Now, Kansas
Heddy carved her symbol for the Fire spell into the arrowhead.
It was simple work, a few deft strokes with the engraving tool and she was done.
The next part was more difficult.
She cast the spell, but not into the world. She did it into the arrowhead.
To enchant it took three things.
One was the spell itself.
Two was the command word that she had to hold on to and focus with all of her concentration. Ignite, the word blazed in her mind’s eye.
Three was—
Never mind that one.
She realized that she had been an idiot this whole time.
Why did she need to add a shut-off word to an arrowhead.
Presumably, it’d be fired from a bow or crossbow and that was that.
The shooter wouldn’t be touching it, so there was no need.
The poor bastard the got shot, well, why would she want them to be able to extinguish the flaming arrowhead. Plus, it’d be stuck inside of them, so that would probably be their main focus.
It was much harder to do it in this way.
The same spell drained more of her mana when she had to focus it inside of another object.
At least it was better when dealing with something so small.
Minutes passed before she deemed it done.
“Damn it,” Heddy said as she wiped her freckled forehead free of the thick sheen of sweat.
Casting the Fire spell over and over again in her small workshop was hot work.
The arrowhead clattered against the rest of its kind in the basket on the counter top.
“Wasted much time and effort,” she muttered.
Not that she wanted to be efficient.
Those Jesus freaks could go suck it.
If they had a problem with her work output then they could kick her out of the city just like the others.
With her luck the arrowheads she had been enchanting would be used on her people instead of the cannibals, monsters and mutant animals like the church assholes claimed.
The bell at her shop’s door rang.
“Just in goddamn time,” she grabbed the basket and headed out to the front.
“Hey, enchantress!” Joseph waved a meaty hand.
“It’s Enchanter!” Heddy thrust the basket into the big, young man’s stomach.
“But… you’re a woman?” Joseph frowned.
Big, young and dumb.
Just the way the church liked it, so they wouldn’t question things when they were having them commit crimes against humanity, like kicking anyone that didn’t fit into their little box out of the city to face the monsters and mutants.
“My Personal Account Page says Enchanter, so you can take it up with the spires.”
“Jeez, sorry, I didn’t know,” Joseph eyed the basket of arrowheads.
“What? Need to count them?”
“Nah, I trust you. 50 enchanted arrowheads, right? What kind are these?” Joseph struggled to pull out a small notepad from his pocket.”
“More or less and those are fire. I’ll have freezing by Thursday and electric by Sunday.”
“Okay, okay, got it,” Joseph jotted it down. “Oh, um, don’t worry about getting done by Sunday,” he cleared his throat, “you shall rest on the Sabbath… so Monday is good.”
“Fine with me.”
Joseph stood there blinking nervously.
“What? We’re done.”
“Er… yeah, I was wondering…”
“What?” Heddy sighed.
“Can you do bigger stuff? Like swords? I’ve seen them in the spires marketplace. I mean the ones other enchanters out there are putting up for sale. If they’re legit… like you, I mean—”
“I already explained this to your leaders,” Heddy interrupted the young man before he could ramble. She also tried to moderate her tone. Tried to remind herself that Joseph might’ve been a better person had he been raised by non hate-filled bigots. He didn’t deserve her bitterness like they did, at least until he truly did something despicable and irredeemable, like kicking out people like her.
“Oh… sorry,” Joseph’s face fell.
“I can enchant a sword, but it’d take me days, a week and it’d leave me drained that it’d take twice as long to recover enough to start another one. They can get two swords a month or a few hundred arrowheads.”
“That makes sense. Would be pretty cool though to have a flaming sword. Like archangels,” Joseph grinned.
“Trust me, it’s not as cool as it sounds. Arrowheads are the superior application.” Heddy didn’t add the for now. She couldn’t let them know what she was truly capable of.
“Maybe when you level up!” Joseph smiled. “Thanks for the batch. Oh right,” he took a small stack of twenties out of another pocket and left it on the counter, “your pay for the week. If you could sign that you received it,” he place a receipt booklet next to the cash.
Heddy signed and Joseph ripped her copy and handed it to her.
“See you in a few days!” Joseph smiled and departed with a wave.
“Poor dumb bastard,” she sighed.
However much she could’ve liked the young man for his earnest niceness was tempered by the imagined picture of him throwing her out past the walls on the word from one of the pastors.
