Necropolis: City of the Dead!

AFTER crossing the gates, Ryan wandered why he wasn't able to notice the mega city behind the arch before. They sky was a deep crimson, with blood red clouds that rolled over the massive dark city. It looked exactly like New York City, only it stretched on forever. In front of the city was an island with a statue like the Statue of Liberty, but this lady was made of black metal with a long cloak draped over her form and was holding a scythe in one hand and a long list in another with a skull at her feet. Right where the empire state building was supposed to be, stood the tallest building in the city, it was a huge bar of black and red, the glowing red logo on the body read;

Death Co.

"I'm guessing they don't sell phones." Ryan surmised

"No, the Necropolis is the home to the souls awaiting judgement, the purgatory where the dead can either earn a chance at paradise or perdition." Karl said

"Barrel of laughs, this one," Simon mused to himself

… )]≥( …

After being dropped at the docks, the souls filed off the barge, and as soon as the last foot left its deck, the whole thing capsized and sank below the ashen waves with barely a sound.

"Death knows you, Ryan Reins," Karl said as the ferryman sank with the barge, "she awaits you in her tower."

With that disturbing message, they went through the customs check. As soon as they got to the city, they took a cab [I still can't believe we got a cab] down to the Death Co. building.

The cabby dropped them off, "That'll be a hundred and fifty deeds."

"We don't have any dead people money." Ryan said, patting his pockets "But, we'll get you on the way out."

The cabby sighed, "Bloody new comers. Stink up my cab and then don't pay,"

He sped off and disappeared.

"Well he was friendly." Jasmine commented, then, they looked up at the intimidating building before them, a hulking mass of glass, steel and stone.

… )]≥( …

As soon as they got in, Jasmine was awestruck. The main lobby looked huge, like really huge.

The floor was made of black and red marble tiles, arranged in shifting patterns. Huge obsidian pillars held up the ceiling which was about twenty-five feet high, each pillar had intricate golden designs depicting different deaths. At the other end of the room was a long check in counter, where ghostly attendant sat at the other ends. Above that was a sign with a digital counter that read;

Now attending to number: 254,435,998,356,545,786,222,343,837.

A person walked off with a ghost attendant through a door. Between the door and the counter, was a huge waiting area where souls sat, stood and pretty much looked like every other person would if they were forced to wait in line for anything; depressed.

They walked to the line, and one soul growled at them, "Hey, we were here first!"

"Sorry." Ryan said

The soul then recoiled at them, "my word, you smell awful,"

Ryan and Simon sniffed themselves, they didn't smell that bad,

One of the attendants gazed at them then whispered something to another. Jasmine got the sense that it wasn't an invitation.

The other attendant walked to a phone, dialed a number and spoke, she kept gazing at them, she nodded and put the phone on the receiver. She faced them, then, spoke aloud, "Security." her voice was loud, "Over there." it pointed at them. Then Jasmine and the others, suddenly found themselves surrounded by big bulky skeletons in swat gear and holding scythes.

"I guess you guys aren't part of the welcoming committee." Ryan said

"Ryan, this is serious." Jasmine sneered

"I know. This is freaking terrifying." He sighed, then drew Draxonn

The guards backed off just a bit, then, the one that Jasmine guessed was the leader said, "Your presence is requested upstairs."

Ryan lowered his sword, "So we don't have to fight?" He asked

"No."

"Good." Ryan said as Draxonn shrunk back and he put it in his pocket.

They followed the guards to a row of elevators and got in. Jasmine didn't figure the elevator would fit all of them, but it was extremely spacious. They rose up listening to soft jazz through the elevator speakers, and Ryan noted that, incidentally, Jasmine was a jazz fan.

The fact didn't escape them, though, that the person assisting them tried to stay as far away from them as possible, and was covering their nose with a handkerchief. They stopped at the four hundred and fifty-sixth floor and the doors dinged and slid apart, they stepped out and saw a ghost walking through with a trolley of mail, a skeleton walked past with a huge stack of papers. They could hear the ringing of office phones and the clacking of keyboards. They walked past a spirit receptionist sitting in a circular desk, she looked around twenty, with pale blonde hair, mundane blue eyes and pale skin. She had a head set on and was talking to someone, "Welcome to Death Co., please hold. Welcome to Death Co., please hold. Welcome to Death Co., Carol, how are you? How's Mike, and the kids? No, he didn't!"

