by Ryan Sova
Heragald interjected, “Does the end occur exactly the same in both of the versions that you saw?”
King Noah continued, “Exactly the same. The armies of the dead will converge on our gates from two opposite directions no matter what we might have done before or what we might still do now. This is how I know that the dead were not among the refugees that we let in today. Had we invited the dead into our kingdom, it would have accelerated our defeat, not delayed it.”
Heragald then asked, “It doesn’t make sense, though, what you are telling us, my king. I know that we saved a lot of people today, but you saw the size of that army. How would a few million bodies even make the slightest difference to an army like that?”
King Noah responded, “You are right Heragald. The people that we saved today do not matter, not one bit. There is something else though, something that we have gained that is far more useful than a few million peasants.”
Heragald then asked, “Of what are you referring to my king?”
King Noah then rose from his seat, “Come with me, all of you. There is something that I need to show you.”
CHAPTER 20
“Garry, you hungry for breakfast?”
The sweet aroma of sausage and pancakes filled the living room where Garry had been sleeping peacefully just moments ago. Garry was feeling a bit annoyed that Anna Grant had woken him at that precise moment, though, as he was curious about what the king was getting ready to show them. But now that he was awake, the thought of a nice warm breakfast did seem like a good idea.
Garry rose from the couch in the living room where he had been sleeping every night now since he had first arrived at Detective Grant’s house four months ago. He then took his seat at the dining room table. Three plates had already been laid out on the table. Each plate had a full serving of pancakes and sausages neatly laid out. Glasses of orange juice were also filled and by each plate.
Detective Grant and his wife Anna joined Garry for breakfast. Jesse was still in her room sleeping, but would most likely be up within a couple of hours.
“How are things going at the hospital?” Detective Grant asked.
Anna answered, “Not any better, I’m afraid.”
Anna worked as a nurse at the Children’s Hospital of King’s Daughter. She had held a job there for the past eight years now.
Anna continued, “We just can’t keep up with the number of patients that are coming in anymore. We had another three-thousand-four-hundred come in yesterday alone and we will probably have the same if not more today!”
“Do you have enough rooms for that many patients,” Garry asked?
Anna responded, “No, that’s why they are closing down all of the schools. We are going to use them to house more patients as they come in. They are also enlisting all of the school staff and faculty members to help us in caring for the sick.”
Detective Grant then asked, “Have they got you working this weekend then?”
Anna responded, “We are ALL working doubles until this crisis gets under control. I start my next shift in an hour and I won’t be back until late. Were you able to get those vacation days from work that we discussed last week?”
Detective Grant responded, “Yes, I have the next two weeks off from work.”
Anna responded, “Good, I don’t want Jesse anywhere near the daycare center right now with all of the sickness that is going around. Please take good care of her while I am gone.”
Garry responded, “Don’t forget that I can take care of Jesse too. Just in case the both of you get called off to work for some reason.”
Detective Grant responded, “Yes, but remember, you’re not supposed to be here. You’re still a fugitive, if you haven’t forgotten.”
Anna then finished the food on her plate and went to her bedroom to get changed for work. After a few minutes, she was dressed and ready to go. She then walked up to Detective Grant, hugged him and gave him a quick kiss on the lips.
She then said, “Be safe while I am gone and don’t forget to tell Jesse that mommy loves her.”
Anna then started walking towards the door. Before leaving, she said, “Bye, Garry.”
The day went by slowly after Anna left. Garry had a chance to watch the morning news, then the TV was claimed for the rest of the day by Jesse. It would be a straight twelve hours of PJ Masks after that. Throughout the day, while Jesse was not actively watching her shows, Detective Grant and Garry would play games and entertain her. This was fun in some respects and totally exhausting as well.
By 8:00 PM, it was time to put Jesse to bed. Anna still wasn’t home yet. She wouldn’t be home until close to midnight. After a few minutes, Detective Grant came out of the bedroom and joined Garry on the couch. Detective Grant then grabbed the remote and changed the channel to the evening game.
While watching the game, Detective Grant asked, “Is this the end?”
Garry responded, “I don’t know, but it could be. I don’t believe for a second that this was an accident, though. This is being done deliberately and I would bet my money that the undead are behind it.”
Detective Grant responded, “Yea, that’s what I was thinking too. How much longer before you become an Arch-Master?”
Garry responded, “I’m not sure, I haven’t made it very far in my training past the Master level yet. Even as an Arch-Master, though, I don’t see what I could possibly do to stop them all. I mean, just the little bit of magic that I used on the day that I escaped from prison was enough to wear me out by the end of the day. These creatures are resilient and damn near impossible to kill, which means that I might have a chance at being able to overpower and kill maybe a dozen of them, two dozen if I really push myself. But any more than that and I take the risk of collapsing.”
