Chapter 6:
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Ivan’s face was being pressed into the dirt while the Imperial soldiers threw torches into his and his neighbors’ homes. Rage was the only thing embracing his soul as he managed to watch soldiers holding the doors shut to the burning homes, forcing the residents to burn alive. In a cage on a wagon behind Ivan, was a small black dragon. It was covering itself with its wings as it cowered in fear. The raging inferno set the clear night sky ablaze while the soldiers laughed.
“Shoulda thought twice before hiding a dragon from the empire son,” the solider restraining Ivan said. As the buildings were burning down and leaving behind only cinders, the man let off of the back of Ivan’s head. While Ivan felt the pressure being released on the back of his head, he felt the cold hard steel of a small blade being driven into his lower back. The man continued to say, “You only have yourself to blame. These peasant’s fates were sealed the moment you didn’t report that dragon.” The soldier kicked Ivan onto his back and drove the knife into his lower abdomen. Ivan cried out in pain while his tears rolled off his face into the dirt.
“I’ll kill you all!” he screamed. Ivan became lightheaded while his wounds continued to bleed. “I’ll find you—” suddenly Ivan felt his heart jump out of rhythm and a searing pain spread through his chest. He coughed up an indecent amount of blood. He tried to lean on his side when he saw the soldiers boarding their carriages and starting to ride away. A man wearing a dark hooded robe stood on the back of one of the carriages riding away. A purplish light shot out of a staff he was holding as he raised it above his head. The light eerily shot into the homes that were reduced to ashes and embers. A moan came crying out from inside Ivan’s home. Suddenly multiple groans and frightening screams were emerging from all the burning houses. Trying to make it to his feet, Ivan cried out in pain as he held the wound in his abdomen with one of his hands. A ghastly call rang out from the house behind him and an undead body stepped out of the flames.
“No, no…” Ivan cried out as he realized the hooded man was a necromancer and raised everyone who had just died. The undead body walked toward him slowly as it cried out into the night. Ivan’s bones rattled as the zombie’s body let out a horrifying screech as its jaw fell off its face. As Ivan stumbled backwards another pair of undead emerged out of his house this time. It was his wife and daughter. They slowly approached him as their bodies continued to burn. There was nothing he could do to save them, and he felt so helpless.
The other houses in the town were slowly catching fire, as the towns people slowly awoke to the horror unfolding in the streets. Ivan could barely move as he watched another fiery undead stumble into a house near by that wasn’t engulfed in flames yet. The screams of the living rang out into the streets as the undead started to vanquish everyone and everything. Ivan looked down and the blade that had stabbed him twice was laying at his feet. It was his own knife that the soldier stole while he detained him. He weakly bent down and picked it up and faced his family. He knew that if he didn’t release them from this horror their souls would be damned to earth as ghouls. Tears continued to stream down his face while he limped closer to his zombified wife and daughter. The flames on their bodies where now smoldering embers that melted through their flesh. Ivan’s wife stepped in to tackle him, but he limped out of the way and tripped her. His body fell through the air with his blade in both hands and drove it into the back of her neck as he crashed down on top of her. Everything was becoming hazy and he felt like he might have lost to much blood. Rolling over on the ground, he noticed his daughter was closer than he thought, and she stumbled on top of him and was biting at his face. As he tried to hold her head back, she managed to bite off his pinky and index fingers. Ivan cried out in pain as he hugged his daughter and drove his knife into the back of her lower neck. She instantly collapsed and rolled off him next to his wife. Ivan instantly started jabbing his knife into his wrist of the bitten hand. He bellowed out in pain as he continued to sever his hand. His heart was beating like a blacksmiths hammer beating down onto a red-hot ingot. His teeth were clenched so hard he could feel them starting to crack under the pressure. In a mad rage, he drove his knife one last time through his wrist, and he shredded hand fell to the ground. He rolled over to the hot smoldering remnants of his home and jabbed his severed nub into the small glowing embers.
