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Rolland considered his options while keeping watch over Andrea. The girl was surprisingly hard, holding up to the events of the last few days more like a trained warrior than a regular civilian. He had been right in his estimation of her grandmother: Andrea likely came from a warrior bloodline with mild psychopathic tendencies, one of those rare groups of people who were able to thrive on stress rather than crumple under its weight. Her ancestors had probably been defenders (or possibly predators) as their primary social roll – not victims.
But Rolland wanted to have a few plans ready for the most likely eventualities, as was always his habit. He rarely operated without a series of plans, backup plans, and fail-safes, firmly believing that – just like in the Japanese game of Go – victory belongs to the contestant able to think the furthest ahead. And what was life if not the greatest contest of all? So he planned, first considering the eventuality that Andrea got herself killed or proved to be a disappointment.
Discarding a host of ideas, Rolland narrowed it down to a few likely candidates. He could ‘save’ the world for the creatures in the ocean, eliminating everything on the land – that would be the easiest solution. As far as he could tell, whatever was animating these zombies wasn’t able to survive being fully immersed in water. But that would be stretching his word a little further than he liked. Best to leave at least enough humans alive that they could further propagate.
One issue was that he wasn’t nearly powerful enough to kill all the zombies himself in a reasonable timeframe. Even judging that he could kill a thousand zombies a minute, several billion zombies would still take him millions of minutes – nearly a decade. But that didn’t mean there weren’t other ways to accomplish the task.
He had several fusion blocks, and if he scavenged parts he could easily build a few dozen respectable sized atomic bombs, as well as unleash the much weaker bombs this world possessed… those could be used to level major population centers – cities would be useless in the new world anyway.
He only had a passing knowledge of biology, but if he took a sample to an interdimensional market he could probably have a retro-virus engineered. Or have Nano-bots made for the same purpose… but Rolland disliked these options – neither of them relied on his own power. One of his bound Spirits of Light (a companion of the twenty foot ‘Angel’) might have the ability to purge the virus or plague from the few people he saved. Rolland himself knew spells that might suffice, but he was unwilling to waste so much time and energy unless there was no other way.
And then the Elementals. This world had very little in the way of magical energy (meaning Rolland would have to rely on his personal reserves), but given a few days to setup the proper rituals he could summon a host of powerful elementals, and simply put the task of clearing the rest of the undead into their hands. Earth Elementals to ravage the dead, Fire Elementals to purify them, and Water Elementals to wash everything clean. It had been years since he had last flexed his abilities as a Shifter to reach out and scour the Multiverse for servants – or slaves – to bind to his will. Rolland smiled, nodding to himself; this was his favored option.
Now onto the next set of plans… what to do if Andrea survived?
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Andrea couldn’t stop retching, her stomach long emptied of its meager contents, which were scattered all around her. While she was in battle (if you could call it that) she had… not blanked out, but somehow gone to a different mindset entirely. She had been strangely calm, wading through the hail of bullets flying towards her, vaporizing men and woman as they ran at her with their crude melee weapons.
Few of them had even understood what was happening before they died, most simply seeing her as an easy victim right up to the end. Maybe if she had visible armor (the Force Field Rolland had given her was contained in a small belt-like harness) or was carrying something that looked like a real gun (her rifle looked like a toy, far too thin and light to be a ‘real weapon’) more of them would have run from her instead of just throwing their lives away. Near the end some had started to realize what was happening – that they were somehow facing a one-woman-army armed with impossible equipment – and they had finally broken, fleeing from the compound as quickly as they could.
There was a small red-light blinking on the Force Field harness, indicating that the charge was dangerously low; Rolland had told her it would only protect her from about twenty direct hits – plus a few dozen more glancing blows – before the battery was empty and she would lose its protection. But she paid it little mind, unable to peel her thoughts away from the sight and smell of so many of the dead and dying… people who she, Andrea herself, had killed – not Rolland, not the Angel… but her.
In the alley it had somehow felt different: They had been hunting her for hours, and she knew she had to defend herself to survive. But this time… this time she had made a choice, coming here to kill for retribution, not survival.
Fighting another spasm, Andrea kept her eye on the doorway. There were still more out there, and she knew she could ill afford to give in to pity and self-loathing right now. Being a normal person would have to wait: For now, she had to be something else.
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Rolland modified his plans yet again. Andrea had done fairly well, but some would have done better: Her performance was impressive only for someone with such a sheltered upbringing as these types of worlds tended to produce, with their relative safety and lack meaningful outside threats. Still, all things considered, he decided to follow the girls lead for now, see where things would go.
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Hearing the approach of heavy footsteps, Andrea raised her rifle yet again and prepared to fire as soon as her target came into view. She was exhausted beyond anything she had ever experienced before, running on pure adrenaline as her mind fell into a cloudy haze of apathetic readiness.
A bronze tanned form came into view along with the words, “Andrea, I…” But then she opened fire, scoring a hit on the torso of the angel, Elvis, as he rounded the corner.
