by Tod Eten
‘The three keys’ Aiden said comprehension dawning.
‘Yes quickly Aiden please, do you have the key?’ Aya once more demanded.
‘I have it’ Aiden said taking the stone star out of his pocket, ‘what are we meant to do?’
‘I don’t know hold it up towards the dragon and feel what the keys want to do.
'You can feel it, it is like its alive and it gives you control over your element' Gagan explained hurriedly. 'Like my key is fire I can control fire, any fire with it!'
'My key is Earth' Aya said.
'You will be able to control the Earth' Gagan confirmed. 'And you Aiden can control the air. We must work together to defeat chaos!'
Without another word the three of them held their keys up towards the dragon which even now was preparing to unleash another fire storm of death. Aiden felt his key grow warm in his hand and then he was inside the key. As Gagan had said Aiden’s key was the Key of Air, Aiden could now feel the power of the air. All the air, the air that covered the whole planet and he was one with the air. Aiden saw the Dragon as it unleashed its deadly fire towards them, but the flame of the dragon was like that of a candle in comparison to the air of the Earth. Aiden knew a flame needed air to burn so he took the air away. Starved of oxygen the dragon's flame disappeared into nothingness. Then there was a loud clap like thunder as the air returned back into the vacuum briefly stunning the dragon. The dragon regaining its senses roared in anger then roared again as the very earth that surround it sprang up trapping the great beast and crushing it towards the ground. Then it was consumed in a fire that came from the centre of the earth itself the heat of which even the great Sirrush could not withstand and the great dragons roar turned from one of rage to pain as the fire slowly consumed him. The heat of the fire now began burning a hole through the ground itself taking the dragon down into the depths of the Earth.
A great cheer went up from the defenders along the hills when they saw that the dragon had been defeated but Aiden was still wary turning his attention immediately to the ranks of the Demos. He could see that the attack from the dragon had killed most of the humans who had followed the Demos, no doubt the Major General included. All that remained of the Major General's troops was mostly cooling molten rock. Aiden saw Nergal making his way towards him once again.
‘Hail Etlud Shahadaku’ the Demos whispered.
‘Nergal’ Aiden replied.
‘It has been a good day has it not Neteru’ Nergal said giving one of his sickly grins. ‘You have very interesting objects there’ Nergal continued looking at the stone star in Aiden’s hand with hungry eyes. ‘Had we known of its power’ the Demos did not finish his sentence.’
‘Maybe you would have known had you looked more to your books than to power and glory’ Aiden replied.
‘Listen to what he is saying Nergal’ Aya said ‘the path you are on leads only to chaos like that’ Aya pointed to the where the dragon had been defeated.
‘Ah always wanting to be the guide, but tell me Aya do you not miss the adoration and power your pets gave you and did they not live better lives under your protection?’ Nergal whispered.
‘They were never my pets Nergal and all I brought them was suffering and death. I was wrong then as you are still now!’ Aya answered.
‘But I say to you that you are wrong, these humans they need a master to follow, to leave them alone is far more cruel!’ Nergal hissed.
‘Remember your oath Demos’ Aiden said with a warning look.
‘I remember it well Neteru, we will not directly interfere in their affairs. But if they chose to follow us that is their choice and if they ask our help then that is again also their choice. Remember Neteru it is up to them to choose what they wish to do! But worry not we will not break our oath we will not interfere directly in human affairs. Remember also that you the Neteru have sworn to do the same!’ Nergal smirked. ‘But enough of this our business together is finished and the alliance is ended if we meet again it will be as enemies’ Nergal stated then turned and left without another word. They watched in silence as the Demos made their way from the battle field.
‘At least we have defeated the Anunnaki’ Seth said. ‘We did defeat them didn’t we?’ Seth asked again seeing the look on Aidens face.
‘Not really no’ Aiden shook his head sadly.
‘But I thought that if we won this battle that would be it’ Seth said with a frown.
‘Yes it is good that we won here today, it means that the time of eternal night is not so certain’ Charmine answered. ‘But these are only a few of the Anunnaki that have come to Earth there are many more that have landed around the world. Only when the last one of them is destroyed will we be truely safe again.’