They walked through an aisle of desks where ghosts and spirits were busying themselves, either doing actual work or just slacking off. It felt like an actual office building.

Jasmine glance over to the others, Ryan and Simon were looking around in awe, while Christie was looking around in disgust. Jasmine couldn't blame her; Christie was mega OCD and hated it when things weren't in order.

They got to a door and walked in a woman was sitting behind a desk, Jasmine held her breathe, it was her sister, Rose.

"R-Roro?" she asked, her voice quivering.

She looked up, at her sister, her pale white hair tied back in a bun, her dull yellow eyes lit up as she smiled, "Jazz, look at you, all grown up." Then, she touched her earpiece, "Sorry we can't chat, you are expected inside." She said

From there, their security escorts somehow disappeared. They hesitated.

"Jazz, I have to go take care of something, but it really was good to see you again, even if you do smell terrible." Rose said standing up,

"Why does everyone say that?" Ryan demanded

"It's the smell of life clinging to you, it's really putrid to us dead folk, like how the smell of death reviles the living." Rose said fanning her face, "You should go in Ryan, Lady Onruu is waiting for you, and she doesn't like to be kept waiting."

"Lady Onruu?" Ryan asked

They walked towards a pair of black mahogany doors with intricate carvings of skeletons holding scythes, and skull designed door handles.

They approached the doors and they opened automatically.

They stepped into an executive office. The black marble floor had a white fur rug in the middle of the room. There were black pillars like the ones in the lobby but these ones had moving designs. On a coffee table sat a bowl of odd fruit; black apples, crystal peaches and oranges made of fire. A glass desk was stretched out with a laptop, a desk top and a lot of other business utensils. A plush black leather chair was backing them and its occupant was facing the huge windows that took up the entire back wall, gazing at the city.

"Beautiful isn't it?" a female voice said in awe, "Being a New Yorker at heart, I had it all completely renovated as soon as I got here. I always felt the city skyline to be more relaxing that an endless line of people past a barren field. It feels more like home."

Lady Onruu turned around and Jasmine gasped. She was the only person they'd met that wasn't spectral, hell, she was the only think that looked actually real since they'd gotten here. She had a pale olive complexion, and her shiny jet black hair that tumbled down her shoulders with lush curls. She had the features of a beautiful supermodel, her eyes were pure white, and she had lush blood red lips. She was elegantly thin and wore a brilliant white business blazer over a stunning dress that looked to be made from space, with stars and nebula draped over her shapely figure. She sat with purpose and authority and she emanated confidence. Jasmine instantly felt jealous, Lady Onruu was beautiful, drop dead gorgeous in fact —no pun intended— and something else, she looked… familiar. With a start, Jasmine realized that she looked disturbingly similar to Stephanie.

Ryan stared at her and his skin turned paler than pale, the look in his eyes was like he'd seen a ghost but was saddened by it more than frightened.

"M-m-mom?" he said with a shaky breath.

Lady Onruu smiled warmly, "Hello son, it's good to see you."

… )]≥( …

Ryan thought that he could no longer be surprised given what he'd seen, obviously he was wrong. When he saw this lady Onruu, he felt like he had been hit by a brick wall. She looked just like his mom. She was his mom.

"Hello Matthias," she said, "though, you go by 'Ryan' now. That's a waste of a great name, mind you."

"Mom, you're Lady Onruu?" he asked cautiously

Her smiled was warm and inviting, "'Onruu' is just a nickname actually, the full title roughly translates to 'The Star that shines at the end of all things' in a very old dialect that died out before even the time of Gilgamesh, bit of a mouthful so I had it shortened."

"How is this possible?" Ryan asked, "how are you be Lady Onruu?"

