Published at 22nd of October 2023 9:42 am

Book 2: Chapter 47

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Stalking through the darkness, his crimson mask and dark cloak covering every inch of his body, Viper looked every bit the villain. There was no light in the tunnels, but he never once paused, his feet always finding firm footing, even when the ground underfoot grew rough. Behind him walked five others, dressed in similar red masks and long cloaks. They were headed north, and soon they came to the edge of the tunnels that they normally traveled. Here Viper paused, standing absolutely still until, with a slight twitch that was almost unnoticeable, Garrett arrived in Viper’s mind.

“Come on.”

Striding forward, Viper led the rest of the team into the northern crypts. There was a huge complex under the graveyard that dominated the northeastern section of the city, and it would take a lifetime to explore properly, but that wasn’t Viper’s target. The Grave Walker gang had two bases, one above ground in an old mausoleum that they had emptied out, and the other underneath it, in a sprawling complex that joined up to the rest of the crypts through winding passages. It was toward this underground base that Viper hurried. The team moved quickly, hoping to get there before any major disturbance was raised. Coming out of a passage, Viper suddenly stopped, holding up his hand and flashing a signal as a glimmer of light came around the corner.

Immediately, the rest of the team vanished into the shadows, while Viper drew back as well. A minute later, a group of three men walked down the passage, dragging a cart behind them. There were bits and pieces of bone and flesh in the cart, and it stank of fresh blood, causing the men to complain to no end. After listening for a moment, Viper’s sword rose and he burst forward, catching one of the men in the throat with a neat stab. Even as his sword pierced through, the other two men were gurgling up blood, their throats slit by the red masked assassins.

Checking the cart, Viper shook his head and the team hurried on their way, retracing the men’s path. Twice more they came upon groups of Grave Walkers, and each time they eliminated them quickly and silently. This brought them to the entrance to the large section of tunnels where the gang made their home, and all of them threw off their cloaks and hid their masks, revealing the gray and red uniform of the Grave Walkers underneath. Pulling up the cloth masks to cover their faces, leaving only their eyes open, Viper led the assassins into enemy territory.

Sitting in the Dreamer’s Throne, Garrett’s mind flicked over to the fierce fight underway in the Hollow Space inside Isabelle’s mirror. After absorbing the thirteen Grave Walker gang members into the mirror, Garrett had noticed something immediately that soured his expression and changed his plan. Every single one of the Grave Walkers with Cynen carried a deeply set curse, a curse not too dissimilar from the one he had observed in the zombies who had ambushed him.

Garrett had toyed with the idea that the Grave Walkers were just a front for the Skeletal Hand, but he had never seriously considered it. Mostly, he had mentioned something to Gerald Larner, the high ranked exorcist, to make trouble for the enemy gang. But seeing that even the awakened members of the gang were carrying the curse that had transformed the woman into a zombie, Garrett felt like his nightmare was becoming a reality.

Cynen was fighting fiercely, but even with her flame she was being suppressed. If she had been fighting against Pale Fiends, or even Isabelle, she probably would have been having an easier time of it, but currently she was trying to defend herself from Pax, Asher, Maren, Kinsley, and Estel. Together, the five awakened were working to take her down without harming her too badly while Isabelle and the Pale Fiends chased after the other awakened Cynen had brought.

Facing all these masked awakened, Cynen thought that she might go crazy. Her flame was powerful, but no matter what she did, she found herself hemmed in. None of them were as strong as she was, but together they wore her down. Though she prided herself on being one of the most powerful shaping stage awakened in the city, she was starting to realize that she had sorely overestimated herself. Garrett watched everything for a moment and then sent his attention back to Viper. The further into the crypts that Viper and his team got, the clearer it became to Garrett that something was wrong.

Instead of the well lit passages that he expected, everything seemed to be getting darker and grimier, as if the passages hadn’t been cleaned in years. The lanterns, which should have been kept bright to help drive back the darkness, were corroded and empty. There was no dust on the floor, however, which was a clear indication that the passage was often used.

