Midnight Moon

Chapter 50 - Runes

"On your right!"

Tia span, ducking away from a spray of ice thrown in her direction before springing forward to slice into the outstretched arm of the offending mage.

"Watch your feet!"

She leapt at Calu's warning, attacking when he directed her towards the next mage who prepared a spell and dodging the dangers he cautioned. She moved automatically, her sword swinging before she processed his words, and she had almost lost count of those she had cut down - almost, but not yet.

She was dimly aware of Neyerith fighting to one side, his daggers flashing and keeping the Order at bay. Goddess knew what was happening to Veanna, but she had glimpsed Aeron reaching the girl and pulling her to relative safety. They had given her as many reinforcements as possible, and now all they could do was stay alive.

The one area Tia concentrated on with reluctance was the dais at the centre of the chamber. Each time she set eyes on Ren, the so-called Almighty, her blood ran cold and her limbs turned weak.

The thing emerging from the coffin couldn't be called a man. It was part skeleton, part corpse, part echo of a living being. From certain angles one may have been persuaded that the face, underlit by a spectral blue glow around its neck, was that of a human. Yet a glimpse of the gaps in the flesh and the mad ferocity in the eyes revealed the beast that Ren was reduced to.

It was half out of the tomb, the fragments of its expression tight with concentration as its hands moved methodically. Thin, glowing lines of light followed his fingers as he drew, a complex sigil gradually forming in the air.

Perhaps burning your dead is not so bad, she couldn't help but think. The skeletons, at least, had only been temporarily called on to aid their kin: one last noble act from beyond the grave. The way that Ren clung to existence was simply unnatural. She couldn't imagine anything worse than lingering after the All-Mother and All-Father had recalled her into the circle of life. Returning the body to the earth meant peace; sacrifice and gain at the same time - this crawling, shuffling life was a much worse prospect than death.

"Why is the undead guy not on our side is the only one that's not a skeleton?" Neyerith called in a lull of the fight, his lips twisting in displeasure. "How come he's... gooey?"

"His body was prepared for it," Calu answered, his gaze tracking the undead mage. "He carved runes into his coffin, even into his bones, to keep his soul tethered to this world. The other skeletons are just animated, they're soulless; he's actually returned." He swallowed and blinked, lowering his eyes. "Plus, he's the only one who took Veanna's blood."

"Maybe we should have taken a few drops from her before we let her go to the ritual," Neyerith muttered.

Tia paused to catch her breath, punching his arm lightly as she addressed Calu. "Will his soul remain tethered even if we defeat him?"

"I don't think so," he answered slowly, his eyes flickering in search of an approaching attack, "Death isn't easy to hold off; it's beyond all the odds that he would make it this far."

"So we just need to bring him down." She stretched her arms, likewise scanning for danger.

"Isn't he, you know, incredibly powerful?" Neyerith asked, rubbing his shoulder.

"It'll take him time to get back to full power," Calu said. "He's not physically whole yet, at the moment a lot of his magic will be going towards healing himself."

"Then we should kill him quickly," Tia murmured, "And try to keep Veanna alive in the meantime." As she twisted her wrist, a mage lunged towards Neyerith's back with a handful of black mist, and she turned the motion into a lunge that slashed the attacker's shoulder.