Ivan didn’t know if he was saved, but he couldn’t get his revenge if he turned into an undead. After pulling his charred blood stump out of the blazing ash, his neighbor had now come in within arm’s reach. While standing up Ivan grabbed a handful of smoldering embers and smeared into his undead neighbor’s face. The zombie cried out as Ivan kicked it down to the ground and stomped its head in with the hell of his boot. All around Ivan the town was slowly succumbing to the newly raised hoard of the undead. There was no more chance to save the town as most of it was now ablaze as the undead ate its residents.
Next to Ivan’s house was his workshop. He was one of the most well-known blacksmiths in the entire kingdom. The workshop was far enough away from his and his neighbor’s houses that it was not set ablaze. He stumbled across his lawn and entered his workshop. In a cabinet on the wall, were a variety of potions he had acquired over the years as forms of payment from travelling customers. There was no potion that could regrow a hand, but he had a mixture of anti-curse potions that could slow down the transformation into an undead if he were still at risk. He chugged a variety of anti-curse potions followed by stamina and healing potions. The haziness ceased, but the pain still rang out through his body. The memory of the soldiers starting the fire and laughing burned though his mind as he began making tools for his revenge. A leather harness he constructed was strapped to his arm missing his hand. It had a locking mechanism that a metal shield fit into. With no hand he was now able to wield a shield. A retractable short sword was built into the harness where his hand would be, so it could be hidden under the shield. On the shelf behind his work bench, was a blade he had been making for the king’s son when he would be pronounced kind succeeding his father. He took the blade down and poured a cursed potion onto it. He bit into the tip of his finger and let some of his own blood drip onto the sword. He then placed a small white gem he had in a drawer, onto the bottom of the swords hilt and it snapped into an engraving that was made for it. On a standby the doorway was a finely made suit of light armor. He slowly placed the armor on his body and assembled it one by one.
Suddenly, he felt a painful jolt leap from his chest. A searing heat sliced through his thoughts as he could slightly hear the cry of his dragon. Looking around frantically, he couldn’t hear it anymore. The high fueled panic of anxiety flooded his chest as he packed a bag with various potions and weapons. Not much time has passed since the soldier’s departure and he knew they could only have made it to the small neighboring town. It was late at night so they might have stopped to lodge at their inn. It was the only hope he had of catching them before they made it back to the safety of the Capitol. His throat burned as his body unexpectedly erupted into a mad fit of laughter. It felt like his eyes were starting to bulge out of his head as he cackled uncontrollably. In a box on his shelf were some scrolls. A few of them were teleport scrolls to the neighboring village. He shoved them into his bag as his maniacal laughing came to a halt as he heard banging on the walls of his workshop outside.
The door to his workshop came flying off its hinges as Ivan kicked it open from inside. His laughing gathered a small hoard of zombies surrounding his workshop. The zombies began screeching horrifically, notify the others of their fresh fleshy meal they had discovered. Ivan let out a yell and charged the closest undead. He smashed into it with his shield so hard, the undead head came rolling off its shoulders. He spun around and slashed his sword in a downward motion crushing another zombies head in. Rage engulfed his mind while he hacked and slashed his way through the hoard. The last undead body slammed into the ground after Ivan decapitated it in one swift slice. Gazing upon the burning village he knew there was no going back to his normal life. He sheathed his sword and pulled the teleport scroll out of his pocket. He held it out in front of himself and shouted, “Ianuae Magicae!” The scroll burnt up in a blue flame and Ivan vanished in a blinding light.
Chapter 7:
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Theo and his caravan tore across the great open plains between the ruins of Enos and the City of Valmosa. Clouds filled the night sky to the point no stars could poke through. The air felt thin and stagnant to Theo as the horses raced as fast as they could to get the convoy out of open sight. At night horrid monsters crossed these plains due to the Ruins of Enos. The miasma was so powerful there, it could spawn the most evil and vile of creatures. Living souls exposed to the miasma for long periods could even turn into hellish beasts themselves. Theo didn’t see any evil looking mists or oncoming veils of miasma, but something still didn’t feel right to him. Occasionally he would hold out his hands and cast a low-level stamina recovery spell on the horses so they could reach the end of the plains faster without needing to rest. Even though this sounded like a very convenient method of transportation, Theo hated casting spells on his horses. Casting such spells repeatedly on an animal can come at a cost. Even though the animal might feel rejuvenated, there is still stress but on the animal’s body, muscles, and heart. If spells like this were to be over casted the animal itself could die from it. Theo would never harm his horses in such a manor.
