We were out of time.
Murnau stood before us upon his altar of blood. He only briefly acknowledged us as we entered the room. His stone mask betrayed no emotion, although I thought for a moment that I could see fear in his eyes. He did not speak. He only turned back towards the altar, placing his hands upon it once again to continue his ritual. The air around him seemed to shimmer and glow with an energy that almost felt alive. The chill that ran through it penetrated my very bones.
Among the sorcerers in the room, a few broke from the ritual to confront us. Most of them were women, stepping over the corpses of their dead, former allies. It almost sickened me to see the dead men on the ground… I had known Murnau had been desperate when he’d cast that spell. But the notion of sacrificing so many of his own just to cripple our army seemed nothing short of mad.
Only a few men still lived. Most of them powerful sorcerers themselves, who could’ve resisted Murnau’s spell. Most of them on his side… There were only a few actual fighters left in their ranks. Normally I’d say it wouldn’t be enough. But considering how close Murnau was… It might’ve been just what he needed.
I held my sword at the ready. From the corner of my eye, I could see Elsa doing the same. Our bodies were sore and exhausted. The battle had been hard fought… And now here we stood upon the precipice.
The Grand Paladin stood just ahead of us, his shining armor stained with blood. That he had survived Murnau’s curse was a testament to his power… But if anyone could have done it, it would have been him.
“Lay down your arms!” The Grand Paladin declared, levying his sword at the assembling mages and soldiers, “We have come for the Dark Lord himself… You need not die to serve a master who cares not for your lives!”
They did not listen. They only readied themselves for battle. However, Murnau himself seemed to stir.
“Even after everything, you continue to plague me…” He said softly, “You are a persistent man, Paladin… Infuriatingly so.”
“I made a vow before God.” He replied coldly, “I would not rest until the world was cleansed of your kind, vampire… And I will honor this vow.”
“I suppose in a way, you will…” Murnau said. He stabbed his obsidian ritual dagger into the altar and turned towards us once more. He stepped towards us, his black robes flying free in the wind.
The blood on the ground seemed to flow towards him and he reached out a hand, allowing it to solidify and form a spear.
“Come then, Paladin. Let us end this, here and now!”
Grand Paladin Samuel let out a furious roar and held his sword aloft as he charged into battle against the Dark Lord. Elsa and I remained at his side, our swords drawn and as his sword met Murnau’s spear of blood, we clashed with the sorcerers and soldiers who remained at his side.
The air around us seemed to shimmer more violently. My skin seemed to tingle. The light was getting brighter and it cast shadows of battle against the stone walls of the ritual chamber. I drove my sword through the heart of one mage and forced them to the ground, before looking up to find my next quarry.
I could see Elsa and one of the soldiers dueling nearby, and closer to the altar I could see Grand Paladin Samuel and the Dark Lord Murnau locked in battle. Samuel’s sword seemed to shatter Murnau’s spear. For a moment I felt a pang of triumph in my chest. I felt certain I was about to watch him deliver the killing blow. And yet Murnau clutched the broken halves of his spear. From behind his mask, I could see his eyes narrow, gleaming with triumph.
As Samuel raised his blade again, Murnau was ready for him. He raised one half of the broken spear to block the sword before it could split his skull and he drove the other half into Samuel’s ribs, slipping past his armor and into his flesh. I heard Samuel let out a cry of pain.
I remember screaming myself as I broke into a run, charging towards Murnau to aid my Paladin.
Then I remember the light glowing ever brighter, leaving me awash in its blinding glow.
And then…
“Come on, Jordan. Don’t do this to me!”
I opened my eyes as I felt someone shaking my body.
“It’s past 8. We’re going to be late. Can you get your ass out of bed, please?”
I looked up to see Elsa staring down at me, a look of genuine concern on her face.
“It’s 8?” I asked, still groggy, “I just looked at my phone, it was 6…”
I groped for my phone and checked the screen.
8:04.
Well shit.
“Yeah, time moves forward when you go back to sleep. Funny how that works, right?” Elsa said, “Come on. We’re going to miss the bus!”
I forced myself to sit up and yawned before quickly pulling myself out of bed. Elsa had the common decency to leave to let me go and get changed at least. I probably didn’t have time to shower, so I put on deodorant and a clean shirt. It’s not like my co-workers would probably notice or care.
