Reality Falling (The Book Wielder Saga 2) (22 page)

“Find Winston,” Lewis hissed to the Sherriff.

Kaine charged at Lewis but the blonde haired Book Wielder was ready. The old Werewolf tripped violently and began writhing around in the dirt as he started turning human again.

Winston was still hiding around the corner of one of the wooden shacks, unsure of whom exactly he was supposed to be fighting anymore, when he was yanked off his feet with incredible force. The Sherriff had grabbed him and began riding them quickly out of town. Winston fought to keep his legs out of the way of the horse’s mechanical legs and the blur of ground beneath him, but soon the Sherriff shouldered his powerful rifle and helped Winston onto the back of the horse’s worn leather saddle.

Lewis was just about to pull out his pistol and finish the old dog Kaine off, when Alice began spraying a hail of plasma bolts towards him. He quickly created a magical barrier but struggled to keep the Werewolf drained of his powers. The Inquisitor rushed towards him with her hammer, ready to strike. With a snarl Lewis sent a blast of bright green witchfire her way which she easily negated, but it slowed her down long enough for him to make his escape. He could sense that the Sherriff had found Winston, and that was all that mattered. He had a special surprise lined up for the servant of the twin witches and the traitorous mutt Kaine, anyway.

Alice, Kaine and the Autons carried on fighting the mounted Alternatives, who fought on relentlessly despite the fact they had been left to die as a distraction. Winston and Lewis were long gone so all they could do was fight to stay alive, but with Kaine’s speed and strength, and Alice’s hammer, plasma and negation magic, and the remaining Autons, they were clearly going to emerge victorious.

What they didn’t see was the black human-sized oval that appeared a short distance away from the fighting. Mortissa Aurorana skipped through, with the face and hair she’d stolen from the late Marissa Aluniana looking as glamorous as ever. Over her puppet body she wore a black and white striped corset and a pleated tartan skirt. Around her waist was a loose belt that she’d made from human flesh that held her wide variety of pins, needles, scissors and scalpels. The portal behind her closed and she picked out two long wickedly sharp pairs of scissors, and held them facing downwards for stabbing. She quickly and quietly strode towards the town square.

Alice was busy banging an Alt into the ground and blasting its material head into flaming pieces, when something jumped onto her back and wrapped its legs around her neck so tightly she could hardly breathe. Mortissa went to slam her scissors into Alice’s eyes, but the Lord Inquisitor quickly dropped to one knee and leant forward, slamming her assailant’s head into ground. The half-puppet half-demon flipped over back onto her feet, and in a twisting motion threw her scissors at Alice. She dodged one pair, which jutted into one of the old building’s front doors, but the second grazed her neck and made Alice flinch. Mortissa smiled with her pretty stolen lips, thinking that her target would be deterred by the wound, but instead Alice rushed into her. She shoulder barged Mortissa with all of her supernatural and power armour boosted strength, and the assassin went rolling across the floor. Once again Mortissa regained her composure with all of the elegance and grace of a professional gymnast, but Alice had already closed the gap and swung her spell-forged hammer like a baseball bat. In a flash of light, Mortissa’s cherished face detonated in an explosion of dried skin and black Demon blood. Half of her stolen scalp slid from her head, leaving the back half of ruined long chestnut hair sitting awkwardly upon her real visage. Alice looked down in disgust at the wailing creature. Its real face was a horrendous mix of black, blue and grey exposed muscle, and it oozed black blood where Alice had inflicted her strike. The assassin’s teeth in contrast were perfect and white, and Alice assumed that they too had been unpleasantly sourced from another victim.

“My face, my face, you ruined my face!” Mortissa screamed. The distorted voice screeched like the sound of a thousand dying cats and cut into Alice’s ears so badly she thought they might bleed.

Alice remembered her from the security camera footage of the Autocrat’s assassination, and her blood boiled with rage. “You’re the one who killed the Autocrat! You’re the one that killed Edgar the second!”

Mortissa sprang into Alice with an incredible amount of force. Her thin puppet physique steamed with a light green aura as her anger empowered her, and Alice dropped her hammer and held the assassin at bay by the wrists, keeping its clawing fingers away from her face. The two were deadlocked and neither one was able to overpower the other. Mortissa elongated her fingers and nails into long thin points and grinned with her clean white teeth as they closed in on Alice’s face.

“I’m taking your face,” Mortissa purred in her strange voice. “I’m going to remember killing you every time I look in the mirror.”

