Our Legacy - Episode 8

“They do not understand. They will never understand.” The Necromancer stood on the balcony, staring at the forces that mobilized before him. “Do you not hear the pain and suffering this planet has endured!?” he roared from his fortress. “I do! My gifts are a curse! A curse I cannot live with!” Tears streamed down his face, his lips trembled and he lost balance in his legs. It wasn’t the first time this happened. Ever since his wife and two children died, Gustav Fischer was in depression and coping with loss. The tale of Gustav Fischer, however, was unique.

An Austrian man with dirty blond hair and light blue eyes, Mr Fischer worked a simple life as a mechanic. He earned well enough to buy himself a home with two floors, send his children to school, and buy his wife a top-of-the-line SUV. They were a happy family but that all stopped once the war started. The war was bad enough on its own for any family but Mrs Fischer had a secret and unlike most secrets, hers didn’t die along with her. Instead, everything Mr and Mrs Fischer loved, died.

The secrets were out when the southern district of France was being harassed by artillery. They were evacuating the town they had taken shelter in. It was the second time that week. They had already left their home and taken the car further north to find a place to stay. The second shelling was worse. The military cared none about innocent lives lost. They only cared about cleansing the earth of Demigods and all those who hadn’t taken shelter in militarized zones were already labelled as casualties. The shells hit close to them, trembling everything in its wake to rubble. The Fischer’s were on the move. Mr Fischer had taken both his little girls in his arms and was running down the street, naturally thinking his wife was right behind them. That wasn’t the case. Mrs Fischer had tripped because of her dislocated knee. She was yelling in pain when her family looked back at her.

People were running in all directions in the daylight. His daughters were yelling ‘mama’, extending their arms. “Emily! Get up!” he yelled in German. “They’re getting closer!” She tried getting up but failed. They could hear the sounds of several more shells coming their way. “Gustav! Run! Protect... no... Just run Gustav!” She stretched out her hand to the girls. Her eyes watered but there was another emotion hidden behind the tears, an emotion that told her husband that she was already expecting death. “Emily! DON’T BE RIDICULOUS!” He put the girls and told them to stay where they were but that’s when a shell struck two buildings away. Fiery dust burned their skins, wood and brick was flying everywhere. Gustav was holding his girls tightly, lying on top of them and shielding them as much as he could. “Emily!?” he yelled. He couldn’t turn to face her. His back felt crisp, burnt from the heat the shells emitted. His girls were crying but they looked alright. He didn’t have time to check for injuries. Gustav pushed himself up and turned to face his wife. She was there, hand still out-stretched, but there was rubble all over her.

“Emily!?” “Gustav! Run! Please!” “I can get you out! It will only take a minute!” He began working his way through all the bricks. One of the houses that had exploded had been blown towards them from the force of the shelling. “Gustav... Listen to me.” “It’s ok Emily. The children are fine and we’ll get you out of here.” “Gustav... My love... I’m sorry.” “Emily! Shut up! Shut up! You’re ok!” he yelled. His face was dusty and tears were coming out creating dark lines down his face. They heard another thunderous shell being fired. Emily fiercely grabbed his hand and looked him in the eye. “I’ve done something... I’ve done something terrible Gustav.” “We don’t have time to talk, my love.” “I’ve done something terrible!” “What did you do?” He fell to his knees in front of her. “Why are you like this? “Do you love me?” “I do! “No matter what?” “Emily, please! I love you!” “Will you forgive me for the evil I’ve committed?” She took in a deep breath as if she was shocked that the words came out of her mouth. She looked terrified. “You have committed no evil...” “Oh God...” She started crying heavily. “I’m sorry Gustav... I had to...” “What? What did you do?” “I had to Gustav... I couldn’t live without them.” “Who? Who, Emily?” She couldn’t answer over her crying. Her mouth trembled and more tears unleashed. “Emily... my Emily...” He crawled closer to her, cradled her head. “What did you do? Huh, we don’t have time Emily. Our daughters are waiting there for us.” Emily cried out loud, almost shrieking. “I’m sorry Gustav! I’m so sorry!” “About what!?!” “The girls, Gustav! They’re not... alive!” Her crying stopped. Her eyes fixated on his, waiting for a response. “What do you mean?” “I’m like them... The ones they call Demigods.” “What?” “And the girls... Oh God, Gustav, I’m sorry.” She started crying again. “What about the girls, Emily? What did you do to our girls?” “I’m cursed but I fixed it. I promise.” “What in Hell did you do...” He was no longer holding her hands. “I’m too strong. There was an accident.” Gustav immediately looked back at his daughters. “What accident?” “Look, they’re good as new. Nothing is wrong.” “What the fuck did you do?” “I brought them back... because I couldn’t live without them. We couldn’t live without them.”

Her eyes slowly began to close. The crying stopped. Emily had drawn her last breath. Gustav began to walk towards the two little girls. Emotion had escaped him. What was he now looking at? What was Emily trying to say? The girls looked at him, scared of the looks he was giving them. “Papa, is mama sleeping?” one of them said. He didn’t reply. “Are we going to sleep too, papa?” the other asked. “Why would you sleep too?” Gustav asked curiously. “Mama said we would when she does.” “I’m sleeping now I think.” said her sister.

In all the dust there was, a white light shone brightly behind Gustav Fischer, creating a large shadow over his daughters. He turned around to face what it was. It was a God Particle slowly coming out of his wife’s body. He suddenly felt peace looking at it. He had never seen such a thing. It was the purest thing he had ever seen. A ball of sparkling white light and it slowly hovered towards him. He wasn’t scared. There was an eerie bliss within him. He brought up his hand to almost touch it but it suddenly shot into him. His lungs suddenly felt like they were on fire. He could feel every inch of his body. His muscles tensed up and suddenly felt stronger. He felt lighter on his feet, agile and healthy.

But a new sense was added to his body. He could sense the dead. Emily lay there in front of him but he could feel her. It felt odd because he slowly felt the feeling coming from all directions. He could sense Emily with his eyes closed, see her body exactly the way it was without all the rubble on top of her. But it felt odd still because there were two other bodies behind him. Gustav turned around only to see his beautiful little daughters on the ground, lifeless.

“What is this nightmare?” he looked down at his hands. “What is this power?”

He walked over to his dead wife and grabbed her hair and immediately brought her back to life. She took in a great deal of air before being able to focus on her husband. “Oh no,” were her first words. “What are you?” he sneered. “What did you do to our children?” “I brought them back to life.” “WHY WERE THEY DEAD?” “Because something happened... I couldn’t let them die so young. Gustav... I did it for us!” “That is unholy, woman!” “Do you not want your family alive? You now have the power to bring us back!” “No...” he looked at his children one last time. “I will not commit sin. We cannot escape the Holy Father. If your time has come... it has come.” “Gustav! Don’t you love us!?” “I will not love a Demon and I cannot love the empty shells of what used to be my daughters!” he cried.

He let go of her hair and she immediately dropped dead.

It was in that hour, a man was born from hatred and righteousness. He wanted to right all that was wrong with the world and he was going to begin with the artillery squadron firing upon them. After that, his eyes were set on the Demigods drowning the world in sin. And so it started, a man new to powers he could not yet understand but would in due time. As the days went by he learned more about his powers and of those he killed. His wife had a power that should have stayed hidden from the world. That power was now being used to take control of it.

Gustav Fischer, the Necromancer, came back to his balcony. His tears were dry. He did not wipe them away. There was no point in washing his face tonight because tonight... blood would be spilt.