After several hours of navigating the city, entering its sewers, and infiltrating the Scarlet Eye base, Marin and Travis had made it to the meeting room, a large hall that stretched far from the entrance.
Only a single torch had been strategically lit. Marin was able to freeze anyone in sight – anyone of lesser power – that was, and the leader for the roguish faction knew that. The only way she would be able to attack Marin, was if she couldn’t be seen. She lurked in the unlit portion of the room, preventing any attack from the powerful ice wizard.
As things stood, she may end up a match for him, seeing as Travis now refused to assist him in anyway, including lighting the remaining room for him to see, and acquire his target.
As Travis had just stated earlier, not only was he no longer helping him with the mission at hand, he told the dead king that he would not be completing it, and Marin found himself in a difficult situation.
“What are you talking about?” Marin demanded to Travis, now asking for some answers on what was going on.
“You – you just… can’t!” Travis declared. “Not her. Anyone else, but not her.”
“Why?!” Marin pushed. “What haven’t you been telling me?!” Marin was ready to clutch his fist at Travis, freezing him entirely.
Travis didn’t answer, instead he took a deep sigh, lost in thought, eyes darting around.
“Tell him, Trav. Tell him why,” she said in the shadows.
Travis was breathing deeply. His rage was building. Suddenly, he took a chair from a nearby table, and hurled it against the wall.
“DAMN IT!” He yelled. “Why did you have to target him, Lorette?!” He shouted into the shadows. “Don’t you know who he IS? Did you really have to try and kill his partner? Why have you done this?!”
She started laughing in the shadows. “I’m always down for a challenge, you know me.”
“You’re an idiot! I told you this was all going to catch up to you eventually. You picked a fight with the wrong person!”
“I know exactly what I’m doing.”
In an instant, Lorette, one of the leaders for the Scarlet Eye, lunged forward from the shadows. She had waited for Marin to face Travis before she made her attack. With a dagger in hand, she shot forward like an arrow, ready slash open Marin’s chest through his burlap clothing.
An attack like this would guarantee the death of any normal person. Lorette was lethal, a trained, and hardened assassin. She had more kills under her belt than most of the organization combined.
This move would be the end for Marin.
That would be, if Marin was not who she kept underestimating.
Marin had a rare skill mastered, a difficult one usually reserved for more combat-oriented masters of warfare. She had counted it as luck before, but writing it off this time would spell her demise.
It was Slow Time.
As soon as Marin heard a noise as insignificant as a pin dropping from the shadows, he triggered his ability.
To his prediction, it was indeed an attack.
Marin watched as she drew close with incredible haste, out of the shadows, and directly to him with the speed of a bullet. It was not enough, though. His slow time ability was so refined, even with her Speed skill, he was able to cast his ice, and freeze her.
In speeds that were measurable in mere milliseconds, ice erupted from the table below. A frosty pillar grew, an icy hand that began grasping her. It froze her, stopping her movement entirely. She was inches away, dagger still pointed at Marin in front of her, but now clasped in an icy prison. Only her head was exposed.
Lorette’s attack had been halted, countered from a skill she had little knowledge about.
She gasped, realizing she had failed. She struggled, but her entire body did not move. She could only stare forward at Marin now, who had thwarted her yet again.
“H-how is it possible?” She uttered.
Before Marin could think, Travis roared.
“I said YOU CAN’T KILL HER!”
Flames burst from his hands, shooting towards Marin. This had caught him off guard.
In response, Marin threw up an ice wall. The flames brushed against it, melting it rapidly. When the fire stopped, Marin brought the wall down.
He readied himself to freeze Travis, but he was no longer in sight.
Before Marin had a chance to turn around to see where he had re-positioned, he felt the heat of incoming flames from behind.
Marin hurled himself forward to the ground, dodging the flames that shot past him from above.
He turned around, and saw Travis. That was all that needed to happen.
Ice rose around Travis’s body, beginning to freeze him.
When Travis took notice that his icy tomb was climbing around him, as it had to every other person Marin had dealt with, he began to battle it with his fiery abilities.
It was time for Marin to use another skill that he had before, dealing with another fire elemental at Heroca Town.
Nullification.
Any and all fire stopped being produced by Travis. Bewildered, he could only watch as the remaining ice climbed up to his neck, halting there.
He strained and struggled as well. It was an instinctive move, but nothing good came from it.