Lady Onruu sat up, "I remember being Julia, and technically am still her… but at the same time I'm me, Lady Onruu, the Pillar of Endings that has existed since the first thing died. It's all very complicated, not really something your mortal minds can grasp; you still comprehend reality from a 3-dimensional perspective."

"How did that happen," Ryan asked, his voice straining, "why you?"

"It was penance," Lady Onruu shrugged,

"What?" Ryan demanded,

"Back when I was still Julia I did something insanely stupid, got mixed up in something dangerously complex that I had no right to meddle in." she explained nonchalantly, "Because of what Julia did, I became abstracted from the grand tapestry of fate and destiny, embodying the true essence of the 'Star of Death'. The gig comes with all sorts of perks, like; I know exactly why you're here."

The skull was suddenly just on her desk in front of them.

"We need to know what this is." Christie said,

Lady Onruu drummed her fingers on the cranium, "This is an ancient saying; 'Life is born from death', a stupid, meaningless proverb from a time best left forgotten. But, the important thing here isn't about what is on the skull, but whose skull it is."

They all looked at her, "Who does it belong to?" Jasmine asked

"About eighteen or so centuries ago there was a man named Edviarjd. Very bad man. He was an absurdly powerful magus, the most powerful magus of his time no less. He got mixed up with an earlier iteration of the the Nyx Court, becoming fixated on their teaching, he even took the alias 'the Pure One', presuming himself to be their messiah."

Jasmine looked disturbed at the sudden history lesson on the Nyx Court, understandably the very subject sickened her.

Lady Onruu nodded, her face also contorted in a sickened sneer, "Nowadays, the Nyx Court has splintered into dozens of sects, all claiming their own ideology and methodology. Most of them might not even know the true meaning of that symbol they wear… but I digress. Anyway, Edviarjd was obsessed with the inane idea of ascending to godhood, he conducted numerous experiments on himself, altering his soul and body. As disgusted as I am to admit, he may have found a way to keep his ethereal self tethered to the mortal plane. He never did become the god he set out to be, but he was nigh invulnerable."

"What happened to him?" Christie asked

Lady Onruu shrugged, "He was powerful but not absolute. It took a little more doing than most, but when he was eventually destroyed, his undying soul was cursed with just about everything you can think of; hexes, shamanic curses, spirit crafts, I myself was present at the event just to make sure the bastard got what was coming to him. His soul was thoroughly unmade."

"And that was it?" Jasmine asked

"That was it. He had no soul to judge, so he couldn't come down here. What was left of his essence was left to be consumed by the Naexis."

Ryan thought back to what those Nyx Court said, how they were so confident they were going to bring him back.

"Would it be possible to bring someone back?" Ryan asked

Lady Onruu nodded, "Oh yes, regrettably, there are dozens of ways to raise the dead, it's the entire basis for the forbidden practice of necromancy. Each has its own set of circumstances, requirements, limitations and consequences to bring a soul back, as long as they're stuck down here in the Necropolis, and haven't moved on. Like what happened to G."

"But what about resurrecting someone like the Pure One?"

"Impossible, without his soul he can never be…" she stopped, "There was once talk about a ritual that could completely restore any soul that ever existed and bring said soul back to life. Supposedly, with the right ingredients, you could bring back anyone, whether their soul still exists or not. All you'd need is their remains. It was only ever attempted once, and the perpetrators are still being punished for that down below."

Ryan though deep and hard, the voices in the cave said the formula was incomplete, and even if the final element was there, the formula would not be complete. He started piecing together all the puzzle pieces.

"Is there a formula for this?" he asked

Her smile faded, "Yes, there is, it's called the Lazarus circle, but it was lost a long time ago."

"Ryan?" Christie asked

"This makes sense." He said

"What?"

"Those Nyx Court nuts, they said they were going to bring him back. They were talking about having the missing piece."

"But to do that, they'll need the other ingredients." Lady Onruu said,

"Yeah, but you just said it was lost." Ryan said

"No, it's not." Jasmine said, "I think I know where it is."

"Where is it?"

"I think it's in the Graveyard Islands."

"What?" Simon said, "The Graveyard Island is a myth."