Alice tried to stop Mortissa’s fingers from growing any longer or sharper, but the ability seemed more natural than magical, and Alice couldn’t get her head around it in time. Instead, she strained as hard as she could to change the angle of her wrists ever so slightly. She didn’t have a great shot but she was forced to try anyway. She fired her wrist mounted plasma lasers, which only managed to glance the side of Mortissa’s natural Demon face, but it made her weaker for a moment, and that moment was all Alice needed for a good counter attack.

All of a sudden Mortissa went flying through the air, spinning round and round and unleashing puffs of mouldy old stuffing that floated calmly downwards like a shower of light snow. At first Alice froze in horror as she thought it was some weird Freak magical counterattack, but when she took her focus off the assassin, she saw the giant white Werewolf Kaine to her side. One of his giant claws had scraps of fabric falling off it. Mortissa went smashing into a building which then slowly collapsed on top of her. Kaine narrowed his bestial yellow eyes at Alice and growled faintly before stomping off to help the Autons finish the other Alts.

Alice picked up her hammer and walked carefully towards the ruined building. It detonated in a small flash of green fire and sent burning wood outwards in all directions. Pins and needles pinged pointlessly off Alice’s armour as she deflected some of the shrapnel, so Alice created a magical barrier near her face and carried on advancing on her wounded foe regardless.

The dust settled and a heavily wounded Mortissa was kneeling in the ruins of the smouldering shack, clutching at her side where three massive claw marks had raked through and removed almost half of her torso. Her human-skin belt of tools was empty so she flung spheres of glowing green witchfire at the Inquisitor, who deflected them casually.

“Fine,” Mortissa snarled. “We’ll both burn then…”

Summoning all of her corrupt demonic power, hatred, and pure unbridled rage, Mortissa began emitting waves of magical energy. Her aura returned and began increasing in hue, heat, and intensity until the half-demon half-puppet assassin looked wreathed in green flames.

Alice knew what would be happening soon. The foul disgusting demon would create a massive magical explosion, just like it had done at the top of the Central Tower. Except this time it looked like the assassin intended to be consumed by the blast too, meaning that it would be even more devastating. Alice just smiled, however. It was using magic that she could negate, and so the magical shock waves died out, the intense heat diminished, and Mortissa’s fiery aura dulled until it had disappeared completely. The hybrid Demon looked up at Alice in horror.

“I hope Edgar’s spirit is watching this,” Alice snarled, “because this is for him.” She raised her hammer above her head and with both hands she brought it crashing down with all of her might, for justice and for vengeance.

The hammer flashed over and over as Alice continued pummelling Mortissa until all that was left was a pile of steaming black gore and padding.

A hand tapped her on the shoulder armour. “It’s all over,” Kaine growled.

Alice lowered her hammer, a wave of calm washed over her, and suddenly she realised just how exhausted she was and how much her neck wound hurt. She blushed when she turned to see that Kaine had returned to his human form. His aged body was completely exposed, apart from a slight covering by a large amount of grey body hair.

“I don’t know whether to kill you or thank you for bringing those mechanical marvels along with you,” he said, pointing very near to her face. “But in future, you tell me! We’re on the same side now, and trust is everything, especially if we hope to survive working with Cherriesa and Silvario, you understand girl?”

Alice nodded sadly, putting a hand over her leaking neck cut. She’d come so close to Winston and now he was gone again. Maybe for good. They may have won the battle but she felt completely and utterly defeated.

Kaine slapped her on the back of her power armour. “Don’t worry, he’ll come around. Winston’s a smart kid, and once he’s cleared his head he’ll realise who his real allies are.”

“Let’s just hope there’s still a world left by that time,” Alice said tiredly.

“I don’t think the truck got damaged at least,” Kaine said cheerfully. Luckily they’d parked on the edge of town rather than in it. “That would’ve been a hell of long walk to make while wounded, and naked in my case.”

Alice smiled a little bit in response.

Kaine chuckled. “So there is a bit of warmth in there after all.” They walked off towards the truck. “I really meant what I said before. He’ll come around.”

Alice nodded. She didn’t know why, but for some reason she thought he would too.

- - -

Winston, the Sherriff and Lewis had galloped along for what must have been miles before they finally slowed enough for them to talk.

“Whoa man, that was close!” Lewis said thankfully. “I can’t believe how close you came to falling right into their trap, you’ve got to be more careful!”

Winston nodded, unsure if he was dealing with the Lewis he knew or the Lewis he’d been warned about. “It was Kaine. I thought of all people we could trust him,” he replied tactically.

Lewis looked sad. “I know, I couldn’t believe it when I heard what he’d done in Industria. Before she was murdered, Kitty Cat got on the radio to me and told me what he’d been up to.”

