Prove your Worth
A Mage Hunter Short Story
Hello! A month late for some horror, but I still thought I’d treat you. Not something I frequently indulge in, but I’m confident you will all enjoy. Here’s is a fresh, new short story revolving around my upcoming novel, “Mage Hunter!”
“Wrong. Now focus!” the robed instructor commanded to his struggling disciple, with doubts brewing about his gift. The young adult half-blood gnarled, flashing his fox fangs at his failure as he and two of his fellow pupils dragged the corpse onto a pile of other victims, five in total, all human. It was a gruesome sight for the remaining captives, sadly locked in their cages. The whimpers of the three broken men and women were discarded by the cruel cultists. All suffered abrasions, cuts, bruises, their clothes stained in blood as they remained trapped inside their claustrophobic cages. The lad had three more chances.
The woman squealed as she was forced out of the cage by the hair. The master tossed her into the circle before the aspirant, ready to try again. Bound by her wrists and ankles, she had no chance to escape, instead pleading for an ounce of mercy on her knees, “p-please! D-Don’t do this!” Her desperate whimpers, her defeated gaze, and her heartfelt tears were cruelly ignored by the cultists. Yet, her hormones of fear, laced with the odors of gore and viscera in the room became a distraction for the half beast-man and his sensitive nose. His determination was a staunch adversary to his obstacles of distraction and ineptitude. Billiard gritted his teeth with a fury and annoyance. Much was sacrificed for this wicked life, and there was no turning back. I got to get this right damn it, he thought, if they can do this, why can’t I? Why is this so fucking hard?! Three of the corpses in the pile were of his failure, and the two disciples successfully raised their dead.
Enough!
Without a word, and without a hint of mercy, the boy thrusted the ritual dagger into the woman’s throat. She desperately gargled for air as she asphyxiated onto the ritual circle, gripping her neck for a final act for survival. The blood pooled around her twitching body as her last moments of conscious left her. Her spirit now released, the essence of Malanorn can now embrace this body; a new fresh corpse for the lad to attempt his spell.
The disciples and the master looked with stoic judgement as he began chanting the forbidden words, an ancient language unknown to much of the world. Posed squarely, and his palms facing upward, Billiard recited the words he fervently studied. The ominous air shifted anew, and the candle lights flickered. The master observed with his enchanted eyes the fluctuating mana that surrounded the pupil. It was erratic at first, but promise was finally seen when the purple weave of the necrotic arcane steadied. With his chanting, the corpse of the woman twitched again, and with some time and patience, she stood up again.
While it took him longer than his fellow students, his efforts finally bared fruit as an aspiring necromancer. “Sloppy. But you succeeded. Well done,” The master critiqued flatly. The robed cult leader examined the work of his struggling student. The irises of the woman’s eyes were greyed, her posture was left hunched over, and the bleeding from her serrated throat kept flowing like tree sap. Because of the freshness of the corpse, her skin held its healthy hue. With a little bit of work, she might pass for living.
The art of necromancy is surprisingly simple for those with the knowledge. Mastery of it, however, is a whole other tale. Human corpses are the simplest to manipulate, with fewer, less complex organs than that of beast men or orcs, and with a more consistent aura field compared that of gnomes, halflings, and elves. Not to mention how easy it is to kidnap them. But with time and practice, any creature could be risen and manipulated by this dark wizardry.
Billiard was panting. The ritual was rough on him, both physically and mentally. With the hard work finally yielding success, he grew a confident grin. “Finally.”
“Yes, now, dispel the ritual and we’ll clean up this mess. We’ll practice again tomorrow with some fresh bodies.” Since they were still new to the art, laying the undead back to rest was the wisest option given their discreet lectures.
Billiard remained still as his mind went blank. Crap. How do I dispel this again? He tried to recall his studies. His confident, sharp grin turned sour as he struggled to avoid making a fool of himself in front of his peers.
This moment of hesitancy concerned the teacher, “Billiard, cancel the ritual and lay her to rest,” he repeated his instruction.
“Got it…” he remained in his stance, stubborn to not yield confession of his ineptitude. Think…think! He gestured his clawed fingers slowly, as if the answer would come to him from his movement.
“Billiard!”
“I said I got it!” he yelped, and with an abrupt wave of his hands a dissipation of mana was felt. The candles waved, and several of them went out. With the little amount of light in this basement, the undead woman remained standing, and somehow, he managed to cut the bindings with the failed attempt to dispel his magic. The students struggled to hold back their chuckles. The half fox-boy could sense disappointment from his master.