“You ready? We’ve got about 5 minutes.” Elsa called from the next room.
“Yes, just give me a minute,” I called back and swore under my breath. I at least took time to rush to the bathroom and quickly brush my teeth before stumbling into the kitchen. No time for breakfast. I’d have to go without.
Elsa was already waiting by the door, her long blonde hair done up in a ponytail. Her arms were crossed in disapproval.
“You know, General Clavell would’ve had you on latrine duty for a month if you’d overslept like that.” She said.
“Yeah, well times change.” I murmured, grabbing my lunch bag and shuffling towards the door, “Let’s just go.”
“It’s only been a year. Don’t tell me you’ve already gone soft.” Elsa teased. I glared at her from the corner of my eye. A year ago, she’d been in chainmail and armor. Now she was wearing a puffy pink spring jacket.
“Yeah, I’ve gone soft…” I repeated and yawned. I really should have grabbed a coffee on the way out.
We took the elevator down to the ground floor of our building and stepped out onto the street, heading for the bus stop.
“What time did you even get home last night?” Elsa asked as we walked.
“Late.” Was the only reply I had.
“Late.” She repeated, “So did you actually find anything, or were you just wandering around downtown hoping to find a vampire again?”
“Well if you’ve got a better way of finding them, you’re welcome to come along and join me.” I said, “One of them has got to know how to get us home.”
“I’m just saying. Maybe the way you’ve been trying to go about things isn’t exactly the most efficient.” Elsa said with a shrug.
I didn’t bother replying to that.
One year ago, Elsa and I woke up in a field in a place called Vaughan. Vaughan was not a place I’d ever heard of before and to be honest, it was perhaps the strangest place I’d ever seen. People dressed in strange clothes. They had strange technology I’d never seen before. There were strange automated chariots. We had a lot of questions and the first few months were… Complicated.
I’m still not entirely sure what happened during our battle with The Dark Lord Murnau. My memories of the event are admittedly scrambled and blurry. Murnau had raised an army of vampires, sorcerers, and other denizens of the night. His group had taken to calling themselves ‘The Dark Disciples’.
Grand Paladin Samuel’s Holy Crusaders had been battling against them for the past few years… And when we learned that Murnau was planning something big, we had to act. I’m not entirely sure just what his plan entailed. But Samuel had his theories that whatever foul ritual they sought to undertake was intended to unmake the world so that the vampires and their ilk could mold it into whatever new form they saw fit.
Our goal had been to interrupt his ritual and prevent the destruction of our world… I’m not sure if we succeeded or not. I don’t know if Home as we knew it even still exists.
My theory is that Murnau’s ritual went wrong and sent us all here, to what I can only plainly describe as a different world. I know for a fact that Elsa and I aren’t the only ones who ended up here. Over the next few months, we encountered a few remnants of Murnau’s armies. Stray vampires, preying upon the innocent… And we did what we were trained to do.
Grand Paladin Samuel’s mission… Our mission had been to cleanse the world of evil. To put the monsters to the sword. It was a duty I always took pride in. The Paladin’s ranks did not include many women. Elsa and I were among the few he had permitted to join. I suppose in the end, that had been a wise move on his part.
What I do remember of the battle was that it was bloody. The Dark Disciples had always been ruthless, but as we pushed into Murnau’s sanctum, they fought with a ferocity I’d never seen before and as we drew nearer, I suppose Murnau got desperate. He had unleashed some sort of curse. I couldn’t say exactly what he did. All I know is that one minute, we were in the midst of the bloodiest battle I’d ever seen and the next, both our soldiers and theirs were dropping dead from seemingly out of nowhere.
Blood dripped from their eyes and ears. Some of them screamed and clutched their heads as if some unimaginable agony suddenly overcame them. Death washed over the battlefield like a wave, leaving rivers of blood behind that weren’t drawn by any sword.
Men screamed as blood ruptured from their mouths and noses. Their eyes flushed red as vessels popped. They collapsed in heaps, twitching their final spasms… In battle, one tends to see some horrible things. But of all the things I’ve seen, none quite compared to this. In the span of a few moments, almost all of our army was wiped out.
