Reclaiming A Life: Chapter 7

John’s body ached. He didn’t want to move. Where ever he was laying was comfortable. Waking up, and moving, meant dealing with the pain. And he didn’t want to face it. Not too monumental amount that he knew was just beyond the curtain of waking.

“John.”

The voice made his eyes open slightly.

“Wake up John. You have things you have to do. You can’t give up. Not yet.”

He looked up slowly and saw the bookish man again. Saw him smiling down at him with a hand extended. But he wasn’t alone. There were two young men with him, their hands extended. All the faceless men and women that he’d been haunted by before but this time he knew them. He struggled to his feet slowly and took the man’s hand and nodded.

“Malcolm. Mattheu. Isaac. Everyone. I’m sorry I had forgotten,” he stood slowly.

“It’s alright John. But right now these people need you. Your friends need you.”

John’s eyes opened properly this time and he gasped. The air smelt of acrid smoke and he could hear the whistling of wind still going on. Getting up slowly he looked at the broken and overturned tables and chairs. But then he looked at the sky and his heart skipped a beat.

He saw the dark swirling clouds that had expanded and engulfed the sky. It was like suddenly the day had become night. The swirling edges of it engulfed the entire village. But more than that, he saw the large red eyes glaring down at them. The face was shrouded in smoke and even though the eyes weren’t aimed directly at him, he felt like they were staring into his soul.

With a loud grunt, he forced himself to look away, suddenly out of breath. Looking around he looked for the others. He saw Alistair, Semperius, and Shina slowly coming to around him. Struck and shaking. But what he also noticed was that Gehrcraft, Zoren, and Brynadette were missing.

“What, what happened?” Semperius mumbled then put both hands against his head. “God. It feels like I had some of Hanz’s fucking moonshine.” He spat at the ground and then his eyes widened. “Hanz. Hanz. Holy shit I remember Hanz.”

“Who was Hanz?” John asked.

“He was my friend at the monastery,” his eyes went down slightly but he nodded. “One of the only ones left. We went our separate ways a little while ago. But he’s still out there. I know he is.”

Alistair stumbled backward, pressing himself against a broken booth and staring at his hands. “My Queen. My Queen how could I have forgotten You. Forgive me. As one of Your knights, I have betrayed every trust You inlaid in me.”

“What are you talking about?” Shina growled trying to get her bearings. “You sound like one of those godforsaken Cerisans”

“Because I am Cerisian,” Alistair said narrowing his eyes. “A sanguiknight at the hand of my Queen. I was on a mission for Her. When.” He closed his eyes tightly. “No not a mission. I was going home. To see my wife. And my children.” His eyes widened as the memories continued to crash down. “My twin daughters. Alison and Alice.”

“It’s been so long. Decades even,” John shook his head slowly. “How much of our lives has been taken by Gehrcraft. And for what?”

“For that,” Semperius pointed to the hole in the sky. “That’s the biggest demon I’ve ever seen.”

“And one of the oldest,” Shina said steadily.

John shook his head, “Something that old, trying to break through with a calamity. No. There’s more to this.”

“Daze,” Shina growled. “He’s finally making his move.”

“Don’t remember that guy,” Alistair scowled. “But I’m sure he’s the big head behind everything else we’ve been putting up with.”

John nodded, “We’ve seen demon cults before but they’ve never done this much. The really old ones try to break through to our side all the time but they usually need sacrifices. And I’m talking a lot of sacrifices. Or big ones.”

“Zoren is one of the few mages that knows how to use time magic,” Shina said. “That’s a juicy sacrifice to give to an old one.”

“And we brought Gehrcraft right to him,” John said almost crestfallen. “This is our fault.”

“Please,” Shina shook her head. “If this was his plan this entire time then he didn’t need any of you. If anything, he probably hoped you’d be killed off. Tie up loose ends.”

“Well we’re all still here. And from the looks of that the demon hasn’t crossed over yet,” John pointed at the hole in the sky. “So there’s still time to fix this.”

