2 Chapter 2: ...The Inferno
As the morning sun shone through my window a cliché event was foiled by my sensitive ears.
I could hear the footsteps of mom approaching my door, and panicked for a second before calming down.
As of right now Asuka was draped over my body with my arm wedged between her voluptuous breasts and her leg across my waist.
Ryan Jr. was standing to attention while Asuka who was waking up slowly wasn't helping my case. Her hand which was on my chest started moving south of the border, into a territory with a tree that stood tall and proud.
I knew she was awake because her nipples started getting hard and her breath was picking up.
As this was happening, the footsteps were resounding in my ears like a giant lumbering across a creaky pirate ship.
While my blood was rushing away from my head and into the 'other', my mind was rushing to find a solution.
However it turns out to be unnecessary as she only knocks on the door.
"Ryan I've prepared breakfast; it's on the kitchen table. Sorry I can't stick around but I can't miss work."
Heaving a sigh of relief at the close call, I replied, "No worries mom, thanks for making breakfast!"
Once she said goodbye another time and left through the door a small silence fell upon the house except for my room where under the sheets my wife was currently giving me generous attention.
After my release, my wife's goddess-like figure showed herself. She moved the blankets out of the way and stood up to saunter over to the bathroom attached to my room. With one last look before entering I saw the invitation in her eyes and eagerly accepted.
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Once our shower together was over with we went to the kitchen where the smell of eggs and bacon was wafting around the room like a hurricane to my enhanced senses.
Since there's two of us I made a dish for Asuka and we ate together. Asuka was the first to break the harmonious silence.
"The others have landed in the country too. Currently it's just those 5 who are heading over. The rest are maintaining operations at the various bases. Everyone wanted to come but it's not possible without leaving our bases understaffed and defenseless."
Hearing that everyone wanted to follow me, I don't know whether to laugh or cry. Those fella's are just like me, unsatisfied just waiting around for something to happen.
As I rubbed her back tenderly she continued, "As always, the government is trying to infer subtly what our motives are, even though they have the grace of a grandma trying ballet. I've instructed them to just ignore it and keep moving since this isn't a stealth op."
The disdain in her voice was clear and it just reminded me of how far we've gone from a ragtag group into an organization that could move unhindered if they chose to.
"Thanks for taking care of all that while I was busy."
She playfully slapped my arm, "Hey there's no need for thanks between us, you know that."
"Now that we have that all figured out I'm going to visit my dad, wanna come along?"
The solemn expression on my face must have worried her as she walked over and gently hugged me.
"Of course hon."
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Pulling up to the cemetery I could feel the pain that gnaws at my heart every time I think of him.
Kane Anderson was the best father a kid could ask for. When I learned from the police that he tried to stop a junkie from robbing a lady for money to buy drugs it was like a part of me died too.
The final part of my 10 year journey ended with secretly coming back to kill the guy who did that to him. Only then did I find out that the killer was already dead from a prison riot that took place.
If it weren't for Asuka and my adopted father who helped me through this then I might have gone ballistic, killed all of the prisoners and razed the prison to the ground.
As I stood in front of the gravestone and thought about all of the good memories, my wife hugged and consoled me.
Asuka was wearing clothes that she brought with her and looked like an angel untainted by the sad emotional atmosphere that surrounded the graveyard.
However before I could return the love that she was showing me, the sound of cloth tearing could be heard above us.
She and I raised our heads to find out what happened and saw the sight that forever changed the history of mankind.
A rift appeared in the blue sky, followed by another until the sky was dotted with it like black pepper scattered everywhere. The hair on my neck raised up in danger for the first time in a while as each rift opened up to show complete darkness.
I gripped my fists while I watched with a sense of danger as what looked like meteors passed from the other side of what could only be a portal and started falling towards the earth.
The meteors defied physics as it started to slow down instead of speed up when it got closer to the ground. By the end of the descent all that it's crash created was a small crater that barely surrounded the space rocks.
Each meteor fell in different parts of the city and unfortunately most fell in the downtown area like it was guided by the hand of some entity. The sky was beginning to show faint signs of smoke as several places began to burn from explosions.
