Black Knight - Awakening: Part One

by Gilliland, Christian

  “As you command my king.” Dalan said. Dalan motioned for Eon to follow and the two walked north toward an old bell tower that stood at Lithaan’s center.

  “Judge Dalan,” Eon said as they walked. “Have my new Maas’Eon been taken below as I commanded?”

  “Indeed they have sir.” Dalan replied. “All are beneath the sentinel at present time. We have begun arming them and fitting them for armor..”

  “It will be a sight to behold, good Dalan.” Eon said. “Six hundred Maas’Eon... The thought of it fills me with joy. Our numbers will grow even larger once we plunder our next village…”

  “That they will sir.” Dalan said.

  The two beings walked through the smoking town, passing by many burning structures and fixtures. Eon noted the multiple puddles of blood he walked past, humming at each of them, knowing most of them added one more body to his legion. He thought of how easy taking the village had been, how he had lost only a handful of soldiers and gained nearly a thousand. The thought of him all made him realize that all his work, all his creating had finally paid off. He was going to take on the world, and he was going to win.

  “Here we are my king.” Dalan said as the two approached a pile of bodies. “It is not much, we were able to save nearly everyone.”

  “This will do well enough for me.” Eon said. “Please, stay Dalan. See if I am more than I promised you all.” Dalan nodded and stood silently next to Eon.

  “Watch, host of mine.” Eon said, addressing Rubaan. “You spoke of blood magic, necromancy… while my mind is a scientific one, there are thing that I have learned… secrets shared with me in the Hells by the long dead that even I do not understand. Watch Rubaan.”

  “I can’t do anything but watch.” Rubaan replied.

  Eon stepped forward, gazing at the pile of corpses before him. A cocktail of blood, excrement and other bodily fluids pooled beneath them and carrion birds circled overhead. Eon stood silently, observing the dead for a moment and then took a breath.

  “Aal syruum…” He said, clenching his fists. “Aal syruum it deraanio.” He watched in silence and then repeated his words.

  “Aal syruum!” He shouted, “Aal syruum it deraanio! Aal syruum it deraanio! Deraanio nit iskalii!”

  Eon and Dalan both felt a sudden gust of ice cold wind and heard something that sounded like rock cracking. Dalan looked around nervously but Eon kept his gaze on the pile of bodies. Something was happening, and Eon was feeling a strange feeling of surprise and excitement.

  The pile of bodies began to quiver and the gust of wind grew stronger. Dalan clutched his cloak, holding it in place and dug his feet into the ground as wind blew around them but Eon stood with his arms outstretched.

  “Aal syruum!” He shouted again and the pile of bodies tumbled over. Each individual body began to seize and Eon watched as one of the arms raised.

  “Yes!” He shouted, “Become alive!” The skin split from the arm and the bone emerged from the flesh, moving on its own accord. Eon focused on the one body and watched as all the flesh ripped away and the bloody skeleton within stood.

  The skeleton took a step and others followed behind it. Nearly two dozen bloody skeletons stood or dragged themselves toward Eon. Dalan gasped and took a fearful step back.

  “Hold your ground, good judge!” Eon commanded, as the wind died down. “You have nothing to fear as long as you follow me.”

  “By the brothers light and all that is holy.” Rubaan declared from within Eon. “This cannot be!”

  “It is so, dear Rubaan!” Eon shouted with glee, “My power is limitless. Our power is limitless. We now command not only the living and created but now the dead! Do you understand what this means!”

  “I…” Rubaan replied. “I cannot fathom any of this…”

  “Rubaan!” Eon replied. “We are gods in the flesh! We can make this world right, we can make it our own in the image we wish it to be in… no… we will! This world will be ours!”

  Rubaan was silent as Eon stepped up to one of the skeletons.

  “They are… they are beautiful Rubaan.” Eon said. “They are ours to command, and they are beautiful. Fight me no longer dear host for now you must see that it is in vain. Put your trust, your faith in me and you will never want again… your family will never fear again.”

  “I… I cannot deny you any longer.” Rubaan replied. “Yes… I must put my faith in you Eon. I fear your power, I cannot… I cannot be your enemy.”

  “Then you are my brother.” Eon said. He paused as he reached out and caressed one of the bloody bones that stood before him.

  “And speaking of brothers…” Eon said. “We have waited long enough. I think it is time we paid yours a visit. Come. Let us depart for the Belhaasi weald. Let us together find the Demon and bring him to his army. He is to be one of us… Come Rubaan. Let us find Crinnan that he may become both our brothers!”

