He saw Ryan first. He’d half mutated into his werepanther form, but the multiple stab wounds had rendered him crawling sluggishly on the floor, swimming in his own blood.
Next he saw the attackers, seven teenagers, dressed in the same black armour as the boy he’d murdered.
It took Josh seeing Ed suspended in the air and bound by a rope of blue magical energy before it hit him. Dark-Venators!
Silas had told Josh about them, alongside demons they were the Venators biggest enemy. They named themselves Rakarn, the demonic word for children.
It was mayhem. He couldn’t believe what he saw above him. Two Rakarn boys skipped in a circle around Ed. They looked like twins, identical, apart from one had spiky blue hair and the other purple. The sadists laughed as they threw handfuls of fire at Ed’s legs.
The lone female Dark-Venator must’ve been the one whose laughter had chilled him to the bone when he heard it from upstairs. She held a whip of flickering flames in her hands, her tangled hair a darker shade of red then the flames. She stood on their sofa, her poisonous green eyes focused directly on him.
At least Josh thought she was the only female, she and the twins were the only unmasked Dark-Venators. The other Rakarn wore helms the same ebony as their armour, each helm had two curled horns and the eyehole glass was an ethereal blue.
Josh was about to spring into action when he saw Silas next to the girl. He sat on the sofa, where he’d been before Josh went upstairs. Silas’s eyes were open, yet he slouched on the sofa’s arm, a knife poking out of his temple.
The girl gasped theatrically at Josh’s reaction, clapping a hand over her mouth. “Oh no, don’t you like it? It’s my latest art piece. I’m thinking of putting it in a museum.”
She threw back her head and cackled. “C’mon tiger, ravage me!”
A roar of rage and terror erupted out of him as he dashed across the room to rip her to pieces. He was inches away from where he could bite down into her skull, when a giant form smashed into him. He crashed to the floor with a thump, his skeleton jarring.
“Give the naughty boy a slap,” he heard the girl demand.
Before he could rise to his feet a huge fist cracked against his jaw, making his vision flash black and his hearing muffle. As his hearing returned, he heard the twin Rakarn boys singing in turns as they continued to skip:
“Round and round we go, burning the vampy vamp.”
“Ooh, look at that skin sizzle.”
“Eek, look at the flesh bubble.”
“Oh vampy vamp, you sure are in trouble.”
Mad, they’re all mad!
“Leave him alone,” Josh cried out. He noticed his face had returned to normal, and tears of anger and despair were rolling down it.
“Ah, the vampire has a friend,” one of the twins beamed.
“I wish we had more friends,” the other remarked thoughtfully.
“Rath, Ragul,” the girl addressed the twin boys, “shut the hell up, or I’ll put you in the cage again.”
“No, no, we’ll be good.” Both Rath and Ragul simpered, backing away.
Josh staggered to his feet, staring about wildly. He was surrounded on all sides by a circle of the Dark-Venators.
Directly behind him loomed a monster of a man, the one who’d collided with him earlier. Even clad head to toe in the black Rakarn armour, Josh could tell the big man was deformed, the armour stretched around unnatural bulges of muscle. With his horned helm, the giant resembled a Minotaur.
“Attend to the panther,” The red-haired girl commanded. She stepped off the sofa and strutted toward Josh, gesturing with her hand.
Josh had been about to attack, but an invisible force wrapped around his body, forcing him to kneel before her.
“Watch this, pet.”
He was paralysed by her sorcery, but the girl gently tilted his chin. Josh saw Ryan try to crawl away, completely human now. His arms and chest were riddled with gaping holes, however, and the blood continued to leak out.
Josh screamed Ryan’s name over and over again. Right up until the giant Dark-Venator bent over Ryan, grabbed his head in both hands and snapped his neck.
The girl giggled. “Aww, were you two close?”
Josh struggled desperately to break free of her spell, but it was no good, he could only move his eyes and mouth.
He called out to Ed repeatedly. But Ed still hung in the air, his jeans on fire as he screamed into the gag stuffed in his mouth.
“Hey baby.” The girl crouched down close, licking her lips seductively. “You can call me Selina.”
