by J. M. Rojas
CHAPTER 25: THE HOUSE OF THOMAS
A grey haired wolf limped into the living room of the house, leaving a blood trail behind it. The Revenant's right shoulder bled profusely from the shards of wood that had wounded it after it had crashed through the front door. Its head sagged low between its shoulders, and its black claws dragged and scraped along the tiled floor, which were also misted over by its heavy, panting breath.
Caleb and Elly both yelled in horror at the sight of the creature, but the teenager quickly ushered the older woman into corner of the room, close to the study table. He stood protectively in front of her with his arms spread wide, but his face was still pale with fright. “Not one m-more s-step!” He warned, feebly. “This t-table contains a great p-power! It will rise up in anger if you touch us!”
Burning, red eyes lifted from the floor and fixed themselves on Caleb. He could feel their hatred boring into him. A red stone buried in its forehead also glowed red, like a third eye. Then the wolf's mouth seemed to tug up into a sneer that reminded him of a human being. Finally it said, “Brave words... boy. But they are as empty as that table. There is nothing... in this house... that can hurt me. Your friends... won't save you now...”
The sneer turned to laughter from the canine's horrid maw, which sounded as unnatural as its ability to talk.
“Caleb!” Elly started.
“Don't worry, Mrs Grey,” Caleb said, swallowing down his fear. “I'm sure whatever it is that Rowan brought back here will wake up soon. It will protect us.”
Elly grabbed Caleb's hand, squeezing it tight.
“Such touching sentiment,” the wolf said, then continued to laugh, which then turned into a ragged cough. “Maybe you know where it is, boy?”
“Where what is?”
“Don't play stupid with me!” The creature suddenly began to change. Its fur seemed to fall away like an animal shedding itself, and its bones began cracking loudly as it rose up on its hind legs. The movement of the bones beneath its taut skin could be seen as large bulges here and there, stretching and rearranging inside its body. After everything had snapped into place, a human stood before the teenager and woman. Blood ran like rivulets down its right arm, dripping from its fingertips into a puddle on the floor. The man was well built, with a hard jaw and sharp nose. His brown hair hung to his shoulders and his eyes still burned red like the stone in his forehead. “What do you know about the Crown of Dreams?” he demanded.
“N-nothing,” Caleb said honestly, the confusion on his face easily read by the Revenant. “I have never heard of this C-Crown...”
The wounded man seemed to accept his answer, then stood silently staring at Caleb and Elly as if deciding what to do next.
Before Caleb knew what was happening, the Revenant ran forward and shoved the teenager aside, knocking him onto the couch. He grabbed Elly and began dragging her out of the living room.
“No!” The woman screamed.
“Let her go!” Caleb shouted, climbing to his feet.
A thick fingered, black nailed hand clasped over Elly's mouth, and the Revenant held her against him tightly. “One more scream and I'll break your neck like a twig!” He hissed. “And boy, if you come anywhere near me, it will be lights out for both of y—”
There came a loud clamour at the door, and the Revenant pulled Elly to the side of the archway that joined the living room to the foyer. He raised a finger to his pursed lips in a silent gesture to Caleb not to make a noise and reveal his position.
Loud stomping feet thudded from the foyer, and Arthur appeared under the archway. His eyes wild and flicking about the room.
“Where's that damn wolf?” he demanded from a stunned looking Caleb.
“Umm... I-I...”
“Speak up boy!”
Caleb froze, his eyes wide open and his mouth open, unable to speak the words of warning he wanted to say. Scared that if he looked at the Revenant it would break Elly's neck like it had promised.
Arthur took a couple of steps forward, passing under the archway. “What's wrong with you, boy? Cat got your ton—”
The lore-kin didn't have a chance to finish his question as the Revenant pounced out of the corner of the room, sending him crashing to the floor. They rolled about on the ground for a bit, before the undead got the upper hand and pinned Arthur's wrists with his own stronger hands.
“Give up!” the Revenant said through clenched teeth. “When he comes, my master will destroy you all!”
Arthur wriggled on his back, trying to find a way to break out of the Revenant's grasp; but found it a futile effort. His backpack had been knocked off his back in the scuffle and thrown to the far side of the room. And his glaive was...
Arcing his neck, he saw the mace-shaped weapon laying at Caleb's feet. The teenager's eyes were on it, but he was completely still.
“But if you tell me where the Crown of Dreams is, I will promise you a quick death.”
