(Death conquers all)
Ferrin, Colt and
Claire Ferrin lead the Twin to a quieter part of town where there were several places selling food of various sorts, like a fair. Ferrin walked up to one, manned by an old lady with a fan and ordered food. "That will be 2,100 jewel." She said (Thats about $21) Ferrin winced slightly as he pulled out his wallet, opened it and a fly buzzed out. He only had about 3,001 left. With a mental sigh he handed the money over. As he turned away, the old lady called to him. "Young man, is that for the child over there?" She asked, pointing her fan at Colt (or Claire).
"Yeah." He answered. "Here then." The old lady said, handing him back his money. "Buisness has been good lately, and that poor kid looks absolutely starving. Besides," She said, squinting at him. "You don't seem the type to have a lot of money." Mentally, Ferrin felt crushed.
Thanks He thought, sarcastically. But out loud he said,
"Thank you, very much." as he took the offered money.
He brought the food back to a table with two chairs and an umbrella where Claire (he could tell by the eyes) sat. He placed the food infront of here and she dug in, ravenously. She was halfway through before she stopped to breath.
"So, uh...tell me about yourselves and how you ended up...like that. Ferrin said. Inside their shared mind space, Colt and Claire were thinking back and forth.
"Do we have to tell him?" Claire thought to Colt"Of course, he seems trust worthy enough." Colt thought back. Ferrin was able to evesdrop on this, with his telepathy but he didn't mention that fact to them. Finaly, Claire said,
"Alright, I'll tell you. But the moment you do something cowardly, I will kill you." She threatened. Ferrin was amused by the thought.
"Consider me warned," He said
"But what, pray tell, is the justifaction behind this dire warning of ill intent?" A vein pop appeared on Claire's head.
"This one is amusing. May I kill him, dear brother?" Claire thought. Colt would have rolled his eyes if he could. "No, Claire." Claire sighed. Their eyes changed to blue.
"I will explain if you don't mind." Colt said.
"I really don't have time to tell you all of it, but the short version is, we were merged into one body in an exparament by a Wizard and when we tryed to escape, we were put under a Retrogression Curse. I assume you know what that is?" Ferrin leaned forward, intrigued.
"Yes, its a lost magic that alows the caster to lower the physical abilities, as well as the magical power of the target. As a side effect, it makes the target look like a younger version of themselves. But, that magic, as far as I know, is very temporary, how is it that it has not worn off yet?" Colt nodded,
"That is the eighty-four million Jewel question. But, that is not the reason we came here. Ferrin raised an eyebrow. Colt started,
We came here because......because there is a Necomancer trying to takeover the world." Claire finished. Ferrin leaned back in his chair, staring to put a few things together.
"So that is why you were so hesitaint to tell me. First, a child going around telling people that a Necromancer was on the loose would never gain much credibility. Second, you had to choose someone powerful enough To Do Something About It but selfless enough to do it." Claire looked shocked.
"You...believe us?" She asked incredulously. Ferrin grinned, and said
"Yeah, I don't need the facts to back it up, besides, you have no reason to lie, and nothing you have said so far has lead me to believe you are lying. A friend once told me to follow my heart more often, and my heart is telling me that you are being honest." He paused.
"Now tell me more about this Necromancer, what does he plan to do and what is his goal?" He said.
"We aren't really sure---" Colt was interupted by a rumble and a loud scream. Four not-quite human-looking
skeletons, with swords and shields tore through the ground. A fifth, classier-looking and very tall
skeleton with a cane and an afro approached. As it got closer, Ferrin could see a purple glow in it's eyesockets. It opened its mouth and a voice, curiously feminine, slithered out.
"No, no, that won't do." She said.
Everyone around them back away from the nightmareisn apparition.
"So, I assume that you are the Necromancer?" Ferrin said, calmly. That creepy voice echoed from the skeleton's open mouth,
"By proxy, yes. Unfortunately, I am on a schedule and can't chat. Will you be a dear and die quickly?" "What a coincidence, so am I." Ferrin said.
"If it's all the same to you, can you stop playing sock puppet with the omega Nosferatu and skip to the part where you try to kill us? I am a busy man, after all. I have places to go, people to see, lunatics to stop." Colt stared at him.
"Are you drunk or something, Ferrin?" Ferrin just smiled and winked at him. The Necromancer laughed, an odd, vibrating laugh that was not plesent at all.
"Its a shame to kill one as funny as you, perhaps I will reanimate you so I can kill you again and again... At an unspoken que, the four skeletons started forward.
"I would say 'over my dead body' but that would be going to far." Ferrin quipped as he pulled his Gauntlet out of his pocket and cast Aether Enhance without having to consiously think about it. The skeleton warriors charged.
