This week's entry is coming a bit late. A client needed a number of articles written in a hurry and as fun as blogging the story is, a bit of extra money around this time of year is always a good thing.
Warning: This is the rough draft of a story with adult themes and situations. If you are offended by bad language and grammatical errors, gentle reader, read no further! For those of you who have decided to stay, thanks for reading! I hope you enjoy this week's chapter.
It took a few seconds, but even in the light rain, the fire, fed by the preservative still in their bodies, began to consume hair and clothing. As it spread, the flame shifted from an alcohol blue to a yellow that cast the shadows of the trees around them in a frenzied dance. The smell of burning hair and worse began to hang heavily in the air.
As she fought, Aleph noticed something disturbing, as their skin charred and flaked off, she could see healthy skin appearing underneath healing as fast as the flames could consume it. They paused to wipe away the flames from their faces but it wasn’t a pain response she realized, their efforts were only so they could better see to continue the attack. It gave her an idea.
She continued to weave her way through the blazing fray, in constant movement, instinctively finding the best path through and striking where she could. Fists and kicks passed harmlessly through the spaces she was a fraction of a second before. She dodged and twisted in perfectly timed and deliberate motions behind the screen of flaming bodies.
“This is so unbelievably fucked up,” Sam said with a sick look on his face. The light of the flaming souljacked attackers began to brighten and light up the path. To his credit, Sam kept his attention focused on growing the flames. Aleph knew from her own experience it was a lot easier working with existing fire than it was creating fire from thin air. Now that it was going, it was like a rock rolling down a hill and gaining momentum of its own. Still, the attackers struck and kicked at her as she dodged.
With an expression of sick reluctance, Sam held out his hand and pale orange flame began to dance in his palm. It was about time. Inside the flame, the shadow-shape of a salamander could be seen moving around. With a resigned sigh, Sam tossed the little ball of fire toward the closest of the flaming attackers. The flames merged and the little salamander began scrambling over the head and shoulders of the burning man. The fire consuming him, and his slack-jawed friends immediately intensified and began to roar with inrushing air.
Sam gagged, spat, but kept his attention focused.
Dimitri glanced at Sam and seemed to come to some inner decision. “Whatever, fuck these guys.” With that, Dimitri charged the group. He planted a foot into the lower back of one the flaming forms and knocked him to the ground. The rest of the group ignored their fallen companion as Dimitri continued to work him over, little puffs of flame erupting at every kick. “It’s not!” kick, “nice!” kick, “to hit,” kick, “girls!” kick, kick, kick.
Two things happened almost simultaneously. There came a cry of alarm from the direction of the forensic tent, the police had finally seen them. The second thing that happened was that a storm of crows erupted out from the centre of the flaming mosh pit.
The crows cawed, pecked, scratched, and buffeted the attackers with their wings. Flames swirled and writhed in the wind from the wingbeats. The sound of cawing and the flapping of wings was deafening, and the little morning light that had been seeping in past the trees was obliterated by the mass of black feathered bodies.
Sam and Dimitri fell back from the corvid vortex, covering their own faces. The needn’t have worried though, in mere moments the crows had moved on. The attackers, many of whom were still ablaze despite the sudden wind of crow wings, staggered drunkenly around the path. It wasn’t until Sam looked closer that he noticed the truth. Bloody tears ran down the cheeks of every individual, but there wasn’t a single eye left whole among the group. The crows had blinded each and every one of them.
The sound of heavy footsteps approached their position and Dimitri grabbed a horrified Sam by the shoulder to pull him off the path and into the shadows. Uniformed police officers began to appear in the firelight. Some threw their jackets over the flames to try and put them out. Others tackled the flaming individuals to the ground, using the wet path and soggy grass help to extinguish them.
As the police came into contact with any of the blinded group though, they were immediately attacked. Soon, there was a decent little brawl going on with the police trying to subdue a dozen blinded and flaming berserkers. The police had the advantage of sight, but the group had the numbers, and they looked fairly evenly matched. Sam and Dimitri did their best to silently make their away from the action.
The crows, meanwhile, began to descend in a tight circle around the war memorial next to the visitor centre, narrowing down to a single point. Soon they were gone, and a familiar shape motioned them over.
Aleph looked none the worse for wear.
“Well, that was fucking disturbing,” Dimitri said, as they arrived at Aleph’s side. Sam nodded emphatically, not quite trusting himself to speak yet.
