Necromancer Chronicles Pt. 05

Our plan was rather simple on the surface. Kristi was watching up to four at a time, constantly shifting and looking for a vulnerable target. Vinnie and I would be the team to take care of the target since realm hopping was an important part of the plan. Lastly, we were surrounded Bree, Kenneth, Alicia, Ray, Claudia and a number of ghosts for protection in case the enemies counter attacked.

There were also others we could call on if things got too bad.

I was acutely aware we made a terrifying team and was glad the other side didn't have human magic on their side. Between the unique magic Vinnie and I possessed, plus Kristi, it meant no one who targeted our family would be safe. I was trying not to let the power go to my head, it helped that I really just wanted to be left alone to build a life. I think the fact I was a necromancer and already familiar with the temptations of power and controlling others helped me to keep my perspective.

Waiting for the first target took entirely too much time, and yet too short a time. Kristi sent us a visual and we stepped into limbo and teleported. I raised a shield as I looked around. We were in a large bathroom and I could see the silhouette of someone in the shower. Vinnie and I exchanged looks and I felt a deep weight settle on my shoulders and my gut tightened.

Right or not, defending my family and those I loved, it wasn't easy to move forward. Killing was hard, and justified or not I knew it would add a weight to my soul. I could see on Vinnie's face he would take care of it, but it was my plan. My idea. I walked through the shower curtain and saw a man in his thirties. I couldn't feel his magic from the void at all. Not without a ghost there to feed it to me. I just knew he had been in the room with my grandparents.

He had his eyes closed to keep the soap from his eyes as he washed his hair. It was too easy to step out and release my power into him. I turned him into a revenant bound to me. I searched his memories, with him in my command he assisted my search of his mind. I had been right, he didn't know the big picture. He did however add a few more people to the list that hadn't been there that afternoon.

I set him on a mission to cause havoc and we went back to the house. I would let his soul go on after this was over, but for now... this was war and there were no rules, only the innocent would be spared. I passed along the pictures to Kristi and waited for the next target.

The first five went without a hitch. Vinnie had insisted we share the burden and killed two of them. After that we started to run into problems.

The sixth person appeared to be sleeping, but word of our attacks had gotten out and it was a trap. Vinnie and I stepped out of limbo and we were both struck by lightning from wards. Luckily we were both shielded at the time, but it still startled us. The person on the bed smiled up at us and spoke a harsh word, raising a containment ward around us.

It was the one big drawback of attacking from limbo, we really couldn't detect wards or magic in the real world from there.

Two more witches came through the door, which were not on our list, and the three of them started chanting. The inside of the ward started acting like a lightning generator and we were struck multiple times. I wanted to fight, but Vinnie shook his head. I realized his shield was greatly weakened and that the same was true of mine. I frowned, tossed a ball at our host, like we had practiced for the demons, and we stepped into limbo where their circle didn't hold sway.

I watched as my spell literally exploded from inside the witch's body. That was one target that would evade my necromancy. The other two witches ran for it.

"Should we chase them?"

Vinnie shook his head, "They might be leading us into another trap, and we almost lost our shields and died in this one. If they had a true coven instead of just three we may have been toast."

I nodded and we reluctantly returned home. I fed two more pictures to Kristi and we argued about continuing.

Vinnie shook his head stubbornly, "The whole point of your approach is to minimize danger, walking into traps is just a bad idea, we got about a quarter of the people you saw, we need to wait for a while, let their guard drop again. Maybe tomorrow morning, or much later tonight?"

Kristi said, "I think he is right, I can see a lot of them gathered together, and all the rest are in a vulnerable spot. They must all be traps."

I saw the logic of their argument, but I wanted this over with. That was a stupid reason to die though so I just nodded tightly. I monitored the five revenants I made, they did manage to take out three more people in surprise before they were all discovered and killed. Once their bodies were destroyed I released the bond to their souls and let them move on.

