Rend Hope (34 page)

             
"Yeah I didn't want to miss seeing your ridiculous cowboy getup again.  I need the laughs." The blonde aeromancer retorted.

             
"Yeah well, you won't be laughing much after I shoot your lower jaw off of your face" The sheriff countered, the tension skyrocketed around them.  Marie, having seen the two men at odds before, was about to intervene when Kendal suddenly stood straight and yawned.  "But that'll be for another time.  It's been a long day and I need a nap, we can settle this tomorrow." with that, Kendal walked past the surprised Markus and ventured into the city.

             
"Did he really just brush off a scuffle with me in favor of a nap?" Markus asked incredulously, Janine sighed.

             
"Yeah, that's my boyfriend, he'd rather avoid fights, not because he's a pacifist, but because he's too lazy put the effort into it." Janine confirmed, she eyed the blonde aeromancer curiously.  "You must be new, I don't remember your face."

             
"I'm Markus, the ordinary magi." The short blonde man informed her, Janine raised an eyebrow.

             
"Really? I don't think you can put the words 'Ordinary' and 'Magi' together like that.  I think that's an oxymoron." Janine replied.

             
"An oxy-what?" Markus questioned, a puzzled look on his face.

             
"She means that there's no such thing as an ordinary magi!  A magi is rare!" Rosalind clarified, getting annoyed with her old friend.  Markus threw her a challenging look.

             
"Oh yeah Rose?  I tell you what, I'm going to be the first 'Ordinary magi' in existence!  And nothing is going to stop me!" The blonde aeromancer announced proudly.  Janine scratched the back of her head as she processed what Markus just said, Marie just groaned.

             
"There's no way you can be ordinary Markus!  You saved the entire city from Ebrim." Marie explained, Markus stopped his train of thought as he considered this.

             
"Yeah I guess you're right Marie." He admitted.

             
"So wait, who's Ebrim?" Janine inquired, shaking her head.  "Good god what'd I miss? It's only been a little over a week!" The vice-sheriff exclaimed.  Rosalind placed her left hand between the young woman's shoulderblades and began to gently guide her into the city.

             
"We'll get you up to speed in due time.  Right now let’s get you back to the clinic, I'm really concerned about your hand." The co-founder of Midas City informed her.

             
"Sounds good." Janine agreed, then her face turned somber. "Kendal and I have some bad news too.  You're not going to like it."

Epilogue

              "Kendal, Janine, it is good to see you are well." Mayor David Watkins stated, seated in his chair, the other occupants of the room.  Markus, Rosalind, Kendal, and Janine were all scattered about.  Janine shook her head sadly.

             
"I apologize for the delay in our return." The vice-sheriff informed the mayor.  "What we faced was beyond any of our expectations."

             
"And what exactly did you face?" Rosalind asked, Janine began pacing the room.

             
"Over ten days ago, I was trying to find a scouting team that had gone missing.  I found them, well what was left of them.  Lying in wait to ambush me was a teenage boy, he was a necromancer's apprentice." Janine explained, the mayor, Rosalind and Markus tensed.

             
"A necromancer's apprentice eh?" The middle-aged man questioned.  Janine nodded solemnly.

             
"Yes, I was unable to get who his master was out of him during the ensuing battle.  I had gained the upper hand on him when the ground unexpectedly disappeared from under us.  Turns out we discovered a whole underground labyrinth." Janine revealed, Rosalind focused her eyes on the floor, deep in thought.

             
"I don't think Sahiron was the apprenticing type, that means he must have been Ebrim's apprentice." The co-founder of Midas City stated.

             
"Just how big was this underground labyrinth?" Markus inquired, Kendal adjusted his cowboy hat on his head, he was currently relaxing in a chair, but his eyes were sharp and serious.

             
"We didn't get a chance to fully explore it, but I think it's safe to say that it's larger than Midas City." Janine answered, Kendal nodded in agreement.

             
"The labyrinth had a huge door sealed with ancient glyphs.  My team and I had been trying to breach it for a little bit when we finally caught up to Janine and that blasted necromancer brat.  When I tried to apprehend him the little punk somehow opens the door and takes off.  The door shuts behind him and then the labyrinth went batshit crazy." The sheriff reported.

             
"What exactly did you find down there?" Rosalind asked, Janine turned to face her.

             
"Golems surprisingly, but not just those.  There were creatures down there, things we've never seen before." The vice-sheriff answered.