“If that’s the worst thing you see in the next few days, I’ll be pleasantly surprised.” She turned to look at the grey granite cenotaph and lay her fingers on the smooth surface. It was a three-tiered monument set on a stepped cement platform. On its side were carved a maple leaf and the words, “To the memory of the Men and Women who served in the defence of their Country”
“Let’s get moving,” Aleph said, looking back to where the police were still attempting to subdue the blinded group. “The Sand Network is going to be all over this in no time, and I cannot be here when they show up.”
She stepped up onto the cement platform and began walking around it in a counter-clockwise direction. Some of the old folks still called it walking the path widdershins, just like they talked about casting spells instead of throwing tricks. Times changed and language changed with it.
Sam and Dimitri fell in close behind her. As they walked, Aleph began to feel a chill on her cheeks that had nothing to do with the weather. The further they walked around the memorial, the colder it got. Slowly, the cold was accompanied a grinding feeling vibrating through her chest, as though two stones were grinding against each other. The morning, which had just begin to lighten, became dark again as though the world was on a dimmer switch.
Aleph began humming a rhythmic tune, then after a few seconds began to sing softly, “Weave a circle round him thrice, And close your eyes with holy dread For he on honey-dew hath fed, And drunk the milk of Paradise.”
“What?” Dimitri asked.
“Just an old poem my father used to say whenever we used to go to Senak. Honestly, I haven’t thought about it in years.”
“Wow, that’s so neat. So, now that you’ve had a look at them, what are those things,” asked Dimitri, pointing back at the ongoing melee.
“Like we guessed, they’re some flavour of necroalchemical abomination.”
“Yeah, but what do we call them, because ‘necroalchemical abominations’ is a bit of a mouthful and NA is already taken.”
“Alright, let’s run down the list them,” said Sam, as they began their second circuit around the cenotaph. “First question, are they alive or dead?”
“Alive,” provided Aleph.
“So that rules out Zombies, Wights, Revenants, and Draugr.”
“What the what?” asked Dimitri.
“Second question, do they have free will.”
“Nope, you saw the way they spoke. Definitely souljacked, probably by a single controlling being,” she replied.
“So alive,” Sam counted off on his fingers, “no free will, and a hive mind.” He paused to think. “They’re drones, they have to be, nothing else matches.”
“Drones? That’s so boring,” complained Dimitri. “They’re mindless killing machines. Can’t we call them something more horrific and awesome than drones?” He paused to think. “How about killer explosion drones?”
“You’re the one that said alchemical abominations was too much of a mouthful.”
“Fine, let’s make it into an acronym. How ‘bout KSDs?”
Sam continued to walk for a time, his brow furrowed. “I give up, what does the ‘S’ stand for?”
“‘Splosion. The ‘ex’ part is silent. Duh.”
Sam shrugged, “Works for me.”
Aleph rolled her eyes.
They’d completed three circuits around the granite monument now and Sam and Dimitri stepped around to stand shoulder to shoulder with her. The world had taken on a thin ice transparency as though if you didn’t step carefully, you might fall right through. Only feet in front of them was a yawning hole in the air as though someone had pushed a pencil through the pages of reality. The broad maples lining the path were barely visible, only to be partly seen when a faint breeze stirred their bare branches. There was no sound of rain in this place between, it had been replaced by a white-noise hush that Aleph associated with a heavy snowfall.
“Ready to go?”
“I hate going to Asphodel,” sighed Dimitri, eyeing the hole in the world.
Beside him, Sam nodded in agreement. “Why couldn’t it be a wardrobe or maybe even a locomotive. I’d settle for riding in a train with a bunch of obnoxious teenage wizards for six hours if it meant I didn’t have to travel this way.”
“I know, right? Everyone talks about how Senak is sooo great. It’s not that great.”
“And it’s always dark,” added Sam. “I get enough dark here in the winter without wanting to go to a place where it’s dark 24/7. Give me white sandy beaches and drinks with umbrellas in them.”
“Amen, brother.”
The two bumped fists.
“Are you two done?” Aleph asked.
“We were just saying Asphodel’s not all that,” complained Dimitri.
Putting her pale hands on both of their shoulders, she gave them both a good shove right into the portal.
“Hey, wait!” was all Dimitri managed to get out before he disappeared into the unrelieved blackness of the portal.
Aleph sighed, gave Vancouver one final look around, and strode into the gateway.
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