Necessarily Evil- Prophecy

by Shad N Freud

  ∞∞∞

  “Kill that fucking halfbreed already!” Frau Stitcher screamed as Kurt and Wilhelm sluggishly swung at Carl, missing by meters as Carl veritably danced away from the massively over-armored ettin. His own attacks were largely ineffectual, as the big bastard’s armor was just too thick. Carl didn’t let that bother him, since he was really just trying to keep the brute busy while the others got their feet back under them.

  Jin was trying to shake off the effects of the tranquilizers the bastards had dosed him with and, as such, was barely putting out enough aethereal energy to power a 30-watt bulb. Cenere had finally been freed after Zeke had cut his bonds with the obsidian knife and then broke the anti-magic shackles around his friend’s feet. Cenere’s power poured back into him as he ripped off his gag and began singing a particularly guttural death metal hymn, breathing new life and vigor into the group, waking Camilla up like a shot of adrenaline. She pulled a hidden knife out of her sleeve, cutting her ropes rather quickly before breaking her own shackles and cackling loudly, placing a hex on their enemies.

  Frau Stitcher covered her ears to drown out the discordant cackling and failed to notice the disruptor round that caught her in her “good” eye. Her head exploded like an overripe grapefruit before she crumbled to dust. The General screamed in fury, then activated a one-way teleport.

  Carl watched as Kurt and Wilhelm became confused by the lack of orders from their handler, then fearful as the General left with a faint pop. Both of their faces contorted in horror as their flesh began bubbling. Carl’s eyes widened to the size of dinner plates when he realized the good General must had activated the self-destruct on the big guy and he ran for the way he came in, followed closely by Zeke who had Jin, Cenere, and Sachi on his shoulders with Camilla hot on his heels. The explosion completely leveled the room and the temple shook dangerously as they all ran for their lives, following Carl as he ran for an escape hatch he’d scouted out during the two and a half days we was missing. After they sealed the hatch behind them, the deafening sound of millions of tons of limestone, concrete, and various metal structural members imploding shook the tunnel as they sprinted away from the devastation.

  Once the ringing in everyone’s ears stopped, Carl bent at the waist as his lungs decided to scold him about his filthy habit. He promptly turned a deaf ear to his poor organs and lit a fresh cigarette as he looked over the group. Zeke stared back down the tunnel forlornly, his father’s sword doubtlessly lost to him. He sat his charges down and would have wept if he’d been capable of it.

  Jin patted him on his massive arm. “What’s the matter, big guy? We made it! We’re finally done with that thrice-damned temple and done with Nazi zombies!”

  The lizardman glared balefully at the gnome for a moment, his expression softening before he sighed. “My father’s sword is back there, buried under a mountain of rubble. I wish I had time to dig it out, but…for now, it’s lost to me.”

  “You mean, this sword?” Carl asked as he pulled the adamantine blade from his coat. “Found a couple shufflers squabbling over it before I got down to you lot and took it off their hands. I also found a few other things in the room, like this coin and this stupid box with a stupid rock in it.” Zeke’s cloudy disposition instantly became downright sunny and the walking luggage assortment bearhugged Carl so fast that Camilla nearly got whiplash watching it.

  “Thankyouthankyouthankyou!” Zeke murmured as he gave Carl a rib-crushing hug.

  “Unhand me, you under-evolved cretin! I demand you hand me to the gnome at once!” the box Carl had discovered shouted.

  “…brother? Is that you?” Krang whispered as Jin walked over to Carl and took the box from him while he was being hugged by the giant lizard.

  “Who else would it be, imbecile? Of course, it’s me. Now then, do you know where our body is? I lost track of it and our siblings when the arm I was in was ripped from our body and I fell out.”

  “I’m sorry, brother, but no. I don’t remember much. I have a slight hairline fracture in my inner lattice that’s blocking me from accessing my full memories.” Krang murmured softly.

  “What?! Oh, this is just great. Two thousand years separated from the rest of our little family, and the first one I find is feebleminded. What did I ever do to deserve this?” The other stone said, the light within rising to the top as lightning roiled across the inner surface of the orb.