  Chapter 10

  The Demon X

  After the gunfire stopped, the people of Pado started to come out of their homes to inspect the damage that had been done. Sage, Guntz and Crinnan stood at the center of all the dead bodies so the villagers ran to them for answers. Crinnan saw Freyja, Garb and Nora the Faire among them.

  “What happened!” Freyja asked as he approached Crinnan, “There’s like... a hundred bodies out here...”

  “Not quite.” Crinnan said, surveying the area. “Where have you been?”

  “We were having food at a dinner place.” Freyja replied, “Mister Sage gave us some money...”

  “Good.” Crinnan said and looked over at Sage. “How soon will we be ready?” .

  “Very.” Sage said. “We need to talk to the minister first.” Crinnan pointed behind him and he turned around to face the minister.

  “Ah very good!” he said. “Can we get Crinnan flooded?”

  “I fear not.” The minister said, pointing behind him. Sage turned around again to find that the minister's tent had caught fire in all the chaos.

  “That is a bit problematic.” Sage said with a hum. “What do you propose we do?”

  “I propose that you take great care..” The minister replied. “Crinnan has only one thread and if it is cut, that will be his end.”

  “Indeed.” Sage said as he wiped a bit of blood off of his bare chest. “Are our guides ready to leave?”

  “Yes.” The minister said. Sage nodded and walked toward Nora, the Faire from before.

  “We need to be as quick as possible.” He said to her. “Your bald friend does not seem to enjoy expressing himself through words, so I need you to tell me exactly how long you anticipate this taking.”

  Nora nodded a bobble headed nod and smiled. “Twenty kilometers would take me and Guntz about an hour and a half.” She said in a high pitched nasally voice. “A normal person it would take about five hours. With that kid and freak, I would expect about seven or eight hours.” Crinnan groaned and ran his fingers through his hair.

  “Can we not just leave them?” He asked, frustrated. “They are just slowing us down. I do not want to deal with them. It is not like the people here are going to feed them to Toraans or anything.” Sage began to speak but Garb lurched forward angrily.

  “You say you fight to rid the world of the oppression of the Empire? You say that your army fights for freedom?” He asked with an upset tone, “I ask you why do you fight if not to save the children. Is their tomorrow not as valuable as yours? Should they not have an opportunity to grow up and become people like you and me?”

  He crossed his long arms and started to breathe heavily. “If you do not fight for the children's freedom then I ask are you any better than the Govians? Can you so easily shrug off the lives of the children?” He looked behind him at Freyja and sighed. “Who do you fight for, Crinnan? Are you so selfish to fight only for yourself, for your army? There is a world of hurting people out here and you are worried about how you feel. You are worried about getting to your friends so that you can be happy again. Grow the fu
ck up and take some responsibility. Who do you really fight for Crinnan?”

  Sage's eyes grew wide at the Toraan’s sudden outburst. He whistled and turned around, pretending he did not notice anything that was just said.

  Crinnan was left to fend for himself and all he could do was blink. Garb's words cut him like a knife and all of a sudden he felt like a terrible person. He looked away out of shame and lowered his head.

  “You are right.” he said, clenching his fists. “I am...”

  Crinnan’s words were cut off by a scream. He looked up quick enough to lock eyes with a Govian soldier who was lying on the ground and aiming a rifle directly at him. Crinnan reached for his pistol but not before the Govian could get a few shots off.

  Crinnan felt the bullets tear through the right side of his chest and into his stomach. Again, he could only blink.

  Sage threw his arm out at the soldier and his head quickly snapped backward, engulfed in flame. He ran over to Crinnan and fell to the ground beside him. As he surveyed Crinnan’s wounds, his expression became grim.

  “I can not do anything.” He said calmly, cradling Crinnan’s head in his arms. “Without your NaNe, I should say that my healing abilities will not work on you.”

  It was becoming hard for him to breathe. Crinnan reached up to feel his wounds and streams of blood trickled down his hands. He looked up at Sage and tried to talk but only more blood came out.

  Tears welled up Crinnan’s eyes. He thought about what Garb had said and realized that he was soon going to die in the arms of a stranger. He realized that he would never see his squad or his family again, and he felt that his life had been completely and utterly worthless.

  Crinnan closed his eyes in grief, not wishing his last thoughts to be those of everything he had lost or failed at. In the darkness of his mind, in the last resting place of Eshan the Govian, Crinnan once again saw the flames that he had dreamt of. He saw the swirling blue vortex above him and the face of the unknown but beautiful female whom he had embraced. Crinnan focused on that face and as he felt his life leaving him, he found himself speaking.

  “Milinka…” He said weakly. “I… I will find you.”

  End of Part 1