The Wounded Warsong

Chapter 55: Reanimation

"Try again, this should work..." He flipped a large switch and a dark electrical surge sparked through! "Good. Okay, turn it off." He pulled it back up quickly and the surge stopped.

"At least it's doing something now." Isaak looked over the odd arrangement of dials and levers and little moving needles behind glass. His eyes couldn't make any sense of what he was looking at. He could feel an odd warmth coming from it all that felt very familiar.

"Didn't realize it would crystal over back there if it wasn't changed in so long..." Haborym walked out from a large room with a few odd tools hanging from a belt and a thick blackened towel in his hands. Shattered crystal shown like glitter across his hands and arms and the towel.

"Just what makes this spark? It's like lightning; like it's alive..." He lightly scratched behind a horn and shook his head.

"I never asked. I was just shown how to use it and what parts were important. Too bad it had to be the former Viscount who showed me and the others... We can push them into that chamber now. We can awaken all of them at one time with the apparatus set this way."

"Is it wise to use it in this fashion?"

"It shouldn't be a problem. That chamber was made for mass awakenings just it hasn't been used for a very long time. In fact there are three other chambers for this but they haven't worked for some time... We could never figure it out why even with the former Viscount." Isaak looked at the apparatus again for a moment then turned his eyes up toward Haborym.

"Could ...our Lord be awakened with this?"

"No sadly. He has to awaken on his own. We've been waiting so long though... I wonder if there's something interfering."

"Could we check it out? Go to where he is?"

"We can't really enter. The doors are sealed shut. We don't have anything that can cut through." Isaak looked back into the hallway as Orinthia was helping move one of the Nine. A bellowing muffled howl emanated from deep within the castle!

"A new one begins..."

"Allocen was the same Grand Duke. Just like that."

"I see." Orinthia briefly poked her head in through the hallway.

"I wasn't the only one to hear that was I?" Isaak waved.

"No, we all heard it."

"Okay, just checking."

"We should first try to awaken the Desert Roses though. You were a special case Grand Duke... I don't wish to have them trying to live without a pact or the Brand."

"Brand?"

"The Brand is a special pact, not with a dark spirit but with the Lord himself. Many pawns get the Brand so that they must stay close with our Lord at all times. They can follow him where ever he goes to protect and fight for him."

"Branding... How do the pact and Brand work?"

"Forming the pact with the dark spirit is done by rubbing some of their blood onto a magical pact with the dark spirit. It is a large scroll that absorbs the blood into it repeatedly without leaving a trace. It's said they'll then be bound to the dark crystal within this land which would explain why they can't exist outside this region unless they can summon the dark spirit itself. Few of us can actually summon it to remove this restriction but it is very fragile and can wind up killing the summoner if it is harmed. Branding is done before they are awakened... we have several old pieces of our Lord that are placed either on them or within the chamber when doing a mass awakening. The apparatus can measure how much essence is left and what it can support. I myself was Branded... Those with higher skills are given the pact after a short time of being awake."

"Hmm... Think it could work using Orinthia?" Haborym's eyes widened.

"Her? It's never been done; using something other then these two methods. We should trial it first though... but... it could put her at an unknown risk Grand Duke." Orinthia looked in after hearing her name.

"I wouldn't be at risk. I have something that might fill in for me."

"Are you sure?" The howl returned in force much sharper and clearer!

"Almost sounds like... he's been sent out already! We should go get him quickly!" Haborym started running through the hallway and down the corridor to where the howling was coming from.

"What's happening?" Orinthia and Isaak ran with him.

"It's just like with our Marquis: we don't have long before we have to awaken him or else we might lose him!" The howl became louder and more resonant. "He's having a nightmare." They finally reached him to see a few others around him on their knees holding their ears. Several finally opened their eyes and saw Isaak and stood up.

"Grand Duke! Don't stand in front of him!" He howled again, knocking everyone to their knees and rattling their bones.

"Was... was I like this?" Allocen was on his hands and knees before the new arrival. Haborym quickly got up and looked over the waist restraint and read aloud:

"Speed S... Strength S... Will Power S... M-my Lord, what has been put in front of us?!" He looked to Allocen and then to Isaak with wavering, fear-filled eyes. "W-we have to hurry! Help me get him to the chamber!" They picked it up and moved as fast as they could back to the apparatus room. Orinthia began unwrapping some of the molt from around her stomach. It had changed color to match her skin tone. She cut a square away that had been against her skin.

"You want to use this here?" She nodded.

"I'd rather not experiment... but..." He held it over a certain section of the apparatus and a needle behind glass flickered and moved. "It has enough to work! Amazing!" They pushed the container into the chamber and placed the square of molt over his chest. "All right, shut the door. Everyone get to the hallway." He flipped the switch and a whole section of the apparatus began to light up and hum with life. "It's working! Yes!" A large dark surge leapt through the chamber and lit up the room beyond the small glass window.

"Gluttony doesn't like what's happening. There's something wrong with this demon. Something terrible..."

"We can't turn back now without losing him!" He threw another switch and a loud buzzing sound pounded the chamber for a brief second. The surges died down. Steam began to leak from the door. "Oh Lord, who have you given us today?"