Friday, June 30, 2017

Friday Freebie with Jack #2 - Enter the Crusades!

Who is ready for the second part of our story? I know I am.


Enter the Crusades!


“This place is creepy as hell,” I said to Khloros as we entered.

And not just from the smell of demons. The dead, they were restless here and the Reaper walking in was like an invitation to come out. These souls weren’t properly put to rest. They were given half rites, causing them to be trapped on this realm. My heart went out to them. Eventually, I would need to take care of this.

Unfortunately, that moment wasn’t right now. With War out giving into his need to slaughter things, I was left alone in this mausoleum crawling with demons. And the first batch to slaughter just arrived.

Imps, fifty to sixty imps shot out of one of the tombs along the wall. “Khloros,” I sighed. “It never ends…”

“That it doesn’t, Death.”

Imps are the lowest of the low in terms on demonic hierarchy. Think cockroaches with buggier eyes, really. As the army of imps flew, crawled, flopped towards me, Leviathan joined the party, as well as my celestial fire. This wasn’t going to be pretty.

The blade of the scythe met the first wave of poor assholes as they got into range. The familiar squish and splat associated with popping imp heads filled the air. Khloros, a bit more refined than I was, charged into groups of imps, using his hooves like a fighter would use his fists. He was getting pretty good at that.

The imp slaughter went on for a bit longer. I’ll save you the glory details, but the residents of the mausoleum weren’t pleased that their pristine marble home was being covered in guts, slime, and black, tar-like blood. Oh well, they were dead, they shouldn’t even be here.

As the last imp was sent to the Pit, someone began clapping. “Bravo, what a spectacular show put on by a wonderful showman.”

There was a stairwell that led down, deeper into the tomb off to the east end of the building. That’s where our new friend had risen from, a very large Wrath demon. “I aim to entertain,” I replied back with some snark.

“Forgive me, horseman.” The Wrath demon gave me an exaggerated bow. “I am General Markos, liege to the Arch Demon Baal.”

Great, this just wasn’t any old demonic shindig, this involved Baal. To give you an idea, Baal’s feared even amongst the angels, second only to Beelzebub in Lucifer’s fallen court. If he was here…

“My master sends his regards to any who try to oppose his plan,” Markos went on. “That would seem to include you, Reaper.”

Knowing an Arch Demon wasn’t underground waiting for me, I felt a little better. Still, I had a very impressive looking Wrath demon to take care of. “It’s a shame your master sent you. I do hope you enjoy your journey to the Pit, courtesy of yours truly.”

He unhooked the axe on his back and with my scythe, the two instruments of killing met in a shower of sparks.

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As always, come back next Friday and we will see what old Death gets himself into once again. Until next week!

Oh and make sure you check out Morganna Williams and her blog, as her Friday Freebie will be up later today: www.morgannawilliams.com

Jack


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