Rend Hope Read Free

wind ended up covering over a fifty meter area.
                  Everything was silent among the now-destroyed camp.  Moments later, pieces of the ghoulish cannibal leader began raining down.  The last piece was his head, the top right portion of his skull was blown clear off.  Amazingly the head and pieces of the ghoul began to glow dark red and start to put itself back together.  However the look on the undead man's bodiless head was full of outrage.
                  "Damn you magi scum!  When I put myself back together I am going to tear your heart out from your chest and eat it in front of you as you die!" He threatened.  The stranger responded by putting his hands in the front pockets of his flannel jacket.
                  "Not likely." He replied, calmly walking towards Marie.  The ghoul was not pleased.
                  "Don't walk away from me kid!  This isn't over!  You'd better hope I don't catch up to you because when I do I'll...!"  The undead cannibal stopped suddenly, the glyph in its left eye winked out of existence.  The dark red glow around its regenerating parts vanished and the pieces sank back into motionlessness on the ground.  Marie couldn't detect any more magic energy coming from the ghoul.  What in the hell happened?
                  "He used too much power." The stranger answered her unspoken question.  "The glyph in his left eye was strong, but he ended up overtaxing it.  The stress of trying to regenerate his body from that extent of damage drained the rest of the power from the glyph.  This included the power that was keeping him animated."  He explained.  Marie nodded in understanding.  How the hell did he know this?
                  "Ok.  I get it now." She replied, hesitating as she tried to get her brain to overcome the shock of what it just seen to ask some questions.  "Um, don't take this the wrong way.  I mean I'm grateful that you helped saved my life and all, but who are you?"  The teenage girl asked, finally voicing the question that was bothering her since the stranger started tearing apart the cannibals.  The hooded figure chuckled.
                  "That's right, haven't really gotten the chance to introduce myself." He replied, grabbing his hood and pulling it down.  Revealing the face of a young man in his mid-to-late twenties with short blonde hair and green eyes.  "I'm Markus, just an ordinary wandering magi." He announced, holding out his right hand for Marie to shake.  Marie smiled and let out a small laugh, it felt good to do that after being held captive for more than a day.
                  "I hate to break it to you Markus." Marie replied, shaking his hand and gesturing to the destroyed camp with her free hand.  "But I get the feeling that you are far from ordinary."

Chapter 2
                  "Sorry I don't have much in the way of food." Markus apologized, throwing Marie a small bundle of meat wrapped in paper.  The sixteen year old girl eyed the bundle warily.  Markus snickered, "Don't worry, it's not human meat." He told her, she threw him a skeptical look.
                  After killing the ghoul.  Marie and Markus had foraged through the remains of the cannibals' camp.  Unfortunately, thanks to the ghoul's poison cloud and Markus' typhoon spell, there really wasn't anything left to salvage.  So now the teenage girl was stuck with whatever Markus had that was edible. 
                  "How do I know you're telling the truth?" She asked, the young man shrugged and returned his attention to tending the small campfire they'd made. 
                  "You don't I guess, but don't blame me if you go hungry tonight." He responded.  She once again examined the meat.  She hadn't eaten since she was captured by the group of cannibals.  That had been a few days ago and her stomach was now growling at the thought