             
"Ghouls?" Markus asked, Kendal shook his head.

             
"No, not ghouls, or cannibals or even more necromancers.  I've never seen anything like the things we saw in there.  We decided it was best to get out of there and alert the city." The sheriff explained.

             
"And what of the necromancer-apprentice?  What happened to him?" The mayor inquired.

             
"Not sure, we lost him during the chaos of our escape." Janine admitted.

             
"Probably dead then." Rosalind stated, Janine snorted in response.

             
"That kid?  Somehow I doubt it, he was a tenacious bastard, I don't see him dying so easily.  Also add to the fact the labyrinth was treating him like some long-lost family member or something and I'm sure we'll meet him again soon."  The energetic woman replied.

             
"How big of a threat to the city are these creatures?" Rosalind asked,

             
"Well, we managed to cave-in the main entrance tunnel, that should slow them down.  But once they are free, they could wipe out not just the city, but everything from the West Coast to the East Coast.  Everything." Kendal informed them.

             
"My god..." The mayor breathed.

             
"And I thought the worst was past us." Markus said, shaking his head and looking out the window of the office.  An entire colony of creatures that would spell doom not just for the city, but perhaps for the entire human race as well.  The aeromancer sighed, looks like his search for Nobellus would have to be delayed once more.  This was a threat that could not be ignored.

**********

              Benjamin Carmichael found that he missed the sun's rays upon his back, he'd been in this underground labyrinth for days.  He had lost track after the fourth one, since there was no way to see the sun or moon down here.  Too many things were distracting him.

             
For one, there were more of those strange green vines the further he went and upon these vines grew something he hadn't seen since a small child, fruit.  Apples, oranges, pears and grapes, all of these gave Benjamin sustenance and kept him from starving to death.  To his surprise there was also an underground waterfall, with plenty of fresh water.  Hell, there was even a room with a nice soft bed made from large broad green leaves.  This area was much different than the one he was exploring with that vice-sheriff, it was like a lost section of paradise.  Whoever had made this tomb had to be loaded, or had people who thought mighty highly of him.

             
Benjamin spent his days resting in the "Bedroom." and exploring the passageways with his waking hours.  Each day he had gone further into the labyrinth, with any door or obstacle he encountered opening up for him, something about his sorcery allowed him unrestricted access.  It mattered little to him, all the flame-haired teenager cared about was finding a way out.  If he didn't report back to Ebrim in time, then Rebecca's soul could be in jeopardy.

             
Finally, on one of his forays he ventured into a large room that was definitely different than the other ones he had visited before.  A giant thick tree stood at the center of it, with bark the color of chocolate and blue-green leaves covering its branches.  The tree itself must have been over thirty meters tall.  What was most interesting for Benjamin however, was the thing sitting on one of its branches.

             
The creature was humanoid, its tall slender frame that of a beautiful young woman.  She seemed to be wearing the same type of bark from the tree as armor, Benjamin noticed the armor was very form-fitting, covering her torso arms and legs, but still showing off her shapely body.  A long mane of blue hair cascaded down her shoulders reaching the base of her spine, her skin was light-grey and her pupil-less eyes glowed the color of sapphires, a thorn circlet adorned her forehead. 

             
"You have finally returned."  The beautiful woman said in a musical voice, her blue lips curling upward in a smile, Benjamin blinked.

             
"Returned? I've never been here before lady, you must be on something." The red-haired youth replied.  The blue-haired woman shook her head.

             
"I can assure you my mind is quite clear young one, I suppose I should clarify." She told him, "My name is Celara and I have been waiting a long time for the return of your bloodline."

             
"My bloodline? You mean I had family that used to live here?"

             
"Yes, but they left just about two decades ago.  You are the first I have seen since."

             
Benjamin took this information in.  Two decades ago, that would mean that his parents must have been here before!  His mother must have been pregnant with Rebecca around that time.  So then why did they leave?  Food, water and shelter, three big things that were hard to find all at once in the wastelands.  Why would they throw it all away?

             
"Any idea why they left, uh Celara was your name right?" Benjamin questioned, Celara shook her head, gracefully leaping down from the tree to land in front of him.

             
"You are correct in my name young one, as for the reason for your predecessor's departure, I am unsure, but that matters little.  You are here now." Celara answered, reaching up with her left hand to caress Benjamin's cheek and the young necromancer-apprentice found himself at a loss for words.

