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  Charlotte shivered. Led by Tyler, Timothy’s executives were fearsome warriors. They were rumoured to have bathed in the blood of their parents as their initiation. All shown their power several times after that, and all five of them possessed a Godspark and years of combat experience.

  As Georgina left, Charlotte said a prayer for whoever she was chasing. They rarely survived an encounter with her, but it was fun to imagine the petty tyrants at least getting knocked off their smug perches.

  She rearranged her face into a smile as Richard came to her, interested in the same topic as Georgina.

  “How may I help you, Sir Richard?”

  * * *

  Tyler stepped out of the shower. He hadn’t expected to be summoned by Timothy so late in the day, and as he had been training, he had to freshen up.

  He looked at the view outside Karn, once his home, now his base.

  He was reviled in the city, most people seeing him as a traitor, others seeing him as scum. They would never dare say it to his face, but he didn’t care.

  He wouldn’t blame them, if he was in their shoes, he would call himself scum too.

  But he wasn’t, he had a better perspective, and he embraced his role with gusto.

  Dressing in a formal shirt and boots, he descended to the lower parlour. There, the other four executives should have been waiting for their Pre-Festival of Life meeting.

  Julian and Annabelle were the only two who were there.

  He noticed two of them were missing.

  “Where are Richard and Georgina?”

  “They’re both out.” Julian replied, “We’ve had some unexpected trouble with intruders today.”

  “I heard there were a few disturbances in town earlier, but the guards were unable to find the perpetrators. In one case, an entire group of Squadron members was decimated,” Annabelle added. “He may be dealing with that. On the bright side, we’ll add everyone on that street to the Purge list for not helping out.”

  “Nice initiative Annabelle, but don’t go too overboard,” Tyler said.

  “Me? Go overboard?” She bristled at the comment. “Surely you trust me more than that.”

  The quintet had served as the main military power for Karn County over the years. They had suppressed uprisings in the early days violently and conscripted the Order Squadron with threats of force. They hadn’t faced a rebellion attempt in years and had gotten most of their exercise outside Karn where they served a dual role as mercenaries.

  “It’s unfortunate that this happens so close to the Festival of Life,” Julian said, “Timothy wouldn’t really be pleased if this one is disrupted.”

  The Festival of Life was how they extracted the most money out of Karn’s citizens, generating money from sales and attractions. Sure, they could directly take money from the citizens by force, but they deemed it better to simply allow them to give it away. The entertainment factor would also work to keep the people docile as they planned and prepared for it. Many saw it as a chance to escape the Purge if they were borderline targets.

  “No, he wouldn’t,” Tyler said. “I guess we can simply hold this meeting another time. When we’re all here, we have just over a day to plan it.”

  “Fine by me,” Annabelle said. She stood up and left. She oversaw the Purge the day after and didn’t particularly care for the Festival of Life.

  Julian didn’t leave, his eyes probing deeply into Tyler.

  “Aren’t you going?”

  “I don’t particularly have anything to do. So no.” Julian was Tyler’s closest friend and had known him since they were kids. He could sense something was wrong and didn’t need his powers to tell him that.

  “What’s up buddy?”

  Tyler poured himself a drink from the liquor cabinet. “Me? Yeah, everything’s alright Jules.”

  “You say that, but you sounded worried earlier when you heard about Richard and Georgina.” He said, “Are you doubting our Heads of Security and Migration?”

  “No,” He replied, “It’s not that…”

  “Then what is it?” Julian pressed.

  “I just have a feeling that we’ve missed something. That there’s something very important I’ve missed today,” He said, stroking his chin as he leaned on the counter . “I just can’t place it.”

  Julian frowned. “You’re so absent minded sometimes. Worry about it later. We have the Festival of Life to plan for. If it’s really important, then it’ll pop up later.”

  “Yeah, you’re probably right,” Tyler agreed. Still, he poured himself another drink.

