Rise Of Myth: Heir To Valor

Coming up on another intersection, Val reached into a saddlebag, retrieving an orange plastic tube. He reached down and held the striking end against the front wheel. A moment of contact with the wheel and the flare sputtered to life.

Driving through the intersection, Val dropped the flare and turned the corner. This intersection would be the first corner of the square perimeter he was trying to create. Barreling down the street, he continued to drop flares one after the other.

Perched upon a telephone pole, a pair of ravens watched as Val continued to draw a large perimeter with red flares.

"Hmph. The boy has a brain after all." Huginn remarked.

"You could afford to be easier on him you know. You are obviously fond of Val, despite your insistence." Muninn commented in an amused, musical voice.

"I am *not* fond of him." Glaring as he retorted.

"Yes yes, if you insist." Muninn took off from her perch, taking note of a few ghouls reacting poorly to the flares.

She swooped down close to Val.

"Your plan is working, ghouls outside the perimeter are leaving, the ones inside are retreating towards the center."

"Good, keep an eye on them for me, I need to know how many I"m dealing with." Val instructed.

Val was approaching the third corner of his perimeter, he still had little over a dozen flares to work with. One side of the perimeter was bordering on the warehouse, but he did not need to worry too much about it considering the floodlights the police had deployed.

Just as he dropped his flare and turned the third corner, a ghoul leapt out from behind a car, narrowly missing him. This one did not seem afraid of the flares, recklessly trying to catch up with Val.

*f.u.c.king h.e.l.l, one of these already?*

Val sped up, driving up onto the sidewalk to try gain some uninterrupted speed. Chucking more flares he made it to the fourth and final intersection he needed to complete his perimeter. Huginn swooped down on the chasing ghoul, raking his talons across its head. The ghoul flailed and croaked hair-raising, guttural sounds.

"Leave it! Let it follow for now, I"m almost done!" Val called back.

Coming out in front of the warehouse, a dozen men and women in uniform were startled as Val drove up in front of the lot, cutting the engine and hopping off the bike. Not sparing them a glance, he immediately started running down a street, moving away from the warehouse towards a large intersection two blocks away.

The noise and appearance of light had riled up all the ghouls in the vicinity, many of them were moving towards Val"s position, stumbling out of buildings and shambling down the connecting streets.

Standing in the center of the intersection, Val took a deep breath, and closed his eyes. His brows furrowed in concentration, he focused on his heart, willing it to beat faster. A familiar warmth spread across his body, he could no longer feel the chill of the air. Runes on his chest began to glow with the color of fire. A burning sensation took root in his chest as his heart beat harder and faster, thrumming with magic being poured in from the mark. As his muscles began to swell just enough to feel tight against his skin, Val opened his eyes to reveal two irises glowing like hot coals.

His senses were razor sharp, he could hear the hurried shuffling and sc.r.a.ping of shoes against asphalt in the distance. Looking around he could clearly make out a dozen ghouls frantically shambling towards him in the dark, the smell of rotting corpses a.s.saulting his nose as they closed in.

Val drew his blade as the closest ghoul broke out into a clumsy sprint. It was moving quickly, but in his burning gaze it seemed to move sluggishly.

He took a large step forward, his torso twisting with his shoulders as he used both hands to draw steel across the corpse"s shoulders. Meeting only a moment of resistance, the ghoul"s head took off into the air and landed a few meters away.

*Huh, a bit too much force.*

Val felt power surging throughout his body, exciting him as he tested his strength. Pieces of ghoul littered the street as he dispatched each one in turn. Bisected heads, severed limbs, a butcher"s handiwork of decaying flesh and black blood began to cover the ground. To his even greater satisfaction, the blade Karl gifted him showed no signs of dulling or chipping as it carved through flesh and bone without difficulty.

In the distance, a group of officers stood in a brightly illuminated parking lot. A few of them were trying to make out details in the darkness through binoculars.

"Jesus Christ…"

"How the h.e.l.l does he move like that? He moves so fast and it"s like he"s got eyes in the back of his head!"

"I feel sick, I think I"m going to hurl."

A few officers handed away the binoculars they were holding, their faces pale with horror or disgust. Their comrades almost breaking into argument with each other to get a turn to watch the fight.

Richard himself held a steely gaze through his binoculars as he tried to make out every detail. He did his best to hide his shock and disgust, though a feeling of awe and hope was beginning to creep through his mind.

*He wasn"t kidding… There"s been at least a couple dozen of the b.a.s.t.a.r.ds, and he"s just mowing them down like gra.s.s…*

Jim had managed to secure one of the binoculars, looking through it, he saw a pair of orange lights like sinister fireflies bobbing and weaving in the darkness. Every time they finished a motion, steel flashed and danced through the night, and another ghoul fell to the ground. A complicated feeling emerged in Jim"s thoughts. Excitement? Fear? Frustration? He felt his body warm in the chill night, watching another risk life and limb for strangers, all for a pocket watch. He could barely hold himself back from breaching the perimeter and rushing to join Val in his single-minded crusade against the dead. He looked to Richard, having served under him for nearly a decade, he could tell he was not alone in this feeling.

