A.N. I must say that I am disappointed with the response to my last chapter however I guess it is understandable seeing as how it was very short. Still, this one is much longer and hopefully will fulfil your expectations. Please tell me what you think by reviewing however as always I will welcome any e-mails sent to my address and do my best to answer any questions or requests that you have.

goodbye and good fortune

Fallen Saga Creator

A New Foe

Zidane wrinkled his nose as he looked down at the shambling column. Blank had been right about the stench. It was not the natural scent that accompanied death in the jungle. That scent was a part of nature, a part of the earth. This was rancid, like mould. Those below showed little marking of their status as undead. Their skin was smooth but had a sickly pall as though stretched too thinly over their skulls. They wore heavy Alexandrian foot armour, made from best Alexandrian steel it was relatively light and provided the best protection a foot-soldier could get. The proud crest of Alexander's spire was displayed on their shields, their drawn blades held upright as though they arched on the parade ground.

Zidane felt his hackles rise and let his rage stir within him. Such travesties would not be tolerated in Terra. He drew his dagger soundlessly and clenched it between his teeth. All around him the other genomes did the same and then followed him as he soundlessly drew his twin-bladed sword, the slim blades smeared with charcoal to stop them glinting in the sunlight. He gestured left and right with his sword and the dozen genomes with him disappeared into the undergrowth, barely a lea stirring to mark their progress.

Then Zidane took the dagger from between his teeth and held it tightly in his left as his right tightened around the handle of his twin-sword. Beside him Blank crouched with a pair of curved dirks, his eagerness for battle evident as he crept forward to perch on a branch right above the advancing column. Zidane let his anger bubble up, crouching as he crept forward onto another branch. Then he let go and dropped and all hell broke loose.

His sword struck the creature at the head of the column, his proud helm providing no protection as the sword drove point-first into his skull. Zidane did not even wait to see his body fall to the ground. Even as his first kill dropped to his knees Zidane was using his shoulders as a springboard into those behind. They surged to meet him but the genomes fell upon them from every angle. Zidane slashed the throat of one as he flew past, his sword driving forward in a wide arc to open the throats of two more that pushed forward.

Their armour was useless, their attacks so sluggish that not a one touched the genomes. Keen edged genome blades sought the weaknesses, the slightest joint providing the deadly warriors with enough of a gap to force their blade through and into flesh. Zidane was a maelstrom in their midst, his blades slick with blood as he leapt and span, his weapons constantly questing for new enemies.

The battle was over in a matter of moments, the genomes' furious assault decimating the slow undead before they had the chance to retaliate. The warriors threw their heads back, their wild cries of triumph ringing through the jungle for miles, Zidane at their centre holding both blades above his head, the blood on them running down to his arms, the ferocious look on his face giving him a truly terrifying visage. With a feral snarl he slashed the head from one as it tried to rise despite the gaping hole in its gut.

He looked around at the dead and had he not been in the grip of his battle rage he would have been sick. Maggots squirmed amid the innards that had spilled from rent flesh, the skin tearing at the merest touch as though only wafer thin. The flesh beneath that pale skin was rotted, maggots and flies living within the beings even as they put on the façade of living. He nodded with satisfaction; all the genomes had slashed throats or struck hearts, the only ways to kill undead.

Blank booted aside a corpse as he wiped his blade clean, his teeth showing as he gave him a feral grin, 'The fight was over too quickly Zidane. There are plenty more of these for us to hunt in this jungle.'

The border-guard nodded his agreement as he sheathed his sabre, 'Aye, there are half a dozen more groups like this one, all of them off to the west. We're the only force around here so they're our quarry.'

Zidane leapt from the dead and swarmed up a vine, stopping a dozen metres in the air, 'Then why do we wait here? There are undead to hunt.' The genomes below cheered and their hunting cries joined his again and Zidane was off through the trees, his nose twitching as he sniffed the wind, hoping for the slightest waft of quarry. Now that the genomes had tasted blood they would not stop, the hunt had taken over and they would fight until all had been driven from their land or until every last one of them had died

~

Dagger sat in her room alone, staring at the forest outside. The genomes had made it back halfway through the night, seeing no reason to sleep when there were enemy within their borders. She had tried to sleep but was unable, perhaps because she had only recently woken from a coma but more likely she knew because she knew that a certain young genome who had protected her in this new kingdom was out there amid the trees, hunting monstrosities from the grave. She sighed and stood from the dresser, crossing to the bed. She looked up at the tapestry hung on the other side of the round room. It displayed the genomes winning a battle against the Friedians, their warriors swinging from the trees to fall upon the Friedians who broke and ran before their assault.

