Graveyard Uprisings

by Jason Paul Rice

  The small army controlled by the spirits got within a block and I looked at the cloudy sky with snowflakes falling to the ground. I took in the chill and crafted a frozen wall in front of us. It wouldn’t stop the opponents, but it would slow them down so we could formulate a plan.

  “I formed a wall in front of us. Felix, see if you can reinforce it so we can come up with a plan.”

  The mage closed his eyes and bright blue gusts of wind came shooting from his fingertips. Felix opened his eyes as a heavy force crashed into the temporary shield. I looked around. Carolyn had her fingernails out, and Reg had the fire in his eyes that I’d grown to love. Satoku was crouched behind us and Felix appeared ready to go.

  The wall was cracking under the stress of the enemy’s magic. “Felix, you and I will go up front and defend everyone against what they throw at us. Reg, hit them with some fireballs. Carolyn, not sure what you are capable of, but you know what to do.” I looked at Felix, “Let’s hit them with an invisible wave of fire.”

  I felt Felix’s warmth and noticed he didn’t have his wand on his person, only a curved blade sword resting in its scabbard. The wall finally collapsed, and Felix and I flung the flaming magic at the stone men in black. It crashed into the front of the crowd, knocking down a bunch of men until the more advanced practitioners sensed it and deflected it away from them.

  Carolyn, the maniac, rushed into the mix making it harder for me to target some flaming purple orbs. I peeked back at Satoku, who had a frightened look on her face, and turned back to the action. A wave of complicated magic came hurtling toward us. I turned around to Satoku, “Spray yourself. Now.”

  I could see a grid of bright green lines, intersecting with straight multi-colored lines. Oh no, it was a net. I fired my purple orbs toward the enemy so I could go in another direction. I reached into the defense bag and pulled out a spell to counteract the net.

  The remaining enemy kept pushing us back, and although we had taken out about half of the men, that left the strongest ones. I kept checking for Satoku as a power pocket crushed into me, forcing me back even further. This was not looking good. How did they build this big an army in only a few days?

  I heard a distorted voice coming from a distance behind me, “Hold them off for a little longer.”

  I looked over my right shoulder at a surprising sight. The Jersey Devil, Aka Manah and a swarm of ugly demons, who had never looked so beautiful, stomped down the road toward us.

  The Jersey Devil led the pack and fired a bolt of lightning from his wooden staff. It broke the net around us, and the variegated electricity smashed into a group of stone men, instantly charring them.

  The demons swung the tide back in our favor and I saw Carolyn emerge from the other side, blood splattered all over her. She spun around with a low side swipe and shredded straight through a man’s midsection, and he fell to the ground in pieces.

  Reg was emboldened and raced around on his wheelchair about ten times faster than I had ever seen him. The vampire juices were already kicking inside him. I was waiting for sparks to shoot off the wheels as he cruised up to a man in black, tucked and rolled forward, did a front hand plant, holding himself and his chair upside down and unleashed an invisible (I could see it) spinning blade shaped like a buzz saw.

  The man in black didn’t see it coming until the blade made contact and blood shot out of his chest, showering the snow on the street. Reg pushed down, flipped around and sprung back upright in an amazing feat, the likes of which I’d never seen before.

  He burrowed into the enemy as the demons rushed into the fray. A reptilian palm landed on my shoulder. The Jersey Devil said, “You gotta get inside and kill the Sendals. We can take this from out here and the more damage you do, these vessels will lose power. Go.”

  I took two steps and stopped. Satoku. I ran over to her. “Keep spraying that stuff. The effects must be getting weaker over time. I have to go in the building to fight the spirits.” I didn’t know what to say. I couldn’t find Felix to ask him to keep an eye on her as Carolyn rushed over.

  The vampire said, “Go. I’ll protect her. Go. Go.”

  I had trusted her with my life before, so why should this be any different? I kissed my girlfriend and moved to phase two.