“I think you should fill me in,” Winston said curiously. He wanted to hear both sides of the story and find any obvious holes in the two, and maybe then he’d truly know.

“Kaine put Alts on the refugee ships before they left,” Lewis explained. “I mean, it was quite a good idea to get them onto Orphan Isle, but… it was just so inhumane. So I told the Archmage and he recommended putting Kitty Cat in charge of the Supernaturals over there, but when she told the old dog the change of plans he ripped her head clean off!” Lewis shook his head remorsefully. “That’s not all, though. Before he left the city, he killed the rest of the humans sheltering in the dockyards as a
punishment
for our actions.”

“That’s crazy,” Winston said, trying to sound like it was all new to him. “I wouldn’t think Kaine would ever do such a thing.”

“Well, jealousy can be a very dangerous thing,” Lewis said thoughtfully. “Isn’t that right Sherriff?”

“Yes… Lewis…” the Sherriff said strangely.

“Why are you talking like that?” Winston asked. “You usually threaten us – quite a lot actually.”

“Oh, don’t mind him,” Lewis said waving his hand. “The Archmage has extended his power over him. He thought he wasn’t polite enough to me and you, isn’t that right Sherriff?”

“Yes… Lewis…” he replied in the same braindead tone.

Lewis grinned wickedly. “I hope he stays like this forever. He’s so much easier to deal with, don’t you think?”

Winston nodded and forced a smile. “Oh. Yeah, definitely. Where are we going anyway?”

“Just out into the wilds for a bit,” Lewis replied wistfully. “An airship from the Capital is going to meet us further to the north. I thought it would be best to avoid civilisation for now, you just never know who to trust these days.”

“No, you really don’t,” Winston said dryly. “Where are we going from there?”

“Back home,” Lewis said seriously. “There’s a little smidgen of bad news, I’m afraid. I thought it was best to let you cool off after that madness back there before telling you, but it’s nothing that we can’t handle. The Archmage is all over it, you’ve got nothing to worry about, really…”

Winston’s stomach churned at the thought of more bad news. “What is it?”

“It’s Veronica,” Lewis said slowly. “She’s been captured by the rebels.”

James looked out of one of the throne room’s windows around at Tropica City. It was early in the morning and he’d been up all night talking with Azalea. “Are you
definitely
sure?”

“For the last time, yes!” Azalea said annoyed. She was getting tired of repeating herself.

“Can’t you check again?”

“I’ve checked dozens of times now and it’s always the same,” she replied impatiently. “You have trusted my instincts so far, James, why can’t you trust me now?”

“Because there’s instinct and then there’s just pure insanity,” James said harshly.

Azalea looked extremely hurt. Her eyes began to water, and she sniffled and then wiped the tears away with her hand.

“I’m sorry.” James went to approach her throne. Sometimes he forgot just how fragile she was. “I didn’t mean...”

Azalea dismissed him with a wave. “It’s fine, don’t worry. Seriously, I’ll be okay,” she said strongly, forcing the tears away. “I know it doesn’t make sense, but I also know that it’s the right decision to make. I am a Conduit of Fate, and this decision is its will.”

James looked out of the window again and watched the people walking in the streets below. Some were military patrols but most were just normal people starting their early work shifts. From that high up they looked so tiny, but their importance couldn’t be overstated. Everything they had accomplished on Tropica meant nothing without the support of the people who looked to them for leadership and protection.

“What about them?” James said. “How will they deal with this?”

“They will still follow me regardless,” Azalea assured him.

“It’s hard to believe, especially after all the aggression we’ve been stirring up against them,” James added.

“They will be shocked at first, but I promise you they will follow me faithfully, and none of them will come to any harm.”

With a long sigh, James gave up. He clearly wasn’t going to persuade his Queen otherwise. “Then I will support you and stand by your decision, my beloved Queen.”

“Thank you, James.” Azalea got off her throne, embraced him in her arms and kissed him passionately. “You’ll understand by the end of this, I promise.”

“I just hope you’re right, my love.”

“When am I ever wrong?” Azalea joked. “Now, please get me in touch with Imperia City; I need to speak with Archmage Omniosis personally.”

- - -

Veronica continued her trek through the forest and up the steep hills. As the sun rose higher and the shadows became rarer, she was forced to indulge in more of her rationed Sunshield Potion supply.