So it wasn't too bad a turn out for our first attack, about a third of all the ones that were there when I crashed Kenneth's return were now dead. Still, we had no idea how many there were yet, it was already apparent we didn't know all of them and every kill had produced a couple of more targets.

I considered the possibility of not weakening them first. I reflected on the idea that we should just find a way to get at the top three even with all that protection around them. I just wasn't sure if it would be a good approach, or if it was merely my impatience. I was about to admit defeat when I felt one of the house wards go off. A loud bang sounded like someone had driven a truck into the wall of the house.

What had I gotten us into? I had been so sure we would take them all down.

Vinnie and I shared a look and ran for the door, our shields popping up on the way. When we got outside there were four demons, and my Aunt Talia. She had an insane look in her eyes. Vinnie and I went to work, using the attacks we had trained so hard on. It was difficult, the demons were wicked fast, almost too fast to track at times, much faster than the ghosts we had trained on.

I was getting frustrated when I finally got my first one, it was so strange as he exploded but at the same time his shield kept his broken body contained. We were working on the other three and I saw Kristi facing off with Talia.

They were both hammering at the others shields. Kristi sending punches of telekinesis and fire while Talia sent her magic against Kristi. It was impossible to see everything going on over there as I was too focused on my own fight. I had no idea why Talia would attack us alone like this, but I didn't have time to worry about it right now.

There was more than one close call as the demons charged and attacked us time and time again, if not for our reflex ability to go to limbo I'd have been dead many times over. Vinnie and I exchanged looks and we changed tactics. We started working together and focusing on one demon at a time, catching it in crossfire to great effect. We got the last three with our teamwork as they dodged one of our attacks, only to run into the others.

We turned to help Kristi but it turned out she didn't need it. The attacks Kristi was trading with Talia had only been a distraction. I was awed as one of the boulders we were using for training shot out of the sky above Talia, smashing right through her shield and slamming her body into the ground with a loud crunch of bone.

I reached out with my necromancy and hooked her soul, wanting to learn what I could. I spoke to her mind to mind, ordering the information I needed and what she thought I needed to know before I released my Aunt's spirit to move on. It turned out to be a goldmine of information but still short on some big answers. It was also information I could have done without ever finding out. The telling of it would not be easy.

Vinnie asked, "What was that about?"

I looked over to them, Vinnie was holding Kristi tight. For the first time I wondered who was first born. Before now it hadn't mattered. Was it me, or was it him?

I said in a soft voice feeling lost, "She was insanely jealous, with the emphasis on insane. I'll go over it when I tell about what I learned. I am still trying to get it ordered in my head, and we need to have Mom, Dad, and Amy here to hear it too. Probably the whole family should be there to hear it."

I went back inside and got a beer from the fridge, and then decided a second one would be good. I wasn't really hungry, but Bree had cooked us dinner while we were carrying out plans, so I ate. I could tell everyone was curious, but I kept putting it off, I didn't want to tell it twice so I was waiting for my parents and the rest of our family.

It took a couple of hours before they could return home, but here I was again in front of my family about to give a speech of sorts, I still wasn't sure where to start. I looked at my family one by one as I gathered my thoughts. What I knew didn't change the fact I loved them all.

I said slowly, "This is very convoluted, I need to start far enough back so it makes sense. When the wars ended although they had worked together, the angels, demons, and fae were very suspicious of each other. When the fae found this world, a number of their seers had visions that the humans of this realm would be the end of their race.

"The fae argued among themselves. Some wanted to simply destroy the humans. They could have at the time as humanity was few and spread out. The seers saw that if the fae were to destroy what the other races would see as a helpless species of humans, the Angels and demons would turn on them, destroying them utterly.

"Talia did not know how humanity would destroy the fae, it was something Feinir kept hidden from all."

I took a moment to push down my emotions before I continued.

"They almost did it anyway thinking it would be better to go out fighting. But one of the seers had a powerful vision and suddenly they had a chance after all. Talia did not know the details of how or why, but what was known is simple. The first born offspring of a Nephilim and a half demon would under the right circumstances, bring about the fall of humanity on this world."

