Frank Fuhrur's: Necromancer

I didn"t know if they escaped, but the door last no more than a minute. The demons bypa.s.sed me and flooded the prison. The screams of the unlucky echoed throughout the cell block and beyond.

I struggled to sit up against the wall of the cell. Then the screams faded. The snarls and gnashing of demons grew further and further away.

They kept coming through the portal in my cell. I was positive that there were more being created to overwhelm whatever lay in their path. Then there stood Jezebel in a black, nearly see-through dress that had slits for her legs cut all the way up to her hips.

A top of her head was a crown of fire, and she now had double-jointed red and black wings.

"So, have you made your decision?" she smiled.

"Yes."

"And what is it?"

"I want peace and a place I am accepted," I replied wearily.

Jezebel held out her hand to me.

"Come take my hand, and together we will make a world where we will be accepted. There will be peace."

A thought of regret p.r.i.c.kled my brain but was gone in an instant. I reached up to the hand and gripped it. Jezebel pulled me to my feet and stabilized me.

"They did a number on you," she observed, moving my head from side to side gently.

"Drink my blood. It will heal you and allow you to use your powers in this place," she said.

Jezebel cut her wrist, drawing the blood she was offering. She then held the dripping claret over my lips. Some of the offerings slipped past my lips and trickled down my throat.

Immediately, the blood revived my body. I opened my mouth to receive more. My tattoos, dull and faded, returned to vibrant nature, the cuts and bruises that blemished my body mended, and my eye burned fiery green.

I stepped in front of Jezebel and held out my hand. Pure white orbs began to appear in the room; a few, then dozens. A snap of my fingers, an hourgla.s.s with death and skull decals formed on the floor at my feet.

Like a vacuum, the orbs were sucked into the hourgla.s.s.

"The war has begun, and you, Eugen of the Necromancers, will lead my armies to victory," Jezebel announced.

I turned to her and nodded.