Something though was different this night. Even with a clear sky, something felt afoot. Crossing the vast clearing between two dense forests made Theo feel uneasy. Like he was right out in the open for anyone’s prying eyes to see. From behind where Theo was sitting, he heard Vyncent come out from the cabin and say, “Hey, Theo! It’s getting pretty late so why don’t you come in and get some rest and I’ll take over for a while.”
Theo replied, “I’ve got another hour or two in me so I’m alright for now.” He continued to face forward and didn’t say anything else. Sleeping was definitely not on his mind until he could quench his creeping suspicion of uneasiness that lurked somewhere beyond in the darkness.
Vyncent replied, “I’ll be back in an hour if you change your mind. Don’t fall asleep and roll out off the caravan car again.”
Theo grew a bit irritated and said, “I wasn’t sleeping. I was deep in trance from meditating.”
Vyncent laughed a bit after turning around and re-entering the cabin of the car. He walked down a very short hallway past some supply closets and entered another room that had two long tables parallel from each other. At one of the tables was Riley, who had a bunch of maps lain out in front of her. Also, there were stacks of gold coins lain about around the tables. Some were staked at least ten coins high while others had already fallen over in piles due to the shaking of the caravan car as they traveled. Across the table from her was Isaac, who was sitting quietly with his eyes closed and arms crossed against his chest.
Vyncent pulled out a chair next to Isaac and took a seat in it and said, “Alright where were we again?”
Riley snarled and said, “We were right in the middle of trying to convince Isaac to start keeping ahold of his own money instead of dumping it into the community chest ever time we get paid. When were out in the felid this man doesn’t even have a bronze coin to his name! It’s all just sitting in that chest over there going to everyone’s booze.”
Vyncent said, “There’s no reason to get all pissy about it. I mean its his to do what he wants with it.”
Isaac said with his eyes still closed, “If it matters so much how about I just gift it to you Riley? That way it becomes your actual business, and you can stay out of mine?”
Riley smiled and said, “Alright I have no problem with that, just don’t come crying to me when you’re broke as hell and everyone complains that I’m your favorite.”
Isaac let out a croak of a laugh with his eyes still closed as he said, “Yeah, like anyone would think that you’re my favorite. The money gobbling coin hoarder right in the palm of my hand.”
Vyncent frowned and said, “Alright you guys, stop. I don’t know what’s the deal with you two lately, but we’ve all been friends since we were wetting ourselves to sleep so can we act like it?” Vyncent sighed deeply and said, “Just let Isaac add his money to the community chest and if he changes his mind he can just take it right back out.”
Riley protested, “Are you kidding me? So, he can just take more out than he put in there eventually?”
Vyncent grew tired of arguing and said, “Honestly most of if not all of the money in there is his? I don’t see anyone else donating any money to the community chest.”
Isaac stood up and said, “I put money in there because I hate holding onto it. When I fight it just jingles around in my pockets or wallet and gives away my position. In the field I end up loosing it and if I keep it in my room it just takes up all my space.” He walked over to the door as he continued to say, “As you know we make or find most of our own weapons and armor, so I have no real use for it besides putting it all in that chest.”
Riley stood up and shouted at Isaac, “You are one of the most logical and intelligent members of this group and this makes absolutely no god damn sense coming from you? Are you doing this to piss me off or something? Money is money so why won’t you just…” Riley became so enraged in the moment she looked down at the table as she said very loudly and annoyingly in a very awkward kind of way, “MEOW!” The sound of her voice echoed down and through every car connected in the caravan as she covered her mouth with both her hands embarrassed. After a moment she said, “You asshole! Look what you made me do!”
