She had a sudden thought sending it to Michael *Raid the fire corridor, firefights back the night*
She felt his amusement come back through the thought thread *Already done and I’ve just finished off Theia and the other Sky Lights.* Oh, how she loved her husband sometimes, it was rare for anyone ever to be a step ahead of her but if anyone was it was Michael. *And Raphael has finished with Hyperion and the lights, Ariel just finished with Artemis and the Moons and Uriel has finished the Star Gods. We are all ready to meet when you are.*
*I’ve just finished Helios, the Suns are done. Meet in the audience chambers.* She paused before adding *anything from Azrael?*
Outside of the Citadel, it became far more difficult to communicate telepathically with other Angels. Beyond a certain distance, it became increasingly difficult and could only be overcome by the strengthened bonds of blood or love. Only Michael had the blood connection to Azrael, but he spent so much of his time transferring the dead into Purgatory and Heaven and was often beyond reach.
*Yes he is in Iran, apparently there has been an earthquake so many of his Reapers are there. They are stranded in the darkness but otherwise calm and unaffected.*
*Well they would be calm, they live in the darkness so much of the time*
She felt his silent agreement and his reluctance to comment on such things. He was naturally an Angel of Death, a point that was rarely mentioned by either of them. She wasn’t overly concerned, power was power, but he was more comfortable in the light than shadows.
All five of them materialised before their respective thrones in a blaze of light. Assembled in the wings were all the Elder Angels currently in Heaven. The five Arch Angels raised their arms in a blaze of light sending out their combining powers to wash through the whole room bathing the Elders with the magic. In its combined form it was far more accessible and controllable for the weaker Elders.
Light blazed out of the crystal roof blazing up into the darkening sky, punching a hole through the fingers of darkness reaching over the palace.
Materialising all around the edges of the floating island that held the Citadel were blazing pillars of light, each one an Elder Angel infused with the power of light.
Steadily with the progression of nature the sky fell to night, the twilight growing long and thick. As the sun disappeared behind the horizon, the light of Heaven started to flicker and fade. Darkness progressed around all the horizons, slowly reaching inwards to the Citadel.
It rolled in slowly as though it were a cloudbank composed of pure darkness. The Angels made no move to stave it off, even as the lights surrounding the island flickered, faded then were swallowed by the darkness.
The lights of the Angels wavered as the darkness rolled upon them, before each of them blazed brighter, connecting themselves to each other with rays of blinding light. Rays of light formed a graceful dome over the Citadel as each Angel became connected to each other. From the palace blazed out pure light, its whiteness blinding, turning the whole palace into a lamp that held back the darkness.
It rolled up to the lines of light then went no further, but nor did the light pierce into the darkness. Equilibrium was reached. The Darkness didn’t have the strength to challenge the Citadel of Light but it surrounded it until day broke over the Citadel and the sun rose once again, chasing away the darkness and empowering the weakened light spells.
Each of the Angels returned to their usual tasks while the Arch Angels gratefully collapsed onto their thrones. They knew Nyx was behind it, but they would wait for Nuriel’s assessment before they made any actions.
One by one they all left leaving behind Michael and Gabriel. To his great surprise, she took his hand in hers when they transported. And he was even more surprised when she teleported them both to their bedroom.
Gabriel was in a very good mood.
Sariel climbed the tower feeling her way with her hands alone. She could not see in the utter darkness, nor had she been able to summon light of any kind, though there was a faint reminder of her natural glow. The entire palace was dark, all the halls and corridors but she had felt the pull and followed it to the steps of the tower.
The complete darkness should have scared her, she was after all an Angel, a creature of light and skies but she was not afraid or even concerned. She felt amazing, all her aches and pains were gone, all her muscles healed. She was the healthiest she had been since she had arrived in Hades. She was stronger than she had been in Heaven and she could feel her powers. Not actually use them, but she could feel them.
She had walked up the stairs hesitantly, but she didn’t fall or trip. It seemed her other senses were far stronger in the darkness. When she got to the top, she felt the presence of the others, but no one was speaking. She felt sure they felt her presence, just as she felt theirs.
She stood there, for how long she didn’t know. Hours perhaps, but eventually the darkness began to fade on the horizons. It was odd as though the sun was rising as a horizontal line from every direction. Slowly the darkness retreated as the light speared towards them in all directions. The darkness rushed past her, revealing her family on the tower top to condense until it floated formless a little above them. From there it split into three forms that flowed into the shapes of people. These then gently floated down to the ground shifting into the recognisable forms of Nyx, Tartarus, and Erebus.
Nyx seemed more beautiful than she remembered, her skin seemed even paler, and the darkness of her veins seemed even darker. Her hair lay like a pool of ink all around her head. Her brothers looked less shadowy and more like her. Both had dark skin and shadowy hair, one shoulder-length the other short.
There was something different about them all, a green mark that ran from under their right earlobe down their necks, winding across their collarbones to then curl down around their left nipple. Before all their eyes the marks grew little leaves and drifted gently back and forth as though a vine in the breeze.
