CHAPTER 4 The First Chain Reactions, Jackie, The Young Man Necromancer, Captain Mitchel and The Ogre General.

If Captain Michel was ever going to break Jackie out of her mental collapse for questioning then he needed to go very gently with her interrogation.

He did not really consider her a friend as such, but more of a general acquaintance. But he had spent far more personal time with her than anyone else in the last 3 years.

Nothing even remotely romantic, just meanings and note comparing.

The general working together needed to run a castle household and keep it secure.

He knew she had two sons that she loved, so the most obvious common-sense thing to do was find them and get them to have a supervised visit with her.

It did not take long to realise that they were missing.

It took an even shorter time to find general people milling around, that the two brothers had bragged to.

They had bragged about where they were going and how much they were looking forward to it.

Captain Michel was there when Eggs had been telling her story.

It was obvious about what must have happened.

But a feudal society there was no real room to be able to claim any form of diminished responsibility when an attack happened by a member of the 'lower order' against a 'higher royal' was concerned.

Captain Mitchel passionately believed in the concept of justice.

But he also has taken an oath of royal service.

(He was not a modern person from our world, he lived in a feudal society, so for him, such an oath was just as real as a physical oncoming train would be to us!)

He felt conflicted and the whole situation was a total dire mess!

Meanwhile…

The Young Man in Black sought a vision quest.

He wanted those memories back!

Why the hell would he take those memories away to form himself when true immortality might be available!

Not some leather tent in the wood, meditation vision quest.

No,

This was the evil Necromancer version.

Every being is partially connected and controlled by a higher self.

A sort of detached blob of energy in another dimension that sends billions of tendrils out into the physical world, throughout the whole multiverse and throughout all of time.

Attached to each one was some physical being on the gross mortal plain.

But while all blobs were perceived as 'higher' than mortals.

(Mortals tend to be obsessed with having a sense of hierarchy that in metaphysical terms is unlikely to really exist.)

NOT all such blobs were "Good".

The Young Man was going to try and commune with this higher self.

Which just so happened to be a particularly nasty void entity that specialised in having its earthly avatars have huge armies, flags, and lots of killing!

So, after a quick orgy with some sexy vampires, pustulant rotting zombies, taking a crapload of hallucinogenic drugs and casting some very dangerous self-soul burning spells, he managed to tune his spirit into this dark thing that spawned him.

In his vision has was walking down a dark throbbing fleshy tube that started to twist and take the form of a long office corridor.

In the end, he could see a receptionist with their back turned to him.

As he approached he realised that it was an exact copy of himself.

A partial shadow of his past self.

A self from just before the self-inflicted memory wipe.

He knew where this was going.

Sighing he resolved to 'get this crap over with'.

"Can I help you sir?" asked the receptionist double in his own voice?

"You know why I am here"

"Sorry, sir?"

"Cut all this obvious crap! I am not some useless noob!"

The receptionist facial expression changed.

From mild to angry.

"Fair enough," the vision receptionist said, "If you want a quick answer, then that answer is NO!"

"No one speaks to me like that!"

"I do!" the vision yelled back, "I am you. We often speak to ourselves like that! Only our cruel strict self-discipline of ourselves has kept us alive! Has made us this powerful! So, shit head, the answer is still NO!"

"Why not"

"I can't tell you."

"Well let me ask the boss, the higher self then!"

"No!"

"Why not?"

"I could but now I will not let you because you pissed me off!"

"How?" shouted the Real 'Young Man' at his shadow self.

"By not playing along with the whole metaphysical dream self properly,"

"Ok, can we start again so I can play along with the game properly"

"No!" the shadow self-snapped back, "It will not be the same, you have spoiled it now!"

"Oh, for fucks sake! You wuss! Just let me past!"

"Up yours! No!"

"Fine, I will just take a crapload of orcs and zombies and flatten the so-called Duchesses castle myself!"

"Your funeral! Dipstick!"

"Fucking Emo!"

"Fucking bastard!

"SHIT!"

"SHIT!"

The young man's eyes snapped open.

He now had to get an army together and raid a castle of unknown strength against unknown powers.

Technically he did not have to, do anything.

But no way was he going to back down from that little turd of a receptionist!

Even if that "little turd" was just his own reflection,

Under his breath, he hissed to himself out loud!

"…shit…"

The Necromancer summoned his Head General.

"General Slice Master!" Shouted the Necromancer!

'Slice Master", A large Ogre presented himself and bowed so low to the tall thin Young man, that its nose almost touched the floor.

But even with its nose nearly touching the floor and the Young Man being very tall for a normal humanoid, the top its head was still a good three feet above the Necromancers.

"Blow the horn!"

"We go to War!"

The Ogre gave an evil bloodthirsty grin

"Yes Master"

It was a bloodthirsty grin that lasted the rest of the day until he got to his private chambers, before disappearing.

His wife saw the fallen look in his eye.

They both unspokenly knew what was to happen and had both dreaded and prepared for this moment since his promotion!

They both slightly nodded, embraced, had one deep kiss.

Then without either of them saying a single syllable of a single word, she took the prepacked belongings and the three Ogre sprog's and they ran!

The loving father and general of the Necromancer army, gave his beloved wife and child one more wordless nod as she quickly glanced to look back with tear-filled eyes.

Without any words, their eyes said,

"Goodbye darling, I love you!"

The Ogre General then grabbed some maps, some supply list, and his sword.

He stood at the doorway of his quarters for a brief moment.

He took a breath.

The Bloodthirsty smile returned to his lips as he walked onto the balcony of his cheering army and raise his hand and roared the implied upcoming victory to his master's troops.

But inside, his heart was breaking.

Back at the Duchesse's Castel

Jackie could hear the guard coming.

Not five or six.

Just one lone guard

Anyone that looked at her could tell she was no longer a threat

She was totally broken in spirit.

She was ready to die.

The Guard roughly unchanged her holding far too tight, dragged her unresisting into the corridor.

She barely registered the pain.

The Guard opened a storage cupboard and thrust her inside.

She was probably going to be beaten and raped

But her sons were dead, and she no longer cared

"Just let whatever happens, just happen now," she told herself

The Guard smelled terrible and pushed her against the wall, covering her mouth with his hand.

While the other took off the helmet of his armour.

"DO NOT SCREAM!"

"DO NOT YELL!"

"Be very quiet, Mum!" Eric said,