This is the continued story of John Baines. He was the character from last years stories "Tradewind embarks"
http://sjmstories.blogspot.com/2013/09/tradewind-embarks.html
And "Death and Bones part 1" http://sjmstories.blogspot.com/2013/10/death-and-bones-1-of-2.html
if you haven't read them yet, I suggest you read them to catch up with the story line.
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John Bones,
formerly John Baines, walked the desolate cursed land. A shadowy serpent had
attacked his ship, the Tradewind, and all of his friends died in the wreck. John
had died but was resurrected by the dark energy that flowed through the land.
Almost fifty years had passed between the time the Tradewind sank and he woke
up as an undead sailor. John didn’t even know where he was but had a strange
sense that he knew where he was going. He felt like he was being pulled inland
by an invisible force.
John saw a
large black spire in the distance. The spire towered over the cursed trees and
the forest and John felt drawn to it. “That tower is an abomination. It an
affront to me” Said the voice of Death, who was still following John. “Just
take me already! I want to avenge my fallen brothers but being in this cursed
state is a torment I cannot handle” John told Death. “If I could I would have
years ago. The master of that tower is a necromancer who has cursed the land.
He seeks to rule this land and all lands with his power over the dead. He traps
souls in their bodies before they can pass on. Needless to say I am not pleased
with him at all” Said the voice of Death.
John mindlessly
walked toward the spire and Death’s words fell away. John reached the great
gate of the spire and the doors opened for him. John navigated through the
spire as if he knew where to go. He reached the center room and began to walk
up a spiral staircase that went all the way to the top of the tower. John
walked up the stairs with ease, he didn’t feel tired or out of breath, he felt
as though he could have walked forever. Finally John reached the top and opened
a door that led back outside. John walked through the door and saw the
Necromancer standing on a balcony watching the cursed land below. “Ahh my
newest minion” The Necromancer said as he turned around. “My magic brought you
here, as it does with all who die in my lands. Now let me take a look at you”
Said the Necromancer. He looked hard at John and then began to smile. “you face
looks just like a Jack-o-lantern. Did someone carve your face before you died?”
The Necromancer said as he barely contained his laughter. “I will call you
Jack, pumpkin Jack” Said the Necromancer. “My name is J-“ John began to say but
the Necromancer lifted a finger and John lost the ability to speak. “J-is for
Jack. As in Pumpkin Jack. The only way this would be more fitting is if…well I
suppose your eyes DO glow” The Necromancer said then began to laugh.
John
reached for his sword as the rage boiled up inside. This dark wizard was
responsible. The shadow creature that sank the Tradewind, John being reborn as
an undead monster and probably the skeleton attack in the autumn forest were
all linked to this evil man. On top of his sins, he dared to mock John in
Death. John Bones pulled his sword from its holster and slashed at the
Necromancer. The evil wizard was busy laughing and didn’t see his new subject
reach for his sword. John’s blade was stopped at the very last second before it
killed the Necromancer. John stood paralyzed, holding his sword against the
Necromancers bleeding through. The sword cut the skin but did not do any
serious damage. The Necromancer was no longer laughing, he had an awful scowl
on his face as he held his hand up. The Necromancer held John in place with a
wave of his hand. With another wave his hand the Necromancer sent John flying
off the Spire.
John was
launched from the tower as if thrown by a large invisible hand. Fear and
adrenaline pumped through John as he fell. He had been thrown from such a
height he knew this was his end. Then just before John hit the ground he
remembered he couldn’t die and met the ground with a sense of boredom and annoyance.
“If that Necromancer can control my every action how am I supposed to get
revenge?” John asked as his body lay sprawled out on the hard black dirt. “You
find someone who is alive who also wants the Necromancer to die. This wont be
difficult, his evil magic has been plaguing the lands for many years and all
would like to see an end to his reign of terror. This desolate place used to be
part of the Autumn land before the Necromancer arrived and began practicing his
evil sorcery” Death explained.