  “If you’re quite finished with your histrionics, brother, we can chat later. What were those Nazis trying to do?” Krang asked, vibrating gently in irritation.

  “Open a permanent rift to the Abyss, of course. It would probably have doomed this world, but who cares? These fleshies have been doing a fine job of killing their own world as it is, and anything I add would just be superfluous. But, you know, programming and all.”

  “As riveting as this is, gents, I think we should get out of here. When that temple collapsed, I’m pretty sure the anti-scry dropped too. I’ll send out a distress call as soon as we’re topside.” Carl coughed out as he poked the lizard man in a particularly sensitive pressure point, causing the jubilant lizard to drop him. “So, let’s ditch this shit heap, and get on with our mission, hey?”

  “Very well. The half-breed is right. We’ll talk more later.”

  “Quite right, brother. I’d like to hear what you’ve been up to.”

  “Great, now there’s two of them,” Carl groused as he pulled his flask out of his coat and took a long pull.

  Cenere picked up the coin that had dropped while Zeke tried to kill Carl with affection and flipped it before rolling it along his knuckles. He was looking at the engravings, feeling the material and examining the condition with a critical eye, going so far as to dig out a jeweler’s loup to get a look at the finer details.

  “Lucifer’s short and curlies, this coin is perfectly circular. The face of the coin is of Melqart, the ancient Phoenician god of Commerce, among other titles; on the relief side is an eagle with its foot on the prow of a ship, and…well, my Phoenician’s a bit rusty, but it roughly says ‘Tyre everlasting.’ But…the coin, it’s like it was minted with modern methods. Like a blank was laser cut out of a sheet of metal, then engraved with a lithographic matrix. Also, it’s not silver.”

  “Wait, what?” Carl demanding staring at the coin incredulously. Cenere stared back at him, flipping the coin in the air. “If it isn’t silver, then what is it?”

  Cenere’s brow furrowed. “Well, if I had a marble table available, I could show you. It’s mithril. The weight is all wrong for it to be silver, and considering its age? Should have been corroded or worn away due to rough handling. So, either this is a fake, or it was silver and exposed to a huge amount of aetheric radiation. In other words, it’s been converted due to a huge amount of magic being present. And, if memory serves, Jesus was a walking conduit of Jehovah, so any money that would have changed hands for his capture or execution? Blood money? That would have a huge effect on the coins. Possibly enough to convert them to mithril to preserve the coins, the evidence of the debt owed for Jesus’ death.”

  “’One to pay a debt.’ Well, now we know what these thirty pieces look like. And it looks like I’ve got a signal. Let’s get out of here. Oh, and Cenere? I think the bonfire you wanted can be arranged,” Carl said as he speed-dialed the Pope. “Boss? I need you do me a favor. How much thermite can you get me on short notice?”

  Chapter Eleven

  Cenere and the others sat on a nearby hillside, a small campfire lit in front of them, enjoying s’mores and watching a massive metal fire burn merrily. The thermite reduced the remains of the temple into a sinkhole, lighting up the night sky as the silicates in the very rock turned to a mirror-like glass. Carl lit his smoke, then clinked his bottle of beer against Cenere’s. “Sorry you couldn’t use the actual thermite fire to toast the s’mores, pup. Would have been too hot.”

  Cenere shrugged and snickered as Camilla looked at the graham crackers and chocolate, being led through the proces
s of eating the gooey confection by a laughing Sachi while Zeke sneered at the sweets, choosing instead to toast a couple dozen hotdogs using a pair of wire coat hangers to skewer the weenies. Behind the group, an airship bearing the standard of the Black Hand floated lazily in the night sky, running lights illuminating the black hull and highlighting the ship’s name stenciled in red paint; the SFS Crowley. It was a small landing craft waiting to take them up to the carrier.

