Time of the Necromancer: Chapter 38

The ground shook and the undead servants all scattered away from the sight. Another and it collapsed into chunks sending debris and the undead falling to the ground. Alistair and Vincent shouted as they fell before Virgo caught them out of the air, floating down with her. But they weren’t the only ones to float down through the darkness.

“You really were foolish enough to come down here?” Envy asked wearing a new form. A woman with flowing white hair and robes, a golden vest on her chest and crown across her head. “I can only assume you wish to join the undead early.”

She raised her hand and sent a vortex of flames at them. Virgo dropped Vincent and Alistair to throw up a shield to deflect the flames away. Both fighters landed on their feet and then shirked away from the heat. Virgo winced pushing back as hard as she could but after a crack, she was thrown into the ground as well.

“You’re a child. No matter your lineage,” Envy said floating to the ground walking forward. She paused glancing up toward the sky. “Do you feel that? That’s the beginning of the end.”

“Yeah well. I don’t give up that easily,” Vincent swung his sword at her the blade slashing across her chest. It bounced off her vest and it came back jolting his arm.

“A sword swing? That’s right. You are without magic. I remember that from being within your mind. You are just a simple human.”

She flew at him her hand glowing bright with flames. Vincent jumped out of the way of the first swing but she spun around and thrust her hand forward. He dropped low and kicked her hand into the air and sending the fire upward. He lunged with the sword but just like before it bounced off her armor.

Gritting her teeth, she curled her fingers and suddenly Vincent was being dragged forward, his feet skidding across the ground. “As I said. Still human.” With her other hand she slashed him with a whip of flames.

Alistair charged forward grabbing Vincent and tackled him out of the path of the attack. They both rolled to the side and flames left a long scorch mark across the ground and wall. Alistair pulled him to his feet his face jumping from concern to anger as he turned around.

“Thanks for the save.”

“Any time Vince.”

Alistair stood at Vincent’s side his broadsword drawn and his eyes glowing a fierce red. Vincent glanced back at him and couldn’t stop himself from smiling, “You know we never get the chance to fight together anymore. Also I swear you used to be smaller.”

“Swinging this thing around takes a bit of extra muscle,” Alistair smiled. “We’re really going to have to do some jobs together again.”

Envy scowled pressing her hands together and closed her eyes. Her fingers glowed with flames again and she thrust them forward letting loose a jet of concentrated fire. Before either of them could move a barrier appeared around them deflecting the flames harmlessly aside. Virgo stood her eyes glowing like beacons in the darkness.

Vincent looked back at her and smirked, “You got this one?”

“Fire I can handle,” she replied nodding her head.

“Then that’s our cue Alistair,” Vincent said charging forward.

They sprinted around the flames and closed the distance between them and her. Alistair jumped high and brought his sword crashing down over her head. She glanced up at him and his sword glanced off a barrier. Vincent shot his gun into the barrier and he could hear the bullets bouncing off the magic. Virgo added her own attacks to pressure her from wherever she could.

Envy looked between the three of them and concentrated her power into the barrier. It went from translucent to orange and finally red. “Back off!” Vincent shouted hopping backward but Alistair was a step too slow. The barrier cracked and exploded blowing them backward and knocked Alistair’s blade from his hands.

Her hand shot into the air and she caught Alistair’s sword and then dropped to her knee. Her shape fell away molding into that of a young man with empty red eyes and dark green robes. He looked at the broad sword turning it with ease that shouldn’t have been given his new frame.

Placing a pale brown hand onto the ground his magic lurched throughout the foyer digging into the ground and the bodies present. Vincent looked around them and watched as a few of the servants that had fallen with them began to stand again. But more importantly, he watched Lust rise, headless, but standing.

“He brought back his friend?” Virgo asked confused. “I thought they didn’t like each other.”

“They don’t,” Alistair shook his head. “Lust is just a weapon to use against us.”

She raised her hands and clasped her hands together and just like that a flash of light hit his eyes and suddenly he was alone. He took a step back and heard his feet crunch on sand. He looked around and the foyer was gone. Instead, the prickling heat of the desert greeted him.

“Fucking magic,” he scowled covering his eyes as he looked at the blazing sun above. “No place like home, right?”

Zombies rose from the sand wearing armor he remembered seeing in the Sanctum. He took a step back and jumped out of range of a heavy axe. It thudded into the sand and he kicked it away slashing with his sword. He shot one down and another but more came back replacing them.

A horde of them came alive rushing at him. He jumped and darted back and forth from among them trying to survive the onslaught. A trio burst from the dunes and tried to dogpile onto him. Before they could land they were cleaved in half, all three in one go. Vincent covered his face as sand blew into him and then watched as Boss came forward.