Then as an afterthought, Garry continued, “And how many innocent people would be caught in the crossfire if I decide to declare war on the dead.”
Detective Grant responded, “I know what you’re saying Garry, but you have to do something. I mean, you’re the only one who can fight them. And while it might have been a good idea at the time when you first arrived here to hide until you were stronger as a magic user, how much longer do you think that we have? Do you think that the human race will survive long enough for you to become an Arch-Master?”
Garry didn’t respond. He sat on the couch next to Detective Grant contemplating the things that his friend had just said. As he was seated on the couch, he continued to wonder how much longer the human race might still have.
The crisis had started a month ago when the CDC announced that several live viruses had just gone missing from their level four lab in Atlanta Georgia. These missing pathogens included some of the world’s most dangerous diseases such as Ebola and the Variola virus (the virus that causes Smallpox). After these pathogens went missing, authorities assured the public that they were doing everything possible to find and contain these missing diseases. However, this statement couldn’t have been further from the truth. Within days, people started getting sick, showing symptoms of these missing pathogens. These outbreaks then spread rapidly and quickly became a worldwide pandemic within less than a month. Panic and hysteria were now raging across the globe. Crime was also on the rise.
Garry continued to quietly ponder all of this as the evening passed by. At 11:00 PM, Detective Grant, and Garry watched the evening news. The news was no less depressing than it had been on any other night recently. The main story, again, was about the pandemic sweeping the globe. The news anchors didn’t offer much encouragement, telling people to stay in their homes and not go outside unless it was absolutely necessary. All schools nationwide had now been closed to facilitate the number of patients that were still coming in. Every state in the union had also declared a state of emergency recently due to this pandemic. Violence and rioting were also becoming more and more common in recent days as well.
As Garry watched, he continued to wonder. How much time do we have left?
While Garry was d
eep in thought, Anna returned home. She looked exhausted. Upon entering the house, she asked Detective Grant about how Jesse had been throughout the day, then immediately went to her bedroom to shower and go to bed. After the 11:00 news was over, Detective Grant rose from the couch to go join his wife.
Before Detective Grant left, Garry addressed him, “I have been thinking about what you said earlier and I think you are right. I think that it is time that I start fighting back. So tell me, what time does Detective Klaben usually show for work in the morning?”
****
Nephal, Heragald, and Talmadge followed King Noah as he led them to the Conference Room. The four of them arrived at their destination within less than a minute as the Conference Room was only one floor beneath King Noah’s office. King Noah then opened the door and entered the room. Heragald and Talmadge were about to follow but paused after what they both saw. Both Heragald and Talmadge immediately started chanting.
King Noah whipped his head back towards Heragald and Talmadge and yelled, “STOP!!!”
Both Heragald and Talmadge stopped their chant.
King Noah then continued, “They are here at my invitation.”
Nephal looked past King Noah to see the people that he was referring to. There were three men and two women who were already seated at the council table. These men and women all had robes that differed greatly from the robes that Nephal had seen on any sorcerer to date. Their robes were crimson red and had intricate designs woven into the robes that were blue in color. Just above the left breast, a golden badge had been sewn onto the robes. This badge had a single black symbol on it. Nephal noticed that the symbols on these badges were different from one person to the next, although two of these strange visitors had the exact same symbol on their badges.
There was an uneasy silence. Heragald and Talmadge cautiously entered the room followed by Nephal. King Noah then took a seat at the table facing opposite to where the guests were seated. Talmadge, Heragald, and Nephal all followed suit.
Once everyone in the room had taken a seat, one of the guests seated at the table introduced himself, “Hello everyone, my name is Karn and these are my associates…”
Talmadge interrupted, a slight sign of contempt could be heard in his voice. “We know who you are. So let us come to the point, why are you here?”
Karn answered, “Why don’t you ask your king that question.”
King Noah then addressed everyone in the room, “Twenty-two million people showing up at our borders today was no accident. The rulers of the Vestillian Empire would not have led their survivors to our borders had they not received assurances from me that the gates would be opened to them.”
King Noah paused for a moment, letting the words that he had just spoken sink in, then he continued, “There is no shortage of hate, mistrust, and resentment in this room. It goes both ways as most of us have been at each other’s throats from the day we were born. But none of that matters anymore! We have a new enemy now, one that cannot be bargained with, one that is utterly without mercy, and one that will not stop until everything on Earth is dead! We must set our petty differences aside if we are to have any hope at survival in the coming days. Ladies and gentlemen, today marks the first day of an alliance between the Kingdom of Noah and the Vestillian Empire.”
Heragald then addressed the room, “What of the other kingdoms? What of the Kingdom of Herald, the Kingdom of Dominic, and even the Yessitic Empire? Is your empire the only nation that has survived?”