Ironically, she would’ve left had she the choice.
But unfortunately for her she had a valuable skill which allowed the bigots to overlook her nature.
And thus she was stuck for as long as that remained true.
“Sword of goddamn Damocles over my head,” she muttered as she went back into her workshop to get started on the next batch.
She tried not to think about why they wanted so many arrowheads and so quickly.
No sane person thought about the Meat Parade when they didn’t have to.
----------------------------------------
Now, Missouri
“We consume this flesh so that it may strengthen us,” the Flesh Priest raised a razor-sharp skinning knife above his head reverently.
The steel blade caught the light from the torches just so that it seemed to Michael that a sun shined a brief light in the darkness.
His eyes fell on the bound man strapped to the wooden rack next to the Flesh Priest on the temporary stage. Despite the gag, he could hear the man’s curses.
“Do not look away,” the Flesh Priest continued. “We must honor the sacrifice.”
Michael focused on the bound man with renewed vigor. His shame at almost averting his eyes burned like a brand on his shirtless back. So much so that he felt as if the people surrounding him had seen his momentary weakness.
“We gain strength from this man so that we may continue to cleanse this Earth of the invaders. Is it not right that humanity sacrifices to protect our world? The source,” the Flesh Priest gestured to the bound man, “is not the only one that must face the sacrifice. We all do.”
“Our strength is their strength!”
Michael added his voice to the chorus.
The Flesh Priest nodded solemnly. “Their strength is our strength,” he echoed.
“All are one flesh!”
Michael roared as loud as he could to outdo the others.
“The flesh is all,” the Flesh Priest said. “Come, rise and partake. Grow. Become ready to face the evils that assail us all.”
The Flesh Priest strode over to the bound man.
Curses turned into wide-eyed whimpering as the Flesh Priest held the skinning knife to the man’s tightly-bound arm. “Your sacrifice will sustain us. Will give us strength. In time we will grow strong enough to take back what is ours. Brandon Martinez, that is your name, isn’t it? It will not be forgotten. You are a powerful Warrior and that will be shared with the hundreds you see before you. Your strength will be shared, even if only a fraction.”
The Flesh Priest sliced a thin strip out of Brandon’s arm to be presented to the first that stepped up on the stage.
The young woman took the bloody meat from the Flesh Priest.
“May his strength become yours,” he intoned.
“I accept his sacrifice,” the young woman bowed her head before consuming the flesh.
Brandon screamed around his gag.
Pain, indignation, horror.
Michael couldn’t help but think it sounded like all three.
He forced himself to keep his eyes on the struggling man while he waited for his turn to climb the stage and partake.
Agonizing time passed.
Brandon’s body was a butchered piece of meat by the time Michael’s turn came. The only part of the man’s naked body that wasn’t carved up meat was his head and face.
The stench filled Michael’s nose and he fought the urge to gag.
“You are new to us,” the Flesh Priest said kindly.
“Yes,” Michael nodded with shame.
“Be not ashamed. It was the same for us all in the beginning. In time there will be no sweeter scent than the glorious sacrifice of our fellow men and women.”
Michael could only nod.
“May his strength become yours.”
“I accept his sacrifice,” he said mechanically.
The taste of Brandon’s flesh in his mouth was acrid.
He chewed and fought the urge to spit it out as he departed the stage, hoping that the Flesh Priest and the others hadn’t noticed.
Blood tasted like iron and he didn’t like it.
He couldn’t shake the look in Brandon’s eyes as the man stared at nothing.
When Michael went to the spire the next morning he had a new class in addition to Archer.
Flesh Eater Level 1.
----------------------------------------
Now, Southern California
Hayden tried to smile, but failed.
She went to the next acceptable expression, which was neutral indifference.
Easier than the smile, but it still felt like she was straining too hard to keep her natural frown from reasserting itself.
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“If you say I need to smile I will hit you with electricity,” she said to Cal as he stood next to her.
“Haha. I’m not stepping on that land mine. Just wanted to ask if you wanted cheese on your burger. We’ve got cheddar, pepper jack and swiss.”
“All of them,” she said just to be difficult.
“Done.”
Cal made no move to head over to the grill a short distance away. He merely stood in silence as she continued to observe the icebreaker dinner gathering of the Quest to investigate the truth behind the Eternal Church of Joyous Light.
Yes.
