Gloom Rising (The Book Wielder Saga 1) (6 page)

Winston hadn’t put much thought into what Supernatural he wanted to become. Many Book Wielders became either Vampires, Werewolves, or Mages, for the immortality and increased survivability, and of course extra spells and abilities. He would definitely have to put some thought into it. He wondered if Veronica would mind if he became something other than a Vampire.

He climbed into bed next Veronica, who had slipped into a short black negligee that was mostly see through and was casually flicking through a book, and got comfy next to her.

She leaned over and kissed him. “Sweet dreams honey.”

“Just one question,” he began as he closed his eyes. “Why pick me? You’re so hot and I haven’t really done anything interesting. My life’s always been quite dull. Well, until I found my book.”

Veronica paused as if in deep thought, and then sighed. “Even as a human I could sense things. It’s hard to put into words but I could always tell what course of action I was supposed to take. When my parents told me that I was going to be married off, I knew it was wrong. I knew I was waiting for someone else. It sounds cheesy but when I first saw you I knew you were the one I’d been waiting for all this time. You can probably tell I haven’t been an angel over the years but I’ve always been saving my heart for you.” She gently ran her fingers through his hair. “And I’m not interested in you for the things that you have done – I’m interested in you for the things that you’re going to do.”

Winston dozed off into dreams of purple clouds and fading stars before he had a chance to ask her what she meant.

Chapter 3:

Woodsholme Road Trip

Winston awoke feeling highly content. With what little sunlight that did make it through Veronica's thick blinds painting the room in a calming shade of red, he rolled over to find that his lover was gone.

He felt a surge of disappointment and feared that the night had been a one-off, until he saw that a note had been left on her pillow. It read;

Morning sweetie,

Thanks again for the wild night! Hope it was the first of many!

Meet us in the underground garage (I'll be napping in the back of the van)

Lots of love and naughtiness,

Veronica,

X x X x X x X x X x X

With a sigh of relief he took another shower for good measure. He got his suit on and double checked that his book and quill were still in his inner jacket pocket, and then headed downstairs for some breakfast.

The kitchen staff had been informed about him so they offered him a seat in the communal dining room without any fuss and got him a menu. He ordered a large plate of scrambled eggs and toast with coffee to drink, free of charge, and scoffed it all down quickly to the disapproving looks of other hotel customers. After he was done he asked for directions to the private underground garage and headed there.
      

He got the reception staff to allow him access into the special underground garage that was intended for extremely high-paying guests who wanted extra security for their expensive cars. The gang also used it for their private fleet of transport vehicles and private rides. It went several floors down, but his personal guard was waiting for him on the first.

Alexander, Kavarne, and Lynette were waiting by a bulky, black, clearly ex-military van, and a vintage yet powerful looking motorcycle. Everyone was dressed in casual yet practical clothing. Kavarne and Lynette were wearing dark brown combat trousers, loose fitting t-shirts with rock band style logos on (although Lynette’s was cut in half to expose her toned navel), and black leather biker jackets. Alexander was wearing a purple shirt tucked into grey trousers, and over the top he wore an ankle-length light grey fabric coat that had multiple inner pockets in its silky purple interior.

"Morning Winston," Alexander said cheerfully,

"Hi," Winston replied. "I hope you haven't been waiting long?"

"Don't worry about it," said Lynette, playfully stroking Kavarne's chest. "Most of us had an eventful night."

Alexander chuckled. “Speak for yourself – I just studied.” He reached into one of his outer pockets and pulled out a mobile phone, handing it to Winston. “It’s state of the art technology from the boss so we can stay in touch.”

Winston was stunned; mobile phones were quite rare, and only the richest of the rich had them. It was a relatively new invention, a cross between a landline phone and a military walkie-talkie, and it could be used to call people as normal and send simple messages. They used the old military-installed wireless communications networks from the war, so the signal was usually good. Imperians never cut corners when it came to warfare which was one of the main reasons that they won.