  * * *

  Rachel, Derek, Zeke and Simon reassembled outside the town. They had met up inside a few minutes prior and left the same way they had entered. Douglas was missing, and no one had been able to hail him on their radios.

  “We should just leave him,” mumbled Simon.

  “Yeah, no,” Derek said, “He’s important, and we met up earlier than we should have anyway. We’ll give him until tomorrow afternoon, we did say we’d be here for a full day after all.”

  The rest agreed, and they continued on their way to the Thunderdome. They kept an eye out for a tail but didn’t find anyone. Zeke undid the masking Runes and grabbed his sword. He had felt naked being without it but didn’t want to attract any undue attention to himself.

  “Stop playing with your sword,” teased Simon, as he grabbed a sandwich. They hadn’t had time to eat inside, so had kept their food till they left. Zeke grunted in response.

  “How was your visit?” Derek asked Zeke as the duo sat outside the Thunderdome.

  “Uneventful,” Zeke replied, “There were a lot of bad memories there for us.”

  “Memories.” Derek repeated to himself, “Did you sense anything ‘off’ about it? In the present I mean?”

  “What wouldn’t be off about it?” Zeke sighed exasperatedly, “It’s like a caricature of where we grew up. If there was anything obviously wrong, I would help. But everyone seems happy with the way things are there. It’s almost unfair.”

  Derek nodded, agreeing with him eternally, but ruminating over his interaction with the Order Squadron. He too wanted to head back into Karn, but the others had wanted to leave, and he had no personal connection that would justify staying.

  For his part, Zeke had sensed something, but he hadn’t been able to articulate what it was he had sensed. As a bounty hunter, he had learned to pick his battles. It didn’t matter how much he yearned to take down the Nephilim. Interfering with Karn if the people didn’t want any interference would be a gross mistake.

  It was Rachel, who was ever alert, that noticed it first. It looked like snow was falling, but the temperature was all wrong, and there was nary a cloud in the sky. She put out her hand and grabbed the white stuff out of the air.

  It’s paper, she realised. But from where! She searched the skies with her eyes. A cloud like paper was approaching them from all sides, they were surrounded by the stuff.

  The paper shower intensified as a mass of paper floated in, blowing through the woods.

  By this time the others had picked up on it, straining to see what was going on.

  “This paper…” Simon started.

  “Yeah,” Rachel finished his thought, “It’s a Godspark. Someone’s coming.”

  “We were followed,” Zeke growled, drawing his sword.

  Derek took a deep breath, and closed his eyes, feeling the wind’s movement on his body hairs. The vibrations and the sound drawing a map towards his opponent for him. His eyes shot open as he felt them.

  “There,” He pointed to a particularly thick mass of paper, “They’re there.”

  The mass of paper coalesced around a single spot, then it cleared, and there stood Georgina. Her piercing eyes drilling into them.

  “Yeah,” Simon said as he recognised her, “We really are in trouble now.”

  Chapter 17 - Clash in Karn County

  Georgina stared at the assorted crew before her. They were definitely the ones who had be
en spotted earlier, from the descriptions she had been given. She had been watching the walls from above and had just about noticed them scaling the walls when the guard had turned his back. It was trivial to lurk around just out of sight, hoping to catch all the conspirators together when their guards were down.

  She didn’t immediately recognise any of them, though two did seem familiar. She shelved the thought for now.

  “Identify yourselves,” She demanded,“Tourists normally stay in the interior hotels and are prohibited from staying on the outskirts. But you, you’ve been running wild in town all day.”

  “I don’t think so,” Derek rubbed his head sheepishly, ‘We didn’t really know the customs. We’re sorry if we offended you.”

  “Oh, that’s alright then. Surely you must have your ID card and badge or something.” Georgina pointed out. She was already suspicious of them. “No one is allowed into Karn without tourist cards.”

  “Let me check,” Derek made a big show of rummaging around in his pockets, looking for a card that he knew very well did not exist. “Oh…I think I may have lost it.”

  “That’s not the first time I’m hearing of that one today. A woman pulled that same trick off in a bookstore earlier,” She directed her gaze to Rachel, who narrowed her eyes in response.