They had indeed received a Quest, which was both good and bad news.
“You should introduce yourself. I’m not saying you have to make friends, but since it seems that we’ll be fighting together—”
“I know, I know,” she held up a hand. “I’m just getting warmed up and after I eat, I will do that.”
“Oh good, cause your cheese is properly melted and the buns are toasted,” Cal gestured to the grill.
She watched as a paper plate floated from the side table to the grill. The bottom bun went on first.
“Sauce?”
“Mayo and ketchup.”
The jar of the latter opened up by itself as a plastic knife whipped out a glob and spread it on the bun. The ketchup bottle squirted next which was also spread by the knife.
“I prefer the sauce on the bottom, spills out less on account of the flatter base than the cheese topped patty,” Cal continued. “Veggies?”
“Don’t care.”
“You have to eat your veggies, balanced diet and all that.”
“No. Lunch was all vegetables,” she grumbled.
“Alright, fine, then you won’t be having a side of fries,” Cal said as the rest of the burger finished assembling and the plate floated over to land in her outstretched hands.
“What? No… give me fries,” she thrust the plate back to him.
“Potatoes are vegetables and you said no to that,” he raised a brow.
“They are deep fried and delicious. They don’t count. Fries. Now.”
“Fine. Lucky for you, there’s a fresh batch.”
A heaping handful of fries floated out of the deep fryer. He shook them in mid-air to get rid of the excess oil before floating them over to land on Hayden’s plate.
“Ketchup?”
“I’ll get it myself,” Hayden trudge over to the condiment table before taking a deep breath and heading into the fray.
She exchanged a tight nod with a rough looking middle-aged man.
The woman seated next to him gave her a warm smile, which she returned with another nod as she hurried to one of the open spots at the round table.
They were Rayna’s Rangers, but she had never met them before in the three months she and the Furies had spent training and working with the group.
“Hayden, right?” the woman said, “I’m Lauren.”
“That’s right,” she regarded Lauren for a moment. She guessed the woman could’ve been any age from 20 to 40. Hard to tell with Asians. “Nice to meet you,” she remembered to be polite. Cal was right, she didn’t want to get off on the wrong foot with people she’d need to fight alongside.
“I’m Shrewed,” the man grunted.
The man looked like a fighter. Thick-necked, cauliflower ears, a crooked nose. He held his half-eaten burger in gnarled fingers and when he made a fist, the knuckles looked flat.
Hayden gave him a head nod. “That’s right, ranger names,” she eyed Lauren, “is that yours?”
Lauren laughed. “No, that’s my real name. Lauren Le, if you want the full one.”
“Call her Monsignor,” Shrewed smirked.
Hayden nodded.
After a moment she realized that she should say something to continue the conversation.
“That’s like a priest thing right? Could be useful with the Quest we’re going on,” she said.
“Coincidental. I had volunteered well before the Quest activated. Providential, if you believe in such things. As for the name, you can chalk it up to the rangers being annoying as they tend to be. You see, I’m a Ranger Priest: Catholicism. A monsignor isn’t an official rank or title. It’s a form of address that is, was, sometimes used to denote a slightly higher ranked priest in a parish or church.”
“But you’re a woman. I don’t know what your thing is, but I’m pretty sure we don’t get to be priests.”
“It’s a long story, but as with everything, the spires brought a lot of change. I and a few other young women gained the Priest: Catholicism Class. As you might expect the old priests didn’t like that. There was a schism and here I am.”
“Why’d you join the rangers?”
“I felt that it was my calling and I wanted to join the woman that led us through the schism.”
“That’d be the Ranger Captain,” Shrewed added.
“Kayl?” Hayden nodded. “I understand.” She chewed in silence. “Er… I have electricity powers.”
“We know,” Lauren said.
“You Furies are semi-famous,” Shrewed grunted. “Superpowers,” he pointed at Hayden, “Closing on Level 40 and a weird class,” he pointed at Dayana and Jayde.
The two young women were running away from the toddler chasing them with a plastic bat in his fat-fingered hands.
“It’s good to see you being able to have fun despite what you’ve faced and seen out there,” Lauren smiled.
“Yeah… right,” Hayden nodded.
“So, you’ve been around this Eternal Church shit?” Shrewed said.