Vyncent had rolled out of his seat on to the floor and was laughing hysterically at Riley. Even though Riley was a feline demi human, she had lived with humans most of her life. Eventually she forgot how to meow as a result of becoming fluent in the human dialect. Only in her most emotional moments be it rage, love, sorrow, etc., she would awkwardly meow in a manner that displayed the current emotion as it overflowed.
As she continued to scold Isaac and blamed him for making her embarrass herself, he walked out of the room to the next car as he smiled. He walked through the car eventually leading into the next car. Upon entering the car, he could her Onyx and Osirus talking. The car consisted of a hallway that had two doors on the left and two on the right. Each door led to a small living quarters with a bunk bed and some furniture. Originally everyone slept in the own room but over time everyone eventually picked a roommate to beat the loneliness of traveling.
Isaac walked up to the first door on the right, as it was already open, and stood in it. Onyx and Osirus stopped talking when they saw Isaac.
Osirus said sarcastically, “Alright, what did I do this time? I was waiting for someone to come yell at me. I’d rather have you than Riley so what did I do?”
Isaac stood there for a moment then said, “Nothing, I was just wondering how Onyx felt. I watched that priest do some shady stuff to him but it all seemed to work out in the end.”
Onyx smiled and said, “I feel pretty good. Feels like I should be dead though. I remember the Wraith’s scythe blade piercing my chest and how it felt. Almost like it was a dream, but I definitely know it was real.”
Isaac smiled and said, “It’s good to know that you’re still living and doing alright. Unfortunately, we have to pull you out of the field for about a week to make sure the magic sets and you fully heal. So, starting tomorrow, you and Osira will be helping Theo out with his work.”
Onyx replied, “Yeah I figured as much. But honestly, being alive feels better than hunting and what not right now.”
Isaac sighed as he said, “At least you’re okay with it. Osira on the other hand, isn’t taking it so well for some reason.
Several cars down the caravan, was a large car, just like the others, but this car had a long hallway linked to shower stalls on its sides. The car was enclosed like the others but down the hallway and on the inside of each stall were large metal pipes that carried hot and cold water. The showers and toilets in the car were all powered by steam. On both sides of the hallway, next to the entrance, were very skinny closets with skinny doors. On the left side, in the closest, sitting on top of a pedestal was a small, glowing orange, fire spirit named Hie. It resembled a small floating flame with two round, little eyes. In the closest opposite of him across the hall was another small spirit named Kōri. This was an ice spirit. Both spirits sat on a pedestal below an apparatus that was linked to barrels strapped to the outside of the roof. One apparatus had Hie heat the pipes that led to the water reservoir for showers, and Kōri cooled down an apparatus that chilled water and also led to a refrigerant unit in a different car.
The four shower stalls that were on the right side of the car were all occupied by the elf woman, Esmerelda, and Kitsune. They were all bathing and listening to Osira complain about being taken out of the field. As Osira was scrubbing her body with soap she said, “Unlike Onyx, I’m totally fine. There was no reason to take me out for a week.” She continued scrubbing away as she said, “Kitsune’s magic was more than enough to heal me. I didn’t need some creepy priest to zap me with his horny old man spell and embarrass me in front of everybody.”
Kitsune said uncomfortably, “I wish I would have been there so I could have at least seen what kind of spell he was actually casting. What if he was casting a curse on you?”
Osira replied, “He probably did! Ever since that horrible touchy feeling wore off my body has been constantly itchy ever since.” She had a stick in her hand that she tied a washcloth too and was scratching her back with it vigorously.
Ifera, who was in the farthest stall from Osira said, “At least you’re alive though! From the short time I’ve been here this is like the…” Ifera paused and counted on her fingers for a moment then said, “Like the fourth or fifth time you’ve blown yourself up with that wand. You should try not using it for a change and fight with something else.”