It was over. Both Travis and Lorette had been pacified.
Marin breathed a sigh of relief as he picked himself up from the ground. His two opponents were trapped in rock hard ice, only their heads being exposed, an intentional move from Marin.
He hobbled over to them, his undead body shaken from having been thrown to the floor in a forced choice.
“Well, that’s that then, isn’t it?” Marin said in quite an unhappy mood.
They both stayed silent in response.
“Travis, you betrayed me. Perhaps I should have expected that,” Marin stated.
“I didn’t betray you. I just didn’t know… you were going after her.”
“I would really like you to clear the air and reveal to me everything that’s going on,” he tried.
Travis scoffed. “Yeah, right. And then you kill us afterwards.”
“You’re still alive, aren’t you?” Marin reminded him.
Travis looked down, and breathed deeply. He never desired to get himself into this horrific situation. Marin was truly a master. He defied death several times, and he now understood why it was such a bad idea to make Marin an enemy. Marin was quite level headed though, and perhaps, he could get away with his life. Spilling the beans couldn’t hurt at this point.
“...Obviously I haven’t been entirely honest with you,” Travis started.
Marin nodded.
“I have a bit of history with this gal over here, sadly,” he added.
“History enough to try such an outright attack on me?” Marin asked.
“I… loved her, Marin.”
“You still love me,” Lorette interjected.
“NO! Not anymore… You… You’re a very bad person, and I’ve made the mistake of loving you,” Travis forced out of his mouth, words coming from him that felt like vomit.
“So, you’ve had some involvement with a Scarlet Eye member, even after what they did to your parents?” Marin inquired.
“Parents?!” Lorette belted out. “Travis never knew his parents! He wasn’t just involved with me, he founded this organization with me! We were together!”
“What?!” Marin yelled.
Travis remained silent with his head down.
“And he left me!” She added. “Left me to become some sort of white knight!”
Travis raised his head, sudden fury beaming from his eyes.
“You became a MASS MURDERER, LORETTE!!” Travis wiggled in the ice, trying to free himself again. “I never agreed to killing people the way you do! You took our whole operation from theft to a killing squad!”
Lorette began laughing again, a cold maniacal laughter that shook Marin to his bones. He had heard everything he needed to. Travis was a thief, a dishonest man for sure, but he had proven himself to have a moral compass. That was enough for Marin to spare his life. The only reason he attacked Marin was for history with a girl he couldn’t let go of. Now was the time he would.
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“Travis…” Marin began. “You need to let her go. She has to die.”
“No!” Travis pleaded, straining in the ice, teeth gritting.
“She has and will continue killing. Murdering innocent people. Is your love for her stronger than that?”
A tear fell down Travis’s left cheek.
Marin understood Travis felt great pain, but knew that he would choose the right option.
Travis closed his eyes, and turned his head away from his only known love.
Marin waited for a moment, and eventually Travis spoke. “…No, it’s not.”
Marin nodded, and smiled warmly, a smile hidden from everyone. Travis had finally given him permission.
Marin looked up at Lorette. She still had a grin on her face. “I’m sorry, Marin,” she said.
Suddenly, a rogue hiding in the shadows from above dropped down, driving a dagger into the back of Marin’s neck. He fell over on the ground, the rogue on top of him.
He drove the dagger in deep, moving it around.
“NO!!” Travis yelled. He writhed in agony, squirming as he watched helplessly Marin get assassinated.
Lorette started laughing hysterically.
The rogue pulled the dagger out, and started stabbing Marin in the back rapidly, jab after jab. Each stab was an extra layer of assuring he was dead. After he was finished, he stood up, and walked towards a trapped Lorette.
It was her right hand man, the third rogue that made up the original four who attacked Marin for the first time in Tresdor.
Marin laid still on the ground, unresponsive, face first. His shirt was full of holes, each from the stabbing he endured.
“What have you done?” Travis questioned in horror.
“I did exactly what I had planned, Travis,” she slyly said. “I finally took care of Sullivan Marin!”
Travis fought the ice still, even though he believed it had no effect.
“And when I’m free, I’m finally going to take care of you!” She added.
The burly rogue who ambushed Marin was now taking his daggers, and nailing the ice she was trapped in.
It cracked from the impact of the blade.
“He would’ve had you. Killed you if I hadn’t stopped him!” Travis declared.
