Rend Hope (31 page)

             
"Told ya he didn't quit smoking." The deputy spoke, his fellows grumbled and started handing him money.

**********

              Markus landed softly in the pale-white sand, breathing heavily.  The power from Nobellus' glyph continuing to flow through him.  In front of him was a rather large crater easily one hundred meters in diameter.  Dark-grey smoke billowed out from the crater's center, rising into the air.  The green-eyed aeromancer waited patiently for the smoke to clear up.  Once it did, Markus could finally see Ebrim, his opponent, or rather, what was left of him.

             
The necromancer's black hair was completely burned away from his head and his face.  A few pieces of what was once his clothes clung to his body, twisting in the wind.  Markus noticed that Ebrim's left eye was completely white, the iris a dull grey color.  The broken man was in a kneeling position, his burnt arms hanging limply at his sides, his one good eye was watching the stars above him.  A pitiful groan escaped his lips.

             
"I lost..." Ebrim croaked out, Markus' face remained impassive.

             
"You did..." The aeromancer responded simply.  Ebrim knew it was futile, but he tried to move and was only greeted by a wave of pain.  If he was a normal human he would be dead already.  Only the last bits of his magic energy were keeping him alive and talking, but soon even that would fade.

             
"Do you realize what you've done Markus?  You've prolonged humanity's suffering..." Ebrim wheezed, trying to divert his remaining power to talking, it was the only weapon he had left.

             
"There's more to humanity than just the suffering Ebrim.  There's laughter and joy, triumph and frustration, friendship and love." Markus informed the heavily burnt man, his glare softening slightly.  "I won't judge you for what you've done, I'm sure you have your reasons, reasons I won't agree with probably, but reasons nonetheless.  Somewhere along the way though, you forgot about those qualities in humanity."  Ebrim grunted, which quickly turned into a few wheezing coughs.

             
"It has been so long since I've experienced those things that when I try to recall them they feel foreign to me, like I'm watching someone else experience them rather than myself." Ebrim let out a deep sigh.  "One day, I thought about where humanity would be in the next month, the next year, the next decade and I saw only murder, despair and desolation.  It shook me to my core." Ebrim revealed.

             
"So what? You decided to try replacing the living with the dead?  That was stupid man." Markus replied, shaking his head sadly, the defeated necromancer turned so that he could look at the blonde-haired magi with his good eye.

             
"To me it seemed the only way to go.  Better for humanity to die a swift death at my hands then a slow one with the cruel world they tried to survive in." Ebrim said to the younger man.

             
"It's been centuries since the Great Purge, by all accounts we shouldn't have lasted a century past that." Markus answered back.  "But we did, and that's not a fluke Ebrim.  We humans won't just roll over and die, we're more resilient than you think." Ebrim's response was to snort disdainfully.

             
"Your words would hold more weight if you weren't blurring the line between life and death Markus.  Do you really expect me to listen to you when you yourself have used necromancy to increase your power and lengthen your lifespan?  There's nothing human in that." The defeated man told him, Markus shrugged slightly.

             
"You're right, I'm far from being the model of humanity, doesn't change the fact that I still root for them and will protect them from whatever threats I can." The aeromancer replied icily.  "The only other thing I want to do besides kick necromancer ass before my life ends is to kill my old master, maybe try to patch things up with old friends along the way as well."  Ebrim's good eye widened slightly in surprise.

             
"You wish to kill your old master?  Why?" The heavily-burnt necromancer asked, Markus frowned and his glare deepened.  With his good eye, Ebrim could tell that the younger man's attention wasn't fully on him anymore though.

             
"He murdered innocent people, friends, acquaintances, even people I didn't like, but didn't deserve the fate they received." Markus informed the elder man bitterly.  "I never asked for this glyph on my chest, it was forced upon me." The newly deputized magi's hands balled into fists.  "However, if Nobellus is foolish enough to give me a second shot at him, that's his business. And if he wants to fuck with me by using this lousy glyph to keep me alive, then I'm going to make him regret that decision." Markus attention was again fully on Ebrim.  "Just as you probably regret crossing me."

             
Ebrim stared silently at the man in front of him for a few moments.  The former apprentice of Nobellus, great magi guardian of Havenway, was a walking hypocrite.  Praising the feats of the living when he used the power of the dead himself.  Even if it wasn't by his choice, he still chose to use that power.  To Ebrim, that was just unacceptable.  Someone who really believed in humanity wouldn't need the power of necromancy to back them up.

             
"Sounds to me like you're just making shit up about 'Defending Humanity'.  Admit it Markus, all you really want is revenge against Nobellus, that's what it boils down to doesn't it?  You could care less what happens to these people." Ebrim questioned, Markus' eyes narrowed.

             
"You're wrong." The aeromancer said a little too quickly.

             
"Am I?  Then why did you come all the way from the East Coast to here?  Why not spend the rest of your days helping these pathetic wretches of humanity instead of attempting to find one man in a wild goose chase." The heavily burnt man demanded.  Markus' eyes took a blank look.

             
"Because those who have lost their lives to him deserve vengeance.  To have no one acknowledge and avenge their deaths would be an unforgivable sin." The blonde-haired magi replied.  Ebrim took note of the blank look in Markus' eyes and realization dawned on him.

             
"You're plagued with guilt aren't you?" Ebrim asked rhetorically, Markus couldn't help but flinch slightly and Ebrim's familiar evil smirk appeared on his burnt face.  "Plagued by the fact that you failed the people in Havenway.  That's why you're really doing this." The necromancer stated, his laughter mocking Markus.  "How sad, to be shackled by the chains of guilt.  In the end your suffering will be far greater than mine."  Underneath his impassive expression Markus was working furiously to keep the storm of emotions from being shown.