Chapter 21 - The Beginning Of The End
The spell of good weather in England continued unabated which seemed about the only good thing that the people of the country could find cheer with. Many people flocked to the local parks staying late into the evening or sat outside in their gardens enjoying the cooling breezes that came with the approach of night. It was on such an evening with cloudless skies and just as the first stars of the night began appearing that people noticed that there was something strange happening. As they watched they saw that the stars seemed to be moving in the heavens above them and then in wonder they watched as the stars began to slowly fall to the earth. Around the world the same scene was being played out, in Australia, China, India and America people pointed to the sky as the very stars of the heavens came down to Earth.
‘Did you see that last night?’ Ray asked reaching the bar and looking at Chand who was seated on a bar stool, his right arm encased in plaster and held in a sling as Terry on the other side of the bar carefully polished a beer glass.
‘You know you’ll wear them beer glasses away Terry!’ Ray scolded the landlord.
‘Like to keep things clean and tidy Ray, cleanliness is next to godliness they say’ Terry replied paying no attention as he carried on cleaning the glass.
‘Anyway did you both see that thing last night up in the sky’ Ray said hurriedly.
‘You mean the stars’ Chand replied ‘not personally but everyone is talking about it’
‘Well I saw it’ Ray said his chest swelling, ‘I was just coming back from chippy and I look up at the sky and I sees the stars falling down, it was biblical. I tell you I ain’t ever seen nothing like it before. I got goose bumps on me arms just watching it, was like all the stars were coming down to Earth I tell you.’ Ray said shaking his head. ‘Look I managed to get today’s paper there’s photos of it in here.’ Ray said taking out a newspaper that was wedged in the back pocket of his jeans he quickly opened it out on the bar. Inside the paper there were many different pictures of stars in the early evening sky. ‘Course you don’t get the full affect these being just photos’ Ray apologised.
‘So what do you suppose it was?’ Terry asked looking at the photos in the paper.
‘I don’t know, according to the paper it says that the government reckons its some kind of unusual atmospheric affect which happened all over the world. See here' Terry pointed at the newspaper. 'It says there that people in America, Australia and even China saw these things.’ Ray pointed.
‘Atmospheric affects?’ Terry said ‘never heard of an atmospheric affect doing that before!’
‘Well that’s what the government reckons anyway’ Ray said.
‘Could be weather balloons’ Chand said hopefully.
‘Don’t be daft how can there be that many weather balloons!’ Ray scoffed.
‘Well must be aliens then’ Chand retorted.
‘Aliens’ Ray laughed.
‘So what do you think it was then smart ass?’ Chand asked angrily.
‘How many of these things were there exactly?’ Terry asked.
‘The sky was full of them they were all over the place. But if I was to guess there must have been at least fifty of them maybe even a hundred.’ Ray said thinking hard.
> ‘You know Aiden said he knew something about all of this’ Terry said with a frown.
‘Aiden? Where is he by the way I’ve not seen him in days’ Chand said.
‘He’s gone off to the Middle East’ Terry answered.
‘Middle East! He must be mad it’s worse there than it is here’ Ray exclaimed.
‘What’s he gone to the Middle East for?’ Chand asked.
‘Like I was telling you Aiden said he knew what all this was about. Well actually he said he knew some people who knew what this is all about at any rate. Told me that these people had predicted the arrival of this comet, only they reckon it’s not a comet! They say it’s a planet and there are some nasty aliens that live on it.’
‘You are joking right, Aiden is not daft enough to be taken in by all that hocus pocus surely!’ Ray said laughing.
‘Seems he was, even asked if I wanted to come along. He told me that these aliens would do some very bad things and it was not safe for anyone to stay around here. He seemed very convinced about it all’ Terry said still frowning. ‘And now you say that things are coming from the sky.’
‘You saying you now believe Aiden?’ Chand said looking closely at the Land Lord.