It was only the men who seemed to die. Elsa, myself, and most of the other female soldiers I knew still stood by the end of it. Those men who had survived were generally accomplished wizards themselves.
However, the common men were dead… And the agony upon their faces told me that they had not died well. Murnau’s forces fared better, but not by much. The Dark Disciples had more sorcerers in their ranks. They protected themselves better… Although looking at them, I could tell they seemed just as shocked by what had happened as we were.
Grand Paladin Samuel had just pushed past them, racing on towards the final confrontation, and Elsa and I had followed. As for the confrontation itself…
The last thing I remember was seeing Murnau wounding Samuel, and seeing a bright light. Maybe that means we won. Maybe our world was destroyed entirely… I don’t know for sure. But I need to find out.
It’s taken some time to adjust to our new lives in this world. But Elsa and I have managed. After a few weeks of wandering, we posed as beggars and took advantage of some charity programs to help ourselves get situated.
In time, we found work as laborers by the dock and we eventually used the money we earned to rent a small, inexpensive apartment. It’s from there that I’ve tried to figure out our next move on the path home… But Elsa has been less than helpful as of late.
I don’t mean to speak ill of her… Elsa was always a fine warrior. I truly don’t think that she has any equal with a sword. But I worry that she’s become too comfortable in this world.
A few months after we’d settled into our new home, she began arguing against accompanying me on my nightly search for more remnants of the Dark Disciples. Granted, we had not actually found any such remnants in a few months, but that did not dissuade me from looking! Instead, she just focused on our day labor and started spending her money, buying petty comforts we didn’t need! She barely even looked like a knight anymore! I couldn’t help but wonder if she’d already given up hope… I couldn’t help but wonder if I should do the same…
But I can’t.
Not yet.
We were lucky to catch the bus just before it left and it dropped us off a short walk away from the dock and despite Elsa’s concerns, we were not late this time. We clocked in as per usual and began our shift.
Elsa and I usually work with the cargo containers, loading and unloading them. I honestly can’t say it’s exciting work. But at least we have an income. A ship had come in during the early hours of the morning and the containers were in the middle of being offloaded. Our day was spent unloading the containers and passing everything off for another team to sort it so it could be shipped to wherever it was bound to be going. I both enjoy and dislike days like that, where the work is fairly mind-numbing. On one hand, it is really quite boring. On the other, the day tends to go fast when you and your fellow co-workers are permitted to simply talk as you work. Listening to them discuss their lives has been an excellent way to help us acclimate to this world and I’ve become capable at the art of ‘small talk’. Elsa may say otherwise but I disagree.
Our team included several familiar faces. Including Christopher, David, Becky, Travis, and Steve. Christopher and David are okay. Becky and Travis clearly have unresolved sexual tension and Elsa says she wishes they would just ‘fuck’ (her term, not mine) and get it over with. I don’t disagree… But outside of the sanctity of marriage, I’m not sure I can condone that.
I just plain do not like Steve.
Steve is too rough with the boxes and if the container we’re unloading contains mail, he tends to shake some of them to try and determine what is inside. I think it is unprofessional, it can damage the contents of the package and it makes the unloading go so much slower! If I get promoted to manager I would have Steve stripped of his rank and dishonorably discharged!
It was after our lunch break that we started on one such container full of things that had been shipped. Thankfully, most of these were items too large to send via plane. So the unloading should have been fairly quick. But amongst those were a few boxes with specialty parcels that had been sent along. Things that for some reason or another could not have been shipped via a more conventional means. Steve, seemingly having sworn an oath to be the biggest asshole I have ever met in not one, but two worlds, naturally had to guess what was inside of them.
As he unloaded the boxes (slowly, one by one) he kept shaking them as he tried to determine what was inside.
“This one sounds interesting.” I heard him say, “What do you think Jordan? Something dirty? Or maybe something illegal?” He grinned from ear to ear although I didn’t find it quite so funny. I tore the box out of his hands and set it aside.
“Please don’t shake the packages.” I said as if it was going to make any difference, “Our supervisor has requested we not disturb them if possible.”
“But of course. The Lord High Supervisor Mark hath decreed the parcels not be disturbed.” Steve said, in a mocking and derogatory parody of my inflections, “C’mon, chill out!”
