ã€ŠThe Immortal Epicã€‹


 The Foolish Man

    The Foolish Man

    All manner of personnel stare as they see a man coming out of the lifts from the lower level and stride through the hall, looking both furious and determined. These stares aren¡¯t necessarily positive, though due to his high position in the facility they certainly could be misinterpreted as awe by any visitors.

    It is possible that those visitors would perhaps also recognise the young man from his recent work into the study of arcanium. While it wasn¡¯t publicly broadcasted or talked about, those that had heard of the metal or had read of it in other books appeared to know of both the young man and his book since the moment he published it. Not all who do appear to agree with him though.

    But no, these stares all had the same look of contempt in them. They were warned of him before he was even invited to work with them. While some ignored the rumours and found that he was actually quite a kind and learned fellow when talked to, most didn¡¯t bother. Instead from the outside he seems overbearing and disordered to those around him, which only solidified the opinion of most staff there. Luckily for him, one of the two head supervising scientists was one of those whom he counted as a friend.

    His few friends in the facility were all surprised at the mentioning of his age, especially considering his accomplishments but his intellect quickly showed in his work. He always said he got his brains, blond hair, blue eyes and overall good looks from his mother. He doesn¡¯t talk a lot about his father. A thing to be remarked though is that he is by far the youngest in the facility, the next youngest being in the forties. Even the security guards and maintenance personnel are well experienced and thus of a greater age.

    The scientific personnel were mostly all accomplished experts of their field. While not all the greatest experts are stationed in the Entrus facility, nor have they all decided to work for the Collective Arcanium Research Corporation, commonly referred to as CARC by those who know of it. CARC isn¡¯t especially secretive by nature, but their funders just prefer to keep it all from the public eye. So essentially the same thing.

    It was the young man¡¯s work, his first and thus far only book, on arcanium that got him enough attention to be selected for a project that most had to work dozens of years to be considerd for. And while nearly everyonewho were assigned tothe program weren¡¯t given a role of much importance or import, especially from the start to everyone¡¯s umbrage, this youth immediately started as assistant second head scientist and further got a chair on the local directory board. Not a serious posistion yet but many felt that that was already too much. Especially since they themsleves were better suited for it, naturally.

    It''s well then that the second head scientist, Dr Ouddam,was a rational man and not so quick to judge.While he is getting quite old, for all his knowledge even he had to admit that ¡®a revelation on Arcanium¡¯ is the greatest break through in theories on the use and nature of the power inherent to the stone since he himself joined CARC. That there was a strange sort of power seperate from thermal energy in the stone was something he proposed and had some light evidence for.

    The young man goes into the hallway leading to the control room and as he walks past them, people stop talking here and there and stare at his passage. One of them tries to greet him, but his angry visage halts her words and stops her in her tracks. Instead she turns and goes back into the hall. The faculty announced that they had the rest of the day off. Day being a relative term underground. She intends to spend it in her room like most people. On such an important project, you rarely get to rest properly and when you do get some, you can recon it''s only a few hours.

    She steals a glance at the central laboratory door. It seems the technicians and the robots have finally finished installing the experiment and are now locking the door and reinforcing the few vents. She wonders at the reason for such needs but then quickly puts it out of her mind. She crosses the hall, walks past the cafeteria and eventually enters the common room. She takes a look around in their shared common room, only two of her colleagues were still there playing cards while the rest must have already gone to their rooms. She spares a passing glanceat the floor plan of the facility before stepping into herprivate room and taking a well deserved nap. Shefell asleep peacefully.

    At the same time, the young man is simply waiting for the door to the control room to open. But he is clearly impatient andglares daggers into the security camera that is monitoring the door. He already entered the password and now he simply has to wait for the security personnel to check who stands there and press the button. It shouldn¡¯t be that difficult for them or take this long. Nor does the youth fail to notice that.

    The list of people who are allowed entry isn¡¯t overly long. In fact, only five people could open the door and be authorised inside without supervision. Then there were only a dozen or so, perhaps up to two, people excluding security that were allowed to enter and work there under supervision of one of those five. Of course guest are allowed in after they have signed the necessary documents and must also remain within sight of their supervisor. It may seem a bit lenient when you have very, and stress that word, expensive devices and technology present, not to mention what would go wrong if they broke down, but for any of these people to be allowed in the elevator that connect the facility to the surface they must have been thoroughly checked first as well.

    Of those said guests, currently the minister of war and defence of the country that CARC had this facility in, the Netherlands, was present and talking to an old soldier next to him. The door finally opens, perhaps because the guards can¡¯t stall the young man any longer, but nontheless the youth storms in. He walks right past this otherwise important guest, not even acknowledging him in the slightest.

    ¡°Errhart! What do you think you are doing? How dare you to throw out all my work! All the hours I worked, the meetings I attended, every single thing I had said, you have just pointedly ignored and dismissed! I can understand you being an unbelievably stupid arrogant bastard and I''ll smile happily as you burn this whole place to the ground. But I won¡¯t allow you to drag all of us with you!¡± The young man shouts as he marches up to dr Errhart.

    Errhart himself is there talking to some of the maintenance staff about some new safety precautions in the central laboratory. The older scientist stops talking and gazes in the young man¡¯s direction with a hard look. The young man stops two meters from dr Errhart, as if he couldn¡¯t stomach to be any closer. Indeed, the youth seemed to barely manage this already. Errhart however steps forward until he can practically spit in the young man''s face. It even seems for a while that he will also actually do so.

    ¡°I hope you¡¯re not here merely to complain mr Bannecath, though it wouldn¡¯t catch me by surprise. You always seemed to blame your incompetence on others, and the reason of your complains, hah! Spewing us such nihilism and gibberish. I don¡¯t know what is worse, yourpresence or your opinion! Luckily I have been able to rectifyboth. Dr Ouddam was already called back on account of old age and ill health. He left with the elevator going up yesterday.¡± Dr Errhart says, barely looking mr Bannecath in the eyes. But dr Errhart''s eyes twicht in the corners, barely managing to supress a gloatful smile.

    The young mr Bannecath¡¯s eyes widen as he finally notices that dr Ouddam isn¡¯t in the room. Then they focus back into a seething anger. Luckily for him, he knows better than to let the fury loose. For now, he just takes a step back. ¡°Then I see you¡¯re mad. A gift from the demons themselves, after whatever hellish deal you made with them. At least Hassel won¡¯t suffer from it. But don¡¯t think this will be the last of it. Oh no, not by the least. You will pay back every lastcent for this! Now, however, you will change the experiment back to the agreed to parameters. Or the board will hear of this.¡± Mr Bannecath ended with a hiss. No one in the room missed the anger underneath his words.

    The door behind themopens again and two security guards enter the control room. ¡°Perhaps, but that¡¯s where you are so wrong again. I recently talked to the administrators of this company and they finally decided to listen to me. Due to your lack of activity and input, especially on our latest experiment, it''s been decided to pull you from the project. Your suite downstairs has been emptied and you can take the few items on your desk here with you. Meanwhile, you are expected to remain in one of the guest rooms among the staff living quarters. The next elevator is in five days. Do enjoy your remaining days here.¡± Errhart replied,his face turning from a disgustedexpression to a disgusting grin.

    ¡°Guards, if you could help him along. Goodbye mr Bannecath. I hope the only time you going to see me from now on is on television.¡± The security guards walk up to mr Bannecath and stop next to him. Mr Bannecath takes a step forward but both guards block the way to dr Errhart with their arms, holding him back.

    ¡°Errhart!¡±Bannecath shouts past the guards. ¡°This is my life! You go too far! You worthless worm!¡± A fury so passionate burns his eyes to hot blaze. He pushes the arms aside and before they manage to grab him, he ducks under them. It only takes him a few steps until he reaches the old doctor. Pulling back his fist before anyone can stop him, he smashes it into Errhart¡¯s face.

    The scientist¡¯s face, which previously showed shock and surprise, fills itself with both pain and hatred. And with a bloody nose he staggers backwards and even somehow manages to trip over his own feet. The few personnel still working in the control room, instead of already watching the heated display, all suddenlyturn to see the outburst and the following crunch. Everyone stares in shock at the fallen dr Errhart and no one utters so much a word.

    ¡°Argh.¡± With a grunt of pain, the scientist stands up again and releases the onlookers from their stupor. The security guards immediately run up without a care about mr Bannecath''s, now former, posistion. They grab him by his arms and hold him down against the floor, locked in a sturdy grip.

    A man and a womanhaste over to dr Errhart and check to see if he is fine and while a few staff get back to work, the rest really don¡¯t know what to do. Most of them are thinking back at what they just saw. They knew mr Bannecath was weird and a nightmare to work under but they never saw him act with such vile cruelness before.

    -

    ¡°Agh. Ha aha, you imbecile. Now you have done it. Do you know the side effects of the sleep chamber? I guess I can finally discover that myself. It will also be your first useful contribution to science yet. Guards take him and go!¡± Dr Errhart says with a mad but cold-blooded glint in his eyes.

    A guard, the tall one of the two, looks rather uncertain but unsure whether or not to ask something. ¡°Where do we have to bring him? I just want to be certain, that¡¯s all. Especially considering that it''s unadvised to use the sleep chamber outside of emergencies.¡± The woman, who turns from helping dr Errhart, looks at him mockingly. ¡°Advised? The head scientist obviously knows what to do. Now leave!¡± she commanded him.

    ¡°Eghum.¡± The minister clears his throat, drawing upon him the gaze of the head scientist and his two helpers. The guards grab mr Bannecath and start half-dragging, half-pushing him forwards. The minister bodes them to halt ¡°I am sure you know the risks, but I think this ¡®sleep chamber¡¯ isn¡¯t that safe for casual use.¡±

    Dr Errhart shakes himself lose of the man still helping him. He locks his gaze with the minister¡¯s, eyes devoid of repentance. ¡°I advise you to trust my judgement, minister. As you know, we will be partners for a while. Don¡¯t endanger that, good man. And for him.¡± The scientist asserts. Then a vicious grin splits his face. ¡°I don¡¯t think we will be seeing much more of him ever again. So what does it matter how he leaves this place. GO then, idiots!¡± Spittle flies out his mouth, as if to abandon a burning ship.

    The door to the control room opens and a well-dressed middle-aged man stepped through. The man has a rich and self-assured air around him, one so thick that even mr Bannecath gets a whiff of it from within the guards grasp. The guards hurriedly take mr Bannecath and leave through the open door.

    The man watches the door close behind him. The employee the guards were dragging away seemed familiar to him but he probably just saw him in the facility. ¡°Dr Errhart, how good to find you here. Could we perhaps begin the experiment? I see that the minister is present and I have personally sent my aide to inform miss Raye. He should return shortly and I would expect miss Raye to take another half an hour.¡±

    Dr Errhart focuses on the new man. The fury from before can be visibly seen to calm and settle behind a smiling visage on the doctor¡¯s face. ¡°Ah, mr Bruvin. How pleasant to see you so eager. But I am afraid a few of the other sponsors aren¡¯t to arrive but in a few hours yet. Nevertheless, allow me to further express my gratitude on you and your company¡¯s backing.¡± He says, seemingly at odds at with his own geniality.

    Mr Bruvin lets out a small laugh. ¡°Of course, I have been curious about arcanium since my childhood. Backing such an important project took hardly a thought. Yet, I also doubt the others, those who aren¡¯t already present, think of this project with the same idea of success. Indeed, if we were to go ahead without them.¡± He glances around the room, looking at the employees who were paying attention to their conversation. ¡° And the experiment fails, I doubt they would concern themselves overly much.¡±

    Dr Errhart nods and turns around. His smile drops and an annoyed expression becomes prominent on his face. He lets out a sigh and looks at his employees in the room. ¡°I am pulling the schedule of the experiment ahead. All non-essential personnel for the experiment have to leave.¡± A few people get up but it seems like most of them haven¡¯t heard it. ¡°I said go!¡± Dr Errhart shouts angrily.

    Outside, the guards stop and pull mr Bannecath upright. The tall guard grabs mr Bannecath¡¯s arm and twists it behind him. The door of the control room opens again and a stream of people leaves through it. With a yank, the tall guard returns mr Bannecath¡¯s view forwards. But that only changed the object of his staring to the guards.

    With another push the guard holding him stops mr Bannecath¡¯s livid glaring and nearly trips him up, then with a yank, stops him before he does. With a grin on the guards¡¯ faces, they continue on, as if parading to all who pass them, showing off their prisoner. The staff that they meet all stop and stare before continuing on. Most walk on with a smile on their faces, thinking that they were right all along. They now knew for certain the boy didn¡¯t belong here, among actual scientists and adults.

    Going through the main hall and out of the third right hallway, they continued on to their second left. The guard holding him lets go when out of sight of the hall and just pushes mr Bannecath forwards. Mr Bannecath instead turns back to the guards again but he then immediately punched by the other one.

    ¡°Greg, why did you let him go?¡± The annoying one asks the tall one. ¡°Well, I didn¡¯t expect him to try and attack us. There really isn¡¯t any point in it.¡± The tall one bends down and looks mr Bannecath in the eye. ¡°You hear me lad? There is only one way out of this place and for you it¡¯s to do as we say. Or you can take a climb while the elevator is still up there. See how that goes.¡± The tall one spits in his face, holding him close by the scruff of his shirt.

    When he lets go, the annoying guard gives mr Bannecath a kick and spits on him. ¡°To kick in the point.¡± He reasons with a snicker. Mr Bannecath has calmed down a lot already, but there is little that¡¯s currently going to help with. Well, calmed down. It would sooner be said that he¡¯s fine with his current list of injuries.Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

    They enter the sleep chamber and see that the lights are still on, though none of them can see anyone present. The room has two rows with four big upright glass tanks, some liquid inside visible with a green light. Or perhaps the liquid is green. Not that it matters actually. In the back, there was one that was in use. A man that was working in one of the smaller labs somehow managed to explode an arcanium compound he was working with. He required specialist treatment so they put him there to bring him back the next time the lift came down.

    ¡°Damn it, the one time you need him.¡± The tall guard says with a sign. ¡°Link the screen to his room. He is usually there.¡± The annoying one points to a nearby desk. The tall one walks over, activates the monitor and taps a few buttons on the interface. Suddenly a man looking at mature things on a bed is visible. The guard is clearly surprised but looks more amused than otherwise.

    ¡°Ehem, Stennard.¡± The guard loudly clears his throat. The annoying one snickers in the background. The man nearly springs out of his skin, and closes the magazine while scrambling to put his pants on. Curses spewing from his lips, he throws his underpants at whatever is filming.

    A few minutes later a somewhat bewildered Stennard appears on screen. His bed is perfectly clean though something can be seen through the covers on it. ¡°What.¡± He asks, slightly apprehensive. ¡°We have a new patient for you.¡± The tall one replies to him. ¡°Really, that¡¯s all? You basta¡­¡± The tall one cut off the feed and sat in the chair.

    The annoying one still had a smirk on his face as he looked at the tall security guard. ¡°You know you could have stopped it anytime right? Or even just have send him a text message?¡± The tall one just ignores him and closes his eyes with a devious grin on his face.

    Then around ten minutes later, this Stennard arrives through the door. ¡°Hi Stenn.¡± The annoying guard says with a smug look. Stenn just ignores him and walk up to the tall one. ¡°You had a new patient you said?¡± He intoned with a neutral as possible voice. The guard still in the chair indicated at mr Bannecath with his head. ¡°He seems perfectly fine to me. What did he do?¡± Stennard inquired curiously. Without waiting for a reply, he walks over to the closest tank.

    ¡°He punched dr Errhart in the face.¡± The annoying guard told him. Walking over to what Stennard was doing, he saw the man climbing up the stairs next to the tank and connect a few tubes with an oxygen outlet at the base. Stenn snorted as he attached a facemask to the other end of the tube. ¡°Okay, bring him up. Don¡¯t bother about the clothes.¡± He gestures to the guard to fetch mr Bannecath, who had just been warily standing next to the annoying guard.

    Mr Bannecath is pushed up the steps as Stennard unscrews the top of the tank and pushes it a bit to the side, straining as he does so. ¡°Well then. Hop in.¡± Stenn hands him a mask. ¡°Strap that around your face. After you have done that, I¡¯ll put ye to sleep.¡±

    Mr Bannecath fastens the mask to his face and under the watchful gazes of the guards steps in. The liquid is ice-cold to the touch and fills most of the entirety of the tank, roughly two and a half meters tall. While mr Bannecath wasn¡¯t short, he only took up a bit more than half the space.

    The screwing back on of the top reverberated through the tank. Mr Bannecath closed his eyes and waited for the inevitable drowsiness of sleep. But that didn¡¯t happen. Instead his body is starting to feel tingly. Like he got a glass of water when he was thirsty. Like he jumped into a nice cold pool when it was absolutely boiling.

    After waiting a while, he opens his eyes again. And nearly chokes on oxygen out of shock. Before his eyes, the room was flashing red with an alarm going off in the corner. He couldn¡¯t hear anything but he¡¯d imagine that the alarm was also blaring in the whole facility. At the door, flames could be seen crawling into the room from the sides.

    With panic in his eyes, he looked around the room but couldn¡¯t see any of the security guards or the man working here. Then there was a boom that even he heard and the lights flickered out, the only remaining lights coming from the flames pouring into the room, slowly but steadily.

    Seemingly, a few minutes later another crash shook the facility and made dust fall from the ceiling and tears appear in the stout walls. During all this the emergency power still hasn¡¯t switched on. After the blackout, the oxygen supply had started to lessen but now it had become a struggle to breathe. Suddenly, the lights flickered back on and illuminated a charred husk of a room, slowly growing as if the footprints of the flames. The sprinklers finally activate and a small relief washes through him only to be taken away again together with the lights and sprinklers.

    The only thing calming him somewhat was the feeling from before, only it was starting to increase gradually, until it becomes a fierce burning across his whole body. He immediately tries bashing in the glass walls but it doesn¡¯t even hurt his own hands. Unable to do anything, he starts thrashing as his oxygen slows from a trickle to a halting ooze of pitiful air.

    Nearing his end, his movements slow and his eyes dim but the burning never ceased. Suddenly, a torrent of something that wasn¡¯t air but instead like a conquering tide of new sensations floods him. With great but barely conscious will, he pushes forwards.

    As the liquid starts rushing out through the cracks, the cracks then spread before finally shattering entirely, leaving a huge hole in the front of the tank. Mr Bannecath is dragged along with the stream and thrown on land like a fish out of water, desperately gasping for air. Exhausted, he falls into a painful and fitful sleep.

    <ul>

    <li>Alder Errhart</li>

    </ul>

    Now then, it¡¯s finally time. The other two are finally out of my way and I have enough backing behind me to continue with the plan. If this experiment succeeds, all this worry will seem so trivial. But a lot of things will suddenly seem trivial, if one is ageless.

    Verna and Jacheal are sitting at their monitors, both doing their job surveying the experiment. They know what to do, as they have been training for this for the last few months, even ignoring the dozen of years they spent working here. And even beyond that, they are capable. I selected them myself after all, not everyone is worthy to join me in immortality. Then again, they are also easy to lord over.

    ¡°Iss everything ready for plan b?¡± I ask them. My nose still hurts from where that idiot punched me, but it wasn¡¯t broken and a nurse came and gave me a cool pack for it. At least it gave me a reason to throw him into one of those slumber tanks. I¡¯d be damned to hell if he survives plan b.

    Jacheal turns around in his chair while quickly tapping some more keys on the interface before giving me his attention. ¡°Most of the staff are currently going or already in their living quarters. We have a few stragglers in the recreational room, the cafeteria and in one of the smaller labs. There is still of course the security centre but going by rough estimations they should be out of the imbuement radius.¡± He quickly reads of the screen.

    With a hand I motion him to shut it. ¡°What do you mean rough estimations? I gave you my equation for it didn¡¯t I.¡± I darkly intone. Jacheal turns somewhat pale. ¡°Well, we. Ehm. Well, I don¡¯t think there is much proof to support your equation. Your theory on imbuement is most likely correct, we even managed to do some unseen test to prove some concepts of it but the equation seems to decrease the maximum range too much to be accurate if you ask me.¡±

    I now focus on him with squinting eyes. ¡°Jacheal.¡± I said with a sigh. ¡°Yes sir?¡± Jacheal actually looked hopeful there, the fool. ¡°Don¡¯t ever again dare to openly doubt me. Or you¡¯ll remind me of mr Bannecath and that certainly issn¡¯t a compliment.¡± I stated with a looming visage. And I crushed that hope of his. You are mine Jacheal, just like Verna, so remember your place.

    ¡°Continue.¡± I commanded him. ¡°Of course.¡± He affirmed, not looking me in the eyes as is proper. ¡°So, there are packages planted near each all doors leading into the common rooms as well as the guest chambers and the entrance to the staff living quarters. To prevent the sprinklers from activating, we have deactivated the emergency generator. We¡¯ll blame the deactivation on old age and a lack of maintenance and since the actual maintenance crew will hopefully have all perished nobody will be refuting that.¡± Jacheal reads out from his notes and then look expectantly at Verna.

    At a glance at Jacheal and a sigh, she continues reading out the preparations. ¡°The few who won¡¯t be in the staff quarters will be harder to get but from the kitchen and beyond we won¡¯t need to worry anymore, just like with the security centre. The offices are only partially in range but they are empty currently. Just in case, I can sound the alarm after both we started the experiment and activated the packages in the staff living quarters. All scientific and non-security personnel are instructed to assemble in the hall. The sleep chamber and the test subjects hold should be just out of range as well but it could swing the other way as well. Unknown variables in the test sir.¡±

    Very well, dubious reasons but I prefer her to Jacheal anyway. It could also be true. From behind a short laugh came out. One of their guests, who were quietly talking amongst themselves till now, was walking over to them. ¡°Good day mr Bruvin. Can I help you with anything?¡± I inquire politely. ¡°Is our last guest nearly here? It is only just a short walk from the premium guest chambers to the control room.¡±

    ¡°Yes, she should be here any second now. But that wasn¡¯t the reason I came over. No, the reason was that I couldn¡¯t help but hear that that sleeping chamber might be in the imbuement range. Wasn¡¯t that where you send that vicious fellow from before? Wouldn¡¯t want to include him in our plan, now would we?¡± Mr Bruvin responds with a sly smile, clearly not expecting any denial.