“You- you killed him,” he choked, unable to stop staring at Silas’s body.
“Obviously,” Selina purred. “All Venators deserve to die. Do you know they exiled me from their oh-so-great Veneseron when I was a child? They dulled my magic and took my memories before chucking me back to Earth like a piece of trash. Do they sound like the good guys to you? But Velkarath found me, saved me. They can save you too little tiger.”
Selina crouched down beside him, delicately draping a hand against his face.
“We are the children of Velkarath,” she whispered into his ear. “The Masters of monsters, and the instruments of agony. Will you join us, or will you die?”
Chapter 7- Feeding Your Demons
Evan's Apprentice training began the day after Vanderain had informed them of their promotions.
He woke up to find a small jewellery box on his desk, and inside was a badge signifying his magic type out of the three classifications: Caustic, Serene or Phantom.
Evan’s badge was a horned skull on fire. The skull looked to be carved out of gold, whilst the flames were red steel. Evan knew at once it was a Caustic badge, he’d seen them before, pinned on the older Realmers’ uniforms.
His friends burst into his room, holding their own new badges, exclaiming excitedly.
Evan saw the Serenes badge was of a silver hand face up, with blue energy magic swirling from the finger tips. And the symbol for Phantoms was of a circular mirror placed behind a treasure chest.
“Ah yes,” Elijah spoke over everyone. The badges are only compulsory to wear on test days. So don’t wear yours now, Emillia, you’ll only lose it.”
Emi ignored him, sticking her tongue out as she put her badge on.
“C’mon Evan,” said Jed, putting on his own Caustic badge proudly.
“Sorry, Phantoms look better,” Xavier replied.
“You wish,” said Jed. “Caustics kick ass. Destroying demons is way better than sneaking past them.”
“Test days?” Evan asked Elijah. “They don’t sound too good.”
“Don’t worry,” said Elijah, “you’ll find out soon enough. Now get to class.”
Evan noticed the change in training immediately. As a Novice, the lessons had mostly been casting the various powers against solitary targets. The sorcery had been small compared to what Evan had seen the other ranks do. Now, his training included magical creatures for them to fight. The creatures they faced obviously weren't as terrible as demons, but they were a good way to prepare for them.
Evan's first class was water element, where Mistress Aqenna instructed them to enter the ice jungle at the back of the chamber.
Evan stood in-between Jed and Izekiel, all of them shivering from the intense cold emanating from the ground and in the fine vapour that swirled amidst the leaves. The trees, the giant leaves and the vines on the ground were all a crystalline blue.
“Your task is to battle the Arctic Ants,” said Aqenna. “Prepare your water sorcery.”
“What the hell are Arctic Ants?” Jed whispered.
Before Evan could reply, a blue blur darted toward them. A couple of inches before it collided with Jed's face, Zeke cast a spell to encase the creature in ice.
Aqenna congratulated Izekiel and ordered them to follow his example.
“Are you sure Mistress Aqenna?” said a girl Evan hadn’t met before.
He heard Blake sigh and say under his breath,
“Not again Sabine.” Blake caught Evan’s gaze and mouthed, “My annoying cousin.”
Evan knew some of the Apprentices in his class from when they’d been Novices together, but other Venators were new to him.
“I mean, I know this is water element class,” Sabine continued, “but I heard the best way to deal with Arctic Ants is with fire magic.”
She was pretty, with creamy skin and honey-blonde hair. The Silcorn family was notoriously large. Now that he thought about it, he’d heard Blake and Seth complaining about their bossy and pompous cousin Sabine. Apparently she took herself very seriously and was determined to do better than everyone else.
“Perhaps,” Aqenna replied, “but as this is water element, we will be using water magic.”
“Well, I think my way is better,” Sabine disagreed. “I’m sure I could find proof in many of the Archives records. I’ll…”
“Just do as I ask,” Mistress Aqenna said wearily, probably used to this ritual.
Soon Evan and the other Apprentices used water element to freeze what seemed like an endless supply of ants as they flew out of the trees. The Arctic Ants resembled flying ants from Earth, but as big as small dogs and their bite was strong enough to temporarily paralyse. Evan came close to being bitten several times. Fortunately, he managed to freeze the ants in time, including the one who’d been a hairsbreadth away from biting his earlobe.
