The Ruined City

     As they went outside they took in the devastation of their surroundings. The ground was torched and all of the buildings were warped, decayed, and twisted. There was a strong odor of sulfur in the air that caused Jim and Susan to cough. They had been underground for two weeks and forgotten just how bad it all was on the surface. They just stared out at the landscape not knowing what words to say, trying to cope with the shock of the scene.

    "This place is a shithole." Astros said smugly. "Smells like someone was burning the farts of the undead. Damn it reeks." Astros then lifts his hand up to his nose and closes it with his index and thumb while leaving his pinky up. "What do you mortals do now a days?" astros asked in a nasal voice.

    "Everythings gone, how are we going to find food Jim?" Susan asked. "How are we going to find a ring for my children and how are we going to get there? We don't have a car Jim."

     Jim thought about what to say, he had no idea.  He didn't want Susan to panic but he honestly did not know how they were going to make it either. "Every journey begins with a single step." Jim said while trying to put Susan at ease.

    "Pffhahaha, Did you honestly just say that love? Astros asked while wiping a tear from his eye. "I'm sorry love it is just that is one of the oldest sayings in the book, like almost older than me old. Look hun you said all this was brought on by a fog right? So if you want anything of value you gotta look underground. Where would you mortals keep food underground?  Maybe we can ask those fine gentlemen over there?" Astros points at a group of zombies headed towards them.

    "Those are zombies Astros, this is not good they will rip us limb from limb!" Jim was starting to show some fear at their situation. "We need to think of something…"

     Before Jim could finish his sentence Astros interrupts him. "Don't worry darling you have the most beautiful god in all of the realms on your side." Astros said while flipping his hair trying to be as sexy as possible. He had not given up on his attempts to seduce Jim. "I will handle this." Astros held out his hand as if he was going to blast the zombies with pure magical might. "Ahhhhhhh" Astros yells while powering up. `Poof` When Astros was done yelling only a tiny flicker of magic was launched from his hand. "Oh my that's not good. I swear this has never happened before love, my blasts always shoot off."" Astros looks at Jim with a wink. 

      In all the build up the zombies had reached Astros who was standing in front of Jim and Susan and they began to claw at him. "Oh you nasty little buggers get off me!" yelled Astros who seemed to be in quite a bit of trouble now.  Susan not wasting any time grabs a near by pipe that was laying on the ground next to them. She rushes into the fray and just starts wailing away on the zombies.

     "Take this and this! This is for my children! This is for my husband! And this is for my dog!" Susan continued to yell as she just pummeled the zombies into pulp.  Astros and Jim just looked on as the tiny woman was getting covered in zombie debris. "I HATE YOU ZOMBIES" yelled Susan who was now just standing over a juicy mound of freshed smashed zombies. 

    "Damn fairy girl, just damn." Astros says to Susan who is now just dripping with zombie goo.  "Thanks for the help, although as a god I certainly would have been fine."

    Susan just tilts her head and stairs at Astros with an expression normally reserved for someone who is about to kill another person. After a few very uncomfortable moments of starring Susan finally spoke. "I need you to save my kids, zombies or not I will get my kids back." Susan smiled.

   With all the yelling and noise from the violence of brutally pummeling zombies every zombie in the surrounding area was alerted to their presence.  Before they knew it they were surrounded by over fifty zombies.

    "Well that's not good, love I think we should go back inside don't you?" Astros asked Jim.  "I'm immortal but that does not mean I like pain, at least not all pain." Astros winks again at Jim.

    Susan grips her pipe tightly and holds it like a baseball bat. "These bastards are not going to keep me from my kids. I don't care how many there are." There was a fire in her eyes and a determination to see this adventure to its end.

    "Susan just keep them off me for a minute, I have a plan." Jim said with a smile. He had studied for two weeks in that temple.  He has read just about every magical tome that was contained inside. He knew this worlds magic. He knew the spells that worked in a low magic area. Jim began to raise his arms up and chant in the ancient magical language. The zombies started to move in.

     WACK! Susan knocks a zombies head clean off its body. "Jim I got you." Susan said while taking out any zombie that got close to Jim.

    Meanwhile the zombies were beginning to surround Astros. "Oh darling do hurry up, they seem to want a piece of me, but i've promised all my pieces to you." As the zombies lashed out at Astros, Jim finished his spell.

    "Holy Zone!" Jim yelled upon the spells completion. The area was filled with holy energies and the zombies began to turn to dust.  Even the ground healed from its char and the rust came off the metal. "Everything is a twenty-five foot radius has now been purified. Whew! That spell takes way too long to cast.

    "Oh love you did it!" Astros says while running over to Jim. When he reaches Jim he lifts him up in the air and twirls him around. Jim's shirt is still ripped from earlier so it flops in the wind exposing more of his chest to the world. "I just knew you could do it!" Astros forces a big hug onto Jim. "Oh and I guess you did well too fairy girl."

     Susan gives him the look once again. "Why are you so worthless Astros? You were an unstoppable force in the temple." Susan asked.

    "Oh come to think of it, there is no magic here.  There was plenty of magic inside the temple but here is very thin almost non existent." Answered Astros. "And don't call me worthless I am a god remember? You want your kids back don't you? Do not offend me fairy girl."  Astros turned his attention back to Jim. "You my magnificent stallion, how did you do such a beauty spell with so little magic around?"