“Careful there Vince. You’ll get your head taken off.”

Vincent’s eyes widened as Boss lowered his broad sword coming closer and laughed. Vincent felt like he was staring at a ghost. Boss grinned at him and then sprinted forward bringing the sword down over his head.

Vincent rolled to the side and swung his sword at him. Their swords locked together and Vincent snarled, “Alright shapeshifter. You kill my friend and then use his face against me. I’m gonna make sure you die here.”

Boss leaned forward and that laugh sent him back to when they first met. Lionel vouched for him but he still had to try out just like everyone else. And in this instance Boss wanted to spar with him. Back then he’d been knocked around on his ass and beat to hell but it had been one of the best fights he’d ever had. Boss never stopped laughing the entire time. Now hearing that laugh just made his heart hurt.

Boss swung with his greatsword and sent Vincent flying. Even in this form he was still massively strong. He rolled across the ground wondering if it was really sand or if he was going to wake up bruised to hell if he survived this. A big if. Boss ran at him again dragging his sword around and then brought it down over his head.

Vincent rolled away from it and popped to his feet blocking another swing. Putting distance between them again he aimed the gun unloading on Boss. He scored hits at his side, then his shoulder but the giant of a man was almost impossible to slow down or keep back for long.

He charged through the onslaught reading his shots and taking the minimum damage he could inflict. Vincent even shot at the ground making it explode in a dune of sand but Boss jumped over it coming down from the sky sword first.

“You forget Vince. I know all of your tricks!”

He crashed on top of him and Vincent managed to shove the sword away from him but it clipped his shoulder. Boss came over and stepped on his shoulder making Vincent scream and grit through the sudden pain. Panting he rolled his head to the side and said, “You still weigh a fuck ton.”

Boss stood up slowly and shook his head picking up the sword again, “No matter the situation you always have some kind of complaint. Even if it’s well warranted and funny.” He kicked Vincent’s gun from his hand and narrowed his eyes. “But like I said, I know all your tricks and right now I know you’re out of them.”

“Oh yeah? How about this one?” Vincent shoved his arm into the pouch at his hip and threw its contents at Boss. It slapped into his face but exploded its contents of yellow powder. Boss recoiled coughing and rubbing his eyes immediately, dropping the sword.

“What the fuck is this?” he shouted barely making it through his coughing.

“A present from Monica,” Vincent rolled to his feet leaning on his sword. The cut at his shoulder was very angry with him but that didn’t matter. Picking up his sword again Vincent thrust it forward sending the blade clean through his neck. Grunting he swiped again tearing the sword down through his chest.

With another swing, he slashed his sword forward spearing through his head and swung again swatting it into the ground. The meaty thud of it made him wince and the flash of light afterward was enough to give him an immediate headache. Grunting and blinking a few times he looked around at the very ruined foyer now.

Virgo was floating near the hole in the ceiling and Alistair had his fists up, eyes wide. Shaking his head, he looked at Vincent and ran over to him stepping over the debris and zombies that had fallen to the ground useless, including Lust.

Alistair slowed to a halt and Envy’s corpse was moving though it wasn’t coherent enough to be a threat. To be on the safe side though he picked up his sword with one hand and swung it down. A weak flame appeared and jumped to the robes of the necromancer. It burned pitifully and slowly but burn it did.

“How’d you know that wasn’t me in there?” he asked glancing at Vincent.

“When Envy tried to replace me at the city, he took my sword to complete the ensemble. So if he was going to pretend to be boss he needed a big ass sword and you didn’t have one on you,” he shrugged. “Granted I could have been wrong and then Morrigan and Alison would kill me.”

Alistair laughed shortly, “You’re kidding right?”

“Nope. An educated gamble.”

He looked at him and took a slow breath, “I don’t know how to feel about that. At all.”

Vincent clapped him on the back and then groaned feeling his shoulder twinge. Virgo floated down and pressed her hands against his shoulder, “Virgo Purify.” She whispered and Vincent remembered the first time she had done this. Letting out the shuddering breath he felt the pain go away and he smiled at her.

“Thanks for that. You okay?”

“Yes. Though having those illusions on my mind were far from pleasant.”

“Yeah, you don’t get a chance to deal with magic on your side of the world,” Vincent shook his head. “Join the hate club at least.”

“How are we finding my sister and the others?”

“That’s a great question,” Vincent folded his arms. “I can guess at where they might be. I’ve kinda memorized the route we took and where they might be if go down there but it is a lot guessing until we get it right.”