“Where would Gehrcraft go?”

They shrugged at a loss, still processing the flood of memories that they had been robbed of. Like an entire life forgotten and suddenly remembered. Like getting back the feeling of your dominant hand. But the ground shook and another bolt of energy exploded into the ground.

Semperius snapped his fingers his head jerking up, “Wait. I know where he went. Follow me.”

He was already running before any of them could process what he said. But it caught on and they started running leaving the building behind. Outside it was chaos, not just because of the hole in the sky. Demons were flooding the street, some small like imps and others just a little bigger than a human and everything in between.

One came down in front of them, all horns and red skin. It spread its wings and roared at them, swinging at them. Alistair stepped forward and drew his sword, cutting it in four pieces with quick strikes. It fell apart, coating his blades in its black ichor.

He looked to the sky as imps came down at him like a swarm of birds. John stepped forward holding one hand above his head and opening his palm. Dozens of beams of light shot out, curving and blasting the imps out of the sky in one massive wave. John smiled and Alistair nodded quickly in his direction.

Before either could move though a roar echoed over them as another demon appeared. Before it could even attack them though it was blocked by a bright red body. The red demon’s claws tore through it, ripping off a wing in time for John’s cane to slice off the other. Alistair jumped forward driving his sword through its head and brought it down.

Both turned toward the red demon again ready to fight but saw that it was still sporting the cuts from Alistair’s swords, “What the hell is that?”

Shina raised her hands, her silver eyes glowing. “Get going. My zombies will be at your back.”

“You found a necromancer?” Alistair asked scoffing.

“I didn’t know it at the time,” John nodded at her, “Thank you Shina.” Then raced after Alistair and Semperius.

The monk ran along the rooftops punching and blowing demons out of the air as they came at him. The bigger ones were on the streets which became problems for the others but for every demon, they dispatched Shina brought them back under her command. An undead demon was far more menacing and dangerous than an undead human.

But that was just the things that could be controlled. The wind was constantly blowing and as Semperius ran closer he could feel the wind picking up. Strong enough to almost lift him off the ground and throw him back down onto the street. But the wind wasn’t a stranger to him. If anything, it was an old friend.

Fighting with the wind was the least of his problems though. Bolts of energy kept striking down in increasing frequency. It took all of his training to avoid them and keep his footing with the shacks falling apart around him. Keeping his gaze forward he could see an old windmill and it was somehow on weaker footing than it was before.

But as his eyes narrowed he saw shapes on top of what looked like a windmill. Gehrcraft stood, Zoren bound by tentacles of pulsing purple energy. His eyes still shining Gehrcraft beckoned toward Brynadette, holding his cane in his off hand.

“Come now girl. You’re a few centuries too young to be challenging me. Especially here,” Gehrcraft said. “Usher in the birth of our new God.”

“I won’t let you take my brother!” Brynadette said burning her fire brighter. Her back glowed as a pair of wings sprouted from her back with bright red feathers.

Gehrcraft laughed fully unhinged at this point and motioned behind him. On his knees was Zoren, tied up with ethereal tentacles, his mouth covered, wrist and ankles bound. “Here he is pyromancer. Come and get him.”

He brought his cane out and a bolt of magic struck down on the tip. It coated the weapon and morphed it into a broad scythe then leaped at him. Brynadette flew to the side avoiding the massive range of the weapon, staying on the defensive.

The scythe swings were savage and long reaching. With the limited space it was a miracle she hadn’t been cleaved in two yet. But she knew quickly that defense wasn’t going to be an option for long. So she abandoned the notion entirely.

Stepping into one swing the scythe blade tore at her hip but her fist slammed into Gehrcraft’s shoulder. The man grunted as flames exploded throwing him off his balance. But he shoved his hand forward and grabbed Brynadette by the face. Turning around he tossed her across the windmill scaffolding. Righting himself quickly Brynadette attacked, wide swings of fists accompanied by waves of fire.

