Julius could hear the rattling of the approaching guards’ armor through the sterol white and stainless-steel hallways. Running, panting, zigging and zagging through the long labyrinth of dead end hallways like a rat in a trap Julius frantically wandered trying to gain his bearings, trying to escape knowing now that there was no way out of Aztrisean, not without fighting, killing, breaking every door. “I am the monster they accused me of being!” Julius cried and began banging on the nearest door. The guards were shouting orders back and forth trying to navigate the hallways taken by Julius.

It was only a matter of time before he was found and no matter how hard Julius tried his fire fizzled in the wake of the doctor’s scornful words and warnings. Then, suddenly the door he had been pounding on moments ago boomed and banged back startling Julius out of his dismal reverie. Falling backward in fear he looked up from the ground at the thundering door a slight ripple could be seen on the surface of the reflective coating. A force lay beyond that door, but what was it? Julius got to his feet eyes fixated on a shiny bronze placard fastened to the wall beside the door. It read,

‘Sir Beleaguer, charged with three counts of political assassination, twelve counts of high arson, twelve counts of kidnapping and extortion, and theft of classified documents from the office of the emperor. Scheduled for execution, door must remain closed at all costs!’ signed by Doctor Leeroy Davidson. Seeing the name Julius sprung back like a cat fearing the name would bring forth the man. Something about this prison this door, had Julius convinced that perhaps whatever lay behind the thundering door was suffering the same nightmare as Julius. Perhaps someone was in need of help, when he was in need of help the Barron had been there. Maybe he could return the favor? His heart thundered to the same heavy pulse of the life force beyond the steal barrier. His hands shook, wet and clammy they gripped the icy handle of the thundering door. But it did not budge, the clomping footsteps drew nearer, and time slowed to a painfully sluggish passing as the rhythmic chugging heartbeat rattled the door and Julius’ teeth all at once.

Julius concentrated, feeling the weak magical pull in his surroundings, it wasn’t much to pull off of and utilize but it was all he had. Here in this wing of the prison the magic was even more dampened and with time ticking away and guards getting closer Julius pulled from his very being as hard as he could feeling the minuet traces of energy drawn into his being like a black hole drawing in light from all around it. Then, Julius felt ill and like a hole being drilled into the earth and hitting a spring of crude oil, Julius felt a burst of energy come from deep within. Like an animalistic instinct he forced it all into a small orb and projected the energy outward through his hands. The energy bursting forth felt odd, cold and yet hot, stringy like spiders’ silk being projected and woven at his fingertips. Before Julius could really comprehend what was happening his desire to open the door was woven onto the door in a strange woven pattern of silver blue light. Though accidental Julius was relieved to see the strange beating of the door slowing to a stop, as the door slowly twisted and popped out of the frame. A dim grey light crawled out from behind the door and there was silence.

Now it was Julius’ heart that pounded in the still silence of the prison, the whole world had slipped away and there was only the open door and himself. The strange glowing, gossamer spiders silk began pealing from the door and liquefying. The water like droplets rolled as if droplets sliding downhill, slunk into the room and disappeared, droplet by droplet as if the room had its own gravitational pull. The pounding began again, harder, faster, more fervent than ever before. The sudden throbbing beat startled Julius but peaked his curiosity and he took a step towards the door, then another ginger step. Julius pierced the vail of grey light and his eyes fell upon a thing, creature, covered head to toe in a body suit made of the same material as his old jumpsuit. It was a white suit covered in red targets with a horse bit dust mask contraption which took the place of a mouth. His body was chained and strapped everywhere securing him to a large metal table that periodically shifted positions to prevent bed sores. The man on the table was currently tilted into a prone position to face the ground. His head bouncing back and forth like a metronome keeping time. Clang, clang, clang his head went being stopped each time by a taught chain welded to the table. Clang, clang, clang! The sounds echoed like thunder in the small stainless-steel room and Julius’ heart went thud, thud, thud!