  I stopped, spotting Ernesto and Victor. I took one out of Reg’s book and conjured up a blade of fury. The two men didn’t see me, and it felt kind of cheap to catch them off guard, but that was what battles were. Head on a swivel.

  I waited until they were in a straight line and heaved the rotating blade at the two nuisances. The buzz saw zipped through the cold air, leaving a trail of steam in its path. Ernesto still hadn’t detected the blade as it buzzed through his neck and continued toward his associate.

  Victor turned but didn’t have time to get out of the way as the blade took his head clean off. His body crumpled to the ground, steaming blood pouring from the neck. That was what happened when you tried to kill me.

  Avoiding the stone men and men in black, I ran toward the U.S. Steel Tower, barely noticing that Felix was right on my heels. I wasn’t even sure that the rumor that the Sendals were in the tower was true. We walked up to a façade of glass windows at street level, and we stopped for a moment. I noticed a green and red fog streaking by inside the building.

  Let’s go.

  28

  There didn’t appear to be an open door or a red carpet rolled out. What the hell?

  Felix said, “I think we might have to break a window.”

  “Might as well. The cops are already on the way for the street brawl.”

  Felix formed a quick pocket of condensed air and smashed through one of the big windows, leaving hanging pieces of shattered glass from the top of the pane. I squeezed against the side as I entered and felt like I had lost my sword. A quick check revealed it was still there as both feet hit the inside of the tower.

  A dark, open area stood in front of us. I noticed a piano, a twisting stairway, an empty front desk and elevators down a hallway in the distance.

  I didn’t see any of the spirits, but I could feel the immense amount of magic in the air. We both unleashed our weapons, and uh, his was smaller than mine.

  I’m no expert, but it appeared he had a wakizashi with a jade kashira, tsuba with golden inlay of rune symbols and diamond-shaped menuki ornaments worked into the braided silk tsuka. Both our blades glowed in fluorescent orange with golden rune symbols as I checked for the spirits.

  We moved in further, around a flight of stairs, and there they were. I froze. It wouldn’t be wise to rush them even with the sword. Magic didn’t work against them either. About twenty spirits with different colors floated in the middle of the lobby.

  Two security guards came around the corner. One of the men spotted the spirits, and said, “Hell no. Ray, I ain’t fucking wit this bullshit for the money we make.”

  “Aw, me too. Ain’t worth no Ghostbusters shit,” the other man added.

  Both men turned and ran. Can’t say as I blame them.

  The Sendal Spirits spotted us and I felt a heavy force crush my chest and launch me backwards. I rolled over and noticed that Felix had been hit too. We both sprang up and recovered our swords. A green spirit charged toward us, expanding in shape and size. Wings formed, along with two reptilian feet with long claws. A dragon’s head took shape, and I had a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach.

  The dragon widened its mouth and a blast of fire shot from the opening, tracing toward us. Felix and I hit the deck. We narrowly avoided the flames but still got scorched from the heat. My suit protected all of me, except for my exposed face that felt raw to the touch.

  I jumped up like a crazy medieval knight, sword in hand, and rushed the beast before it could generate another face full of fire. Screaming wildly with utter nonsense spilling from my lips, I saw the orange glow start to move up its throat.

  I side stroked, and the blade went right through the supernatural dragon, but didn’t appear to affect it in the least, u
ntil the horrible scream of a thousand dying men was released. My ears begged me to make it stop, and I really wished that I could. It sounded even worse than Cerridwen’s cauldron of death, something I didn’t think possible.

  The other spirits hissed and spread out, surrounding Felix and me. We went back to back and our bodies froze like they were glued together. Neither of us could move. Devilish laughter erupted as a few of the spirits turned into opaque longswords.

  A sapphire blue weapon hummed through the air, scraping across the spot in between my stomach and chest, tearing through my suit.

  Whoa, that meant the sword was stronger than my suit. Not good.

  The sword wound up again and came swinging for my neck. Just before contact, the opaque weapon stopped and released a desperate howl. The shape dissipated into a stringy cloud as the spirit rushed toward the broken window.

