Published at 22nd of October 2023 9:42 am

Book 3: Chapter 12

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It wasn't long before he spotted one of the necromancers, a robed figure lurking among the tombstones. Just as he was about to send Isabelle down to deal with the necromancer, he saw the robed figure lift a knotted wand and point it at the defensive line of the Grave Walkers. A bad feeling surfaced in Garrett's heart as he remembered the curse that many of the Grave Walkers carried. Sure enough, moments later, a terrible scream echoed out in the defensive line as one of the men, who a moment before had been fighting against the zombies with fierce determination, began to twist and warp. His body grew as he transformed into a muscular undead flesh golem.

Taking control of Isabelle, Garrett dropped from the sky, bouncing from raindrop to raindrop until he was right above the new monster's head. Like a ghost manifesting in the world, Isabelle burst from the raindrop, her hair whipping wildly in the wind and rain. She was shrouded in a ghostly light and for a moment all of the nearby undead hesitated, able to sense her strength and instinctively fearing her. Her hair spread down to wrap around the growing flesh golem and with a heave, Garrett lifted the unfortunate man into the air and hurled him straight at the necromancer, who let out a surprised yelp and dove to the side. The flesh golem impacted with a thud, crushing the tombstone the necromancer had been hiding behind, ruining it beyond recognition as Garrett swooped toward them.

As the unfortunate Grave Walker’s transformation completed, the flesh golem let out a terrible roar and stood, its long arms casting around for something to grab. It found a chunk of the tombstone it had crushed and tried to hurl it at Isabelle but Garrett attacked before it could lift its arm into the air. Just as when he controlled Viper, Garrett felt as if he had an intimate knowledge of how Isabelle's fighting style worked as he controlled her body. Her hair stabbed out like a thousand needles, piercing through the flesh golem's hardened skin into its arm as other strands of hair began to wrap around the monster's neck.

Not forgetting the necromancer who was scrambling to his feet, Garrett reached out with a clawed hand and slashed, trying to tear the man's throat open, only to see a magical shield of energy get in his way. There was a sharp crack as a mysterious artifact at the man's belt shattered, the shield fading away as well. But it was enough to allow the necromancer to survive. The flesh golem was thrashing around, fighting against the binding strength of Isabelle's hair, and the necromancer lifted his wand again, muttering a curse under his breath. Even without Garrett's added mental power, the curse wasn't strong enough to affect Isabelle, but it was powerful enough to force her back a step.

As Garrett continued to bind the flesh golem, sending strand after strand of Isabelle’s tough black hair to wrap around its limbs, the necromancer seemed to realize that he was dead meat if he stayed to fight. He tried to flee into the gravestones but a strand of hair stretched out at lightning speed, wrapping around his ankle and tugging sharply, causing him to slam into the ground. Accessing Isabelle's power, Garrett let out a shriek, causing both the trapped flesh golem and the fallen necromancer to pause for a critical few seconds. Their minds were shaken into a state of inactivity through the force of the sound. At first, Garrett had considered trying to capture the necromancer, but it was clear from the way things were developing that there would be no time. More and more Grave Walkers were beginning to transform into zombies and flesh golems, and the awakened among the Grave Walkers that Garrett had saved were hard-pressed to contain them.

Garrett pulled his control back, returning autonomy to Isabelle, and commanding her to finish off the enemies she had captured before returning to the inn. All across the graveyard, fierce fights were breaking out, and though the Grave Walkers fought valiantly, there were simply too many undead for them to contain. Like a wave breaking against a rock, the zombies and their necromancer controllers began to spread out, moving around the Grave Walkers' positions and towards the wall that separated the royal graveyard from the rest of the city.

From the way the zombies were being directed, it was clear that they came with a specific plan. They flooded around the grave walkers' defenses, moving to the west and down to the south as they tried to get to the interior city wall. Making a guess as to where they would breach, Garrett sent out a message. On a rain-drenched street, Pax looked up. Typically, the awakened dreamer team operated exclusively in the dream, but Garrett had been forced to muster every able-bodied fighter he could get his hands on. The awakened dreamers were too good at what they did to leave them out of the fight.