Jeez this guy likes to hear himself talk. Arthur thought, as he silently gestured to Caleb with his rolling eyes to toss him the glaive.
“Answer me, you tub of lard!” the Revenant threatened, kneeling on Arthur's right wrist so he could grab the man's hair and yank his head back to meet his gaze. “That boy won't help you. He is afraid, and so he should be. We have power beyond life. Power to consume everything. We call it... the Revenant's Touch.”
Caleb watched in horror as the Revenant's hands began to glow red, like its eyes. Where it touched Arthur, the lore-kin's skin also lit up red; his left hand and face.
Arthur screamed and the Revenant laughed. He then pulled his absorbing power back, letting his victim's skin return to its normal pink hue. There were, however, superficial burn marks left behind.
“I can do this all day, and longer, if you don't answer me!”
“I don't know where the Crown is, scumbag!” Arthur spat in the Revenant's face.
The undead bared his teeth in anger as he punished Arthur with another dose of the Revenant's Touch. Elly, who cowered beside the desk, screamed in chorus with Arthur.
Something snapped inside Caleb. Seeing Arthur in pain and Elly afraid for her life, burned up all the fear in him, and the teenager marched over to the glaive. He scooped it up into his hands, feeling surprised at how incredibly light it was, then ran over to the two men on the floor.
“Hey!” Caleb shouted, winding the mace back behind his head like a baseball bat. The Revenant quickly turned to lock eyes with the teenager; but its confident smugness vanished when it saw the glaive. “Lights out!”
Rowan stepped over the broken rubble of the front door, his glaive raised above his head in a battle stance. He swayed a little from the wound Veil had given him as he entered the foyer, but Emily was quickly at his side, holding him up. Her own fatigue was wearing her down too, but she managed to keep it well hidden. “I got you,” she said.
Jai appeared behind them and began picking up the pieces of the door and attempting to erect some sort of barricade.
“Mum! Caleb! Arthur!” Rowan shouted, holding onto Emily's shoulder so he wouldn't fall to the floor.
“We're in here!” Arthur's voice shot back from the living room.
“Stay put!” Rowan commanded, leaning against a small table at the base of the stairwell. “Trouble is coming! Guard mum and the boy!”
“But, I can hel—”
“Stay there, Arthur! They are defenceless! Whatever you hear, do not leave their side. We have this under control!”
“I need something heavier,” Jai said, rushing past them and disappearing into the living room. A second later he was back, carrying the couch above his head as if it were as weightless as a feather pillow. His gold bands glowed bright, pouring their energy into his limbs. “There!” Wedging the couch against the open portal where the door had been, Jai braced himself up against it. “It won't be long for Gha'haram to get—!”
A sudden jolt shook the couch, and Jai almost fell forward.
Outside, a deep, bestial roar resounded, sh
aking the window panes and confirming their fears.
“Here!” Jai exclaimed.
Clawed hands smashed through a thin foyer window, clasping through the panes for something to grab. Emily started, then began stabbing her trident savagely at them. There were howls of pain beyond the wall, but the hands kept tearing away the shards of glass. “Rowan help me!”
Rowan mind-shaped his glaive into a curved sword and swung it down at the hands, slicing a few of them off at the wrists. However his efforts were futile as the Revenant outside were many; and by their sheer numbers they ripped out the panes and began crawling through the window, one by one.
Jai growled in exertion as the couch began to move, pushing him away from the doorway. “He's... too... strong!” The lore-kin cried, feeling his feet sliding out from under him. “My power bands... are almost...”
Like a deep roll of thunder, Gha'haram roared one last time and slammed the couch with all of his strength. Jai screamed as the barricade crushed him against the stair well.
“Jai!” Rowan shouted, hobbling away from the window towards the doorway with Emily at his side.
Gha'haram stormed into the house like a giant black shadow, and swung a thick arm at Rowan, catching him in the stomach and hurling him backwards into Emily. Both crashed to the floor, where they lay still.
Upon a silent command from the giant bear, the army outside stilled their advance and withdrew from the window they had broken.
Roaring again, the bear smashed the couch to pieces, hurling its shards away to get at Jai who was crumpled against the stair's balusters. It grabbed the barely conscious man by both arms and lifted him up before its snarling muzzle. “Your time has ended, Kratoth,” Gha'haram said in guttural growl. “I know your power; for I wield it too. That is how I keep my people in check.” Jai's weary eyes scanned the bear's arms and legs, searching for vis-vereth bands, but found none. Then he looked upon Gha'haram's face and saw a small gold ring looping around the base of the Doom Stone shard that pierced its forehead. It was so small he would not have noticed it if he hadn't been this close to the beast. His eyes widened and his captor laughed. “Now you see it. Now you know. It covers the whole tip of the stone. I sheathed my shard in a vis-vereth that was melted down in one of my forges. Of course, I had to have killed an Argadnelian Kratoth first to have it done!”