  Jonathan must be in full gear at the seance. Just in the nick of time too. The Sendals appeared shaken from the event and lost their mental grip over us, scared they would be the next one sucked out of the building, I seized the chance.

  I lunged toward four Sendals, (red, green, blue and silver) right in front of me as I took a diagonal stroke, ripping through all four of the spirits, smearing their colors like an abstract painting. The hideous crying and begging for mercy lasted about ten seconds until they completely disappeared.

  Felix took a long side stroke, ending the run of four more spirits. The colors ran together and then exploded. We both thrashed around, stroking our swords wildly. At the end of the mayhem, only three spirits floated around the lobby. A gold spirit ran for the window, and I assumed Jonathan was filling another box.

  That left a silver and red fog to deal with. A voice sounded from behind me, “I’m still gonna kill you, you know.”

  I turned and looked up to the top of the steps. My father. I want to go kill him more than anything right now, but I don’t want to leave Felix with these powerful spirits. I moved toward the spirits, and Felix said, “Go fight him. Kill him. He’s too dangerous to leave alive in this city.”

  I silently agreed and took off for the steps. My dad kept going up more flights of stairs until I quickly reached the tenth floor. The old man was spilling magic vines everywhere so tracking him wasn’t too difficult.

  It was a strange form of magic. Epically powerful, but unrefined. The most dangerous form of magic coupled with my father’s murderous attitude, made for a catastrophic combination.

  He kept climbing and climbing, and I wondered what he was trying to do. I kept wary of wards and defense spells as I chased after my father, but none ever appeared. At first, I thought he was luring me into a room that he had filled with Sendal enchantment, but we just kept climbing.

  I started to sweat as we neared the top of the building. He wasn’t going for the roof, was he? We hit the 64th floor, the top floor in the tower, and an alarm with flashing lights and sirens went off. My father had opened the emergency door to get to the roof and I rushed through the entrance.

  I went through the last door and came out on the roof of the triangular shaped building. The snow continued to fall but didn’t accumulate on the ground. My father stood about ten feet away, laughing.

  29

  “Little Mikey came to get killed, huh. You know you don’t have the power to be messing with me.”

  I paced toward him. “I’m not here to talk, old man.”

  “Tell you what. I’ll let you get the first shot in.” He put his arms behind his back.

  He thought I was stupid. I could see the defense wall around him. It was another grid of bright lines, tightly bound. I was patient and searched for the opening. Most people wouldn’t even be able to see his shield, but it was like a swirling tapestry of colors and I needed to find the compromised area.

  You had to keep feeding magic into the shield, and I knew my father would trip up at some point. The waves of colors kept streaking around until I found a tiny opening. I jammed my left index finger into the hole and yanked, breaking up the defense.

  I cocked back a clenched right fist and unleashed a haymaker that landed on his front teeth and chin with a thud. He stepped back, dazed and confused. He wiped his face and looked at the blood in his hand, stunned. I smirked, preparing a funny quip like ‘Sorry to rune your plan, old man.’

  My father put his hands behind his back again, and I assumed he was going to spot me another punch. He produced a blurry object in his right hand, and I took two steps back, trying to figure out what it was. He held the L shaped object about chest level and it spat a silver spark followed by a flash of fire.

  The bullet hit my chest with the impact of a runaway train and I stumbled backward. The suit distributed the pain, but I wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not right now.

  My father fired three more shots in rapid succession, hitting my chest and torso. Concern instantly attacked my heart as I worried that one of the bullets had hit the open area in the suit. I kept moving backward and noticed two more little sparks just before the bullets hit me in the shoulder.

  I fell back, hitting my head on the ground, my arms flying behind me, hands dangling off the edge of the building. I wasn’t dead. I just wished I were dead. The pain was indescribable. Everything in my entire body hurt with the slightest breath. I wanted to check for blood, but decided to play possum.

