Rend Hope (15 page)

             
Reopening her eyes to get a better look, she discovered that Markus had his right arm around her waist and had carried her to the base of the stairs of the altar.  Upon further inspection, she realized that Markus had burns all over his left arm.  The left part of his black shirt was burnt away revealing more burns on the left side of his torso.  He was grimacing slightly from the pain, but he tried to hide it.

             
Markus set Rosalind down gently against the wall, the huge archway that served as the exit was to her right.  She heard her husband's maniacal laughter coming from the top of the altar.

             
"Nice dodge Markus!  I didn't think a worthless moron like you could move so fast!" Frederick exclaimed, standing tall at the top of the stairs his lips twisted in a sneer. "Apparently it wasn't fast enough though." Markus ignored him.

             
"Just stay here." Markus told her, she eyed him worriedly, he looked like he was at the end of his rope.

             
"Let me help you, I saw all the ghouls Frederick had guarding this place as he took me here.  It couldn't have been easy on you fighting through them all." Rosalind offered.  He shook his head in reply.

             
"You still can't use your sorcery yet can you?" Markus questioned, she frowned, he was right, her sorcery still wasn't working.  "Without your sorcery and with you as Frederick's main target it'd be too dangerous.  Just remain here and I'll deal with him." He told her, standing back up and turning to face Frederick who was slowly walking down the stairs towards them, stalking his prey.

             
Rosalind wanted to argue with Markus, but he was right.  Still the fact that she was so defenseless right now irritated her.  Frederick wouldn't be an easy fight even if Markus was fresh.  She cursed whatever sorcery her estranged husband had used to render her powerless.

             
"Fine.  But the very second my sorcery has returned I'm jumping in.  I'm not some god damn damsel in distress waiting to be rescued!" She remarked, Rosalind couldn't see it, but she could feel Markus' smirk.

             
"I know that more than anyone.  Feel free to do what you want once you get your sorcery back.  I guess getting a few shots in before the divorce would feel pretty good huh?" He joked.

             
"Oh you have no idea." She said, smiling a real smile in what felt like forever for her.  "Give him one for me Markus." She requested.  He reached behind him with his left hand and erected a typhoon around her, positioning it so that she was within the eye.  Rosalind recognized the spell, the typhoon would slice up anything that tried to get through it, even other sorcery.  It could withstand some strong spells and would only be dispelled by Markus himself either by his will or by his death.

             
"Will do." He answered and began making his way to the stairs of the altar.  Frederick had just made it halfway down.

             
"Are you finished trying to sweet talk my wife?  She's on borrowed time you know." He bellowed.  Markus' face was now a stoic mask, except for his eyes, green orbs which seemed to almost glow coldly with malicious intent.

             
"You speak as if she's a piece of property to you Frederick.  How disgusting." He said to Rosalind's estranged husband.

             
"Maybe you're just mad because she chose me over you." Frederick boasted. 

**********

Present Day 2235 A.D.

Midas City

              Rosalind frowned as the incident from eight years ago continued to play out in her mind.  To this day, she still questioned herself on how she missed Frederick's insanity.  Was she blinded by love?  Possibly, Markus at that time certainly thought she was.  The blonde-haired woman had never felt more helpless than during that battle between her husband and her ex-boyfriend.  It was simultaneously the most frightening and most frustrating experience in her life.

             
She let out another deep breath and continued to let the memories flow.

Chapter 12

Eight years ago, 2227 A.D.

Near Havenway.

              No more words were exchanged as Markus and Frederick charged at each other.  They met at the base of the altar's stairs.  Right when they were about to exchange blows Markus pointed the palm of his right hand to the floor, firing a blast of wind at it and shooting himself into the air over Frederick's head.

             
Rosalind noticed the maneuver caught her husband by surprise, she watched as he tried to twist around to face Markus again, but it was in vain.  Markus was already firing a pillar of violently spinning wind at Frederick's back, meaning to drill a hole in his torso.  Instead a shield of dark blue energy appeared near the tattooed necromancer's back, nullifying Markus' spell.

             
Markus looked just as shocked as she was.  Frederick finished twisting around so he was facing Markus again.  The tattooed necromancer opened his mouth, firing a blast of dark blue magic energy from it.  The blast caught Markus on his right leg as he was trying to dodge, he gripped his right leg with his right hand and cried out in pain.  Rosalind watched in horror as he crashed to Frederick's right, tumbling back down the wide stairs and crumpling into a heap at its base.  Blue arcs of electricity seemed to dance around his right leg where he was hit by Frederick's blast.  The entire right pant leg of his green cargo pants was torn off as well, exposing the blonde aeromancer's bruised leg.

             
"Forget it you lousy piece of rubbish.  With this newfound necromancy I'm no longer the man you once knew!  Can you feel it?  When my spells make contact with you, they aren't just damaging your physical body, but your very soul!" Frederick exclaimed, turning so that he was facing the downed aeromancer once more.