The room was filled with alien instruments and machines pumping liquid through tubes into the trapped man. Hissing and beeping hung in the delicately balanced atmosphere. The trapped man was a very tall man and even through the suit it was clear to see the man was nothing but bones. One eerie, lifeless, chatoyant blue-grey eye fell upon Julius with an overwhelming weight; a wright that froze him in his tracks without a single spoken word. The eye was hostile, cutting, soul crushing even. As Julius locked glaring eyes with this man, or creature, all the water like droplets of magic energy made their way to the man on the table with haste and seeped their way into the eye not visible to Julius. The creature on the table made no sound, except for his bouncing head pulling and jerking against the chain in a rhythmic and psychotic melody. Clang, clang, clang! The eye pierced deeper into Julius’ being. Clang, clang, clang! Julius could not blink, the eye staring unyieldingly, unblinking, thirsting for something. Clang, clang… Julius held his breath as his heart skipped a beat. The whole room seemed silent as the grave in the absence of the third sound.

Julius stumbled out of the room falling backward over the mangled mess of metal that once stood as the heavy safe door. The man on the table fell loose as the chains holding him rusted and fell apart. The leather straps pealed themselves away from his body allowing the man to fall freely like a cat to the ground with absolutely no sound made. Landing on the balls of his feet he rolled gracefully out from under his flat board bed and was standing in the doorway in an instant. A loud clattering of shattered metal sounded behind him as the metal table and all the instruments in the room began to disintegrate and fall apart.

“your name boy quickly!” the susurrus and dry cracked voice that came from the strange man sounded like icy wind howling through bare branches of a wintery forest. Julius stuttered as that chatoyant blue eye seared his psyche.

“my name sir, Julius… Amaranth…” the man closed his deathly blue grey eyes and thought for a moment, he struggled to remember something as he held his face in one hand and grunted, before opening his eyes once again.

“no, you are not who is supposed to come for me. Be gone brat.” Julius looked confused and a tad bit hurt but scooted away.

“There he is! I found him!” a guard shouted from down the hall and with heavy clomping feet charged the boy baton at the ready. Julius didn’t seem concerned with the guard something about this man in the body suit screamed dangerous. Julius felt a sharp pain as a baton made contact with the side of his head and other guards made their way to him with shackles and shotguns at the ready. It wasn’t until they all stood before the gaping hole in the wall that they saw the man standing patiently waiting for their attention. When he made his first move, no one was ready for what came next. The guards all turned a peaked limestone color as the creature darted from the doorway through the crowded hallway and to the furthest person from the door to cut off all guards’ escape.

A shotgun rang out and the tall inmate slid backward with a grunt skidding across the smooth linoleum. He rolled and came a stop a few feet away, leaping to his feet as easily as a cat. His white jumpsuit had a hole just above his diaphragm which was painted now with a thick deposit of rust, he brushed himself off and what remained of the shotgun slug tintinnabulated on the floor. The imbroglio ensued as the cold blue-eyed man-made great effort to alert all to his elation with his new-found freedom. Back handspring after back handspring he flipped and cartwheeled all about blocking and dodging every attack leveled at him.

Twisting and turning his body the man wrapped his legs around one guards’ neck and slid his upper body between the guard’s legs throwing the poor guard hard into the wall. The mad man’s back popped and he sighed with relief then leapt to his feet and sprung off the wall flipped to avoid being shot and came down hard on the head of the unconscious guard with a very juicy sounding crunch. Another guard stepped in to fight hand to hand and a smile appeared from under the full body suit worn by the mad killer. Dodging left then right the inmate made his way behind the guard interlocking arms, the mad man leaned all his weight on the other man’s shoulders. The guard smiled and dropped to a knee to through the mad man who had hooked his feet on the hand rails of the wall. When the guards plan failed the bewildered guard attempted to stand again. The harlequin rolled over the guard’s shoulders rapping his arm around the unsuspecting man’s neck. The chatoyant eyed man then twisted sharply and the guards neck snapped. He took a deep, quivering breath as if he had gotten off on the death inflicted.

“who are you… What are you?” one guard pleaded as he reloaded his shotgun

“I… am…” He paused as if trying to remember his own name. “Sir Beleaguer, master of slaughter, high priest of Chaos, I am a Knight of the Void!” the guards eyes trembled as his opponent drew closer and closer.