             
"We'll see about that.  I hear Hell isn't exactly cozy.  One day you'll look back and regret you ever decided to lift a hand against your fellow man." Markus said, Ebrim's laughter finally stopped, but the ghost of that damned smile was still there.

             
"I have many regrets Markus, but one in particular I'm having right now is the look on your face as your guilt finally crushes you." Ebrim revealed, he locked eyes with Markus then, still smirking.  "I'm sure it will be a glorious sight."

             
"Not as glorious as seeing you suffer in the underworld." The blonde-haired magi snarled.  "Enjoy your stay in Hell you bastard."  And with that, Ebrim was finally gone.  Nothing, but a charred corpse twisting in the wind.  Something glinted in the moonlight near the necromancer's dead body.  Curious, Markus approached the glinting light, finding a red gemstone lying there.  As he picked it up, the gemstone glowed warmly in his hand, the blonde aeromancer twisted the gemstone so that he could look at it from multiple angles.  What was this thing and why had Ebrim kept it? 

             
Deciding the mystery could wait for now, Markus pocketed the gem and started heading back to the city, not looking back at the remains of Ebrim Thraves.  The newly deputized magi tried to expel the necromancer's last words from his brain, but they lingered.  Despite his victory, Markus couldn't stop the frown that his lips curled into.

**********

              Kendal pouted as he kept watch over one end of the tunnel they were currently occupying.  Janine had taken his last pack of cigarettes and he had only managed to smoke two.  The Midas City sheriff didn't see what the big deal was, he had a good ten years before he had to worry about any serious health issues. 

             
Janine herself was busy working on the sorcery analyzing binoculars she had given him.  Her right hand was bandaged up, but she still couldn't move it like she wanted, so one of the deputies was assisting her.  Currently his girlfriend had a screwdriver in her left hand and she was fiddling with the binoculars' innards.

             
"You sure this will work?" Kendal asked her, voicing the question that was on everyone's mind.  Janine sighed and rubbed some sweat off her forehead with the back of her right hand.

             
"No I'm not, but it's the best idea I have." Janine answered, pulling out two cards and placing them on the floor before her.  One card was a large blank canvas while the other normal-sized card flashed red and a small group of bats suddenly burst forth from it.  The vice-sheriff chanted a few words and then pointed to the passageways leading out of the room they were in and the bats split up and proceeded down them.

             
Moments later, red glowing lines began forming on the blank card Janine had set before her.  She watched the card attentively as more and more lines appeared.  Kendal also eyed the card with interest.

             
"Wow, you're actually mapping all these tunnels." Kendal said in amazement.

             
"Haven't mapped all of them yet."  Janine quickly said, "There's a good chance these tunnels can go for miles they could..."  The young woman's face suddenly paled and her boyfriend immediately picked up on it.

             
"Janine, what's wrong?" He inquired.  She didn't say anything at first, continuing to study the red lines on the giant card for a few more moments.

             
"You want the good news first?  Or the bad news?" She asked him.

             
"Good news, definitely good news first." Kendal responded, Janine gave a slight nod.

             
"The good news is, I think I can lead us out of here.  Might take a day or two if these tunnels cooperate.  If they don't then it might take us a week maybe more.  We'll definitely need to ration our supplies from here on out, but it's doable." The vice-sheriff informed them, sighs of relief and whispered excitement could be heard from the deputies.

             
"And the bad news?" Kendal pressed, this time the one-eyed young woman did make eye contact with him, the single naked brown orb full of concern.

             
"These tunnels lead all the way back to Midas City." She stated, a grim silence settled in the room at this news.

**********

              As Markus passed through what used to be the South Gate, a sudden pain gripped his chest.  The pain was so great that his legs buckled and his right shoulder crashed against a slab of concrete.  The aeromancer repositioned himself so his back was on the slab and planted his rump in the battle-scarred ground.  His left hand clutching his chest.

             
He noticed that the glyph on his chest was still glowing brightly, how the hell could he get it to stop?  As soon as he thought this, the glow diminished and the glyph's power ceased to flow through his body, settling into its former function of acting as a makeshift heart.  Markus took a few calming breaths as he searched his surroundings.

             
The newly deputized magi needed to find something to cover his chest.  Showing off a necromantic glyph would not go well with the public.  A large tattered brown cloak caught in a piece of mangled rebar caught his attention, it wasn't much, but it would have to do.  Grabbing the cloak from off the piece of rebar, Markus quickly donned it.  With the necromantic glyph now hidden, he continued his journey into the city.

             
He decided to head to where he last saw Rose, she was in a bad way when he last saw her, and probably needed some medical attention.  While he himself was no doctor, Marie had told him there were people at Rose's clinic with medical experience.  As he neared Rose's last known location though, he was greeted by the smiling faces of a rather large group of deputies.

             
"There he is!  The new guy!  He really did it!" One of the deputies called out, cheers rang out and Markus found himself perplexed.

             
"You guys know I stopped Ebrim?" Markus asked.

             
"The dark-haired freak?  Yeah we know, Lady Rosalind sensed his death and informed us of your victory!" Another deputy answered, they all crowded around the short blonde-haired man, offering praise and thanks.  While Markus tried to play off his feat, he admitted to himself that he did miss this.  One particular deputy, who was built like a tank, slapped Markus' back with his meaty hand and with a hearty laugh told Markus, "Good work Newbie!"  Markus actually stumbled forward a step.