A woman from the Vestillian Empire answered her question, “From what we can tell, this plague originated in the Yessitic Empire. It wiped out their entire ruling body before spreading through their land unchecked. As for the Kingdom of Dominic, last we heard their survivors were fleeing to the Northern Ice Lands of Farcos. It was a move that saved our ancestors long ago, but I fear that this move will do nothing to save them from the dead army we now face. As for the Kingdom of Herald, we have heard nothing. We sent some of our sorcerers to scout out their territory, but none have returned.”
Karn then addressed King Noah from across the room, “We thank you for allowing our survivors a safe haven in your kingdom. The five of us in this room are all that remains of our ruling body. However, fifty-six of our lower ranking sorcerers were mingled in with the refugees that you let in earlier today. We are all at your disposal. This land is our home now and we will help you defend it. Tell me, what defenses do you already have in place to keep the dead out.”
Heragald answered, “I’m sure that you already know about our defenses. After all, you have been sending spies into our lands for as long as I can remember. We have a wind enchantment that surrounds our land, keeping birds and insects away from our land. We have physical barriers such as our two mountain ranges and the wall that is now linking them. We have scouts that monitor the wall both day and night and we have eagles which act as scouts for our mountain ranges as well as all of our shorelines.”
Karn answered, “A solid defense. Where can we help?”
Nephal answered, “As you probably know, King Noah can see into the future. He has seen the next attack from the dead. It will come at our borders again much like it did this last time, but it will also come from inside our land as well, sandwiching our defenders at the wall between two armies. Do any of you know how this might be possible, or what we might do to better defend ourselves?”
Karn answered, “Hmmmm, that’s a good question. King Noah, you didn’t see where these dead masses came from or how they will get into your land?”
King Noah answered, “No, one day everything will be quiet and peaceful, then the next, total chaos.”
One of the men from the Vestillian Empire responded, “Maybe some of the dead magic users will just teleport them in.”
Karn answered, “No Langarin, sorcerers lose their ability to use magic after they die. I learned this during the day of the ambush where our great emperor fell. I was there to witness it, to see him fall. Emperor Vast died in the first onslaught and was then brought back to life right before my very eyes. He immediately turned his attention to me, as I was his second in command. He started chanting but the voices never came. Emperor Vast spoke the language of magic flawlessly, but the elementals wouldn’t listen to him anymore. This is how I know that the dead can’t use magic; for if they could, I would not be here.”
Heragald then responded, “I was wondering where Emperor Vast was. I’m sorry to hear of his passing.”
Karn answered, “Thank you for your condolences, Heragald. Unfortunately, I don’t know how the dead would be able to penetrate your defenses. You seem to have covered all possible avenues that they might use to gain entry.”
The same woman from the Vestillian Empire spoke again, “Perhaps the attack will come from the sea. The dead don’t need to breathe, so they could just conceal themselves under the ocean and then emerge on one of your beaches in force.”
King Noah answered, “I have considered that possibility too. I have our sorcerers doing regular flights over our shorelines to see if they can feel the dead’s presence, but so far, nothing. The best idea that I have been able to come up with so far is to do random and sporadic searches of our towns, cities, villages, lakes, forests, beaches, and so forth. We could use your help in this regard. From what I have seen, none of us will ever find anything, but this will at least delay their coming and buy us more time.”
Karn then addressed King Noah, “Do you have a plan for when they come?”
King Noah continued, “Only one. My associate here, Nephal, is the only person or thing that I still haven’t seen in any of my visions. Every vision of the future that I have ever seen, he is just not there. He came to us unexpectedly and is a pureblood, just like me. We have been training him for the past year now and his growth as a magic user has been remarkable, to say the least. Starting today, I will take over his training. I will teach him how to travel through time. Then, perhaps with two of us looking into the future together, we will b
e able to find an answer before the dead come to finish us all.”
Karn then asked, “How long will it take for you to train him?”
King Noah responded, “The hardest part about time travel is the willpower that it requires. This won’t be a problem for Nephal as he is a pure blood. Aside from that, time travel is very similar to a teleportation spell. Just give me a full twelve hours and I will make a time traveler out of him.”
CHAPTER 21
It was still dark outside when he arrived at the station. Garry had set his alarm early so that he would be in place and ready long before Detective Klaben showed for work. Garry anxiously paced back and forth in the parking lot, waiting for her car to show up. Then, at last, the moment that he was waiting for came. She was here.
Detective Klaben’s car turned onto Norfolk Square, a short U shaped street that ran alongside the police department. Detective Grant had told Garry the night before that she normally parked on this side of the building. Garry was standing on the sidewalk running alongside the building. For a moment he thought of hiding, but it was too late. She had already seen him.