Julius heard from in-between each shotgun blast a crack or pop of bone and joint falling back into place as the cold harlequin like man in the jumpsuit set his body back into optimum working order with strange possess and grotesque contortionistic displays of natural lithe. Once he was satisfied the slaughter ensued one well-placed punch at a time, the guards dropped with broken necks and crushed trachea one by one. Until the hallway was still, the blue-eyed man slowly turned to look at Julius who was quietly trying to crawl away unnoticed.

“stop boy” he snapped his fingers and pointed to the ground at his feet. “come, now!” Julius stood and started to run not looking back. Faces appeared in the walls as he ran, his head throbbed, and his nose began to bleed. Falling to his knees Julius could hear the death screams of the guards roaring in his mind and the entire hallway burst into flames around him. The Harlequin was standing in front of him before he knew what had happened. The mad man’s eyes were glowing a pail silvery blue and when they stopped glowing Julius’ head stopped hurting. A foot came down hard on his chest and the man stood over him as if a wolf declaring its alfa status.

“boy what year is it?” Julius looking puzzled “speak boy!”

“Sir… it’s… December 423 A.A.” Julius squinted expecting to be hit for something, but the strike never came.

“shit, too much time has passed!” the man looked flustered “oh well, everything happens for a reason. Well Mr. Amaranth, you’re coming with me, stand boy!” he moved from over Julius to allow him to stand. Blood dripped from the man’s chest and arms, but he seemed unfazed by pain.

…….

It was dark, the showers were still running hot steamy water, off in the distance there were the sounds of battle but in here on the cool floor it was quiet and peaceful. Sitting up Symateure groaned the holes in his chest had not yet closed and probably wouldn’t for quite some time even though the mercury had been pushed out the wounds were saturated with it. Dragging himself to a nearby wall he leaned against it and shaped a bar of soap from his pouch into a candle. He snapped his fingers and the candle burst into flame glowing with a unearthly black flame. The candle burned smokeless and cold making the air around the baron icy enough to see his breath in the purple light of the flame.

Calling the corpse of Woe to him, the limbs of the headless body jittered awake and scrambled towards the Baron falling limp at his side. The Baron took the pink coral rings from his necklace and let the blackened wax drip onto the ring inscribed with beautiful old English scrollwork saying ‘his’. He then breathed onto the set of rings and let his blood run onto them and began chanting. The candle burned fast and screamed as it reached the end of the human hair wick. The rings glowed and Symateures eyes washed of all color for a moment he stuffed the set of rings down the exposed throat of Woes body and sent the body back to lay as it was before. With all strength gone from the Baron he sat in the same spot waiting for what would come next.

“well Mr. Symateure, it would appear that you have made quite a mess of things. That boy was not supposed to know about demons really existing or see the light of day until the master deemed him ready.” A jovial looking Doctor Leeroy stood in the doorway of the locker room casting a very long shadow over the baron. “I think we’re going to have to punish you for this, let’s see just how much control over death a Necromancer really has, shall we? I think you’re as human as they come.” The baron tried to smile but his vision faded to black. The smiling doctor snapped his rubber gloves on and motioned for his escort to pick up the broken body of the baron and take it away.

With slow methodical precision the doctor made his way to the limp body of Filipe like a prowling cat he clung to the shadows only the glint of his white smile could be seen through the dark. “dear boy, you have failed me again and again, what am I to do with you?” he snapped his fingers and Filipe gasped for air. His skin returned to a normal youthful appearance though his hair remained shock white. Filipe came screaming back into consciousness and flopped about the floor trying to push away whatever was biting at him before.

“boy, you have depths of unexplored uselessness yet to be fathomed,” growled the doctor. “how are we to remedy this problem?”

“sir, I had Julius, he was helpless and on deaths doorstep! Then that…” Filipe trailed off with images of the baron washing back into his head. His tailbone still hurt and moving was extremely painful

“yes, go on…” Filipe now roused from his horrific reverie shuttered and looked towards the voice.

“sir, the soap dolls, he did crazy things with the soap dolls and, those monsters the baron had ate all my energy! Please don’t make me face the baron again!” the doctor just stepped out of the shadows always with that sickly-sweet smile painted across his face.