  I heard the rotors of a helicopter and saw a spotlight shining down on the roof. The light zeroed in on my father, and gunshots erupted in the cold winter night. The bullets sprayed my father, and bounced off him, sounding like they were hitting a bronze statue. He laughed and looked up to the helicopter, arms out at his sides.

  “Go ahead. Take a few more shots. Ain’t gonna do you no good.” My father closed his eyes and pointed up to the sky. A stream of red fire shot from his finger and traced through the sky, screaming toward the helicopter.

  The flames quickly engulfed the chopper and it started to go down. Fluttering in the air, two burnt passengers dove out, arms flailing before they crashed into the ground. The flaming helicopter spun out of control before exploding upon contact with a parked car.

  I could barely breathe as I heard the sweeping steps of my father getting closer. I tried to play dead as he stood over me. “Told you I’d kill your ass. And I wanted to torture you. Too bad. Time to fly, Mikey.”

  He leaned down to grab my legs and I seized the chance. I reached up, clutched my father’s collar, held on for dear life, and swung my arm over my head. My father toppled over, flew over the edge, but grabbed hold of me at the last second.

  His grip on my forearm made me slide a little bit further toward the edge and my heart fell into my foot. I rolled over, head over the edge, and looked my father in the eyes.

  He said, “Looks like we’re both going to die.” The old man yanked down on my arm, and I dug my toes into the loose gravel on the roof as I slid further over the edge.

  “Not tonight.” I kissed my rune tattoo, leaned down, and chomped on his fingers. He still clamped onto my forearm, long fingernails digging into my skin, so I bit harder, drawing blood. Finger by finger, my father finally relented. He waved his arms and legs wildly, trying to fly.

  I pulled my head back from the edge before he hit the ground and didn’t even hear the impact because of the police sirens screaming through the city. I was still in pain from the gunshots, but my body felt hollow. I thought killing my dad would make me feel so proud that I would run to my mother, bragging about it.

  I mean, he was my father, there is something to be said for that, but he was the worst human being I’ve ever known. I mean, he had just shot me several times. The snowflakes felt good on my burnt face as I sat up. Ding dong, the witch is dead wasn’t sounding so sweet in my head. It really should’ve though.

  I heard painful grunting and a person came up over the edge of the 64-story building. My father, riding a golden spirit in the shape of a Pegasus. They came back up onto the roof toward me.

  You’ve got
to be kidding me. The Sendal Spirit set him back down gently and hissed at me, shifting into the form of a cloaked man with a wand. Great, now it’s two against one. Where’s Felix?

  I backpedaled toward the center of the roof. An opalescent golden streak of electricity traveled from the fingers of the spirit into my father, who glowed in the snowy night. He extended his hands toward me. A blast of fiery gold hit me in the chest, knocking me back several feet and onto my ass.

  Coupled with the gunshots, I didn’t think I would be able to get back up. The suit had absorbed some of the impact, but not nearly as much as I would have liked.

  I could hear the soles of my father’s shoes sweeping through the snow on the roof, stalking me. Peeking at him, I saw that he was using more caution than the first time he had approached me. It bought me a few seconds so I could regather my fried head.

  I put my hand on the grip of the sword as the Sendal Spirit floated next to my dad. My father stepped on my hand. “Don’t even try it. Now I just have to figure out how to kill you. I don’t want to kill you tonight, so I can torture you for a little while. You deserve at least that.” He laughed and howled at the moon.

  “Why are you doing this?

  He laughed. “You know why. Same reason I abandoned you as a son. You’re a sissy boy. A man wants nothing more than to have a son. Imagine my anger when I finally get a son and all he does is cry and whine for his momma.”

  “That’s what babies do, by the way.” I used some of my force to hit my father but his power was extraordinary.

  He ground my hand into the gravel surface like he was stamping out a cigarette butt. The coarse pebbles poked into my palm, breaking several layers of skin. The spirit kept feeding magic into my father in the form of a green fog that floated in the night sky before disappearing into my dad’s ears.