Battle Mage Chapter 8

What is The Order of Anubis?

On the other side of the country, lay a city by the sea. It was a beautiful piece of work, not unlike something taken from paradise. The streets were simple and clean, and the dark elements knew how to hide that some folks considered it a work straight from fiction. At least that is what the rich folk thought. It was easy for them to go to work driving through the mountains and countryside, look at the ocean and their big buildings, and talk of perfection.

For the poor and pitiful this was also a paradise. Drugs were too easy to come by, drinks even more so. Parties were an all the time thing. The mob existed and immigrants were coming in not so legally through ships on a constant basis. Life was good for all who never found themselves exploited, and those who lived in happy ignorance.

Ignorance was the great bliss. For tonight, three factions were set to go to war and two of them would fall for a final curtain bow. None of these so called “factions” were those you would read about in the news. They were not drug smugglers, gangsters, or organized crime.

That is slightly a lie, “crime” and “gangsters” were not really part of their vocabulary, but nothing these groups did were ever part of the law. These beings lived with their own code; a conflicting code that demanded blood.

This particular tale starts media res of an ongoing story and takes place during the night Jonas Tinkerdale was murdered.

Codenamed The Raven, he was brought up through strict training and magical exercises, however, his rap for field work was minimal. It was tough growing up a member of the Order of Anubis, but that did not stop him from going through life with great gusto.

He had been given a mentor who recently found himself on the wrong side of The Code and was executed in traditional manner. However, no one found fault with Giovanni Esperanza, and he was allowed to wear the robes of his brethren and ancestors tracing back to the days before they could even recount.

Geo, as his friends called him, was never one for history. He could care less who his people had fought or why, but as a member of the Order of Anubis, his job was to enforce The Code and keep the world of Magic safe and hidden.

He was a devout and faithful follower, some may also say a suck up, but he went by the motto of never really questioning orders. Being on the winning side his whole life had built this philosophy to him. When his mentor was sentenced he felt a brief moment of doubt but carried on The Order’s mission statement on a day to day basis.

This was soon to be his first real engagement.

As the night had come he had been called and was summoned at once. The quiet nature of the old building was a sight to behold, mostly because it accurately represented the old age of The Order itself. Anubis apparently had been doing this for generations and if you asked the right old man or woman in the establishment, millennia.

A man dressed in rags, looking like a Hobo asked “Can I help you?”

“The Raven is here.”

The Hobo closed his eyes, as if transmitting a message, and further elaborated, “God Protects.”

“And Moses shall lead.”

“They call me The Gecko,” the Hobo introduced himself.

“Charmed.”

“The Order welcomes you.”

In a joke, “Anubis watches us all.”

The Raven walked into the building. The building itself was nothing special on the inside until he got to a wall. The Raven concentrated his energy and poured out a wave of his own aura. The stone wall began to turn in place and a set of stairs allowed him to walk downstairs.

The corridor down to the belly of the beast started dark but an ominous white light picked up quickly, until he was in a vast control center with people coming and going, maps of the world, artifacts, and computers were lined up. The Raven noted to himself how much of a spy thriller his life had felt.

“Mr. Raven!”

A voice had called Giovanni’s attention.

“Ah, Kim!” Kim Soong was of Korean descent and found himself adopted by members of The Order and raised into its ranks. He had since become a Lieutenant and often the one watching the recruits progress over the years.

Kim “The Snail” Soong responded, “Welcome back to headquarters, Geo. I am sorry I won’t be able to keep you here long. We have a situation. Things are in the works and we need muscle. We are gathering a squad for an assault.”

“An assault?”

“The briefing is taking place as we speak, but I came here to give you an assignment on top of this. One of our own went undercover and is key in tonight’s operation.”

“So you want me to talk to him?”

“No. I need you to extract him. He is going to be your partner for something that has been cooking for some time now.”

They began to walk to the conference room downstairs. The cold slabs of the floor made a loud echo in the busy room and he could feel the jolts going up his bones. It was mostly due to the cold weather and The Order was never one for really focusing on electrical means. The entire building was off grid.

“A group of Hunters,” Kim began, “they are called the Delta Chapter. We suspect there are other chapters but that is unimportant.”

Geo responded, “Hunters? I never had to fight a hunter what kind of beast is that?”

“Human, completely and utterly human.”

“I am fighting humans?” Geo grabbed the file and began reading. He saw a picture of a white man with jet black hair, probably a fellow Italian by the looks of it, and a real nasty look on him. His jaw line was proportionate to his overly big face. God himself must have cursed said individual as ugly.

