Chapter 97 - Ignition

Stepping out of the Warp Gate, Professor Kal scanned his surroundings. The entrance to the Cathedral was in ruins, splintered wood and shattered stone lay everywhere, scorch marks were etched into the large stone walls that framed the entrance. Thick, dark smoke was finding its way out of the massive cathedral, deep inside there was a fire raging. A handful of mangled bodies lay in frozen pools of blood, dozens of carrion crows were already circling overhead, waiting for the right time to come down and feed.

"Oops." Professor Kal said absentmindedly as he suddenly remembered what he had set up inside the bishops' library.

"What is it? What's wrong?" Ryan asked from behind him, on edge, as he was looking around for the monster with wide eyes.

"Oh, nothing, don't worry about it." Professor Kal answered as he made his way to where his meat-puppet had met its end.

Circling around the large stone that had crushed him, Professor Kal found what he was looking for. Sticking out from underneath the heavy stone was Priest Unilith's arm, with hand attached. On his middle finger was Professor Kal's storage ring, still looking impeccably clean even amongst the blood and filth. Slipping his treasure back onto his own finger, a small smile spread across his plain face. He was naked without his ring, now that they were reunited, he felt complete.

"Great. Now, let's go find that thing, shall we?" Professor Kal said to his student that had his head on a swivel.

"Shouldn't we prepare or something? Do you have any ancient artifacts or rare potions that could help us kill it?" Ryan asked, expecting his teacher to carry the day.

Shrugging his shoulders, his black and purple robe flowing like water in the winter breeze, Professor Kal answered. "Oh, I probably do, but where is the fun in that?"

"The fun? People are dying and you're worried about the fun?" Ryan said with a stunned face.

"No, not just the fun." Professor Kal started as they walked towards the sounds of battle and mayhem. "Just think about it. If I go in there and slay this beast with little to no effort, then they'll think that it really didn't pose a threat. But, if it rampages around, causing massive amounts of damage and casualties, then they will see just how horrendous it was."

Ryan stopped in his tracks; his face scrunched up as his brain tried to work out his teacher's train of thought. "I still don't get it. Why do we want to do that?"

"Money! Well, not just money, there's other benefits as well, but mainly money." Professor Kal said with a chipper tone. "If we topple a monster capable of destroying, let's say, half the city; then they will have no choice but to pay us handsomely for our troubles!"

"You're a terrible person, you know that, right?" Ryan stated as he caught up with the Professor.

"Hey! I'm not the one that let that thing out, am I?" Professor Kal snapped back as they exited the walled courtyard of the church and walked into a wide, paved road.

Directly across from them were two story villas, with large bay windows and enough space between them for small, manicured courtyards; they were the perfect homes for those with enough wealth. The villas stretched down the road both directions for well over half a mile, smaller roads broke up the line of dwellings every half-dozen houses, allowing for foot-traffic to access the roads behind them. But right now, there was no foot-traffic, the road was completely deserted, except for something neither of them was expecting to see.

"Are they zombies?" Ryan asked.

"No, they're something else, something I've never seen before." Professor Kal said, his voice full of hardly concealed excitement.

Shambling randomly down the road were the withered bodies of those that the monster had fed upon. They were making no sounds as they took slow steps towards unknown destinations, their mouths hanging open in silent screams, revealing white teeth and black gums. Their eyes were what the two found the most fascinating, and the most unnerving; they were the darkest of blacks, bereft of any light whatsoever.

Their eyes seemed to see nothing, and everything, at the same time. Their heads moved in jerking motions as they scanned their surroundings, looking for something that the Professor and Ryan could only guess at. One creature, dressed in city guard's armor, noticed the two of them standing motionless on the road. Its previously torpid movements shifted into a dead sprint as it ran at them with widespread arms and gnashing white teeth.

"Well, they're much faster than zombies." Professor Kal stated matter of factly "And he's bringing some friends along as well."

Along with the reanimated guard, came over a dozen other former humans, all dressed in fine clothing or priestly garbs. Ryan found it unnerving that they made no sounds as they closed the distance between them, yes, he could hear their pounding footsteps and the clanking armor of the guard, but there was no moans or shouts, not even heavy breathing could be heard. Their speed was not anything super-human, apparently whatever magic transformed them had not granted them enhanced capabilities.

Lifting up his hand, Ryan took the initiative. After reciting a short chant, black bolts of lightning jumped from his fingertips, arcing the fifty-foot gap, and striking the lead monster. Even being struck by magic wasn't enough to illicit any sound from the reanimated corpse, it convulsed where it stood, its leather armor cracked and popped as the lightning cooked the animal hide. Some of the other corpses drew close enough that the lightning jumped from the first, to them, although the effect was much less, they still trembled from the lightning.