I glanced over at Elsa hoping she might step in but she was working on a skid a few feet away with Christopher and David. Becky and Travis were not actually doing any work. They were just talking to each other away from everyone else. Presumably flirting. I was stuck with Steve, who was already going back for another package.
“Shall I be ever so gentle with this one, m’ilady?” He asked, still mocking me. “And shall I not ponder what manner of foul dildo lies within this parcel?” As he drew nearer, he grinned and shook it just to annoy me.
“That’s enough!” I snapped and grabbed at it. No sooner did I tear it out of his hands, did I notice that the buffoon had damaged the cardboard. Something was jutting out of it.
“Excellent… Now we’re likely going to get a complaint.” I sighed.
“Yeah? Well I’d like to fucking lodge one too.” Steve said. I looked at him to say that whatever this was, was probably his own fault when I noticed that his hand was bleeding. He shook it and swore under his breath. He didn’t seem to be in much pain, although there was more blood than I’d seen in a while.
I looked back at the box. Whatever edge was jutting out of the cardboard looked almost like the tip of a dagger.
“What the hell’s in there?” He asked, narrowing his eyes. Gone was the idiotic joker I often had to put up with. Serious Steve was here now, “Is that a fucking knife?”
“I don’t know…” Was my honest reply.
Considering that an employee had now been injured, it seemed the most logical course of action now to open the package and see what had wounded Steve. I took a box cutter out of my pocket and cut the box open.
Reaching inside, I pulled out a parcel with part of a blade sticking out of it. I opened the parcel and pulled out a large dagger with a smooth black surface and a handle adorned with all manner of crystals. This looked familiar…
“What the hell is that?” Steve asked, “Some sort of weird decoration? Why the hell is it so sharp?”
I turned the dagger over in my hands a few times, my eyes narrowing. It took me a moment to remember where I’d seen its like before.
“I made a vow before God.” Grand Paladin Samuel had said, “I would not rest until the world was cleansed of your kind, vampire… And I will honor this vow.”
“I suppose in a way, you will…” Murnau replied, his voice carrying an uncanny echo to it. He’d stabbed his obsidian ritual dagger into his bloodstained altar before turning towards us and it jutted up from the stone, the crystals embedded in its hilt shining brilliantly as the light from Murnau’s spell grew brighter.
“Murnau…” I said under my breath. This dagger… It couldn’t be the one Murnau had used… No… No, the shape of the handle had been different. Murnau’s ritual daggers blade had held a different shape too. But the make was otherwise identical. Obsidian with crystals embedded in the handle. There was no mistaking it.
“What was that?” Steve asked.
“Go get your hand looked at.” I said, looking back over at him, “I’m going to take this to our supervisor…”
From the corner of my eye, I saw Elsa staring at me. No… Not at me. At the dagger. I knew she recognized it too.
I looked down at the box that it had come in. The postage indicated that it had been shipped from Iceland. I checked the parcel next. That was a little more helpful.
To: Alain KoetsierFrom: Sacred Stonecrafters
There was a Toronto address underneath. Not one I recognized, but one I could find.
Alain Koetsier… I vaguely recognized the surname. The Koetsier Clan had been an aristocratic family from the city of Aynor. During the early days of my time among the ranks of Grand Paladin Samuel’s Holy Crusaders, we had spent many weeks in Aynor, sussing out what we believed to be practitioners of necromancy. Our investigation had given us cause to suspect the Koetsier clan of being involved… Although most of them had fled the city before we could take much action. It would seem that one of their ilk was here, in this new world… And God only knew what manner of evil he intended to accomplish with this accursed dagger.
Elsa approached me, her eyes narrowed.
“Is that what I think it is?” She asked in a hushed voice.
“I believe so…” I replied, turning the dagger over in my hands, “A replica of the Dark Lord’s ritual dagger.”
“Gods above… And we just found it here?”
“What was that Samuel used to say? Coincidence is just the hand of God guiding our path…” I replied, “It seems that God has reached out to us once more.”
I looked around. Steve had left to tend to the wound in his hand. Travis and Becky were still in their own little world. David and Christopher remained busy. I discreetly slipped the dagger into my sweater pocket, along with its parcel.
“You’re just going to take it?” Elsa asked, almost in disbelief.