    With a somewhat strained smile I look at him directly. ¡°Certainly not. But do not worry, the equation I discovered for the imbuement range shows it should fall just short.¡± Mr Bruvin still seemed dubious as he stole a glance at Jacheal. In fact, now I would certainly need a private conversation with the aging but still younger man. Why do people always leave the tasks of leadership and wisdom in the burdened hands of their elders? Luckily, I am up to the task of immortality but those thugs like mr Bannecath shouldn¡¯t even know of the glory that would be his future.

    I can hear a door opening and turn around to see miss Raye stepping through the door. As agreed she has come with only one of her own guest, which would also have been used if she brought an employee. ¡°I see everyone is now present. Then lets start the experiment. May death never dare touch us again!¡± Miss Raye just walks up to mr Bruvin with her own bodyguard. Mr Bruvin for some reason brought a butler with him, but while it may be handy and he seemed competent I doubt I would bring such a person with me into immortality.

    The only one and last private backer of mine present who didn¡¯t bring an employee for any kind was the minister of war and defence. He brought with him an old friend from the military. Apparently he was his officer before he got selected for specialist training but they always stayed in touch. That man should be elated we deigned to grant him immortality.

    I stop paying attention to them, they are just a means to an end, even if they are an important one. I feel someone tapping my shoulder. With a sigh and an annoyed look I turn around but that immediately turn into a cheery smile as I see it¡¯s that accursed mr Bruvin again. ¡°Yes?¡± Mr Bruvin still has that smile on his face as always but it¡¯s starting to annoy me. A necessary evil Alder, don¡¯t forget that.

    ¡°Well I was wondering, which if you could so kindly satisfy it for me, how you discovered this¡­ I don¡¯t seem to recall you referring to the power extracted from arcanium as any other than that in your letter. So lets call it mana shall we? Then the question is how did you discover this mana imbuement process? It is a very curious thing to discover. The other day I read that book from that colleague of yours but for all his reasoning and plausible theories, he never once thought of it. The fact that he purposed a theory that would make a full arcanium to mana conversion possible is sheer luck.¡± Mr Bruvin finally finished his rant.

    While he clearly is an intellectual, I can barely stand to be in his presence. It''s not that he is threatening or scares me in any way. No that would be utterly ridiculous and unbecoming of me. Indeed, but his questions might distract me from something important. I glance over my shoulder to see if my subordinates need my help or utterly anything else needs my attention. How unfortunate.

    ¡°Firstly, you shouldn¡¯t take that fools work to heart. Most, if not everything, is entirely unfounded and has not been proven, and again if at all, to sufficient reason. The only ¡®evidence¡¯ he has comes from works and reports we published. I doubt he managed to ascertain anything particularly useful that we haven¡¯t already, and especially from only the items we give to the public.¡± I deftly stated. If I can disillusion even more person of the assumed genius of mr Bannecath, I¡¯d be glad to. A shame that most of the people I actually shared it with will die today.

    ¡°So you have read his work?¡± Mr Bruvin inquired. ¡°What?¡± I nearly shout out, completely shocked. ¡°Hells, no. Why would I want to read such dribble?¡± The other guests all take a look at us, not knowing the reason for my small outburst. My subordinates don¡¯t look up from their monitors, just like they should. ¡°If you have not read the book, then how can you be so certain of its contents?¡± I can¡¯t help but contort in disdain at those words. ¡°Of course it''s gibberish. What else would you expect from those people. Those scum.¡± I tell him fervently.

    Carefully, I place a pleasant smile back on my face. ¡°But that wasn¡¯t your original question was it? No, I was working on a not so special minor experiment in one of our smaller laboratories. It must have been ten years ago. Yes, I think it was. I remember being fifty-two when he died. I was working with a colleague you see. For some reason I can¡¯t quite remember my partner was angry at the failure of one another experiment, the effect of oxidation on arcanium with a limited carbon supply. The important part was that he had cut himself recently. The man managed to cut himself on the weirdest things¡­¡± I trailed off, reminiscent in some good memories. A genuine smile flashes on his face for the briefest second.

    ¡°Go on.¡± Mr Bruvin bade, clearly interested. ¡°Of course. He had a cut on his hand you see, and in his famed and unreasonable fits of rage, he grabbed the measly 20 grams of arcanium. When his injured hand touched the still in flame metal, it exploded. I was blasted backwards, but as I went, I felt this faint tingling like faint rain against your skin. I felt rejuvenated. And then the intake suddenly doubled. I later discovered this was when my friend died. I was in no shape but dr Ouddam later discovered that there was now a thin layer of copper oxide present on the arcanium.¡±

    I stopped to take a deserved breath, actually going deep into the memories and story. ¡°You see, our arcanium is of course the purest we have available, normally we detect no other metals within. But my theory is that, what did you name that energy again?¡± ¡°Mana.¡± He supplied. ¡°Thank you. It''s that that mana imbued my cells with vitality, though I haven¡¯t been able to observe it with a microscope. But the arcanium isn¡¯t just made of mana, no, arcanium is a pure metal given different properties and appearance due to an imbuement of mana. Some covert testing showed that it probably takes time or high concentrations of mana to imbue a metal enough for it to arcanise.¡± I said between excited breaths.

    ¡°But didn¡¯t this mr Bannecath propose some vague theories, perhaps better to call them ideas, on how to make metals react with arcanium?¡± Mr Bruvin asked, forgotten during the conversation my thoughts on that thug. Nearly immediately my face was back as the mask it should be. Alder control yourself!

    I was about to re-inform him of my opinion when the tell tale sign of a slight prickling across my body started. Yes, it really did feel like faint rainy mist against my skin. I turn back to Verna and Jacheal, my rant forgotten. ¡°Well?¡± I asked them. ¡°You should be feeling it, if it''s all working.¡± Verna didn¡¯t look me in the eyes when she replied but that is easily explainable to the moment.

    From behind me, a few of the guest gasp but it didn¡¯t sound like mr Bruvin was among them. Pity, that would have been amusing. Figuring now was as good a time as any enact plan B he nodded to Jacheal. ¡°Start plan B.¡± This did still draw conflicted looks from the minister and the butler. The alarms start sounding in the control room but Jacheal quickly deactivates it.

    ¡°You have a plan B, so what was plan A?¡± The minister decides to ask me. ¡°Something na?ve I came up with years ago when I didn¡¯t have the motivation to continue yet. It summarised as either sending all the staff away or keep them the furthest away as possible from the experiment while remaining in the facility. Of course, the experiment I had in mind then was entirely different that this and would have been a catastrophe. Both versions of the plan also included hoping the governments didn¡¯t take notice of it.¡± I tell everyone dismissively.

    I walk over to a desk and press the button that I know opens the iron curtain, blocking the view this room has directly into the central laboratory, where the experiment is currently on going. They open slowly but even then there is only a fiery storm visible in it. The butler does look somewhat sceptical and mistrustful of the spectacle. ¡°I presume some precautions were taken?¡± He asks, somewhat unsteadily.

    I decide to ignore his faltering faith, and instead answer him. ¡°I deemed the explosion a side effect. Caused by what, I don¡¯t know. But I specifically asked for some sort of channel to the power generator, for efficiency, and they added a smaller line to the incinerator.¡±

    The butler still seemed cynical, and the minister along with his friend and miss Raye¡¯s bodyguard were starting to show doubts. ¡°It is all perfectly under control. Just try enjoy the sensation for it will only happen once. Nothing can go wro¡­¡± I was trying to reassure them but then Jacheal dared to interrupt me. ¡°Sir, I think both the channel and the port to the power generator are reaching their maximum limit. Even the protections in the central lab are starting to wear down.¡± The bodyguard of miss Raye slowly walks over to the desk where he had seen me open up the reinforced steel curtain before, and has them slowly close again.

    ¡°Then don¡¯t sit here doing nothing! Send someone to check it, or decrease the intensity of the experiment.¡± I quickly tell him. With a slight panic in his eyes Jacheal stands up. ¡°We CAN¡¯T send anyone because we are killing them all! That was the plan remember. Nor can we just go ourselves because we wouldn¡¯t know what to do or could we even reach it. Furthermore, we also CAN¡¯T decrease the intensity. Arcanium reactions are self-supplying after a certain threshold. And if we did then¡­¡± Jacheal was suddenly stopped by a violent crash that reverberated through the control room.

    Jacheal sprints over to the reinforced and supported glass that has closed halfway by now but doesn¡¯t find any damage to it. He was about to out a sigh of relief but then everyone feels a thunderous crash. The lights start to flicker and then die out and the reinforced steel curtain stops, with only a quarter of the glass still uncovered.

    Jacheal spins around and shouts at Verna. ¡°Active the emergency power!¡± And she immediately runs to a corner of the room, manually trying open a small hatch there. Jacheal instead runs back to his monitor and bashes keys on his dead interface. The bodyguard pulls miss Raye with him as they run to the entrance. Smashing against it, the bodyguard tries to break it open since there is no power and while it does quickly start to show wear it will take too long.

    Instead I just stand there as the rest needlessly panic, feeling the mana imbuing his cells and further taking it all in. Then another deafening impact shakes the room, seemingly echoing through the facility. ¡°Yes!¡± With a cry of success Verna manages to reactivate the emergency power. Jacheal stops aimlessly hitting buttons and tries to get back in control.

    ¡°Why is it restarting!¡± In a fit of desperate wrath he picks up his chair and throws it away. A look of heart-rending shock, one you can only see once a life, craved itself on Jacheal face as he looked at the chair¡¯s trajectory.

    Jacheal isn¡¯t a strong man, or particularly young. I would guess his age to be around fifty-five or fifty-eight. Any chair he¡¯d throw wouldn¡¯t get far but that was before the experiment progressed.

    With a painful sharp thud, the glass shudders and cracks slowly start to spread. Jacheal just slumps on the ground and Verna soon copies him, crying pitifully. Miss Raye and her bodyguard haven¡¯t managed to break down the door but it is only hanging on its hinges and showing an orange glow behind it. The minister and his friend try to pile up desks and other loose furniture into a barricade. Mr Bruvin and his butler are just standing there but unlike me, they aren¡¯t basking in the imbuement of power, they are frozen with fear and indecisiveness.

    With a loud crack the glass starts to give way and spurs the butler into action. He jumps at and tackles mr Bruvin, and throws him under Jacheal¡¯s desk. Then the glass finally shatters and floods the room. First it swallows Jacheal, the closest to the flames, and from the darker shape within there briefly follows harrowing screams until that too is fully devoured.

    I don¡¯t try to run away as it surges towards me, the fiery maws of a storm. I reach for the power now stored within me and with great will and faith, I believe myself invincible, protected by it. It passes through me and leaves nothing but ash, granting me at least a painless death.

    The butler didn¡¯t survive long but he died with less regrets than anyone would have expected, but only wishes he could have told his son, who he just tried to save, the truth.

    The minister and his old military buddy might as well have stayed standing as well, for all the good their barricade did. Their screams sound through the room, reaching the ears of the miss and her bodyguard before the flames do, but not by much. Miss Raye¡¯s emotions fall away as she looks at her death, the woeful screams of the tortured souls still dying strong. Contrary to expectations and true to herself she steps forward into it, not hesitant to say the least.

    Mr Bruvin though, he is the most protected of all of them. Thrown under the desk he is still bewildered as the first flames reach past his butler¡¯s charred corpse into his little sanctuary. His death was the slowest of all of them, giving him the greatest amount to regret.

    Nearing his end, he stops thrashing, stops screaming and nearly lies still. The constant cold prickling sensation had grown into a flood and only prolonged his suffering even more. With a great but barely conscious will, he runs away. Under a desk, behind a charred husk, trapped within the control room, in the Entrus Scientific Facility, a lifeless body burned alive but made not a sound.

    From within the earth, more magic awoke. All the mana that went unused rushes out from the facility, seeking more arcanium. All over the globe, this mana eventually finds it''s destination, but arcanium already is the densest natural occurring form of mana. So it reacted the opposite way. The extra mana destabilises the arcanium and ruptures it everywhere, though not the same way as during the experiment. The mana, freshly released, seeps back up the earth and towards its unexpected hosts.

 A Dark Time

    A Dark Time

    <ul>

    <li>Etham Bannecath</li>

    </ul>

    ¡°Uuugh, my head.¡± I manage to utter. My head, no my whole body is killing me. How much did I drink? Wait, did I drink? I thought Hassel drank the last of it? I twitch my arm and pain arches through my being.

    ¡°Argh, aaaagh.¡± My screams echo through the burnt room. Only silence responds. Flashes run rampant through my mind, following the shock of pain. Of the guards, dr Errhart and the flames. The tank naturally came back last. I try to push myself up again, but I immediately collapse into oblivion.

    An unknown amount of time passes before I wake up again. Strangely enough, most of the pain is gone now. I manage to stand up with only some slight stinging on my arms. My eyes burn but other than that, they are bloody useless. Everything is pitch black. I manage to get up without too much swaying, though it''s starting to diminish I hesitantly take a step forwards, splashing and cracking glass under my foot.

    Reaching the wall is a good plan. I¡¯d be damned if I can remember or even imagine where I am standing in the room. I slowly and calmly walk forwards, only putting my full weight on my foot if there is no glass under it. So, I only lightly stub my toe against another tank. ¡°Pigs on a pony! Au!¡± Still, I have sensitive toes.

    I feel over the tank, trying to decide with direction its facing. The tanks are all in rows facing the entrance. So that will help me getting out of this room and find some help. And why they switched off the lights to this room. Hm, it¡¯s facing my left.

    I turn left and walk forwards again. My steps are a bit more hurried this time. I trip over the charred remains of the desk and I manage to only just stop myself falling by grabbing the desk. ¡°Oh no, no, no.¡± I whimper as it creaks and gives way. Pushing myself off from the desk only made it collapse quicker.

    ¡°Gods damn it.¡± What idiot puts a desk, a wooden desk no less, in this room. We even have a dedicated section for offices and everyone that needs one in the facility gets one. I swear, when I get out of here I am going to tell the directory board of CARC to get that idiot fired. What was that idiot called again that worked in this room? Stennard? Well, I am going to get him fired. How in the hells did he even get the desk here?

    Well, I am still in absolute darkness, I grope around the remains of the broken desk to see if anything useful is hiding in them. ¡°Au.¡± I flinch surprised. Something cut my hand. I could try and reach for it again, but since I can¡¯t see it, it will probably cut into my hand again. But damn me if I don¡¯t want it. I pat the ground near where I cut myself with my hand, and then big pats of course. Hopefully it won¡¯t slice me then.

    I probably should be concerned with the cut I got, but I just can¡¯t be bothered. With all else that happened you know. And it¡¯s only a cut, I have certainly felt worse things since this happened.

    I have it! I think it¡¯s a pocket knife. I¡¯m keeping it and putting it safely in my pocket. Shame that I have barely any use of it now. What could it even be used for currently though? I still can¡¯t even see it! Anything is pointless in this blasted darkness. Well, I have one thing that I can do and that is finding the door. Hopefully it¡¯s only this room that conquered by the abyss.

    Let¡¯s see. Do I remember where the desk was compared to the door¡­? Maybe? Hopefully? No¡­? Oh joy. Now comes the next question. Do I want to lose the desk and maybe, quite unlikely, find the door? Sure, I guess I would be able to find the wall with some hassle but the desk is an important room mark you know. Leaving it just seems¡­ Unsafe.

    What am I saying. I am a Bannecath. And while that doesn¡¯t mean much yet, I hope someday it will. So why not start now? Goodbye desk. You probably beautiful pile of rubble. Thank you for the knife.

    ¡°By the gods, I hate this.¡± Do you know that sensory deprivation can drive a man mad? Apparently, people who can see their arms moving in front of them in utter darkness, which is an illusion by the way, are sooner susceptible to madness. I am sure the illusion thing is fictional though. Do I seem mad otherwise? Not to me.

    I try to walk around the debris on the floor to continue in the line I first hit the desk with. Don¡¯t worry, sounds complicated but basically it just boils down to continuing. Why I myself wouldn¡¯t understand it is beyond me however. Just continue. That¡¯s all you can do.

    If only there was some blasted light and then all this would be so much easier. How is the rescue team even going to find or see me without a light? A light would also get rid of this suffocating feeling that comes with the void. I just need some of that oh so blessed light. But I swear, unless my eyes are blind, I am doomed to these hollow halls. And I can¡¯t accept that.

    Aha! I am touching the wall! No man was right by being left. To the right we go. I am not as much walking alongside the wall as keeping my hand on it to anchor me to reality. That¡¯s how I picture it in my mind at least. Far more exciting to say than just that I fear losing touch with the wall. Sure, I should be able to easily find it again but this abyss¡­ Irrational fear lingers within.

    Forget it all, stuff it in the deepest pit of hell. I have no use of fear! You feel this? I am touching the wall! That means I will get out of here! You hear me Errhart? I will survive this hell hole you left for me. And the best thing is that it would happen all the sooner with some damned LIGHT! Suddenly it feels like a tide of energy pours out of me, leaving me somewhat exhausted. Then a foreign spark blinds my eyes, and like the contrast between heaven and the abyss it hurt them.

    ¡°Au! What in the¡­¡± I curse and stagger backwards. But there is a floating fire here! A floating fire! I can shatter tank sure, maybe my private working out sessions helped. But a floating fire! There are no reasons for any of these recent happenings Well, what that idiot Errhart did probably has a reason but that¡¯s innate. Considering we are in a facility researching arcanium, that would seem like the most obvious choice. But if arcanium is the cause of this then why hasn¡¯t it happened before¡­

    The experiment. Don¡¯t tell me they went on with it. But if they did¡­ then it seems they managed to create something more than a fire. A grin splits my face at the possibilities. My theories, once merely that, can now be proven and acted upon! Oh, my dreams have been granted. And only at the mere cost of some lives! Hopefully Errhart being one of them. Really, if everyone had just listened to me and weren¡¯t unfaithful bastards I say they¡¯d all still be alive.

    Giddy, I look up at the flame that has given me both hope and salvation. It is an unnatural flame and it shines with a baleful permeating light. The base is a inky black, almost as if the fire is burning the dark itself. From it rise pink flames, dark from where they come from the black flames but they gradually turn lighter. The fire ends with light blue tongues of flames. The light it shines is either pink or blue but I can¡¯t seem to see it as one or the other. Truly mysterious.

    Anyway, I can now roughly see the room but the light gets too faint for details. I move over to the door, which luckily isn¡¯t too far away from the light. The door is a black mess but it still sits quite sturdy in the doorframe. Not strong enough to hold against continuous bashing though, because it flies right off. And thus I am free! Free from this room anyway.

    The corridor is dark and blackened. A disgusting, retching foul stench wafts in from the hallway. The smell of burnt flesh. Oh, damn it. I wish I could close the door but you know, bashed open and all at. Maybe place the door back into its frame? Hm, it just doesn¡¯t look that¡­ sturdy anymore. It would still work as a door, well if you are not too picky on being able to open it, but the plastic was all horribly melted and some places were even burnt through. Luckily there are other options for smart me.

    I walk back to my broken tank and dip my shirt in its liquidly stuff. I then quickly cover my mouth and nose with it, making the smell somewhat bearable and the air breathable. I peer into the corridor but it''s mostly all dark with a few very faint embers still glowing. So not only the sleeping room is burned, though that doesn¡¯t surprise me at all considering it crept in from outside the door in the first place. The corridor is still too dark though.

    I glance back at the little flame. First, I look for something burnable that hasn¡¯t burnt yet in the room. I didn¡¯t even bother looking near the tanks and immediately went over to the ruined desk. Hm, I guess the table leg isn¡¯t all that burnt? Welp, it will have to do.

    With the table leg in hand I walk over to the little flame. I poke it, but the leg goes straight through it. If I can¡¯t move it, then I¡¯ll just set something alight that I can. I stand there waiting for the leg to catch fire for what felt like fifteen minutes. I suppose I can stand here waiting for a bit longer, who knows what kind of fire this is. But I am just not that patient.

    ¡°Welp, guess I don¡¯t need this anymore.¡± I throw the leg away. ¡°Oh, fak it.¡± I mean, what¡¯s the worst that can happen? I then shove my hand into the flame. ¡°Aaaagh!¡± I scream. A grin splits my face. Just kidding. I weirdly enough feel nothing, no heat and no pain. But aside from all the¡­ Well, I guess I can call it magic. So aside from all the magic and burned facilities, it is kind of lonely here. Still, I¡¯d rather be lonely than discover that dr Errhart is alive. But hopefully not everyone is dead. But if they are then I won¡¯t have to share any of the remaining food until we are rescued¡­

    Oke, back to the light. The small flame is heatless but all the fire does is flicker. I was hoping to see if it would move but alas, it didn¡¯t. Guess it¡¯s time to try and blow it away. I take in a deep breath and then ferociously try to blow the damned flame away. The flame burns stoically as I slowly sputter out. Yeah, that¡¯s not happening. It didn¡¯t even flicker and just seems to laugh at me. I made you damnit! Hey¡­ If I made the first one¡­ I got to try something.The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

    I try to ignore the smell as well as I can as I walk back into the corridor. The smell is getting ever so slightly easier to stomach, mainly due to the odour drifting in the sleeping room. I hope I¡¯ll be able to adapt to it before I am stuck in perpetual submersion.

    If I want to continue I do need some more lights. And if I want to make some more lights I must figure out how to bloody make them. It can¡¯t be that difficult though. Remember who I am? I am the very reason I am here. I am important due to who I am. Truly, I doubt anyone else would have been in my circumstance if they weren¡¯t me. And that fact should be known if I am going to figure this out. I am meant to survive and conquer magic.