"What's a Graveyard Island?" Ryan asked

"Graveyard Island is a small collection of islands somewhere in the uncharted seas," Jasmine said, "It is said to be lost in an impenetrable fog wall and that its shores are littered with the wrecks of ships that drifted into its rocky shores."

"That island exists within a splinter realm," Lady Onruu said, "difficult to get to, but not impossible." she then reached into her desk and pulled out a small complex contraption. "You'll need this if you want to find it."

"Is that an aestyrometer? A traveler's compass?" Christie said in awe, "I thought they were all destroyed."

"There are a few hanging around here and there. It's already been tuned, so it'll get you into the splinter realm with very little problem," Lady Onruu said, "Finding your way out though will be an entirely different matter."

"Why do we need to find the island?" Simon asked, "isn't that a bad thing?"

"Events are already in motion; you need to take the skull back to that island, that's the only way to be rid of this whole mess." Lady Onruu said, "I'd do it myself, but I'm forbidden from interfering."

"Forbidden by who?" Ryan asked

"There are some questions that shouldn't be asked," she cautioned "sets off all sorts of alarms outside,"

"Outside?" Christie queried, but was ignored.

"So we need to take this super evil skull back to the super dangerous island, where who knows what horrors are waiting for us?" Simon surmised

Lady Onruu gave a small smile and nodded, the same way Stephanie would.

"So that's what we're going to do." Jasmine said, as the gem she wore began to glow, their time was nearly up.

"We need to leave." Jasmine said, "any longer and we might be stuck here, permanently."

"That would probably be for the best," Lady Onruu grinned, "wouldn't want to overstay your welcome. You'll be down here eventually anyway."

She snapped her fingers, and Jasmine, Christie and Simon vanished in a puff of smoke, leaving Ryan behind.

Ryan looked at his mom, "I'm still here?"

Lady Onruu stood up from her chair, she wore a knee length skirt and black heels. "I'd like a moment to catch up first,"

"Y-yeah," Ryan said, "I also have some things I want to say to you,"

She walked over to him, caressing his cheek, "You were so small the last time I saw you as Julia, so fragile. Look at you now, my baby's all grown-up."

"Did you know?" Ryan asked, "that you were going to die, was that why you agreed to become this?"

"Everything dies, Ryan, death is the single greatest constant across all existence. It is also the greatest gift of life, an ending." she started, "Julia's death was inevitable back then, so I used it to strike a deal, to protect you."

"Protect me from what?"

"I can't tell you," She said pulling back, "the less you know, the better."

"I've wanted to meet you for so long," Ryan said, swallowing, "now, I don't even know what to do,"

"Believe me; I know what you mean," She smirked nervously, "when Julia found out she was pregnant with you, I had all these expectations of what you'd be like, and after you were born, she spent every waking moment with you, wanting you to try something new, Matthew even had to take time from work to look after you, just so I'd get a full night's sleep."

Ryan chuckled, "I'd love to hear more embarrassing infancy stories,"

"Oh, there are plenty," Lady Onruu chuckled, "you were such a troublesome little guy, drove me and your dad crazy. Stephanie loved you, though."

"Is he down here?"

"I don't know," She replied sadly, "not every dead soul stays in the Necropolis, some move on, some get lost…" she then forced herself to cheer up, "Anyway, I have something for you,"

She walked to a cabinet and opened it, bringing out a black coat. As she got closer, Ryan could see a gleam in the black leathery material.

"This is made from dragon skin, one of the finest materials known to magik." She said, "It will protect you from almost anything."

"Mom…"

"Take it, it's been sitting in a closet gathering dust for eighteen years." She put a hand on the side of his face as a tear slid down her cheek, "I know it's late but, happy birthday, son."

Ryan put on the coat, it was two sizes too big, but then it shrunk down to his exact size. Stopping at his thighs, the fitted black jacket now had a deep red zipper off to the left side, red designs decorated its torso and shoulders, a hood hung from the collar with red lining on the inside.

He hugged Lady Onruu, a tear streamed down his face, "Thanks mom, I love it." Then she broke the gem of his necklace and the office around him started to fade into mist. The last thing he saw was his mother's smiling face.