  “Some guards were attacked today and beaten unconscious. You wouldn’t happen to have witnessed that would you?”

  They all froze. A shared name on all their minds. Douglas. Their obvious surprise was noted as well. Georgina decided that it wasn’t them, or at least, it wasn’t someone who was among them at this time.

  “I’ll take your gaping mouths as a no. Well, in any case, I’ll still have to bring you in to get processed since you’ve lost your ID cards. Those are important you know, we can’t have random tourists wandering off into places where they aren’t welco-”

  Something clicked in her brain. She stared at Zeke, who raised an eyebrow.

  “What’s your name,” She said, with a shaky voice. “You, with the sword.”

  Zeke looked up, meeting her eyes, and a spark of recognition passed between them.

  “Hello, Georgina.”

  “You look just like…” Her face drained of blood. “Zeke!”

  * * *

  “Hey Georgina, do you want to play today?” Zeke had asked.

  “Not today.” Georgina had dismissed them. She was one of the kind older children that the 12-year-old Zeke had adored, and she would often play games with them when she had the time.

  “That Georgina, always acting so nice,” Simon had said when Georgina had offered them a ride home from school.

  “Why are you bringing that up,” Zeke had replied. “Do you have a crush on her?”

  “Seriously? It’s just nice to know people can be kind.” Simon had said.

  * * *

  “Zeke,” Simon had sobbed, “Georgina, Annabelle, Julian…Richard. They were all there with Tyler…they’re all part of it. They killed everyone.”

  “I see,” Zeke had said. He had been broken enough already.

  He felt nothing for those people, except for rage, and hatred.

  * * *

  “You’re Zeke,” Georgina gasped, “How are you still alive…. Tyler said…”

  Her head whipped around to Simon too, “You too…. you’re also…”

  “Yeah.” Zeke said, “It figures you’d think we were dead. Tyler failed at killing us both.”

  “And yet, I sense there’s no love lost between you two,” She recovered her composure, “Shall I understand that it was not due to a lack of trying?”

  Thoughts of non interference vanished from his mind, all Zeke felt now was white-hot rage.

  “Understand whatever you like. All I’m saying is that I’m back, and I’m going to kill you for what you did.” He gripped his sword tighter until his knuckles turned white.

  “Hey, hey,” Rachel warned, “I thought we were trying to not get into a fight here.”

  “I don’t think we can avoid that anymore,” Derek said. “The fight’s come to us.”

  Georgina cocked an eyebrow.

  “Zeke. Simon. I will kill you both here and complete Tyler’s Blood Purge for him.”

  Paper suddenly whipped around them, like a tremendous wind was blowing. Sheets unfolded, formed, and reformed themselves, twisting themselves into arrows.

  “A few paper planes aren’t going to be enough,” Zeke braced himself.

  “You’re right, consider them a greeting.” She gestured, and the arrows flew towards Zeke, tearing a path towards him through the air.

  Griffin’s Arrows!

  Zeke swung his sword, Runes covering the hilt as he deflected the barrage of paper arrows. He wasn’t foolish enough to let his guard down because of a taunt, and as one of the arrows sliced past his shoulder, his hunch was confirmed. Though they looked like paper, they felt like steel. Paper-like steel sheets or steel-like paper sheets, it didn’t matter at this point. She was dangerous. As a bounty hunter, he had learned never to underestimate any Godspark, and this was no exception.

  Zeke wasn’t her only target, as Derek and the others found out as they began to dodge shots aimed towards them.

  SwiftSword: Pentagram!

  Georgina reacted quickly, paper swirled in front of her, blocking his attack. A pentagram appearing in her makeshift shield where Zeke had carved the symbol.

  “You’re fast.” She said. Zeke had cut through layers of steel, his swordsmanship was almost on par with Tyler’s.

  “Thank you.” Zeke deflected two unseen projectiles fired at his blind-spot. “So are you.”