    I am Etham Bannecath, the son of a shop owner and a loving mother. I found my dream and future with arcanium and I will continue with magic. And I will survive.

    So¡­ How did I do it again. Ha, all that bravado and then this. Quite funny. Ah, anyway. Think back. I was getting fed up with it all. You can barely do anything if you don¡¯t have any light. I pat my pocket, feeling the pocket knife in it. I guess I can have a look at it, this magic stuff isn¡¯t going to happen too soon.

    ¡°Oh, look at this. Fancy.¡± I mutter to myself. This is an official CARC pocket knife. I didn¡¯t think they handed these out anymore. Shame that its only cheap Chinese work. To be fair though, with the cost of everything else, I wouldn¡¯t care either how good such a knife would be. But in this case the quality of the knife is quite poor.

    I don¡¯t know what I can use the knife for yet but I put it back into my pocket. Thank this blessed light though. And here¡¯s to making many more. The creation of the first spell was linked to my emotions I¡¯d guess. It can¡¯t be a coincidence that I was getting angry and formed that flame after my outburst. It also is quite suspicious it formed at the word ¡®light¡¯. As good a start as any I suppose.

    ¡°Light.¡± Nothing happens. ¡°Light!¡± Still nothing. At least my rescuers should be able to hear it, if they are down here yet. ¡°LIGHT!¡± I shout to the top of my lungs. It isn¡¯t working. So, it didn¡¯t just happen because I shouted light. Would have been nice if it was that easy.

    Ha, I remember something. That anger wasn¡¯t the only thing I felt. That loss of energy, I can still feel it. That is the important part, that¡¯s what I need to achieve if I want this magic. And the gods be my witness, do I want it.

    I imagine the power in my grasp. ¡°Light.¡± Not confidently enough? ¡°Light.¡± It can¡¯t be related to confidence. Confidence, yeah that would be stupid. Can¡¯t be with mathematical formulas, I mean how would you even know what formulas to use at the start? Oh yeah, don¡¯t drift off. The word ¡®light¡¯ should work and you were trying to reach your power. This does happen often though. I always had a concentration problem I think. My mother once told me¡­ ¡°Etham! Attention.¡± There I did it again.

    Magic. Exploring my hidden depths. If I have any. But let¡¯s be generous. How much time have I already spent trying to touch my source? Oh, cool name, good going Etham. Anyway, I must have been doing it for quite a while. But my sense of time is worthless. It has gotten boring non the less¡­ but it¡¯s magic. How many children¡¯s dreams would have come true if only they were in my position? Okay, their dreams would be slightly insane, but magic makes up for that. Mostly.

    I think it¡¯s time for a break. I have all the time in the world. Well, that depends if the energy came from me, that I¡¯d be the source, or from this place. I have no experience with this energy whatsoever. All the actual research I did was on arcanium so I can¡¯t say. If I am to leave this power behind when the rescuers come¡­ I don¡¯t know if I then should go with them.

    But that¡¯s something for then. Now I will take a walk around the room again. With light this time, ha. I guess it looks the same as before. Darker as the little flame barely illuminated half the room and the tanks weren¡¯t helping but it looks like when the guards were waiting for that Stennard guy to throw me in a tank. Yep, except for the lack of lamps and my broken tank, nothing changed. Boring.

    I walk out into the corridor again. I try to keep my mouth and nose covered but I lower them accidently when I get distracted. I had totally forgotten it when I was looking for my magic. But the foul stench is still there, oozing in from the corridor. Who knows what poor bastards are out there. The guards and Stennard honestly. They certainly aren¡¯t in the sleep chamber. A simplistic name ¡®sleep chamber¡¯ but that¡¯s what the facility map calls it and it isn¡¯t used often enough to get nickname. I imagine I will be in this room a while.

    So¡­ ah yes, the corridor. I¡¯ll take a walk around. Walking always helps me to get a thoughtful head. There should be a door to storage on the wall opposite. It isn¡¯t that useful now without any light in there but it¡¯s good to remember. I don¡¯t know where the nearest facility map is for example. They are supposed to be at key points in case of emergencies.

    Luckily, I will always be able to see the door to the sleep chamber, due to the only light coming from within there. The only that can happen by trying to find the storage door is getting my shoes black. What? ¡°Why¡­¡± I swear, I won¡¯t ever say something that provocative ever again. Because do you know what just happened? I tripped over something. Yeah, with the light on the background I can see the outline better. A corpse. Ugh, let my stomach rest a bit.

    I¡­ I think I¡¯ll take a short rest in the sleep chamber before I take care of this. And make no mistake, those bodies have to be taken care of. Ah¡­ I never thought of myself as squeamish you know? And I still think that but it is just that I couldn¡¯t have ever expected it to feel like this. Nothing can show you your mortality as well as another¡¯s death. Those that inflict it either nether think of death, those delusional few, or are waiting for it to reach them. And everyone fights at that last hour of reckoning.

    Anyway, I¡¯d say that movies and the internet just can¡¯t properly portray what it is like. To see a past human being. And that is also certainly different from animal bodies. I sigh as I consider it all. I haven¡¯t often see a corpse. Only few people in our current day society can say they have regularly. Doctors and such being the normal cases. Not that I should search for them either. But, I rather be better prepared you know?

    Come on Etham. Get back there and take care of those bodies. You can throw them in the back tanks. If you can see what you¡¯ll be doing there that is. Just do it already. I may not have done much resting but the longer I delay, the more the smell is going to stay.

    I walk back into the corridor. Oh. Guess I have to drag those bodies back inside. I am surely not going to carry them. These are my only pair of clothes for now and I don¡¯t want whatever is left of that mess on them. Let¡¯s just hope the bodies don¡¯t break apart when I drag them. Knowing my luck, that¡¯s precisely what will happen. I guess I should also try to keep them away from whatever of that liquid is still left. I am not looking forward to it but if I get desperate enough I might have to. I¡¯m hoping the rescuers come before that.

    I stop in front of the dark silhouettes. They aren¡¯t recognisable anymore. It¡¯s for the better though I wouldn¡¯t mind kicking that tall guard a bit. Oh wait. Yep one of the corpses is about the height of the tall guard I¡¯d say. Oh, I really want kick it a bit. But then I¡¯d get my clothes dirty and who knows how big a pain getting it all inside will be then¡­ Fine, I¡¯ll leave it be. He¡¯s dead anyway.

    Ugh. He¡¯s heavy. Remember Etham, you are not doing it for the corpse, you are doing it for yourself. Here he goes. His left arm feels a bit weak but I am sure it¡¯s fine. Through the door you go. All the way to the back. Hey, there is another guy in that tank there. Oh yeah, that injured man. I hope he didn¡¯t feel a thing.

    Yep. I should have remembered. There is a ladder here that goes to the top of the tank, where you would generally get in or out. The question then is, how do I get this corpse up there? If I have to, I¡¯ll carry slash drag it up there again. I already bound my shirt around my head and if I have to I could try to wash myself. Fine. With a grimace I place my arms under the charred bulk.

    Up, up, up it goes. Only to fall again. With a small splash I push it in the tank. Then it just sinks. Well sink¡­ I don¡¯t know what kind of liquid this is, might even be a gel though it doesn¡¯t look like it, but the corpse stops sinking as it reaches an upward position. To be fair the tanks aren¡¯t that wide but I¡¯d still expected it to slump down at the bottom. Now it looks like it is still sort of alive. Yuck.

    And now for the other one. I¡¯ll spare myself any conscious thought in the action, I¡¯ll try to do this on autopilot. But this might give me more space to consider what I am touching¡­ Or even worse how ridiculous the situation I am in is. Or how hopeless. I am back at the short stairs leading up to another tank in the back of the room. Maybe concentrating on this horrid task is not so bad.

    Finished. It looks creepy enough, seeing those dark charred shapes in the shadowed back. Hm, I can still feel the exhaustion from the magic, though its far less than before. I can hardly describe how this exhaustion feels because it¡¯s not the same feeling you get as when you are tired or ran a lot or something. No, it¡¯s more like some parts of your body are stuck in this perpetual cold. It¡¯s only later that you realise it has gotten less severe.

    I think I¡¯ll try this magic again. If all this is the price for this magic, I would even have offered more. I remove my shirt from where I wrapped it around my head to cover my mouth and nose. Yegh, ah that¡¯s hard to bear. It will pass hopefully, now that I removed the corpses. Though there should be a third. That¡¯s for later then. Now I am going to sit down and try to discover my ¡®source¡¯. What a cool name.

    And I sit there for a while, ¡®meditating¡¯, but nothing comes to me. No feelings, magic or ideas spring up. I actually don¡¯t know for how long I have been sitting here. Time just seemed to phase past me. I don¡¯t feel hungry yet if that counts for anything. It¡¯s actually kind of nice, like everything is still. Like I have all the time in the world. I could do this for a while¡­ It is really relaxing¡­

    <ul>

    <li>Later¡­</li>

    </ul>

    The room starts shifting from one side to the other again. As if reality is unsure how to stand. Or maybe it''s just me. Probably, this trance can''t be helping. I was about to fall asleep but this sweet peace lured me into rest instead. It''s hard to describe what it feels like. Perhaps that clarity people have when they are woken up in the middle of the night, they might respond to anything you ask but that clearness is illusive for they will sound fall asleep and forget it all again. You might however become confused as to what is a dream and what is not. I do know for a fact that I do things differently then. Like reaching for a piece of light.

    I jump in the air as a shock runs through my system. ¡°Uah! Uh.¡± A cold flashgoes through my whole body. And I was just starting to get into meditation¡­ I think? It¡¯s actually all hazy, I can¡¯t clearly remember myself meditating, maybe something about a star? I have no clue, I must have fallen asleep I guess. While I don''t know howmuch time can have passed,I dohowever feel quite rested. I can barelynotice that seeping cold anymore, not even if I try to.

    But that shock that broke my concentration, from where in hell did it come? The bare snippers I can still recal aren''t getting clearer, if anything they are getting worse. There is that lingering otherworldy taste on my mind, but who knows if I am not imagining that. Whatever the case, I felt something else at the end. That throb and the following cold. A grin splits my face.

    I am sure I am taking great liberties in the steps of reasoning but I have just this feeling that it was a, hopefully my own, source. Magic is far too exciting for me to dismiss something such as this too easily. Who knows how this energy works? I wonder, is this energy released from arcanium itself or is the arcanium a catalyst? Should really get to my notes in my office. And the only sane way to get there is by having more lights.

    I move into the corridor, everything still in that unnatural shine from the light of the fire that reaches here. While it isn¡¯t comparable to the normal facility lamps, it does give the world a very clear definition of clarity.

    I know that forcing a repeat of something that occurred intuitively is near to impossible but I have to try something you know. First I¡¯ll try to get a clear mind while meditating. I will sit here until I have it, whether I shall notice or not. Slowly, my mind begins to lose its grasp on time again. Very slowly, which is ironic due to what it is that goes slowly.

    Funnily enough, in the middle of my current effort to access magic, I notice two things; that I seem to be more lucid now even though it roughly feels the same as when I got it right the first time. And second, that I actually manage to attain it! Within this blissful enlightenment, I try the boundry before the sleep. It¡¯s what worked last time. And as if stretched too thin, the moment snaps and I shoot back to my earthly self. ¡°Woah.¡± I cry as I spasm for a second, falling back in a toss of limbs. That¡­ was unpleasant. Even more so than the shock the first time. And they felt different as well, this one like I was pulled back instead of through of something.

    Should I continue on? With trying to access magic that is. You know what. This time, I¡¯ll just continue on until I have it. No pioneer of anything did it without going on. No man discovered flight without jumping from a height. Let go and be free, this world is just you and me.

    I push myself back up and get back into a meditating position, similar to my other two tries. I calm my mind once again, quelling the turmoil the previous snap brought to me.

    And I meditate there for an unknown length of time. It isn¡¯t until a while later until I get that feeling of complete loss of time again. Now however, I go in all the way instead of trying to control it from the outskirts.

    Like some foreign prince does it feel as I tread these dream like halls. In my mind, real but not in the least physical, is a torrent of chaos. Chaos that can be everything, is everything and was everything. A dream has no flow of time, it merely changes. One step doesn''t always lead to another. So, for an unknown reason I take a leap. A new world streches itself back in place. Power in a new form.

    A star of power shone unlike the flame, in my minds hazy eye. With a touch it spun and twisted, then flowed gently to my very fingertips, my eyes and my heart. I must use it before I lose control again. And thus, like a great and first born god, I told my power a simple command., ¡°Light.¡± And my grin shone brighter than this new flame could boast.

 The Piercing Flames

    The Piercing Flames

    <ul>

    <li>Etham Bannecath</li>

    </ul>

    ¡°Light.¡± Finally, I can feel the power flow gently from me again. In front of me a small blue and purple flame sparks. It immediately bathes the corridor in a detached light. It took a lot longer this time than usual. Usual being a relative term though, since I lack both a sense of time and I have only managed it three times.

    I look back at the four other flames in the corridor. It has taken a while to get that many, even if I try to space them out as far as possible. I managed to get my first consciously conjured flame using this method awhile back. An interesting thing I discovered then was when I succeeded in conjuring another one further into the corridor, and not that I did it because I think I may be getting a feel for it. No, rather that when I did do it, the cold I felt from after the previous flame got worse and it was like the dread would consume and drain me.

    I don¡¯t remember what happened then, but I must have fallen in a fitful sleep or something likewise. Anyway, when I came back to, I felt a lot better. I did meditate a bit more to get totally rid of it before I continued with more flames.

    And that¡¯s where I am now. Also, I don¡¯t know precisely when I decided it, but I think I am going to the security centre. They ought to have some way to contact the surface. Maybe there is even an emergency exit going up to the surface. It¡¯s improbable given how confidential and paranoid the company was on the escape or misuse of any of the knowledge or arcanium we have here but since it¡¯s next to the lift, it is worth a try.

    I don¡¯t have much else to do but wait for the rescue team otherwise. Well, I can try my hand at magic a bit more, I especially have a feeling about what can happen when I call for something other than light. I can do that when I am back home though. Ha, like I would tell CARC about this. They¡¯ll be more concerned about the damage here and what caused it. And I will be able to let the blame rest sorely on Errhart¡¯s shoulders. Hm, if he already escaped then he might have given me the blame¡­

    I might have to show them the magic in order to win them over. Power can always be found in desire and they will want this. Who wouldn¡¯t? Though if I do have to tell them, they¡¯ll probably lock me up. Then I won¡¯t have the time or privacy to do what I myself want. But in comparison of what they could do if they give me the blame¡­ It would still be necessary.

    If I am going on the assumption that Errhart, the bastard, made it out alive then I should make full use of my time here while I try to find the rescue team. Being able to create a flame is pretty cool but how useful is it really? Especially with phone lights, normal lighting and even just the sun. Quite useless, even without the time it takes to make one. If I manage to make one at all.

    But if I discover if possible and how to do more things, things that can¡¯t be achieved by the mundane, then that would further my career a lot. Hells, I doubt I care about my career anymore. If I get away from CARC then I might as well hide myself away and profit of my power. Maybe even get a secret cult. How would normal people be able to resist clear evidence of majesty among them?

    How special can I consider this magic to be actually? I mean, it allows for independency from technology and a providing society but in this age is that seriously a bother? As anyone nowadays probably would have come in contact with popular belief of magic, be it games, books or movies. I myself played a few games and read a few books. No good movies with pure fantasy magic themes though. I guess you could count the Harry Potter franchise but eh. Not how I think of high fiction magic.

    Anyway, elemental magic can be technologically imitated, or the other way around depending what side you''re on. So that isn''t too interesting even though magic might be easier. To be fair I wouldn''t know that either. I just feel that I shouldn''t limit my imagination to what technology can already do. That would be just so boring. But I guess it also can''t be too obvious it''s unnatural. Might as well tell the organisation it myself then.

    But some things would simply be so useful. And hard to be noticed. For example Illusions? Mind magic? Again, no clue how I would do anything like that but thats not the point. I''ll maybe figure something out if it is possible. Or I won''t, but I''ll get something like it anyway. What point is magic if you don''t pursue the impossible? How would you go about with mind magic actually?

    You know what, I¡¯ll think about all that another time. For now, going to the security centre is as good a plan as any. I doubt that they got burned down. The security of the security centre is better than the rest of the facility, with an exception of the guest suites, the control room and perhaps the central laboratory as well. Normally you would expect the security to be roughly equal all over the facility, but this isn¡¯t your normal underground facility. The people who run and designed this place where paranoid to the point of betrayal of the researchers.

    This also means that they should be untouched by anything that passed through here, among other the fire. And like I said before, they might have a second exit there. All in all, quite worth it. Hopefully the door isn¡¯t locked or if it is that the people inside will let me in. It¡¯s the security centre though so unless everyone left in a hurry and forgot to close the door, it¡¯s probably locked. And if there were people there you¡¯d imagine they would have come out looking for help like I did. But then again, I do have light. Who knows

    Anyway, I should continue on. My legs do feel a bit stiff as I get up but that is all. Maybe next time I should try to get into the trance while standing. How I see it is that challenge makes strength. It would be really useful if I could practice magic without wasting all this time. Something to remember for later.

    I refer the experience of touching my source to a dream. At the beginning I''m still one foot in and one foot out of reality but then one of them slowly slips and falls into the other. I am not quite sure why that happens. Who am I kidding, I barely know what happens let alone why.

    I wander on in the darkness, each step taking me further from the light. Maybe if I try I can see that dream like state. Similar to how people train their ability for lucid dreams. Maybe. Who knows if it actually is a dream or even worth remembering? I wonder where I will find the time for it, as I want to leave this abyss as soon as possible. That all depends on the rescue team and maybe the security staff at the centre.

    I release a deep sigh, shockingly loud for a place where sound has no name. It really is quite empty here. I should be nearing the security centre sometime about now. The end of the hallway is pitch black, but I can¡¯t be bothered to set up another flame. It¡¯s still quite exhausting to conjure it. Maybe I can mess around with that as well. When I¡¯m at the security centre I¡¯ll let my imagination loose

    Though how long it will take until I get there is anyone¡¯s guess. I might need to conjure another flame after all if it¡¯s way too far from the last one. Maybe I can start to try out a few things, time is time no matter when you spend it. Can I afford the exhaustion? Who am I kidding, I have just about all the time in the world. If need be I can rest a bit immediately after, or if I can see the entrance to the security centre, rest up over there.

    Hm, this seems as good a place as any to call up another light. Actually, it is better than most other places since its far enough from the last flame to warrant another and¡­ well it could be my brain playing tricks on me since it¡¯s pitch dark, but it seems like this spot here isn¡¯t as dirty because of the fire than the rest. Also, another unanswered question is how did the fire even reach all the way up to here? There isn¡¯t anything burnable in the corridor, at least anymore but all that was shouldn¡¯t have made it burn so fiercely to scorch the whole place.

    Regardless, I sit down on the spot that looks less dirty. I only have this set of clothes and while there are already cuts and tears, it¡¯s better than going naked. I shift into my makeshift meditation stance. Legs crossed and my head resting on my hands keeping it up. Oh wait. Luckily, I remember this before I actually started since it¡¯s hard to do, speaking from the little experience I have. I get up and instead stand straight with my hand interlocked in front of me.

    I keep standing there stoically as time presses on but sadly the enlightenment doesn¡¯t come. Yep. Standing still, trying to relax and access magic must hate each other all viciously. I barely touch the meditation as, I don¡¯t know when, my sense of time erodes slightly at the edges. But I am quickly thrown out of it as I nearly fall over and lose my balance.

    ¡°Aaah.¡± This is not the first time I lost the trance while in or nearly in the trance. But it is still very unpleasant, and it feels worse the deeper in the trance I am. I¡¯ll try to do it standing another time. As is, I can barely do it while standing.

    And again, bit by bit the passage of time slows and once more becomes incomprehensible. It¡¯s hard to think like this but I prefer it. Everything seems logical and serene while also having the haze of a dream weaved through it.

    I know, from a feeling somewhere within me, that this is influenced but not yet in touch with my source. And it¡¯s very clear when it does connect. Suddenly a blue hue shifts over my mind, near indescribable other than that. The blue itself moves in its own rhythm, teasing me with its lure. ¡°Over fifty nights the moon did shine. You left and took the moon with you. I stutter in utter dark. Nothing left to compare to your shine. Even the sun took after you. In the abyss I sink, calling for your radiance to save. You returned to a sunken ship.¡±

    Then the moment comes where my mind is at its clearest and I have the command I will utter at the tip of my tongue. But before it leaves its home, a stray thought takes hold of it. I change it but then I let it go. ¡°Light. Sight!¡± Lo and behold, the fire sparks alight from the power of the magic. But this time, different of the other flames, it defies the logic of what it shows. The actual light reaches only 10 metres until it¡¯s too faint to make the floor out with it. Yet when I stand in its light, I feel as if everything has become clearer and more distinct.

    ¡°Ha! It works!¡± Or rather, something happened. It¡¯s not like I expected this to occur. I only had this sudden insight as to what would happen if I said something different or added something to it. Then, as if thrown in a pool while sleeping, a deep cold dreadful exhaustion fills the space left by my power. It is roughly the same to the feeling the normal flames give me, but this feels a bit greater. Hahahaha, take a look at me here calling conjuring flames with magic and will, sitting in a dark underground facility, normal!

    I keep chuckling as I gently try to stand up. My muscles ache as I do so, together with that feeling of losing heat when you haven¡¯t moved in a while. Perhaps I will continue sitting for a while.

    After a few minutes I feel a bit better. Yep, it is still clearly there but I can easily accustom to it. Slowly I stand up and I¡­ Wait what is that? I hope that isn¡¯t¡­ No¡­ I break into a quick run towards the end of the corridor. A different end to the corridor than I expected.