Even though she was on the run for her life, and her pace never dwindled, Veronica enjoyed the great outdoors more than she had remembered. She still thought city life was good but she was getting bored of it – maybe her mind’s age was catching up to her actual age. If she ever got out of the ordeal alive, she’d see if Winston wanted to settle down somewhere quaint and tranquil for a change. They could always go back to the debauchery of the city in a decade or two. Veronica sighed. She never thought she’d come to miss one guy so much, but he was the one for her, no doubt about it.

She had made her way north until the hills became steep and then began travelling west. Veronica wasn’t exactly sure where she was, but she’d need to find some form of civilisation soon to get more blood. It would be just like the olden days of sneaking into people’s windows at night, or the timeless classic method of pub-drunk seduction. Veronica had considered going after some animal blood as there was plenty of wildlife lurking about deep in the forest, but it was never even close to being nourishing enough. It was like drinking a spoonful of vegetable soup instead of dining on a three course meal.

During her exodus she’d only stopped for a few naps during the day, hiding in small caves or tucked away amongst shaded clusters of tree trunks. In her sleep, she saw a mansion in a large clearing within the woods in the steep hills, right before reaching the mountain range at the edge of Rura. So instead of heading south or south-west towards Tidussex where she could hopefully take a ship to Industria and find Winston, she carried on north-west as she followed her vision and her instincts towards the mansion that she’d seen in her mind. It didn’t make sense but she had a good feeling about finding it, and that whoever was in it would help her.

The winds picked up, rustling the canopy of green leaves above, and the skies slowly but surely became overcast. Veronica was annoyed that she’d wasted some Sunshield Potion on a cloudy day, but even more so when the rain started falling. Her long black hair stuck to her muddy face and her clothes were completely soaked within the first few minutes of the shower. All she could hear was the pattering sound of raindrops hitting leaves and muddy soil. The hard shower subsided into a light rain, and Veronica stopped in her tracks. She could sense something unnatural above.

A giant dark green spider about the same size as Veronica, covered in moss, long thick hairs, and the occasional bit of brightly coloured fungi, dropped from the thickets above with its legs spread ready to close around her. Veronica reacted quickly. She held Xavier’s sword above her head, and as the spider toppled on top of her it impaled itself, spraying thick green blood that reeked of compost out of its mortal wound. The Vampire Bloodmage crawled out from underneath the creature’s closing chitinous legs, soaked in the foul smelling blood. She saw more of the giant spiders drop down from the tree tops, poised ready to pounce.

She used her blood magic to pop one of them inside out, turned another two against each other in a telepathically fuelled fit of rage, and sliced and diced any that got to close to her. But more of the hideous giant spiders kept coming, either from the tree tops or charging through the gaps in the tree’s trunks. Veronica turned and ran, using all of her strength to propel her up the ever steepening incline. The spiders weren’t much of a match for her, but she was worried that Lewis wouldn’t be too far behind. If he only drained half of her powers, it would be over in a mere few moments.

The trees began to thin slightly and then suddenly, as Veronica was charging blindly through some low hanging branches, she entered a large clearing. It was the mansion from her dreams. The building was old, verging on ancient, but it wasn’t unkempt, and it was clear that someone had been looking after it. The windows were immaculately clean. There wasn’t a tile missing on the roof, and the grass surrounding it looked like it was regularly mown. There were a few mounds of bricks running around the perimeter, right by the thick surrounding treeline, which was the only remaining evidence of a surrounding wall; a wall that Veronica wished was still in place as the spiders ran into the clearing after her.

She was half way to the house when she risked turning to face her chasers. She sliced one spider in half that had used her momentary pause to pounce, and Xavier’s spell-forged sword glimmered with white magical energy as it cut through the Gloom-creature’s body just before it could clamp into her face with its mandible jaws. Veronica hurled a few bolts of wispy red blood magic at two more spiders and caused their insides to sizzle and burn, and with her telekinesis she ripped all eight legs off another and left it to die slowly.

Veronica thought things were looking up until she heard the sound of snapping branches and falling trees. She backed up towards the house, killing spiders as they got too close, and watched as the trees nearby began to topple. Then, in a cloud of wooden splinters and foliage, a Spider Demon crashed into the clearing, swinging a massive serrated obsidian longsword to rid itself of any further obstructions.

The Spider Demon wore a full masquerade mask over its face, divided into four square sections that were oppositely coloured bright pink and black. It had a long pink ponytail pluming upwards then down from the back of its masked head, and underneath the silver and black plate armour, the Demon had an extremely full female figure which could easily rival that of Veronica’s. However, its humanoid appearance ended at the torso where it joined onto an extremely large pink and black spider body. Its eight legs were divided into three sections, each as long as a person, and armoured and bladed at the very tips.