“Actually. I can help with that,” Virgo said raising her hand. Her eyes glowed again and she looked around slowly. “I can sense them. Not precisely but something like it.” She closed her eyes pressing her fingers together.

“Can you all do that?” Alistair asked raising his eyebrows.

She shook her head her keeping her eyes closed, “My connection to our Mothers’ allow me to do it to some degree. Though I need to hone it. I’m only truly good at finding Stingie.” She blushed saying that part and did her best to hide her face.

“So assuming Scorpio is with them we can find them then?”

Another quick nod and her eyes finally opened, “I think I have them.”

“It’s your show Virgo. Lead the way,” Vincent even took a step back.

Turning her glowing eyes around the room she took a very slow breath and began to float. She made an orb of light to illuminate their path as they walked. They followed a hallway back slowly almost retracing their steps one to one but they turned down a ruined hallway. Debris littered the ground but so did dust and pockets of something like weeds or vines. When they walked near them, they shifted and Vincent swore he saw eyes within them.

Virgo slowed down as whatever path she was following ended in a small room. It was barely wide enough to house the table and chair that were situated there. The floor had a heavy red carpet across the center with circular designs all over. A pot was in the corner and there were black vines wrapped around within it but they were piled together with a dark red bud closed tightly.

“Here,” she said moving toward the table and glancing around. “Well not here here. But. Below us.” She pointed at the ground. “Down there.”

“Below us?” Alistair asked and she nodded. He tapped it with his sword and glanced at the two of them. “Alright well how are we going to get down there? The floor is pretty solid.”

“Wait,” Vincent pointed at the ground. “Tap the ground again.”

Alistair did as he said and it thunked a few times against the floor. He shrugged but Vincent walked around and pointed, to which Alistair continued getting similar thunks until at the fifth spot they both heard a high pitch tink. They looked at one another shocked and he did it again. They kept going through a few points on the ground and finally they shoved the table aside and tore the carpet away.

They exposed a glass square underneath their feet about as big as the table. Looking through it they could see a dark hallway. Narrowing their eyes, they got closer but Alistair and Virgo let out a shout because a face looked back at them. Alistair jumped back but Vincent remained staring at the face and then a small light floated by and he recognized Penny’s eyes staring back at him through Alison’s face. The other faces followed and they waved at him.

“It’s them. They’re down here,” Vincent said pointing at the glass. He went back toward and waved at them trying to tell them to move away.

Alistair turned his sword and stabbed the glass. The first swing bounced off the glass but the second cracked it. Finally the fifth shattered it raining chunks onto the path beneath them. The moment the glass broke a pungent rot filled the air and Alistair recoiled away.

“God that stinks,” Vincent said waving his hand back and forth.

“You’re telling us,” Gemini called from below. “Can you help us get up there?”

“I think so?” Vincent said glancing at Virgo.

“Don’t worry,” Cancer said. “I can get us up there.” They stepped away making space as Cancer pointed his katar at the air. “Protect Cancer.”

A small disc of water appeared off the ground. Scorpio hopped landing on the disk and then jumped propelling herself through the hole in the ceiling. She grabbed onto the edge of the opening and pulled herself up with the help of Virgo and Vincent. Once she was up Virgo hugged her tightly and Scorpio hugged her back.

Penny was the next one stepping off the disc of water and then floated the rest of the way. They landed on their feet and went to Vincent. He wrapped his arm around their shoulders. They looked up at him and then looked at Alistair as he approached. He smiled at them and they smiled back lowering their head.

“I’m glad to see you’re in one piece,” he said and hugged them. “Both of you.”

Penny hesitated before wrapping their arms around him, “Thank you Alistair.”

Gemini and Cancer both jumped and landed in the room and Gemini spread his arms. Virgo let go of Scorpio to wrap her arms around both of them and squeeze her family tightly. “I was worried about you two.”

 “Thanks,” Cancer said and groaned. “We had our work cut out for us with Wrath.”

“Sloth too,” Gemini added.

“You killed them you mean?” Vincent asked.

Penny nodded but pressed a hand to their head. Alison took control again and leaned against Vincent heavily. “It took us some time but we managed to eliminate the phylacteries of them both yes.”

“So Lust, Envy, Wrath and Sloth. All dead,” Vincent folded his arms. “That means there’s only three left. Which is what the others are dealing with now.”

“Are they fighting them already?” Gemini asked.

Vincent grimaced, “No idea. Wouldn’t be surprised if they were.”

“Then let’s go catch up,” Alistair said. “We need to help them end this. Once and for all.”

“Agreed,” Scorpio said and Virgo nodded as well.

Vincent exhaled slowly and started mentally charting their path on where they had to go, “Alright. One more big fight. Let’s do this.”