Firebrand (12 page)

The figure towered taller than two men. It was clothed in obsidian spiked plate armor that melded with its rotting, umber flesh. A long, flowing skirt crafted from the shadows created a tattered cloak that concealed the creature’s feet. The creature wore a monstrous, obsidian helmet with two curved horns jutting back from its head and a pointed chin rest. The outline of a skeletal face could be seen in the dim glow from its eyes, which burned endlessly with green magical flames. Its gaze locked on Jarial for a moment and then, from out of the air, an obsidian round shield formed in the creature’s right hand, and a large bastard sword appeared in the left.

A shiver ran down Kaijin’s spine when he met the monster’s menacing stare. He took several steps backward. “Master, what—what manner of creature is that?!” He halted when he felt the air around him grow suddenly cold. He realized he had stepped outside the range of the protective ward.

Jarial swore. “Boy, did you learn nothing in the years you spent reading about necromancy?”

Kaijin thought long and hard. He recalled reading, when he was younger and still learning about the various types of magic, about the darker side of the Art. Illustrations of creatures both awe-inspiring and downright frightening filled the books Kaijin had been required to read. They gave him nightmares for weeks. Jarial, in his usual fashion, had seemed none too sympathetic.

The more Kaijin stared at the monster before him, the more he felt inclined to turn away. But his body felt frozen, paralyzed by the creature’s frightful gaze.

He remembered the word. Revenant.

Jarial glanced over his shoulder at Kaijin, his eyes dazzling a magical prism. “Don’t just stand there, boy! We must retreat! Now!”

Kaijin thought, for a moment, that he saw Jarial smile after uttering those words. As he turned to leave, he felt another pang in his mind, much stronger than before. Miele seemed ecstatic at the thought of her master returning. Holding his head, Kaijin attempted to concentrate on relaying a calming message to his familiar, but the mental lashes from the link were too extreme. He surrendered to the pain. Miele soon calmed, and the painful sensation ebbed. Kaijin retreated from the creature slowly, not turning his back on it. He looked at Jarial to ensure he was following.

Rather than heeding his own advice, Jarial focused on the revenant.
How in the hells did such a powerful warrior, spawned from the plane of shadowy voids, get here?
He clenched his fists, concentrated on a spell, and felt a wave of energy surge through him. His mind cleared, and he saw only the towering creature. Jarial’s hands glowed a deep purple as he uttered an incantation. The energy flowed from the tips of his fingers all the way up his arms until it coalesced throughout his entire body. As he extended his hands, the purple energy encompassed him fully. He disappeared.

Kaijin blinked. “Master!” For the moment, he forgot about the creature. He rushed over to where Jarial had stood, and reached out only to touch thin air.

The revenant’s blazing eyes seemed to narrow at Jarial’s display before focusing on Kaijin, who stood alone and dumbfounded. Dust swirled around the creature’s body as it approached him. The temperature dropped.

Kaijin locked eyes with the revenant and shivered again. His teeth chattered uncontrollably.

A slow chuckle rumbled from the revenant as it aimed the tip of its bastard sword at Kaijin. It studied him for a moment, as if attempting to discern his identity. The green magical orbs of its eyes then lowered to Kaijin’s necklace. The revenant lowered its blade and reached for the charm. As its gauntleted hand drew closer, a sheet of ice formed across Kaijin’s chest.

Kaijin’s legs buckled, and he fell to his knees, clutching the symbol in desperation. His heart pounded as bitter cold burned against his chest. Awash in pain, he blacked out.

Kaijin slowly opened his eyes, unsure of how long he’d been out. He felt a soothing warmth eclipse the pain in his chest. The icy barrier shattered at the heat from the charm which pulsated at the same rate as his racing heart. When the last of the icy sheath melted, Kaijin’s chest was soaked, but healed of the frost burn. Confused, Kaijin stared at the blanket of withered irises around the creature’s feet.

The revenant seemed to study Kaijin’s reaction. It whirled at the sound of approaching horses.

Kaijin’s chest rose and fell with unsteady breaths. He craned his head and spied the same woman he’d seen before, leading a group of five armored horsemen bearing Easthaven’s emblem.