“They are humans. Not magic users but are known for using magical items and artifacts. They rely more on enchantments than anything. Unlike most we fight, they tend to fight in numbers. Hunters are often unpredictable and are usually made up of nothing more than college kids who obsess with what they feel is paranormal.”

“So they are no match for us?”

“That is correct, however, we have reason to believe that they got themselves a bonafide Ulfhbert Blade, a weapon used by Viking warriors long ago, considered the peak of swordsmith tech back in the day.”

“The peak? Really…”

Kim silenced him for a second, “I don’t want to have this debate, regardless, one of the Viking Lords had this blade blessed by a witch a long time ago. We lost one of our mages to this weapon. It cuts through any level of protection spell and repels magic attacks. We can’t let them keep this weapon, and we finally tracked it down thanks to The Snake; your new partner.”

“How did they get this weapon?”

“A museum in the U.K. was showcasing ancient artifacts. Needless to say, we believe the Delta Chapter had pulled off a heist when they found the importance of this artifact. It hasn’t aged a day. Let that be proof enough of its power.”

“So who is ‘Ugly’ here?”

“That is The Ogre, human, but leader of the Delta Chapter. His body was found three months ago. No one knows how or why. But that leads to our big meeting.”

They stopped. They had reached their destination.

The door opened and a group of men in robes were sitting down, they were meditating. Kim motioned for his friend to join them. The Raven walked to his corner of the room and let his soul drift, at once he saw himself in a meeting room, with words and conversations being spoken to each other.

“Welcome Raven. The situation has grown since the death of their leader. At this point, we believe there has been a split for leadership in the Delta Chapter. They are going to hold an election for supremacy but as our inside mage tells us, this is a precursor on both sides. It is going to be a bloodshed as both sides will be fighting to get ahold of some strange random Viking sword. The objectives are two fold; retrieve the sword and eliminate the Delta chapter, both sides of it. We must then retrieve any other relics these people may have on them. Do not let these Hunters fool you. They may be weak but they have unknown weaponry and defenses littered among them. We meet at Dock 13.”

 

Dock 13. Such a strange place to hold a meeting, the Hunter thought. It had been two years since he joined Delta Chapter and had been trained in the ways of the warrior. It was an interesting life filled with fun and excitement. That and he personally killed a vampire once. He was so proud of that, it had become his great life achievement.

He had his crossbow blessed by a mystic he met on a sabbatical to Brazil. It gave his weapon the seeming ability to hone in on a target. Ophelia he named her. His own crossbow that never missed provided he was certain he knew where to aim.

When the Chapter split into Black and White, he decided to back the Black faction. In reality he knew both of The Ogre’s best friends wanted power and were willing to kill for it, but Black made the effort of being on a first name basis with him. So when the idea of the ambush was brought up, he volunteered to be on the front line, him and Ophelia.

He had put on his shoulder patch, painted black for the occasion. The formalities were very simple, pretend like nothing was happening and that this was a simple everyday meeting of the group. The Chapter had risen to forty members strong throughout the past year. Most of them had stayed out and decided to not play politics, but for him this was perfect.

“Do you really think this plan would work?” a new recruit whispered in his ear.

“We get the sword, we kill them, and we obtain leadership. It’s very simple.”

The new recruit seemed to be okay with this.

Something bugged him whenever the new recruit was around him, like everything was “off”. He couldn’t find a better word for it, it was simply not sensical. Yet, in his mind, his ability to tell right from wrong told him to overlook this fact. So instead he decided to befriend this man.

Over the past week both sides had casualties and as he walked inside the pier he began looking for places where the White faction might set up ambushes of their own.

“Talk to me Ophelia, tell me what they are thinking.” He began whispering and caressing his crossbow. It was standard protocol for a Hunter to always have a makeshift weapon on him at all times, even in peace negotiations, The Ogre was very prime on this. Ophelia was not responding, he almost wished he could hear her coo.

In his ear he could hear the voices from his faction, “We have the front gate opened and we have a boat, no one is coming, we are all clear.”

Another inside voice “No outsiders detected, the roofs are open, getting into position.”

A staunch figure approached the center, “My brothers, welcome, the election is to begin soon. I do hope you enjoy yourselves, take your seats.”

The Hunter just nodded, and as he walked away he added to the conversation, “Taking front row seats.”