“dear boy, if it were up to me I would terminate our arrangement, you have proven to be a failure time and time again. However…” he stopped and placed a caressing hand on Filipes head, running his long boney fingers through the quivering boys snowy hair he grabbed a handful and jerked it back hard so as to look at the terrified boys face. Filipe gave a gasp of pain before the doctor continued, “the decision, boy, is not up to me! The master has a plan and we are moving you out to perform a new task for us.” Filipe couldn’t help but sigh in relief though the venomous man standing before him flickered with furry.

“sir, what will the master have me do?” he quivered and closed his eyes expecting more pain.

“you, are to get up off the floor, get cleaned up and ready yourself for transfer. You are going to school with children your age and you are going to do your upmost to pass for a normal boy.” Filipe looked up in absolute confusion,

“…sir?” squeaked the boy

“you are going to begin to collect fallowers for our master, looking for talent and skill. You are going to enroll in the glamour and charm department because you are entirely to unreliable to leave to your own devices. Lastly because of your prominent name master has decided to use you to help influence political movements from the school.” Filipe listened carefully and said nothing, once released he scrambled to his feet and hobbled off to do as commanded.

…….

Stepping first through an empty doorway with his hands held up, beads of sweat dripped from Julius’ brow. The tips of two glittering blades made of pure light were held at his back and the risk of guards with guns to his front Julius tried to think of a way out of this stupidly dangerous situation but found no escape possible. The mad man behind him glowered down at the boy with the thirst for blood ripe upon his aura.

“You know Sir Beleaguer, I am half your size… what if the guards go for head shots? I’m not exactly the best human shield…” Julius eased the words out like a dagger from his sleeve.

“True, very true… I guess that means you’d better jump huh half bread?”

“what does that mean? Why do you keep calling me half bread?”

“I’ll answer all your questions if we are able to escape.”

“but…”

“Shut up and walk boy! You’re a shield not a lure.” Julius bit down on his lower lip nervously as they continued on. Every computerized door lock they came across Sir Beleaguer would place the flat of his hand on and the door would spark and swing open. With this depraved man, moving through the prison was shockingly easy and hardly any resistance was met. It was as if the void night with Julius knew where all the guards were and moved around them. It didn’t take long and Julius’ heart began thundering in his chest upon seeing the exit. It was so close he could almost feel the bright fresh sunlight, he could taste the fresh air! Blades rose up to rest on Julius’ sweaty skin, the tips of the glowing light blades nestled in the hallo space between the ear and the neck. Julius could feel their heat radiating, he could hear the blades hiss as they consumed air from their surroundings.

“You have one chance to live,”

“But I freed you!” Julius protested in a weak voice

“answer this question correctly and you may live.” Julius nodded his head as Sir Beleaguer continued, “Tell me, what do I look like?” Julius paused for a moment to think before he spoke.

“Uhm, sir… I have a terrible memory… I… I can’t remember.” He held his breath then exhaled and continued to lie through his teeth, “You have a hunched back… brown, no, green eyes. You had your mask on the whole time, so I couldn’t make out facial features.” Julius looked through his peripherals to see the blades lower a bit.

“Walk forward boy.” Beleaguer spoke in a low raspy growl. Julius closed his eyes and did as commanded, taking a few uneasy steps he paused and waited. “move forward boy!” Julius eased by the assurance strode forward until he hit the double doors and pushed them open. Alarms blared and then went silent as the man behind him dug the swords into the power lines in the walls and absorbed all the energy he possibly could. The doors swung open out into blinding light, the day was cool and grey, frost clung to the ground and refracted the silvery winter sunlight light into a flickering sea of blue, pink, purple, and green specks. It was like staring into millions of tiny prisms all at once.

It took a short while for his eyes to adjust to the sudden brightness, but it felt good to be in real sun light for the first time in months! As his eyes came into focus, his eyes settled on a massive silhouette, there in the distant horizon stood the enormous domed super city of Resolute. His city, a place that now held only misery for him. Before he could finish his mournful thoughts the sounds of battle filled the still, silence of the winters morning. He had spent hours running amuck in the labyrinth of a prison and the night had passed them by without so much as an ounce of rest for both the boy and the murderer.

