic he used was too strong.
The mage stepped forward slowly and kept one hand pointed at him while the other began to smolder, “You’re clever. Resourceful. I got that much from that old man’s memories. He taught you a lot. You learned even more on your own. It would be a shame to lose someone like you. But for me to do what I need I can’t keep your corpse.”
“You’re one of the Ouroboros aren’t you?” Vincent barked.
“Yes. I guess I can give you that much considering things,” they said wearing the face of a young boy who was barely eighteen. Their face wasn’t even fully fleshed out, the expression being made by the child was one so ancient that it felt alien. An expression that belonged to a creature much more ancient. “I go by Envy.”
“Envy. Why are you even here? I thought you and your kind wanted the Gods. You here for a pit stop or something.”
That seemed to actually give pause to the necromancer. He stared at Vincent’s strained face as he tested his bonds again. “You really don’t know do you? The treasure that lurks within your Free City? Who do you think the Free Lady is?”
Vincent stared at the Necromancer piecing together what they were implying and started shaking his head, “No way. We don’t even have a champion or whatever the fuck the link is called.”
“That’s for me to discover. Or you,” Envy said and shoved their hand into Vincent’s chest. He grunted shocked. He’d been stabbed before but this was different. It was like something was digging around inside his stomach and traveling through his body. His eyes almost rolled behind his head when Envy finally dragged their arm back.
Panting and spitting blood onto the ground he watched his clothes changed again. A simple shirt, a pair of pants and shoes, fiery orange hair, brown skin and eyes. Eyes that went from narrowed concentration to relaxed amusement. “You’ve seen quite a lot Vincent. And know a lot. Though I guess I know a lot. I think I’ll enjoy learning the truth about the Free City here.” he said in Vincent’s voice.
Vincent stared at this man, who mirrored him entirely down to the scars he’d just been marked with. He was dragged through the air slowly until he faced the Free City. He stared at Envy but the necromancer flicked their hand back and the gun and sword were yanked from his hand and into their outstretched ones.
“Now to remove you from the equation. Permanently.” They shoved their hand forward and blasted him through the air. Vincent flew back and suddenly was sinking below the lip of the hole in the ground, the cold embrace of the darkness swallowing him whole.
The Harlequin Library 