             
"You're right.  You really are no longer the man I once knew.  You're much worse."  Markus said through clenched teeth, dragging himself back to his feet.  If Frederick still had eyebrows he'd raise them slightly in light surprise.

             
"What was that?" Frederick asked, glaring at Markus.  "Rubbish like you has no right to insult their betters!" Markus spat to his side in response.

             
"The only thing you're better than me at is being an asshole." Rosalind heard Markus say.  Frederick just laughed at his comment.

             
"I beg to differ!" As soon as his words left his mouth Frederick bolted forward.  He slammed his right fist into the left side of Markus' jaw.  The punch sent Markus into the wall behind him, the tired aeromancer made a deep imprint in the stone wall on the opposite side of the archway exit that Rosalind was at.

             
The platinum-blonde woman swore, Markus should have been able to dodge that.  It was obvious beating Frederick's ghouls to get here had taken its toll on him.  This wasn't good at all, she looked around her immediate area for a weapon.

             
"You're done!" Frederick stated charging at Markus once more.  The blonde magi was still imprinted in the wall, a trail of blood dribbling down the left side of his mouth.  Markus suddenly extended both of his arms and Frederick found himself lifted off the ground and engulfed by a small typhoon.  The strong winds of the typhoon began to slice multiple tiny cuts into the tattooed necromancer's dark grey torso, mixing his blood in with the wind.

             
"Think again." Markus said menacingly.  The strong winds of the typhoon continued to slice Frederick up for a few more moments when suddenly the markings on the tattooed necromancer's skin started to glow.  Rosalind watched as her crazed husband fired a pair of beams out of his eyes.

             
To his credit, Markus was able to dodge a fatal blow, ducking and leaning to his left.  The beams hit him in his right collarbone rather than his face.  Blood gushed from where the beams hit him and he screamed in agony, collapsing face-first into the ground.  Frederick continued trailing his eyebeams up along the wall and even onto the ceiling.  Unearthing a bunch of stone rubble that fell on top of Markus, burying him underneath it.

             
"Markus!" Rosalind called out to her old friend, this was bad, with Markus' condition as poor as it was at the moment the pile of rubble might have killed him.

             
"Burying you is too much of a courtesy, but I guess I'm too generous for my own good." Frederick bragged, he received no answer from the pile of rubble Markus was buried under.  Rosalind watched as the crazed necromancer who used to be her husband turned his attention towards her.

             
"Now then, where were we?" He asked her maliciously.  Frederick took a few steps toward her when the rubble burying Markus suddenly blew apart.  The blonde-haired aeromancer was kneeling on his left knee, his arms were crossed and his right shoulder was now bleeding heavily.

             
"We're right at the part where you die!" Markus declared.  Uncrossing his arms and sending a shockwave of wind at Frederick, meant to slice him in half from the waist.  Frederick simply raised his left hand and erected a spherical shaped dark blue barrier nullifying the part of the shockwave that would have hit him.  The rest of Markus' spell slammed into the wall behind Frederick, making huge hole in it.

             
"Me?  Dying to the likes of you?  Don't be absurd!" Frederick bellowed, this time he brought his right hand forward, firing a bolt of blue lightning at Markus.  The blonde-haired magi dove to his right to avoid it, but the lightning suddenly curved and tracked him, slamming into his back. 

             
Dark blue electricity coursed through Markus' body and he screamed from the torment, thrashing about on the ground.  Smoke emanated from his electrified body as he lay prone on the stone floor, his head lowered so Rosalind couldn't see his face.  Valiantly, he tried to stand up, but could only prop himself up by his elbows.

             
"Hurts doesn't it?  This power damages the very thing that makes you human!  With each spell of mine that connects I take a piece of that away, soon there will be nothing left of you but a lifeless husk!" Frederick boasted, laughing loudly.

             
"Sheesh, you just won't shut up about yourself will you?" Markus replied, pain evident in his voice.  Rosalind saw her husband smile.

             
"If I bother you so much why don't you do something about it?" Frederick challenged, Markus answered by trying to get up, but he didn't get far.  "But you can't can you?  Who would have known that necromancy would make me so powerful?  Even Nobellus' shitty apprentice can't stop me!"  Rosalind clenched her teeth, she couldn't keep quiet any longer.

             
"Necromancy comes at a price Frederick!  Tapping into your life energy to cast unnatural sorcery will get you killed!" Rosalind shouted at him.  He scoffed at her.

             
"The benefits outweigh the risks love." He responded, making his way over to Markus, who was still trying to get up.  Frederick grabbed the blonde-haired magi by his throat with his right hand and lifted him up off the ground, leaving Markus feet dangling about a foot off the ground.  "Besides, if using my own life energy is too risky I can just use someone else's" He said with a sinister smile.