Sir Beleaguer sprang into action slicing the heads off of two nearby guards and howled like a wolf as blue flames burst from his body and leapt from one man to another, to another dropping six guards at once. The men lay convulsing, spasm ridden, their bodies were like live fish on an open flame. Julius looked to see several cameras smoking and he quickly jumped into step with the cackling man who bolted for a nearby vehicle. Hopping in as the man formed a key out of light that he pulled from the air Julius screamed,

“Incoming sir duck!” and a missile narrowly missed the police guards hover jeep. Hitting the gate, the whole world rocked for a brief moment as Julius’ ears rang and the gates flew open with the force of the blast. The jeep whinnied then the thrusters kicked in and in a cloud of dust and frost they were gone. Lazer beams and railgun rounds flew past them and Beleaguer zigged and zagged, getting hit by a few lazers himself. They seemed to disperse on contact with his skin but burned holes in the jeeps armor and leather interior like they were made of heated butter. Julius screamed and curled up on the floor of the passenger’s side as the mad man maneuvered left and right and took to the air occasionally barrel rolling to dodge an incoming missile. Julius peaked up to see what was going on, green faced and motion sick his eyes met with the cold blue of his capture,

“You vomit in my new jeep and I’ll skin you alive boy!” Julius’ eyes widened with fear, he had a sneaking suspicion that those words were more of a promise than a hallow threat. Julius nodded and held it in as the chase ramped up. The police and military units took to the air and Julius felt a sharp pain as a lazer grazed his cheek. Then another sharp pain as he was ripped from his comfy hiding spot on the floor and drug into the mad man’s lap.

“Take the controls boy and don’t screw up or we’re both dead!” Julius did as instruct with eyes bulging from his head. He had never seen the inside of a hover craft before let alone piloted one! The knight climbed from his seat and into the open bed of the jeep. Julius shook with fear and the mad man roared,

“Keep it steady damn you! You’ll have to learn to eat with your feet if you keep it up!” Julius took a deep breath and exhaled focusing on steady smooth movements with the two control sticks.

“How’s that sir?”

“Good, keep it just like that! Hold on coarse and close your eyes when I tell you to!” The wind howled as their speed increased and Julius kept things as still as he could.

“Now! Close your eyes!” Beleaguer chanted something and… Boom!

Julius saw sparks through his closed eyelids as the whole sky lit up and three military units went down with tails of smoke billowing from them. The police communicators roared as units tried to re-rally to respond but the mad man used the intel to avoid traps and the mad man and the boy were gone!

…….

“Well then, shall we begin Mr. Symateure? I think with my restraints on harming you lifted, that you’ll break rather quickly.” Doctor Leeroy finished setting out his stainless-steel medical tools onto a white cloth on a roll away tray.

“You know, I’ve always wanted to dissect a Necromancer, however; they never do well in captivity. They always get themselves killed too quickly.” He gave the Baron a warm and friendly smile as he ran his hands along the length of the Barons abdomen stopping just above a still bleeding hole in his stomach.

“I’m a curious man by nature, how does one go about training to have the ultimate control over one’s body like you Necromancers do?” He dug his fingers deep into the wound, but the Baron made no noise. He strained against the leather straps holding him to the surgery table.

“Man, ya no ave a clue as ta what real ard work en trainin’ bee like. Necromancy ees en art of both medical and magical fields. A sold like ya self can neva unda-stand eet! Ya neva worked for a ting in ya life!” The doctor laughed and pulled his graceful, elegant hand from the Barons wound. Blood spurted for a moment and then the bleeding rapidly stopped itself as he began breathing deeply.

“oh my, you really are an impressive specimen. I’m going to have fun with you!” He plucked a scalpel from the rollaway tray and held it to the overhead light for a moment. “when master found me, I was a starving artist close to death. Master recognized my talents for what they were and protected me.”

“En artist eh? Me not seein’ ya da sculpta type, perhaps ya was a finga painta?” the Baron choked on blood as he laughed his hardy laugh.

