Time of the Necromancer: Chapter 22

“Hey Gem, do you see that?”

“Yeah I do but what is it?”

“I don’t know.”

“You could be going crazy. We’ve been down here two days I think.”

“It’s been a fine two days.”

“We should ignore it and keep going.”

“Come on Stingie don’t be like that.”

“Yeah Stingie don’t be like that.”

“Say it again and watch what happens.”

“Hold on Princess you’re actually going over?”

“I can sense it. Him. He’s still alive.”

“Uh you sure?”

“Yeah looks pretty much dead to me.”

“Virgo don’t.”

The orange torchlight they had been traveling with illuminated the cave as Virgo’s energy came to life. The water at the edge of their path teemed with fish and they didn’t like the light. Virgo moved both her arms forward and aimed at the dark shape floating down the water’s path. Her eyes glowed and her power wrapped around him. Lifting her hands, she floated him back slowly to the dry land.

She heard the others running toward her along with the faint clopping of the horses. She didn’t wait for them as she walked to the man. Brushing his arm back she saw the wound in his chest. A deep hole that actually went through to the other side. She touched it lightly and her eyes widened going back to normal. She saw the stars dancing around him but they were accompanied with images. People on cots lined against the ground, a man on a bed his skin deathly pale, a woman whose entire body was ravaged by burns.

She gasped pulling away and stumbled back into Scorpio. Scorpio wrapped her arm around her shoulders looking down at her, “Are you okay?”

Virgo took her hand and squeezed it lightly but kept staring at the man. “I’m not sure.” She looked up at Scorpio and the stars were still in her vision this time tracing her friend entirely.

 “Whoa that’s gnarly,” Gemini whistled.

Cancer nodded, “Someone wanted this guy dead.”

“They didn’t succeed,” Virgo replied. On cue he let out a rattling breath but his eyes were still shut tight. “He’s been poisoned. I can heal him.”

“What?” Gemini asked.

Scorpio stared down at her. “I thought you said you hadn’t been able to do it again.”

“I haven’t. But something tells me to try,” she said simply and stared at the man.

“You were barely conscious the rest of the day after healing the Speaker,” Scorpio said sharply. “And he was doing better than this guy. You’ll kill yourself trying to heal him.”

“No I won’t,” she said glancing back at her protector. “I know that this’ll be okay.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“I just do,” she said taking a deep breath. There was a set to her face that Scorpio couldn’t argue with no matter how much she may have wanted to. Virgo got to her feet and walked back toward the man. She looked at her hands and regular brown skin faced her. The stars had disappeared for the time being.

But when she knelt in front of the man and hovered one hand over his chest things came back immediately. The stars formed at her fingers, linked together by thin silver lines formed along her body. And she could see it on his body. Pinpricks of stars all around him except they weren’t nearly as bright. She could see the light in him slowly fading, being sucked away by the hole in his chest.

She reached out toward him and instead of the hole in his chest she touched a different star on his body. Tracing the invisible line she connected it from his wrist to his elbow. The moment she touched the star at his elbow both glowed to life far brighter than they were when she first saw them.

Widening her eyes, she continued from his elbow up to his shoulder. The lights she drew continued to glow and so she moved with this, connecting them across his entire body from head to toe but avoided the hole in his chest. Once they were all together and glowing, the hole in his chest was just more obvious and darker.

She drew her hands back together and felt the power in her coming forth back to her hands. She saw the stars dancing around her skin and she called to the power that connected her to the heavens above, to her mothers. She pressed both hands over the hole in his chest and pressed down. “Virgo Restore.”

The moment she pressed he jerked upwards and let out a sharply strangled cry. It echoed down the cave and the other Zodiac flinched away. The cry rattled in Virgo’s ears but she kept pressing because she could see the light’s coming together despite the darkness of the wound. Through the glow in her own eyes, she could see it knitting itself back together.

While Virgo worked the other three watched her and they didn’t know exactly what she was doing but they saw something above their heads. The faint outline of stars and connecting lines that swirled around Virgo herself. None of them saw the full picture but they felt it in inside of them. An assurance to the nervous fears in them.

Virgo’s eyes fluttered and she almost fell over. She caught herself before hitting the ground and continued. Her eyes felt heavy but she didn’t want to stop working. Finally, she felt the warmth of skin underneath her palm and he went still. She nearly panicked then felt the slow rise and fall of his chest. She let her arms slide away and she saw the cluster of lights at his heart. Satisfied she fell backward, Scorpio catching her before hitting the ground.

She looked up at her, her eyes barely open, “Hey Stingie. I did it. See?”