I felt a little sick in my stomach as I continued, "However, the prophecy also says, the second born would stop the first, thereby saving humanity and dooming the fae to eventual extinction."

I heard mom gasp and looked over and nodded.

"That's why the message said to keep it a secret. If Feinir had known who was second born, either Vinnie or I would have been murdered in our cradles. But hold on, I'm not done. We skipped a lot just now. The manipulation goes so much farther."

I took a deep breath, "That's when the fae race took two steps. They locked down the magic of this world under enchantment, and they welcomed all races here. The first was designed to slow down the advancement of humans here, the second was to specifically put warlocks on this world knowing demons would follow. They also knew the angels would be suspicious and send spies here to see what they were up to. The other races coming here were just a side effect of this plot.

"In other words, it was all a set up so angels and demons would have children with other races in the hopes that either their children, or even they themselves, would eventually have the prophesied children. A perfect way to draw the required races and hope that... nature would take its course."

I shrugged, "At first the fae were content to sit back and watch, wary of taking any more overt actions that might change the prophecy. Feinir was sent here to keep an eye on it. But things didn't come together, more often than not the Nephilim were raised to mistrust and hate demons which carried on to how the half demon children were regarded.

"This next part is speculation on Talia's part. But she thinks Feinir slowly went a little mad as the Nephilim populations started dropping. The angels were no longer suspicious and less and less were coming to check on things. As a result of this and time the population fell over thousands of years as the Nephilim died in battle, accidents, and some just got tired of living so long.

"Feinir got fixated on you, mom, as the last one. He followed you for years and knew all about you and the family lines you had scattered. There were no half demon men either, so in his desperation he then started a campaign to force the prophecy into being."

I felt a little sick as I sipped my beer.

"Feinir found a young warlock with no morals at all, and hired him. Promising him power and wealth and whatever he desired. That would be grandpa Brian. He had Brian impregnate a succubus to have dad. Already back then he had planned to somehow get you two together, but wasn't sure how yet.

"When dad moved out, that is when he seduced a witch and had Talia. Talia grew up hearing nothing but things about his plans for our family, it is why she attacked tonight. She had finally had enough. I had always felt a little uncomfortable around her at school but couldn't pin down why. It was because she was just insane. I won't go into what grandpa did to her over the years, there would be no point."

I had gotten off topic and could see my father and mother looked how I felt.

"So Feinir had the players for the prophecy, but no way to get you together. That's when he dove back into all the information he had accumulated over the years about mom. It was when he found Amy that he hatched his plan. It was perfect, she was related to you, mom, but she was also undead, a vampire. Dad of course, was a necromancer. It was the thread, the lure he used to bring you together.

"He hired a necromancer less powerful than dad, just to make sure dad wasn't accidentally killed. Then he ordered the necromancer to steal Amy from her vampire master, and send her to attack dad. Feinir was fairly certain you wouldn't kill her, he had watched you all your life and depended on it.

"Then it was just a matter of time before mom tracked down the Amy family line and found her with dad. He hoped your common interests in Amy would bring you together."

I couldn't really think anymore, it was bad enough knowing it myself. But I had just told my family we had been manipulated into being a family. We all loved each other and that wouldn't change, but to know that Feinir had that much influence on our lives was devastating, at least to me it was.

Even worse, my brother and I was the product of a fifteen thousand year plot. What can I possibly think about that? It didn't change the fact I was going to kill them, except only to perhaps lessen my guilt about it. Plus, was it me or my brother, which one was destined to create humanity's fall? There was really no way to tell when that would happen either. We were immortal so it could be anytime, an hour or a few thousand years, a million years, or even longer? Seriously, that was too big to contemplate for long.

That's what we, I, needed. The prophecy itself might have some insight into it. It all made my head hurt. I was also curious about the first prophecy, how could humanity kill such a powerful race even with magic?