Cutting off the supply of mana to his spell, Ryan let his arm fall to his side. It would seem that he was successful in stopping the walking dead from attacking them, although for some reason they had yet to fall to the ground. He and Professor Kal stood still, watching them, waiting for whatever was to happen to happen. In just a short minute, the armored corpse, with his skin a coal black, took jerky steps towards them once more.

"It looks like he wasn't done yet." Professor Kal stated as he watched the animated cadaver pick up speed, although with difficulty.

"I put a quarter of my mana into that!" Ryan exclaimed, surprise filling his cracking voice.

Scratching his chin, even as their attacker was drawing closer, Professor Kal posed an idea. "Maybe they're resistant to magic? Or just lightning, although that lightning had your death affinity mixed in as well… hmmm."

With a snap of his fingers, red hot flames erupted from the cobble stone road, engulfing the lead monster in a ravenous inferno. The flames died down almost as fast as they appeared, leaving a shriveled-up heap of bones and black ash.

"Well, they're not resistant to fire. Maybe you just needed to put some more ass into it?" Professor Kal suggested.

Following the Professor's lead, Ryan's next attack was a simple fireball spell. The melon sized ball of flame arced through the air, a deep whooshing sound following it as it super-heated the air around it. Coming into contact with a dried-out nobleman, it exploded, sending bright light and glowing embers in every direction. Once the bright flash of light and heat had subsided, Ryan was once again shocked by the sight of the monster still running toward him, only now, completely naked and scorched black.

Five, arm sized spikes of ice sailed through the air, impaling the monster. One spike managed to completely remove its head, leaving only a blackened, skewered body flailing around, grasping at air. As Ryan looked at the other dozen creatures almost upon them, they all burst into white flames. The heat was so great that it forced him to turn and protect his head or else all of his hair would singe off. In a matter of seconds, only he and Professor Kal remained standing, along with the skewered corpse still squirming.

"Tough, aren't they." Professor Kal said with a bit of appreciation in his voice as he made his way to the burnt pincushion.

"I'm sorry Professor, I thought I had put enough mana into that." Ryan said, disappointed in his lack of strength.

Professor Kal shook his head as he studied the reanimated corpse, dodging its clumsy attempts to grab hold of him. "For once boy, that was not your fault."

Ryan cocked his head as he looked up at the Professor, doubting his own ears. "What do you mean?"

Having gotten everything that he had wanted from the monster, Professor Kal snapped his fingers, quickly reducing it to nothing but ashes. "It's resistant to magic, not just magic but mana itself."

"Then how do they still move around if not powered by magic?" Ryan asked, taxing his fundamental knowledge of reanimating the dead, trying his hardest to understand what the Professor was talking about.

"I don't know!" Professor Kal exclaimed, an honest to goodness smile spreading across his usually placid face. "I've never seen anything like it before, none of my mana detectors could sense what was animating it, it's a complete unknown. Isn't it EXCITING?!"

"Well, it would be, if people weren't being killed right now." Ryan stated, his mind not finding the same wonder the situation as his mentor's.

Waving his hand dismissively, Professor Kal flicked the sleeves of his exquisite robe, turning to his student. "Who cares about them? This is the discovery of the millennia!"

Even as they bantered back and forth about the significance of the corpses functioning on another form of energy other than mana, the ghastly sounds of battle could be heard echoing off of the nearby buildings. The city guard had been fully deployed to the nearby area, evacuating civilians from the noble district, and desperately trying to do anything to stop the creature from feeding any further.

Word spread rapidly throughout the city that an unknown monster had begun rampaging within the noble district, killing all in its path. Those in other districts were unmoved by the noble district's plight. The noble district was almost a completely different world to them, many found it to be divine punishment that had fallen upon the corrupt upper class, taking joy in the thought that they were being killed. Of course, there were also those that took advantage of the fact that the city guard had moved almost all of its force into the noble district, they began to loot and steal, knowing that the chances of being caught were nil.

The sudden war had changed the composition of the city of Säravast, there were many within the city that had been displaced by war, or those that were forced to stay there due to the border being a literal warzone. With so many mouths to feed, especially during winter, it was inevitable that many thousands would go hungry. Then came the monster attacks from the nearby Cassian Forest, driving those camped outside the walls to take refuge within them, increasing the discontent population even further.

All of these factors had created a powder keg within the shining city, just waiting for ignition, this sudden attack by an unknown monster was the spark.. Just the heated rumor of their country being unable to contain a single monster was enough to completely shred any lingering hopes they had left, leaving them with only one choice, to fight for their own survival.