Midknight, p.18
Midknight, page 18
Midknight was careful to maintain his focus and did his best to keep his anger in check. He wanted to hurt these men who had sold their souls by selling out humanity to aid Murmur, but he couldn't get carried away with his actions toward them. The cloak responded to his every move, warning him of danger and keeping him one step ahead of his adversaries. He could sense the presence of the Schadowe entity lurking within the cloak, but for now it chose to lie dormant below the surface. Midknight was still in charge of the cloak and its actions, but for how much longer?
Despite all the chaos and confusion that he was creating, Midknight couldn't be everywhere at once. There had to be several hundred of the militia soldiers here and he figured there would be that many on the north side of Paradise Flats where John would deal with them. Here on the south side of town, the soldiers were still trying to determine where the intruder would pop up next, aiming their weapons at empty air only to miss him again when he did reappear.
Things were going well for Midknight at the moment, but he tried not to get too far ahead of himself. A number of the soldiers here had either been rendered unconscious or had their weapons stripped from them, but this battle was far from over. He took a moment to check on how the Watchmen were doing with the onrushing Deranged and was sickened by the sight of the dead bodies that were piled up at the base of the perimeter fence. Somehow...someday, he would make Murmur pay for everything that he had done.
It was then that he saw the explosions taking place inside the town limits. It was too far for Midknight to see what was being hit, but he knew that it had to be homes and buildings that were being targeted. Where were the bombs coming from? Midknight realized too late that the mortars were being launched from the far end where the militia had parked their vehicles here on the south side of town. He had been so focused on disabling the soldiers of their assault rifles that he had missed where the mortars had been set up.
In an instant, he transported himself to their location and began to disable them and take out the men firing them. There were close to a dozen of them set up and Midknight was only able to render half of them useless before the remaining six were fired. After dismantling the last of the mortars, he could only watch helplessly as a new round of explosions rocked the south side of Paradise Flats. John should have been able to stop the mortars. Why hadn't he? Where was he at?
The Celestial had been sitting in one of the watchtowers earlier on the north side of Paradise Flats with Bruce Williams when the trucks pulled up in the distance.
“What's with the cattle liners?” Bruce asked. “I can see why they would bring military trucks, but why the cattle liners?”
“I'm not sure.” John answered, puzzled as to why he couldn't see what they were carrying inside. Something was keeping the contents of the vehicles hidden from him and John determined that Murmur must be close by using his magic. Why, though? Was he so confident that victory would be his here tonight that he wanted to witness it firsthand?
In the distance, he watched the three cattle liners back up into position as the sun was slowly starting to set. They remained like that until darkness descended.
“What's going on out there?” Bruce asked as he peered out into the blackness. The watch fires had been lit, but he could see nothing past them. “Can you see what's going on?”
“So far, nothing.”
“What about what's in the trucks?”
“Still nothing.” John couldn't detect Murmur’s presence, but he had to be nearby to keep whatever was inside hidden from him. “I'm going to check it out.”
“What if it's a trap?”
“There is that possibility.” John really didn't think it was, but something was troubling him. Murmur knew that his powers were no match for John here, so what was he up to? He had to be close by, but why was the soul collector willing to risk facing him now? Murmur’s intent must be to draw Beau out and force his hand or perhaps force the transformation into Schadowe. John wouldn't let that happen.
In a flash, the Celestial was gone from the watchtower. Bruce looked around trying to determine where he had gone when he spotted John down below making his way past the watch fires. From out of the darkness beyond came the sounds of unearthly wailing and the Watchmen immediately reached for their weapons. Whatever it was, it was getting much closer and John was walking right towards it. He was completely lost from sight now and Bruce wondered if he had fallen victim to whatever was out there.
“What's that?” someone in the next watchtower asked and pointed out into the night towards the watch fires. Bruce could see nothing at first, but spotted John as it appeared as if someone was shining a spotlight on him as he moved away from them. The Celestial began to glow brightly, stopping for a moment and raising his arms upward to shoulder height. The glow intensified around him until soon the whole night seemed to light up, revealing the source of what a terrible wailing sound was.
Hundreds of the Deranged raced across the open field towards the town. They parted at the sight of John, taking a wide berth around him and continuing forward. When they reached where the warning fires blazed, the Watchmen began to fire, causing dozens of the Deranged to fall. Still, they kept coming, no fear evident on their dark, twisted faces. Again, the shots from the Watchmen greeted them. Several more fell, but still they kept rushing forward. John continued onward to where the militia had set up their trucks and left the Deranged for the Watchmen to deal with. He was not as concerned with them as he was with what was in the remaining trailer that hadn't been opened yet. As soon as the soldiers witnessed his glowing presence, they opened fire on him, but any bullet that came close to him melted once it hit the glow surrounding the Celestial. Thousands of rounds of ammunition were fired in his direction without doing any damage.
