Reality Falling (The Book Wielder Saga 2)

by Davies, Sean

  The couple laughed and thanked him before he took his seat back on the bench.

  Omniosis turned to Winston. “Do you, Winston Reynolds, promise to take Veronica to be your wife, to love, cherish and protect, forever and always?”

  “I do,” Winston said, holding out his hand to Veronica.

  “Veronica, please place the ring on Winston’s finger,” Omniosis requested.

  Veronica slid a worn golden ring onto Winston’s ring finger, next to the ring of protection the Mayor had given him which he always wore on his middle finger. Winston brought the wedding ring closer to his eye line to examine it. It was a simple golden band, the top of which had a risen square section that had the symbol of an open book within a circle inset in it. Rather than a simple engraving, it seemed to be inlaid with thinly cut shiny black crystal.

  “Sorry it’s not much… I found it in a little magic shop a while ago,” Veronica explained. “I sort of kept it all this time just in case.”

  “Wow,” Winston gasped. “I love it, thank you!”

  The Archmage opened his arms out wide. The promises have been made and the rings have been exchanged, so I now pronounce you, Winston and Veronica Reynolds, husband and wife! Please seal the marriage with a kiss to show your love.”

  The couple embraced each other and kissed passionately as the guests on the benches stood up and applauded, and the crowd around the plaza cheered while cameras flashed like strobe lights. Winston took Veronica by the hand and led her down to the limousine, with people offering their warmest congratulations as they passed, and soon they were shielded from the noise and commotion, sitting in the back of the luxurious car together. They snuggled up to each other lovingly and kissed as the limo pulled off.

  As they drove out of the plaza with their motorcycle escort Veronica noticed that they were going the wrong way. “Where are we going? The Hotel Noir is in the other direction.”

  Winston smiled cheekily. “We’re not going to the Hotel Noir. I got us a different place for a few days. It seemed a bit lame to just take you back to our place for our honeymoon.”

  She slapped him playfully on the thigh. “All these surprises! That’s supposed to be my thing, sweetie.”

  “You’ve given me enough surprises for one life time babe, I’m just trying to level the score.”

  “Fine,” Veronica sighed, “but can you at least tell me where we’re going? We’re not leaving the city, are we?”

  “Oh no, we’re not going beyond the walls, I didn’t want to put us at risk. We’re just going to one of the private manors in the north sector, the ones that were reserved for diplomatic visits.”

  Veronica grinned. “Very nice, and now we don’t have to worry about breaking any furniture!”

  It wasn’t long before they arrived outside the luxury manor Winston had put aside for them. It was an extremely well kept pre-war building, sat in the shadow of the city wall and surrounded by a fancy old wall with a tall hedge. It had a large posh garden decorated with fountains, flower beds, and statues both front and back, although the back garden boasted a hot tub and heated swimming pool.

  The place reminded Winston of the Mayor’s manor in the Gloom, except this one didn’t have the ‘haunted house’ feel to it. It was also one of the few buildings that had not been modified in any way since the merger. He wondered if that was why he had chosen it.

  They exited the limo and it drove off, leaving the motorcycle escort behind to watch the place just to be sure. One of them opened the wrought iron gates that led to the front path and Winston scooped Veronica up into his arms, a feat that wasn’t too difficult as his strength had increased significantly since the Archmage had fully unlocked his potential. She gasped and giggled as he carried her inside.

  “The place is ours for the next few days,” Winston said as he carried her up the pathway. “I’ve had the place stocked up for our stay so we won’t need to leave for anything.”

  “More time for fucking,” Veronica said slyly.

  “Exactly,” Winston replied.

  He carried her around to the back of the manor where a more modern conservatory and wooden patio had been built to extend the building out at its rear. Winston put her down and switched on the hot tub, causing it to steam and bubble.

  “Fancy a dip?” he asked.

  “Looks like you’ve got this all planned out, my dear husband,” Veronica said, undoing his tie and slipping off his suit jacket.