“Then I
will leave and find a group of humans to help me!” John said as he was
empowered by a new sense of hope. “You cannot leave the borders of the cursed
land unless the Necromancer allows you to leave. Which he wont, not after you
tried to kill him” Death explained. “Fine I will go to the edge of the land. I
will do everything I can!” John said as he shambled along. His legs slowly
snapped back into place and his broken arms straightened out. His body returned
to its normal state as if he had never been thrown off of a spire.
The cursed
land stretched out for miles. The spire had a clearing around it, but anything
beyond that clearing was thick with cursed dark trees. “This is the Haunted
land. The necromancer’s evil tainted this autumn forest beyond repair. The dark
magic has attracted so many demons and spirits it is now home to creatures
worse than even the Necromancer. Luckily for you, you cannot die” Death told
John as John entered the dense Haunted Forest.
The Haunted
forest lived up to its name, besides John there were many undead creatures
wandering about. Mindless zombies, ghosts and nightmarish demons inhabited the
forest. When dark magic infects a whole land it attracts other dark creatures.
Most of the monsters in the Haunted forest didn’t even follow the Necromancer,
they were just drawn to the darkness. The forest was filled with dead trees
with black bark and no leaves. Some of the trees even had greenish ooze instead
of sap. John shuddered to think what would come out if he chopped one of the
trees down.
While John
was walking through the forest he heard roars and rustling in the trees ahead.
He ran forward and saw a short muscular man fighting shadow beast with glowing
orange eyes. John felt his rage grow when he saw the beast because he knew it
was another servant of the Necromancer. John pulled his sword from its sheath
and charged forward, slashing the head off of the shadow creature. The undead
magic that kept John alive was also infused within his blade, the magic in his
blade was able to kill minions of the Necromancer for good. John discovered his
new ability when he slashed the shadow creature’s head off and it melted into
the ground. Usually slashing any part of a shadow creature, even the head did
little more than slow it down.
The
muscular man was relieved that the evil shadow was gone but turned his blade on
John when he noticed John had glowing orange eyes. “I come in peace. I am
cursed like this land but I do not protect the Necromancer” John said as he put
his hands in the air. John couldn’t die so he wasn’t worried about fighting,
but he did need the help of a mortal to slay the Necromancer.
“Who are
you if not a minion of the dark wizard?” Said the Muscular man. “I am John
Baines…I was John Baines. I don’t know what to call myself now. Bones, Pumpkin
Jack, Jack o lantern, dead sailor guy” John rattled off the names casually with
a tired sigh. It only took a moment for the man to realize why John would refer
to himself as a Jack-o-lantern of a pumpkin. John had glowing eyes and a face
that looked like it had been carved up for Halloween. “I am Finnious Malcolm
Honeydew. You can call me Malcolm, or just Mayor is fine” said the Muscular
man. “Why Mayor?” asked John. “I used to be the Mayor of Honeyside, the port
town in the autumn forest. When the Necromancer attacked Honeyside the
villagers and I fought back, after we learned that the Necromancer’s skeletons
couldn’t be killed we escaped the town for our lives and built a new town
called Honeydew. I am the Mayor of Honeydew” the Mayor explained.
“I was in
Honeyside before I died, that was years ago. I am sorry, it looked like a
beautiful place. If you have a new town, why risk the dangers of these woods?”
Asked John. “I can’t sit around getting fat as the Mayor, not while that
Necromancer is still alive. Until he is destroyed no one will be truly safe”
Replied Mayor. “I want to see the Necromancer dead as well, but he can control
me whenever he wants. So I need help to break his spell over me so I can kill
him” John explained.
“If I can
find the source of the Necromancers power, maybe I can take it out and then you
would be free” Explained the Mayor. “Good, I am glad I ran into you. Maybe
together we actually have a chance to stop this maniac” John said
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