Instead of defense though the crazy man took the fire clothes burning away. But he kept coming with that scythe, carving wounds into her that quickly turned to fire. Turning quickly he yanked it back and pulled the girl off her rhythm. Spinning the scythe around he shoved the butt of the scythe into her chest, cracking a bone as he sent her sliding backward.

Brynadette clutched his chest coughing and shutting her eyes. She looked back at Zoren and then went back to Gehrcraft. Squinting she watched Gehrcraft soak into the energy around him. He looked to the sky and pointed the scythe at the swirling chaos above. “Witness me master! Witness me as I herald your entrance to this plane!”

Before he could say more the ground exploded below him, the flames engulfing him and turning his laugh into a groan. Brynadette raised his face blocking the foreign flames from her vision but looked at where the flames had come from. Semperius jumped off one of the shacks, flipping forward as he swung his gloved hand and chucked another fireball at him.

Brynadette spread her wings dove grabbing Zoren and took him over the edge of the windmill as it exploded in flames. Gehrcraft was blown into the air his arms crossed in front of his face. He growled, glaring at Semperius as the monk kept coming. Gehrcraft thrust one hand into the air, calling a bolt of energy to his command and throwing it at the monk.  “This is payback for all the times you tipped me out of my wheelchair!”

Semperius crossed his arms in front of his face but the bolt never connected. A flock of imps came together, making a wall in front of him before exploding on impact. He blinked then looked back and saw Shina making her way forward a line of humans and zombies following in her wake.

Thunder boomed overhead and Gehrcraft shouted, “You won’t escape your fate Semperi-“

A black meteor of energy hit him in the chest followed by another three, two going wide and the third hitting him in the head. As he came down, he tried to find where it had come from. A serrated edged chain flew past and wrapped around his ankle, pulling him down like dead weight into the stone.

Climbing out of the rubble he cursed John’s name. He coughed and pulled a thick piece of wood out of his side.  Leaning on the scythe he pushed back to his feet, coughing, and swiping the smoke away. As it cleared, he caught two gleams of red and watched as Alistair approached spinning his swords slowly.

The old man crooked his head to the side and then laughed, “The blood thirsty one. Your blood lust was appreciated. But how much innocent blood have your blades drunk?”

“That doesn’t matter. You stole years of life. Even more, you made me forget my daughters. Made them grow up without a father. I’m going to kill you.”

Gehrcraft broke into another fit of laughter and spread his arms, “You’re welcome to try.”

Grinding his teeth together and eyes bright red he darted forward. Gehrcraft moved quickly spinning the scythe into action but the wounds were catching up to him.  Alistair ducked around them and then started swinging his swords. The first spray of blood hit the air like confetti. The next came as he cut through Gehrcraft’s wrist making him drop the scythe.

Gehrcraft stumbled back screaming and holding onto the stub. Alistair didn’t slow down, darting forward, cutting off his other arm. Gehrcraft fought the scream as he stumbled back and sank to his knees. Shaking he looked up at Alistair and laughed through the pain. “You can kill me. But it won’t stop what’s coming. You can’t stop master Daze or his plan!”

Swinging his arms around in a quick circle his bloodied blades cut through his neck separating head from body. His body stumbled and sank to the ground and his head rolled away. Breathing heavily Alistair lowered his swords and punted the head across the village.

The air and ground shuddered but more than that something in his soul shook. Leaning on his swords he looked at the sky and the clouds had faded away. The eyes were brighter and the face was revealed. A face covered in writhing snakes, bathing in the glow of its eyes.

They hissed and Alistair could hear them like they were actually in his ears. He shuddered feeling their scales slithering across his skin. Scratching and swiping at his arms he stumbled backward but couldn’t tear his eyes away from the hole.

He saw the demon start to move, lifting what he thought was a hand and reach forward. One hand grabbed the edge of the sky, and then another did the same. But his eyes widened as he watched a third hand seemingly pierce through the sky, revealing its skin to be an olive tone with eight thick fingers.