    ¡°Gods be damned¡­¡± The whole bloody way forward to the security centre is blocked by a pile of rubble. Or rather, the security centre is a pile of rubble. Well, this facility is now officially screwed. What in the hells happened? How in the hells did it happen? I doubt anything short from a bomb within the centre could have done this. And suddenly my whole perspective on this whole incident shift a bit to the left.

    That bastard Errhart did this. All of this. I am sure he burned the whole facility down and sabotaged the centre. How stupid can a man be! The centre was of critical importance to the facility! It was meant to be the last place standing in extreme cases and communicate with the world above. Maybe it even had a secret passage to the surface, who knows how paranoid the designers were. It should have had provisions for months, maybe years, and big enough barracks for a few dozen men. And all of it gone! ¡°Errhart!¡± I cry with fury.

    The corridor echoes but nothing responds. I sigh, and I let the anger go, but I won¡¯t forget this. I will take Errhart down with me even if it costs me my job. This¡­ what happened here shouldn¡¯t happen again. Nor would I like to share this power.

    Slowly I start walking back to the sleeping chamber. Indeed, the pile of rubble absolutely closes off any kind of passage and it didn¡¯t seem worth it to try and remove all the concrete rubble. It doesn¡¯t look so good either, the cracks in the ceiling and walls the most evident.

    I continue walking back to the chamber. I don¡¯t currently have many options. I suppose it¡¯s worth a try to take a look at the elevator but that is something Errhart had to destroy or close off when he left. Surely, they would send a rescue team down nonetheless right? Though it might take a while longer then. But I can be patient. Sure, I can. Well, I can¡¯t stand being bored but luckily, I have a solution to that. After checking out the elevator I can go to my office and gather my notes. Then I can really start. I feel giddy despite the bleak looks of my survival when I think about what I can entertain myself with until I am rescued. Magic.

    <ul>

    <li>Surface</li>

    </ul>

    A man runs past a broken home, holding a crying girl in his hand. Behind him a family of four follows and ends with another young woman. ¡°Arnell! I think we lost them. Damnit, slow down man.¡± The young woman calls forward. Arnell, the man holding the girl, doesn¡¯t look back or gives any other sign of having heard her. While exhausted, the woman nonetheless runs past the family to him.

    The road they are walking on is abandoned by cars, trucks or even horses. They are currently walking past a forest on one side and a small field on the other. The group had a few bags with them but nothing too big or well prepared. They had just quickly left an empty town and perhaps for some lurking reason. The next town is still a while away and the groups is only on foot. It doesn¡¯t help that it is getting late

    She grabs his shoulder and spun him to face her. ¡°What!¡± Arnell shouts at her. The family is only a bit behind as the woman stops Arnell and they can clearly see the look in her face, the surprise of Arnell¡¯s anger. ¡°I said that we have lost the beasts. We are tired and need some rest. It¡¯s getting darker and we have nowhere to sleep.¡± She replied condescendingly and with some anger.

    ¡°Ha sleep. I have given up on sleep. No, I¡¯d rather make some more distance between my girl, me and the monsters.¡± He hastily answers. He lets out a sigh and tries to calm some more. ¡°I get what you mean. It doesn¡¯t matter how far we get if we starve or something along the way. But if you think I will let my girl get in danger because your generation is soft, then you better get accustomed to falling behind.¡±

    The young woman is clearly startled and possibly even offended. ¡°Okay, you have to calm down. My generation? Do you have a clue of what nonsense you¡¯re spewing? Just because we had it a little better than you did doesn¡¯t mean we are to blame for every of your problems or even of this gods forsaken world. This is ridiculous, you are bloody ridiculous.¡± She throws her arms in the air for emphasis and then walks off, back down the road.

    ¡°Katia! Come back. We can decide what we will do like adults should. You are setting a bad example for the kids.¡± The only other man in their group, the husband from the family, calls out. He looks especially tired and perhaps even fragile but in his eyes, you can see that glint. It isn¡¯t hard to recognise nowadays, that desperate glimmer of hope together with that horrid energetic frenzy that plagues them. The group would have noticed it if everyone wasn¡¯t suffering from it, more or less.

    ¡°Hush Rob, she¡¯s right. This madman is running us haggard. You think of surviving but you can¡¯t see Timothy or Annie wasting away before your eyes. When was the last time we had a night of good rest Robert? Ever since we fled from Amsterdam it¡¯s been running from one thing to the other. Can you understand what that is doing to us, Robert!¡± The wife is clearly loving of her children and while she loves her husband no less she can only barely cope with all that had happened these last few years.

    Katia, the young woman, is getting further down the road while the husband and wife argue. ¡°Ellen, now is not the time. We have to stay together. Katia! Gods be damned. I¡¯m going after her. And Arnell, I swear that if you leave my family behind I will find you. Not even monsters will stop me.¡± With that Robert takes off after Katia in a run. Katia takes a glance back at the group but seeing a lack of action from Arnell, she furiously turns back and disappears around the bend.

    ¡°Robert!¡± The wife shouts after Robert. As the man shows no sign of letting Katia just leave, the wife sits down dejectedly and brings her two children into a hug who thus far were half asleep and look confused. Robert quickly reaches the bend as well and disappears behind it. ¡°It will be fine. Daddy will be back soon.¡± The wife barely holds back tears.

    Arnell sighs and sets his daughter back on the ground. Most of his previous frantic energy seems to have seeped out of him. He takes a long look at his daughter, who was still wiping away tears. ¡°Hey there darling. It¡¯s fine, everything is going to be all right. No need to cry, daddy is here.¡± A hopeless look crosses his face as he searches for a reaction from his daughter. ¡°Don¡¯t cry.¡±

    He then pulls his daughter in his arms and waits for her to calm down. He is starting to have to do this every night now, and sometimes after nerve racking moments as well. He isn¡¯t sure how much it¡¯s helping his daughter but at least he feels like he is doing something.

    They don¡¯t have to wait for long, though it is in silence, until Robert reappears from around the bend in the road with Katia in tow. She doesn¡¯t look very happy, or anything else positive actually. They also remain silent until they near the small group. ¡°First I want to know if Arnell has come to his senses. I think I can survive just fine by myself otherwise.¡± Katia tells the group, arms crossed and staring at Arnell.

    ¡°Ha, I am sure you can. So, there is no need for you to come with us then, is there?¡± Arnell lets go of his daughter and stands up to look Katia straight in the eyes. Katia looks slightly uncomfortable and unsure about Arnell¡¯s reaction but only for a second. Then the anger visibly resurfaces.

    ¡°You don¡¯t even have a goal, do you? No, you just like running and commanding people while you do it. No wonder people already left. You know what, I tried but¡­¡± Katia starts off again, but Robert manages to cut her off. ¡°Katia! And you too Arnell. This isn¡¯t helpful in the slightest bit and we are burning precious sunlight. Get a grip on yourselves and do something, gods damnit. You two have a death wish, though you would even argue over that.¡± Katia doesn¡¯t look Robert in the eyes and Arnell didn¡¯t rebuke Robert, they are clearly both at least somewhat ashamed.The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

    ¡°Fine. We may have escaped the beasts. But we will carry on until we find a good place to stop. And get as far ahead as possible while doing so.¡± Arnell concedes. Barely. Robert prods Katia to respond. ¡°But we will then also stop at the first place we see. No exceptions.¡± Arnell doesn¡¯t look like he has anything more to say, but instead just turns around, picks up his young daughter and walks on. ¡°Can¡¯t your daughter walk herself?¡± She calls after him. He doesn¡¯t respond. She sighs and follows him. Robert picks up Timothy and then their family goes as well.

    It seems luck is with them. It hasn¡¯t yet gotten fully dark, but they soon find a crossroad. A good place to sleep, especially since it has a few houses nearby. But that isn¡¯t really lucky since they would have found it anyway. No, what truly lifts up their spirits as they see it, are the few hundred people there. They even have tents, fire and from the smell of it food as well. Even though the small group is exhausted, the adults all run up to the camp. Though the children have to be carried.

    ¡°Hahaha! People!¡± Katia shouts as she runs to the lights. Arnell stands there, quite unsure whether it is a trap or not. He has seen what a type 2 monster can do and though it didn¡¯t use illusions, he doesn¡¯t think it impossible. ¡°Katia wait!¡± He shouts after her.

    ¡°Hahaha. You are just being paranoid.¡± Robert gently chuckles behind him. Robert does seem to have calmed down a great deal and with the sight of all these people, that desperateness from before starts to recede.

    Robert¡¯s children wring themselves out of their parents¡¯ grasp and rush over towards Katia. ¡°Katia, wait for me!¡± Timothy shouts, the older of the two, and little Annie, who just turned six last month, runs silently along with her big brother. Even Arnell can¡¯t stop a smile coming through. He looks down as he feels someone tugging on his shirt.

    He looks down to his daughter in his arms. ¡°Can I go as well?¡± She asks timidly. Arnell smiles gently and strokes his little girl¡¯s head. ¡°Of course, darling. But only if you feel up for it.¡± His daughter, only nine might I add, nods furiously. With another laugh, he sets her down and sees her running off towards Timothy, Annie and Katia.

    ¡°I think that is the first time you have let her go that far away from you.¡± Robert says out loud. Arnell¡¯s eyes never leave his girl though, even as he replies. ¡°I would do the same for your children were I you. This isn¡¯t the same world it was a few years ago. And it isn¡¯t something we can easily fix.¡± With that Arnell leaves Robert and his wife still standing there somewhat dumbfounded and calmly walks toward the bustling camp. He hears some grumbling behind him and soon another two pair of feet can be heard.

    When Arnell reaches the campsite, he can easily see Katia waiting there at the edge for him. As he reaches hearing distance, she immediately begins talking. ¡°Cecilia is with Timothy and Annie over there, trying to make some new friends.¡± Katia tells him little more than what he was looking at himself. ¡°I know.¡± He replies.

    Katia lets out a suffering sigh. ¡°Well, anyway, I have tried to talk to a few people while you took your time getting here. The people here going to the German border where they expect help is coming from. The leaders who are trying to keep all these people together and are taking care of the planning should be in one of the houses there.¡±

    Arnell nods, seemingly in thought. ¡°Cecilia!¡± He shouts at his daughter. She looks up from where she is playing with some other kids, and runs back to her father. Timothy unexpectedly follows her as well. ¡°Timothy, why don¡¯t you stay here with and continue playing with those kids?¡± Timothy looks a bit confused and innocently replies. ¡°But Cecilia is going. Why can¡¯t she play with us?¡±

    Arnell lets out a quiet chuckle. ¡°Don¡¯t worry we¡¯ll be back soon enough. You won¡¯t even notice she is gone.¡± Timothy looks a bit doubtful at that, but Katia takes his hand and brings him back to the other children. ¡°I¡¯ll see you there. As soon as Robert and Ellen catch up I will go. Can¡¯t leave their kids here alone.¡± Arnell nods at that, grasps Cecelia¡¯s hand and starts walking to one of the houses.

    They enter the first house they got to and from the looks of it, it is still habited by the original owner. Some people thought they were safe just because they were far away from the coasts and any rivers and the rampant beasts and monsters that resulted from the attacks. Most didn¡¯t realise that there was also the danger of looters, normal and the new type, and that the highways were all blocked off or otherwise too dangerous to use.

    While this was, or is actually since the radio towers are still intact as well as a few minor television stations, broadcasted to the populace some still haven¡¯t realised what this means. Every time Arnell met one of those people while they were fleeing the coast and rivers, he couldn¡¯t help but wonder what they will eat in a few weeks¡¯ time. If they were particularly unfortunate, then they¡¯ll be food themselves for the beasts.

    In the house there were currently around a dozen people, some resting while others were checking their packs or looking at the maps. ¡°Hello, how can I help you?¡± A tall but thin man walks over to them. ¡°Are you new? We are getting quite a lot of additions these days. Is it only you and your daughter?¡±

    ¡°We just saw your camp. My daughter, me and five others. We would be grateful if we are allowed to overnight here.¡± Arnell respectfully asks. The door then opens behind them and Katia walks in.

    ¡°Ah, hello I am Katia. I see you met Arnell. Don¡¯t let his face scare you off, he is bearable when you get to know him.¡± She said with a smile. ¡°A pleasure to meet you three. I¡¯m Brian and that person over there is Charissa. If you need a tent for tonight, feel free to ask her to find you one. If you have anything to trade for it, you can keep it when you leave.¡± Brian tells them confidently.

    ¡°Leave? I wouldn¡¯t mind going with you. If you don¡¯t mind that is.¡± Katia responds. She squints her eyes and looks at Arnell. ¡°If you want to go then that¡¯s fine Arnell, but I think it¡¯s safer for us here. And these people also seem to have a plan and food. Though I don¡¯t know if that matters to you anymore.¡±

    ¡°Well, anyhow, you are always free to join. This has been the most devastating moment in our recent history and I¡¯ll be damned if I let one man die because of simple greed. You know what. If we have spare tents, you can keep them. I am sure we can find more in the next town we cross.¡± Brain then leaves them and goes over to talk to someone else who just came in the house.

    ¡°I¡¯ll go and talk to Charissa about those tents. However, don¡¯t think I won¡¯t want a word with you later.¡± She then walks over to the woman Brian pointed at. ¡°Come darling, we¡¯ll go back to the others and wait for Katia there.¡± Arnell gently pulls Cecelia along with him towards the door.

    ¡°Can I go play with Timmy?¡± She immediately asks him, before they even moved one step. ¡°Of course, but only when we get there together.¡± As soon the eight-year-old boy and the other kids were back in sight, she rushes over to join them after she slips through her father¡¯s strong arms. A slight smile dawns on Arnell¡¯s face.

    It only takes some ten minutes before Katia and another guy come back with three tents. ¡°Two small ones and a big one. Last big one in fact. If you don¡¯t have any food with you then you can come to the red house over there. We¡¯ll be serving food when it¡¯s ready.¡± The lad puts down his big bag on the ground. ¡°If you need help setting up your tent just ask the people around you. Most people should be able to help you.¡± He nods to Katia and then leaves. Katia keeps looking at the lad until he disappears behind a big tent.

    Arnell turns around to where the children were still playing. ¡°Cecilia do you want to help setting up our tent? We have to hurry if we want to set it up before it gets too dark.¡± With an excited Cecelia helping it might be taking longer to set it up than it would have with Arnell alone but from the smile on his face it doesn¡¯t seem like he cares.

    The following morning, the camp starts to wake as the sun rises. Everyone wants to leave this place as soon as possible, so they get up without too much grumbling. Luckily, most people are finally getting used to this new rhythm so it¡¯s getting faster every morning.

    Arnell is currently pondering whether or not to join with the group. Initially he wanted to stay away from such a big target, but if he did join then many problems would be solved. Including having food and a plan. All Arnell can do is sigh.

    ¡°You know it will be safer for Cecelia here, right? Not to mention if you will now also go to the border, they would sooner give aid to a big group than a single man and his daughter. I still listen to the radio on my phone whenever I have connection. We aren¡¯t the only ones that have been hit. Germany is struggling to keep its provinces together. They might choose the small groups over the larger ones, but I doubt it.¡± Robert says and sits down with his breakfast.

    ¡°Perhaps. But I care most for that she will get there in the first place. A bigger group is a bigger target.¡± Arnell responds and further contemplates the choice. ¡°I just can¡¯t bring myself to endanger her. Not again, especially after all that destruction she saw. Thank the gods I prevented her seeing any of the deaths.¡± Robert nods at that and continues on eating.

    Katia joins in with small bowl in hand. ¡°Aren¡¯t we a team Arnell? I understand that you care for your daughter and understand I love her too, so believe me when I say this might actually be better for her. But you are her father and I have realised that¡¯s the only thing you care about. If it matters to you at all, know that we are all joining. You can always still come.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. I¡¯ll do what¡¯s best for Cecilia as always. That¡¯s what is important.¡± Arnell¡¯s voice is the end of the conversation. Of any talk actually. They just sit silently, either eating or thinking.

    The people slowly pack up the camp and everyone gets ready to leave. Timothy and Cecilia run together towards Robert and Ellen, who were leaving with the new group. Robert gets a pained expression on his face as he sees Cecilia about to walk with them. ¡°Cecilia, where is your dad? Timothy will still be here when you come back.¡± Robert looks through the crowd for Arnell. ¡°Ah there he is. Get going you. You are losing play time.¡± Timothy looks unhappy to lose his friend but stays with Robert as Cecilia runs off to her father.

    ¡°Daddy! We are going! We have to hurry, or Timmy will get too far ahead, and you¡¯ll have to carry me, and you¡¯ll have to say sorry and¡­¡± Arnell picks her up in a hug and swirls her about. ¡°Ha ha ha!¡± Arnell can¡¯t help but smile at the still innocent laugh of his daughter.

    ¡°Now that you have that out of your system, I¡¯ve got to tell you something darling.¡± Arnell reluctantly puts her down again. Cecilia¡¯s squirming evidently works. ¡°We won¡¯t be going with them. We¡¯ll be safer this way.¡± He holds out his hand for Cecilia, but she just looks at him shocked. Then she immediately looks back at where Robert¡¯s family is.

    ¡°No. I want to stay with Timmy¡­ and Annie!¡± Cecilia¡¯s previous smile is vanishing to the wind and tears start to shine in her eyes. ¡°He is my friend. He promised that we¡¯ll stay together!¡±

    ¡°Darling, hush. Come here.¡± Arnell gets on his knees and hugs his daughter. ¡°He must be a very good friend, isn¡¯t he?¡± Cecilia nods ferociously. ¡°And Annie too?¡± Here she nods slowly to Arnell¡¯s amusement. ¡°Ha ha ha.¡± Cecilia thinks her father is making fun of her, as all children are liable to do. ¡°Daddy!¡±

    Arnell slowly stops laughing and looks his daughter in the eye with a serious gaze. ¡°Do you really want to go with Timothy?¡± His daughter is slightly scared and uncomfortable because of the intensity, but then she nods again. Arnell lets out a long and suffering sigh. ¡°Well then. I think we have some catching up to do.¡± And he can¡¯t help but smile as his daughter¡¯s face changes expression once again. That a child can change so quickly is really a wonder. Cecilia runs back to Robert¡¯s family. Arnell picks up his bag which now includes the tent and tries to leisurely catch up as well.

    In the afternoon, they stop at a small town called Zieuwent. Apparently, it wasn¡¯t too far off from the border. There were closer border points, but they were just as unlikely to have the Germans lending aid or transportation as they were likely to be attacked by the sea monsters while crossing some of those rivers.

    Nothing happened on the way there nor do they find any clear danger in the mostly empty town. Luckily, this town seems to have evacuated instead of having been slaughtered.

    A few people were already tired, but the leaders made the ones that contributed the least supply wise to go looting and foraging in the town and any of the people who lived there and wanted to join to share half with the group. Suffice it to say but nearly everyone is exhausted, including Arnell¡¯s old group, when they set up their tents. Some people go to sleep in the houses, but they have no heating and only a few beds. Also, most people wish to stay close by, so they set up their tents close together to where the leadership sleeps. The houses nearby aren¡¯t packed either since they still value their privacy.

    The first night, nothing happens.

    ¡°I can¡¯t believe we have to do this another time. Didn¡¯t we get enough stuff yesterday?¡± Katia is full of complains. But she seems a bit happier now than before. ¡°Can¡¯t you ask Charissa if we can just rest a bit today Joe?¡± It¡¯s largely due to her new boyfriend. Joe, the person who brought the tents together with Katia to them, is also a friend of Charissa, one of the leaders here. So far that hasn¡¯t given Katia any benefits, so she is slightly annoyed about that.

    ¡°Nah, she¡¯ll roast my ass if I try. Asked too many times before and now I think she sees it as a personal insult. I¡¯ll bring you to her and invite you to try though. You¡¯ll not be the only one who just joined and had very little supplies to ask that. Though there is a small chance she might make an exception for you. Everyone talked about that young woman who was so excited when she arrived at camp two days ago.¡± Arnell has to chuckle at that, but he still can¡¯t help but dislike the kid. But that impression is also from how he saw Cecilia react to Joe. But he can¡¯t deny it is useful to know someone friends with one of the leaders.

    ¡°I think you should just go and search. Remember that we can keep a bit of the food we find and anything else they didn¡¯t write down. Not too bad for a day¡¯s rest. And it also means we won¡¯t have to search next time, since we will then have supplies ourselves.¡± Arnell tells Katia.

    Katia just ignores him. Instead she waits until Joe finishes his breakfast. Then she drags him off somewhere. ¡°Come Joe, we¡¯ll go a bit more south now. We¡¯ll let them loot to their hearts content.¡± Joe nods and goes with her. Arnell just shrugs.

    ¡°Come Cecilia, we¡¯ll go west today.¡± Cecilia is having her breakfast in bed, brought to her by her father. When she hears her dad though, she sticks out her head. ¡°Can I please stay here and play daddy?¡± Arnell grins and jokingly answers. ¡°Of course, you can stay here and play with Timothy.¡±

    ¡°Daddy!¡± Cecilia shyly hides herself in the tent, but she can still hear her father¡¯s laughter through it. ¡°Stop it!¡± Arnell at least tries to stop laughing so loud. He is even getting a few stares of the surrounding people, including Robert and Ellen. ¡°Something the matter Rob?¡± Robert can¡¯t help but smile. ¡°If it¡¯s fine with you, we¡¯ll take care of Cecilia. I have asked and it¡¯s fine if families with small children stay. They aren¡¯t that heartless yet.¡±

    ¡°You heard the lady. Cecilia, I¡¯m going. Won¡¯t you give your old dad a good-bye kiss?¡± Cecilia reluctantly comes out of the tent and quickly gives him a kiss before rushing back in. Arnell can¡¯t help but chuckle. ¡°I¡¯ll be back towards evening or if I can¡¯t carry more. Till then.¡± Hopefully he¡¯ll be back soon. Arnell doesn¡¯t like to leave his daughter alone. At least he can trust Robert. Soon he leaves the camp and wanders through the empty streets, taking guesses at what houses would be the easiest to get in.