    "An incantation." Answered Jim. "When the ancient humans realized the magic of the world was sealed away with only a small amount leaking from the seals they found a way to increase it momentarily using incantations. They basically summon all the magic in the surrounding area to help you with the spell." Jim said proudly. "If you could just call me Jim, that would be great as well."

   "That's fascinating love. Simply amazing what you mortals come up with.  All we gods do is find more ways to have fun, it gets quite boring being an immortal." Astros replied.

   Jim just sighed, his request to be referred to by his name just fell upon deaf ears.  Jim pulls his phone out in hopes that the interest still works. Maybe he could find a place nearby that would have stored the food underground. "There's no bars. My phone is useless." Jim said with what appeared to be a tear in his eye. As his put his phone back into his pocket he decides if all else fails try magic.  He raises his arms again and begins to speak the ancient magical language. This time an orb of light appeared in front of him. "Oh it worked!" Jim said happily.

    "What is it?" Asked Susan who has now taken her top off and is ringing out the zombie juices, her deep depression and her experience in the magic shower had rid her of any shame she once had, her assets were on full display.

    "It is a search spell. It will guide us to what we desire." Jim looks over at Susan as he was answering her and notices the display. His face turns red as a beat and loses his ability to talk correctly. "Susan you, shirt why?" he tries to ask why she was topless but failed miserably.

   "They're just boobs Jim, get over it. My shirt was covered in juices and I wanted to dry it off, don't worry I'll put it back on after I get more of the juice out." As Susan was talking the ball of light leaves Jim and hovers above Susan. "Jim could you focus please. Find food, find a ring, and find a ride. FOCUS!" she yells.

   "Right, right." Jim closes his eyes and focuses on finding a ring, it makes since to find the easiest to carry abject first he thought.  The orb moved around and then darted off several hundred yards away. They could see it in the distance hovering over the remains of a building.  "Ok lets go, that seems to be where the ring is."

    They sneak over there as to not have a massive zombie fight again, although after the last fight it seems like there's not too many in the area.  Easily evading the few zombies that remained they reach their destination. It was the remains of an old jewelry store and the orb was hovering over a safe.

    "It must be in there." Jim said to everyone. "Don't worry I know an unlock…."

   Before he could finish his sentence a loud sound of metal clashing could be heard.  It was Susan. She had smashed the lock off the box with her pipe. It broke easily because of the corrosion that the fog had placed on the safe. Susan's pipe however had been purified by Jim's spell so it was much more durable. "Unlocked it." Susan called out as she opened it up and plucked out the ring.

    Jim began to wonder about Susan.  She had never behaved like this before in all the years that he knew her in highschool and as his friends wife she had never been so brave or brazen. This Susan was like an unstoppable force that was getting shit done. What would cause her to behave this way he thought. "Susan is everything ok? You are acting a bit unlike yourself.  Your usually so sweet, and now you are turning zombies into puddles. Are you ok?" Jim asked concerned for Susan's well being.

    "No Jim, I am not okay." Susan replied. "I lost everything, but now I have hope of seeing my kids again. I will do whatever it takes to make that happen. I will not let even a horde of the undead stand between my kids and myself." The fire in her eyes burned brightly.  Her determination was almost scary.

   "Don't worry about her too much darling." Astros chimed in. "This is just how fairies behave. They are sweet and pure, but when they hit rock bottom they will do whatever it takes to regain their happiness.  They can be quite devastating. You should never cross a fairy."

   Satisfied that his friend was going to be okay, he decided to move on to his next target, the food. He already had a plan for the transportation.  He closed his eyes and focused again, this time on usable food. This he was using magic he could just use it to find usable food. The orb began to move again shooting off to a nearby building. "What luck it didn't go far at all! There must be food there."  Jim said with a smile, unable to contain his happiness. The building it went to was the ruins of a house and the orb was hovering over a closed cellar door. The door was sealed shut so the contents must have been kept safe from the fog. "This time let me open the door with my spell. We don't want to attract any zombies with noise.  Jim does his spell casting routine and the door creaks open. They are greeted with the smell of a dead body as soon as the door opened. "Oh god, someone went in here for safety, but I guess the ventilation couldn't work because of the fog so they suffocated to death. How sad, so close to surviving and yet didn't make it." Jim says as he scans the room for anything that's useable. "So much food. So much! This person must have been one of those doomsday preppers. There has to be several years worth of food here!"

      "How are we going to carry it all back to the temple? Are we really going to make multiple trips in this zombie filled city?" Susan asked.

     Jim replied, "Oh don't worry about that I learned a neat spell for that as well. I already set a beacon up in our kitchen, so if I set one up here it will create a portal directly to our kitchen. We can then just throw the food into it and bam we have food at the temple." Jim wastes no time setting the beacon up and casting the spell.

     The three of them work hard and get all of the food into the temple's kitchen giving them several years worth of food. When they finish Jim closes the portal to the kitchen.  "Ok last thing is the ride, we cannot walk to the city we came from its just too far to the coast." Susan said.

     "Oh I have a plan for that, but for now let us head back to the temple and get some rest.  It has been a very eventful day." Jim explained.

     "To the temple then darling! You first though I want to look at that ass while we walk." Astros said with a wink.

     The three made it back to the temple safely and went inside.  Susan wondered how much longer it would be before she could get her children back.