“Yes Virgo you did well,” Scorpio said brushing the hair from her face and using her sleeve to wipe the sweat from her brow.

“Good. I’m going to. I’m going to rest for a second,” she said and closed her eyes. Scorpio’s eyes widened but she saw that Virgo was breathing slowly and she relaxed.

“Alright. Princess is knocked out. So who the heck is this guy?” Cancer asked looking at the unconscious man.

“No idea,” Gemini stepped over him and crouched staring at his clothes. One of the arms of his clothing was shredded entirely and there were scars on the arm but it wasn’t bleeding.

Scorpio picked up Virgo and started going toward their horses but paused, “I’m more concerned with that.”

She pointed toward the light that was hazing down from the end of the tunnel. After leaving the Sanctum they’d traversed the desert before discovering this hole in the ground. And being exactly who they were, they out voted Scorpio and investigated it. The hole turned into a network of tunnels connected to small oases.

From there they had spent the past two days traveling through the tunnels. The tunnels were accompanied by a small river that flowed to a lake in the center. They’d done some fishing but for the most part they didn’t see many other animals or life down there that wasn’t plant. The direction that the man had drifted from was where the thin shaft of light was coming from. Despite the light, it was definitely a long trek away to get there.

“If that’s another hole like the one we came down we’re stuck here until Virgo wakes up,” Scorpio said plainly. “And that’s the best case scenario.”

“Isn’t the best case scenario that there’s like a ladder or something coming down?” Gemini asked.

Cancer shook his head, “You know Scorpio doesn’t believe in those kinds of scenarios.”

“True,” Gemini stood up and folded his arms. “Hm. A conundrum.”

“We’re down here because of you two,” Scorpio said sharply grabbing the reins and leading the horses forward.

The man jerked to the side and coughed against the ground. He vomited water onto the rocks and coughed over and over the noise echoing through the tunnel. The trio recoiled away from him as he got his bearings and wondered if he would fall over again. But he didn’t. He managed to stay upright and wiped his mouth.

“Am I dead?” he grunted. “Alison and Penny will kill me if I was dead.”

He got to his feet slowly and stumbled backward running into the wall. He hit his head hard and he winced leaning forward. Mumbling another curse under his breath he tried to step forward and thought better of it. Instead, he looked down the tunnel and slow blinked at the assembled youths and horses in front of him.

“Who the hell are you guys?”

“Who the hell are you. Guy.” Gemini asked back.

Cancer put a hand to his face, “Smooth Gem.”

“Thanks.”

Cancer shook his head slowly but looked at the man, “We’re the people who found you half drowned in this river. How’d you even get here?”

The man looked around them, listening to the soft trickle of the water. Glancing over his shoulder he could barely see the shaft of light. “Shit. How did I get down here?”

“That’s what we’re trying to figure out,” Gemini said folding his arms.

He backed away putting a hand to his head feeling it ache. “Shit. Lionel. Goddamn. The old man.” He said and his voice cracked for a moment and he strained physically to keep it together. Wiping his eyes slowly he looked at the trio. “You’re a bunch of kids. What’re you doing down here?”

“We’re passing through,” Scorpio said coldly.

“What she said,” Gemini pointed in her direction as if that made the most amount of sense. And to some degree it did. Scorpio was an intimidating woman. “So again. Who’re you?”

The man rolled his eye, “Names Vincent. You three?”

“Cancer.”

“Gemini. The grumpy one is Scorpio.”

Vincent nodded his head slowly rolling the names on his tongue. They weren’t normal but that didn’t matter to him. Instead, he looked toward the light in the distance. He remembered the oasis he’d fallen down as a kid and assumed this one was pretty similar to the other.

“Sorry to burst your bubble but I need to get back to the surface. ASAP. So sorry if I don’t stick around for small talk,” he walked toward the light, stumbled and nearly fell into the river. Grunting as he held his chest he panted heavily and glared at the ground. “Alright. That sucks.”

“You know you were nearly dead right?” Cancer asked.

“Yeah. Count your lucky stars that Princess was able to save you,” Gemini told him. Vincent ignored part of this and kept going. “Alright I guess you’re going to keep going huh?”

“He looks stubborn,” Cancer said. “Reminds me of someone.”

“You mean several someone’s,” Gemini said and both twins looked over at Scorpio and Virgo and then at each other.

“Now wait a minute,” they said in unison as they looked at each other.

Vincent touched his chest, feeling the hole in his clothes but winced at the soreness of the skin, “Are you the ones who helped me?”

“It was me,” Virgo mumbled from Scorpio’s back and wrapped her arms around Scorpio’s shoulders. She held her closer and groaned. “My head is swimming still.”

