Path of the Necromancer - FACTION WARS

Chapter 3.2 - Ian

Ian told the others to get out of there and began organizing the dead soldiers into zombie fireteams. They beat a hasty retreat as the dead charged up the steps. They were a block away when they stopped at a vacant construction site, having reached the limit of Ian's ability to keep track and control their actions directly.

In his mind's eye, he saw his undead contingent clear level after level. He directed their fire and manipulated their movements like a puppet master of the damned. Every time one of his cadavers had their strings cut, he replaced it with a fallen Society member. The slow march continued until they reached a hallway swarming with crawlers.

At the far end he could see the pink-haired Tiandihui Mage on her knees, keeping back the press of biters through a series of weak gasps of energy. They wouldn't be considered deadly by any measure of consideration. His army jerked forward and began shooting the Vampires or just tearing into them in a grisly display of teeth and nails. The stench of wood rot soon combined with the acrid coppery tang of blood to create a miasma of death that befitted the massacre.

On and on they pushed until the resistance fell away. The Vampires retreated to the upper levels, easily bypassing the nonexistent set of stairs. The Banshee was on her hands and knees, looking frail and on the brink of exhaustion. Her pink hair covered her face and her hands clenched as the dead came closer.

Ian appraised her through the Spirit World and shuddered at the black chain of thorns he saw wrapped around her. To his eye it appeared her soul was a mesh of puncture wounds, lacerated under the scaffolding of razor wire that entombed her essence. It was strong, vivid under his magical black-light, and pulsated as it writhed about her. A binding that strong must have been placed on her when she was an infant.

If this was how their esteemed Society of Heaven chose to ensure compliance, he was going to have words with whoever ran it. He spoke through his corpses in a dry, cracked voice, "I think you'd better come with me."

A choked rasp came from her as she tried to laugh and ended up with a hacking cough. "Just my luck," She made out. "A fucking Necromancer... You had us all fooled, didn't you." Tears pooled in her eyes and she whispered, "Sorry, mum. I know you stayed because of me. I couldn't get us out after all..."

Ian's eyes widened as he realized she wasn't going to give up. He sent a minion lunging forward to hold her down. Suddenly, the Banshee threw her head back and released a long, titanic shriek with everything she had left. The zombies were blown to pieces and left scattered down the hallway, every window on the floor shattered and the walls triturated in long spiked cracks.

Mei's head lulled and her drained body slumped forward. There was a horrible creaking noise and a block away Ian's body - which had been in a restful, trance-like state - abruptly shot up, his arm extended towards the hotel. They heard the metal beams groaning like a tortured whale as the supports gave out. The upper floors came crashing down to flattening the level the Banshee was on; along with the two below it.

Ian felt as if he'd pulled something inside himself. He rasped, "Go."

Scraps flowed into movement, leaping an impossible distance off the construction platform and dashing towards the ruined building. Ignoring the few Vampires that managed to scramble out of the collapse, the Revenant powered through the rubble; a fiery halo in his Spirit Vision calling to him like a lighthouse.

Shouldering the three ton metal beam in his way once, twice..., and on the third dislodged the superstructure in a plume of plaster and cement. Cocooned in the hollow created by Ian's shield, Scraps found the girl's body. With the tenderness reserved for handling a newborn, the Revenant's cloaked arms lifted her limp form out of the wreckage and carried her back to the waiting group. As Scraps lay down his charge at their feet, Lily let out a curse and began treating her injuries.