Draconic Sphere Ω

Chapter 23: I Gave Them What They Asked Me To Give Them

The group hid behind some boxes near the sign of the skull-and-flower and waited.

"This is weird," said Brunhild. "It's super uncomfortable here and we're probably not going to see anything."

"I like it," said Dandelion. "It's cuddly." (Indeed, they had to keep pretty close to each other in order to stay hidden).

Just then, a woman came into the alleyway. She was young, but looked ill, and was supporting herself heavily on a walking stick.

She looked one way and the other, then went to the sign of the Good Death and, laboriously, got down to kneel in a prayer position.

A tear trickled down her cheek. She prayed like that for a long time.

"It's midnight now," whispered Brunhild, looking at a pocket watch.

A cloud of darkness rose up from the ground like a mist, obscuring the lady.

It stayed like that for a long time.

Then, at last, it faded.

There was no one there anymore.

After waiting a long time in case anything else would happen, the group got up and looked at the scene.

There was nowhere the lady could have gone without being spotted by the group. It looked as if she had simply vanished, walking stick and all.

"Hidden door, maybe?" wondered Dandelion, testing the cracks between bricks.

"That's quite enough," came a voice.

It was that robed figure from before. He was dressed all in black; his scythe had a dark handle with a black obsidian blade. From this angle, they could see he was wearing dark glasses, too.

One by one, Unsleeping began to slink out of the shadows and gather behind him.

"What did you do with Gnomeo and Julius?!" cried Lacrie.

"I gave them what they wanted," said the figure. "What they asked me to give them."

"You killed them!"

"I gave them the gift of a comfortable, painless, and chosen death... and a safe and easy journey to the afterlife."

"Says the man who is literally leading a group of undead monsters!"

"Immaterial!"

"Excuse me," said Dandelion. "About the sunglasses. Are you like, blind, but can 'see' with some kind of crazy super-hearing? Or are you just, like, a mega-goth?"

"Very funny," said the figure.

"You drink espresso, right? Extra strong? Do you, like, sleep with your arms crossed over your chest like you were a corpse? When it's your birthday, do you get a custom black cake with gravestone on it?"

The figure ignored Dandelion. He pulled back his hood, revealing elvish features. "As I said yesterday. You have something I want... sister."

Everyone looked at Lacrie.

"This weirdo's your brother, Lacrie?" cried Brunhild.

Lacrie looked just as shocked as everyone else. "Melindan?"

"The very same," said the figure. "Hand over the draconic sphere or I will use force."

"You already have a draconic sphere, Lacrie?" asked Kaergat, shocked.

"I didn't know whether to trust you!" replied Lacrie. She turned to Melindan. "How did you know?"

"Whatever you're using to hide your sphere, it's not as good as my artefact tracker." He indicated an arrow-shaped tattoo on the back of his hand, which swung to stay trained on Lacrie as he moved it.

"We're not handing it over!" yelled Lacrie.

"So we're fighting, then?"

Lacrie held out the starburst symbol she wore around her neck. "THE LIGHT COMPELS YOU!"

There was a great burst of light – but almost simultaneously, Melindan countered: "THE DARK COMPELS YOU!"

A burst of darkness erupted from Mel's holy symbol. Light and darkness met; they both disappeared with a thunderclap.

Lacrie brushed her hair out of her eyes. "So you can neutralise my Turn Undead with your own Turning," she said.

"Yes," said Melindan. All around, Unsleeping were drawing their daggers.

"Uuh... you got a plan, big K?" asked Dandelion. Kaergat did not seem confident, however.

"Good thing," said Lacrie, "that wasn't really a Turning."

"What?" said Melidan.

Lacrie smiled. "And now you've used yours." Once again, she lifted her holy symbol and shouted, "THE LIGHT COMPELS YOU!"

Brilliant light shone. The Unsleeping scrambled and fled.

Even Melindan seemed to shrink before the radiance.

Looking angry, he held out his hand and produced a small black sphere, as if from nowhere.

From the sphere came a strange rippling effect in the air.

Time went backwards.

The Unsleeping zipped backwards, an escape in reverse.

Lacrie's light died away.

The Unsleeping were surrounding the group again.

The ones at the front began to advance.

Lacrie pulled out her own black sphere from a box at her belt.

"Here goes nothing," she muttered.

There was another ripple, like a stone dropped in a pond. Lacrie's light flooded the alleyway once more and the Unsleeping disappeared again, fleeing at several times their normal speed. Time had moved forward again, countering Melindan's use of his sphere.

"Run!" yelled Lacrie.