‘Well these are not normal times are they. I must admit when Aiden told me about it I thought he was being a bit silly. But with all the things that have been happening since, well I’m not so sure anymore. I now think to myself that yes maybe I should have gone along with him’ Terry looked at the two men. ‘You know I got a small place up in the highlands of Scotland. Well I been thinking that maybe I will pay it a visit, been getting food and petrol together for the past few days now! If you both want to come along you’d be more than welcome.’
‘What you’re going to close the pub?’ Ray said in disbelief.
‘Afraid so, just until things get better’ Terry nodded.
‘When are you going?’ Chand asked.
‘Thinking of setting off in the next few days. So you both want to come along?’ Terry asked again.
‘Well I’d love to mate but I got my job and no way will they give me any time off!’ Ray replied realising that Terry was being serious about the invitation.
‘You're going in a few days?’ Chand frowned.
‘Yes soon as everyone is ready’ Terry nodded.
‘Everyone’ Ray said ‘exactly how many of you are going?’
‘Well let me see, there’s Phil and his family they're in one car. Then there’s Ben and Louise and some friends they’re got a minibus and finally Richard and his family are in the last car. Oh yes and there’s me of course I just got little Karina in my car.’ Terry said slowly.
‘You’re actually serious about this aren’t you Terry?’ Ray said shocked. 'What about your pub, what about your customers!'
‘Well when Aiden first asked me to go with him I told him that this pub was far too important for me to leave behind. But I been thinking a lot since then, I mean the Pub is now always empty’ Terry said pointing at the empty bar around them, ‘and it looks like what Aiden said was going to happen is happening! So I say to myself what good is having a pub if that is the case, so yes I am serious. Besides with no customers I won’t be missing much and if this is all a storm in a tea cup I can come back when it all blows over.’
‘Here you go guys’ George said placing a tray of drinks on the table.
‘Thanks George’ Ruth said picking up her drink as did Gary and Vanessa.
‘So how is everyone keeping’ George asked.
‘Well I’m still looking for a job’ Gary said.
‘Me too’ Ruth said.
‘And me’ Vanessa frowned.
‘Yeah me to, but I hear things are going to start getting a bit better’ George said trying to cheer them all up.
‘Yeah right’ Gary said miserably.
‘Anyway let’s forget about all that for tonight, I say we let out hair down and forget about the world, what do you say!’ George said raising his glass.
‘Yes I’m all for that’ Ruth said raising her glass with the others.
‘Where is Aiden?’ Vanessa asked.
‘Couldn’t get him his phone just keeps ringing’ George shrugged.
‘What about Colin?’ Vanessa continued.
‘He’s gone all weird’ Gary said shaking his head.
‘Wierd how?’ Ruth asked.
‘It was ever since he reckons he saw that fairy, remember the last time we were out.’ Gary said taking a sip from his beer.
‘I thought you saw it as well!’ George said.
‘Well I saw a light, probably just someone playing about with one of those laser pens’ Gary replied.
‘So how is Colin acting weird then?’ George asked.
‘Well he looked on the internet and found that lots of people had seen things like that and said that everyone reckoned it was a sign or something’ Gary said.
‘Sign of what mate’ George asked.
‘Well he said that they reckoned that there would be some great disaster maybe even the end of the world’ Gary said looking slightly embarrassed.
‘What, you telling me Colin thinks it’s the end of the world like those other nutters out there!’ George laughed.
‘Yep he said we all should get to somewhere that was safe’ Gary smiled.
‘Safe like where’ Ruth asked.
‘Well he said somewhere up high’ Gary replied.
‘Like a block of flats you mean’ Ruth said.
‘I think he meant more like mountains and stuff. He left a few days ago’ Gary said shaking his head again. ‘Straight up , he tells me he is going up North and gets on that old motor bike of his and off he goes just like that.’
‘He’s not really doing drugs is he?’ George asked now with with some concern.
‘I don’t think so, least he never touched the stuff before but with the redundancy and all who knows’ Gary shrugged once more.