Just before Veronica turned to run for the mansion, she glimpsed a humanoid shape hobbling out of the trees nearby. A shiver ran down her spine, for at first she thought it was Lewis, but after a daring moment of focusing she saw that it was someone else. What she saw didn’t comfort her all that much, though. It was a male Mage, or at least it had been. Now it was a twisted and deformed being, a victim of Gloom-exposure before anyone knew the risks of prolonged contact with the other plain. On one half of his face he wore a psychotically happy expression and on the other half he wore a blue mask, similar to the ones that Demons always had. His body looked strangely out of proportion in places, and patches of his skin were pale while others were blackened, bruised and rotten.

With a hysterical high-pitched giggle, the Demon-Mage hybrid launched an orb of molten hot witchfire that detonated just short of Veronica’s sprinting feet, showering her with mud and grass. The Vampire Bloodmage made no attempt to fight back. She knew that if Lewis was anywhere nearby it would be the end for her, and even if he wasn’t it wouldn’t be long before the Archmage got him there to make her powerless. Instead Veronica redoubled her efforts to get to the mansion’s front door, praying that her vision would lead her to safety. The Demon-Mage, his Spider Demon mistress, and her eight-legged minions pursued her mercilessly with startling speed.

- - -

After the eventful meeting with Winston Reynolds, Alice had made her way back to Fallowne with Kaine, which was a very awkward drive considering she was depressed and he was completely naked. Luckily the Trinity owned bar had some spare clothes that fit the old Werewolf, and he had quickly got changed while Alice filled Jonathan in on the calamitous confrontation between them and the Gloom-dwellers in the ghost town.

They had made their way back to the Catacombs, and Kaine left to discuss his new alliance and position in greater detail with Silvario and Cherriesa (Alice got the feeling they had a lot of ground to cover with their apparent tenuous history), which left her and Jonathan idle. They checked in with some of the Trinity’s operatives to see if there were any new major developments in the war, but according to the Trinity’s information there was no new activity in or around Tropica. The Dogs of War and Supernatural forces around the world had parted ways more or less amicably, Sanctium production was beginning to build up to a usable quantity of fluid, and that was about it. Alice hated sitting around doing nothing, especially after she’d come so close to swaying Winston’s mind and ultimately failed, so she decided to stay with Jonathan in lieu of sulking at the top of the Central Tower.

They had got some food in the living area but Alice only nibbled at it; her stomach was churning. Jonathan took her back to his room for some more Alchemy lessons, but the information just wasn’t going in. She had tried for hours and hours to get her mind off her troubles and focus on Jonathan and her book’s instructions, but it just wasn’t happening.

“There was nothing you could’ve done,” Jonathan had reminded her as he finished a complex Vitality potion.

“I know,” Alice sighed. “I was just so damned close.”

“Say what you will about Winston, but he sounds like an intelligent guy. The things you and Kaine told him won’t just float out of his head,” Jonathan said confidently.

“We planted the seeds of doubt, but will they sprout in time?” Alice grumbled.

Jonathan exhaled loudly. “There’s nothing we can do about it right now. We’ll have to just wait and see what happens next. Well, unless you fancy flying over to the Capital in an airship and littering Omniosis’ tower with Sanctium rounds, hoping you’ll get a lucky shot in.”

Alice’s head picked up and her eyes widened as she considered the idea.

“It was a joke Alice.” Jonathan said shaking his head. “That would be total suicide.”

Alice went to argue the point but realised with a shock that General Wallace had utilised a similar tactic to little avail. More pointless deaths were the last thing they needed, even if they were their own.

“I want to go to the Gloom,” Alice had said after what seemed like an eternity of silence and frustration.

“Not a chance. You’re not in the right frame of mind for it, Alice,” Jonathan said sternly, putting his hands upon her shoulders.

She looked up at his sweet purple eyes, filled with the usual annoying concern that made her thoughts go crazy. She wanted to hit him. Or kiss him.

“I’ll go... out with you, if you let me go,” she said embarrassed, her cheeks going bright red.

“
Go out with you
?” Jonathan quoted. “You sound like a school girl.”

Alice went to smack him in the face but somehow instead ended up embracing him tightly, her lips touching his. Her heart was beating a mile a minute and she felt tingly all over.

“Whoa,” Jonathan breathed in shock. He went back for another kiss but Alice stopped him.

“Let me go to the Gloom, Jonathan,” Alice demanded playfully. “I need to do some damage to something unnatural, and it’s either going to be those Gloom creatures or you...”