Assassin's Chronicle

Christian paused when he saw the front door to the house open. Anfey and Black Eleven appeared.

"Black Eleven, Anfey," Christian said, hurrying over to greet them.

"What are the zombies doing?" Anfey asked.

"They’re getting close," Christian said. "Let’s go to the city walls." They turned and followed Christian towards Moramatch’s walls.

Alice was already waiting near the mage tower by the time they arrived. She stood next to the mages, staring at the Eye of the Sky. In the Eye of the Sky they could see thousands of zombies marching towards the city in neat columns. With her were Suzanna and Shinbella, who were taking a break from fight training. All three women turned to look at Anfey, Chrisitan, and Black Eleven. They appeared deeply disturbed and worried.

"Look at this," Alice said sullenly, moving aside. "What do you propose we do?"

Anfey looked at the Eye of the Sky. The zombies surged towards the city like ocean waves. There were more zombies present than he had ever anticipated. He never thought the necromancers would pay so much attention to a small town like Moramatch. If the mysterious Priest of Light was a small island to provide the mercenaries with the light of hope and a sanctuary, the zombies were the ocean that surrounded that sanctuary. The mercenaries, the dwarves, and the gnomes had constructed two more walls outside the barriers they had set up in case the zombies broke through the barrier again as they had the previous time. However, the walls were made of dirt and could not hold for long against this many zombies.

"You have to make a decision," Suzanna said, "or else we all die."

"There are so many," Anfey whispered under his breath.

Alice nodded. "It’s unexpected," she said, shaking her head. "We aren’t prepared for this. I had the dwarves open the entrances into the tunnels just in case. They’re easier to defend than the city."

"Is that the priest you talked about?" Anfey asked, pointing at a figure in the Eye of the Sky. Alice sighed and nodded. "He’s looks... different than I expected," Anfey said.

Alice had gathered all the mages in the town and ordered them to use the Eye of the Sky. Right now, most of the Eyes were following the priest and the zombies he was fighting. The other Eyes were focused on other fronts. The only side of the town that wasn’t monitored was the western front, under Ozzic’s charge, where the priest had come from. There were enough zombies to immediately surround and take over the town.

"I don’t know how to feel about the priest," Christian admitted. "He’s our best hope at survival right now, but he’s acting strange."

The priest climbed onto a small hill and turned towards Moramatch, waving and mumbling something. Then he turned around and dusted off his robes. A book appeared in his left hand and he raised his staff. The priest marched towards the zombies confidently. Christian gasped when he saw the staff.

"What is it?" Anfey asked.

"The first pope St. Robin appeared on the battlefield like this," Christian said, "but back then, the zombies were not immune to light magic."

"He seems confident," Anfey commented. "Why? He has to know something we are not aware of."

Elizabeth shook his head. "The Church of Light has a strict code. They will not allow any priests to reveal secrets. You can interrogate him all you want. You won’t get anything out of him."

Anfey frowned. He wasn’t fond of anyone affiliated with the Church of Light, but this priest was their best hope. He knew very well that if he ordered the mercenaries to strike, they would lose the city.

"Look at him!" Blavi suddenly called.

The priest paused and rested the staff and book on the ground. He stretched and rubbed his shoulder, then picked up his belongings again.

"Interesting," Christian commented. He turned to Anfey and asked, "Should we go in?"

"Wait," Anfey said. "I don’t want to alert the zombies. Let’s see what that priest has to offer."

After a few minutes, the priest appeared on the horizon. He walked towards the town, the sun behind him. He wasn’t a large man, but in that moment he appeared as a figure from a legend. His staff was raised high above his head and he walked with confidence. As he approached the zombies, the creatures automatically cleared a path for him as if they were afraid of him and did not even want to be near him. Ozzic gulped nervously. He had never seen so many zombies in the same place. He did not know what he should do if the zombies began charging. He took a deep breath and turned to look at the wall. The presence of the mages and swordsmasters was the only thing that stopped him from retreating back into the city.

The priest stopped under the first dirt wall and turned to look at the zombies. He waved his hand and his figure rose into the air. He hovered above the dirt walls and waved his wand. The book burst into blinding light. Zombies around him howled in pain and turned to shade their eyes from the light.

The priest waved his wand and the light rose. Anfey narrowed his eyes and realized that even he could not look at the book and must turn away so his eyes wouldn’t be blinded.

As the light expanded, the zombies’ howls died down and the creatures all froze. The priest flipped through the book slowly. All the mercenaries were forced to close their eyes. After a few more pages, even Anfey had to close his eyes.

The priest began chanting in a foreign language. The light enveloped the zombies and the creatures began turning into dust. Then even the dust puffed away into nothing.

This was such an unexpected display of power. Clearly, the man was no ordinary priest. Anfey opened his eyes and watched as the last of the zombies disappeared. By the time the light was gone, there were no more zombies to be seen. Anfey widened his eyes, gaping. He now knew why the priest was confident.

He was so powerful, but why didn’t he do something earlier?

"My god," Elizabeth muttered. "That’s the Revelation of Light."

"What is that?"

"It’s two books: the first part is called the Book of Doom, the second is the Book of Life," Elizabeth muttered. "This must be the Book of Life. But how did it come to this man?"

The book reappeared through the light and fell back into the priest’s hands. The priest rested on the dirt wall and dusted his robes again. The mercenaries watched in shock, then they all bowed towards the priest. They knew that the man had just saved all of their lives.

Some of the surviving zombies dashed away from the town, howling in fear. Anfey frowned. He didn’t want the zombies getting away with this news. They could report it to the necromancers, and he had no idea what the necromancers would do once they knew.