  Above him, paper had formed itself into arrows again, looking like a cloud of malevolent rain.

  Griffin’s Arrows!

  Zeke ran, dodging and blocking the arrows as they tore up the ground and threatened to tear him up too.

  “Oh, crap.” Rachel swore, “We’ve started a fight with one of the locals, and she’s no slouch.”

  “Should I help out?” Derek was rolling up his sleeves.

  “Derek. We know her,” Simon said, “She’s one of theirs! We need to leave before they get reinforcements.”

  Derek grabbed Simon and spun out of the way as a spear embedded itself into the ground where they had stood a second ago.

  “I don’t think I’ll be letting you go anywhere.” Paper swirled around Georgina in a crescent shape. The moon reflected off it, making it appear like there was a second moon on the ground, it would be beautiful, if it wasn’t so deadly.

  Griffin’s Crescent Moon Slicer!

  The attack was launched, two massive glinting blades slicing through whatever was in its way, trees, brush, everything, and both ends arcing towards Derek and Simon.

  Rachel and Zeke leapt into action, moving fearlessly like the expert fighters that they were.

  As Zeke’s sword blocked the blade from one side, Rachel’s staff stopped the other.

  Georgina lifted a hand, a swirl of the steel-paper formed into a spear. She aimed this one at a Rachel, who side-stepped it.

  The attack kept going, this time aimed at Derek. His speed breath-taking as always, he flipped into the air, dodging the attack. Georgina allowed herself a small smile, then had it wiped off her face as Derek continued twisting his torso to avoid the next two spears she had launched at him. Releasing a web line from his forearm, he yanked himself towards the ground, aiming his fist at Georgina.

  Anansi’s Impact!

  She dodged it, her paper shielding herself from the debris he sent flying.

  “Nice trick,” Georgina said,” Unfortunately for you, tricks aren’t enough to save you from me.”

  Folds of paper unrolled out of nowhere as if being generated from the very air itself. Twisting, winding, bending, they formed themselves into arrows once more, and then they became like steel.

  Griffin’s Arrows!

  Derek dodged them, retreating as they sliced through the air.

  He had been rebuffed, thi
s time, she aimed them at Rachel, who was still holding the Lunar Slicer blade in place.

  Plasma Burner!

  Simon’s plasma beam knocked the spears off course, as Hephaestus reformed around him.

  “Of course, her paper doesn’t burn,” He shook his head, “Crap bastard.”

  “Derek! Simon!” yelled Zeke,“Get into the van. Prep it, and let’s go. We can’t afford to get pinned down here. We’ll be swarmed and killed.”

  Simon began to protest, but Derek grabbed him and nodded. “Understood, we’ll prep the van and drive out. Defeat her and come with us.”

  He threw Simon into the Thunderdome, then himself followed.

  “Why did you leave them out there?” Simon asked, “Don’t you care at all what happens to them?”

  “I do.” Derek replied, “Which is why we need to get ready to leave. If we get hung up here, there’s no doubt she already called for reinforcements. Rachel and Zeke can deal with her if they aren’t focused on protecting us, and if we fight, we’ll just get in each other’s way.”

  Simon agreed grudgingly, and slid into the driver’s seat.

  The battle continued outside, raging as Rachel and Zeke were buffeted by wave after wave of attack, Zeke more so than Rachel. A solid blow hit Rachel and she appeared to go down, allowing Georgina to concentrate on her preferred target.

  Tiring of their evasiveness, Georgina prepared another attack. Paper manifested itself above Zeke’s head, with columns upon columns of paper arrows reshaping themselves above him.

  Griffin’s Wing: Thunder Rain!

  “If it were daytime, my arrows would blot out the sun. ” She said, “But I’ll be happy if they simply blotted you out.”

  SwiftSword: Omnislash!

  Zeke deflected the projectiles faster than the eye could see, he couldn’t see it himself, his body simply going through the practised motions of defending itself from attack. His Godspark allowed him to do that, though he noted, the intense muscle strain was almost too much to bear.