Scorpio looked back at her, “No Virgo. Go back to resting.”

“But we can’t get out of here without me doin my thing,” she said trying to raise her hand but it just came down and slapped at her shoulder.

“You’re not going to get anything done without more rest Princess,” Cancer said walking back toward her. “Take another nap. We’ll wake you when we need you.”

“You better,” she mumbled and then closed her eyes again. She started to snore softly and Scorpio squeezed one of her hands lightly.

Vincent looked at Virgo for a long while and earned him a glare from Scorpio. He ignored her and started limping toward the light leaning against the wall. “Where’re you going in such a hurry?” Cancer asked.

“I have to get back to the Free City,” he said as he kept going.

That stopped the trio cold and they looked one another quickly and then back at Vincent as he dragged himself forward. “How far away is the Free City from here?” Gemini asked quickly.

“If it hasn’t moved it’s right outside this hole,” Vincent said back. He grunted and sank to his knee breathing hard against the wall. “Dammit.”

Gemini walked over to Vincent and helped him stand, slinging his arm over his shoulder. Vincent grunted, gritting his teeth together hard but got his bearings and started walking with him. It was a little awkward with the height difference but they were moving. “We’re going to the Free City too. And if Princess healed you then you’re not a bad guy.”

“It’s not that black and white Gem but I get your reasoning,” Cancer said taking the reins of the horses and leading them forward. He reached into one of the pouches and fed them both some grain as thanks for being patient and docile.

Scorpio stared at Vincent and walked ahead pulling Virgo closer. “Let’s focus on getting out of this hole and getting to the city.”

Vincent glanced at them all and hung his head, “Getting helped by a bunch of kids. Beggars can’t be choosers.”

The group of them worked their way forward at a decent pace. With the twins helping him he was able to get his stride and eventually managed to walk on his own two feet. The air got crisper as they went but they walked in majorly silence. Cancer filled the silence asking, “So what’s it like?”

Vincent looked at him, “What’s what like?”

“The Free City.”

“Where are you kids even from?”

“Not around here,” Scorpio answered.

“I can see that,” Vincent replied and shook his head. “The city is an open place. It’s peaceful and hectic. You can be who you want. Just contribute and play your part. Nothings free but you can be free.”

“Hm,” Cancer said. “That’s hard to picture.”

“It’s a unique place.”

They continued to walk and  Virgo stirred they walked opening her eyes slowly and narrowing them in response to the air on her face. She yawned and glanced at Scorpio then back to their path. After walking for the better part of an hour the ceiling disappeared sharply and they were able to properly look up into the opening of the hole.

Scorpio stepped forward a few more paces and she and Virgo both looked toward the sky. They saw the clear blue and the slow trickle of sand as it fell down above their heads. The walls were littered with vines and plants reaching toward the sun for any amount of heat they could glean.

“How did I survive that fall,” Vincent mumbled.

“That’s a great question. You’re not a mage are you?” Gemini asked.

“Not even remotely. I’m assuming you are.” He said looking mainly at Virgo.

Virgo shook her head and tapped Scorpio’s back to get down. She slid down and stumbled but stood up right, “Mage is the wrong word for what we are but I’ve learned that it is the closest approximation.”

“Alright. Well do you have a way to get us up there?” he asked.

Virgo walked forward and let her power wake back up, coursing through her the flood gates opening.  “I can help with that.”

Vincent had never flown before. So being lifted into the air by something invisible was not only new it was this side of unsettling. He had to fight every urge inside him to not make some noise of protest. He took a deep breath, grit his teeth, and suck it up. The others took it like it was an everyday thing. Living with a mage for a few years straight still didn’t make this any easier to comprehend.

Once he was safely back on the dune he fell to his knees, his legs forgetting how to walk for a few minutes. The horses came next, much happier once they were on the ground. The twins came to Vincent’s side once he was standing and they continued to act like this was another day on the job. Finally, Virgo and Scorpio hit the sand joining them.

Vincent climbed the dune and glanced at the sand wondering if his footsteps were visible but they’d been eaten away by time. He looked toward the distance and saw the city clear as day. It was still standing and not on fire so that gave him some hope that things weren’t that bad right now.

The twins stared at the city awed. It wasn’t nearly the same as the city in the Sanctum. The tall stone walls with the tips of tents poking above them and one giant tower in the middle. But something didn’t feel right, like something was meant to greet them at the front and it was off duty.

Vincent stared at the city and shook his head, “Somethings. Off. I don’t know what but we need to hurry.”