"Follow me," Pax said, staring into the darkness. Without waiting to hear if the others acknowledged her command, she stepped out into the rain. Behind her, wearing heavy waxed leather coats and cloaks, the rest of the team followed. Maren jogged up next to Pax, quickly catching up with the large woman's strides.

"Where are we headed?" he asked.

"We've got a large group of zombies, maybe 200, that are going to breach the wall up there," Pax said, pointing through the gloom at a small tower two blocks ahead. "The wall there is weak, so it's likely they're going to pick that spot."

"We're going to be facing 200 zombies by ourselves?" Kinsley asked from behind. “That seems like an objectively terrible idea.”

Not pausing, Pax shook her head, a wide grin on her face.

"No," she said, "we're going to be killing 200 zombies."

Asher, who was lurking towards the back of the group, nodded his head.

"It's that, or convert," he muttered, causing Estel, who was next to him, to shudder.

"But don't worry," he said, noticing her unease. "If the zombies get to you, I'll make sure you die."

"That is not encouraging," Kinsley said over his shoulder.

Despite the upcoming challenge, it was clear that Kinsley was just as excited as Pax for the upcoming fight, and the closer they got, the wider and wilder his smile grew. As they approached the low wall, they could see figures in the distance rushing towards them. Red eyes bobbed through the gloom as the zombies broke into an all-out sprint.

"You know, 200 enemies look like a lot more in person than it did in my mind," Kinsley said, stepping forward and lifting both his hands. "Good thing they burn all the same."

As the first of the zombies reached the wall and leapt and vaulted over it, crimson flame burst from Kinsley's hands, dyeing the night red as he let out a cackle. The fierce flames rolled through the air, evaporating the raindrops, transforming them into thick steam that hit the zombies in a billowing wave, burning their skin even before the flames arrived. For almost 20 seconds, the flames poured from Kinsley, charring the zombies at the front of the group and sending others stumbling backwards into their companions. The charge was halted at the wall as the stone right in front of Kinsley began to melt away, forming an opening. With a gasp, he fell back, blood dripping from his nose as he exhausted his power.

A crazy look in his eye, Kinsley tried to step forward again, but before he could, Maren grabbed him and pushed him backwards to where Estel was waiting, her hands glowing with light.

"Don't you dare knock yourself out again," Maren said, glaring at Kinsley. "We need you to be able to do that again. Probably a couple times."

As Estel began healing Kinsley, Pax stepped into the gap. The stone at her feet was still cooling, hissing every time a raindrop landed on the molten stone, but she ignored the heat and lifted the maul she was carrying. A heavy shield rested in her other hand as she got ready to face the zombie horde that was pushing past their burning companions. Kinsley had killed at least a few dozen of them with his blast, and as they rushed forward, Pax slammed her fist into her shield, causing a loud clang that echoed through the night, attracting all of the zombies' attention. Their heads snapped around, fixing on Pax, and their bodies followed suit, quickly funneling themselves towards where she stood.

Without a word, her maul began to swing, crushing through corrupted flesh and bone as she threw the zombies leaping towards her aside. Maren, who was behind her, began to loose arrows, one after another, into the incoming horde. Each arrow flew with deadly accuracy, and Maren's eyes seemed to miss nothing as his attacks cut through the zombies' eyes into their brains. Though the arrows weren't blessed like the bolts of the Grave Walkers, they still did tremendous damage, managing to slip past the zombies' defenses, each shot dropping a zombie to the ground.

Next to him, Asher seemed to retreat into the cloak he was wearing, making himself look like little more than a puddle of darkness. A slow, mumbling murmur came from under his hood, causing Maren, who was next to him, to actually step to the side, completely creeped out. Asher ignored his companion's behavior and continued to focus, his murmur growing in strength, until, with a word that hissed through the rain, his shadow began to distort. Faint, ghost-like creatures dripped from his cloak, mixing with the darkness of the night. They pounced on the zombies that got close, forcing their misshapen, shadowy bodies into the zombies' heads. Four of the zombies that had been targeted jerked and stilled for just a moment before turning around and leaping on their companions, their crimson eyes tinged with deep darkness. Crouched behind Pax, Asher continued to mumble, controlling the zombies he had taken over to wreak havoc among their lines.