The new recruit simply patted him on the shoulder, “It will be okay.”

Their leader had shown up, and the Hunter was happy to see his leader take the stage. Part of him wondered, if they didn’t butcher their rivals whether Black would be elected regardless. A peaceful coupe. Black was insistent that the enemy be taught a lesson. A lesson in blood was good for morale.

 The two leaders shook hands, a laughable show for the stooges who were set to die.

“My fellow brethren, sit, and we will begin a headcount in a simple vote.”

A figure ran in in the background and took out a large duffle bag.

“Is that what I think it is?” asked the new recruit.

“Yes.” He answered.

Black took to the stage, “It has been three months and some change since our leader died. With him, we hit a pinnacle. I am sure most of you remember his contributions well. With him was his blessed blade when he fell in combat. That blade was the signifier of his leadership and a blade without equal. Monsters and creatures all feared it as they feared him. He never once knew defeat and it is time to pass that blade onto someone else, and in doing so, secure a successor to the Delta Chapter, a group of holy warriors that will continue to protect the populace from the beasts and evils. I am proud to be with my colleague, a fellow Lieutenant, although we have gone by code names such as Black and White to signify our opposing council to our leader when he was alive, I am thankful to Norman, I mean White, who has always been my friend.”

A voice in the earbud, “All is quiet, waiting to take the shot.”

White, aka Norman, took the stage, “Thank you John, I mean Black, for that speech. But yes, we cannot run as two factions with the same name and the same purpose. It is for this reason, as has been tradition in the past, to vote on leadership. I have plenty of ideas and directions to take this great group of brothers in our crusade to rid the world of the foul and unclean, but it is a long road. Let me state now, that I have begun working on getting men inside the police, and two of our brethren, under my orders, are running for local office. Politics and the police, we will have our selves buried deep in this fragmented society.”

The new recruit leaned forward onto the Hunter’s shoulder and whispered into his ear, “That is dangerous, don’t you agree?”

He thought nothing of it, but little did he know The Snake was getting ready to strike.

Black took to the stage once again, “I have killed creatures that cannot be comprehended, from the sea as well as from the skies, and I have dedicated myself to you and to our former leader. It is through me he confided in most, and it is his example I will replicate. While White offers progress, I will offer what we have been through and where we have come and run that ball. You know me well to know I have little to differentiate myself with our past leader and contrary to the notions of ‘progress’ and ‘going into a new direction’, we will not be taking risks with everything we have built on unproven ideals.”

The two were speaking less of debate and more of an agreement of different perspectives. This rubbed him wrong, they never were this nice. Unless…

“That is right,” White had begun to continue.

Oh no.

“I think I see a helicopter coming.” The earbud reported.

White continued, “We offer two different perspectives of leadership and we now leave it to a vote.”

Static from the earbud, a loud ping sound hit the roof of the building.

“Sniper fire! From the helicopter! Someone take it down!” The yelling was deafening to his ear. Then everyone began to hear the noise.

He didn’t wait another second, he had to retrieve the sword, but his part was the assassination of White. He took out Ophelia and pointed her, but White just smiled.

The bolt from the crossbow fired and flung to the right, passing and missing its target.

White showed a medallion. That was cheating! That belonged to their late boss! It was his protection witchcraft. It was missing from the personal affects. He instead grabbed his dagger, and plunged himself towards his intended victim. White moved to the side and threw him against the floor. Ophelia fell and was no longer connected to her owner.

He looked on sadly, not being one with his maiden. He felt a sting in his side. He had been stabbed! With what image he had left, he saw White and Black tangle with a gun and fires were going off.

Soon, people were dropping from the glass, repelling down. The snipers they had set up were instantly coming out and firing almost indiscriminately. The new recruit was nowhere to be found.

He grabbed his side, frothing as madness set in. He needed to get up.

Dead bodies were starting to pile up when White snapped Black’s neck!

“NO!” He yelled. Why! Their plan was perfect.

The final repeller was a lifeless corpse, two Black Snipers were still in position, the others were probably dead. Didn’t matter, the majority of the fight was being fought with guns, on the ground level and at any given chance a single shot could end his life.

He fell to the floor.

He didn’t know how or why, but his head was face down and it hurt like hell to get up. He was right, he had been shot in the leg. He pulled himself up as best as he could. White had to die, this wasn’t going to be how the story ended.

It was then that he looked up. White was backing off in fear. White took out the medallion, the magical charm, which then burst into pieces. He smiled, White’s fear was beautiful.