“Blood,” whispered one of the assassins, causing Viper to stop and look.

Splattered on the wall in a violent spray was a large splash of dark crimson that had dried. Stepping forward and sniffing, the assassin held up four fingers.

“Less than a day old.”

Nodding, Viper picked up the pace and the assassins followed behind. They were practically running at this point since they were not meeting anyone, but that soon changed. A faint scream echoed from a passage ahead, so the team slowed down and readied their weapons. Following the sound they turned down a side passage and found themselves in front of a wide doorway. Through it was a room lit by ghostly green light that contained three large cages arranged in a row. In the one furthest from the door there were a few dozen people dressed in rags who looked like slaves, while in the cage closest to the door there were ten hulking zombies who still wore the shredded remnants of the Grave Walker uniform.

Another zombie stood in the center cage, looming above the body of someone it had just ripped apart, silencing their screaming. Above the middle cage was a platform where two people in black robes stood, their pale skin and bald heads glinting in the sickly light as they discussed what had just transpired.

“I’m telling you, the lack of transformation in the victims is a major weakness,” one of them said, causing the other to spit a wad of phlegm that sizzled as it hit the platform.

“But what does it matter when the victim is dead in a few seconds. Savagery is much more efficient. The transformation takes too long.”

Eliminate the zombies, try to capture the necromancers.

Giving rapid directions to the rest of his team with some quick hand signals, Viper didn’t hesitate, shooting across the room and scaling the first cage in a single motion. His sword was not even visible as he jumped down into the middle cage and stabbed the zombie through the eye, punching a neat hole in the back of the monster’s skull.

“See, one skilled fighter and your savage zombie is dead,” the first necromancer said, gesturing to Viper and the collapsing zombie.

“How dare you!” screamed his enraged companion.

As he screamed, his chest began to swell and his black robe ripped open, revealing rubbery green skin covered in large welts. A hacking sound echoed in his throat and his head shot forward as he spit a giant glob of acid at Viper who dodged backward at lightning speed. It was at that moment that the other assassins struck, trying to cripple the two necromancers, only to run into a dozen insect-like arms that burst from the other necromancer’s back. One of the assassins was unable to dodge and was impaled through the chest by three of the bladed arms, but instead of struggling to get free, he pulled himself close, using the chance to thrust his dagger at the necromancer’s neck.

Furious, the necromancer with the insect arms stabbed him with more of his arms, realizing too late that the assassin was trapping each of those arms with his body. Turning his head around impossibly far, the necromancer opened his mouth, revealing gleaming teeth that had been sharpened to sharp points, but before he could bite at the assassin’s neck, the dying man head butted him, causing him to see stars.

The other necromancer had been hit by two of the assassins, but his thick skin saved him, allowing him to turn the blades aside as a pus-like substance squirted from the warts on his back. One of the assassins blocked a drop of pus and then had to throw his dagger away as it started to corrode at a visible rate. Bouncing away like a hopping toad, the necromancer tried to land among the milling zombies in the first cage, but before he could enter it, Viper’s foot slammed into his side, sending him rocketing into the wall.

Both of the necromancers were disoriented by the sudden attack, but that didn’t make them any less dangerous. Seeing that the assassin who had been impaled was about to die, Garrett ordered the dream flower he carried to abandon its host and attack the necromancer. Thick roots untangled from the assassin as five blooms appeared above his head and slammed into the necromancer, trying to break into his mind. Unsurprisingly, the necromancer’s mental strength was high, high enough that even the five bloom dream flower was having trouble.

Garrett had anticipated this, however, and changed his command, causing the dream flower to reveal large teeth that bit down on the half-insect, half-man. As the flower began to suck away the necromancer’s energy, he let out a scream and thrashed about, tearing the dying assassin apart in a shower of blood. Across the room, the toad necromancer was trying to get away from Viper but was unable. Each time he tried to escape, Viper would kick him back, causing him to bounce off the wall. Though he was taking quite the beating, he didn’t even seem to feel it, and his warts continued to spray acid.

