"This is a terrible idea." Bob stated flatly. He was past the point of his initial panic. But, he still didn't agree.

 

Zephyra giggled. 

 

"I know! It's really a bad idea. Daddy always warned me about it. A lot. Like, really you don't have any idea how much he emphasized that this was a terrible idea.

 

But, we won't be around to clean up the mess! It'll fall squarely on the shoulders of the Church." 

 

Bob made a grimace somewhere inbetween pain, disgust, and resignation. 

 

"And, you don't care about the townsfolk that might be caught in the crossfire?"

 

Zephyra stared at him blankly for a moment. 

 

"Huh. I guess you have a point. But, then again…", she pondered over the thought and her plan for a moment. She weighed the pros and cons. And, the likelihood of their success. "Nope. They tore through each other to get to me. And, my life is more important anyway." 

 

Bob raised an incredulous eyebrow. Her reasoning was fairly cold hearted and certainly self centered. 

 

"They have all of their own thoughts, feelings and experiences, you know. And-"

 

Zephyra waved her hand and his arguments to the side. 

 

"Yes. Yes. I'm sure that they're all like, um…" She paused and searched for the word that she was looking to describe her opinion. "Fascinating, I guess. I do care about it. I do. But, there are lots and lots of them. And, only one of me."

 

"Thats-"

 

Zephyra cut him off again. 

 

"Selfish? Psychopathic? Damnable? Probably. But, I will prioritize our lives Everytime." She smiled and giggled as she imagined all of the faces that the Church would pull at this stunt. 

 

Shock. Horror. Despair. 

 

Or, perhaps, resolve. Determination. And, a display of heroism. 

 

Zephyra shrugged and spun on her heel. She walked to the three corpses that they had stacked together. 

 

"You have to admit though. It'll be a great distraction." 

 

Bob shook his head and heavily sighed. "You're crazy."

 

"Not really. I just have a grudge. And, really, considering everything that they did to you. I don't see why this would bother you."

 

"I might consider it, if we limited it to the Church. But, this will drag innocents into the midst of it."

 

Zephyra smirked at him.

 

"Wow. That doesn't sound like something that you would've picked up at the Church at all. And, it almost sounds like you believe it too."

 

"Actually, I didn't-"

 

Zephyra bent down and began to siphon mana from the dead. 

 

"Sorry. I need to do this. You can preach to me after we are safe."

 

Bob continued to argue and persuade her to change her mind. But, she couldn't hear him at all. 

 

Zephyra dug deep and focused on the mana flowing into her. She shut out all of her surroundings and the distractions. And, condensed the necrosis into a dense swarm. It fluttered and hummed ominously. A veritable mass of locusts that thrummed and shook the air around them. 

 

Zephyra opened her eyes. It was scary that the entire process was this easy. Even with her limited mana. If she had any other attribute, it wouldn't have been possible with this paltry sum of magical power. An entire cult would have to dedicate themselves to achieve the consequence of one measly necromancer. 

 

Zephyra let out a heavy breath that hung on the suddenly cold and still wind. 

 

She was about to knock on a gate. 

 

One that she wouldn't be able to close. 

 

She thrust her hand forward and dispersed her accumulated sorcerous potential. Her violent intention vibrated and ruptured the fragile fabric that separated the veil in-between the realms. A ghastly, bleak portal hung and crackled with her spooky dark verdant mana. An unearthly howl emanated from the abyss. 

 

Death and the ilk of that kind were always hungry. They yearned to slake their appetite on life itself. And, eagerly, mindlessly lingered for the chance. Any chance. 

 

And, there was no telling what would answer the summons. 

 

Zephyra stumbled. Her vision swam. And, she forced herself to turn around and run in the opposite direction. Mana fatigue was awful. And, she had barely managed to keep enough to stay conscious. 

 

She grabbed a hold of Bob and pushed him away. They hobbled and wobbled away as urgently as they could from the advent that they had brought upon them all. 

 

"I can't believe that you actually did that." Bob gasped in between his ragged and pained respiration. 