Then he saw why. It was the new recruit. The new recruit’s hands were made of fire!

“This charade ends today, you have violated the laws set by The Order long enough, you and your people are considered for execution.”

White took out a gun and pointed it at the new recruit, who just smiled as White suddenly burst into flames!

“Rookie, help me!”

Instantly, the door busted open and figures in strange robes started firing electricity and flames from their hands at everyone around.

“There is not a good soul among the entire lot. You must die.” The new recruit began to shape shift into an older man with grey hair and steel cold eyes.

The last thing he saw was the sword he had come to take come slicing down in his direction.

In the frontlines, The Raven was walking within distance of the protection barrier. Gunfire seemed to come his way, but nothing was scaring him. The snipers on the roof fell with a simple wind spell. The leader of the assault had begun summoning a giant gust that had the whole place in confusion.

From there it was simply aiming and firing whatever spell of doom he wished.

Those that ran would soon be dead. No survivors were allowed. It was cold, but the world of magic had been vandalized too long, and the story of its degradation could not happen.

A man came running up to The Raven, pleading for his life. The Raven simply set him ablaze.

In the center of the room he saw an old man kill left and right with the very blade he had come to capture. It was when he allowed himself to truly gaze on the man that he saw he was a fellow magic user. The two made eye contact and the old man disappeared, invisibility spell, with the blade. The object had been successfully retrieved.

The fighting turned to a two on one front, but The Order of Anubis with its ability to protect and attack with lethality, was clearly the winner.

“We have the place secured,” a scout reported and saluted.

A voice chimed in, “There are those who did not get involved in this political dispute, I say we spare them for the time being and research what they know and what they have.”

A Lieutenant agreed to this figure’s suggestion before issuing his own orders, “Find what charms you can and whatever artifacts they may carry. Then I want the cleaners in. The police will no doubt be questioning what happened tonight.”

“What about the helicopter?” The Raven asked.

A loud explosion was heard outside, followed by a roaring engine, and ultimately a crash mixed with a splash.

“Taken care of, now move out!”

The Raven walked to the center of the room.

Following him was the old man.

“I am not that old,” he said quickly.

“Didn’t say you were,” The Raven responded.

“Codenamed The Snake. I am your new partner.” The silver-haired person said in a thick foreign accent. Geo tried his best to place it, but just couldn’t, not for the life of him.

“The Raven”

“Anubis watches us all.” He saluted.

“Call me Geo.”

“You are good. Said you worked on causing tectonic fractures; mini earthquakes. Am I correct?”

A third figure grabbed The Raven by the arm and held him firm. “That is right Snake. Magic cannot protect so well against Mother Earth and her wrath. This here is our most promising individual.”

That figure, was The Eagle.

 

“Is it true?”

“Yes.”

“There are magic users on the west coast?”

“We have been monitoring the situation and we believe there is an entire group of them. They have been practicing for what we believe to be at least a decade, unwatched, untrained, and without authorization from The Order.”

“What is to be done?”

“I say they stand trial and we sentence them.”

“They have had free reign for a long while. They will not accept our authority so easily.”

“I say we reach out to them, get them to join us.”

“Join us? We do not just reach out to anyone who randomly wants to practice!” cried a Lieutenant.

“That they have been meeting and planning and organizing is an act of blasphemy, we must try them.”

“My elder Archmages, allow me to send a team to observe these people,” A figure known as The Eagle intervened.

“These are Rogue Mages and you just want to observe them? No. They must be brought to heel.”

“I have made my judgment, brethren, and ask you think on this. We shall send The Snake. I trust him.”

“If you are to send The Snake, allow me to amend this and suggest The Raven as well. He is young, but he is loyal, we will not have another ‘Paris Incident’ on our hands. And I would like to act as a liaison,” The Eagle was quick to add.

“Then go Eagle. We have decided,” all three voices said at once.

 

Thus, the trio had been brought together, as the hand and axe of The Order of Anubis. They had little to go on, but they knew one thing.

“His name is Jules.” The Raven looked at a picture of a very unimposing person. He wanted to laugh, but The Snake shook his head ‘no’. “We believe he has infiltrated the police and is posing as a Detective Lamont. We also believe he has ties to Samyel The Vampire King and other known vampires. We start with him.”

Author's Note

The next chapter will probably be deceptively boring. But be honest and open on this work. This is a very important point in the book, and I look forward to writing the coming dark days of the Order of Anubis and the friction of the Council.