Jai howled in rage at hearing the murder of one of his people and began thrashing against the hands that held his wrists. His body flopped like a fish out of water against the balusters, but be could not get free. “I will see you burn for this!”
“Kaelan will have his war,” the bear said, ignoring his threat. “Now that the old city has been secured. He will find the Crown of Dreams and will rise up from the sands of New Osiria to bring this world to its knees! And once all are driven into servitude, I will be granted my pick of the crop. I will sew the seeds of the Doom Stone and spread its black cloud across all the lands. And then... well... I suppose you can make up your own conclusions from that.”
“You speak openly of treachery against your own leader,” Jai said wearily. “Your Atlantean allies would love to hear that.”
“They won't believe anything you say, worm!” The bear began laughing again, its eyes deep pits of fire. “Now its time you die!”
I think not, Slave of Meztor. A voice suddenly said in both their minds. It was Arajasta. You and your kind have done enough damage to my friend's home for one day.
“Who... Who are you?” Gha'haram said in stunned confusion, dropping Jai to the ground and looking up to the roof as if to find the mysterious speaker. When no answer came, wrath contorted his face again and he punched a hole through the stairwell above Jai's head. “Show yourself!” he demanded, “or I kill this fool where he stands!”
Then, as if in response, the house seemed to grow darker, like an invisible presence was filling the empty air. The light bulb hanging from a chain above the foyer flickered, then exploded, raining small shards upon the already rubble-strewn floor.
I am all around you, Revenant. Everywhere and nowhere. Do not fear the empty darkness, fear me! The Giant of Ardhis! Taller than any mountain and stronger than any river current. I will crush you beneath my might!
The walls and the floor began to groan and it appeared that the roof was caving in—though it was only a trick of the mind. The balusters bowed, then blew outwards, pelting Gha'haram, causing him to shield his face and almost retreat out the doorway. Jai, however, had flattened himself against the floor and avoided the flying wooden spindles.
The Revenant Lord charged at Jai, but the railing, which had previously been supported by the balusters and was now free, flung itself at him like a serpent, coiling unnaturally around his girth. The wood splintered as it tightened its grip; however the force that possessed it was unbreakable.
Now, it is your time to die!
Jai did not hesitate at the opportunity afforded to him; he jumped to his feet and leaped onto the suspended rail that lashed Gha'haram like a whip. Balancing across its length, he smashed his glaive—which had taken the shape of a hammer—at the Revenant's Doom Stone shard. However the blow did not even scratch its mark, and his arms vibrated violently away from it.
Gha'haram released a deafening roar and his body began to change: the fur fell away, and his bones began rearranging beneath his skin. He had resumed his human form when the Revenant outside started pouring through the door, answering their leader's cry for help.
Another blow with his glaive rebounded back and Jai almost lost his grip on the weapon. Desperately he hit again and again, but each blow threw his arms back.
“You cannot kill me so easily, fool!” Gha'haram laughed hysterically as he struggled against the invisible force that held him. “I am forever! You are nothing!”
Jai looked at Rowan and Emily and noticed them stirring where they lay. The Revenant were almost upon them when Arthur suddenly rushed out from the living room to meet the creatures, forsaking his promise. Others still were ascending the stairs to reach Jai; some human and others in animal shape. All twisted and decaying and all hungry for his flesh. He had only scant moments left.
Raising his glaive into the air, Jai mind-shaped it into a long dagger and drove it with both hands deep into Gha'haram's forehead. The Revenant Lord screamed in pain and the lore-kin almost fell from the railing into the reaching hands of the enemy below. He stabbed again and again, and cut around the edge of the Doom Stone shard, finally levering the shard out of Gha'haram like a pearl from a clam. Melting from a blade to a snake, the glaive entwined around one of Jai's forearms, allowing his free hands to grab the Doom Stone shard before it fell.
“You will all pay for this!” Gha'haram howled, thrashing about in the wooden coil which started to break apart. Whatever he tried to say next came out as a gurgling, choking sound, then a horrid scream as searing flames suddenly burst from his body, consuming him like fire eating dry wood. Ash and black bones fell through the coil of wood and crashed to the floor.