 

Zephyra murmured as she tried to focus her sight on the road before them, "Shut up and just run, dork."

 

An unnerving clamor rose and fell behind them in an unnatural tide of ominous portent. It whistled and shrieked through the streets. The wind picked up and whirled into the gaping maw. And, light debris hurled and sped toward the gate with an ever increasing pace.

 

The cries of dismay and dread echoed throughout the houses and places of business. They carried into the street and struck against the uncaring cobblestone. The townsfolk instinctively felt that they had reached rock bottom. And, a surge of mass confusion and hysteria swept through the entire city. 

 

A persistent instinct screamed amongst all of those that lived to flee and escape. They had to run. They had to sprint, fighting tooth and nail, for their lives. 

 

The end had come for them. The planar invasion had begun.

 

Zephyra and Bob wove through the ensuing chaos. Their forms indistinguishable amongst the mass of humanity that struggled to get away from the piercing cries of violence and death. A few brave souls, namely soldiers, adventurers, and acolytes of Skalgnos, rushed toward the battle between men and monsters. 

 

Zephyra glanced over her shoulder as they ran. She needed to know if they had succeeded. Her eyes widened as she witnessed everything that she had unleashed.

 

"It, um, might be good if we ran a bit faster." She pressed forward with a hint of worry in her voice. 

 

Bob acknowledged her wordlessly and tried to hobble faster. He limped ahead as quickly as he could manage. He didn't look back. He didn't want to see it. He didn't want to know. This world was cruel and dangerous as it was already. He didn't need yet another thing to weigh him down. 

 

Eventually, they had cleared enough distance between the church and the devastation in their wake. They slowed down. Their lungs burned and writhed in exertion. Their muscles ached and trembled from use. And, Bob nearly collapsed from the burden of his injuries. 

 

They ducked off of the main street and hid in an alcove in between buildings to rest for a moment. 

 

"That…", Zephyra gasped and choked. "That was a lot worse than I had expected."

 

"Yeah? No, shit. You tore a hole in the fabric of space and time. What did you think was going to happen?" 

 

"Um, I don't know. I knew it was going to be dangerous. It was so easy too. And, even a Bailtheor crawled out."

 

Bob collapsed on the ground. He heaved and struggled against the strain. 

 

"A what?"

 

"A Bailtheor. You know, a ferryman of souls?"

 

"You summoned... a fucking reaper?" 

 

Zephyra blinked and stared at Bob confused. "A what?" 

 

Bob groaned and waved her off. "Never mind. Not important."

 

Zephyra nodded and shrugged off her curiosity. She had more important things to deal with right now. 

 

"Here. I'm going to relocate your arm. And, get your leg, well, less broken."

 

Bob whimpered and whined a bit as he pouted. "It's not going to hurt as bad as last time will it?" 

 

Zephyra shook her head and shrugged. "It all depends really."

 

"Depends on what?"

 

"Huh, actually, no. It'll probably be worse than last time."

 

"Ugh", Bob wiped the sweat from his brow with his good arm. "Why?" 

 

Zephyra grabbed ahold of his limp arm and unceremoniously pushed it back into the joint. Her hand covered Bob's mouth as he screamed.

 

"Because, you've fought and been running on it for a while. You've probably really exacerbated it. As where last time, you just got beaten up and laid in the dirt."

 

Bob huffed as vision returned from the searing white of his blinding pain. He clenched his jaw and flinched as feeling returned to his arm. It sucked. He hated it. He choked and spluttered. 

 

"I guess, that was the easy part."

 

Zephyra smiled cheerfully, still happy that they had managed to keep everyone from looking for them for a bit. Although, it'll probably be a lot worse after they manage to seal the portal. They would scour, burn and destroy the city and the countryside to find her. They'd have to get far, far away before that happened.

 

"Yup! That was the easy part. The leg will hurt a lot worse."

 

Her mana had recharged enough from their flight that she could perform another quick and dirty healing session. Although, she frowned as she gave his leg a closer inspection, the fracture was a lot worse. It was something of a miracle that it hadn't broken completely. It would take a bit more time than she had treated him previously. 