“Of course I’m taking it. We can’t let something like this fall into careless hands! You saw what it did to our world! Do you really want to leave it lying around!”
She bit her lip. She wanted to argue but she knew I was right.
“I didn’t think so.” I replied as I turned to leave.
I slipped away from the dock toward the lunch room. I hid the dagger and its parcel in lunch bag. Packages disappeared all the time. What was one more?
I waited until our shift was over and I was home before studying the dagger closely. Elsa and I set it upon the kitchen table, both of us staring at it as though it would burn our skin just to touch it. At my behest, Elsa had used the Google to search for Sacred Stonecrafters. They hardly seemed that suspicious. The company simply offered custom stonework. If one wanted a custom obsidian dagger, they simply seemed like the best people to contact about forging it.
“We should search for Alain Koetsier next,” I suggested, staring over her shoulder as she worked with the laptop.
“Way ahead of you.” She’d replied, “And I’m not finding much… Nothing that looks relevant anyways. What about the address that the parcel was going to? What was that again?”
“2124 Hutter Street.”
She typed it in and searched for it.
“It’s a house.” She said, “Probably where Koetsier’s taken up residence. If not, they’d likely know where to find him.”
“Then we confront him directly.” I said, “See if he’ll talk. Find out why he commissioned the dagger.”
“And then what?” Elsa asked skeptically.
“What do you mean ‘and then what?’ Then we stop whatever he and his ilk have planned!”
“Or we could just throw the dagger into the lake, go down the hall, knock on Nina’s door, ask if she wants to go to a bar, and call it a night”
I scoffed.
“What is it with you and spending time with that woman? Personally, I can’t help but find her a little… What’s the word? Vulgar? Trashy?”
“Forgive me for wanting to be friendly to our neighbors.” Elsa said, “I’m just saying. We can avoid a lot of trouble by simply getting rid of this thing and not getting involved.”
“At best, all it’ll do is delay them.” I said, picking up the dagger again, “They commissioned this one. They can commission another and we may not catch it if they do. We need to end this now.”
Elsa sighed and rolled her eyes.
“Then you’ll be doing that by yourself.” She said.
“No I won’t be. You’re coming with me.”
“No. I’ll have no further part in this.” She said, closing her laptop, “What I will be doing is drinking, dancing and sleeping. And you’re more than welcome to join me. It’s been a year, Jordan. One year, and outside of a few vampires, this is the first thing either of us have seen even remotely related to what happened with Murnau. What do you think is more likely? That you just accidentally uncovered some plot related to The Dark Disciples, or that you just stole somebody’s trinket out of the mail? There’s no more Holy Crusaders. We’ve yet to see a single one like us since we’ve arrived. Grand Paladin Samuel is dead. Murnau may well be dead as well. If some remnant of his army wants to tamper with dark magic, then let them. I mean, for Gods sake the dagger isn’t even anointed with the proper runes. It’s all but useless in its current state. We have no evidence such magic would even still work in this world, and we’ve both seen enough fools play with fire and end up burned to know that these things tend to sort themselves out. Just throw the dagger into the lake and be done with it, Jordan. I mean it.”
I stared down at the dagger in my hand, before slowly shaking my head.
“No…” I said softly, “You may have forgotten your oath, Elsa. But I didn’t. I don’t know if our world is dead or not. But I will not risk allowing some madman to inflict the same fate upon this world. If you won’t help me, so be it. Have fun. But I won’t turn my back on my duty.”
Elsa just sighed, before standing.
“Fine… But when you get arrested, I’m not bailing you out this time.” She replied before leaving me to go into the next room. I had a good barbed parting remark to throw at her… But I held my tongue. Instead, I retreated to my own room to prepare.
2124 Hutter Street was a somewhat run down looking townhouse on the edge of Toronto. The brick was stained by time and the windows were covered by dark curtains. It was hard to tell for sure if anybody was home.
A suit of full armor like the one I’d once wore was a little impractical to travel in, so I had improvised. There were pieces I could wear underneath a sweater. It was not optimal, but it was better than going in with no protection at all. I still kept my sword though. It was the weapon that felt most comfortable in my hand.
As dusk fell, the darkness shrouded me as I hopped the fence to the townhouse and crept around back. The yard was untrimmed and rather disheveled. The gnarled grass caught against my jeans as I passed by it.