… )]≥( …

When Jasmine woke up, she saw everyone else was up except for Ryan.

"Everyone alright?" she asked

"Yeah," Simon groaned,

"That was not fun," Christie gasped, the aestyrometer was on the floor by her feet.

Jasmine turned to Ryan, who was still slouched over,

"That idiota." She said

Then, Ryan sat up, breathing heavily.

When he opened his eyes, he found Jasmine, Simon and Christie staring at him.

"Where'd you get the jacket?" Jasmine asked

Ryan checked at his body, his dragon leather jacket was still on him, "from my mom,"

Jasmine helped him up, "We have what we need, let's get outta here."

They proceeded up the stairs out of the basement. Now wearing the gift from his mom, Ryan felt refocused, reinvigorated, like a new person. As they got to the door, Ryan stopped them, "Shh." He said

"Ryan wha-?" Jasmine said, then, they heard the voice,

"Where are they?" came a female voice,

"They are my customers, they paid me." Madame Limbo said, "I cannot betray their trust,"

"I'll py you more."

Madame Limbo was silent for a moment, "You swear?"

"Cross my heart." The girl said

"They're in the basement." Madame Limbo said

Ryan took a deep breath and they burst out of the basement door.

When they got out of the basement, they saw a girl who made Ryan think, oh great, her again! 

Andrea glared at them, "We meet again." She said with a wicked glower

"Why are you here?" Ryan said, exasperated.

"How are you here?" Christie demanded

"Seriously," Simon said, "Let it go."

She pointed her magik rifle right in front of Ryan's face, "I am here to bring you back to the forty-sixth, dead or alive." She smiled when she said the dead or alive part and Ryan figured that she would go for the former of those two choices.

She charged the gun and a sigil glowed on the barrel

Christie backed up, "The Maev Erinchal Enchantment. That's a restricted wartime cast."

Andrea smiled at them, a twisted, crazy smile. Then she squeezed the trigger and the symbol spun until it was a glowing ring and a bolt of energy shot from the center, right at Ryan.

Ryan jumped out of the way, as the bolt of energy whizzed through where his head had been. The shot hit the cabinet behind him and then the cabinet began to compress in on itself, it got smaller and smaller until it vanished with a soft pop.

"A mini black hole?" Ryan said, "that's not fair,"

"Well that was a waste of a perfectly powerful ordinance," Andrea growled, disappointed, "Luckily, I brought all sort of horrible little goodies to torment you with."

Christie watched as she loaded a large magazine into her magik rifle. She then noticed the symbol that was on the side of the magazine.

She set her rifle to rapid fire and squeezed the trigger, and shot bright yellow bolts at them. Ryan and his friends were all hit with a bolt and found themselves immobilized by yellow tendrils that spread around their bodies.

As Jasmine and Simon went down from Andrea's onslaught, but luckily, Christie somehow managed to avoid getting hit and slinked off from the others after catching a pointed look from Jasmine's eyes.

"A basic Waercrast Restraint," Andrea boasted, "Highly effective and works on almost anything with a magik pulse."

She got close to Ryan, and pointed the barrel of her riffle point blank between Ryan's eyes, "I must admit, I had something extra special prepared just for you, and I love that I get to use it."

She fished out another round from her pocket, the materea crystal at the core of this round was solid black. She slipped this new round into her chamber and a new symbol glowed black along the barrel, glowing brighter as it charged up,

"Daemonfyre!" Jasmine gasped, turning pale "Don't be a fool, Andrea. You're toying with something extremely dangerous now."

"I know what it is, Jasmine," Andrea shot back, her voice filled with contempt, "It was only ever used once; Nagasaki in 1945, the mundanes mistook it for a hydrogen bomb, but it was this. It was so destructive all research on it was immediately halted and destroyed and almost all samples seized and sealed away, except for a few that float around in the black markets where I got this little number. I was saving it for a special occasion, but I decided to use it on you," she smiled insanely, "Any last words?"

Ryan looked at her, "no offence, but you might be crazy."

"Always the smartass, right up to the end" Andrea sneered, "Good bye, Ryan Reins."