    Quickly, at least it seems so for Arnell, it gets dark again and everyone gets back into their tents and beds. Tomorrow they will continue again. A few of them actually. This is the second night they¡¯re there in Zieuwent. But this is the first night for someone else.

    Arnell, Robert, Ellen and their kids sit at the small campfire they manage to make. The kids are all asleep or about to, but the adults are still talking about their lives before and after the enlightenment. Though they try to keep it separate from the rise of the monsters of the depths, else they would get too emotional. Whenever one of them makes it a step too personal or reminds them of something or someone they lost, it is followed by a remorseful silence. Funnily enough, Robert or Ellen always try to bring back the conversation.

    ¡°A shame Katia isn¡¯t here. She usually has good stories to tell, especially for her age. That kid Joe doesn¡¯t seem too bad, even though it seems a bit artificial.¡± Robert tries to rekindle the conversation again. In the background they can hear an animal howling. Arnell looks to from where he heard it. ¡°A dog I¡¯d guess. Awfully close though. Quite shocking actually that people would leave their pets behind when they evacuate or flee.¡±

    ¡°We wouldn¡¯t have done that if we had a pet. Can you imagine such a poor animal, suddenly having to fend for itself?¡± Ellen exclaims. ¡°But anyway, it¡¯s late and the children are exhausted from all that playing around. They certainly won¡¯t be a pleasure to be around tomorrow morning.¡± With that she ushers the children to their tents.

    Then we hear a howl again. ¡°It seems to be getting closer. Or is it from a different direction?¡± Robert remarks. Arnell frowns. ¡°I am not sure. I¡¯ll go to the leaders just to be safe. Please stay here near Cecilia.¡± He stands up and looks Robert the eyes. Rob seems to be very serious as he responds. ¡°I¡¯ll protect the kids with my life.¡± Arnell just nods at that.

    He takes off at a brisk walk towards the only house from which light still shines. Most cars were already taken by the former residents as they fled the moment they heard the news. But this group has managed to find a car and its key, but since it¡¯s one of the few they have, they always have to drive slowly as to now lose the ones walking. Anyway, they use one of those cars to carry with them a generator. Thus, they have some electricity in there.

    In the end, it only makes them a target. Suddenly from all over the camp, dogs start barking and people scream. Some screams are immediately cut short. At the building, a big shadow smashes through a window and is followed by a few smaller ones. Arnell stands still for a second, unbelieving and in shock. Then he immediately leaves behind him the main house, even as people and screams escape to the outside, and sprints back to his tent. The only thing on his frantic mind is his daughter.

    The camp quickly tries to fight back but most were already sleeping. It all results into unnecessary casualties. ¡°Cecilia!¡± Arnell shouts her name the moment he nears their tents. A man steps out of his tent right in front of Arnell and they collide into each other. ¡°Get out of my way!¡± Arnell pushes himself off of the other man and continues running. Soon after screams and growls come from behind him but Arnell not so much as glances back, much less thinking of actually going to help him.

    ¡°Cecilia! Damn, how many of these bloody dogs are there.¡± Arnell shakes with rage as he kicks a dog that sprang in front of him away. With a painful yip, the dog runs off for an easier target.

    ¡°Daddy! Help!¡± Arnell¡¯s heart wrenches in his chest from both relief and fear. He tramples through a random tent, straight towards where his daughter¡¯s voice came from. ¡°I am coming!¡± He shouts with all he can muster. Once every so often a gun fires and even if anyone managed to sleep through the screams and the barking, they would have been woken by that.

    He finally comes back to their small campsite only to see Robert launch himself at a dog. The dog came within a centimetre of Cecilia and Timothy. As Robert wrestles with the dog, a slightly bigger dog joins the attack on Robert. Soon his screams slowly gurgle out. Arnell rushes over to Robert and kicks one of the dogs off him with a powerful shout. ¡°Aaaagh!¡± The dog goes flying.

    Sadly enough the dog quickly stands back up again. The last dog lets go of Robert and starts to circle around Arnell. Hopefully there is still a chance for Rob. One of the dogs runs at Arnell and he has no choice but to take it full on. He can barely see the dogs in the faint flickers of the fire. He didn¡¯t forget the other dog though. ¡°Cecilia run!¡±

    Timothy tries to drag her away, but she just stands there in shock. ¡°Celli! We have to go!¡± The is in tears and truly afraid. But he doesn¡¯t let go of Cecilia when she doesn¡¯t move, even as a dog rushes at them.

    Then, suddenly it¡¯s like a blazing bonfire has lit. Flames pour out of Cecilia and her eyes turn to bright embers. All Timothy can do is duck as the wave of fire expands and moves outwards. The fire consumes the two nearby dogs, though it singes Arnell, but still it continues on rapidly. Soon, many tents are ablaze, along with a few people and dogs, and everyone can finally clearly see the beasts and animals they are fighting.

    A howl reaches everyone¡¯s ear, but many can¡¯t afford to pay attention as they manage to get out their knifes and defend themselves from the cursed dogs. Cecilia isn¡¯t the only one there who has somehow obtained mana. In great strides a great black dog leaves the main house. It¡¯s the size of a pony and blood stains its pelt, though whose it¡¯s hard to tell.

    It licks its teeth as its gaze falls upon Cecilia. The monster clearly anticipated the power of her. ¡°Gods be damned¡­ A monster. Cecilia, I said run!¡± Arnell is injured but he shouts to his daughter nonetheless. His daughter, however, doesn¡¯t seem to have heard him.

    Instead, she turns to stare at the monster, embers still blazing in her eyes. Balls of fire flash into being around her. Then these balls shoot themselves at the monster. The monster charges at Cecilia and evades all the fireballs. Every last one of them. Fear still doesn¡¯t show itself on Cecilia¡¯s blank face, even when the monster is no less than ten metres away.

    The monster committed itself to the charge and whether intentional or not, that is what saves Cecilia. A wall of fire springs up before her and then takes off towards the beast. The monster still tries to dodge but it goes through the wall anyway. Its fur is singed and in other places clearly burned to the flesh. But it¡¯s very much still alive. A shot rings out and one of the monster¡¯s legs collapses.

    Immediately another ball of fire leaves Cecilia and shoots off towards the monster. Just before the ball hits it, the fireball enlarges to envelop the entire giant dog. Two more shots fire off as the monster tries to crawl out of the sphere. The barking around the camp slowly stops and dies out until only the fire can be heard. Then that suddenly vanishes together as Cecilia collapses.

    Arnell runs over to his daughter to try and catch her but luckily, Timothy is still there and catches her instead. Another man with a gun in hand walks over to the big corpse of the monster and fires another round through its eye to be sure. Arnell just desperately shakes his daughter. When she doesn¡¯t wake, Arnell just hugs her tight and cries.

    Days later, Cecilia finally wakes up again. Slowly her eyes flutter open and for a while a confused lookplays across her face. Then she suddenly sits straight up in a flash. And prompty crumbles down again. ¡°Daddy!¡± She weakly shouts. She tries to get up slowly this time. Her heads sways and she nearly loses consciousness again. She can see that she is in a tent, but it isn¡¯t the same one they had last time. That one was pale green and this one is dark blue.

    A woman that Cecilia doesn¡¯t recognise opens the tent and sees Cecilia sitting upright. Then she immediately leaves again. Cecilia can faintly hear voices outside and she can vaguely see shapes move on the canvas. The tent opens again and Timmy runs inside. ¡°Cecilia!¡± He hugs her tightly, and sniffs as tears run down his cheek. ¡°You are okay Timmy!¡± Cecilia is relieved that her best friend is safe. Timothy looks up at her with red tearful eyes.

    The tent opens fully now and Arnell crawls in. Ten years flow off his face as he sees his little girl awake. ¡°Darling. Don¡¯t ever do that again.¡± He then pulls Timothy and Cecilia in a big hug as well. It nearly seems like he is about to cry as well but he manages to keep it in.

    ¡°Daddy, what happened?¡± Cecilia is really confused now. Arnell lets her go and strokes her head. ¡°Nothing for you to worry about. Why don¡¯t you try to rest. Timothy can stay here with you if you promise not to be too wild and actually sleep a bit. Okay?¡± Arnell tries to soothe Cecilia as much as possible, who looks frail and weak. Timothy is still clinging to her, but she nods for the both of them.

    ¡°I¡¯ll check up on the two of you later then. Don¡¯t forget to rest.¡± Arnell crawls back out of the tent and zips it up. Outside, Katia is sitting on a chair with her arm in a sling and a nasty scratch on her leg.

    ¡°How did Cecilia take it?¡± Katia asks him. Arnell can¡¯t help but sigh. ¡°I don¡¯t know since I haven¡¯t told her yet. But I¡¯ll take care of Timothy either way if Robert doesn¡¯t make it.¡± Katia can only nod. They lost more than half and they are still counting everyone, so it could end up more.

    ¡°I can barely bare it, but I doubt Robert will survive. It¡¯s hard to even tell whether or not he¡¯s even breathing and the blood loss¡­ I hope that Timothy can survive the loss of his dad after he saw his little sister and Ellen there. Lifeless. It¡¯s always worse to see your own family die than your home destroyed.¡± Katia lost most of her lustre after the attack. It¡¯s the second time she saw her friends die. For most people it was, in fact.

    Despite the last few days, Arnell could find a smile again.¡°I can''t help but feel so relieved she''s awake. The others told me not to be too hopeful, but there she is. She''s my girl, she should be well and healthy in no time. Anyway, can you stay here and watch out for the kids? A new beautiful day and my girl isn''t the only one that relies on me anymore. Apparently, having a wild mage as your daughter is enough to be invited to the leading circle. Of course, it helps that most of them are dead. I actually liked Brian though.¡± Arnell is about to walk on as he doesn¡¯t expect a reply from Katia.

    ¡°Say hello to Charissa if you see her. Oh, and before you go, do you know what we will do after we reach the border?¡± Katia stops him with her good arm. ¡°I knowyou all want to be positive and such after we lost so many people, but I just have this feeling we are going to be disappointed.¡±

    Arnell can¡¯t help but sigh again and turns around. ¡°We are hoping that they¡¯ll help us or simply let us through but from what we heard on the radio, Germany might actually be a worse place for us to be than here. While the rivers are a bigger danger here, Germany is in complete anarchy. Most people left Zuid Holland and Noord Holland to go to family in the east but when the beast and monster attack became increasingly dire, to the point of the slaughter of entire towns, they joined the few who went further inland towards Germany and Luxemburg.¡±

    ¡°Now they have an influx of people and the destruction of some cities like Hamburg was a great blow. Worse beast and monsters than those new dogs are starting to pop up and Germany is starting to fracture since their government can¡¯t even hope to contain it. Rob''s radio is broadcasting worse and worse news.¡±

    Katia sits there contemplating all that. ¡°Can they even spare the men to stand at the border?¡± Arnell shakes his head. ¡°I¡¯d ask the people who live there to do it themselves. By giving them some help to do that they can also defend themselves from beasts and monsters. Anyway, we have decided that if they send us away, it won¡¯t be worth the effort to get there without any aid, so we¡¯ll just come back here where we are more comfortable. Well, all who want to come with us will.¡±

    Arnell nods and this time actually leaves. Katia doesn¡¯t stop him this time.Suddenly a loud coughcomes out from the tent, followed by a scream. Timothy comes running out of the tent with a pale face. "Katty! Katty!" Katia immediately rushes over and stops him from hystirically running away. Only then does she notice the blood on his shirt. "Fetch Arnell!" She shouts at him and then gets in the tent.

 A New Day

    A New Day

    <ul>

    <li>Etham Bannecath</li>

    </ul>

    Ugh. A few more bodies to go. A pity they have to go. Every step I have to take with one of them is heavy. Not because of the extra weight that they bring with them, though it is less as a burnt shell. No, instead it is because of me wondering how painful their death was and a dozen more question I can come up with to torment myself. Funnily enough, I still can¡¯t manage to actually care about any of them.

    I hope none of them had funeral insurance. Otherwise they would be quite upset at what I do with them instead. Not that I will be kept awake by that. Ha. No, instead it will be whether or not arcanium forms a metaphysical interconnected web. If I were even a smidgen emotional, or cared for these people, I might have a harder time surviving or finding a want to live. Wanting to flay dr Errhart does not count as emotional for your information.

    ¡°In you go.¡± My clothes were already dirty from taking care of the two corpses in the corridor before, so I didn¡¯t spare that much effort trying to get the few I found in the hall to neatly fit inside this little cleaning closet. The sooner done, the better. That shouldn¡¯t tax one¡¯s imagination too much.

    ¡°I should probably check what they have on them¡­ Nah.¡± Yeah, I am not going to do that. Their clothes are crumbling on contact, not a hopeful sign. And what would I want to find there? Coins? Their smouldering phones? Would be nice if I had connection and could call for help but there¡¯s only one landline which is safely tucked away in the security centre.

    It¡¯s been a while and you might notice me still being smoking pissed at what I saw there. Because it is so much worse than just that. Downright terrifying actually and while it isn¡¯t particularly dangerous right now, it represents despair. I am trying to do what I can to improve that though.

    I think I will get something to eat. Eating always helps to take my mind off of things. It doesn¡¯t matter that I don¡¯t feel hungry or anything. I don¡¯t know how hard my head got hit that that happened, but I won¡¯t starve if I eat often enough. I hope that will keep me alive until the rescue team gets through.

    With a sigh I close the door to where I dumped the last few bodies. It is only a service closet, not something I really need to use. Like how I had to clear out the cafeteria of a few charred husks. I can still remember the sound of arms tearing off. Sadly enough, it¡¯s hard to replicate. Well, without using another husk I mean. Gods know that there are enough of them in the living quarters for that.

    The flames are sparse and far apart as I walk by them. I didn¡¯t have the patience to fully light the facility and while that does cause me to trip over a few people, they are also all removed now. The ones I tripped over that is. I try not to look down the hall towards the elevator corridor. I¡¯ll go there later anyway.

    I reach the cafeteria without even realising it. I lazily go through the motions I did the last few years of my life, every day. I take out the bread from the cupboards near the kitchen door and while not wooden they are still horribly warped from the heat. The benches that are attached to the tables are also plastic, so consequently there are only a few semi straight seats left. No one to share the table with though, so the flew good places remaining are all for me. So far, I have only used one place, close to where I normally sat. It is comfortable enough.

    I pick up the music player from by the door. The batteries somehow get spend every time I rest so I only use the damn thing when I¡¯m eating. There were only a few batteries scattered over the places I have lit up, and I am near run out already. I guess there will be more in the living quarters, but it didn¡¯t smell too good from where I was already. A stench that is similar to burnt chicken. Honestly, I am dead scared to go in.

    I still have to finish searching the offices though, but even then there are still the laboratories and the control room. Errhart probably destroyed anything worthwhile before he left, hence why I am checking the offices first. That my notes are also there is a pleasant coincidence. I would at least like to smuggle those with me when the rescue team arrives.

    I sit down and place the music player on the table. A nice rock song starts playing as I put the batteries back in. It is quite old, I found it in the closet after all. Doubt anyone knew the thing was there.

    I like to put everything in a pile where I need it. Thus, I pick up a plate from the plate pile below the table. The kitchen is nearly unscathed though I had to bash open the door. The door however resembled a crispy chicken, minus the chicken. Metaphors were never my strong suit.

    Yep. Tasty, tasty stale bread. A lot of food was already spoiled when I got to it. Luckily this bread isn¡¯t mouldy. There is of course tinned food as well but with no way to boil the water, the pasta will stay hard. I have tried it, but it isn¡¯t that nice. Take my word for it. Luckily, I have some packaged cheese as well, that stays good until I open it. I try to finish it before I rest and refill my source but sometimes I forget. A shame that I then have to throw it out but yeah. Same happens to the bread if I¡¯m not careful.

    I¡¯m halfway through my ¡®meal¡¯ as the music stops. A sigh escapes my lips I stop myself. I have eaten enough I guess. I can¡¯t stomach to swallow one more bite. I stand up with the plate, a quick glance at the music players shows a dark screen, and walk over to a bin in the corner. I shouldn¡¯t be throwing food away, but it probably be inedible when I get back here anyway. Curious as to why for that. Maybe the experiment affected the food as well?

    As I do so, another problem becomes clear. I might be throwing away the food pre-emptively, the food doesn¡¯t stop decaying as I do so. The bin stinks horribly. I do have something for that though. I close my eyes and calm myself. I allow myself to get close to the allure of rest, but just before that definite step out of reality I stop. Instead I try to call the words in this dreamlike state. ¡°Clear smell stay.¡± It¡¯s barely above a whisper but I have sensitive ears nowadays. Depending on how many days passed. Probably not that many.

    A solid cold starts flowing through me as the spell activates. Suddenly the stench around the bin vanishes. The effect should stay for a while. The time does vary though. I am now quite exhausted from casting just that useless spell. But then let me say a few things. What I am going to do now has nothing to do with magic, so I will recover while I work. And the energy I spend for it is far less than what those flames cost.

    It helps that I can now promptly ignore the whole issue as well. Out of the nose is out of the mind. So next on the list would be to go back to work. With a sigh I walk back to the hall. I just gathered corpses so now it¡¯s turn for the other task I have to do. It¡¯s hard to say which I dislike more, for different reasons however.

    I enter the hall and walk down its length, but not towards the central laboratory. No, instead I go down the hallway to the facility entrance. Just enough lights shine in the corridor to lead me the way. There weren¡¯t any corpses here. No one would have been here during the experiment anyway. Most of the security is electronic and found at the actual elevator.

    It would be hard to get past those but with enough time and no repercussions it could be done. Now there is a far better security measure in place, probably thanks to Errhart. I walk around the one heap of stone I already piled up. The last flame I placed is just in front of the now further wall of rock and rubble. There is officially no way a rescue team can reach me now. Hence why I am trying to clear it up.

    With a deep sigh I start lifting the lighter stones and rolling the heavier ones to the pile. If that one gets too big I will have to make another one further away. It¡¯ll be more effort to get the stones there, but ease of passage is more important than that.

    While I work, I try to access my source. It is near impossible to even feel it, let alone anything else. But since this is grunt work, it doesn¡¯t require that much active thought of mine. I do however notice that I am getting better at accessing my source, which excites me. And why wouldn¡¯t it? Who knows how long it takes every time I try to even touch it. I always liken the experience to a dream. In a true dream, there is no sense of time. Neither is there one when I am one foot over the threshold out of reality.

    I slip on a tiny loose rock and tumble backwards. With a heavy rock in my hands. It lands square on my stomach and forces the air out of me. ¡°Uhf.¡± I roll the damned thing off me as I try to breathe. Gods be damned. I¡¯m sick of this. It has been work and only more work, and what have I gained? Some piles of rock and a closet of corpses? This is boring me to death. There have to be better ways to do this. I think it is time to apply magic to this situation. Actually, I should have tried that from the beginning.

    I sit down into a comfortable position and close my eyes. I try to calm the anger I am currently feeling. Such emotions only complicate the magic more. Then suddenly I find the border. I take one step into the dream like state of my source. With a pull on the power of my source I bind it to my spell. Which I improvised on the spot of course.

    ¡°Lift, move and float. Rise stone. Follow my commands.¡± I try to keep the remnants of the anger out of my voice. Then the energy starts pouring out of me. And continues. I quickly become afraid as more than even my flames escapes from me. I panic as I try to access my source to stop it. I barely register all the small rocks starting to rise and the bigger ones¡¯ shuddering.

    This is the fastest I have ever found my source. And while I do have a greater motivation than normal, that wasn¡¯t the reason. The cold was becoming all encompassing, nearly submerging me. No, the reason is that I could feel my source is visibly shrinking and weakening to my sense. I desperately try to metaphorically ram it. Nothing happens.

    ¡°Aaaah.¡± The cold is like a spike, a great feeling of losing something vital, and it hits me everywhere. Even my head. An urgent hunger overflows my system and a tiredness I hadn¡¯t felt in ages tries to overcome me. And still the cold gets worse. Never before have I so clearly felt and seen my source but not been able to even touch it. With a last urgent breath, I try to bring down my source¡¯s gate to reality. I hear heavy thuds and soft clatters all around me. Before I lose consciousness of course. That¡¯s a given.

    <ul>

    <li>Later</li>

    </ul>

    I come by to a cluttered corridor. Even by semi neat pile is somewhat scattered now. I sit up and immediately think back to what happened. I don¡¯t know how dangerous that was, but it felt horrible. The fact that I suddenly could feel hunger is however a good thing. I mean, I do think it weird I never feel even a pang of hunger and I can¡¯t believe that I have only been trapped here for a few days.This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

    It gives me even more reason not never exert myself like that again. I truly felt¡­ weak for the first time since all this happened. And that scares me most of all. Even more than going into the old living quarters. Hell, that seems petty now in comparison. Not that that means I¡¯m going in there, since I don¡¯t have a very good reason for it.

    For now, I just want to rest. While I feel better than how I was when I went unconscious, I still barely feel anything. That¡­ cold is still there. All I want right now is some more rest. Up until now, I have just kind of rested where ever I was at the moment. But right now¡­ I am going to the Recreational room. I should have a flame there so it¡¯s fine.

    I somehow manage to stand up and shamble towards the hall, out of the corridor leading to the blocked elevator. As fortune has it, I stumble over another corpse and fall on my face. Too exhausted to get up again but I don¡¯t want to rest on a corpse. I crawl forward until I¡¯m off the body. Then I just stay here. Slowly I sink into a deep rest. As close as actual sleep as I have been in a while.

    I wake up some time later feeling a lot better. Just about entirely full of warmth. At the very least I can think clearly now. That corpse though. Like the others I can see its skeleton at places where the fat burned through, but with this one that is far less than the others. It is currently lying on its stomach. I am interested to see if I can recognise this person. Just a feeling I have.

    ¡°Ah aha ha aha!¡± I can¡¯t help but laugh as I see the warped name tag on his chest. Coupled with the more intact parts of his uniform, I am quite sure this is that bastard guard. I already have the tall one in one of the tanks but I think this one owes me some vengeance as well. And I have the perfect idea to solve two of my problems. Well, perfect. It¡¯s actually more crazy than perfect.