My wife and I both looked to each other in worry as we simultaneously said the same thing,
"Mom/Mother-in-law!"
Mom works as a nurse at a hospital in the downtown area. It is certain that she's there since she never leaves work unless a serious emergency happens. The only reason she was at the house yesterday was because she gets the weekends off and it was Sunday.
Our worries were rudely interrupted by the meteor that landed on the other side of the cemetery. Cracks started to form on the outside like ice on a frozen lake and then it suddenly shattered.
From inside the meteor a creature exited as the dust kicked up from the rocks that fell was swept away by an artificial wind.
As the wind was swept away we could see it and both of us were stunned into a stupor. The creature wore a dark robe that barely hid the bones that the 'thing' was made from. And it was only bones.
It stood at an average height but there wasn't any flesh or muscle attached to it.
An actual skeleton was standing in front of us and turning its head eerily as it surveyed its new surroundings.
All of a sudden it started cackling with its jaws clacking together in a freakish display. Then it raised a scepter made out of the spine of some creature and started chanting in a different language while its staff started to leak black miasma.
The scene was familiar to me as I used to have a friend who always roped me into playing Dungeons and Dragons with him over the summer. The flash back hit me like a train as my thoughts connected the dots together in a split second.
Skeleton wearing robes, magical staff, chanting suspiciously...pretty sure that's a lich who is using necromancy!
Not to mention that we are currently standing in a cemetery with hundreds of skeletons six feet below us.
"(Un)Holy shit."
I ignored the ridiculous joke I made and decided to finish this before he could summon an army of undead. Since this is a completely unknown creature with strength that can't be determined I will use my full force.
I walked forward to create some distance from my wife; focusing on the chi in my body, I circulated it according to my instincts honed through battles, bent my legs stomped on the ground to propel myself forward.
The ground beneath me trembled and a small crater was left behind as I advanced like a rocket towards the lich. The grass around me parted as the wind rushed around me sounding like a wolf howling.
The lich who was casually chanting stiffened up and put more effort in the spell, quickening his speed at reciting considerably. Already I could see some skeletons pop their hands from the dirt like a old 80's horror flick.
I closed the 100-yard distance in a few seconds as the core in my chest spat out chi like a waterfall, giving my body a small sheen of gold that's almost undetectable.
While some skeletons were almost about to crawl out of their graves completely, I reached the lich and planted my foot to the ground while impossibly using all of the muscles in my body to gather force to my right fist.
Twisting my waist and bringing my fist forward, the wind screaming around me and adrenaline pumping through my veins, the fist connected to the hastily raised staff that was used as defense.
The fist broke through the staff however it redirected my fist slightly towards it shoulder so it's arm was severed as broken bone fragments exploded in all directions.
Unwilling to give it any time to use a spell, I used the rotational force of my punch to turn around and give it an elbow drop onto its neck where the spine connected the head.
The skeleton's eye socket that was burning with a black fire seemed to show resentment as the fire faded and its head separated from the rest of its body. Its bones that were suspended together lost whatever was keeping them together and clattered into a heap on the ground.
Relief washed over me as I realized that attacking without hesitation in the beginning was the right choice. Just imagining it finishing the spell and commanding hundreds of undead as an army is frightening. Even though I could probably finish them all, it would cost too much energy and the surroundings are too dangerous to be tired like that.
Turning around I could see that Asuka was standing near me with several piles of skeleton corpses on the ground. She's holding two throwing knives while warily keeping guard of the surroundings.
I walked over to her and checked if she was alright.
"It was only about a dozen skeletons, and their strength was equal to a average man. The dexterity they showed was surprising though. An average person could beat them given they can get past the fear of fighting it."
I replied, "It's good that the skeletons weren't summoned or something similar. All of them were taken from the graves already here so none of them had swords or armor."
Now that we were done fighting it was time to go to the parking lot and grab the truck.
"We'll drive the truck and head to the hospital. By the way, I put your armor in the tool box."
Asuka's face brightened at that and we shared a deep, loving kiss before making our way to my dad's old truck.
I'm coming mom, please stay alive!