“A little bit. They had a group going around my old city doing charity stuff and preaching. I never thought they might be dangerous. There was also this Pastor guy that was with us on the Vegas expedition. He had some really good healing magic. That’s about all I took away from that. He’d preach and shit, but never really in your face and he wasn’t a dick about people drinking, smoking and fucking,” she shrugged.
“Smart ones know to present a pleasant face to get what they want down the line,” Lauren said.
“An uncomfortable mirror being held up to your face, Monsignor?” Shrewed grinned.
“Not at all,” Lauren smiled serenely. “I believe that Cal’s warnings about this Zalthyss and his dominion combined with the official Quest are more than enough information to be skeptical about this eternal church’s true intentions.”
“She’s got you there,” Hayden said.
“Monsignor’s a smart one,” Shrewed agreed. “I’m just here to hit stuff and be hit.”
“Fighter?”
“Street Brawler… it’s in my blood. Been doing it since before the spires showed up. Just… now I’m doing it for good reasons.”
“Good for you.”
Hayden fought to maintain the conversation.
The two rangers carried her through it as even the grizzled fighter had a better grasp of social niceties than she did. They asked her questions, but never pushed her into an uncomfortable spot. So much so that she was surprised to realize that she ended up revealing more about her history than she had intended.
“Sup, fellow Questers!”
A smiling man that Hayden put at a few years older than her sauntered over with two plates. One held a burger, the other held a pile of fires. His hair was tousled, as if he had just gotten out of bed.
“My name is Trevor and you are?”
Hayden added her name to the introductions.
“We’re late, sorry. Passing on the message from our boss to your boss. Cultural exchange, diplomatic business, alliances, so on and so forth, you know how it is,” Trevor said as a second new person took the seat next to him.
This one was a petite blond that Hayden figured was about the same age as herself.
“Hello, pleased to meet you all, I’m Amber and I do magic. I hope we all have a successful Quest.”
“Could you be anymore of a stiff… kidding, kidding, don’t hit me,” Trevor grinned.
The rangers patiently went through the same process with the two new arrivals that they did with Hayden.
She followed their lead despite how impatient she felt.
“She’s a Mage,” she nodded at Amber, “what about you?” she eyed Trevor.
“Athlete: Baseball, Pitcher… but I can do some gnarly stuff now that I’m getting close to 30,” he added hurriedly.
The rangers nodded at that.
Hayden thought the same. She knew and had known people with different athlete-type classes and they all had useful abilities.
“Class don’t matter much once you get enough levels in it,” Shrewed said. “I know this Butcher that can carve the tendons out of monsters, leave them like a puppet without strings after a few passes.”
“I can burn and cut with baseballs,” Trevor said proudly.
“Yeah, we’ve got a few like you in the rangers,” Shrewed said.
Trevor deflated slightly.
“I figure you can cave a skull in with a thrown rock,” Shrewed continued. “Good to have some ranged options on this squad.”
Hayden’s eyes darted to Cal as he stood next to the grill preparing plates for two more people that had just arrived.
“I’m not counting on him,” Shrewed said.
Hayden scowled.
“He doesn’t mean it in that way,” Lauren said quickly. “It’s just that Cal will be probably busy with Zalthyss, so we can’t count on his presence to assist us.”
“That’s— that makes sense.” Hayden was forced to admit that.
“We’ll know more once we get the full briefing,” Shrewed said. “Maybe don’t pay attention to what I just said.”
“We shouldn’t count on him to save us anyways. Only we can fight for ourselves at the end of the day,” Amber said.
“True that,” Trevor added. “The big guns usually have to deal with other big guns. Leaves us little squirt guns on our own.”
It was a strange feeling to be spoken of as one of the little ones. Hayden had always been one of the so-called big guns.
“Big fish, small pond,” she whispered.
If the others heard her they politely pretended not to.
Fortunately, the silence didn’t last long as the last two members of their Quest joined the table.
“Marci,” the tall, lithe young woman said.
“Hi, I’m Jimenez,” the short, athletic-looking woman said.
As it turned out the two knew Trevor and Amber from what sounded like a nightmare of a trip to the Philippines of all places.
All Hayden knew was that it was country on the other side of the Pacific Ocean.
The fact that they had gone all the way and back blew her mind.
The story they told was even more insane.
Weresharks.
People with vampire-like classes.
A fog-shrouded city that sounded like a nightmare beyond anything she had ever experienced.
“So that’s where he got the baby,” she said.