    But it hopefully works well enough. I should prepare a bit more this time. Last time I only wanted to lift the one chunk of rock but I think the spell did far more. I guess I left it too open ended. But why that effect was worse than my usual light? No clue yet. Hm, I think I have something clear enough.

    I sit in my meditative position, one I have grown accustomed to by now, and begin the now somewhat familiar process of how I connect to my source. Eventually I get hold of my source again. It feels shakier this time and it takes a bit longer to control my source than normal. It used to be not so long ago that I had that one moment of control where I had to cast the spell. Luckily, I now have more control.

    The moment of truth. Last time I sort of collapsed the weakened gate to my source. I vaguely remember how I did that. For my own safety, I¡¯ll try and be prepared to do the same again. Okay, I¡¯m ready. Prepare to be desecrated.

    ¡°Rise, listen and be commanded. Stand and move. See, hear and feel.¡± Again, the power comes pouring out of me. I don¡¯t know if I performed the spell better but the power that now rushes out of me is greater than the other failed spell before. The weakness and cold starts to fill me once again. Or rather strength and heat leaves me and the space they free up feels such.

    This time however, I try not to panic even though it¡¯s hard not to do so on a more instinctual level. When it nearly reaches my uncomfortable limit, I quickly try to collapse the somewhat weakened gate. Panic finally does set in as it holds. What to do, what to do. Try again! I pull, push and metaphorically batter the port as much as I can. When it finally does come down again, it feels like I hit an old fracture. If that makes sense. And of course I immediately slump backwards, unconscious.

    Groggily and unsteady, feeling even more exhausted than I felt when I did this the first time, I wake up again. For a while I just lay there, looking at the flames I have in my hall. I must really have wandered off the path between flames when I left the corridor after the first failed spell. Wait, did this spell fail as well or not?

    I push myself up and nearly fall back again in shock. Positive shock though. I have seen, carried and even fallen over them but this is the first time I see one of the charred corpses upright again. ¡°Ha aha ha aha! It worked! Welcome to slavery you ass!¡± I did it! I let myself fall back on the floor. This will be so much better. Can¡¯t wait to get more already.

    <ul>

    <li>Alaska, Facility</li>

    </ul>

    ¡°Have you seen the newest update?¡± Two scientists were sitting at a table in the facility¡¯s canteen. The one who asked the question was the younger of the two and has just finished his food. The other man was well past his sixties, his hair long since turned grey. With an annoyed look, he quickly swallows the last of his food.

    ¡°My break just started. I swear that the corporation wants to work us to the bone nowadays.¡± The younger one let out a chuckle. From his pocket he takes out his phone. He quickly types in his password, scrolls a bit and then hands it over to the older man.

    ¡°That¡¯s nothing new. There was a clear spike of their interference ever since our Arcanium burst. In fact, the affected security and maintenance staff have all already been replaced with others that lack the mana. Serena has even been approached by them to relocate to a new private lab. And she¡¯s not the only one.¡± He looks expectantly at the older one.

    The person in question simply grunts while reading what it said on the phone. The younger one leans forward and starts whispering. ¡°I think that the head researchers and of the facility, dr Allen and Fjalnord, are considering splitting off from the organisation. I have seen their vice heads and head of security mr Sittings meet up in the conference room with them. I checked in with dr Allen¡¯s personal secretary and apparently there wasn¡¯t any kind of meeting scheduled. I guess they are lucky that mr Sittings and some of the security staff were too far from any sources of arcanium to take it in.¡±

    The grey-haired man doesn¡¯t bother to whisper as he replies. ¡°It wouldn¡¯t surprise me at all. Last I heard, they took away Peter and Jessica because they qualified as wild mages. I know they barely can control their magic, it expresses itself only in simple ways, and you know there are enough cases even in the USA of them going loose on monsters and men indiscriminately. Apparently, there is now a company in Mexico comprised of them and they don¡¯t sit still as their government sways.¡± He turns the phone back around to the younger man.

    Well, younger, he just turned fifty-two. He was the youngest member of the facility seven years ago when their Arcanium burst for some reason. The grey hairs still have to appear strangely enough and that is something he reminds his colleagues often. ¡°Did you even read what I showed you?¡± He sounds exasperated as he looks at the new article on the phone.

    ¡°It wasn¡¯t that long. Nor do I care about the state of the Netherlands.¡± Finally, the topic went to what the brown-haired man first wanted to talk about. He couldn¡¯t keep the grin of his face as he replies. ¡°Ah and that¡¯s what you are wrong about. I know you all are either focussed on discovering how it happened, though you have to agree that¡¯s looking hopeless currently, or fining a way to interact with the mana.¡±

    ¡°But in between that and more, I also went looking for where the other facilities are that handled arcanium. I guess I would like to compare notes again or even just talk about their experiences with all this. Charlie was ordered to break off communications before they moved him. That a few months after the release of the mana when everyone was more worried about the new wild mages and those that managed to patch a mana interface system together.¡± He gets slightly annoyed at seeing his grey-haired friend look back on the phone again. Quickly, he snatches his phone back from him.

    The younger scientist takes a moment to recollect himself. ¡°Anyway, one of the last official dispatches from one of the other facilities was a request for confirmation that Entrus facility was offline with the others as well. Clearly suspicious, so I focussed¡­¡±

    ¡°And let me guess, it¡¯s in the Netherlands? Very intriguing. Apparently, the pope finally officially declared the mana a holy gift. And I quote, ¡®This holy deliverance is meant to both test and guide us. We will try to teach the righteous to wield this blessing and take care of any of the fallen souls who failed this testing and sold themselves to it.¡¯ End quote.¡± The older man interrupts the other. The younger one just sits by silently as the grey-haired scientist rants on about his own topic.

    ¡°Idiots. A few relics fall apart, and the priests wake up with mana in their bones. Now suddenly they all rush to the Vatican and seek guidance and power from the church once more.¡± And of course, the older man is against the church.

    ¡°To be fair Russ, they did manage to repel the attacks on Rome. And that¡¯s no small feat considering it got attacked by sea monsters. Wouldn¡¯t I love to have one of those priests over to confer with.¡± The grey-haired scientist, Russ, can¡¯t help but laugh at that.

    ¡°You think they would let one of their precious priests go to a faraway research facility where they have little to no control? How would they even get here? All but the luckiest of ships gets sunk by the sea monsters. And I hear that vicious sky monsters have started to take flight. There is no way for them to even get here from the Vatican. And for Rome, remember that they used mana very little in the fights and while they focussed most of the Italian firepower in Rome, they still killed only one smaller type I monster.¡± Religion was Russ¡¯ one thing he never could quite agree with. Not that he ever told anyone who asked why.

    ¡°True, true. I wouldn¡¯t want to be living in Italy right now. I actually wonder how long those Italian islands will survive with those populations. Big parts of Afrika and the Middle East are struggling with their food shortages. Asia is getting progressively worse as the years go by. At least we are still getting food. Actually, where would we get our food if we go against CARC?¡± The older scientist looks at the younger one with an unworried expression.

    ¡°Not that I particularly support it but we could, theoretically, interact more with the people on the surface. Have them farm for us in exchange for money and protection. I don¡¯t know how well farming would go up there but otherwise we could always move more south. This facility isn¡¯t worth that much.¡±

    The brown-haired man takes that into consideration as he seriously contemplates the issue. The grey scientist picks up both their trays and sets them down where they will get picked up later. When he sits back down, the younger man speaks up again. ¡°That actually sounds decent. Though if we go that far, we might as well stake out a territory for ourselves. Like the German splinter states, the African tribes, and the North and Western European independent settlements. There is already barely any cooperation left between states here in USA.¡±

    This time Ross, the older scientist, was the one to look somewhat annoyed. ¡°Did you really have to fact bomb me? I am sure you impress the ladies with all that knowledge.¡± Ross¡¯ coat is on the table. He picks it up and the younger man gets up as well. ¡°The African tribes aren¡¯t that many. It¡¯ll be more appropriate to call them the Northern African tribes. In fact¡­¡±

    Suddenly a siren goes off in the facility. After a minute of grabbing everyone¡¯s attention it stops and a voice comes through the speakers instead. ¡°Attention everyone. This is not a drill. All personnel of the facility id requested to gather in the hall. Any gunshots heard is advised to be ignored unless followed by another siren. Attention everyone. This is¡­¡± Then it goes on a loop for several minutes. Ross and the younger scientist weren¡¯t the only ones currently in the canteen, so they simply join the mostly calm but nervous line to the hall. The kitchen staff soon add themselves to it as well.

    Ross and the other scientist stay together as the finally get to the crowd steadily accumulating in the hall. A woman comes to stand next to them when she sees them. She nods at Ross but addresses the younger one. ¡°Hi Bryce. You think they are going to kill us now?¡± She tries to come over jokingly, but she is a tad too nervous to sell it off.

    Bryce, the brown-haired younger scientist than Ross, gives it a serious consideration. ¡°Probably not. They shouldn¡¯t have warned us about possible gun fights then. But whatever they have to say could be said over the announcement system. Then again, it doesn¡¯t seem like most of security is present here anyway.¡± The woman takes a look around the room.

    ¡°Now that you say so, that¡¯s true.¡± Up front, in the direction of the elevator corridor at the end of the hall, an even older man than Ross claps his hands. He appears to shout something but from near the back, Ross and Bryce can but barely notice it. A different woman strides over to the leading man in question and hands him over a microphone.

    ¡°Can everyone hear me clearly now? Even in the back? Yes? Good.¡± His voice comes out crisp and clear. Even with the old man, there is an underlying excitement however. The hall has quieted down and everyone looks at the old man with the microphone. ¡°For those in the back who can hear but not see me, it¡¯s head of the facility dr Allen that¡¯s speaking.¡±

    He takes in a quick breath before continuing on. ¡°Some of you might have noticed the increased and unprecedented interest CARC has shown us the last years since the incident as well as the current strain the USA is experiencing. What you can¡¯t have known is that CARC has been trying to get support using it¡¯s mana imbued resources as well as also supplying mana possessing humans to private research institutes. As it is, two other relevant facilities have already been emptied of all their affected staff, not merely the non-scientific staff. Five days ago, mr Sittings has received a call ordering him to prepare to do the same forcefully if necessary.¡±

    Dr Allen can see that some are confused, others are sceptical while most are simply shocked as he looks at everyone¡¯s faces. ¡°Unbeknownst to the direct managers of CARC, we have managed to re-establish communication with the other head of facilities. The last three years I have prepared to separate from CARC with support from the other facility heads. Now they simply force my hand a bit sooner. From this moment on, we are our own.¡±

    A cheer ripples through the crowd as dr Allen finishes. Slowly everyone who has nothing pressing to do gets herded into the canteen. There the kitchen staff quickly tries to prepare a small feast for everyone there. Dr Allen looks on with a satisfied gaze from a chair at the side as the separation is generally well accepted. Weaving through the people, a guard stops at dr Allen. ¡°Say it quickly.¡± The smile doesn¡¯t leave his face as he says it.

    ¡°Dr Fjalnord has been confined to his room. Sittings advises to keep him there until she either changes her mind or agrees to not support and actively aid CARC anymore.¡± Dr Allen nods in agreement to this. ¡°Furthermore, the last of the CARC supporters should be captured or otherwise taken care of by now. You can expect us to properly secure the network against the organisation with a week or so. Until then Sittings says not to make to make much use of it.¡±

    Dr Allen¡¯s eyes start to shine in delight. ¡°Well done my good man. Tell Sittings to try and recruit more men on the surface to fill his security units back up.¡± Dr Allen gets up from his chair with a groan and starts to walk into the crowd. The guard looks unsure of what to do, but then stops dr Allen. ¡°What.¡± Dr Allen quickly turns around to face the guard, clearly irritated.

    ¡°I was wondering if you knew when our families should start arriving. I know some of my mates and I would love to see our families safe and close by. And Sittings himself asked when you could deliver your promise of giving us mana like you said.¡± The guard asks, slightly nervous for doing so.

    Dr Allen sighs and tries to smile again. ¡°Others have been sent to bring your families here a week ago. So far they can¡¯t call us back and don¡¯t want to attract CARC¡¯s or the government¡¯s attention by doing so anyway. The routes have been planned out and should be as safe as I can make it.¡± As the guard seems to be satisfied and not about to ask more of dr Allen, he continues on.

    ¡°Ah.¡± Dr Allen turn around again. ¡°Nearly forgot. Tell mr Sittings that I am a man that has always kept his promises and I don¡¯t plan on changing that.¡± Dr Allen can¡¯t help but let out a short laugh. ¡°The same counts for my threats.¡± With that he vanishes into the crowd.

 The Flawed Perception

    The Flawed Perception

    <ul>

    <li>Etham Bannecath</li>

    </ul>

    I try to concentrate. These times I can access my source pretty fast. I have tried to measure it and while the results were vague, it is at least something. Though don¡¯t judge me on my way to measure time, I try to make do with what I have. What was it again? It has been a while since I actually did this. Oh yeah, two rocks.

    Hm, and here I can just about hear Bob¡¯s rotten brain grinding away at that. Two rocks? Yes Bob, two rocks. As in, order a zombie to move rocks from one side of the hall to the other. One rock for every time he gets to the other side, drops it, comes back, picks up a new one, and drops it off at the far side again. He was about to pick up another one when I stepped out of the dream-like state of my source and stopped it. It is the perfect way to measure time when you yourself can¡¯t spare the concentration.

    Which makes it all the more vexing that I can¡¯t get to it right now. ¡°Fine, I give up. Bob, tear number six apart please.¡± I look mercilessly at the zombie who keeps dropping his rocks. I mean, I would order it to push it but apparently that is harder for it to comprehend than carry, move and drop.

    I guess I should continue on with trying to give the corpses a better mind. I have already successfully made the spell more efficient so that¡¯s naturally the next thing to do. It wasn¡¯t even such a difficult thing to do. You see, the mana targeted the whole corpse, clearly due to that my spell was too vague. To be fair, I still don¡¯t completely understand the process that happens when the spell affects the corpse.

    But I nonetheless improve it whenever I discover something new. For example, I now know that my spell somehow empowers the body and that it¡¯s more mana intensive the greater the corpse¡¯s mass. Discover that and you can try to either remove mass from a corpse or try to control what the spell empowers. After all, the corpse that has no intestines worked just as well as the one with them. Clearly, some things that were empowered aren¡¯t necessary for the thing to function.

    Took me a while to get to those conclusion though. I feel my connection to number six finally start to disintegrate itself and then it is gone. Happens in moments once it starts. Now that it is officially dead again, the mana I spend on number six should begin to come back. It will take just as long as it normally does when I cast an immediate effect spell but for each undead that I have, the mana I spend on the zombie does not come back until after the connection breaks.

    Ah, I still remember having to smash, cut and tear the guard apart. Ha, the panic I felt at not having gained any of the warmth back after I rested. Luckily, I did have him work at hauling the stones from the rubble while I rested so I wasn¡¯t too wasteful.

    ¡°Bob, fetch me another corpse from the dead quarters.¡± I can try to also command him how intact the body should be, but that wouldn¡¯t work. Because I have in fact ordered that the first time after I realised I could make them do it. The result, I hear you cry? One zombie fouling up the air and doing nothing.

    Hence why I just clean up the waste myself. Like I could command a zombie to clean up number six but they wouldn¡¯t be able to, take too long and just take away from important things they can do. The trick is to find something simple together with imagining a solid way the zombie could do it. If the zombie can do it of course. There was that one case where I used a more specific version of the spell. Ha, that corpse went flopping like a fish. Apparently, empowering the correct parts of the corpse is important.

    Bob, it¡¯s random zombie but actually he is the one that came out best so far, shuffles off around the corner. I am sitting near the corridor leading to the elevator and there are currently two zombies working to clear it all. It¡¯s a shocking amount of time since I first woke up, at least that¡¯s what it feels. And yet, I have only cleared out a bit more than half. Apparently, the rubble goes all the way from where I found it to what I presume is still the elevator. Hopefully not though.

    Not to mention that I have to check on the zombies there sometimes to make sure their orders haven¡¯t broken down. Hm, I should probably do that soon. Actually, might as well do it now, since I am bored anyway.

    I stride through the corridor, walking around the few stone piles. I should try and use those someday, even if only to keep more room for my zombies to work. And I would also like to do some actual remodelling. A moderate throne wouldn¡¯t be bad. Or a good room to properly rest in. Currently, there is nothing better than the floor to fall into the trance.

    I guess I could make the throne like a place to rest. With a few handy illusions, it would look positively lordly. I am currently trying to improve my little dungeon to something fashionable. It should be up to standards until I escape after all.

    The torches on either side of the wall shine brightly with flames not unlike the purple blueish fires that once floated throughout the facility. Not even the semblance of a shadow emerges as I pass each set of torches. I crafted those illusion as an improvement to the first floating flames. And I had to discover how to undo the floating fires in the first place. They were kind of permanent unlike these new torches.

    While that may sound stupid since I would have to recreate them, they actually cost a lot less mana now and all it cost to do that was change the way I thought of it. So simple as to have been inconceivable to me for a while.

    I hear a scraping behind me but do not immediately turn around. Instead I just walk on at a slower pace. Eventually, before I reached my two working undead slaves, bob catches up while dragging a new corpse. ¡°Took a while Bob. Severely disappointed.¡± Bob doesn¡¯t reply as always. Not that his facial muscles an show any expression either, that would just be a waste of mana to empower.

    Dust and small rocks dislodge themselves from the ceiling and fall through the force constructs there. That happens sometimes, often enough that the dust that falls on my force constructs gives them an clear outline. Without those things holding up the ceiling, it would have long since collapsed again. Hence, why I tried to make them permanent.

    Back to the corpse. For the current spell, I have to not only clearly hold the correct muscles and bones in mind, the spell itself has to be built around it. But first I have to get to my source, which shouldn¡¯t take too long nowadays. The two zombies will continue their work nonetheless , so no time is lost. A quick glance at them past the heaps of stone shows that they are still hauling together. Again, those commands took some time solidifying.

    I sit down and prepare myself for the trance. The only way to get better in accessing my source is practise and challenging myself. Of course, it is hard to even so much as touch one¡¯s source if there is a clear physical distraction. Such as a rock hitting your face. ¡°Gods damnit. This can¡¯t be normal.¡± I look up at the ceiling above me. Cracks are slowly but visibly spreading.

    I put up those force constructs as simple beams, thus to support it all there are actually a lot of them. That also helps in spreading out the weight each one caries. It wasn¡¯t time consuming, placing them. The only thing is that every time I need to place another one to support the ceiling, that is discovered by my zombies not being able to remove that one crucial heap of rubble and then don¡¯t work anymore. So more time is wasted in inaction than setting the damned things up.

    If only they would also stay up, that would be lovely. Just a few meters ahead of me, something audibly breaks, the sound which I liken to an object getting crushed at once. Suddenly, a tide of dust and tiny concrete stones rushes down from there and covers the floor. A loud groan echoes through the corridor. A piece of concrete, separate from its neighbours apart from an steel rod through them both, slowly lowers as the rod itself bends down.  Chunk of stone, larger than my chest, quickly reveals itself the cause.

    ¡°Oh. Gods have mercy on me. Bob! All zombies. Get to the hall as fast as possible. Drop everything, leave it behind.¡± I can¡¯t spare any more times for my slaves. They are replaceable, even bob. Me? Only the one, I¡¯m afraid.

    I hear more beams snapping behind me but by now I am even too afraid to look behind me. And I am sure the ones in front of me show the image clear enough. ¡°Dodge the bloody rocks!¡± I shout behind me for the zombies, if they are still following behind. A jagged rock cuts open my left arm as it falls next to me.

    Then I hear a definite collapse behind me as all the force constructs give way. The sound of the constructs breaking is easily swallowed by the downpour of new rubble into the newly semi-excavated corridor to the surface.

    I dodge around the last heap of removed rocks and reach the more originally intact part of the corridor. I stop and while I don¡¯t have to catch my breath, haven¡¯t done that in ages, I do have to calm down. That idea is ruined as something rams into me from behind. ¡°Stop!¡± I try to catch myself but I am pushed on. I grunt as my face painfully scrapes the ground.

    I kick the now completely still form off of me and look at Bob. ¡°At least you made it. Next time this happens¡­ heads are going to join the throne.¡± Damnit Bob. The collapse catches up to us and ends in a cloud of dust. My nose, eyes, mouth and even ears are full of it. ¡°Aaaaah, I want a bath¡­¡± I try to, but I fail miserably to keep that pitiful, wishful tone out of it. Haven¡¯t had a bath in ages.

    Tears wash the dust out of my eyes and but after a minute or so, though it¡¯s hard to tell that nowadays, I can clearly see the remains of all my work. Bob lies still next me, not moving so much as a muscle. Not unless I command it to. Apart from him, there is only one other zombie here. Half buried but still trying scrape forward, zombie number five is clearly a lost case. Don¡¯t know where three is but I certainly don¡¯t feel it anymore.

    Actually, I am somewhat surprised five is still functioning. Its entire lower half is completely crushed. Makes you curious as to where the connection originates. Because by all signs, it seems the bare consciousness of my zombies seems to be at the other end of the connection. If I could tinker with that, and apparently it¡¯s in the upper body, I may make myself someone to talk to¡­ apart from bob that is.

    I should have done this far sooner. It¡¯s not like this small revelation is that significant in anyway. How much time could I have used to get some company? Damn, if there¡¯s anything I want¡­ forget the bath. This is where I will find greatness. Sure, I¡¯ll keep trying to escape but I finally realise¡­ this is the perfect place to master this magic. No distractions, apart from a random collapse of course, and no responsibilities. This will be my home. My dungeon. And I¡¯ll be ready when I escape. Ready for anything.