They broke into a run going toward the closest gate. Vincent had to force himself to not overdo it and risk hurting himself. They were stopped by the guards but when they saw Vincent’s face they were confused. “Thought you just came through? When did you leave again?”

“I never came back. The one that walked in was an imposter,” he said quickly. “I gotta find Morrigan and Boss.”

“Who are these kids?” the guard asked motioning with his gun.

“I vouch for them. Now open up the city’s in trouble!” Vincent shouted getting impatient.

The urgency of his voice along with the expression he was wearing seemed to have done the trick. The gate creaked as it went up and Vincent rushed past the guards on the ground. “Have any of you seen Morrigan or Ben?”

“No,” the guard said shaking his head.

His partner also shook his head, “Me either.”

“They and one of those Harlequin people came by almost an hour ago,” the guard on the rampart said. “I overheard them mentioning the proving grounds. Try there?”

“Thanks,” Vincent looked at the Zodiac then. “Can any of you fight?”

“We can all fight,” Gemini said. “What are we fighting?”

“A shape shifter and probably zombies” 

“Zombies? Not again with that,” Cancer groaned.

Vincent blinked quickly, “I can try to process that later. One more thing.” He turned toward one of the guards and held out his hand, “Give me your gun.”

“What?”

“I don’t have my sword and I’m not going to fight them with just my fists. Give me your fucking gun,” he said again. The guard made a face but handed it over. Vincent checked it quickly and slid it over his shoulder. “Alright. Let’s go.”

They left the horses with the guards and ran through the city. Vincent was in the lead and was trying to ignore the pain in his chest. A mixture of adrenaline and stress hitting him now. Finding his doppelganger would be its own problem but he needed to find Morrigan and they’d work something out.

Though there was a sense of urgency to everything going on Virgo was still looking at the city. So many people in much closer quarters but things felt intimate and warm. It was like being in an inn or a home. The climate had also switched abruptly within the city from the pounding heat to something balmier.

When they arrived at the proving grounds Vincent paused looking around. Nothing was amiss directly but the air felt different, felt stuffier. And then the noise hit them, shouting and clashing of metal against metal. “What the hell?” Gemini asked.

Cancer looked over his shoulder and stepped back. It was ear popping how quickly the sound was sucked away. He stepped forward again and the noise continued to echo in his ears. “Is this magic?”

“That’s my guess,” Vincent said bringing the gun over his shoulder.

They rushed toward the noise and it was quickly apparent what it was. Morrigan, Benidict, the Troupe Master, Gest and one of the Harlequins had been driven back by the horde of undead. A pair of undead Harlequin had the Troupe Master’s hands full as he worked between the two deftly dodging and blocking the nimble attacks. Gest and the surviving Harlequin fought off as many of the skeletons as they could.

But it was Benidict and Morrigan together against Boss that was the spectacle. He wielded his broadsword with more finesse than a man that big usually had. He brought the weapon down cleaving the ground in half as they both jumped to the side. They lunged forward and Boss blocked Morrigan’s sword with the flat of his own and took Benidict’s against his arm.

Boss moved and made sure the blade dug deep into his arm before spinning around and picking Benidict off the ground by the face. Eyes wide the Sanquiknight was suddenly slammed into the dirt and then punted across the grounds. Morrigan didn’t have time to cry out for her hurt lover, instead, yanking Benidict’s sword out of Boss’s arm.

Fueling both swords with her own life she started swinging as a bloody blur moving forward.  The problem with fighting this zombie was that he didn’t register pain so it was impossible to even trade blows with him. Pressing both arms together she swung at his exposed wrist but he spun around avoiding the swords. His arm shot forward and grabbed her by the throat lifting her off the ground.

Turning around he slammed her into the ground with a crash. She barely felt the pain as she rolled back to her feet. The zombie rumbled forward swinging the sword at her again. She turned and blocked with both bloodied swords and fought him to a rough standstill. The blades held under the pressure but that didn’t change the fact that dead he was much stronger.

Boss leaned on his sword and she felt her feet sliding backward slowly before squaring her stance. Before the contest of strength continued Boss was jerked backward. His sword flung around and she jumped back startled. Boss whirled around to face the newcomer and watched as Gemini split apart, ducking away from the swing.

“Man that is a big fucking zombie!” Luce shouted thrusting his sword forward.

Umbra hopped on top Boss’s sword running quickly up the edge and swung at his neck. Boss jerked the sword upward sending Umbra into the air. He knocked Luce’s sword off target as well and shoulder checked the Zodiac off his feet. Umbra landed beside Morrigan and looked at her swords then her eyes and took a step back.