  “Well you know I like to plan ahead, my darling wife.” He ran his hands over her massive breasts before turning her around to unzip the top half of her dress.

  “Well I’m sure I’ll find ways to shock you yet,” Veronica said as she wriggled her big shapely arse free from the rest of the dress. Her jaw-dropping pale hourglass form now fully exposed, she turned to face Winston and brushed her fingers down through her perfectly trimmed triangle of black pubic hair.

  “No underwear?” Winston asked excitedly as he raced to get the rest of his suit off.

  Veronica moved her fingers lower so that they caressed her pussy. “Yeah... I thought that they’d get in the way.” She brought her fingers to her mouth and sucked her juices off them.

  In a surge of excitement Winston grabbed her in his arms, his hard cock pressing against her soft but cold skin. He kissed her wildly and lifted her into the hot tub before quickly joining her.

  Veronica positioned herself on top of him and slammed his cock deep inside her cold dripping wet pussy. She bit into his neck and sucked on his blood, and as she moved herself up and down he could soon feel the warmth of his blood flowing through her body. She licked the wound shut and wiped his dripping blood off her mouth with the back of her hand as he fondled her big firm tits greedily with his hands.

  They fucked madly and passionately, in and outside of the house, long into the night. Relaxed, Winston lowered his guard enough for Veronica to use her enticing Blood Magic to keep him going and going, until finally he was too sore to continue.

  He sank into the amazing cream coloured Queen-sized bed with a sigh as Veronica went to shower off.

  The main bedroom was huge and filled with expensive antiques, vases, old landscapes, and the like. The house as a whole kept its pre-war theme with beige and gold floral wallpaper, and was furnished with expensive old polished wooden pieces that put those inside the Hotel Noir to shame.

  The couple had expended most of their energy in other places, so apart from some ruffled sheets and out of place pillows, the room remained intact.

  Winston was knackered but he didn’t want to fall asleep without his new wife by his side. Instead, he reached over to the bedside table and grabbed his book, currently the size of a large notepad, from underneath an old lamp with a shade fashioned from glass in the style of downwards facing blue petals.

  He enlarged his book to its regular size and opened it to the page that the golden quill artefact was in. The pages within his magical book were blank until he looked at them, and they would display random or specific information depending on what he willed, but he found that the two pages kept by his make shift bookmark always displayed the same magical text every time he opened it. It was the only thing within his book that he really struggled to get his head around.

  When the Archmage shared his power with Winston, fully unlocking his abilities a Book Wielder, he had told him that it would take a while for all the knowledge flowing through his subconscious to become fully comprehensible. Winston had mastered the extremely useful negation magic that allowed him to cancel out anything Supernatural for as long as he remained focused, but the ancient and immensely powerful manipulation magic was still completely foreign to him.

  He watched as the ink slithered across the pages, forming strange elaborate text and patterns. The images stirred something in the back of his mind, but it was no good; he just couldn’t grasp the knowledge.

  As Winston stared at the pages of his book, twiddling the quill in his hand, his mind began to wander. So far, the h
oneymoon had felt like the weeks between finding his book and meeting the Archmage, the relatively careless funfest that seemed like it would never end. He thought of Xavier and his heroic sacrifice to save Veronica, Lewis, and his own life, and how they had mounted his spell-forged sword on their bedroom wall in the Hotel Noir. He thought of Brooke and Alexander, and hoped that they were still alive and well somewhere. He thought of Lynette and Kavarne on the Industrian front lines and prayed they would remain safe.

  He wanted to help the Archmage restore the world to its former magic filled splendour, and he wanted the power and the glory, but in a lot of ways he was quite content as things were.

  “What the fuck?” Veronica said in shock.

  Winston looked up from his book to see Veronica standing at the entrance of the room, with a small towel barely covering her private parts and another wrapped around her hair. She was staring intently at a watercolour painting on the wall.

  “What is it?” Winston asked, forcing himself up off the bed.

  She was stunned silent and completely engrossed in the painting, so he walked over to her to see what the fuss was about.