“If you must know, I was an anatomist who took his work… a little too far some would say. No one could understand my brilliance. I found subjects in need of surgeries that couldn’t afford it, and I simply helped them a little that’s all.” A wide friendly smile narrowed into a thin line of a smile, this was not so friendly and warm however. His eyes glossed over as he made his first incision on the Barons stomach. He had the eyes of a man who was making sweet love to his soul mate. “oh… what wonderful dermis layers! You are in perfect health and your tissue is thanking me for it!” The Baron gritted his teeth but made no noise as he endured the pain silently.

“So why ees da boy Julius so important to ya doc?” The doctor looked up from his work but did not stop, without missing a step he continued cutting as he spoke.

“The master sees the boy as an important sacrifice that must be prepped and made ready for the masters coming. The boy really is no concern of mine, you however are important to both master and I.”

“what do ya mean man? Sacrifice?”

“oh yes, he is indeed the vestal that must be prepared. Without that boy the master will have to settle for temporary vestals like he has been. But, those bodies never last long and despite my talents I can find no way to preserve bodies for the master’s needs which is why you are going to divulge everything you know to myself!” The Baron was sweating, and it was all he could do not to scream as the doctor pealed back the most superficial layers of skin to reveal the nerve tissue. He took a deep breath and blew out over the tissue and watch the Barons whole body contract in pain.

“oops, that must be tender huh? Now, let’s start the real fun.” The doctor took out a lunch pale and opened it. He removed a sandwich and a small bag of sliced lemons.

“I’m a very busy man so I hope you don’t mind if I take my lunch break now. On another note, if you are worried about us killing the boy you can rest assured that his fate shall not end so soon. He must be broken and striped of all goodness so that his body may become the perfect vestal.” He took a lemon out and began rubbing it over the tender nerves while taking a bite of his sandwich with the other hand. He swallowed after a long while of chewing, the sandwich looked to be the best thing this doctor had ever eaten by how long he savored each bit.

“what ees ya masta gunna do once hee as da body?” the doctor looked surprised that the baron could still speak coherently.

“My goodness you are a tough cookie, or perhaps it’s because you are a Necromancer? Well, master will be able to take full physical form with his vassal. Meaning he will no longer be vulnerable and limited to certain means of operation. In other words master will be invincible!”

“en what bee ya invincible masters name?” The Baron said in a mocking tone,

“Since you’ll break and join us or die, there really isn’t any harm in telling you. Master goes by the name Don Refi’Cul, He claims to be a very influential ambassador from the southern territories of C.U.S.” The doctor simply smiled wildly but it quickly faded as a guard burst into the operation room.

“Sir! Sir! We have a serious problem!”

“what! Why are you interrupting my private meeting?” the doctor who was always calm and collected threw his scalpel at the man, which stuck into the doorframe by his head. Nearly frothing at the mouth, the Doctor stormed over to the guard and slapped him with his sandwich. “Speak you moron speak!” the terrified man covered in sandwich cowered but spoke.

“The boy opened the thundering door, and sir… they both esc…” But he was cut off as the Doctor yanked the scalpel out from the wall and slit the man’s throat in a blind rage. Storming over to the Baron with bloody scalpel in hand. The Doctors eyes were wild, and his face had turned to look very much like a feral jackal. He opened his mouth to scream at the Baron but could only muster a whimper as an iron gripped fist clenched around the Doctors groin. The Doctor looked down to see the leather straps undone. With the Barons free hand, he closed the open chest wound and they began sealing themselves at a rapped rate.

“Ya no to bright man, ya da crazy and stupid type. Me be a Necromancer! Did ya forget, we be da commanders of all that is dead and dying. En leather ees dead flesh man!” There was a loud crunch as the Baron squeezed until the veins in his neck bulged and then he jerked his hand away fast and hard. Before the screaming Doctor could hit the ground the behemoth of a man caught him by the throat and squeezed until he felt the death serge and the life force leave the body.

“Now man, we ave soom paper work ta do. Julius ees gunna go ta school like a normal boy! Come along man, I’ll need ya help.” The doctors limp body stood erect and fallowed after the Baron who stopped at Woes corpse to dig threw it for his rings. Baron Symateure chanted something and made some hand gestured and a glowing ghostly bird appeared before him. He then tied the rings to the ghostly bird and said in a booming voice, “To da boy Julius Amaranth wid speed!” The bird bolted out of the room like a whirlwind and was gone.