 

"It will take longer this time as well. I'll be a bit more thorough in fixing it. I think that we have enough of an opportunity for that much."

 

"Wonderful", Bob hissed through his clenched teeth. 

 

Zephyra set to work. Her mana threaded into his bone, aligning and sewing the fragments back into position. She quickly seared, and then drained the tissue near the fracture to begin healing it. 

 

Bob's belt found it's way back to his mouth. He bit down onto it  and shook from the operation. Zephyra casually conversed as she worked through his injuries. 

 

"So, we bought some time from being found by the Church. And, the town guard. And, any adventurers that would be looking for us.

 

But, we're still stuck in the city. And, I can only imagine that they'll catch us if we tried to leave through the gate. Any ideas?"

 

"Gah! Ugh, do you…" Bob mumbled through his belt. "Really expect me to answer? Agh!"

 

Zephyra giggled. 

 

"Actually, not really. I just find it easier to think while I talk. And, if you happen to have an idea, all the better."

 

She focused her attention back onto his leg. It was going fairly well. At least, from her perspective. Bob would probably disagree. 

 

"We could try and climb over the city walls. Or, maybe hide until it all passes over. Oh, I’ve heard that the thieves guild is pretty competent, but I doubt that they would even want to smuggle out a necromancer. And, I probably don’t have enough money to afford it.”

 

Bob stared at her, sweat trickling across his body as he tried to keep up with the fast pace of her conversation and the overwhelming oppression of his torment.

 

“You, ghh, you really talk a lot.”

 

Zephyra smiled a bit forlornly down at him. The memories of the time spent with her father came to her mind. The quiet conversation. The hours spent studying under his guidance. His calm and patient demeanor. The thrill of success. But, most of all, his constant effort to nurture and propel her toward the future. She hadn’t realized how much his support had meant to her until it was gone.

 

“Yeah. I’m a lot more comfortable with one on one conversations like this. I’ve never really been in large groups of people really. So, I don’t really have any sort of presence with them. It definitely just all comes bubbling out, when it’s just one or two people.”

 

Zephyra raised her hand from his leg and sat back to rest for a moment. 

 

“We’ll want to wait for a few minutes. It’s healing up pretty nicely now. But, it’ll still be sore for a day or two.”

 

Bob rubbed at his leg, the pain had diminished to a dull ache. It wasn’t anything like it had been. It would still be uncomfortable to move and run. But, if Zephyra was correct, and he didn’t injure himself again, he should be able to keep up with her now.

 

“I didn’t say it earlier, but, thank you for doing all of this for me. Even though I was being difficult earlier.” 

 

“You don’t have to thank me, you know. It's not like I’m not getting anything out of it. I still expect you to sign my contract. And, honestly, you were probably much more competent than the rest of the people that I found.”

 

“Haha, I’m not sure if I should feel proud or sad about that. Does that mean that I’m weak, or strong?”

 

Zephyra paused and hummed thoughtfully with a finger pressed to her lips. “It means that you’re not as weak as them?”

 

Bob sighed and laughed as he scooted backward to lean against the wall. “So, I’m still weak then.”

 

She nodded and giggled with him. “But, we all are pretty weak right now.”

 

They sat in silence for a few moments to rest. Every now and then they could hear the sounds of footsteps and heavy armor rushing by them. And, the commands and shouts of battle that steadily drew closer to them. 

 

Zephyra sighed and stood back on her feet. “It sounds like it's spreading. We’ll need to keep moving further now.”

 

Bob groaned, but stood on his feet regardless. His face scrunched up and winced as he put his weight down on his leg. It hurt pretty badly, but considering that it had been broken not that long ago, it was healing quite quickly. 

 

“Any ideas on how to get out of here yet?”

 

Zephyra shook her head and began to walk further away from the incursion. “Not really, you?”

 

Bob stopped in his tracks, he suddenly did have an idea. He somehow managed to smile and look disgusted simultaneously at the thought. 

 

“How do you feel about sewers?”