“Oi, that’s mine, thief,” said Porgree Galwitz. He threw an icebolt after the Ant, who flew off clutching a bag of sweets.
Evan had seen Porgree in the rec rooms a few times before. He’d never seen Porgree when he wasn’t eating, however, and the Apprentice was large indeed. In his Apprentice attire he resembled a giant, swollen blueberry. Today he’d smuggled in a bag of djinni dirt-bugs and had been eating the chocolate whenever Aqenna wasn’t looking, until the ants stole it of course.
Evan’s next class was fire element, which took place in the caves underneath Castle-Coterie. Evan believed all five of the castles had underground tunnels beneath them, yet he’d only been in the Coterie warrens.
He and Jed lined up outside the boulder that barred the underground entrance. An enchanted golem stood by the boulder at all times. Somehow, the statue always knew when Venators were assembled for training. The golem shuddered to life, pushing the boulder away to reveal the steep tunnel entrance to the caverns.
“Cheers, Bouldy.” Xavier patted the Golem’s rump as they passed.
The caverns were softly lit by orbs of golden fire set within the rock. Multicoloured lichen glowed in the gloom too. Evan didn’t know how long the tunnel stretched; he’d only ever gone as far as the first door, which was Salamand’s cave.
In their first session as Apprentices, Master Salamand tasked them with shooting flame spells. Beforehand, they’d mostly used their sorcery on stationery targets. This time, however, it was against moving targets.
The creatures they fought were called Magma Maggots. They leaped out between cracks in the rocks, looking to feed off blood like leeches. The black and red creatures were five times the size of regular maggots, but relatively easy to kill. You just had to watch out for the tiny globules of lava they secreted. One maggot set Seth’s hand aflame. Seth panicked and tried to put out said hand in Blake’s hair, which his cousin wasn’t impressed with. Salamand fixed the issue before Seth got badly burnt, however, and Blake kept all of his hair.
Evan’s next lesson was Creature-Control. The Master was an android with synthetic blond hair and a top hat, named D-7. Today, D-7 took them to a dusty cellar in Titan’s Tower. Evan remembered hearing that the Masters purposefully let creatures nest around the Fortress for training purposes.
D-7 instructed them to destroy a hive of something called Sprewings. Evan soon learned that Sprewings were like crabs, except they could stand upright and had opposable thumbs. The mottled green creatures fed off wood from the storage shelves all around. Evan discovered, after he'd seen Xavier do it, that the easiest way to combat the Sprewings was to pin them to the ground by manipulating gravity.
Throughout all three lessons Sabine had continued to argue with the Instructors, always thinking that she knew best. However, as annoying as Sabine was, Firk and Fenik were ten times worse. Evan met them in his fourth lesson of the day.
Archives training was conducted in the heart of the library itself, in the only space free of bookcases, where Venators sat and took notes as Gettelung gave his lectures.
Evan, Jed and Emillia arrived late, and the other Apprentices were already gathered. Gettelung himself was curiously absent. As Evan took his seat, a boy he’d never met before shouted out. “Look! Isn’t that the weird kid that almost got us all killed, Fenik?”
Fenik snorted. “You’re right, Firk. He’s the one that kept letting demons in.”
Both boys were small and skinny with auburn hair and big ears. Both boys grinned at Evan unpleasantly. There was a family resemblance between them, but Firk was taller, due to a rather too-long neck, whilst Fenik had a nose like a tomato. Both boys were acne-ridden and their ears were pointed like a bat’s.
“Oi, Umbar, is it?” Fenik asked.
“It’s Evan Umbra,” Evan replied curtly. “And I didn’t let any demons in.” Although you’re the reason they came, a horrible voice niggled him.
“Yeah, but we almost died because of you,” said Firk. “Luckily, me and Fenik can take care of ourselves and killed about a dozen demons each. But loads of the weak Venators nearly got eaten alive.”
Fenik said, “It was funny when Nobi Mensah got acid spat all over her stomach by that one monster…the way she acted, like she was dancing.” Both boys laughed loudly.
