Unbalanced: Equinox's Oct 2010 Vignette

[Dr Archeville]

8pm, Sunday, 31st October, 2010

 

 

Hallowe'en. Samhain. All Hallow's Eve. A night of ghosts, ghouls and spectres.

 

And also the night that Equinox stood in the middle of her street, facing down the swarm of zombies coming towards her. Some blurred to and fro in zig-zagging paths, weaving between their slower comrades. Some punched down on car bonnets, sending them flipping up and over their heads.

 

And some, the ones nearest the powerful witch... some were burned to ashes. Blazing with white light, she refused to give an inch. As soon as a zombie got near enough to claw at her, she casually parried the gesture with a force field of solid white light, and spun her wand around to hurl it flying away with a burst of wind stronger than a hurricane.

 

All the while, between cutting through swathes of zombies and fending off their attacks, she burnt parts of a pentagram into the ground around her. The acrid smell of molten concrete surrounded her as it slowly took shape.

 

Then, in one fluid gesture, Equinox finished the circle, causing it to form into a glowing nimbus of white light. Ravening undead claws and fangs broke and were turned away from it, as she began invoking to her Lord and Lady, wand raised high.

 

 

 

"Spirit and soul, flesh and bone,

Against this horde, I stand alone,

Beloved Goddess, aid my toil,

Blessed God, empower my hand,

Return these creatures to the soil,

And bring peace to this land!"

 

 

In that moment, waves of blindingly white force exploded forth from the circle, ripping and tearing at the mystic energy empowering these beasts. Lifeless corpses crumbled and fell to the floor, some returning to grave dust in the process. Equinox began laughing as the power flowed through her, cutting them down en masse.

 

Then she felt the powerful will hit her like a freight train. While the nearest zombies had all fallen, some of those further away hadn't fallen, and were coming at her with renewed vigour. Hades. A voiceless cry of defiance raised itself from her lungs as the dark god's will drove her to her knees.

 

They were coming at her, her spell was failing, and there was nothing she could do but fall to her knees, the mental assault blurring her vision with white spots and spirals. The barriers were down, and Hades' power was no longer so restricted.

 

Hand tearing at her pentacle, Siobhan managed to tug it off, snapping the chain. It works both ways. She stood up, raising her pentacle high. Spirit, fire, water, earth, air; one point for the five fundamental powers of the universe.

 

 

 

"I fear not thy power, thou should'st fear mine,

I fear not thy spells, or your undead kine,

My spell will work,

Now, go away, zombies, GO!"

 

 

With one phenomenal effort of will, Equinox's blinding light went out, the charms in her pentagram dissipating, her own wards gone with them, every ounce of magic power and will she possessed, hurled at the stonewall the deity had placed upon her spell. And shattered a hole clean through it, scouring every zombie she could sense for a good distance around her.

 

Siobhan fell down once more in her pentagram, breathing hard. I won. But she forced herself to get up again, casting her great white wings around her once more. And, flying off towards the city center, she knew she had to finish this, and help find the culprits.