    <ul>

    <li>Surface, The Low Lands</li>

    </ul>

    ¡°General! The monsters escaped the den before the rockets hit!¡± A soldier in a worn uniform and seemingly fragile modern armour rushes over to the general of the combined armies. ¡°Gnat cursed monsters. There goes the plan.¡± The general can¡¯t help but lace his words with anger, even if the other commanders can hear it. Doesn¡¯t matter anyway, they know the plan is ruined. The settlement of Endoven will be furious to know they wasted their last rockets. Well, wasted, it probably got more than a hundred of the normal wolves and hopefully a few dozen beasts. But the two infamous pack leaders¡­

    The grey giant female can swallow a man whole, the black male who is followed by a dozen shadowy copies. They ate entire villages and even rampaged through the settlement of Gorda before they barely managed to drive them out. More than a thousand casualties were caused by that night.

    The general coincidently comes from Gorda, lived there all his life. His parents in particular were strong fighters, surviving the onslaught from the deep so many years ago. Fury wells up in him as he is reminded of their death by the very monsters there on the battlefield.

    Nonetheless, more than two hundred mundane wolves escaped the destruction of their den and together with the two monsters and the hundred beast that join the already sizeable amount¡­ The fight just got a lot harder to control and even if they win, it might become costly.

    ¡°Prepare the last of the grenade launchers and fire into the middle deep enough into the enemy on my order. Commander van Haag, please gather your men from the reserves and charge in from the right, try to scare away the wolves from the right flank and herd them to the middle.¡± After a quick moment of contemplation, he turns around and gives orders to the commanders of the individual forces. It took a lot of begging and bargaining to get this many settlements to join together against these monsters.

    The older the monsters are, the more humans and mana they consumed. Funnily enough, the few monsters we managed to capture that were hunting humans are stronger than the ones who didn¡¯t even though they should have had the same amount of mana. Therefore you can¡¯t ever underestimate these man-eaters.

    The commanders said those rockets were going to be overkill when the general brought them, but apparently even they weren¡¯t enough. At least it managed to drive those damned monsters out. The general would hate to enter those massive storage complexes, who knows what¡¯s in there. More of those hellish beast certainly, and that mostly does it for him.

    ¡°Sir Allis has to fire with his squad of archers into the centre, mainly try to slow the approach of the new beasts and the monsters if you can. Commander Morgan, gather up the few companies of gunmen of all factions and bring them to the left flank. Wait for sir Ruyter¡¯s cavalry charge and allow free fire after they finish retreating. You know your own channels for if I need to contact you. That¡¯s it for now.¡± The relevant people all got on their horses and quickly went to their respective forces. The general just goes back to observing the battlefield.

    ¡°Sir General. A word.¡± The general turn around to see an grey haired man. His eyes look weary but otherwise he doesn¡¯t show a hint of fatigue. Even he himself was starting to feel the lack of sleep by now. ¡°You have my ear.¡± The general replies.If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

    ¡°Good. The thing is, our city recent started training a cavalry corps as well, to save more fuel of course just like everyone else. While the others don¡¯t have a big enough cavalry corps to send, everyone other than sir Allis¡¯ Potterdam that is, I just got word that our cavalry should be arriving soon. We merely wish to tell you in advance so you can take it into consideration as well.¡± The man doesn¡¯t come over as precisely deferential or respectful despite his words but reinforcements aren¡¯t meant to be rejected.

    ¡°Of course. Remind me, who and from where are you again?¡± The general can¡¯t quite remember who this man is. Anyone who had the foresight to train cavalry before their fuel is depleted is worth remembering.

    ¡°Arnell de Wit, from Brine city. It is closer to the old German border than most other big settlements.¡± At the name, a look of recognition appears in the general¡¯s eyes. ¡°Ah yes, the wildmage queen¡¯s city. Many do speak of it, in awed tones no less.¡±

    Arnell¡¯s eyes loose a bit of that weariness and a satisfied look seeps through his previous impassive face. ¡°Queen? Not quite. It is true that she has the highest power in the city these days and the old style of leadership has mostly vanished but that is hardly a subject for the battlefield, isn¡¯t it?¡±

    ¡°Quite true, whitebane. Farewell.¡± With that the general gets up on his horse and goes over to where the remaining commanders are now standing. ¡°To think even someone from Gorda would have heard of that nickname. At least they recognise all the effort we put into Brine.¡± Arnell can¡¯t help but grin. If not for the mana within him, he would have called himself too old for this.

    Suddenly, a storm of fire explodes on the right flank. There were a few wildmages here and there in the army, with more normal mages, but only one is so violent and full of cold fury. ¡°God damnit. They charged right in didn¡¯t they? And now I have to tell the general, even though I have no clue how I am going to get you out of there. Why is it always this Cecilia. Every time.¡± And despite the battle raging below and the blood, screams and lives being tossed around carelessly in it, or perhaps just because of the firestorm within it, he grins as he goes on to save her. Not that she would acknowledge that.

    <ul>

    <li>Surface, Northern Old Italy</li>

    </ul>

    At the village of Cumiana, the people living there haven¡¯t been this happy in years. And until quite recently, they were the worst they had been in years. Such a profound difference from only a single simple change. But what a change it is.

    Before, a monster plagued on the village and slaughtered men and cattle alike. How can those weak villagers stop a monster that flies at its own behest? The few bullets they still had and shot at the bird never seemed to hit it. If only, it caused them to rapidly run out of marksmen.

    So, they could only return to Turin, the old city that still stands though much reduced, and ask for their aid. And now after it all, it seems like the bargain is worth it. The last of their little independency is merely pride¡¯s foolishness. They clearly can¡¯t take care of themselves. Why else would they need to ask for aid?

    ¡°I just think that the governor should force them to cooperate. I mean, these people lost nearly three dozen people within two months to that bird. They clearly don¡¯t know what¡¯s good for them if they couldn¡¯t bring themselves to go to Turing earlier. How can we help them if they don¡¯t ask for it?¡± An heavily armoured figure rides up front of the small returning army, along with several others. It is hard to tell from his appearance but at least the voice sounds young so the appearance stands to follow.

    ¡°People have to farm the land here and people have to eat back in Turin. We only need to protect them and the world goes round. If they came to Turin, it would upset the balance immensely. Don¡¯t follow evil by making it good. Think well on that girl.¡± A gruff man with a harsh voice. The girl in armour turns to the other man as if to say something. Luckily, she doesn¡¯t get the chance. ¡°Hush, by now they should be able to hear us. Let¡¯s enter on good terms and leave the same.¡± A middle aged woman, presumably the one in charge if you go by her tone, then looks at the fourth person with them. ¡°Can you go ahead and tell them the good news?¡± The fourth person, an elderly man in an old robe, nods and spurs on his horse toward the gate that the villagers built in their crude wall. The girl can only swallow her words and continue in silence. No one else seems to mind.

    ¡°Welcome, good saviours! I see had a good hunting.¡± An middle-aged man says from on top of the wall, looking pointedly at the few black feathered corpses in one of the trailers. They might be pulled by donkeys now instead of a car, but they were quality nonetheless. The man truly looks happy as he says it.

    The gates open and the man quickly gets down from the wall to the now open gate. ¡°In the name of the entirety of Cumiana, welcome!¡± The man spreads his arms wide in a dramatic show of gratitude. Down the street, residents stand at the side and more keep joining as word gets around.

    The gruff man lets a short laugh at the sight. ¡°Everyone ready to be hailed as heroes again?¡± He doesn¡¯t quite shout, but he makes sure that the few men behind him can clearly hear his comment. Within his half-modern but medievally inspired armour only he knows of his grin and mumble. ¡°I never tire of it. Especially the nights. Ha aha ha!¡± The girl turns to look at the man as he laugh for no clear reason. With a visible shrug, she rides on and the entire army soon follows her.

    After a night of festivities and feasting, the army has to go again. As the sun rises in the late morning, the few soldiers who found a darling for the night say good bye while the paladins, the priest and the commander finish up with the community mayor. Slowly, the army leaves the village while they talk outside of it. ¡°We have left a dozen of the smaller beasts and all the normal crows and ravens near your storage, as well as the trailer they were in. Compensation for your losses and the feast.¡± The commander says.

    ¡°Lady Velati, there is no need to compensate us for the feast, that was freely given.¡± Then mayor Detti dramatically motion on. ¡°Yet, I am sure the widows and families will appreciate this token. Good travel, and be assured that you can tell your governor the deal has been satisfactorily concluded.¡± Without a shred of further consideration he turns back to the gate. They do manage to pick up one thing as he hurriedly leaves them behind. ¡°Damn zealots. Now they are taking our residents as well.¡± As soon as he passes through the gates, they slam shut..

    ¡°How friendly.¡± The gruff paladin can¡¯t help but remark. ¡°Lay it off Markus. They try to be as strong as possible. Sadly, that entails independency for them. And while they bargained when they were in need against that ideal, don¡¯t hold it against them if they find it sour. Think of what your god would say.¡± Lady Velati, the commander, rebukes him. The group get on their horses and calmly ride to the front.

    ¡°Our lord is unfathomable to one such as I. I already count myself a lucky man to wield this power by his grace.¡± The girl and the priest nod in agreement to that. ¡°But yet, I cannot help but think that we wouldn¡¯t even have needed to be here if he intended for this village to survive. That¡¯s the very reason we accepted new recruits to bring with us back to Turin.¡±

    ¡°And that¡¯s why, Markus, Rome makes you advisors and not commanders. The lord has his kingdom of Heaven and we have this world of Men. Our task is only to make sure it stays that way. Not to judge the lives of the living. Rome stands above the church and god stands above us all. We shall not go back to the squalor of the middle ages. We are the descendants of great men and women. We will rise back to our birth right!¡± Lady Velati ends in a strong shout.

    And next to them the soldiers, both men and women, though more of the former were in service, who hear it break out in cheers. Soon the whole army is cheering, even if the ones at the front have no clue yet why. Hopefully it¡¯s something about booze. They soon enter a forest and out of the sharp morning sun.

    They don¡¯t especially hurry in their march, because well, they don¡¯t need to. And the commander feels like they deserve it anyhow, with how they performed at the raven den. The monster previously residing there was especially vicious. The villagers had wholly failed to describe its strength. Were it not for some quick thinking of a few of her officers, many more of her soldiers would have perished before they killed that type one monster. It could maybe even have escaped had Markus not singlehandedly held it off.

    She took a glance at the stout holy knight, one of the first from the new generation to join the rising order. She can still clearly see the previous battle in front of her. Markus in the air with shining wings, strengthening the few veterans that still fought with him. She knows it wasn¡¯t all from the Vatican, that power. She herself has been picking up a bit of mana from all these fights against monsters and beasts. She also clearly understand the unusual exhaustion the use of it brings. It¡¯s one of the reason why paladins channel the mana of others in Rome or even their priests. The exhaustion doesn¡¯t interfere with the fight then.

    With the bare amount she has she can light a fire and a few other cantrips she learnt from mages and paladins. The exhaustion Markus must feel from those magics, there is a reason they only allow  a paladin to go on so many mission before they have to stay in Rome and become priests for new paladins.

    ¡°General!¡± A soldier rushes over to the group of four. He then points at the trees that were slowly starting to encroach on the road. The village should chop some of these down, since it was theirs to maintain. The girl turns in her saddle and leans toward the forest, as if struggling to see. ¡°Fine. Teacher, my new record is a week.¡± She then takes of her helmet and reveals a slightly face with short black hair. ¡°Yeah, now I can see them.¡±

    Coming out of the forest line to too far back now, two men in cut, torn and bloodied uniforms shamble towards them while supported by three other soldiers. Lady Velati immediately tries to take control. ¡°Hurry. Speak up, what happened.¡± The soldiers double their pace.

    One of them keeps himself held up by the soldiers while the other scout manages to bow before her despite the blood on his clothes. ¡°Sir, our scouting party was ambushed by bandits up on the road there. We were moving through the forest but we somehow stumbled on an ambushing force. We were under fire and split up. Micha?l and I barely made it.¡± The commander nods. ¡°And where is officer Gerat? And state your name when speaking to command soldier.¡±

    The soldier gets up and gives a salute. ¡°Private Osgardo, sir. Officer Gerat split up and I couldn¡¯t see which way. Apologies sir.¡± A laugh comes from Markus. ¡°Ha aha ha, calm down, get to the doctor to treat those injuries.¡±

    The scout quickly shakes his head. ¡°I feel well enough sir. It is more important that someone leads the way to the ambushers.¡± The girl perks up at that. ¡°I can do that. Together with officers Arcuri, Brent and Rothel, we should have enough cavalry to drive them out of their ambush. With the scouts gone, that would be our safest bet.¡±

    Lady Velati looks doubtful at that. ¡°I agree that we need to send another stronger scouting force forwards but four cavalry units seems excessive. How about just you go with Arcuri. See as a test of your command. Find private Osgardo a horse and tell the officers to slower the pace. You go get officer Arcuri together with unit and tell him that he will follow Lucia¡¯s orders.¡± Two of the three soldiers nod and go to pass on the message to the relevant officers.

    Soon, the two cavalry units gallop over the road with Lucia, the paladin trainee, at the front. ¡°For Rome!¡± She shouts. Markus can only look after her as he rides next to lady Velati. ¡°Somehow, it doesn¡¯t look she realises that scouting doesn¡¯t involve giving away your position.¡± Lady Velati can only look somewhat disappointed but mostly amused on.

    Then she can only jump up in shock as the entire scouting cavalry force suddenly start falling from the front. ¡°What happened!¡± From the forest on either side of the scouting force arrows and bullets fire upon the fallen riders. ¡°Brent and Marretes. Follow me!¡± Markus shouts and rushes his horse forwards. He is soon joined by two units of cavalry from amongst the army.

    The firing at the fallen riders stop, who have all by now found cover or died. No, instead three dozen dogs, wolves, crows and with beasts among them, pour out of the forest. Not only that but as the cavalry units behind Markus reach the halfway distance between them and the fallen riders, a metal wire can be clearly seen shooting out from the asphalt. Cautious, a lot of the riders in this unit manage to jump over it but still many fall.

    Arrows and bullets now rain on them from the forest. Luckily, only a couple fall to the arrows this time as they all got their shields out but the only protection against the bullets is luck or hiding behind the horses. The few riders still on their horses instead charge into the forest, with the only noticeable effect being a few arrows or bullets less for a while.

    ¡°Charge! Roth and Bouliard, take down the enemy archers and gunmen. All ranged units, return fire until confrontation with our cavalry. Everyone, rush forward.¡± Lady Velati shouts to the best of her ability. Past her, their last two cavalry units race past.

    ¡°Aaaaaagh!¡± From their own sides of the forest, even more foes pour out. The quick soldiers, and that have guns, manage to get off a few shots at them but they fall down as they themselves become targets.

    ¡°Halt! Gunmen and archers continue, infantry hold them off! Keep them bac¡­aaagh.¡± The last of lady Velati¡¯s voice disappears in cry as her horse crumbles below her. One of the last officers that remain near her falls of her horse with a hole in her helmet.

    Soldiers immediately run up to lady Velati and surround her with thick, heavy shields held high. Only the occasional shudder shows their effectiveness. ¡°Aside! I need to see.¡± Urgently she looks through the small gap the make between their shields. Horses were starting to return from the forest, some with or without their riders.

    She looks to where she last saw the priest. The old man was there on the ground, healing an arrow wound to his shoulder. ¡°Gerardus, you have to support the infantry for a while. It doesn¡¯t have to last long, just everyone.¡± The old priest nods but otherwise remains silent.

    ¡°Open up in three and protect the priest. One, two, three!¡± The soldiers instantly move on three and instead cover the priest. One arrow lands dangerously close to where lady Velati is now, without her protection of course. She rushes back to the group protection of the infantry but only for a while. ¡°All cavalry, follow me! I repeat, all cavalry, follow me!¡± There are now a dozen horsemen and while not all of them listen to her, enough do to actually function. Barely.

    One of the nine riders trips up over a body and falls into a few infantry soldiers. Eight still works however. The closest one to her reaches for her arm and pulls her on his horse. ¡°They aren¡¯t attacking the rear. Try and flank them from there. Eliam!¡± She makes a few hand movements towards the back of their army. Without looking for acknowledgement from the new unit, she rushes forward together with the rider. At roughly the same time a warm glow saturates all of the infantry, and they start to fight just that much more faster and stronger than before.

    ¡°Aaaagh!¡± A cheer comes from the men as the fight starts to turn their way. The rider, on whose horse lady Velati rides, can¡¯t help but shout out as well. ¡°For the Lord!¡± Elsewhere on the battlefield, someone else takes up the call. ¡°For the Lord!¡± A few brave soldiers even manage to break through the line and bravely charge the enemy¡¯s rear. Sadly, they instantly get shot to bits. Even the priest¡¯s blessing can¡¯t protect them that much.

    The losses are already terrible but it looks like they are fighter a greater force anyway. If they survive she will be happy, but if they win that would be miraculous. She is wrenched from her thoughts as the horse falls from beneath her again. The rider twists himself mid air to try and protect lady Velati. Perhaps due to the blessing, but the rider somehow manages to jump of the doomed horse. Lady Velati hits the ground with the rider between her and it.

    Lady Velati separates from him as she rolls on. The battle is still going on and the blessing is beginning to fade here and there, urging on the remaining soldiers with a new desperateness. Instead, lady Velati just lies on the ground, dazed, hurt and confused.

    Suddenly, she is picked up by rough hands. Weakly, she looks at one of the new recruits. Yet, she is utterly shocked as she gets a look at her surroundings. There, at their rear, there was a reason the enemy doesn¡¯t fire here. The road is covered in fallen stone still soldiers. Some look as if running while others have a more aggressive pose but all of them move not so much a muscle.

    Then she sees the wildmage. With a vicious grin and cold pale blue eyes, he watches on as a stream of blood, the tips frozen, bore themselves into the riders eyes. He quickly goes limp. ¡°Look at our luck. She came right into our hands. The warlock will be pleased. Go, I¡¯ll hold the soldiers off. Good bye miss, was me a pleasure.¡± The previously injured scout look her dead in the eye, a floating stream of blood not far off.

    Five soldiers break off of the line and charge at the wildmage. The stream shoots itself at the closest soldier, who just brings his lighter shield up. The blood flows around it and the woman soon falls down, grasping her frozen shut throat. The wildmage picks up a dagger and quickly cuts the dead rider¡¯s throat. Soon a new stream flows around him. The three new recruits, who obviously aren¡¯t that, quickly run of into the forest with a squirming woman held between them.

    ¡°Lord Warlock, the enemy is nearly broken. Shall we prepare the cavalry?¡± A man in clean dark clothes stands in the shadows of the forest, looking over the battlefield. He turns to the woman who spoke. ¡°If you can call it that. Ha. They should however be enough to hunt down any of theirs that flee. You know what I think it is time to finish this. In the proper fashion of course.¡± The man says to her, and all the other subordinates around him.

    The warlock holds out his hands and for a second, his eyes glow red. Then a black smoky bolt erupts from his hands. It shoots itself at a cluster of the paladin¡¯s soldiers. It hits two soldiers, and at the point of contact, their flesh immediately begins to rot. They scream in horror as their guts spill out and rot in front of their eyes. They claw at their comrades for help, and when they touch so much a speck of the rot, they get it too.

    A few brave inflicted rush at the warlock¡¯s soldiers, but they have been warned of this spell. They keep away from the inflicted and when they do manage to get hold of one of theirs, they kill them both.

    The fights are now sparse enough to not all get infected. Hence why the warlock spares these kinds of spells for last. Speaking of the warlock, his hands are shaking and his face is now gaunt with sunken eyes. A booming voice sounds out over the battlefield. ¡°Surrender and we will spare your lives, flee and we¡¯ll cut you down.¡± Instantly, whole groups of soldiers lay down their weapons.

    The warlock can¡¯t help but grin, despite the cost of the spell. The energy or the knowledge for the spell didn¡¯t come from him but the connection to his master nonetheless always takes away his strength.

    A soldier comes up and whisper in one of his subordinate¡¯s ears. The man nods at the soldier then looks at the warlock. ¡°Sir, some men have returned together with the enemy commander. In regard of the paladins, the one in the first charge seems to have broken her neck at the very start, but the other one is alive. Injured but alive.¡±

    ¡°Good, bring to me the paladin. I can¡¯t wait to see who it is.¡± The warlock can¡¯t help but rub his shaking hands together in anticipation. ¡°Well go then, get the paladin!¡± The soldier who told the officer hurriedly leaves and soon returns with ten more men and a bound and bleeding paladin.

    The warlock can¡¯t help but be disappointed as he sees him. ¡°A pity, I had hoped for someone else. Who were you again? Averic, Mavric, Maverus¡­ Ah, Markus, the light of the new generation. Tell me, do you recognise me? I wouldn¡¯t think so, but please try.¡± The paladin doesn¡¯t utter as much as a word, though his breathing remained heavy due to the bullet wound.

    ¡°Thought so. Well, I had hoped it was my brother or one of his friends. The reason why I put this much effort into it all actually. Well, anyhow, you¡¯ll do. Master wasn¡¯t that specific after all.¡± The warlock stretches out his hand towards the paladin, and from Markus¡¯ wound, a bullet flies out into the warlock¡¯s grasp. With another wave of his hand, the blood begins to retract into the wound.

    Markus can¡¯t help but laugh. ¡°Ha aha ha. Did the darkness drive you mad fiend? Or are you finally accepting god¡¯s fate for you.¡± The Markus¡¯ laughter slowly dies out, as he sees the warlock¡¯s grinning face.

    ¡°Oh, I am not doing this for you, foolish mortal. No, this is for my master.¡± The warlock nods at the soldier who let the paladin free. The paladin immediately rushes at the warlock, his hands starting to glow. That glow fades a second later as the paladin staggers. The warlock holds a dark purple wispy sword, buried deep into the paladin¡¯s chest. The warlock looks upon the paladin with glowing red eyes as he burrows the ethereal sword entirely into him. The paladin falls backwards and begins to writhe.