“Veronica and Xavier are napping in the back,” Kavarne gestured with his thumb towards the van. “Me and Lynette will follow on the bike.”

“Which makes me your driver,” Alexander said cheerfully. “Shall we go?”

Winston agreed and got into the van with Alexander. He quickly looked through his phone and saw that all of his personal guard and Lucius were saved as contacts to make getting hold of them easier. He then got his book and quill out from his suit. He kept the quill in his hand (for some reason it made him feel strangely powerful), and then he willed his book to full-size and began flicking through its pages, sampling the knowledge that it would provide him with.

Sometimes his book would show him occult knowledge of some specific genre, and other times it would be a random assortment of things ranging from alchemy information to useful little spells. Other times he’d be able to will the book to access information that he wanted to now. It was fascinating to Winston that every time he opened the book, the pages were different and the information wasn’t legible to anyone else.

An automated metal shutter slid open and allowed them to exit the garage. They followed a steep ramp onto the main road and they were on their way. Imperia City, or ‘Capital City’ as it was widely referred to, was as busy as ever. Cars, buses, trucks, and lorries made their way through the multiple lane roads. Shoppers, workers, businessmen, and Military Peace Keepers crossed here and there every time the traffic lights changed from green to red. The hustle and bustle was a nice change to Winston’s usual stagnant country life, and he was looking forward to spending some serious money at the Capital’s many shops.

As they began to approach the World GOVT building, the traffic became more congested. Some cars did questionable manoeuvres to turn around and get onto the other side of the road rather than waiting, but after a short wait the traffic began moving at a reasonable pace again. As they neared the circular road that ran around the massive GOVT building that dominated the city’s skyline, it became obvious that something serious was going on. Three floating triangular airships that looked like they had come directly from a sci-fi movie were hovering at the higher levels of the building. They were sleek, white and silver, delta-shaped vehicles with a circular hole at the wider end that glowed neon blue. Winston guessed it was some sort of hover rotor.

The base of the building was an even more dramatic affair. Armoured vans were parked up by the entrance. They had the same futuristic white and silver coloured motif as the airships, and they were marked with the symbol of a golden ‘I’ with two crescent moons either side of it. The moons were a symbol of the Twin Goddesses, the world’s religion that had mostly died out after the war, and Winston recognised the ‘I’ symbol from Imperia’s old banner but the style reminded him of something he couldn’t quite place. Soldiers in bulky white armour with black fatigues and the same golden symbol marked on their shoulder pads and helmets were marching various GOVT workers into the back of the vans at gunpoint. Their rifles were large, black, evil looking rectangular shapes with multiple barrels, and every now and then streaks of neon blue energy would surge through geometric lines across their surface from shoulder rest to barrels.

The whole sight sent a shiver down Winston’s spine. It was like he was watching a movie being filmed, but he knew this was all too real. “What’s going on?” he asked nervously.

“I don’t know,” Alexander began. “They must be the new Autocrat’s forces from the Orphan Isle. This isn’t good, whatever it is.”

The large island at the centre of the ocean in the middle of the planet’s three curved continents was named Central Isle. During the Great War, the Church of the Twin Goddesses (when it was still a properly functioning organisation) set up a large refuge on the uninhabited island for casualties of war and children who had lost their parents in the conflict, which is where it got its slang name from; the ‘Orphan Isle’. Shortly after Edgar I lost his wife, he moved to the Central Isle and had several construction projects put into motion such as more housing, research facilities, and a new skyscraper similar to the World GOVT building in the Capital City placed in the centre of the Isle. It was always rumoured that they were experimenting with extremely high-tech equipment, but no one had seen it until now.

A guarded officer walked out of the entrance with her hands behind her back. She had heavily tanned skinned, obviously of Tropican descent, with smart shoulder length chestnut coloured hair. She wore a long white glossy looking trench coat with every button fastened, and a black shirt with a white tie underneath. As the Shadow Circle’s van passed by she seemed to lock eyes with Winston, and he saw something strangely familiar in her dark brown eyes before she was out of eyeshot and the moment was gone.