The woman stopped at the edge of the road and pointed at the fields. Her voice carried on the wind as she exclaimed, “It happened over there! Some horrible monster appeared, slew my husband and—”

A guard in a commander’s uniform comforted her. “All right, m’lady. We’ll get to the bottom of this. Stay here on the main road. If there is any sign of trouble, head back to the city immediately, understood?”

The woman nodded.

The guards dismounted and, with weapons drawn, advanced carefully into the fields.

The revenant seemed to lose interest in Kaijin, who crumpled at its feet, and glided past him to confront the new threat.

As the monster drew away from Kaijin, the air temperature around him returned to normal, and the pain in his body ceased. Kaijin’s hand clutched the Firelord’s symbol so tightly that his knuckles turned white. He exhaled and uncurled his cramped fingers from around the charm.

“Master?” Kaijin called. Only the sounds of the passing winds responded. Lifting his head, Kaijin spied the creature.

The guards stopped in their tracks and raised their weapons at the approaching monster. A mix of terrified voices filled the air.

Kaijin frowned.
Why, Master?! Why did you leave me?
He’d never understood Jarial’s peculiar actions in all the years he’d been the man’s student. This was no exception. The mage was truly gone.

Kaijin found it harder to stay focused on the danger before him. His eyelids fluttered, and he felt something grip his mind. He heard the sounds of crackling flames.

“He betrayed you—like your brother.”
A n ethereal voice spoke to him.

Kaijin frowned. “Rorick didn’t betray me.”

“How naïve you are, Kaijin Sora...”
The flames crackled louder.
“Rorick despised you out of jealousy. Jarial merely regards you as an expendable test subject.”

Kaijin swallowed, unable to discern what was true. “Who are you? Why do you say these things?”

“They hate you, Kaijin Sora.
Yet, you trust them with your very life. You will always be just a weak little boy.”

“I am not a boy!”

“Your own fears will be your downfall.”

“I am not afraid!”

“You are tainted—condemned by the world.”

“Enough!”

The riddling words hurt Kaijin’s head. Finally, the crackling ebbed, and Kaijin opened his eyes as though awakening from a long dream. He looked toward the sounds of clashing metal and the screams of men.

The revenant towered over the five guards. It grabbed one of the men by his helmet and effortlessly lifted him off his feet.

The man swung his longsword frantically at the monster, but his efforts were rendered futile. His blade passed through the creature’s insubstantial form.

The abomination tightened its grip. The guard’s fearful eyes filled with tears which froze and pierced his eye sockets. He screamed as saliva poured from his mouth and froze over. The man permanently ceased his struggles. The revenant stared into the man’s punctured eyes and uttered something in a strange language. The man’s corpse glowed with the same green as the revenant’s eyes. The revenant drained him of his life essence—his blood and spirit—until he was an empty, frozen husk. When the creature had its fill of the man’s energy, it tossed the body at the remaining guards.

The men dodged the corpse of their comrade. In the face of the revenant’s raw power, the group hesitated.

Kaijin rose to his feet.
Now is my chance to try this spell.
With staggering steps, he drew closer, fumbling in his spell pouch. His fingers collected small pieces of phosphorous from the leather container.

The revenant approached the stunned guards, its sword held high and its shield poised. Dust flowed around the creature, blanketing the area in a thick grey cloud that obstructed the guards’ vision. The temperature dropped to near-freezing, which drew the guards out of their stunned state.

The commander bounded forward and met the revenant’s blade with the curved edge of his halberd. While their weapons clashed, the remaining three guards encircled the creature, their bodies shivering as they awaited their leader’s signal.

“Attack now!” the commander barked. “Don’t let it touch you!” He grunted as he fought against the revenant’s massive strength.

In a simultaneous effort, the three guards swung their weapons at the monster, only to discover their blades swooshing through the insubstantial being and clashing together with a violent clang and blinding sparks.

The revenant glared at the guards before returning to the commander, whom it seemed to find the greater threat. The creature drew its shield up, recoiled, and bashed into the burly man’s face to free its blades.