  It was a landscape orientated painting of Brooke, Alexander, Lynette, Kavarne, Xavier, Lucius, and Winston and Veronica holding each other in the centre. They were standing at the entrance to the Hotel Noir as it had looked before the merger, and all of them looked happy and truly content.

  “Where did this come from?” Veronica asked quietly, her voice full of emotion and nerves.

  “I think I made it,” Winston gasped.

  - - -

  Kavarne, the butch Werewolf Brutebeast, rolled his prized classic motorcycle off the ferry ramp and down into Beachhead One. It was the city on the northern most point of the barren continent of Desem, home to the nation of Industria. He wore dark brown riding leathers, black sunglasses to shield his yellow eyes from the strong sunlight, and his long, wild, dark brown hair and beard were ruffled by the coastal city’s strong winds.

  The continent had seen many battles and wars in its time, and for what it lacked in vegetation it made up for in rare metals and resources. These conflicts included those from the raids of ancient Tidussex from the eastern side of Rura before ancient Imperia had gained complete control of the continent. Later, it had been the first invasion point of the Imperian Emperor Titus Aurelius’ failed attempt to dominate the world. It had seen many a bloody battle when the zealous followers of the Church of the Twin Goddesses had organised themselves into the ‘witch hunters’ and led an inquisition to attempt to wipe the Supernaturals out of existence in the secretive Shadow War, and it had been the first point of invasion for Titus’ descendant Edgar Aurelius’ successful conquest of the world about a thousand years later in the dawn of the Great War. From the bombed out ruins of random shops and houses, piles of rubble, and overactive militaristic presence, Kavarne could see that the continent was experiencing yet more strife and turmoil.

  Lynette, the vivacious Werewolf Swiftpaw, followed closely behind her big lover. She wheeled her demonic looking Gloom-originated motorbike Merv, with its cool silver spiked metal body work, six long exhausts and cycloptic glowing green witchlight eye. The perky figured and tan-skinned Werewolf was wearing camouflaged combat trousers, a loose white t-shirt, an open leather jacket, and like Kavarne she wore no helmet. Instead, she sported a pair of snazzy shades and allowed her light brown bob haircut to blow about wildly in the wind.

  Behind them, vans and trucks filled with weapons and supplies rolled down the ramp into the harbour. Two Supernaturals from the Shadow Circle drove an armoured van from the Hotel Noir that held most of the Werewolf couple’s personal effects and weaponry.

  “I can’t believe we missed the wedding,” Lynette sighed.

  Merv made a sad whining sound from his engine.

  “At least we get to see some action,” Kavarne growled, “but it looks like they started without us.”

  A Vampire in a black suit with ruffled brown hair approached them; it was Blake from the Dogs of War. He walked out in the open without fear of the sunlight. Ever since the initial trade with the Gloom, of sweet foods for rare reagents, the Shadow Circle and their allies had been inundated with the materials to create the once rare Corrective Potions. With a dose of Sunshield Potion, a Vampire could be exposed to the sun without disintegrating.

  He had a stern and stressed expression on his usually jovial face. “Kavarne and Lynette, good to see you both. We certainly need you.”

  “Looks like you’ve been in the thick of it here,” Kavarne grunted.

  “The rebels got their hands on some wartime bombers,” Blake sighed. “Probably from a museum or old airfield or something. Either way, they knocked the shit out of us before we dug out some flak cannons and got some air support of our own.”

  “They’re pretty well organised then?” Lynette asked.

  Blake nodded. “More than you’ve been told, that’s for sure. We’re dealing with the Trinity, the Inquisition, and their metal monstrosities. Not to mention the Desem Patriots, the Clockwork Angels, and other gangs who don’t like our current course of action. Looks like they’ve all banded together to fuck us over.”

  They walked together through the city. More and more, they could see the signs of destruction. Ruins smouldered, human citizens scurried around not wanting to be out in the open for any longer than needed, and makeshift memorials had been erected here and there to honour the fallen. The day to day life of Beachhead One had been replaced by the overwhelming militaristic presence of human, Supernatural, and Alternative forces combined.