Esmerelda, who was sitting atop Gwen’s head even though they were showering said, “I got plenty of enchanted rings Isaac’s given me you can use.”
Osira said while almost scrubbing the skin off her back, “Haven’t you guys realized yet that I have incredible luck? I mean I should be dead because of that wand but for some reason I survive every time.” Osira took a pose where she held the stick cloth at an angle like a sword and said, “I will always survive as I Osira am the queen of luck!”
Everyone started laughing accept Gwen how spoke more seriously, “Are you an idiot Osira? The next time you use that thing you’re most likely done for. You should dispose of that wretched thing, like yesterday.” She turned off her water and said, “If you blew yourself up, I think half the crew wouldn’t recover. You like family to me and witnessing every time this has happened has freaked me out, so I forbid you to use that thing ever again, okay?”
Osira looked down the stalls towards her and with a sad face and said, “Okay, if it freaks you out this much I’ll stop using it for now.”
Gwen said, “Thank you. I know how much it means to you since Isaac gave it to you but please just don’t bring it with you on missions when you back at it.”
Osira cheerfully said, “Someday I’ll master that wand and never have to worry about blowing myself up with it.”
Everyone continued to laugh but Gwen as she said, “To master it you’d have to practice with it, which defeats the purpose of saying you won’t use it…” Gwen spun around and wrapped a towel around her body as she said, “I’m going back to my room and changing you guys can laugh it up without me.”
Esmerelda said as she wrapped herself in a tiny towel, “I’m going too. Goodnight girls.” She floated behind Gwen as they left the shower car.
Ifera said, “Wow usually Gwen isn’t so serious. That must have really frightened her that time.”
Kitsune quietly said, “If I would have been more useful, you and Onyx wouldn’t have gotten hurt.”
Osira shouted almost at the top of her lungs as she wailed, “No! You are one of the most useful members of our group! The only Onyx and I are alive is because of your magic. We would be dead without you so please Kitsune don’t get down on yourself for our mistakes. I’ll just be better next time and I’ll be more aware of what’s happening around me.”
Everyone heard the entrance door open in the hallway as Isaac entered and made his way to the next car.
Osira called out to him, “I know that’s you Isaac! Better not open any doors and spy on us bathing!”
Isaac called out as he approached the door that led to the next car, “I don’t know who’s all in there, but I’d not like to spy on a bunch of old elvan grannies. Ifera and Osira shouted out loud for Isaac to shut up and scolded him about their ages as elves while Kitsune laughed since she wasn’t an elf. As they continued to yell Isaac opened the car door and entered the next car closing the doors behind him. As he entered the last car in the caravan, he saw Lizyra sitting in a pile of hay with Nox wrapped around her as she was reading out of a book to him.
She noticed Isaac and stopped reading so she could say, “So did you guys discuss where we are going next after we pick up Vlad’s crew?”
Isaac said, “No, Riley just wanted to lecture me about keeping my gold and a bunch of nonsense.”
Lizyra said, “I heard her meow all the way back here so you must have said something to get her worked up.”
Isaac smiled briefly before saying, “Yeah something like that.” He paused and looked at Nox as Nox looked back at him. Isaac than asked, “You get him talking yet with all that reading?”
Lizyra replied, “Nope! Honestly, I don’t know if he will ever talk. When I was a little kid, I remember dragons from all over coming to the castle and talking with my father. But I also remember there were dragons that didn’t talk. Nox seems to fully understand everything everyone says to him but since he doesn’t talk, I don’t know if he ever will.”
Isaac said confidently, “Well even if he doesn’t, he can still understand us and seems to enjoy everyone’s company so I doubt he will ever turn on us. He’s pretty much the same age as you and is still considered an adolescent dragon so he’s going to get much bigger.”
Lizyra moaned as she said, “I think he’s perfected the way he is, and I don’t want him to get any bigger. If he keeps growing, I won’t be able to read him books in here!”
Suddenly, Isaac and everyone else in the caravan could hear Theos voice telepathically. Theo exclaimed, “Everyone up front now. We have something incoming.”
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