As one, they all opened their eyes, black pits but with green irises separating the pupils from the blacks. It was completely alien, starkly beautiful and wholly unnerving, especially when all three of them fixed on her own violet eyes. They remained fixed on hers as they rose from the ground, shadowy clothes forming around them. She was relieved, it was highly awkward having family members so unbothered by their own and others’ nudity. She had never seen another naked person until she had come to Hades.
“Blessing of Gaia on you Sariel,” they said in unison, their voices blending together in a highly unnerving fusion of noises.
She nodded back to them unsure of what to say.
Nyx walked the few steps to Sariel and embraced her great-granddaughter “it has been so very long since I last blended with the night, the Underworld is a pale comparison of the true night. It is my true nature, the very essence of my spirit but so long have I been denied. Last night was the first time I felt the call or had the strength to return to the night. It has been even longer for my brothers and yet they eagerly leapt into the dance. It has been millennia since Gaia joined the dance and yet last night her powers reverberated all around the Underworld and the overflow allowed us to taste the Surface.
We saw it all, our combined consciousness was spread all over the world, how it has changed so much. The Daemons are so very weak but Hera and Brigid are strong, and they are determined. The Angels powers are still strong, but only the Citadel held back the night. How unnatural but they are not as weak as we would have hoped.”
She paused before asking “Do you know what was different about last night?”
“Gaia’s powers? Is that why you have green in your eyes and a green vine on your skin? The three of them glanced at each other with some surprise, each touching the vine on their neck, chest or collarbone.
“Yes this is the mark of Gaia, and once her powers joined the dance, there was little stopping it. She slumbers deep, trapped but her powers are so very vast. She was the first child of Chaos and its only true child, the oldest of all
the Primordial Gods. She has only grown stronger, each Mother Goddess that returns to the Lifestream, in turn, becomes part of her, even their memories. She has been reincarnated herself but retains all her past memories. She is the essence of the planet itself, and the life that depends on it.
But no, the difference was you.”
“Me? What did I do?”
“I’m not entirely sure, but your powers had a strange effect on me, and they are highly unique Sariel, even Gaia noticed. She marked you as her own.”
She held up her hands before Sariel, their surface turning into liquid silver for her to look at her reflection in. Sariel looked in wonder at the vine winding up from under her clothes, across her collar bone and up under her right ear. As Nyx touched it, it flared black-green, and there was an answering rumble from deep in the earth.
“Gaia has risen in her slumber, you, Brigid and Hera have quickened her blood. This is the most activity we have seen out of her in nearly three thousand years. She went to sleep to rest, her age and all she has seen wearing on her but because of the Curse sealing up the Underworld, she is unable to rise from her slumbers. She cannot awaken or take physical form, but her magic has quickened the Lifestream for the first time since before the War. You Sariel are the catalyst for change. You will change the world in ways that we can’t even begin to guess, but Gaia can.” As she finished, she and her brothers disappeared in a haze of shadows. The other Gods just simply faded away leaving her all alone of the tower top. Apparently massive declarations meant everyone left. Or perhaps it was just so that they didn’t have to clarify what they had said.
Her hand still pressed to her new mark she wondered, was it true? Was she really going to affect the world or were they just saying that? No there had been similar things written in journals she had read. It had been mentioned in both her parents’ journals documenting her birth. She had also found her name mentioned in a journal by somebody called the Norns.
But then Michael and Gabriel had had similar predictions said about them when they were born. Was she going to start a war, the thought seemed ridiculous? Who would take over Heaven? The Humans and Daemons left on the Surface?
Yet somehow Nyx’s words felt utterly true. She just wondered her part in it all. And why had Gaia blessed her with her mark? She wasn’t a Mother Goddess, she was an Arch Angel, such as she was now, still trying to get a basic grasp on her powers. And her sword skills. She sighed at the thought of her next fighting lesson.
Chapter 15
There was a general sigh of relief as the plane was finally cleared for landing, they had had to stay in the air all night as the strange darkness rolled by them all. Most of them were looking the worst for wear, with the noticeable exception of Brigid. A whole extra night on an aeroplane and she was as stunning as ever, she didn’t need sleep like the mortals did.
Not that she would have gotten much sleep if she had. Most of the night had disappeared in a blur of stimulating conversation. Darkness made everything so much more personal, flirtation took on a whole new meaning. Things could be whispered in the darkness but not in the light. People truly did belong to both the light and the dark, something she had never truly appreciated before.
Life was all about balances.
Humans being the instinctive animals that they were had felt all sorts of emotions in the darkness. Fear certainly, anxiety yes, but also lust. When people and even animals are scared they turn to each other for comfort. Combine that with the secretive and yet liberating effect of the darkness and you have people finding comfort in each other sexually.
She was no exception. She certainly wasn’t scared, but it had been so long since she had felt the touch of another person. It was nice to kiss and forget about the world. She was amazed at the audacity of some people, though like no one could hear them moaning and grunting. The worst had been that stupid shrieking bimbo. She would never experience another orgasm in her life.
The Gods were cruel.