“Lucky little guy,” Trevor nodded.
“Or unlucky,” Amber said. “He’ll never know his true parents… what happened to them,” she explained.
“Better than being dead or taken by the fog,” Marci said.
“At least all those shades are free now,” Jimenez said.
“You lost so much in the act, my sympathies and prayers,” Lauren said.
“Thank you,” Jimenez replied.
“Death sucks, but if it was me I’d take that kind of death. It means something,” Shrewed said.
“So… I know the whole funny names thing you rangers do… what’s with yours?” Trevor said.
“An awful ex-wife.”
“I don’t get it,” Trevor said flatly.
Hayden blinked, she didn’t understand either.
“You young people need to read some classics. That’s all I’m going to say on that,” Shrewed smirked.
“I got the reference,” Jimenez said.
She didn’t elaborate despite the expectant looks from several of the others.
Cal stepped into the silence with a plate of fries that he plopped down in the middle of the table. “Everyone good, right?”
Nods.
“Guys! Your burgers are ready when you want them!” he called out to Jayde and Dayana.
They came over followed by the toddler.
Cal scooped the little guy up before he could smack someone with the plastic bat. “Bad influence,” he sighed.
“Where’s Nila? I thought she was coming with,” Amber said.
“Girl’s night with Rayna and Kayl or something. She’ll be with us tomorrow morning when we leave.”
“That party bus you set up is sweet!” Trevor said.
“This isn’t a vacation, Trevor,” Amber rolled her eyes.
“I know that. Doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy traveling in style. A real adventurous journey sucks, remember hiking through that jungle? I remember. A nice, AC’d bus will be a dream compared to that,” Trevor said.
“It will be comfortable… in between the monster attacks that is,” Cal said.
“Got to get those levels,” Marci said.
“That’s why we’re here… that and alliance building,” Trevor said.
Dayana and Jayde returned to the table with their food at that point and introduced themselves to the newest arrivals.
“No offense—” Trevor began.
“What have I told you about that?” Amber punched him in the arm.
“Owww… why? Okay, okay… yes, I remember. It’s never not offensive if you have to preface a question or a statement with those words,” he recited by rote. “Sorry,” he cleared his throat. “I have a respectful question due to my curiosity.”
Jayde stared at him through narrowed eyes. “Your smarter friend just saved you, but go ahead.”
“Dude, it’s not bad or anything… I’m just wondering how and what is a Punch Mage?”
“It’s obvious… I hit stuff, then the magic happens,” Jayde snorted.
“I— I guess that makes sense,” Trevor said.
“Isn’t this great!” Cal stood to one side with the toddler in his arms. “Brave adventurers about to venture out into the wilderness.”
“Not a game,” Lauren held up a finger.
“Of course,” Cal said quickly.
“No, it’s definitely an adventure. Just that those aren’t fun, in reality, cause of all the killing and deaths,” Jayde said.
“And… mood ruined,” Dayana said.
“I think as long as we all know what we’re heading into. That we acknowledge that we might die, then you can enjoy it as much as you want. If that’s your thing,” Amber said.
“Got to do it to get them levels,” Trevor said.
“The way I see it, I can die on this adventure, but I could also have a wyvern land on me while I’m walking down to Rick’s Diner. That happened to someone we know,” Marci glanced at Jimenez.
“Three times now,” Jimenez sighed. “Things we thought were safe aren’t looking so good anymore. So, we need to level and,” she nodded at Cal, “we need to make allies. Because I’ve personally seen really scary things in action and I’m not naive enough to think that we can always rely on people like you.”
“Same here. I would like it if I could kind of step out of that role,” Cal said.
“What level would you say someone like me would need to hit before we’re on the same level?” Shrewed said.
“Honestly, I have no idea. Highest leveled people I know are touching 40, and that’s not close to me. No one knows what the level cap is, if there is one. None of the tutorials I’ve bought have even given a hint.”
“40, huh? We need to catch up,” Trevor elbowed Amber.
She eyed him and raised a fist, but caught the toddler out of the corner of her eye and lowered it.
“That’s something for tomorrow, meanwhile, let’s just enjoy my awesome burgers and cold beers, not mine,” Cal said. “Anyone want more?”
Hands went up.
The cooler lid opened and cold bottles distributed themselves around the table.
They talked of past adventures, lost comrades and hopes for the future long into the night.