In the foreground was a genome in armour, a light breastplate protecting his chest and shoulders as he wielded a dagger and twin-bladed sword identical to Zidane's. His face was noble and handsome, his features set in an expression of righteous fury as he cut down the Friedian general. She admired the intricate detail that had gone into the piece, each of his shoulder-length hairs swirling with his movements as he bounded forward, delivering the fatal blow. A thought sprang to mind as she looked at him that he seemed a-lot like Zidane, his features having the same playful confidence.

So absorbed was she in examining the tapestry that she never heard the genome queen enter. She jumped as her quite authoritative voice sounded in the room, 'Yes, he does look like Zidane.' She turned as the queen strode to the bed, 'He's Zidane's great, great grandfather, a general in my army who fought in the last major invasion and drove them out before they had come ten miles into the forest.'

Dagger smiled, 'So that's where he gets it from.'

The queen nodded, a small smile curving her lips, 'His father was the same.'

'Was? You mean?'

The queen nodded sadly, 'Yes, it was a Friedian assassin team. They sent them in to retrieve one of the gems and they managed to slip past the border guard. It was Zidane's father that picked up their trail. He didn't have time to call for help so instead he went after them alone, leaving a trail that other genomes would find and follow. He caught them just before they got the gem. There were five of them but he attacked without hesitation. He killed them all but was mortally wounded himself, when more warriors came they found him propped against a rock, his blades drawn as though his spirit still sought to protect the gem.

'When Zidane found was given his father's sword he cried for hours but never once did he show any sign of weakness. He simply sat in their house and sharpened the sword as all the while tears fell from his eyes, that was when he earned the respect of the other warriors. Despite loosing his mother before he was old enough to even remember her and then loosing his father he did not retreat into sadness, he instead took up his father's mantel as a warrior. When he emerged from the house the next day he carried the sword across his back and joined the warriors in their practice even though he was only eleven. He became popular, his humour staying despite losing his family. Every warrior became his friend and every last one taught him another trick. He can out-fight most of my own royal guard.

'But there is more. Zidane told you of the great evil that would come when the summoner reappeared.' It was not really a question, more of a statement but Dagger nodded nonetheless, 'Did he also tell you where it would come from?'

Again Dagger nodded, 'Yes, from the West, from Fried.'

The genome queen shook her head, 'We know not if the evil will appear in Fried, many have simply assumed so because of the way they covet the stones.'

Dagger's expression showed her confusion, 'What do you mean? If not from Fried then from where?'

The genome queen's tone was cold and hard as she spoke, 'Alexandria is also to the West Princess.'

~

The hunting party had not slept in almost two days but not a single genome showed any signs of tiredness. One and all they watched the undead below, there were more in this band than any of the others, almost four score marching in silent rank. The stench pervaded the air, so thick that it would have been almost overpowering for even a human. For the genomes it did not disgust them, only infuriated them. The hunting party had grown since the outset, the watchers of each band they had cut down joining them to swell their numbers to thirty.

Zidane bore a bandage on his upper right arm, a sword slash having carved a shallow gash, Zidane's dagger had carved one a lot deeper in the undead's throat. Several of the other genomes bore wounds, these, the fiercest genomes, throwing themselves into combat with no regard for their own lives. They were the ones who bore wounds, and the ones that had killed most of the beings that plagued their forest.

Zidane's hackles rose convulsively as though he strained at a leash, desperate to let his fury flow through his weapons. But he restrained himself, his keen sense of smell telling him that though these creatures were the same as the ones they had slaughtered for the past two days there was something different this time. Something just beyond recognition. Beside him he heard an eager growl from another genome and decided that he would not stop the hunt for a suspicion. He opened his mouth and let the hunting cry tear from his throat, the wild, undulating notes being echoed a dozen times from every direction.

He leapt through the foliage and into the void, feeling the air stream past him as he fell, his blades already fixed upon the exact point where they would cut down the first undead. But this time it was different. This time the genomes did not fall upon their enemy and hack them apart, breaking the spell of undeath. This time the undead that Zidane leapt upon looked straight up, a cruel, unnaturally large grin splitting his face. Something seemed to boil beneath his skin for a moment before bursting from within its confines.