             
Markus screams of agony were renewed as Frederick channeled his dark blue lightning into the blonde aeromancer's body.

             
"Markus!" Rosalind called out, but it was no use, he was lost in his own torment.  She tried to push through the wind barrier that Markus had placed to protect, but it was useless, the only thing she ended up doing was cutting her hands up from the slicing winds.  Without her sorcery she couldn't break through it.  "Frederick!  Stop this!" She yelled at her insane husband.

             
"I'm sorry love, I'm having trouble hearing you over the screaming." Frederick responded casually, a malicious grin on his lips.  Markus' eyes were starting to roll into the back of his head.

             
"Please." Rosalind pleaded.  She couldn't stand to see Markus suffer anymore.  He was her oldest friend and her first love.  Though he pissed her off at times, she did not want him to be tortured like this.  "Please no more, take my life, take my power, just leave him alone."  Frederick stopped his torture of the blonde-haired aeromancer, looking at Rosalind in surprise.

             
"Wow I don't think I've ever heard you beg, love." Her insane husband said in surprise, his expression quickly turned into a sinister smile.  "But I think it suits you.  As wonderful as your newfound submissiveness is however, I'm afraid I'm enjoying myself too much to stop now." Frederick turned his attention back to Markus.  "Get a good look at him right now love, because he's about to be..." Frederick's eyes suddenly bulged and he stopped talking.

             
It took a moment for Rosalind to figure out what happened.  While Frederick was talking, Markus had raised his right hand slightly, making it flat.  The blonde-haired magi had aimed the fingers of his right hand at the bottom of Frederick's sternum and conjured up a violent burst of wind.  He shaped and condensed it into a blade, impaling Frederick.  The blade of wind penetrated his chest and extended at least one foot out of the tattooed necromancer's back.  Frederick's blood sprayed everywhere, getting all over Markus' face and chest.  The blonde-haired aeromancer was glaring at Frederick coldly.

             
"Left yourself open." Markus stated simply.

             
"You...bastard..." Frederick cursed, blood pouring from his lips.

             
"Instead of gloating you should have made sure I was really out of commission.  Too bad for you." Markus told him, with that he made an upward stroke with his right hand.  The windblade he had conjured sliced Frederick in half from the middle of his chest all the way to his head.  The immediate area was showered with Frederick's blood and viscera as his body crumpled to the ground.  His grip on Markus' neck was finally released and the blonde-haired aeromancer fell to his knees. 

             
The barrier around Rosalind vanished and she wasted no time in running to Markus, catching him before he fell face-first into the blood-soaked floor.  Her arms were wrapped around his waist and his chin rested on her right shoulder.  The blonde woman hugged him tightly.

             
"What a moron...he just liked to hear himself talk." Markus said, exhaustion evident in his tone.

             
"Save your strength." Rosalind gently admonished him.  They sat in the embrace for a few moments.  Rosalind found that Markus' body was surprisingly warm, it felt good in contrast to the coldness of the dungeon.

             
"What a day huh? You know when I woke up this morning...I never imagined I'd spend it fighting like a hundred ghouls...then killing your husband..." Markus stated in a surprisingly casual tone, Rosalind couldn't help herself, she laughed.

             
"Yeah well, I didn't imagine spending it trying not to get sacrificed by said husband.  Then saved by someone who I thought hated me." Rosalind replied.

             
"Rose..." Markus said, his tone turning serious.  "I could never hate you." The sincerity with which he said those words shocked and touched Rosalind to her very core.  A single tear ran down the right side of her cheek as she closed her eyes and hugged Markus even tighter.  Rosalind suddenly found her head full of things she wanted to tell him, but she couldn't sort through it enough to form a coherent sentence.

             
"Markus...thank you so much!" She finally said, hoping those few words could convey what she truly felt at that moment.

             
"All in a day’s work." He responded simply.  They stayed like that for a few moments, if someone walked in on them now it definitely would look very strange.  Rosalind and Markus on their knees with her arms around his waist, sitting in the middle of a large pool of blood courtesy of her husband's dead corpse.

             
"You mean the world to me Markus, you know that?" Rosalind confessed softly, she received no response though, her answer was some light snoring from Markus.  He had fallen asleep from exhaustion.  Under normal circumstances she would have been offended, but the man deserved a break after everything he did.  So Rosalind just smiled and continued to hold him and that was the state Nobellus, Markus' master, found them when he arrived on the scene.

**********

Present Day 2235 A.D.

Midas City

Rosalind allowed herself a small smile as the incident finished playing out in her mind.  Back then she had thought that Markus was unstoppable.  Frederick had also served as her second magi master as well as her husband.  He was said to be able to at least challenge Nobellus, widely known as the strongest magi in Havenway.  For Markus to be able to kill him was quite the feat.

             
The smile on the blonde woman's face quickly returned to a frown as she remembered how that changed three years ago.