The commander stumbled and landed on his back with a loud thud, winding him.

Fixated on the back of the revenant, Kaijin uttered a string of arcanic phrases while opening his palm, revealing pieces of phosphorous. As he chanted the last phrase, the rocks blazed. He sensed the steady, rising heat penetrating his skin and rushing through his body. After consuming the rocks, the flames leapt from his hand and onto the grass, and trailed in a line toward the creature.

Master Jarial was right
, Kaijin thought, as he struggled to control the blaze.
I really can manipulate the Firebrand spell to burn in a different manner!
The fire felt like an extension of his hand. The magical flames amplified when they consumed the vegetation in their path, fueling their violent beauty. Kaijin’s eyes followed the moving wall of fire, entranced.

His heart pounded a steady rhythm. He had felt this before. The symbol around his neck glowed and pulsed at the same tempo. The beautiful song of beats entwined with the chaos and destruction before him. He was certain the Firelord was here. Watching. Waiting.

Kaijin lost himself in the trance. With speed and power, the flames extended toward the creature. An invisible force surrounded the blaze and barreled past the guards in its path, scattering them, but leaving them unscathed.

The flames’ heat penetrated the revenant’s chilling aura. A horrifying wail resonated from the creature. It shifted out of the path of the destructive blaze and took refuge near the fallen guard’s corpse. The revenant’s eyes locked on Kaijin. The image of the monster’s form wavered over the corpse, picking up more dust in the process. Moments later, the dust settled, and the corpse twitched.

The body slowly arose, devoid of eyes, with a face of blackened ice. It stood before the revenant, swaying back and forth.

The other guards were recovering from the magical impact when they witnessed the reanimation of their fallen comrade. Even the commander was awestruck.

“This thing is powerful.” He scrambled to his feet.

“Sir, look over there!” One guard pointed at Kaijin. The magical flames surrounding him extinguished as the spell subsided. “That young man appears to be in trouble. Should we—”

“No!” the commander interjected. “We can’t keep this up for long. That abominable thing will kill us all at this rate. We must get reinforcements. Retreat!”

At their commander’s orders, the remaining guards sprinted back for the main road.

An annoyed hiss came from the revenant as it watched the guards flee. After sending its thrall at Kaijin, the revenant seemed to concentrate on the other men. The creature lodged its sword into the soft earth, sending a shockwave through the area. The radius of shadows stretched a great distance, affecting every living thing it touched. The grass and flowers wilted and dried to brown husks; the tiny insects disintegrated to specks of dust; the guards in the proximity of the destruction grew feeble, their skin paling. The retreating woman was also caught in the blast, as were the horses.

“Come on!” The commander yelled weakly to his comrades and attempted to climb onto his horse. The animal’s legs buckled, and it collapsed to the ground on top of him, whinnying in distress. The commander cried out at the cracking of several bones in his crushed body.

The woman, her face unnaturally pale from the attack, yelled and grasped the reins of her weakened horse, beckoning the frightened animal to safety.

Ignoring her frantic demands, the horse reared and whinnied in fear before stumbling and falling.

The woman was flung off the horse and onto the rocky ground. Screams of fear and terror were replaced by screams of agonizing pain.

The commander struggled to heave the large animal off of his broken body. He stopped and peered up at the revenant’s looming form. The menacing blade returned to the creature’s gauntleted hand.

The sound of the woman’s screams seemed to attract the monster’s attention. It glided past the commander, raised its bastard sword, and stabbed the helpless woman in the flank. The smell of fresh blood wafted in the air, sending the creature in a brief, euphoric fit. Its icy gaze seemed to savor the woman’s misery as she slumped over, pinned by both the sword and the corpse of her fallen horse. She breathed her last breaths. The creature ran its cold hand over the woman’s white face, freezing the tears and blood that poured from her eyes and mouth.

The commander stared helplessly at the grim sight at his fallen comrades, whose bodies were strewn across the dead fields. Their frail corpses were reduced to armored skeletons. Within the radius of the revenant’s ghastly shadow, life ceased to exist.