“I wouldn’t have let him,” the rogue said, chipping away at the ice. “I was waiting the whole time.”
Lorette believed she had won. She looked down at Marin’s corpse. To her, it was trophy, a symbol of her prowess and strength. She felt so accomplished, and felt more ecstatic the longer she looked. Her trap had worked, showing that even she was able to take down a wizard from Arkana.
As her underling worked to free her, she continued to stare at her defeated opponent. It was another murder as usual, but something was off. There was one thing missing that always invigorated her more after a kill.
The spilling of blood.
“Wait!” She cried out.
It was too late, ice engulfed the rogue was making progress in freeing her.
“Huh?” Travis gasped.
They both looked down to Marin’s body. His arms folded in, elbows in the air. He began to pick himself up.
“IT’S NOT POSSIBLE!” Lorette shouted at the top of her lungs.
Marin raised himself from the ground, perfectly intact.
Lorette squirmed. Travis rested still, his jaw hung open. There was no way. Lorette was right, it was truly impossible that Marin survived that. Yet here he was, almost as if resurrected from the dead, standing before them.
“You!” Lorette cried out to her grim reaper towering before her. “How did you…?! What are you?!?!”
He took a step closer. She strained, hoping that maybe her underling had weakened the ice enough for her to break free.
“That was a good move,” Marin admitted in a calm, morbid tone. “In fact, that definitely would have been my death.”
“Marin! How in the world did you…” Travis tried asking, unable to even complete the sentence. He was feeling in part thankfulness he was alive, and also fear of how he possibly was.
“Unfortunately for you, I have already experienced death,” he said to Lorette. “And it just doesn’t hit the same way it used to.”
Marin ripped off his mask, showing her his undead, zombie face. It was decayed, eyes yellowed, nasal cavity staring back at her.
The look of shock on her face said it all. Even a psychopath as her self, a killing machine with no remorse, stared in horror at the impossibility before her. It truly was the grim reaper, and he finally came calling for her.
“I’m sorry, but this is the end for you,” Marin said, his cracked lips and missing teeth moving in an animated fashion that defied nature. “Even though I prevented you from killing my friend, the attempt still warrants your death. Sorry to break the news to you that you failed, by the way.”
Marin readied himself to kill her.
She still had a frozen look of terror, but then she came to realization, and shook the look away. She stared at him, and started grinning. Lorette had already adapted to the new reality of zombies existing.
She even began laughing, laughing again, and hard.
Marin paused. What on earth was she laughing about now?
“You… you think I didn’t know that I failed in killing Gus?! I’ve been watching you the entire time!” She cried out.
Marin stepped back for a moment. Despite everything, she still was not fully defeated.
“I-I know that you’re going to kill me. But in the end, I STILL WIN! Haven’t you noticed that no one was here?! I sent the ENTIRE ORGANIZATION to kill him and that freak doctor while you were gone!!!!”
Lorette started laughing hysterically again. Her head wiggled in every direction, a psychotic look on her face that was devoid of all thought and reason.
No. No. NOOOOO!!!!
Marin’s head spun, a wave of anger washed over his body. He put his hand on Lorette’s head for the first and final time. Her skin went frosty, her entire movement frozen. The freak look on her face would stay permanently still forever.
She had been frozen to death. Blood, bones, and all.
She had finally been removed from the land of the living by Marin, but the aftermath of what she had done could very well haunt him for the rest of his life, however long that may be. He didn’t have time to free Travis and get guided through a maze of corridors and locked doors. It had already been such a time consuming process making it where they were, and Gus would surely be dead by then, if not already.
He had to also consider the fact that Travis may not exactly be up to assisting him after the way he had dealt with his controversial partner.
There was only one true option left to do if he had any chance of saving his underling. It was a risky endeavor, but at this point, he wouldn’t care who would see, or who might perish. It might very well result in the entire collapse of the underground base, but Lorette had driven him to this point, and he had no other options.
Marin let out yell, a rage took over him never seen before. He reached his arms up to the air and a large pillar of ice grew from the ground at a massive rate, breaking the ceiling above, and pushing upwards in every direction.
The ice formed, breaking away the brick and dirt, climbing the earth above it. It was as if an earthquake was going off. The noise and vibrations were overwhelming as stone and dirt fell from above, with the ice pushing everything aside.