Richard noticed Jim"s stare.

"I know what you"re thinking. But we hold the line here, keeping our people safe is our fight. You heard the man earlier, we"ll only get in his way if we intrude on his. Besides, this night"s just the beginning. He"s serious, and he has this much strength. Taking back the city and rebuilding our home is no longer just a dream. We can give our people their homes back, they can reclaim their possessions, take back some of what they"ve lost. After these long two weeks of losing so much, our city can finally begin to heal." There was a trembling tone in in the Chief"s choking voice, his eyes almost seemed wet, filled with hope as a single figure embodied valor itself in the distance. The figure"s spirit seemed to blaze in the eyes of the officers. With each flash of steel in the night, hope kindled in their hearts, like extinguished fires reigniting one after the other.

Cleaving diagonally through the latest ghoul to throw themselves on Val"s blade, he felt his shirt was beginning to feel damp with sweat, but the energy coursing through his veins told him he could do this all night. The mark on his chest was running hot, but it was not painful. Small wisps of steam looked to be rising from his neckline. Val realized with mixed feelings that he had a grin on his face, giddy with realization of the extent of his current abilities. Above, Muninn was circling, occasionally calling out cardinal directions to notify him of approaching ghouls.

"You know, as pleasing as it is to watch you work, do remember you need to bind each ghoul later. It will be harder if you leave them in so many pieces." She teased from above.

"Yes, I know, I suppose I got a little carried away." Val remarked, eying the grisly scene decorating the ground.

A second raven swooped down to alight on an abandoned car.

"Their numbers are thinning, there are a little over seventy more on the outskirts of your perimeter, but they"re just wandering aimlessly." Huginn reported.

Val grinned. "I think I can fix that."

Walking over to the car Huginn was perched on, he smashed in the car window with the pommel of his sword, as Huginn squawked and took off.

"Insolent brat!" The raven rebuked.

Ignoring him, Val slammed a hand on the steering wheel, blaring the horn for several seconds at a time. The loud noise carried clearly into the night for several blocks, and even people in the warehouse could hear the faint noise of a car horn.

Joining Muninn in the sky above, Huginn remarked hotly. "I am *definitely* not fond of him."

Muninn simply seemed to giggle.

. . .

Xin was trying to get some sleep in his tent, when a tall lanky boy with curly light brown hair whipped open the flap and poked his head in.

"Xin! Get up! There"s something going on outside, let"s go check it out!" Ryan exclaimed, grabbing at Xin"s leg to jostle him awake.

"f.u.c.k no dude, we only have to stay indoors for a another week and then we"re off the hook. Your dad"s gonna kill us if we leave."

"Look, even the patrol team wandered off from their post, they"re all out in the parking lot watching something. Come on man let"s go."

"Go bother Alex or something, I"m not getting in trouble cuz of you again. I already got an earful from my dad about it."

"From the Doc? Ouch. But don"t worry, I"m getting Alex too, you"re just first on the way."

"I"m going to sleep, go do crazy s.h.i.t on your own tonight."

"Dude, my dad already made it clear, if any of us leave the warehouse, we"re all busted, so you might as well come with. It"s the unifying power of collective punishment between bros." Ryan said with a large grin, as he scurried off to go get Alex.

"Dude, that"s f.u.c.ked!" Xin grumbled and followed him out.

Recruiting Alex with the same tactics, Ryan led the two quietly out the door into the parking lot.

The three sneaked up on the crowd of officers, noting his dad on the left side, Ryan led his friends up around to where Jim was standing a couple meters away.
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"Psst, Jim, what"s going on?" Ryan whispered.

Jim looked at the three teenagers huddling next to him in alarm, then looked behind him at the gates, swearing under his breath as he noticed no one was at their post.

"What the h.e.l.l are you three doing out here? Volunteering to clean toilets?" Jim hissed back.

"Everyone can hear the noise from inside man, can I see?"

"No, go back inside, it"s not safe out here."

"Oh come on, we"ll run inside the second one of those zombies show up, promise. Besides, better we stay here in your sights then out in the streets trying to get a better look, right?" Ryan grinned.

"Sigh… Fine, here, you have three minutes then you go back inside, or I let the Chief know he has new volunteer janitors, deal?" Jim relented, offering the binoculars to Ryan and his partners in crime.

"You"re the best Jim!" Ryan accepted the binoculars, Xin and Alex were both just as giddy in excitement.

Soaring through one of the streets towards Val, Huginn called out. "To the East! At least twenty of them will be here in a few minutes. They"re moving as one crowd!"

"Got it!" Val called back as the last ghoul in the intersection had it"s heart carved out, oozing black fluid and stumbling to the ground.

He ran back to the car, slamming the horn repeatedly again, hoping to rile up any approaching ghouls and break up the crowds.

At the warehouse, Richard turned to Jim, who was awkwardly hiding Ryan with his body.

"Chief?"

His eyes were glossy in the bright lights covering the empty lot.

"a.s.semble everyone out here, it"s time to tell them the truth, after this is over, we are taking back our city."