Entering the small backyard, I tried to open the back door. Too often, people fail to lock their back door. It pushed open easily, and I tried to remain relatively quiet as I opened it and stepped into the houses kitchen.
I listened intently for any sign I’d been discovered. Nothing. Although the house was far from silent. I could hear two voices in another room, speaking in a heated tone although I could faintly hear what was being said.
“I’ve done all you’ve asked. I’ve been nothing but loyal! The least you can do is hear me out now. You are asking me to waste an opportunity that we cannot afford to waste!” One voice said.
“I’ve asked you to drop the subject, Alain. I won’t ask again. My decision on the matter is final. The ritual will be performed to my specifications. If you’re just going to argue with me, then I’ve no further use for you and you can join your pets in death.”
The first voice, Alain was silent for a moment although I could sense the indignant frustration. I crept into the hallway, unsheathing my sword as I drew nearer to the voices. As I walked, I heard shuffling footsteps nearby and froze in place. A man emerged from a room just ahead of me, shaking his head before looking back.
“You… Check out front to see if that damned parcel has arrived yet. It was supposed to be here by now.”
Another figure shuffled out of the room, passing by who I presumed to be Alain as it headed for the front door. It only took one glance for me to realize what the second figure was. I had seen enough of them amongst the ranks of the Dark Disciples and slain legions of them.
They wore human clothes and in every sense, looked more or less like an average person. But the way they seemed to drag their body towards the door told me everything I needed to know. Before they had fled Aynor all those years ago, we had suspected the Koetsier family of partaking in necromancy. I knew a zombie when I saw one. And the sight of the living corpse shuffling towards the door like a common servant left little doubt in my mind that the man in the hall was Alain Koetsier.
“If it’s not here now, it will be here tomorrow.” A voice from the room said, “Everything is already set. We can wait another day if need be.”
“You’re far too forgiving on this matter.” Alain replied, looking back into the room, “Delivery was guaranteed by today. A courier was supposed to pick it up from the harbor. If they can’t keep their damned promises…”
At that moment he turned to go back into the room… And his eyes locked with mine for a moment as he trailed off. For a few seconds, Alain Koetsier and I stared at each other. Then his expression turned into one of pure disgust.
“There’s someone here!” He called, going for a dagger in his belt.
I lunged for him with a battle cry and brought my sword down on where his skull would have been, but Alain was too fast. He dove out of the way and scrambled back into the room. Following him in, I could see a gristly sight before me.
A makeshift altar dominated the middle of the room, surrounded by several candles. A flayed man lay upon the altar, his blood pooled along the floor. Three undead figures stood near the altar, and behind them stood one more figure, dressed in a black hooded sweater, their back to me. They glanced back in my direction. I didn’t get a good look at their face, I only saw a single eye narrowing at the sight of me. The hooded figure didn’t speak. Shadows simply seemed to swallow them up and a moment later, they were gone.
It was just me, Alain and the undead.
“Kill!” Alain snarled and at his command, his zombies shuffled towards me.
One of them pulled a knife from its pocket. Another lifted a sword from near the altar. The third came at me unarmed. I dealt with that one first and cleaved through its head. As the second zombie thrust its dagger at me, I stepped aside and seized it by the wrist, hurling it to the ground before confronting the last one, sword in hand.
It slashed at me and I felt the blow strike my own blade. With a cry of exertion, I threw my weight against the zombie, sending it stumbling back. As it tried to recover, I beheaded it. The second zombie remained on the ground, struggling to stand. I didn’t give it the chance and cleaved off its head as well before setting my eyes on Alain.
“Is that all you’ve got?” I asked.
“Not quite.” He replied, a cold smirk crossing his lips.
From behind me, I heard an animal cry as the zombie he’d sent off a few moments earlier charged into the room. I turned to meet it, only for it to crash into me and send me to the ground. My sword slipped out of my grasp. Its teeth gnashed as it tried to sink them into my face.
Alain stood over me, eyes narrowed spitefully. He watched as I seized his final zombie by the head and drove my fingers into its eyes. Hot blood trickled down my fingers as I blinded the creature. I forced its head back with all my strength before violently twisting its head to the side. I felt the bones in its neck snap, although the jaw still moved, desperately trying to bite me. I threw the zombie off of me, sending it into a heap on the floor nearby, and scrambled towards my sword.