Realizing that their assault rifles were ineffective, two soldiers grabbed rocket propelled grenade launchers and fired them at the glowing individual approaching them. They deflected harmlessly away from him and exploded in the open field thirty yards away. John was now less than twenty yards away from where they stood and many of the militia soldiers frantically pondered their remaining options when they saw how futile their weapons were against this lone individual.
The magic concealing the contents of the trailer started to wane as John made his way closer toward it. He could detect the presence of five individuals inside the trailer, but they were not human.... not anymore. Once maybe, but now they were something altogether different. The magic that was concealing their presence from him was also containing whatever was lurking inside the trailer and on his approach, it was released. Something huge smashed against the door from the inside and it burst open from the impact. The soldiers scampered away to safety, not wanting to risk being caught in the crossfire of the battle that was about to take place.
From out of the darkness inside the trailer emerged several dark creatures with one clear purpose....to attack the strange glowing individual before them. The first to reach John was a winged monstrosity that came at him with clawed talons as it soared past. A shryke from the Feurie Realm of Perdisius, John thought at first, until he saw its human features. Whatever this was had the dark leathery wings of a shryke as well as razor sharp claws on its hands and feet, but it was still relatively human in appearance. Its flight path was choppy and unsteady, almost as if it was still unsure of its abilities and John was able to easily dodge its attack.
Next to reach him was a large, lumbering abomination. This was undoubtedly the creature responsible for dislodging the trailer door from its hinges. In Perdisius, this would be an ogre from the Beestial Realm. They were one of the many brutish creatures that lived in the mountainous region there, but this creature had a human element to it, as well. While it stood over eight feet tall and was muscle bound like an ogre would be, it didn't have the same hairy features. Human skin was stretched to its limit over a massive frame. It was immediately obvious to John that Murmur had been experimenting with combining elements of the Forsaken's physiology with those of humans.
The ogre was large, but clumsy. It took a wild swing at John with a massive fist, but the blow was slow and awkward and he side stepped it easily. As the ogre hybrid stumbled past him, the Celestial struck it on the back and sent it tumbling to the ground where it struggled to get back to its feet. Murmur was sadly mistaken if he thought these grotesque creations of his were going to be a match for him, John thought to himself as he turned to face two more of the crossbreeds.
A fiery figure lunged at him next with hands ablaze, looking to incinerate John. A cambion, one of the Forsaken from the Haborous region that Apollyon ruled. At least, it looked like one until John saw it up close. Beneath its fiery exterior was a man who was also struggling to control the power that he now possessed. Creating a shield of light energy, John batted the flaming mutation aside and wheeled around to face another of Murmur’s creations.
Part wolf and part man, it darted side to side with great speed before jumping at the Celestial’s throat with razor sharp teeth bared. The Wildemonn Realm was home to forest creatures that were terrifying hunters like this one. Like the others, Murmur had created a hideous monstrosity combining the Forsaken's essence with that of the humans. This abomination lacked the speed and guile of a werewolf and John caught it by its throat and tossed it effortlessly aside.
The shryke passed by once more looking to catch John unaware, but he hammered it with his shield, sending it hurtling into the ogre who was still trying to regain its footing. Both went down in a heap. The other two of Murmur’s creations were back on their feet again but looked hesitant to attack the Celestial. Surely, the soul collector didn't think that these hybrids could defeat him, did he? John paused for a moment when he remembered that there were five of these creations that he had sensed. Where was the fifth one?
From behind him, explosions rocked the south side of Paradise Flats. John turned to see who was responsible and as he did, a dark figure materialized beside him. In one hand it held a stone dagger and with John distracted, the wraithlike creature thrust the blade into the right side of the Celestial’s back. John grimaced in pain, surprised that he had been hurt. For a moment, he thought that it was Beau standing before him until he realized this was the fifth presence that he had sensed. Another human enhanced with the abilities of the wraith’s from Schadowe’s realm. He grinned at John, revelling in his ability to inflict pain on the Celestial and John angrily backhanded him away, sending him flying thirty feet into the surrounding bushes.
Withdrawing the dagger from his side, John cursed to himself for being so overconfident. He had played right into Murmur's plan. It was no ordinary dagger that he held in his hand. As he examined it, he could detect the presence of a poison on the blade that was already infecting his system. To anyone else, it would have meant an instant death, but the Celestial was omnipotent. Still, this poison was something that Murmur must have retrieved from Perdisius as John could feel it wreaking havoc with his body despite using his powers to ward it off. Murmur’s trials could sense that their adversary was badly wounded but were still reluctant to attack again. John noticed their hesitation and debated whether he should finish them off. Even in his weakened state, he could easily dispatch the five of them, but at what cost? If he stayed here much longer, the poison might spread, leaving him too weak to fight Murmur when he eventually showed himself. Not willing to take that chance, John vanished from sight to tend to the wound that he had sustained.