Jai back flipped off the railing as it too fell to the ground, and landed onto the stairs to meet the pale faces of Gha'haram's servants. “Your master is dead!” he shouted at them, holding the Doom Stone shard above his head. “And I have his accursed stone!” Hissing like venomous asps, they backed down the stairs, cowering from the sight of the gold-capped black stone.
Those that had swarmed into the foyer turned away from Arthur—who had slain many of them, before finding himself overwhelmed and backed up against a wall—and looked in horror at Gha'haram's scorched remains.
“Look!” one cried, “Gha'haram is dead!”
“Gha'haram is dead!” the message spread through the mob until it reached those outside the house. “Gha'haram is dead!”
“Kill them!” another cry was taken up. “Devour them all!”
Finding no desire in assisting in the Revenant's vengeance, the Dark Tide soldiers began to retreat.
“Stand your ground!” the Revenant called
to them, but they would not listen. “Traitors!” they jeered as the rebels pushed their way through the crowd and made their way towards the trees.
An angry Revenant attempted to stop one of the rebels by standing in front of his way; but the armoured man hit the butt of his trident across the wretched creature's head, smashing its Doom Stone shard to dust.
“Death to the Dark Tide!” a wolf-shaped Revenant growled and snapped its jaws onto the retreating rebel's leg. Three more leaped onto him as he tried to dislodge the creature, dragging him screaming to the ground. After a brief struggle, the Revenant's Touch turned the Atlantean into ash.
Then pandemonium began.
Revenant and Dark Tide rebels turned from allies to enemies in the blink of an eye. Outside, tridents flashed brightly, striking down the undead where they stood as if they were wheat against a scythe. However the numbers were against Xharan's men and more than one rebel fell under the weight of the crowd, which devoured them through the Revenant's Touch.
Jai ran to Arthur's side, and helped both Rowan and Emily to their feet. Wearily they looked towards the door and the stairwell and found a wall of Revenant barring their escape. Red eyes full of hunger burned brightly from every pale face; hands reaching out to touch them. Wanting to absorb them into the voids, into the bottomless pits of their endless hunger.
“Give me the Eye of Gha'haram!” one of the creatures demanded, pointing its gnarled finger at the Doom Stone shard in Jai's hand. It was taller than the others and had a gaunt face with sunken cheeks. The other Revenant gathered behind it, deciding him to be the next leader. “And I will let you live.”
“I don't think so, pal!” Arthur laughed confidently, taking a step forward in challenge. “You think after my friend Jai here just killed that giant bear boss of yours we're going to be scared of you? You're just skin and bones. I could take you and all your friends on with my eyes closed—”
Jai cleared his throat, getting Arthur's attention.“My bands are depleted, Art. And Rowan and Emily can barely stand. I don't think we can kill all these Revenant as well as the Dark Tide soldiers who are twice as big as us and are carrying glaives.”
Arthur's smug smile went flat. With his eyes still on the grinning and slowly approaching Revenant, he whispered back to his friend, “Sooo... what does that mean?”
“It means... RUN!”
They were about to retreat under the archway of the living room, when the house suddenly began to shake and the furniture started to slide back and forth across the floor or rattle on the spot as if by some earthquake. Revenant scrambled out of the way as a heavy book shelf careened towards them from the living room, crushing one against a wall adjacent the stairs. Its books took flight like a swarm of bats—pages flapping wildly—which coalesced into a large levitating pile, before dropping onto the heads of the confused invaders. Several more were hit by an artillery of flying chairs, china and ornaments trailing into the foyer from the kitchen, which smashed into their heads with deadly accuracy, destroying their Doom Stone shards. Then the Revenant themselves began lifting up into the air by an invisible force, which hurled them against the walls or threw them out the broken window.
“The house is possessed!” the tall Revenant cried. He tried to run for the door, but a coffee table propelled right into his head. Dust and bones scattered under the falling ruins of the table; his Doom Stone shard shattered by the blow.
I will crush you all! Arajasta boomed from all directions. Leave this place, or share the same fate as your master!
Like a wave rolling back into the sea, the Revenant turned and fled outside, where they crashed into their brethren who were fighting the Dark Tide rebels. The confusion and chaos spread and finally—after all the windows in the house blew outwards, raining glass onto Gha'haram's army—both groups ran en mass for the cover of the trees.
Flee! Run little insects! Run from my unquenchable wrath!