Growing impatient, Viper tried to stab the necromancer, but the tip of his sword slid off the necromancer’s thick skin before catching on one of the red warts and tearing it open. Screaming in pain, the necromancer glared at Viper and shouted a strange word. As soon as they heard it, the zombies in the cage went absolutely insane, tearing apart everything in range. They tore at each other and the cage, smashing it into pieces in an instant. Once free of the cage, they shot toward Viper, the assassins, and the cage full of the slaves.

Viper hesitated for a moment before vanishing, heading for the cage with the slaves. Arriving a step before the first zombie, he ducked under its outstretched arms and stabbed up, driving his sword up through its chin and into its brain. Drawing a dagger with his other hand, he planted it in another zombie’s eye socket while he tried to free his sword. Finding it stuck, he kicked the dead zombie hard, snapping his sword tip off and burying the shortened blade in another zombie’s temple. Like a whirlwind he spun around, using his dagger and shortened sword to tear the zombies apart, leaving all six of them laying in a pile on the ground. The other four zombies had charged toward the assassins, but were quickly dispatched by well coordinated strikes targeting their heads.

The toad necromancer grew furious at the sight of his zombies being killed as if they were nothing special, and letting out a roar of fury, he darted for the room’s exit, clearly intending to escape. With a cold gaze, Viper watched him go and then turned to look at the insect necromancer whose screams had been reduced to a whimper. In the passage, the toad necromancer ran with all his might, covering large distances with each leap of his powerful legs. Coming to the forked part of the tunnel, he was about to turn when something caught his eye and he stopped, confused. Shining in the ceiling was a large five petaled flower that he had never seen before. Blinking, he realized that there were others as well, scattered around the walls and the floor.

A world away, Garrett stalked down the dark halls of the mansion, heading for the room where Cynen, Death’s Flame and leader of the Grave Walkers, lay bound with thick chains. Floating behind him was Isabelle, her hair dragging the seven Grave Walkers who had survived the Pale Fiends. Opening the door into the room where Cynen lay, Garrett looked down at her and then nodded to the five awakened dreamers.

“Thank you.”

Arms crossed, Pax just nodded, eyeing Isabelle warily.

“Since when are we working with monsters?” Kinsley whispered to Asher, causing Asher to glare at him.

Ignoring Kinsley, Garrett crouched down to bring himself closer to Cynen.

“At first, I thought it would be better to just kill you, but then I thought you might find this illuminating, so here we are.”

At his gesture, Isabelle dropped one of the awakened to the floor. As soon as he landed, Garrett sent a stream of mental energy into him, agitating the curse in his body. An inhuman roar burst from his lips as he began to transform, heavy scales forming on his body as he grew by a full three feet, his bones lengthening and growing thicker until he had transformed into a hulking brute. The stench of death was strong on him as he lunged toward Garrett, but before he could make it more than a step, a solid wall of force hit him, stopping him in place.

Every being in the room, including Isabelle, trembled as Garrett stood up, his mental energy smothering everything. Taking a deep breath, Garrett got himself under control and reined in his surging emotions as Isabelle bound the undead monster. Turning around, he looked at the tightly bound monster that was struggling against Isabelle’s hair, and walked forward until he was nearly touching it. It was an ugly brute, twisted beyond belief, and driven mad by the corrupted energy inside of it.

“There is a sickness in this city, and it is up to us to remove it.”

“Free me,” Cynen said, her expression pale as she stared at the monster that used to be one of her subordinates. “I can help you. I can gather my men to fight—”

“Too late,” Garrett said, shaking his head. “We’re well past that.”

With a wave of his hand, Garrett left the mirror world and appeared in his room, holding the small mirror. Sitting down on the Dreamer’s Throne, he leaned his arm on the armrest and rested his chin in his palm, looking to the north. Somewhere, deep underground, was his enemy. A god, if some were to be believed. A being of unknown power that was going to try to drown this city in monsters. Slowly, his lips, still hidden by his mask, curled up in a smile.

Game on.

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