As the plane touched down on the runway Brigid was hit with the emptiness of India. She had thought that it would be vibrant and overflowing with magic, it had had so many deities, Divine races, and Daemons. It had been a truly magical place, a melting pot of magic and divinity helping civilisation out of its cradle. Just like China and Mesopotamia. How she missed the good old days.
There was truly nothing in India, it was desperately hungry for magic of any kind. The country’s dwindling Lifestreams started coiling around her as soon as her shoes hit the ground of the terminal. Grumpy, tired and worn out people poured off the plane all around her, each unwittingly walking through these starving Lifestreams, unknowingly having some of their Lifeforce drained away.
What was wrong with India?
It was so desperate to bond with her, already coiling around her skin, trying desperately to extract some of her power. Australia had not been this desperate to bond with her. It had seemed rather ambivalent about her presence. Oh, Sydney had started to respond like a favoured pet, becoming increasingly more eager, but on the whole, the country seemed neither eager nor displeased by her presence. She had just been there to it.
India was a like a starving pet, doing everything it possibly could to get food. It would seem the Angels’ cleansing had left a power vacuum that had not been filled. How very fortunate she was the first God here. Areas of settlement were used to not only Human and Daemon magic but Divine magic as well. They became accustomed to the magic being pulled out of the Lifestream, they became dependent on it. In many cases magic had dwindled over a period of time, allowing the land to adjust. India had been and still was a deeply mystical land. The amount of magical energy flowing through its cities had been phenomenal even back then. To suddenly have the Gods killed and the Daemons hunted to extinction in a very short amount of time had not given the land time to adjust. It wanted power any way it could get it.
It was no wonder the world was starting to fall apart. The Angels had left voids like this all over the world. Without the calming and nurturing influence of a Mother Goddess, the Lifestream was turning feral. Damaging not only itself but the life it was meant to be supporting. If this kept up, the planet would extinguish the higher life on its surface, eradicating all but the strongest extremophiles. All animals and plants would die, all Daemons would die, even most of the Divine would die as the Lifestream collapsed under its own ineffectiveness.
The Lesser and Ascended Angels would be destroyed, and many of the Elder Angels and Gods would have their powers burnt out. Doomed to fade away on a lifeless planet.
What Earth needed was the Mother Goddesses free to heal and nurture it. What it really needed was Gaia, she could heal the world in an instant, for it was her and she was it. But she was chained down in her slumbers, unable to rise while the Underworld was still contained. If the Angels weren’t careful there would come a day when all they had worked for had died, their powers failing the Underworld would be unlocked, and Gaia in all her fury would rise to wreck vengeance on those who had damaged her planet so much.
The Angels had given her and Hera an unexpected blessing. Claiming and bonding with lands would be ridiculously easy for them, there was no one they had to pry it off of first.
Smiling she opened up her powers to the Lifestream. She staggered as it ploughed through her, greedily twirling around her streams of magic that were haemorrhaging at an alarming rate. But she could now taste the life in the air, underneath all the pollution. The few plants she could see looked healthier, stood a little straighter and looked a whole lot more vibrant.
Thankfully she had staggered as they walked out of the terminal. Ryan gently stabilised her “The humidity is a shocker, especially if all you’ve known is London’s weather.”
She felt like snorting, she was a Goddess, menial things like heat and humidity had no effect on her. “It is certainly different from the dry heat of Australia that’s for sure.
He smiled at her encouragingly as he hailed a cab for them. Who would have thoug
ht they were both staying at the same hotel. She loved her powers, they were just so useful. Since Sydney, she had opened up several bank accounts under different aliases and propped them up with magic. She was now one of those secret millionaires just quietly going about her business. If the Angels had the wealth of the Catholic Church then why couldn’t she have a small comparison? She’d actually been quite disgusted when she found out how much money they hoarded. They were like Dragons, no Dragons were magnificent creatures, Goblins they were like Goblins.
She climbed into the taxi next to Ryan feeling quite content at the moment to be near him. She hadn’t had a lover in a very, very long time and he was refreshing. He challenged her intellectually, and he had such a warped sense of humour. She also felt sorry for him, cancer was eating its way through his vital organs. In a few months, he would be dead. She could at least offer comfort to a follower of Brigid.
That amused her, he had no idea that the Goddess he prayed to was the same woman he kissed.
He looked at her and smiled, she smiled back laying her hand on his. She felt her pulse quicken at his touch. Was it just him or had most modern Humans progressed to the stage where they could quicken the pulse of a deity? Even the Daemon races had struggled to do that. Had the Nephilim, Demigods and Divine Daemon races interbred with Humanity so much that the difference wasn’t noticeable. Did traces of Divine blood race through his veins? What would happen when the Lifestream started reactivating those dormant genes?
The world really was in for some interesting developments.
“I have the results of your tests Kyle.”
Kyle held his breath as his doctor slid the test results out of the yellow envelope, he shuffled the paper before meeting his eyes “What do they say?”
“Your T-cell count is severely low. You have HIV and your tests indicate that you may have developed AIDS.”
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