Calamity Demise

• Adam Fowler, Grade 5
• Short Story
• 2016

Screech! Ceartas grey, matte car went flying over the corner as he was unable to step on the brakes in time, almost crashing into the corner of a Berlin Market, the furious owner now stunned at the sight of the Mercedes Gullwing skimming through his shop. Ceartas, now as dazed as a vampire can get, revolver in hand, Ceartas stumbled out of his car, gaining more confidence with each stride. He walked along the street catching rare glimpses of distressed civilians running away from the chaos behind them. After the flurry of dust there appeared a scrawny man smiling with his teeth wonkily placed around his mouth. This man also wore a chain necklace with Calamity Demise embedded in letters that were so vibrant with death that you could almost see the souls themselves reaching out from inside.
Calamity’s infamy was well-known amongst sorcerers as he specialized in a branch of necromancy called Spiritlatch in which, when touching a humans head extracts the Holy Grail of all Necromancers, the soul from the victim’s body and turns it into life-force. If Calamity gets the “Soul of the Undead” from the only Pureblood vampire with a soul it could be exchanged for a lot more power, so Calamity had chosen Ceartas as his prime target on his quest for impenetrable power.
Now you know how deadly and ruthless Calamity is, you should by now reader be able to tell why such a bold and courageous character as Ceartas would be fear-ridden by this menace confronting him in a once lively and busy town square.
Fumbling with the trigger Ceartas now leant back so far he was practically horizontal, turning to face his enemy who was now smiling with his broad mouth up to his ears relishing this pleasing moment for he has been waiting for it for 1000s of years. Casually, Calamity strolled towards Ceartas, his hands outstretched with the shadows of the dead orbiting around them, and then Calamity made his move shooting a wave of the dead from his palms barely skimming Ceartas, a few scraping the edge of his slender body. Ceartas fired loosely hoping to hit something of importance, shots ricocheting off the hood of Calamity’s car.
They battled back and forth as both were quick on their feet and fast in their reflexes until a painful blow struck Ceartas on his right arm almost knocking the gun out of his quivering hands. This was followed by an array of shadows sweeping him from beneath his feet, only for Ceartas to shoot a loose shot aiming for Calamity’s pitch black heart but missing and shattering the Necromancer’s pendant.
To Ceartas’s shock Calamity froze, grasped his pendant and starting to shrivel up. Of course why hadn’t Ceartas thought of this, the pendant must be the source of his power, keeping this age old Necromancer from dying of natural causes. Calamity Demise slowly compacted in to a small ball and perished into nothingness.