I was just in time to see Alain’s boot kicking it aside.
“And here I’d thought I’d finally seen the last of you people…” He growled as he drew back and delivered another kick to my head. My teeth quaked from the impact and my ears rang.
“I would’ve thought that with Samuel dead, you’d just crumble apart… I suppose in a way you did. But there’s still just too many of you. Oh well. One way or another, we’ll fix that…” As I tried to pick myself up again, I saw him drive his dagger into the skinned corpse upon the altar.
“Technically we need this for the ritual… But I don’t think Murnau will mind if I replace this corpse with yours!”
The skinned body jerked violently. It gasped suddenly as new life flooded into its body. Then it began to rise. Thinking quickly, I reached for the obsidian dagger I’d kept in my pocket. Alain’s eyes widened as he saw it. No doubt he recognized it.
“How…?” He asked, before shaking his head.
The skinned corpse let out a pained shriek before stumbling toward me. Its hands reached for my throat as I drove the obsidian dagger into its ribs. All I succeeded in doing was tearing a gash into its flesh.
“Without the sacred runes, that dagger is of little use to you.” Alain growled, “But you’ve done me a hell of a favor hand delivering it.”
The skinned corpse shrieked again before trying to bite down on my head. I only barely evaded it, but its iron grip tightened around my throat. I desperately stabbed it again, this time in the neck. But that only barely slowed it down. Its grip grew tighter, crushing my neck as it tried to force its head down towards me again, mouth opening in the anticipation of tasting flesh.
Then suddenly, a blade tore through its head, going through the eye socket and out the back of its skull. Its body went limp as it returned to death.
I looked up. And I saw Elsa, standing over me with her sword in hand. I’d truly never been so happy to see her in my life.
“Elsa…”
“You. Shush.” She replied, exasperated.
“Another one of you?” Alain asked, taking a step back in shock as Elsa helped me up.
“And you’re out of bodies…” I replied, “You’re trapped, monster!”
“Oh, far from it, my dear…” He hissed, “You haven’t even begun to see the extent of my full power. You stand against one of the most powerful sorcerers amongst the ranks of the Dark Disciples, and now I shall-”
There was a loud, deafening pop and Alain fell backward to the ground. A new hole had appeared in his head, just above his left eye.
I looked over at Elsa. She was holding a handgun.
“Where did you get that?” I demanded.
“I bought it.” She replied plainly, “Look, this world isn’t exactly all bad. I mean, did you see how easy that was? Just point and… boom. I killed that guy from across the room!”
“Yes… Yes you certainly did…” I replied. I stared down at Alains corpse before deciding I could deal with that later.
“I thought you were going out with the neighbor?” I asked.
“She wasn’t home so I figured I might as well follow you and make sure you didn’t get into too much trouble.” She replied, “I’ll admit… I wasn’t expecting anything like this…”
Both of us stared down at the altar. It reminded me too much of the one we’d seen Murnau stand before during the battle…
“What were they planning?” Elsa asked.
“I don’t know.” I replied as I stepped around it, “There was someone else here that Alain was working with though. I didn’t get a good look at them but…”
“But what?” Elsa asked as I walked over to the far side of the room. Something on a cluttered end table had caught my attention. A mask crudely chiseled out of stone. One with a visage I’d seen before.
“Murnau…” I said under my breath.
Elsa quietly approached me and stared down at the mask, her eyes narrowing as she did.
“He was here…” She said.
I held up the obsidian dagger and turned it over in my hands.
“How much do you want to bet that he’s going to try and finish what he started?” I asked.
Elsa sighed but didn’t respond.
“Let’s take what we can from this place and burn it before anyone investigates.” She finally said, “Looks like you and I have work to do.”
I nodded and put the dagger back into my belt.
I am sharing this as a call to any other remnants of the Holy Crusaders.
The Dark Lord Murnau has returned and I have little doubt that he intends to finish whatever it was that he started. Elsa and I could use whatever help we could get in stopping him… Although if there is no help to be found, we will still do it ourselves. Maybe we couldn’t save our world, but we can still save this one.