“You’re lying,” said Emillia. “During the attack I saw you trying to sneak underground and hide.”
Both Firk and Fenik’s faces twitched with rage.
Jed chuckled, “Who are these idiots?”
“You’re the one lying,” Firk snarled at Emi. “Not that you could ever trust the word of a slave bliak anyway.”
Several Apprentices gasped.
“I’m not a slave anymore,” Emillia mumbled, eyes downcast.
Jed’s good humour had vanished and Evan had clenched his fists.
“Don’t talk to her like that,” he said, staring Firk down.
“Oooh, don’t get the demon-boy mad,” Fenik giggled. “He’ll set monsters on us.”
Although Evan knew Fenik had used the words childishly, without knowing Evan was demonic, the name ‘demon-boy’ hit home. Is that what everyone will call me if they find out?
“Why don’t you two shut up,” Jed said.
“Hey, we aren’t the only ones who think Umbra needs to leave,” said Firk.
To Evan’s surprise and dismay, several other Apprentices he’d only met today nodded in approval.
“He put everyone in danger,” Fenik said. “He should’ve let himself be eaten by the demons ages ago. Better him than us.”
Jed got out of his chair and made toward Fenik, but Evan grabbed his arm.
“It’s fine. Sit down.”
Jed reluctantly took Evan’s advice, staring daggers at Firk and Fenik as he did.
“Calm down you little Ushk,” Firk taunted. “Lay one finger on us and our families will have the city Paladins lock you in a cell.”
“Although,” Fenik smirked, “that Emillia is probably used to being locked in cells, being a dirty slave and all.”
This time, both Evan and Jed leaped from their seats, but before they could act an oblivious Gettelung appeared.
“Ever so sorry for being late,” Gettelung panted. One hand clutched a cacodemon cappuccino cup; the other wiped away crumbs from his tunic. “I got waylaid in the city.”
“Waylaid at a restaurant?” Nena smiled.
“Yes… a very important meeting. Now then, for today’s lesson we will be discussing spell names…”
Evan and Jed sat back down as Gettelung began his lecture.
“Ignore them,” Emi wh
ispered as Firk and Fenik sniggered.
To distract himself from his anger at the two boys, Evan turned to Master Gettelung.
“Now, the naming of spells is a recent phenomenon,” said Gettelung. “The names themselves mean nothing, but studies have shown that it helps you trainee’s remember which magic goes where. For example, a famous bit of Anatomy magic is a spell named Zoom, where the caster rushes at an opponent faster than a blink of the eye. Now, who can tell me about the spell, Slowstep?”
Xavier answered instantly. “Once Slowstep has been cast on a person he moves very slowly, as if his body’s made of lead and his feet of stone.”
“Just so, lad.” Gettelung smiled. “What about Shieldshine?”
“I know, I know,” Sabine shouted. “That’s where your body is encased in an invisible shield which causes enemy spells to bounce off harmlessly. And it makes you all err…shiny.”
“Correct,” said Gettelung. “You can see the names are easier to remember than, ‘that Anatomy sorcery which makes you walk slow.’ Other spell names are self-explanatory. Such as Icebolt, or Darkbreaker.”
Gettelung continued for the rest of the hour, listing off a dozen more spell names whilst they took notes. He explained a variety of spells, such as Farsight; another Anotomy spell which enabled your eyesight to see much further, and Seventh-Sense, which allowed someone to sense when demons were near.
“Remember,” said Gettelung. “All of you have different magical strengths and weaknesses. For example, even if you can perform Anatomy sorcery, you may not be strong enough in Anatomy to use the Zoom spell.”
As the lesson continued, Evan’s anger receded and he focused on his note taking. Even so, he caught glimpses of Fenik and Firk muttering to one another and laughing at him.
He didn’t care what they thought, but he was worried exactly how many other Realmers blamed him for what happened, or even wished he’d never returned to the Fortress at all.
*
Brooke opened her bedroom door tentatively, surprised to find Elijah’s worried face peering back.
Moonlight War- Act I (The Realmers Book 2) Page 8