The demons around turned to the sky and started howling. Like a chorus of approval and cheers. But the screams of the humans were sprinkled within them. Some reached out to the sky like they had discovered a new god while others tore at their skin, peeling it away, to feel anything else.

“Somehow I feel like this is your fault,” Semperius said pulling Alistair to his feet.

“Funny. I was thinking the same thing about you,” he said glancing back at the monk.

“It’s coming through,” Shina narrowed her eyes.

John was already shaking his head, “How? Zoren wasn’t sacrificed. It shouldn’t be able to break through.”

Shina motioned back toward Gehrcraft’s dead body, “That’s a sacrifice as far as the demon is concerned. Looks like the old man had enough power and value to satisfy the demon.”

“See, it was your fault,” Semperius laughed.

Alistair scowled, “Fuck off. How do we stop it? And don’t give me that it can’t be stopped. It can always be stopped.”

The air shook as a howl echoed on the air. The wind picked up and brought a fell voice with it. A voice that made them see double, hear voices of loved ones that weren’t there, and doubt the reality in front of them.

“It’s going to be difficult to turn back a demon that old. But not impossible. We’re just going to need power. A lot of it.”

“We have that to spare.”

They all turned and watched as Brynadette and Zoren walked toward them. Zoren was in the lead and his eyes were fixed in a determined glare. He tilted his head up to look at the demon. “What do we need to do?”

The six of them spread out around a make shift circle with only a couple feet between them. Shina took each of their palms and cut them leaving a small glowing chain from them. When they were finished one by one they took each other’s hands, squeezing them. Shina started to chant, her eyes turning a bright silver.

  The glowing points turned into chains of bone, binding them together. The bones fell to the ground and moved, traveling forward until it latched onto Ryza’s hands. That circle flashed white engulfing them in its light. If the wind from the Calamity had been loud suddenly it was unbearable, a scream in their ears.

The demon above their heads turned its attention over to them and the hand was now coming down toward them. Shina looked back at the sky and growled, “Look to the sky! Meet its eyes! Send it back!”

They followed her command, staring into the eye of the demon. It was like hearing a chorus of voices, screams, laughs, roars, shouts, whimpers, moans all in their ears. The caress of scales along their skin tickled like dozens of tiny cold fingers. But the bond between them was warm and it was an anchor.

White light filled their eyes and a thundering step echoed in the air. And then another. Light flooded the sky with a boom loud enough to deafen them and flatten buildings in every direction. If their hands weren’t linked together, they would have been sent flying. But they remained standing when the light died down.

The sky was empty, the sun actually setting. The destruction around them was massive. The stunned silence was like what wafted over a battlefield when the winner had been declared and now all that was left was to sift through and collect one’s dead. One by one they dropped their hands and collapsed.

Chest heaving Brynadette stared at the sky wondering if she had imagined things. That the sky hadn’t been opened, that eyes as old as time weren’t staring at her, and that she hadn’t felt like her soul was going to be ripped out of her body. She looked at her hand as the bones faded away and saw her fingers shaking.

“Was that. Was that real?” Zoren asked his voice finally matching how young he looked.

“Those voices. Those screams,” Bryanadette mumbled. “That’s gonna give me nightmares for a long time.”

“The oldest demons might as well be gods,” Shina said shutting her eyes and taking deep breaths. Trying to calm herself. “Steer clear of them.” She looked at the trio though and smirked. “Except you three were eerily calm.”

“We’ve fought demons like that one before,” Semperius put his hands on his knees letting out a sigh, “Never gets easier. But you get used to it. Kinda.”

John shook his head leaning on his cane, “No. It doesn’t. And no. You don’t. But I’m glad we stopped another demon. Though it still did a lot of damage here.”

“We did good here,” Alistair said sheathing both his swords slowly. “Not bad for a bunch of murder hobos right John?”

John was about to complain about the name but realized what he said. “Wait,” Semperius pointed at him. “Did you just?”

Alistair smirked knowingly and broke into a laugh that John and Semperius joined him with. A shared joke lost on the others.