She squeezed the trigger and the sigil spun as the end of the barrel glowed, then… nothing?

The sigil flickered and disappeared,

Andrea looked around, uncertain, "Wha-What's going on?"

Jasmine felt his ability to move returning, she grabbed the barrel of the gun and pushed it aside, then smacked Andrea in the face, she stumbled back holding her nose.

"I deployed a cast jammer around the cabin." Christie panted walking down the stairs clutching her own riffle, "No magik can work here for the next hour."

"What took you so long?" Simon groaned getting up

"I'd like to see you set up a cast jammer strong enough to cancel a city-buster cast in a few minutes." Christie rebuffed

Andrea pulled a knife from her belt and held it up, "Stay back!" she yelled, "I'm warning you!"

Ryan looked at the others, "What do we do with her?"

"She's just going to continue stalking us." Jasmine said,

"Yeah, and there really isn't that much we can do, is there?" Ryan said, "not unless we want to kill her?"

While Ryan was distracted, Andrea ran towards him with her knife raised, she stabbed him in the chest, right over his heart, but the knife blade broke against his jacket.

Ryan used her initial shock, and acted swiftly, punching her in the gut, then giving her a strike to her temples, she crumpled to the ground.

"Well that's one way of taking her down." Simon said

"We need to restrain her." Jasmine said, "Tighter this time."

"I can assist you." Said Madame Limbo who had disappeared to nowhere and, apparently, decided to come back

"You sold us out," Jasmine said

"I was merely-" Madame Limbo began

"You sold us out," Jasmine repeated, drawing her crossbow, "I'd be in my right to retaliate,"

The gyspen now looked nervously at the weapon and at Jasmine's scowl, "P-pe-perhaps my in-intentions was misconstrued,"

"Fortunately, I'm not going to kill you," Jasmine said, "I think we may still have some use for you."

After a few minutes, they managed to tie Andrea to a stake, set that stake on a raft and set the raft adrift in the lake.

"That ought to keep her out of our hair for a while." Ryan said dusting his hands together.

"Madame Limbo, remember what we told you," Jasmine said, "When she wakes up, tell her we went back to our sanctum."

Madame Limbo nodded, emphatically, "I will remember."

"You know she's gonna snitch on us right?" Simon whispered to Ryan as they left the cabin

"I know," Ryan said. "I also know Andrea will want to vent out her anger, that's why I left Andrea a little surprise."

They walked through the woods and the cabin disappeared.

… )]≥( …

When Andrea came too, she looked around and growled, "I really hate them!" she yelled.

She struggled for half an hour, but was finally able to get out of her bonds, then it was just a quick swim through the leech infested water to shore.

When she got to the cabin, she found Madame Limbo there. She pulled out her broken knife, "Where did they go?"

"They told me to tell you that they went back to their Sanctum."

"Where did they really go?" she glared

"They went to port."

Andrea threw a pouch of gold coins at the gypsy the found her assault rifle on the wall, she picked it up and inspected it, then she tested it, as she pulled the trigger, a symbol glowed on the rifle,

Then the symbol blew up in a cloud of blue smoke. When the smoke cleared, Andrea was covered in blue paint and her rifle had a message written on it in the blue paint.

I might have put a paint bomb in your rifle, so don't use it.

That prank is patented.

She yelled at the top of her lungs, "I'M GOING TO KILL HIM!"

… )]≥( …

By the time Andrea was able to get that paint off, Ryan, Jasmine, Simon and Christie were already out of port on the Excellence.

Jax come to them and barked in his monkey Morse code, "He says that we're lucky he had some repairs to do with the ship before he left port."

"Thank you Captain Jax," Ryan said, "But we need a favor from you."

Jax barked some more, "He says that he is in debt to your mother for many things, if there is anything you need you should just ask."

"We need to go to Graveyard Island."

Jax stepped back, then barked some more, "He says that Graveyard Island isn't just a trip to some beach resort, finding the island isn't something that can be done so easily."

"We have a clue." Jasmine said, holding the aestrymeter, "now we just need to find our way to the splinter realm."