Jezebel slashed a claw in the air ripping open another portal. She took my hand, tugging it softly. I left my soul collector to finish gathering the souls and followed Jezebel through her portal.

~~~

A few days had pa.s.sed when the news of what had happened at the Five h.e.l.ls prison. Hundreds of inmates and staff members lost their lives. The few that did make it off the island barely escaped. The Director lost a hand and an eye.

When the Director returned, he issued a full mobilization of the Seventh"s military to the port city of Purity. Abby and I put in our transfer papers back to the Seventh, and by the time we arrived at Purity, the city had vacated its citizens and wholly transformed into a defensive base.

Reports said that an unidentified ent.i.ty was walking across the water to this city. The Director ordered a.s.sa.s.sin intercept the being, but none had returned.

"Fitzy, what do you think is walking towards us?" Abby asked me as we made our way to our post on the sh.o.r.eline.

I stopped and scanned the horizon.

"It"s Eugene," I bluntly stated.

I didn"t want to admit it, but neither did Abby. She stood neck to me.

"Can"t be sure. We"re waiting for satellite imagery to come back to confirm," I replied.

Abby folded her arms.

We were both in full white armor with the rest of our comrades armed with shields, swords, and automatic rifles.

"Why would he come here, though?"

I looked at Abby, then the ocean.

"I don"t know it doesn"t make sense to me either. The port makes a bottleneck into the city and makes a nightmare for any opposing force," I answered.

"Not to mention that we have the saber crystal," Abby chirped, nudging my arm.

I chuckled, "Yes, we have that. It"ll shield us from anyone or anything."

We have the upper hand. Still, why is he coming here?

"What"s up?" Abby asked, tapping my shoulder.

"I know that Hue wasn"t the best strategist, but even he should know that this is a bad plan to attack here," I said.

"Maybe it"s a diversion?"

"The Director"s already asking that the other States to muster up their arms just in case this is a diversion. That"s going to take a couple of days."

"Lieutenant!"

I spun around. A soldier was waving for me to come to him. Abby and I didn"t keep him waiting, he pulled out a blown-up picture; as clear as day, there was Hue waking on the water in dark, hateful, and yet, elegant armor befitting a necromancer.

"Any news on the a.s.sa.s.sins?" I asked.

The solder pulled out another picture, zoomed out. Surrounding the necromancer were the six Winters" a.s.sa.s.sins. Their eyes glowing yellow and green.

"Hm."

"He was able to take on six a.s.sa.s.sins at once?" Abby asked me.

"Apparently so," I replied.

But my attention wasn"t on the a.s.sa.s.sins.

"What is it?" Abby caught on.

"There"s nothing behind him."

"What do you mean?"

"There"s no army, no hordes, nothing," I replied, handing Abby the picture.

"Does he think that he can take on the entire Seventh army?" Abby questioned.

"I hope not. Usually, you"d find a necromancer far behind the battle control his h.o.a.rd. From this picture, he"s only begun to create his undead army."

"Plus, like you said, there"s the saber crystal," Abby reminded me.

"Mhmm."

"You." I pointed to the soldier who provided the picture. "Are we still set up to be attacked here?"

"Yes, sir," the soldier answered.

"Good."

"What are you thinking?" Abby asked, following me to the line.

"You think that devil wouldn"t let her prized necromancer waltz into a suicide?"

"Well, no, of course not," Abby scoffed with a smile.

"Exactly. There"s something that we"re missing," I stated with a huff, looking out to the oceanic horizon.

I half expected to see Hue riding it; thankfully, he wasn"t there.

"I don"t like it," I finished and walked down the line.

Abby looked out to the ocean.

I didn"t like the fact that Hue had turned against us.

Are we looking at another necromancer plague?

Again, the thought of Hue coming to this port was off. It was nothing but unclear. There was a reason that he was coming to this exact spot.

I looked up and around. A voice had caught my attention, it was gruff, aged, and experienced. The Director had personally come down the line to inspect the front. Beside him was June Mimiku in white robes and a black color around her neck.

"That"s it!"

I marched up to the Director and saluted.

"Sir, may I ask a question?"

The brad shoulder man turned and faced me and nodded.

"What"s on your mind, son?"

"Sir, do we know why the necromancer is coming here?"

"Unfortunately, no. We do hold a significant advantage against him, and the h.e.l.l hordes, if he truly thinks that about attacking here."

"Director, there might be another reason why he"s coming here," I stated.

The Director frond, "What"s your theory, son?"

I pointed with my head to June. The Director glanced at the fox.

"The kitsune?"

"Yes, why else would he be coming here? He must know that she is here," I exclaimed.

"If he is coming to claim what was once his, then he"s going to be in for a rude awakening."

"Sir?"

"See this collar?"

The Director yanked on it. Mimiku was blank to what was going on to her.

"Yes, Sir."

"This collar allows me to control this creature and only me, and if he thinks that he can just cut it off, then he"s in for another treat."

The Director tapped his lips with a finger, occasionally glancing over to Mimiku. I couldn"t look at Mimiku in her eyes; they were blank. A part of me felt guilty for what had happened to Hue and her.

They weren"t bad people, but they were a necromancer and a nine-tailed fox.

"If the necromancer is coming for her then he"s in for a rude awakening."

The Director walked up to Mimiku.

"We will use you to destroy your former master," the Director declared.

"Yes, master," Mimiku replied blandly.

I would have to admit to myself that how Mimiku was acting was a bit uncomfortable. That collar made her do anything that the owner said, anything. It took all of Mimiku"s personality and quirks away.

Mimiku was more just a body there.

"Was there anything else that you could add to this theory, Lieutenant?"

"Ah, no, Sir."

"Then that will be all for now."

The Director waved me off.

"As for you, my kitsune, we need to get you back into your old clothes, and you will act like your old self for the necromancer."

"Yes, master," Mimiku droned.

I looked back at the Director. His eyes filled with premature victory. Even if this was why Hue was coming here, the unsettlement in my stomach didn"t settle. If anything, it grew more.

I rubbed my stomach, hoping that it would somehow help, but nothing changed. I venture back to my post at the front, watching the sunset and scanning the horizon for a dark group of figures.

"Anything out there?"

Abby"s chip startled me from my focus. I spun around to her warm and inviting smile.

"No, thankfully, but inevitably, Hue"s going to be here, and I don"t know if I"m ready to face him."

"News is that we aren"t going to fight him."

I raised my eyebrows.

That news spread like wildfire. I wasn"t the only one not wanting to face Hue.

"Yeah, well, we"ll see about fighting him."

"The kitsune is a freaking nine-tails. The necromancer cannot…"

"Mimiku and Eugene, Abby," I corrected.

"What?" Abby asked, scrunching her eyebrows.

"Our enemy has a name. He was once our friend. He"s not a thing, and as for the kitsune, it"s Mimiku," I stated.

"Right," Abby looked down at the ground.

"It"s just that Hue is a necromancer coming to destroy us, and Mimiku was is a nine tale."

"I know that, but again, they were."

I couldn"t find the words.

"They were good people. If they were treated differently, I think that this all could have been avoided," I confessed.

"Are you sympathizing? They both broke the law!"

"Not on purpose," I snapped back.

"Hue couldn"t change what he was, and Mimiku well; I suppose that she deliberately did that, but she didn"t take over the world."

"Why are you taking his side on this?" Abby questioned angrily.

"Are you going to change sides?" She gripped her sword.

I yielded a sigh and raised my hands in the air.

"No. I"m not going to change side or anything like that. I am going defend Pangea from the h.e.l.l hordes and against Hue."

Abby released her grip. I came up to her and hugged her.

"I just think that this could have been handled differently to avoid the situation that we are in now."

Abby squeezed me harder. She was worried too.

"On the horizon!" someone shouted.

"Battle stations! Raise the shield!"

A whiteish clear bubble surrounded the port and the beachhead. I returned to the horizon and there, walking toward us, was Hue, the necromancer. I had no idea how he was walking on water, but that alone made some of the men uneasy.

"Here he comes," I whispered.