It was clear to me if I wanted any more answers, such as the prophecies, Feinir needed to meet his end... Others were talking so I tuned back in, trying to push down my hurricane of emotions.

Kristi said, "I can't believe either of you would end humans on this world."

Vinnie shrugged, "It's not that simple, I doubt it too. But it doesn't say how. Remember we talked about freeing humans from the fae's enchantment? What if I went and did that right now. It seems like a good thing, I would have good intentions doing it. But if I did do it, the world may descend into chaos and war, maybe even to the destruction of humanity.

"I can't imagine fighting my sister to protect the world either, but perhaps the second born stops the first simply with some good advice. Prophecies are never what they seem, and often we make them self fulfilling when trying to avoid them. The best thing we could do is just ignore it, and live our lives. As long as we are both alive the world is safe right? Well, we can ignore it after we kill that asshole Feinir and our grandfather."

I nodded to myself at his words, they made sense. Still, I wanted to know the prophecies, he thought we should ignore them. My mind spun in circles. If I was firstborn I should follow his ideas, if he is firstborn I should follow mine. But I can never have that information, which makes things even more complicated. I needed peace and quiet. He was right about one thing, we needed to just stay calm and live our lives, after we took care of Feinir and company.

I said my goodnights briefly, needing to be alone. I considered taking Bree with me, but left it up to her. Now that she had a body, she might enjoy spending time with my family. I went up to my room, sat on the floor with my legs crossed, and meditated.

I needed to clear my mind from the junk and worry that had built up and had been swirling in my mind non-stop the last few hours. Ever since I touched the mind of my insane Aunt and learned far more than I ever wanted to about my family origins I'd had no peace.

When I was calmed down enough I focused on a new glyph and the sword and shield. Any concentration I had left over went into keeping myself focused, calm, and centered. It was wonderful as I didn't have the capacity to think on anything else. I think without meditation we would go crazy never being able to sleep, at least not without a spell.

As I meditated deep in my mind the sword and shield seemed to come easier, take less of my will, though they were still far from being manifest, they were still just made of light. I didn't think I'd made much progress there, it felt I made progress in meditation itself, finding a deeper level of focus.

I felt a hand on my shoulder and checked with my magic. It was mom and I wondered what she wanted, I just wanted to be alone and not think for a while. I brought myself out of it, dropping my spell and the mediation.

"What is it mom?"

Anise said, "Everyone is worried about you, I think it's time to get back to the real world for a while. Come down and eat."

I sighed loudly, "It's only been an hour, maybe two, why are they worried?"

Anise disagreed, "Hope sweetie, you've been up here meditating for fourteen hours. It's just after noon, time for lunch."

I looked at the clock on my end table, sure enough it was twelve ten PM. How the hell did I just lose twelve hours? Was it my deeper meditation?

I shook my head, "Has that every happened to you? I think I was meditating deeper than usual, and I lost the time."

Mom grinned and gave me a hug.

"Yes, I'll show you how to set an internal timer to take you out. I'm proud of you. You'll learn stuff ten times faster that way. Of course, it will still take a long time, but you're looking at a year to learn a new glyph instead of five to ten years."

I grinned back, that means I'm totally going to own Vinnie next time I perfect something.

She took a minute to show me how to shape a timed spell that would jolt me at a preset time. Of course this was the century of technology, so I could probably just use an alarm clock, but I wasn't going to say anything about that.

"Thanks mom, I am kind of hungry."

I was dying to ask if it was me, was I the first born, but held my tongue. She was told to tell no one, and I had a feeling if I knew for sure it would just make things worse, not better.

I reminded myself to keep an outward focus on everything around me and then headed down for some lunch.

"Sorry if I worried anyone. Apparently I went to a new level of meditation and lost track of time. It only felt like a couple of hours to me."

Vinnie looked at me with worried and narrowed eyes. I swear I wouldn't be half as powerful as I was now without the sibling competition we had going on.