  “We’ve got the edge still, right?” Lynette offered hopefully.

  “We do on the Alt and potion front, but the rebels are throwing everything they’ve got at cutting our supply lines. The Alts here have been laying those hellish mines of theirs either side of Highway One. It’s helped a bit, especially against the rebels’ tanks and vehicles, but those robot things still manage to find their way through.”

  “Tanks,” Lynette gasped. “Fuck! Can’t you get more people up here and on the highway?”

  Blake shook his head slowly. “Orders from the Capital are to push east from our hold on Rigorton to take Industria as soon as possible, which we are struggling to do. Those lunatic Anarchy’s Ascendants are out causing mayhem and running distractions, and that leaves us up here struggling to defend the supply lines.”

  “Is that where we come into it?” Kavarne asked.

  “You guessed it.” Blake gave a slight smile. “Kaine wants you to run a regular patrol up and down Highway One, and take out anything that’s a threat. I’ll lend you as much support as possible but you’ll have to radio if you need a big load of backup, I’m afraid. We’ll get a couple of drinks in and go over the details; I definitely need a beer or two.”

  Lynette nodded appreciatively. “Ride up and down Highway One, take out some rebels, and ride up and down Highway One... I think we can handle that, can’t we boys?”

  Merv revved excitedly and Kavarne gave a cool nod.

  “Let’s see if you’re that chirpy after you’ve dealt with your first Supernatural filled tank.” Blake laughed, but they could tell that he was worried.

  Chapter 2: The Rebels

  Alice searched around the dark dockyard in Industria frantically, her hammer in one hand and a flashlight in the other. Her power armour made moving quickly around the big metal cargo containers easier, but her apprehension was tiring her out.

  It was a cold night by the calm waters of the Industrian coast, and the churning mechanical sounds coming from the industry-filled city were a constant droning of background noise. The skies above were a mix between cloudy and smoggy, illuminated by the sheer volume of light from within the city. Even at night the columns of smoke from factory chimneys continued to pour forth into the heavens, and it was only towards the ocean that an actual clear bit of sky could be seen. The air was much clearer in the docks than it was within the city but the heavy pollution stil
l tickled the nostrils.

  Jonathan Knight, a member of the Trinity of Old who had first introduced Alice to Silvario and Cherriesa, was accompanying her on her mission, as were a male and female Inquisitor in full suits of power armour. They too were looking all over the place with flashlights.

  “What are we looking for again?” Jonathan asked wearily.

  “A symbol of some sort,” Alice said in an irritated tone. It wasn’t the first time he had asked. “Probably the Inquisition banner symbol.”

  “Are you sure it’s even here?” he asked.

  “Yes,” she snapped back. “Four containers were definitely shipped from Central Isle to this dockyard.”

  “I’ve got them,” the female Inquisitor called to them.

  They gathered in front of four generic containers which were stacked side by side, one on top of the other. The woman’s flashlight was fixed in place on the door of one container showing a small glowing Inquisition emblem.

  “Good work,” Alice said, impressed. “Open them up.”

  The two Inquisitors smashed off the chain locks on the lower two containers with their strength-aiding power armour, and Alice shot the top two off with precise blasts from her wrist mounted plasma lasers. Behind some ramshackle wooden boarding blocking the entrance which they quickly threw out of the way, there were dozens and dozens of Autons packed inside.

  Jonathan took a flat grey stone out of his reddish brown robe. It had a strange turquoise hue, and was inscribed with swirling lines like a fingerprint. The Trinity Mage had black spiky hair and a finely trimmed beard, and was handsome behind his gold rimmed spectacles. Jonathan was well mannered and well spoken, but every now and then he displayed a bit of roguish charm, especially if he was bored. Alice was in two minds about whether or not she liked the man. Sometimes he made her laugh, but other times she could quite easily punch him.

  “I’ll get Silvario here,” he said looking pleased.

  “Be quick about it,” Alice grumbled.