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Andrea was too stunned to react, dread flooding her as she saw the angel’s tunic burst into flame where the shot struck, Elvis looking at her in surprise. He then quickly patted out the flame, focusing his well and causing a translucent blue half-sphere to spring into existence around him as he inspected his wound – a shallow gouge of flesh burnt out of his midsection, just beginning to swell in response to the heat of the blast. He muttered a few arcane words, passing his hand over the wound – it healed rapidly right in front of Andrea’s eyes as he looked up at her with a smile.
“I apologize for startling you, Andrea. It was a foolish mistake born from overconfidence, and one that I shall not make again.” He didn’t feel like this simple mortal could be held responsible for her actions at this point; surely Rolland was pushing her beyond any reasonable limit.
Andrea fought off the urge to scowl at Elvis again… she had shot him, and he was the one who got to apologize? That was condescension on a whole new level. But she couldn’t exactly get mad at him right now. She had just shot him, after all.
She tried to give him a tired smile, seeing that he was obviously quite alright, but failed. He was definitely made of tougher stuff than a regular person, as she had seen this rifle shoot right though the entire building, exterior walls and all. And then she realized he was now much smaller than before, though still somewhat over seven feet tall. “N-no, Elvis.” She said, carefully lowering the rifle (she hadn’t realized she was still pointing it at him). “I shot you. I’m sorry.” She was far too tired to come up with anything more eloquent than that.
Elvis (since the girl wanted to call him Elvis he decided to make a conscious effort to identify with the name) looked around, surveying the obvious signs of carnage scattered about the building… most of the bodies were gone, the gun somehow causing them to disintegrate (or simply vanish) whenever they were struck in (or near) the torso. He knew that Rolland was a Weapon Master who had scoured hundreds of different worlds searching for the most effective and efficient weapons – even one of his cast-offs would be a top notch dealer of death and destruction… and that shot had hurt more than he would have expected from so simple looking a rifle.
Wishing that he had a more subtle armor spell that he could cast around himself, just in case he happened to be shot again, Elvis dispelled the telekinetic barrier he had willed into existence while keeping a close eye on the direction Andrea was pointing her rifle. As the blue half-sphere vanished he walked further into the room.
“Surely you now suffer great turmoil, Andrea. Would that I could ease your burdens.” Elvis said, giving Andrea a concerned look.
Again with the condescending crap! Andrea was too tired to scowl, so she just decided to lay back down on the dirty floor, the rifle held across her chest. At the very least the Angel could guard her while she rested. “Tell me more about Rolland.” She said. Last time they had been interrupted.
Elvis nodded, “Long before his birth, Rolland’s world was one of amazing technology… but also of a deep and abiding hubris that caused it to turn and devour itself. For you see, Andrea, when Rolland’s world fell, when the continents shattered and billions of lives were instantaneously ended, magic re-entered the world… bringing with it countless beings from throughout the infinite dimensions.” The angel paused for a moment, “Beings that the millions of… lucky… survivors, with their scavenged equipment and broken civilization, were woefully ill prepared to face. Some embraced technology, fearing anything new relying solely on the hubris of the past for salvation. Some embraced magic, the new way, rejecting technology in its entirety. And some rare few, like Rolland’s descendants, decided to embrace both equally, realizing it would take everything humanity had to push back the rising tide of darkness sweeping across the land.”
Andrea felt herself starting to drift off, the angel’s voice painting vivid pictures across her mind’s eye.
Elvis swept out a hand, gesturing outwards, “A darkness far deeper than the one you face here on your own world, Andrea, but a darkness with small pockets of light scattered throughout. Pockets of light like the Demon Quellers of Japan.”
The angel’s voice had a certain resonance to it, something that made it both easy to listen to and yet still grabbed your attention in the way few but the most talented of actors and narrators could achieve.
“Rolland spent nearly a dozen years roaming the shattered isles of what was once Japan, defeating evils great and small. His profession, the Demon Queller, is an ancient one, with roots trailing through Chinese mythology and lore dating back to, at the very least, the Tang-era of the seventh century. Back to a time when magic still existed, before science held sway over the hearts and minds of the people of his Earth.”
Elvis paused again, and Andrea found herself drifting in and out of sleep, before his electric voice again grabbed hold of her imagination.
“The Demon Queller dances always upon the thin line separating life and death, fighting without any thought in mind but the swift elimination of any supernatural threat mankind may face. They are trained to make deadly enemies of the foulest of beings, studying demonic tactics, learning their strength and weaknesses, turning the demons own devilish tricks back upon the very monsters who seek to prey on all defenseless mortals!” Elvis let that sentence reverberate around the room for a moment before moving onto the next, his voice now quiet enough that Andrea had to struggle to hear what he was saying.
“For the Demon Queller is schooled in magic, in martial arts, in ancient Chinese secrets that were further refined by Japanese masters over centuries of desperate battles… but also in modern warfare. Trained in the use of plasma rifles, particle beam guns, and grenade launchers alongside magic swords and armor. Trained to use any all methods that can be used to kill their one true foe: Demons.”
Andrea’s last thought, before she finally fell asleep, was that the angel sure knew how to spin a good tale.
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