    The warlock and his subordinates let him be and instead gaze over the road, back to the village. ¡°Have the men quickly finish looting the corpses. We should march as fast as possible to Cumiana, before they have time to prepare. Tell the soldiers to try and take as many slaves as possible.¡± The warlock looks back at the still writhing body of the paladin. ¡°My master will want to have as many slaves as possible to build his empire.¡±

 A New Source

    A New Source

    <ul>

    <li>Etham Bannecath</li>

    </ul>

    A faint but piercing tap echoes through the old conference room and the curving corridor beyond. I can¡¯t help but drum my feet on the floor or the like whenever I have to patiently wait for something. The something in this case being Bob. Well, not the original Bob, or the one after that one. But it¡¯s Bob nonetheless. I say so and my word is law. My will is the only one

    And so my throne, which I actually made, is not just symbolic or plain cool but truly a solidification of my power. It¡¯s also a very comfy throne, perfect for when I rest or contemplate something. The throne isn¡¯t that special, apart from comfy, since I had to make it myself with but a small choice of materials. In the end it¡¯s more construct and illusion than a physical chair.

    In fact the entire splendour of the old conference room, now the new throne room, is all due to semi-permanent illusion I put up. I even included kingly banners throughout the facility. The charred walls can¡¯t be seen anymore, instead red carpet covers the floor which complements the now pristine white walls.

    Finally, after a bit, Bob enters the throne room with all the other zombies I have currently active in tow. I can¡¯t quite order them from a distance without giving an audible command but I have nicely circumvented that with my improvements on Bob. I managed to create an entirely new version that has only a one time cost to animate the corpses. Even though they are both weaker, less adaptable and utterly fragile compared to the traditional undead.

    Still, they are useful and it helps that I can have some corpses working while I have more mana to experiment with. Though there is little that needs to be done anymore. The security centre turned out to be totally hopeless even when it was only excavated till the crushed door. I didn¡¯t even bother have my zombies try to clear it.

    The elevator similarly turned out disappointing, the power generator is utterly destroyed as well and there is nothing left in the control room. Nothing recognisable at least. Who knows that was, probably some poor bastards that Errhart murdered.

    But I didn¡¯t only improve and research illusions and these undead. I once more grin with a stupendous amount of pride as I look at Bob walking in the room. I used one of the most intact corpses I could find. Current Bob was lightly incinerated during the experiment. Actually, there were two of them in that bed but I only took away the male to use as Bob.

    But what a beauty did I make it into. Force constructs encase him in armour, each plate firmly attached to the corpse, and gives of a light yellow glow. I did have to attach an illusion to it that changes the force construct appearance from translucent to amber, so that I could properly see it. The glow is a property that I added later and its supposed to show the strain and weight that¡¯s on it. Would have been useful to have had that on the beams when the elevator tunnel caved in, way back then.

    ¡°Stop.¡± A flat and dry voice comes from Bob as he reaches the front of my throne. A simple illusion ingrained into it but with some help, I can make the other, more simple, zombies obey them as if my own. Technically they are my own since I had to order Bob to say them. Believe me, I was happy enough at the time that I got it to work with a reasonable temporary cost. The first time I tried it as permanent, I had to cut off the flow before it became too much. I don¡¯t know what would happen if I do that too often without letting the gate to my source repair, but it doesn¡¯t seem good.

    I have two more zombies, of the stronger tradition undead spell, with the same armour at the foot of my throne. The shield is moulded onto the left arm and the helmet looks as helmety as I could get it to be but where there should be holes for the eyes, I have replaced it with see through force construct. You can¡¯t believe the time and effort it took to create curved force constructs.

    The thing with these dead knight is that while the force construct don¡¯t weigh anything themselves, I had to leave gaps at the joints or it would else be a statue. And the weapons, I just had to give them weapons didn¡¯t I? Not that they can really use them anyway, but I still managed to create one mace, one sword and one spear. If making curved constructs is hard then making sharp ones is impossible. Hence why I have sharp stone blades and spear points attached to the constructs.

    At least I think I might have a solution to the weapon problem. All this time since the collapse, I have been working on improving the intelligence of my undead and while I also always have had side projects that were easier and I improved a lot in, I say that I have tried to keep focussing on the first thing. And with the end of a few side projects as well as the need for some sort of skill in the weapons I gave my dead knights, I finally got an insight to a solution.

    The reason I had Bob fetch all my zombies was because I had run out of test subjects. Just one or two wouldn¡¯t do and anything more than that would take even longer to prepare for. I can cast the lesser version of the spell, lets call it raise corpse, five times with the same amount of strength it would cost me to cast one raise dead, raise dead being the original version of the spell.

    I touch the connection between zombie one and I. With a tug and a small command, one of the zombies behind Bob stumbles forward. Perfect, my first test subject. With a gentle but firm hold, I start to cast a spell at that very connection. Stupid that I didn¡¯t try this earlier. But then again, it had been a profound insight that this bond wasn¡¯t the same as normal mana. Quickly, all the mana in my source is available.

    ¡°Corpse connection, convey, contain, anima controls, learn. Be strengthened, empower the connection with anima, empower the corpse with anima, empower the inner anima remnants, my knowledge to the matrix¡­¡± It goes on a bit longer, but the intent and ideas I hold in my mind that go with the spell plays a huge role as well. It is more costly this way, holding more of it in thought, but some things are simply hard to express in words. And I try to keep the spell from going into an actual description of what happens. Sounds simply to unrefined.

    I finish the spell and immediately zombie number one begins spasming. I can still feel the connection between us, and it only thickens and bloats in some places and thin and shrivel in others. ¡°Interesting.¡± I mumble to myself. After a while spent observing the connection, it starts to even out again. In the end the only noticeable difference is a new rough and perhaps more solid connection between us. ¡°It actually survived this time. I must be going in the right direction then. Now for the test. Clap!¡± It¡¯s the first time I get to use the command I prepare to test the spell.

    The zombie brings its two arms up, the hands in front of it with the palms turned to each other. Then it quite humanly, though not fluently due to some bad muscles, pulled them more apart before bringing them back together in, you guessed it, a clap. Well, I say clap, it was more a wet, mushy and sharp smack.

    The connection between me and zombie number one snaps and then instantly crumbles, together with the zombie. ¡°It did manage to use the muscle movements and language meaning I sent it, even if it broke down immediately afterwards. Perhaps, if indeed the inner matrix is influenceable by anima, I can send the information right at the physical connections. Then when I order it, the information of the order itself might go through it and use it¡­ Jeff, place the corpse on the maybe pile.¡±

    One of the dead knights at the foot of my throne starts to move over the fallen zombie. It bend down and with two hands grasps the corpse¡¯s head, the closest part of it to it, and begins dragging it over to a pile of bodies that technically could possibly be reused if I put effort into it. Or if I test that they weren¡¯t too broken. Why would I though with this still plentiful supply of corpses, now that I also look around in the dead quarters, the former living quarters. Oh, me and my boredom sometimes.

    I pull on number two¡¯s connection and look at the responding zombie. It might have been a female once, but by now it is barely telling. This zombie is also in worse condition than previous number one, but apparently it can still function.

    In a bit, I have hold of my source again. Focussing on zombie number two¡¯s connection with me, I cast a slightly changed version of the spell. Strength leaves me and the cold inside of me increases again. I have mostly become insensitive to anything but the utter lack of any strength. But still, I¡¯d say that I can maybe cast two more of these spells before I need to rest.

    I wait eagerly on my throne to see what will happen this time. Again the connection bloats but this time it stays so at one place. That¡¯s fine, I can wait a bit. And a bit more then, I guess. I¡¯ll give it a moment more, but then I will stop it. The connection is still bloated and it doesn¡¯t look to have lessened even a tad. ¡°Guess I can try out the other spell.¡± I say with a sigh. I access my source again to cast the severing spell. ¡°Hm, what?¡± I can hear a faint echo, I think, in the distance. ¡°I seem to be going mad. Get a hold on yourself Etham.¡±

    I quickly finish up the severing spell and the zombie immediately went limp. The spell pulls the connection apart, string by string, until it disintegrates. The zombie stops reacting to orders as soon the connection is being attacked and went the first string breaks, the zombie stops any basic processes. Until the connection disintegrates, if you stop the attack it will repair itself slowly.

    ¡°Jeff, throw that one on the recycle pile.¡± The noise is still there, in fact, is it getting louder? To be honest, now¡¯s a weird time out of the ages that I have been here to clearly start going crazy. Jeff once more grabs and pulls a corpse away. This time it goes on a pile with only two other corpses. I admit, these experiments aren¡¯t too healthy for my corpse supply.

    The noise has become even louder, it sounds like some is scraping away at stone, maybe even hacking? No, this can¡¯t be a hallucination and I don¡¯t have a clue in hell what else it can be.If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    With a groan, I get up from my throne for the first time in ages. It can¡¯t hurt to have a look can¡¯t it? It is probably nothing but stretching my legs now and then is also important.

    First with a few awkward steps but then I quickly walk on in a steady stride. Soon, I am past the old smaller labs in the bend around the ruined central laboratory and into the hall. The hall also has an illusion covering it, replacing all the scorch marks with how I remember the hall to originally look. With a few improvements of course, such as a few banners, a carpet in the middle and candelabras standing next to that in opposite pairs. A bigger hanging candelabra supposedly lights the rest of the room. Quite classy if I say so myself.

    The clanging noise is certainly getting louder. I hastily walk into the corridor to the elevator, where the sound seems to come from. ¡°Zie je al wat?¡± Are those voices? I mean¡­ It can¡¯t be right? ¡°Ik ben net pas rond the stalen balken gekomen maar ik ben bijna door de wand.¡± No, that can¡¯t be. The rescue team finally arrived. I can¡¯t really understand what they are saying, but I¡¯m sure that¡¯ll be fine.

    I run back to my throne room, excited about my impending release. When I reach it, I immediately walk over to a desk in one of the corners of the room. I pull out a draw and take out all the papers in it. ¡°Everyone, stand in three lines, in front of the door.¡± I wait to see if any of the zombies can¡¯t process the command that went over my connections with them.

    When all but one do as I say, I nod satisfied and grab a nearby bag from beside the desk and neatly try to stuff my papers in it. What else, what else. Ehm, no, that¡¯s all that I want to bring. I have also decided to just come out with having these powers to the corporation. I am powerful enough I¡¯d say that they can¡¯t force me into tests. Well, not if they want me alive that is. Hopefully they want me alive.

    Nonetheless, there is simply too much here, in the way of magic that is, for me to quickly hide and break it all for they notice. If I manage to get out of here before they notice the few closets full of useless corpses or the kitchen where I put all the rocks from the excavation, all the better.

    I think I am all ready and set now. ¡°All follow me.¡± This time the zombie that couldn¡¯t act out the last order, moves as well. Without any particular order in it all, all my zombies and dead knights try to keep up to me. I have to consciously stop myself from running ahead of them to the people. People! Can you imagine it? Bob, certainly can¡¯t. Never could, in fact.

    But if I go ahead of my zombies, then when they lose track of me, who knows where they¡¯ll then random wander off to. So, I can¡¯t go any faster than what is practically a stroll. How joyous. Just as we enter the hall, I can hear the voices again. ¡°Ben je zeker dat je iets hoorde? Ik zie hier niks.¡± I can¡¯t understand wat there is being said, but this person talks with authority. However that sounded again.

    ¡°Ja! Ik weet het zeker. Alsof iets aan het rennen was.¡± An indignant but somewhat scared reply. It¡¯s all in the tone of voice. That slight tremor and speed that shows the unease. ¡°Ssst. Hoor je dat?¡± A different voice than the other two. I think it might be one of the two I heard before.

    That¡¯s when I turned the corner leading into the long corridor going to the elevator. I can just see a woman and two strong men looking at me and my zombies with their mouths agape and shocked. Three more burly men were observing the glowing beams in the ceiling.

    The woman was the first to come to action. She starts rambling some numbers and mumbling words between that. Meanwhile the men quickly pick up pickaxes and after a second hesitation storm at my zombies with a yell. The miners behind them turn to notice and begin to rush at me with pickaxes in hand as well.

    ¡°Peace, they aren¡¯t going to¡­¡± I can¡¯t finish my sentence as the floor where my zombies and I stand up shoots up. It only goes up in the air some twenty centimetres but it breaks up as it does so. It easily disrupted my zombies¡¯ balance and were utterly defenceless to the miners.

    ¡°Attack!¡± Sure, they may be my rescue team, but they actually attacked me and I am not going to lose Bob, Jeff or Fred. They cost me too much effort for that. The eight or so zombies that weren¡¯t thrown over or just hit by the miners immediately lunge at them. One of the miners hits the armour of Fred, but apart from the glow of it increasing drastically it doesn¡¯t break.

    ¡°Grab him and swing the mace.¡± I try to convey the command as properly as I could over our connection. That¡¯s why I was trying out that new spell in the first place, so that it would be able to do that when I ordered it to fight in the first place. Fred takes hold of the miners leg and while still on the ground, it takes hold of the mace attached to his armour and makes a mighty swing at the miner¡¯s knee. With a crunch, the miner falls over. With another crunch, he stays down.

    ¡°Fallen zombies, stand up!¡± You really have to command them for every single little thing, if they aren¡¯t properly included in previous orders. By my interpretation of fallen, the zombies who had finally stand up. Then they just stood there. ¡°Attack damn it.¡± I don¡¯t even have time to sigh.

    The enemy mage holds up her hand and when she finishes, a ball of fire the size of a fist erupts just before it and shoots itself at Jeff¡¯s head. It hits and for a short while, I can¡¯t see it Jeff¡¯s face as it is submerged in the fire. Luckily, it vanishes in a few seconds and leaves behind only a glowing helmet.

    ¡°Jeff, charge.¡± Jeff, the dead knight with the stone sword, runs forward at the mage. Well runs¡­ running as how a moving corpse with magically stimulated withered muscles and bulking armour would do it. Quite amusing actually. It does however let me free from engagement with the other zombies holding back and sometimes even taking down the miners. I close my eyes in preparation, something I didn¡¯t have to do in a while, and focus on my source.

    Vaguely, I feel something hit me, but I decide to ignore it however. With effort, I get to my source. From within my dream like state, I open my eyes. ¡°Bones, burst, shatter. Pierce the flesh. Rend the flesh. Fragments.¡± I save time on the chant by holding most of the meaning in my mind. Costly, but saves time.

    The mage is hastily stepping back from Jeff as my spell hits her. ¡°Aaagh.¡± A scream of utter agony. She tries to grasp her head but her arms could only move but a moment before she entirely burst apart, with white bone fragments even hitting some of the miners and zombies. A shredded chunk of meat and organs falls to the floor as the legs previously supporting it disappeared.

    Most of the zombies are broken and flounder or wiggle with their useless bodies. Fred is holding a piece of miner, the leg it looks like, and is swinging the mace at the crushed remains of the rest. Two other miners are brought down by the zombies and are still being mauled as I speak. One more miner runs back into the hole they made. ¡°Eight, four, stop him!¡± One of the zombies mauling a miner stops and follows the miner back in their entrance.

    I turn to the scared last miner, who is too far from the hole to make it and facing a dead end. Well, the entire facility is a dead end, except for the new entrance of course. ¡°Bob, stay at the hole and alert if anything living comes.¡± I then turn to the unfortunate miner, who is cowering on the floor.

    ¡°Dood me alstjeblieft niet. Ik heb een familie. Ik heb kinderen. Genade, ik smeek het je.¡± More dribble. I pick up a pickaxe from a fallen miner. I pains me to do this, especially being the first other living beings in a while. But in truth, I can¡¯t see much difference between you and Bob. Perhaps there is a grain of ominousness in that. ¡°Sorry, but this is for your own sake.¡± I stride forward and the man, picking up my tone of voice, fearfully scrambles backwards. In the end, he hit a wall and I hit his chest.

    One quick step into my source with a raise corpse later, and the most intact zombie to have ever graced my presence joins my slaves. Now, that woman, she had magic. I walk over to the lump of shredded flesh. I sit myself down in front of it and close my eyes. I can also access my source standing these days, but for the first time in a while, time isn¡¯t a luxury I can afford right now.

    I quickly mumble through an old spell that lets me inspect the quality of a corpse. ¡°Ha aha ha aha!¡± I can¡¯t help but let an excited laugh escape. Could I ever have imagined this? No, probably not. Simply beautiful.

    There were still parts of her that hadn¡¯t completely died yet, even some of the paste that was her head. It seems like some cell tissues have mana imbued in them! It¡¯s true, as they slowly start dying as well, a concentrated spark of power escapes. It proves a multitude of theories I came up with in my time here, just like that. But that isn¡¯t what attracts my attention the most. No, this is in fact far more powerful.

    Between each mana imbued cell, there is this sort of connection to each other. The inner matrix also certainly wasn¡¯t made out of mana, it just doesn¡¯t behave this way. No, this just is one more step to proving that there is also anima, barely distinguishable from mana but different nonetheless. You can compare mana to kinetic energy and anima to thermal. Both so similar and practically the same, but also with their own obvious characteristics.

    I peer at the slowly disintegrating web of connections. It is happening fast, far too fast to try to repair it, with whatever experimental spell. Perhaps there were more cells, but they died during my attack. Still, there is a pitiful amount of mana imbued in her cells compared to me. The entirety of my little finger has easily double the amount.

    But I can¡¯t just sit here doing nothing. I need to see what the matrix does. I need to! The life I could breathe into Bob. Aha! Genius, utterly genius. I can convey knowledge over my connection with it, so why can¡¯t I some similar but opposite? Extract information. I can establish a connection with her by the raise dead spell. Maybe I should try to see what I am doing there that establishes a connection. Later.

    I cast raise dead on the chunk of flesh. I feel most of my remaining power flow from me for the spell. The cold exhaustion is starting to affect me, already I can barely feel everything properly. I remain in the dreamlike state that my access to my source feels like. Would my source be similar to the matrix? Actually, they could very well be the same thing. More to experiment!

    The connection brightens up in my consciousness from nothing, but it still manages to be stronger and firmer than the connections of the lesser zombies even with its completely ruined body. Though it is clearly worse than that of Bob and the other two dead knights. This must be due to the matrix that the animated flesh has. The matrix even seems to have stopped degrading, for now at least.

    While looking at my connections, I look for zombie number eight and four among them. Four is there, however it is faint. Probably one of the mangled heaps of zombie here, as the miners couldn¡¯t finish them properly off. But eight¡­ Nowhere to be felt. I sent number eight after the miner, so whatever may have happened, it probably means that the miner survived. ¡°Damn.¡±

    I have to quickly finish this up and then smash through whoever is up there. Can¡¯t imagine why people would attack me. Sure, seeing undead would scare anyone but you wouldn¡¯t attack them. They didn¡¯t look like military in the slightest, hells, they had pickaxes for gods sakes. Pickaxes! Why in the gods names would they have that?

    No! The connection is dimming! I knew a chunk of flesh and shredded organs wouldn¡¯t work, a waste of mana! Urgh, well it doesn¡¯t have to be a waste. If I can quickly try it out before it breaks down or more people arrive. Those people wouldn¡¯t be so bad if I didn¡¯t feel so drained. I mean, I can always appreciate new servants.

    ¡°Corpse connection, obtain, take, anima controls, learn. Be strengthened, empower the connection with anima, empower the corpse with anima, empower the inner matrix, the matrix¡¯s knowledge to me¡­¡± I could haste through it and leave more out but with this low level of mana that is deadly. I have eventually learnt my lesson and I am in no mood to fall unconscious in this situation. If I could even save myself before I turn into a dry mundane husk that is.

    The spell manages to take effect and immediately targets my bond with the undead flesh with the power it used from me. The connection shudders, tears and thins considerably. Then surprisingly, it works! I can barely register the undead flesh¡¯s matrix withering, so much does the information the connection now gives overwhelm me. ¡°Argh.¡± I had suffered through worse but this feeling is simply too¡­ internal, like I¡¯m too unprotected. It is even worse than the seeping cold of spending mana.

    But the information¡­ I can¡¯t make sense of it. It all feels slightly off, foreign as it were. The connection snaps and I am left reeling with this random information the spell gave me. Then another connection instantly disintegrates. Weak and confused, my eyes shoot open.

    I am in time to witness a smoking and charred recently rekilled corpse fall to the ground. ¡°Attack!¡± Bob and my other dead knights immediately turn to face the invaders. A crack splits the air and an amber flash follows soon after. Jeff falls backwards, his head nearly entirely detached from the rest of it and chunks missing from the top of his chest. His helmet and chest force plate construct have vanished.

    The man responsible for this steps through the hole and makes space for heavily armoured men to come through as well. ¡°Zie je this? What pathic monster, I heb ergere en sterkere gedood. With minder moeite as well.¡± The mage remarks to the other fighters. Regardless of what just happened, it is confusing but I think I can understand some of what they are saying.

    The lesser zombies reach the fighters but get effortlessly cut down. ¡°Alf, schakel de mage uit. Probeer to not kill hem.¡± The lead fighter shouts at a nearby invader who just cut the newly raised miner apart. With a nod, he runs at me. I hastily get off from the ground but not before he reaches me. With a kick, he knocks the weakened me over. Not enough to knock me out but it makes it all hurt much more.

    As I lie dazed on the ground a feel more bonds snap, fade away or disintegrate. In the end there is only one left over. I look up to see bob still fighting away, clawing and hitting the fighters with the spear I made it. So it is useless when it is needed anyway. Damnit. The fighter that kicked my head notices me shifting. ¡°Boss, he is nog steeds wakker. Moet ik him nog a time schoppen.¡± The boss nods absently, observing my undead. The mage finishes a spell and suddenly Bob starts blazing within his armor. Blazing as in fire by the way. He continues fighting however, still under my order to attack. But he is not the only thing that burns. The bag with my notes that I had attached to him quickly burst in flames as well. ¡°No!¡± Then the knee hit my head again and I finally crumbled.