Behind him, Estel had finished healing Kinsley, who wanted to jump back into the fight immediately, but she held him back.

"Save your firepower for when the big guys come out," she said.

Ignoring his disappointed look, she stepped forward, lifting the staff that she carried and calling down a glowing light that landed on Pax. Immediately, Pax's rough breathing smoothed out as energy flooded back into her, and her swings grew faster and sharper. Slamming the end of her mace into one of the zombies, Pax stepped forward as it stumbled to the side, her shield punching another in the throat and nearly decapitating it. She followed up with another swing of her mace, sending the zombie flying while she blocked a slash with the armored bracers that she wore. Empowered by Estel's magic, Pax threw herself into the onrushing horde of zombies, her heavy mace tearing through them. Two hundred zombies had attacked, driven by a necromancer hiding at the back of the group. But it wasn't long before most of them had fallen, and there were only about 50 remaining.

Maren, who had been keeping an eye out since the beginning, spotted a flicker of movement behind a gravestone in the distance. The arrow he had been about to loose toward a zombie who was trying to gnaw its way through Pax's shoulder shifted, flying out into the darkness. There was a screech of pain as it slammed into the necromancer, and Maren let out a shout, "Kinsley, there!"

Excited to be able to attack again, Kinsley summoned one of his abilities and pointed his finger imperiously at the necromancer. From the ground beneath the robed woman, a gout of flame rose into the air, scorching everything that it touched. As it consumed her body, the pillar expanded, burning the zombies that had been guarding her, and transforming all of them into ash. Having overdone it once again, Kinsley stumbled, nearly falling to the ground, but he managed to remain upright.

"Ha!" he said, between coughs that stained his palm red with blood, "Got her!"

Though she wanted to chide him for overdoing it once more, Estel couldn't help but smile as she put her hand on his shoulder, stabilizing him and beginning to infuse energy back into his body. That single attack had destroyed the majority of the remaining zombies, and with the necromancer dead the zombies who had survived began to hesitate, losing focus. With a kick, Pax knocked one of the last zombies back, and then jumped forward, crushing its skull with her mace.

"Let's clean up," she said. "There are more spots to reinforce. They are trying to breach the wall in multiple places."

Back in the Dreamers' Inn, Garrett, who had been keeping tabs on the fight, was pleased with how it ended. It had been fierce, and there had been a moment where he had considered sending other teams to help, but the awakened dreamers had quickly gotten into a smooth rhythm and destroyed the undead cleanly. Though they had wiped out two hundred zombies and the necromancer that controlled them, Garrett knew they were in for a long night. There were thousands of zombies in the royal graveyard, and thousands more still in the commoners' graveyard outside the city. The only saving grace was that the zombies, though much stronger than mortals, fared poorly against the teams of Awakened that he had deployed.

Already, he was directing the other teams as well, sending them to plug the holes in the defensive line. In the royal graveyard the Grave Walkers were retreating to the southwestern wall, to join up with the Klein Family’s awakened teams to establish the second layer of defense. If the Awakened Dreamers and the few other Awakened within the Klein family had been the only ones trying to stem the tide of zombies, this fight would have gone very poorly. But as it was, with over 30 other Awakened, Garrett had been able to set up a strong line of defense at the wall, separating this part of the district from the royal graveyard.

His plan was, as much as possible, to lock down the wall and force the necromancers to take their undead minions out the northwestern side of the graveyard. That would push them into other territory, and specifically, would force them into areas overseen by the Adventurers' Guild. Garrett had no idea what game guild master Tellson was playing, but he had noticed a surprising lack of movement from the Guild. Even more concerning was that the city guard was beginning to mass on the bridges, but was showing no sign of pushing into the district. The exception to this, of course, was Captain Fernek, who had followed Garrett's suggestion, and was gathering as many of the city guards from the district as he could, so as to have some hope of resisting the tide.

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