Alexander was already on the phone to Lucius giving him a description of what was going on. Many Government staff accepted bribes from the Shadow Circle gang and others; some were practically on the payroll, so any hint of interrogation didn’t bode well. The only good thing was that if anyone did speak out against the Supernaturals, they’d probably think they were crazy. Most normal humans only saw what they wanted to see, which was usually very little.

Winston carried on looking through his book to try and take his mind off what he’d just seen. Images and text flowed onto the pages showing him how to use the quill to draw portals to the Gloom. It seemed simple enough – just a matter of holding the portal magic in mind, willing the quill to respond, and literally drawing a portal of the desired size. Afterwards it seemed the portal could be dispelled or left open indefinitely.

As they started to reach the edge of the city, the giant concrete wall that had been constructed in the Great War came into view. It was at least 80ft tall and 30 to 40ft wide, and encircled most of the city. Four massive gates were placed at the northern, eastern, southern and western points. The Capital had never been close to being attacked during the Great War but Edgar I had insisted that the city regain its trademark walls which it had lost under the reign of one of Imperia’s more peaceful Autocrats, using up-to-date materials. The gates were always open now, as the city had expanded slightly beyond the walls and to allow easy access for the large amount of traffic entering and exiting the Capital. A few armed MPK’s stood guard but they were mainly for show.

At regular intervals on both sides of the wall, the World Banner was displayed. It was a red rectangle with a white circle in the middle, and inside that was small black circle with three black triangles around it, with one above and two slightly below at either side to represent Central Isle and the world’s three continents. At the very bottom, ‘IMPERIA’ was written in formal black and gold lettering. Previous to the Great War, each nation had its own banner. Imperia’s was a similar design to the current one except it had a black ‘I’ in place of the circle and triangles. Industria’s was a purple diagonal cross on a light grey background, and Tropica used to have a green banner with a large triangle in the centre split into three sections by horizontal lines. The top section of the triangle was orange, the middle was white, and the bottom was yellow. Nowadays displaying any banner other than the World Banner or the vintage Imperian one was a serious offense.

They exited the Capital and moved from wide roads to thinner ones, the traffic dying down when they headed east into the hilly country regions of Rura. The surroundings became more rural and thick pockets of trees became more common. They stopped at a small hillside village cafe that over looked the wide grassy plains that the Capital was situated in the middle of. It was quite a contrast seeing the massive foreboding city in the heart of such tranquil nature. The tall concrete walls gave it a foreboding, almost oppressive feel, and Winston wondered if that had been the point. The very thought of attacking such a monstrosity was threatening in itself.

Alexander and Winston hopped out of the van and Lynette and Kavarne dismounted the bike.

“What the fuck was that about back there?” Kavarne growled.

“I’ve never seen tech like that!” Lynette added nervously.

“I’m not totally sure,” Alexander began, “but the boss is looking into it. My theory is that the new Autocrat is making a name for himself. He’s flexing his muscles, showing that he’s not going to be as laid back as his father was in his later years.”

“Do you reckon he knows about his dad?” Kavarne asked.

“Knows what?” Winston inquired. He’d heard many rumours and conspiracy theories about the old Autocrat’s life, and it was always so strange that he relentlessly conquered the world only to sit idle after his wife’s passing. It was like all the fire in his heart had been extinguished at once.

“That the Trinity killed his mother,” Alexander replied casually.

Winston was shocked but not totally surprised; it explained an awful lot about Edgar the first’s post war behaviour.

“Yeah,” Alexander continued, shaking his head. “The bastards assassinated Edgar the first’s wife and then threatened to kill his son if he spilled the beans about us Supernaturals. It was a totally unnecessary bit of savagery; he was a good man and was quite content to keep his mouth shut about our existence. We did help him win his war, after all.”