Travis could only watch in awe as Marin unleashed icy abilities he never even thought possible. The crackling ice obeyed its master who commanded it, and it continued to grow upwards, defying the earth itself by excavating its way to freedom.
Eventually, the sun shown down from above, signaling that Marin had used this massive ice pillar to instantly free himself from the labyrinth underground. The ice had pushed itself to the surface, and created a hollow hole for him to escape.
The rays of the sun in the sky warmed the brick floor of the Scarlet Eye’s meeting room for the first time ever.
Seeing that he had created his new exit, Marin placed his mask back on his face, and created an ice pillar below him, that grew and pushed him up and out of the tunnel he had made.
On the surface, he took a second to gain his bearings. He was outside of the city walls. The underground military base that Travis and Marin journeyed too had taken them outside of Tarenfall’s perimeter.
He had to get back to Eisen’s house. He had no idea how little time he had, if it all, to save Gus’s life. Lorette had one final card up her sleeve, and in her defeat, she had basked in her revenge.
Marin began to use Kinetic Ice to rapidly return himself to the city.
Travis on the other hand could only look up at the light coming from the hole, still completely trapped in the ice. As a few moments passed, and Marin had completely left the premises, Travis could feel his fiery power return to him.
A wave of connection overcame Travis, now realizing he had access to his element again. It didn’t take long for him to melt the ice enough to break free of his prison that Marin had put him into.
Once he was out, he looked around and noted that the earth had buried in the surrounding areas of the room. Walls of debris and dirt would stop anyone from entering the meeting place. He began to wonder how much of the base had been destroyed from Marin’s power.
Turning around, he noted that the rubble had almost entombed him. He wondered if Marin had stopped it from happening, or perhaps he hadn’t, and it was just chance he wasn’t killed from the collateral damage of his anger.
Whatever the case, Travis had a new understanding of Marin he never had before. It wasn’t just the fact that he was a zombie, his elemental mastery was unprecedented to anything he had ever seen before. The additional skills mastered, including the ability to react to even speeds of a bullet, were unthinkable. The wizard from Arkana was truly someone to never be messed with.
Travis could only wonder what terrible events had happened to Marin for him to end up in the unliving state he was in.
Meanwhile, Eisen had taken a break from studying Marin’s cells. He had come up with some fairly conclusive results, but the reasoning behind why his cells were still alive was still inexplicable. Coming off of a headache from staring down the microscope, the old doctor climbed his basement stairs to check on his patient.
He removed his glasses and rubbed his eyes, walking through the kitchen and to the guest room where Gus had been resting in. It was about dinner time, Eisen guessed. He hadn’t checked a clock to be certain, but if his patient was hungry, that would be the defining time to eat.
The doctor was still getting used to how clean his house was. Marin had done a superb job in passing the time of night by tidying up his house, and wondered if one day he could too defeat the time waster that was sleep.
Edward knocked on the door.
“Come in!” Gus could be heard from the other side.
When Eisen walked in, Gus was seen sitting up in the bed, reading a book.
“Are you requiring food?” The doctor asked.
Gus looked confused. He checked a clock that was close by.
“Uh… Doctor Eisen, it’s only 2:30.”
“Oh…”
He scratched the back of his head. The day was still young, but he had gotten so much accomplished, it felt like the day was almost over.
“Well, okay. Sorry,” Eisen said. He went to leave, but then turned around last minute. “How’s the book going?”
Gus had requested if the doctor had any books on the elements, which Eisen easily had. To pass the time of recovering, he had given the young lad a large one to study, since it was shared with him that Marin would be training him to become an elemental.
“It’s really good, I’m learning so much. The elements go way back, apparently.”
“Indeed they do. Alright, well, I’ll be back in a few hours. Enjoy the read.”
Eisen left the room, closing the door behind him.
In the hallway was a rogue of the Scarlet Eye.
The doctor’s tiny eyes narrowed. “Who are you?”
The rogue silently lunged forward, and stabbed at the doctor, tearing his skin open, and exposing his blood.
Eisen grabbed his arm from the rip, and turned around to where the rogue had landed.
There was three more of them, each clad in the black armor, wearing red bandannas.
“I don’t know who you guys are…” Eisen uttered.
He released his grasp on the wound, and his blood shot out of the gash, like a snake.
“But you’re really going to wish you hadn’t done that.”