A form that seemed impossibly large to have hidden within the undead erupted from the wet folds of rotting skin that fell from him. Standing head and shoulders above the undead it had been before, its red hide of scales gleamed wetly as a snouted face leered at him with a grin that showed a set of brutally large and pointed teeth. It still stood as a human but its arms were thick with unnatural muscles, the clawed fists that ended them dwarfing the weapons that they bore. A normal man would have faltered in the face of such a transformation and would have been easy meat for the beast. But the genomes were in the grip of the hunt. They had all killed worse before and the transformation meant nothing to them, all they knew was that the enemy had yet to be driven from Terra.

Zidane roared as he hit home, the cruel grin turning to a look of disbelief as Zidane's blade sunk into his forehead, the creature's skull shattering into fragments as the genome steel hit home. But not all the genomes were as skilled as Zidane and the creatures that had come from the undead were far more skilled than the undead that had housed them. Along with the demonic roars of pain that announced the death of the creatures so too came cries as genomes were pulled from the air and the blades of the creatures feasted on their flesh.

Zidane threw himself straight into the centre of combat, not caring if he threw himself into his death. They had killed genomes, they would not live. The first swung a sword at his head even as he leapt forward. Zidane ducked under it and brought up his dagger in a vicious strike that sunk the weapon up to its hilt in the creature's stomach. It roared with pain but was not finished, swinging a club-like fist at Zidane. It struck the surprised genome full on the face and lifted him from his feet. But even as pain exploded in his mind and he felt himself thrown to the side Zidane kept his grip on his dagger and twisted it as it came loose. With it came a spray of blood and innards and the demon groaned as it collapsed forward, a hand clasped over the hole in its guts.

Zidane ignored the stars that burst in his vision he practically bounced off the tree that he hit, launching himself sword first at another. It tried to swat him away with its shield but when it hit him he hung on, his feet and the hand that held the dagger latching onto the sides of the shield as he span his double-bladed sword in his right. The demon roared in pain as he brought the sword to bear and cut through the arm that held the shield.

Before the stump that still clutched the shield could hit the ground he had leapt off it and thrust forward with his dagger, the blade burying half its length in the creature's chest. But once again the creatures displayed a resilience that seemed unnatural. It snarled at him and raised its sword arm but this time Zidane had not assumed that the blow would bring its death. Drawing his dagger free he thrust again, this time straight through its throat. It stared at him with almost shock that he had killed it as a gurgle bubbled from its throat. But Zidane ignored it as it toppled backward except to use it as a platform to launch himself into the two that had turned at the death of their comrade.

These two were not ready and the first died easily, half the length of one of the blades on Zidane's sword piercing through the back of his throat. The second brought its sword around and down with all the force of a tumbling boulder. Zidane stopped it from cutting him in half by raising his dagger against it. The sword crashed against the crosstrees of his dagger and he felt pain explode in every nerve as the force of it shot down his arm. He raised his sword and slice through the demon's wrist before he could raise his sword for another strike but again it ignored the wound and its other hand swept down from above in a blow surely destined to crush his skull.

Instead Zidane dodged it, not leaping backward but rather swarming up the demon itself to stand upon its shoulders, his sword piercing the back of its skull as he leapt upon the next. Every blow he struck would have ended the fight with a human or Burmecian but against these new opponents it was harder, his blades having to bite three or four times before he killed his opponent. He had killed another three before his own fight was ended. Bounding from his last kill he thrust forward at another opponent. The demon knocked the blow aside effortlessly with its shield and brought its own sword forward in a sweeping arc. Zidane ducked under the blade and never saw the huge fist that clouted him in the side of the head, his world dimming to blackness in an instant. His limp body tumbled across the battlefield to lay still at the root of a huge Terran oak as all around him the battle raged on between the genomes and the new force that had appeared to threaten them.

A.N. What new force is this that has emerged from among the undead? And what do the queen's words foretell of Alexandria's role in all of this? But perhaps most importantly, can the hunters possibly win against the demons when even Zidane has fallen to them? A cliffhanger I know and one with many questions, please tell me what you thought of this new twist in the plot as well as the chapter itself. I'm setting the target at eighty reviews, I've decided that this is not a formal target but simply something I'd like to see happen. I value each of your opinions and constructive criticisms are always welcome.

Goodbye and good fortune

Fallen Saga Creator