             
"Yeah...good thing I'm...here..." The flame-haired youth replied, up close Celara was only slightly taller than him and her hand was really soft.  Benjamin found himself staring at her perfectly oval face and full blue lips, she was definitely a beautiful specimen, "Uh... what exactly are you anyway?  No human I know has blue hair or grey skin."

             
Celara kept caressing his cheek for a few more moments before turning away, heading down a passageway Benjamin hadn't noticed, the youth followed her.  "I will reveal all in time, but first there is something you must see."  She explained, her swaying hips were very distracting and Benjamin found he had to use all his willpower to focus on the task at hand.

             
The passageway eventually led into a massive room with a surprising lack of green.  What was even more shocking was that the room was lit by a glowing white fungus attached to a grey-stone ceiling.  The ground also did not have the dark green stone floor he was familiar with, instead it was full of sand, not the yellow-gold sand that made up the Desert of Despair, this sand was a lighter shade of yellow, almost white in color.  Large dark-brown thorn bushes the size of small buildings littered the room, so much so that Benjamin found there was very little room to maneuver.

             
"Do not touch the thorn bushes, they are very sharp." Celara's musical voice sounded from ahead of him, she was easily traversing a path through the bushes, a path that was barely wide enough for the average person.  Benjamin noted some human skeletons impaled on the thorn bushes as he walked past them, the skeletons had obviously been there for some time with tattered remnants of what was once clothes adorning their bony bodies.

             
"Sharp thorns, no shit." The red-haired youth remarked sarcastically, Celara said nothing more as she continued to weave through the narrow path of sand, she nonchalantly ducked under or leaned away from any stray branch the path threw at her.  The grey-skinned woman was traversing the terrain like someone who knew it like the back of their hand.  Benjamin began to wonder just how long Celara had lived down here to achieve this feat.

             
"Here we are." She suddenly announced, standing before a large thorn bush that looked no different than the rest.  With a wave of her hand, the bush parted into two halves, revealing a blue glyph about three meters in diameter.  Celara stepped into the center of the glyph then turned around so that she was facing Benjamin and smiled.  "You might want to hold your breath when you step on it." She said to him with a wink of her right eye, in a flash of blue light she was gone.

             
Hesitantly Benjamin approached the blue glyph.  Celara could be leading him to his doom. Looking around, he realized that he forgot to keep track of all the twists and turns through this damned thorn bush forest she had led him through.  He was lost, with very limited supplies on his person, the flame-haired youth doubted he these thorn bushes were edible and he couldn't drink sand.  His only choice now was to follow Celara.

             
So Benjamin stood upon the blue glyph held his breath per Celara's instructions and waited, the change was faster than he expected.  One moment he was standing on solid ground and the next he was underwater, traveling fast down a circular dark-green tunnel.  It twisted and turned, sloped up and down until finally the red-haired necromancer-apprentice was spat out into yet another large room.

             
He landed in a pond of some sort, surfacing for some much needed air, his eyes feasted on the sight before him.  This room was easily over the size of one of those rundown stadiums his dad had told him about.  There was a dark-green stone pillar every twenty meters, which reached up to a ceiling that might as well have been reaching for the stars.  The pillars were positioned so that they were about four a five meters from the walls.  The space between the walls was occupied by basins of water, the blue liquid contrasting heavily with the dark-green stone the rest of the room seemed to be made of.  Between the pillars was a stone bridge wide enough to allow three people to walk alongside each other.  The bridge led to what appeared to be a coffin of some sort.  Upon a closer look, Benjamin realized the coffin was made of gold.

             
A grey-skinned hand wearing a dark-brown vambrace made from bark reached down toward him.  "Do you require assistance young one?"  Benjamin grumbled and climbed onto the stone bridge of his own accord.

             
"I have a name you know, it's Benjamin." The youth informed her, Celara placed a delicate hand on her chin, her blue eyebrows creased in thought.

             
"Apologies Benjamin I do not mean to offend." She replied, staring into the water of the basin as she collected her thoughts, "I may be mistaken, but humans have two names do they not?"

             
"Carmichael's my last name." He told her dismissively, turning in a full circle and drinking the room in with his eyes.

             
"Carmichael, the one who was here before had that as their second name as well." She mused, Benjamin immediately snapped his attention to her.