Before they could verbally express criticism, the zombie abruptly shambled for the stairs. Her balance was off, and even tumbled forward. But her hands caught the staircase and helped push her up with a surprising amount of speed. “Damn it, Billiard!” The master drew his dagger and chased after the undead, the students followed. It was too late though. The untamed zombie already crashed through the door of the borrowed home and into the busy night streets of Eskanore. She was already yards away by the time the cultists made their way outside. The crowd started mumbling audibly, before a sharp yell echoed through the streets, followed by chaos. “We’re getting out of here!” the master ordered. The four made good use of the panic to sneak away towards the gates.
“Make way, make way!” a city guard commanded the crowd to move as he led a team of three mage hunters to investigate the scene, surrounded by concerned citizens and other guardsmen. The corpse of the zombified woman laid flat in a pool of blood. Right in front of a building, an injured gnome sat on a crate, and was being treated by a priest of Yul and an apothecary. Next to them were two human men, both injured and appearing defeated.
“What’s the big deal?” Steppenwulf began, “This seems to be a normal assault.”
“What exactly happened?” Rion inquired, as the urgent hustle towards the crime scene left no room for questioning.
“According to witnesses,” the guard began, “this woman assaulted that gnome, leaving bite marks. The priestess, as well as the two gentlemen over there claim she was undead. Was part of some… evil ritual or something.”
Tychon went over to investigate the corpse, taking note of a stab wound through the chest, as well as the stab wound in the neck. “Who was the guard who slain her?”
“That would be aye, sir,” a dwarven man stepped forward.
“Was this neck wound from your sword?”
“Nay. That was there before I put the wench down.” The wound was much narrower than the chest. No… this cannot be. Not here in this city, right? Witnesses can often be confused or misinformed. Perhaps there’s something else going on; he tried to convince himself in his storm of denial.
Meanwhile, Rion approached the two gentlemen, “Are you two okay?”
They both remained silent for a moment, and offered a shrug. “It was awful.”
“What happened?”
“That building over there…” one of them pointed with a shaky finger. It had two guards standing outside. “We were kidnapped, along with others. They…sacrificed them, and rose them from the dead as some sort of…sick lecture.”
“That’s awful…I’m sorry you had to go through that.”
“Rion,” Tychon approached, interrupting his questioning, “I’m going to take Steppenwulf to the house to investigate further.
“Do you think it really is – ”
“We’re going to find out for certain,” Tychon hastily interrupted to not let the train of thought further entertain his mind.
As they entered, Steppenwulf covered his sensitive wolf nose. Even Tychon was wincing at the scent of death. While the living room was seemingly uneventful, the basement was a spectacle of horror. They saw the pile of corpses left against the back wall, discarded human lives as if they were just meat. The demonic ritual circle was left as a symbol of the dark forces these cultists channeled. “Tychon… what the hell is this?” Steppenwulf demanded with a bitter, angry tone. Not merely for the sake of his sensitive nose, but by the offensively brutal scene before them. He was fresh blood in the Mage Hunters guild, and Tychon certainly felt a level of guilt bringing him along. Yet, how could he know this crime would unravel in such a twisted manner?
The senior carefully looked around, searching for any piece of evidence that could aid in locating the perpetrators, at least that’s what he was excusing himself. In reality, he was trying to find a seed of doubt, to deny him of the truth, fearful of the perilous journey of his career that is unfolding before him. “Necromancy,” he admitted with harsh reluctance, “unbelievable.” In the youth of the Mage Hunter’s guild, never has there been such a viscous crime. The arcane college was explicit in sharing the dangers and horrors of such forbidden magics. All his education would lead him to believe it was all merely a horror tale meant to entertain book readers. Sure, there have been a few innocent lives lost by magic within these city walls, either due to jealousy or disputes. Maybe a house got burned down in an accidental fire by an overly eager mage. Not to mention the illicit alchemists who created a minor gang war, thankfully snuffed out before it expanded beyond the neighboring districts. But, never could he imagine being at the forefront of such an atrocious display of foul magic! “We are not going to let them get away with this,” he added with a ferocious gaze upon the sigil painted in blood, his eyes firing off a glowing blue hue as he channeled his magic.
Enjoyed the read! Sounds like an interesting world. How's the novel going?