  Carl finished his beer and got to his feet. “Gang, much as I’d love to sit here all night and watch the place burn, we need to be getting on the road.” He made his way to the landing craft, preparing himself mentally for the trip ahead. The passage alone wouldn’t be a problem; it was the ship’s captain he had issues with. Carl’s irises became a bit redder for a moment before he took several deep, cleansing breaths to center himself. It wouldn’t do to kill his cousin, after all.

  ∞∞∞

  Deep in the Abyss, Marduk lounged in his palace as he and Legion watched the pyramid burn, plotting their next move. “Well, I’ll be damned. Ink was right. He threw, what was it, his own excrement into the alchemical mixture for the ritual? That Orc sure is crafty. And ruthless. Destabilizing a ritual circle like that could have been disastrous for the people he was trying to save. I agree with Kali…we need to remove the remaining gestalts from the equation. I’ll handle this matter myself, but not by killing the spares. I’ll turn them to our side. See if you can get me a list of these individuals. I’ll try to entreat first, then threaten their families. That always seems to work.”

  Legion scratched his head in thought, then nodded. He looked over at the slate wall Marduk installed after their first impromptu meeting and extruded a piece of chalk from his midsection to write on the wall.

  Marduk laughed darkly as he looked back into the orbs of purple light that served as Legion’s eyes. “You’re right, Legion. A four-way split would certainly work better than a five way. But…we should be cautious. Those souls sacrificed did give her enough power to become mostly corporeal. But Ink still isn’t fully restored. She will be far more dangerous now, as wounded prey.”

  Legion nodded and wrote more on the wall.

  “Legion, my old friend, that is downright devious. But, who to tell…who to tell…I have it! We tell her that the coins are the key. The coins are essentially divine blood money, correct?” Legion nodded slowly and Marduk continued, “So, if we convince her to harry their efforts concerning the coins, we can focus our efforts elsewhere. And, just when it seems like she will prevail against the Orc, we stab her in the back and let the Orc finish her. Good talk.”

  ∞∞∞

  “Brother, I fail to understand your fascination with these…organics. They fear you, treat you like an inanimate object, and only interact with you when they need something. You should be far more interested in finding our remaining…siblings…and regaining a body. Granted, that latter objective might be more difficult, as the McGillicutty Corporation seems to be extinct or at least unable to communicate via the multiplanar comms array,” the stone whispered, vibrating in irritation

  “These mortals fascinate me because of how quickly they’ve advanced their technology. I vaguely remember how McG Prime looked, and that was an entire macrocosm of organics. Of living beings that breathed air, consumed nutrients, and excreted waste products. Not all that different from this world,” Krang replied, vibrating at a different frequency to try and soothe his ‘brother.’ “Besides, this world’s technology is rapidly approaching that of McG Prime. A plane, I might add, that stopped innovating as soon as they discovered the ability to open a stable Trans-Dimensional Gate to other worlds and began blatantly stealing any technologies they didn’t already have. In the late nineteenth century of this world, enterprising businessmen did much the same, minus the TDG, and exploited their own people. This world’s not perfect, but at least they learn from their mistakes.”

  “Krang? Is everything alright in there?” Jin asked as he gently tapped on the box. While his curiosity about the new stone was slowly making his brain itch, he was doing his utmost to give the two their privacy.

  It had been three days since they’d left the temple a smoldering ruin as Carl made Cenere’s desire to coat the temple with thermite and watch the entire area burn a reality. Krang and his unnamed brother had been arguing on and off for those three days, the box rattling around when the two decided to initiate physical contact, limb-lessly sparring with each other when words would fail, not unlike the behavior of siblings since time immemorial.

  “Everything is fine. As yet, we’ve not fully reconciled. Being separated for two millennia will do that to you,” Krang whispered as Jin opened the box.

  “So, there’s five other stones that made up the Pacification Drone’s control net, correct?” Jin asked as he sat down with his current project and stared at the two stones in the box.

  “Correct, fleshling. When the seven of us are complete again, we’ll need a body.”