Tony walked along the cliff hand in hand with his fiancée Helen enjoying the early evening breeze that came off the sea. They stopped and looked down at the sea some three hundred feet below them which sparkled and glinted in the sun.
‘It is always so beautiful here’ Helen said hugging Tony.
Tony put his arm around her without saying a word and looked up at the sea gulls flying high above him. Tony frowned as he watched the gulls for there seemed to be hundreds of them all flying inland, must be a storm coming Tony thought and a big one for he had never seen that number of birds flying inland like that before. He looked at the horizon and saw the red sky. Red sky at night shepherd’s delight he thought to himself which meant that it would be a good day tomorrow, so where was this storm coming from he wondered.
‘Darling what is wrong with the sea?’ Helen asked.
Tony looked down at the sea below them and saw that there was something very strange going on down there. He watched in astonishment as the sea started disappearing. The water retreating away from the shore faster than a man could sprint revealing the rocks and seaweed and even some flapping fish that normally remain hidden beneath the waves. The pair stood in stunned silence as they watching the sea disappear before their eyes. Then they heard a distant rumble and there on the horizon they saw a single white line. They watched cemented to the spot as the white line slowly grew to reveal a foaming white wave which rumbled nearer growing larger and larger in size. The tidal wave was now near enough for Tony to clearly see the tumbling foaming white water that made up the leading edge of the wave and he could see how impossibly large the wave was. He guessed that the wave was nearly the same height as the cliffs that they were standing on.
‘Tony run’ Helen screamed over the noise of the approaching monster and thanks to those two small words both their lives were saved for Tony awoke from his stupor and garbing Helen's hand they both sprinted away from the edge of the cliff. They had run nearly fifty yards when the wave hit and the ground beneath their feet convulsed knocking them to the ground and a few mome
nts later they were drenched in a waterfall of sea water. Tony on looking back to the spot that they had been standing on just a few moments before could now only see water which was nearly at the same height as the cliff, the monstrous wave having taken a gigantic bite out of the cliff.
‘What’s that noise’ Vanessa said and everyone stopped talking and listened.
‘Sounds like some kind of air raid warning’ George said, ‘let go take a look.’
With that the four of them got up and went outside. The bar they were drinking in was beside the River Thames and the four of them went and stood beside the river where they could hear the sirens clearly now.
‘Sounds like sirens are going off all round the city’ Gary said.
‘Look mummy there is a hole in the river’ a small boy who was standing near them said to his mother.
The four friends looked at the Thames and saw that the water in the river had disappeared.
‘What the hell’ Gary exclaimed.
‘What’s that noise’ Vanessa said looking down the river.
‘I don’t know but it’s getting louder’ George said.
They all looked at the bend in river from where the noise was coming from.
The wave had found the fastest route inland flowing up the course of the Thames. It had spent much of its power since it had first hit the coast but it was still well over seventy feet in height and it had ripped up the bridges and building that had crossed its path with ease. This was how the four friends first sighted the churning maelstrom as it rounded the bend in the river carrying boats and bits of bridges and building before it. There was nothing that any of them could have done about it, there was nowhere to run to that could provide protection from a monster like that at least nowhere close enough. About the only thing that they and the rest of the people beside them could be thankful for was that their end was quick.
‘We are getting reports in that there have been a series of tidal waves that are hitting the coasts of Europe as well as the rest of the world’ the female newscaster said. ‘Reports are coming in that all coastal towns and cities have been affected. The reports suggest that..‘ the news castor paused as if not believing what she was reading, ‘I’m sorry’ she apologised reports suggest that the whole of Holland has been affected with a loss of life estimated at over ninety per cent of the population. The rest of Europe too has been similarly affected with sea waters reaching up to fifty miles inland’ The new caster put her hand to an ear piece hidden under her neatly groomed wavy blonde hair. ‘Sorry we are getting some more breaking news’ she said with a stricken look. ‘It seems that London has also been hit by these tidal waves’ the newscaster repeated now with tears in her eyes. ‘It seems that the whole of London has been submerged by at least fifty feet of water with catastrophic results’ The news castor said now clearly crying.