Bony 1 thrust its sword at Ferrin. He side-stepped and threw a punch at it, which it blocked with it's sheild. It swung it's scimtar in a murderous overhand. Ferrin raised his Gauntlet and angled it to the side, so its sword was deflected. Ferrin again punched, but he let a blast out from the elbow that propelled it with more force. The punch shattered it's sheild and sent it flying. Ferrin's instincts sceamed a warning and he dropped to avoid a horizantal slash from Bony 2. Ferrin spun and swepped his leg sideways, knocking the skeleton's leg bones off and the torso clattered to the ground. Ferrin sprung to his feet and shouted
"Flare!" The skeleton exploded in a fireball. The last two were converging on the kid. Ferrin extended his arm and let loose with a barrage of bullets on the skeleton furthest away from the kid, to minimise the chance of one hitting it. Obviously, most of them missed, but a few struck it's shoulders and one struck it's arm bone, shattering them. Ferrin turned as the other one had its sword raised to stike.
"Frost Touch!" Colt shouted. There was a flash of cold, that even Ferrin could feel and the Skeleton froze in place. Ferrin walked over to it and saw that it was covered in a thin, but very hard layer of ice. Colt was close to it, with his hand on it's rib cage, panting slightly.
"I am impressed, so you are wizards too?" Ferrin asked.
"Y-yeah," Colt said.
I use ice magic and Claire uses fire." He staired at his hand.
"I wasn't sure if I still had enough magic left to to that." "Well, I would hate to interrupt, buuut, I belive the situation has changed." Said the Necromancer.
"Maybe the curse is slipping?" Ferrin suggested.
"Maybe..." Colt said, thoughtfully.
They are ignoring me! The Necromancer realized.
"Hey! I have a hostage here!" Ferrin looked over.
"Oh dear." He sighed. Then the realization of what that ment set in.
"Oh shit." The skeleton, diected by the Necromancer had drawn his sword-cane and had it pressed against a woman's neck.
There was a long moment of silence. Ferrin stared unblinkingly at the skeleton's empty eyes. Claire stood slightly behind him, unsure of what to do. In order to buy time, Ferrin spoke up.
"So, what do you want? The kid? Me? The secret to the universe?" She laughed.
"Nothing so dramatic. All I need is both of you. Dead of course. Dead men tell no tales and all. I can't have you warning the Magic Council of my plans. All you need to do is not move, as a professional courtesy, I will make it quick and painless as possible." The remaining skeletons got back up, one with a broken sheild, one whose bones were burnt and blacked and one with a broken arm.
"They are like cockroaches." Ferrin muttered.
"Move and she dies." The cold voice of the necromancer said through the skeleton.
What now? Colt thought.
If we fight, we will let an innocent die. If we don't, we, and thousands of others will die. What should we do...? The skeletons shuffled forward raising their weapons the attack. Suddenly, Ferrin started laughing. He started quietly, but he got louder slowly.
"What is so funny?" The necromancer hissed. Still rolling with laughter, Ferrin answered,
"You...haha, you actually think that will work? Thats so cute, I want to put you in my pocket. You made a big mistake." "And what mistake is that?" The necromancer asked. Ferrin spin and backhanded the frozen skeleton, shattering it into pieces, shouting
The mistake of assuming that I am some bleeding heart hero!" He lifted his Gauntlet and pointed one mechanical finger at the skeleton.
"You think one life is worth thousands of others? You think, I would just let you kill me and wreck untold havoc for one life, whom you will probably kill anyways? Then think again! If you kill that woman, I will come after you, I will pick up every weapon at my disposal, every magic that I know, no matter the cost, I will find you, and I will unmake you, and everything you live for. And then, after that, I will PERSONALLY, send you straight to hell." He smiled a dangerous smile as he paused to let that sink in.
"So, son, there's one question you should be askin' yourself...Do ya' feel lucky? Well, do ya', punk?" Ferrin said, his manner of speech deviating from his usual formal tones. The skeleton's bony face remained impassive. The necromancer, whose name was Yuura, weighed her options. Either let them all live now, or kill the girl and provoke this dangerous man. She had no doubt in her mind that he was willing and capable of doing just that. Colt and Claire were shocked at Ferrin's bold ploy.
He has got to be bluffing, right? Claire thought to Colt.
Something tells me he is not. Colt responded.
We picked one hell of a dangerous man to help us." "Yeah, I'm glad he is on our side." Yuura came to a conclusion.
"Get them!" She snarled at the trio of skeletons, as she directed the skeleton she was using to release the woman and retreat.
"Aether Construct Magic! Titan's Grip!" Ferrin shouted, holding out his Gauntlet arm. A massive, silvery hand appeared, mimicking his movements. He sweept his hand right to left, scooping up all three skeletons, and then he crushed them in a giant fist. He ground them up a little and opened the hand, letting bone dust trickle to the ground.
"There, now that that is done, lets move before she sends more minions." Ferrin said to his companion, who was staring at him slack-jawed, as he started walking away. Colt and Claire hurried to catch up with his angry stride.