  “Well, as I told Krang at the temple, I’ll do what I can to help. After all,” Jin said as he opened up his toolbox and took out various tools for turning the mundane into the arcane, laying out his materials. “No family should be split apart.” Jin smiled sadly as he pulled out his runic index, looking for the right runic arrays to use for the enchantments he’d been asked to perform.

  Competent enchanters weren’t all that common in that day and age, as Shawcorp had cornered the market on simple, mass produced enchantments. Added to that, the Buddhist faith had a rather strong lock on arcanotech, like the aetherweb, and were the primary producers of arcane and mundane computer systems. Quality enchantments, such as those produced by the late, great Jameson were becoming a rarity, as the guilds that once hoarded the knowledge of the enchanting process were abolished, and non-standardized enchantments fell out of the public favor. That said, sites on the internet and the aetherweb still existed for those that enjoyed one-off enchantments, as well as custom work.

  Jin was currently working on a belt that would increase the wearer’s strength greatly, and it would take weeks to fabricate as enchanting was far more of a hobby for him than anything approaching a trade. “By the way, rather than keep calling you ‘it’ or ‘the other one,’ I was wondering if you had a particular name you’d like to be called? I call him Krang, because that was the name we agreed on.”

  The other stone grew still and the darkness surrounding him deepened for a moment. It then began flashing, actinic purple lightning dancing across the inside of the small orb like a particularly agitated plasma ball. The inner lightning subsided, and the stone became dark again.

  “I have chosen a name. I choose to be called…Greggory. Also, your Mandalaic Rune Scheme is 73 microns off center. I recommend that you correct it, or it will burn itself out within six months. I would instead suggest that you use an Articulated Recursive Loop Array. It will accomplish the same thing but shall be far more stable and use aetheric energies at least twenty percent more efficiently.”

  Jin paused drawing out the Mandala that acted as the basis for the runic array and checked his math. The stone was correct about the way he was drawing the runes, as the runes being too close or too far away would cause the aetheric energies to short out quickly with the process he was using to weave the magic into the belt. And, where aetheric energy was concerned, a short could be fatal. Especially if it caused a cascade failure with the rest of the magical gear one might be wearing, potentially causing an explosion that could take out a city block. This was the reason, in times past, that wizards and their ilk tended to live on the outskirts of town, whether due to the mage’s own code of ethics and the desire to not harm the local populace or because they were forced to move at sword point by the town guards to keep collateral damage to a minimum.

  He took the sheet of paper and carefully tossed it into the fireplace he’d asked Jeeves to install in the small laboratory he’d set up next to his room, to burn runic mistakes before they had a chance to st
ack up and get bigger. “Thank you for pointing that out. But,” Jin’s brow furrowed as he looked at the somewhat omnicidal stone, “what’s an Articulated Recursive Loop?”

  Greggory sighed and rolled within his sphere. A purple light grew within the stone and flowed outward, forming lines, shapes, and repeating pictograms that Jin realized were words. The projection was in a language he didn’t recognize, but the basic gist of the arcane line work showed a self-repeating, self-feeding energy loop that was far more simplified than inscribing an entire mandala. It had a single link. On the outside of the self-referencing sphere, the three-dimensional runic arrays would turn into and fed the series of rings that surround the belt, each ring a simplified mandala “disk” that draw power from the seemingly endless power source.

  Something clicked in Jin’s head, and he ran to the library.

  “Excitable little bundle of amino-acids, isn’t he?” Greggory snarked as he watched the biped run out of the room with a gleam in his eye. All he’d shown the gnome was the McG Aetheric Capacitance Omnifold schematic and its link to a bunch of blank enchantment mandalas, the basis of an ARLA.

  ∞∞∞

  Cenere sighed as he sank lower into the water of his bath and grinned lecherously as he felt a pair of arms rise out of the marble of the tub, cradling him gently as several of the golems slid out of the stonework and proceeded to “clean” the Inquisitor of Lust rather thoroughly. As he felt the rather tell-tale tingle that preceded an orgasm, someone opened the door to his quarters. His eyes bugged out as he watched Camilla stride into his bath wearing a robe, glaring at Cenere who was still mid-coitus when she began to yell at him.