“You’re on our side, right?” he asked then jumped as a pair of skeletons tried to grab him. Scrabbling back with two quick swings he cut them down.

“Anyone fighting the undead is on our side brother,” Cancer said slashing with his katars at another skeleton bringing it down. He then jumped to Luce’s side pulling him up to his feet and watched Boss look at the sudden trio of new combatants.

“Stop bantering and deal with the source of the problem,” Scorpio reprimanded, darting into the fray against the Harlequin.

The Troupe Master ducked under a pair of swings and raised his arm as both zombified Harlequin kicked him in the face. The mask took the brunt of force but he stumbled backward off balance. They lunged at the weakness but Scorpio caught both their blades in her khopesh. Rotating her arms around she pulled and disarmed one. The other her tail darted forward wrapped around their sword and yanked it from yanked it from their hands.

If the Troupe Master was surprised by this, he didn’t show it. Instead, he lunged forward and lopped off the heads of the zombified Harlequin with two precise swings. He turned back to Morrigan and bowed his head slowly pointing toward the necromancer. He was on his knees, hands pressed together, a thick circle of skeletons surrounding him. Above him was the Free Lady chained and looking ethereal, almost translucent.

“We need to eliminate him,” he said and turned his weapon around. Before he could elaborate further the two Harlequin got back to their feet and reattached their heads. “Though eliminating them seems to be its own hurdle.”

Gest and the Harlequin backed off after dispatching another set of skeletons. Both of their masks were cracked and they watched the skeletons reform and surround them. Gest looked at the other and dipped his head, “It seems that this is it, I do not regret it one bit.”

“I admit I may have misjudged you,” she said gripping her knife tightly. “At least we die serving Her Majesty.”

“Indeed we had. I don’t think that’s so bad.”

The skeletons lurched at them and then her blown backwards by a raw force of energy. Virgo descended into their midst and smiled. “It’s not over yet.”

“An angel from the sky. Is this an answer to our cry?” Gest asked whistling a tune.

Envy stood and watched the tide turn against him slowly. He began to say something when a bullet whizzed past his cheek and a second slammed into his shoulder sending him spinning away. The skeletons immediately moved as more shots streamed in. Vincent steadied himself on one knee and kept firing, pumping out old casings until the gun clicked on empty. Swearing to himself he saw how little damage he’d actually been able to do through the shield wall of bone.

Envy’s eyes widened as he looked at him. “How did you find a way to survive? No matter. I have what I came for. I’ll have to borrow a note out of Wrath’s book tonight.”

He thrust his hand down into the circle and chanted a few words. The three zombies fell away, the power animating them fading. Instead, the skeletons all turned from a bleached white into a bright violet color. They rushed at each of them and in an instant, they exploded in a burst of light. The ground rocked and whatever barrier had been erected was shattered in that moment.

The wind whipped around him but Envy was satisfied by this result looking back toward the Free Lady in the sky. She had faded almost entirely at this point but her glowing eyes bored into Envy. He stared back at her and grabbed one of the chains. With a hard yank the Free Lady screamed, a wail that pierced the veil of reality.

And then the chains fell from the sky, pulsing with power. The air grew heavy and hot, the wind simmering through the city. The dirt under their feet turned hard and the grass wilted. It was like something in the very soul of the city disappeared.

Envy wrapped the chains around his hand and then touched the air. It rippled and then tore open into a portal. He stepped through and it closed behind him. The light from the explosion faded and then the last of the flames crackled and died away.

Vincent lowered his hands finally able to see, the spots fading from his vision. He saw Morrigan and Gemini on the ground, Cancer in front of them. A rippling wall of water was in front of them slowly evaporating. He fell to his knees visibly exhausted but none of them were worse for wear.

Scorpio and the Troupe Master were both on the ground, having been blown off their feet. Their clothes had been singed heavily, especially Scorpio whose entire right arm was badly burned. The Troupe Master’s mask was cracked in multiple places, parts of it breaking off and revealing smooth olive skin beneath.

But the worst was Virgo. The other Harlequin was curled up on the ground and very still. Virgo was huddled against the ground, Gest standing over her. His entire front half had been scorched off. His mask was burned entirely black but still clung to his face. His arms were spread out wide but they finally fell down to his side and then he slid to the ground in a heap.

Vincent walked forward slowly, his feet dragging. The heat of the sun beat down on his head harder than he’d ever felt in his life. He took another step and then fell forward to his knees. The silence was deafening as his eyes finally settled on Boss’s corpse. Lionel’s face flashed in his mind alongside Boss’s grinning one. He curled his hands into a fist and finally screamed until his throat hurt and his lungs emptied.