From where he watched the altercation, Murmur smiled with delight. His Trials had performed admirably. They still required some time to adjust their new abilities, but they had succeeded in taking the Celestial off of the playing field for now. Murmur knew that the wound would not hinder John for very long.... perhaps a day or two at the most. The poison wasn't enough to kill him, but it was enough to take him away from here while he healed. Appearing long enough to commend the Trials for their efforts, Murmur instructed the soldiers to load everything backup and return to Southby.
“What about the Deranged? Are we taking them back, as well?”
“No, they can stay. A parting gift for our friends in Paradise Flats.”
Murmur then disappeared and reappeared on the south side of town where the rest of the militia had been set up. Everything was in disarray with bodies and military equipment scattered around. The soldiers were in the midst of picking themselves up and gathering damaged equipment when they spotted Murmur.
“Where is he?”
“Who? That asshole in the black costume? He disappeared right after the mortar blasts hit the town.”
“Very well. Return to Southby once you are done here.” Murmur instructed.
The soldier nodded and returned to his duties. He never bothered to ask if the Deranged were making the return trip or not.
Midknight was helping dig through the rubble from the damage inflicted by the mortars when Sergeant Jasper found him. With the powers that he possessed from the cloak, Midknight was able to lift off any heavy debris to help free those trapped underneath. Two houses had been hit by the mortar fire and while rescue teams worked to put out any burning fires, Midknight transported himself into the damaged homes to check for survivors. He was able to locate two small children who had been trapped in their room and returned them to their parents. The residents of Paradise Flats were shaken, but still chipped in to help with the cleanup despite it being the middle of the night. Flashlights helped illuminate their way through the darkness and as bad as things appeared right now, they could only imagine what the devastation would look like when daylight came. There was a mix of anger and fear from those gathered as they wondered what they had done to deserve this and if they would survive another attack like this one.
“I'm sorry,” Midknight said when he saw the sergeant. “I couldn't stop them in time. I didn't-’
“It's not your fault. It could have been a lot worse if you hadn't been here.”
“Where’s John? I thought that he would have prevented this.”
“I'm not sure.” the sergeant replied. “No one has seen him in a while.”
‘That can't be good’, Midknight thought to himself. “How bad is it?”
“From what I understand so far, there's been nobody killed from the mortars.... just structural damage mostly. Some casualties, but luckily, they'll survive. The south perimeter fence held up okay. Lots of dead Deranged, but the Watchmen are all okay. The north fence wasn't quite so fortunate. Some of the Deranged busted through. There are some casualties from what I've heard, but I don't know how bad or how many there are. The Deranged were eventually stopped, but we took some losses.”
This information bothered Midknight. John wouldn't have let them get as far as he did unless something had happened to the Celestial. He wouldn't have let the mortar fire hit the town or just disappeared like this. If John was gone though, how would Paradise Flats survive the next assault? Maybe all they really were doing was delaying the inevitable.
As they stood there talking, one of the sergeant's officers came running up. “Sir, there's something that I think you should see on the south wall. Actually, out past the watch fires.... well, one of them that's still burning. There's some guy out there standing all by himself. He's not from around here and hasn't said anything.... just stands there like a statue. We thought he was one of those Deranged people. Someone took a shot at him to scare him off, but he didn't even flinch. We're thinking he's some kind of whack job. He's wearing the weirdest looking green suit that I've ever seen. Maybe you-”
“Green suit?” Midknight asked. “Holding a leather book?”
“Yes. Ugly green, li-” Before the officer could finish, Midknight had already disappeared.
Transporting himself to the top of the south wall, Midknight paused for a moment to search for the person in question that the officer was talking about. There was no doubt that it was Murmur standing by one of the few remaining watch fires that was still upright. An instant later, Midknight found himself face to face with the collector of souls.
“What are you doing here, Murmur? Give me one good reason why I shouldn't-”
“There has been enough bloodshed and violence here tonight, Beau Sittler. I'm here to offer you a truce.”
“A truce? After all you’ve done here? Why should I believe anything you say?”
“Because this has gone on long enough. Your little town can't withstand another assault like this. Give me what I want and I will leave Paradise Flats alone.”
“Schadowe? Not unless I have anything to say about it.”
“I realize that now. I must commend you on that. All I needed you to do was kill one measly human being, but you have showed incredible restraint to help keep Schadowe from appearing. I'm still not quite sure how you're resisting him from taking you over, but that's another matter for another time.”
“So, what do you want?”
“The cloak. I realize now that it was wrong for me to give it to you. Give me the cloak and I will leave your little town in peace.”
“Just like that?”
“Just like that. You have my word on that, Beau Sittler.”
“I thought you said that I was stuck with it. That not even the Celestials could separate it from me?”
“That is true, but I can.”
“I think you would have taken it already if you could.”
“Not here, I can't. In Southby, however, I can. Come up there tomorrow before nightfall and I will free you of it.”
“And I suppose you're going to just let me walk away afterwards?”
“Yes, and Paradise Flats will be spared any more attacks by my men.”
