She ignored the reference to Hera, though she knew who she was. “You want to resurrect the British Empire during your war?”
“Not just my war Victoria, the world’s war. Dormant powers will erupt. The Daemons will be given hope, no longer will they cower from the Angels. Humanity has been under the Angels’ control for far too long.”
“Demons? As in from Hell?”
“No Daemons, as in non-Human mortals. Nymphs, Vampires, Fairies, Werewolves, Sirens, Lilin, the list goes on.”
“Vampires aren’t real, they’re just stories.”
“And yet you accept the truth of Gods and Angels. Vampires are very real, as are sorcerers, mages, even Cerberus is real.
She was lost, too many names, too many truths, and misconceptions turned over. “I still don’t get what you want from me Brigid.”
“All I want from you is your loyalty.”
“My loyalty?”
“When you are crowned Queen of the United Kingdom, you will invoke my name. You will rule the British Empire as I recreate it. You will make an excellent Queen, you will live up to your namesake. And in turn, I will offer you my patronage and protection. I will answer all your questions and offer you power beyond your current understanding.”
“You’re to be my patron?”
She smiled “You do understand. Do we have an agreement?”
“And what if I say no?”
“Then I will leave you here to save yourself,” She said it in complete seriousness that Victoria had no doubt she would. If she remembered right from the myths and legends she had read, Gods were remarkably uncaring of mortals.
No choice at all if she wanted to live “Then I accept Brigid.”
Brigid smiled brightly “Excellent.”
Then there was water everywhere, but she broke the surface to find a searchlight beaming straight in her face. There were gasps, and surprised shouts and hands were hauling her out of the water. She wasn’t even cold and was surprisingly coherent. People were yelling and asking questions, there was too much noise after the calm of the ocean. She was bundled up in the foil stuff she had seen on TV. It was all a bit surreal, but she felt perfectly fine.
As the lifeboat started to drive back to the cruise ship she whispered “Thank you Brigid” and she meant it. Without her, she would have been long dead. Just for a moment she saw to large green spots on the water. Brigid’s eyes. Then they were gone, but she knew she hadn’t dreamed or hallucinated it. She belonged to Brigid now and in return she was going to be Queen of an Empire. The British Empire would rise again.
She smiled, it held great appeal for her.
“Here drink this” Michael placed a chalice in front of Raphael.
“What is it?” he asked picking up the crystal chalice and examining the golden fluid inside. He sniffed it and was surprised at the orange and saffron smell “Surely it can’t be Lightningsun?”
“It is. Drink up it will do you wonders
“But this was made by the Satyrs. How on earth did you manage to get some? Have you got a stash of it somewhere?” He took a swig, swirling it around his mouth. The rich golden flavour suffused his mouth, its sweetness perfect on his tongue. As he swallowed, he felt the warmth spread through him, and his tight muscles relax. He looked at Michael in surprise “This is fresh.”
Michael nodded in agreement.
Raphael was confused. Satyrs and their Nymph lovers had made Lightningsun for thousands of years for the Primordial Gods and their progeny. It had adorned the tables of every banquet in Heaven and had been given as a special blessing to mortal rulers. It was one of those special drinks made by Daemons for the Divine. Its only matches were Earthlaughter made by the Fairies or Paradox made by the Naga. None had been made fresh since the War. The Naga and Unicorns were extinct, both vital to the production of Paradox. Satyrs had also been hunted to extinction. Fairies and Nymphs had been hunted down to near extinction, forced to reside in remote places and dilute their blood with Humans to avoid detection. The ability to make Earthlaughter and Lightningsun surely would have been lost.
“How did you get fresh Lightningsun? The Satyrs are extinct. Did someone else discover how to make it?”
“No only the Satyrs can make it, nor are they extinct.”
He didn’t like where this was going “Michael what are you telling me?”
“There are a group of Satyrs and Nymphs living on Djerba. In exchange for my protection, they make Lightningsun exclusively for me. But this secret does not leave this room, they are a weak and harmless lot who would be easy victims for the likes of Ariel.”
“I’m not a fool.”
They both smiled. First wind of a Demon colony and Ariel would descend with the fires of Heaven. Neither were quite sure what Gabriel would do. She had never really cared about the Demon Races or Mages.
They both jumped when there was a knock at the door, both hastily casting glamour spells on their chalices. They narrowed their eyes before the door swung open. To their surprise, Nuriel walked in
Beautiful, methodical Nuriel. She was a favourite of the Arch Angels, even Gabriel had warmed to her. She did what was asked, her ability to gather intelligence was unrivalled even by their own guards. Raphael was aware she had a crush on him, and looking at her now, stunning and radiant, he couldn’t think of a reason why he hadn’t returned her feelings. He would have to remedy that as soon as the fiasco with Hera and Brigid were sorted out.
She smiled at him “Lord Raphael” then she turned her attention to Michael “My Lord Michael.”
“What is it Nuriel we are extremely busy,” Michael spoke harshly, highly unusual toward Nuriel. Raphael guessed the Lightningsun had him on edge. To her merit, she merely glanced at the two chalices before returning her gaze back to Michael.
“Believe me, my Lords you will wish to know what I have found out, though I can go to the Lady Gabriel instead.”
Michael sighed, rubbing his forehead “What have you found out Nuriel?”
She smiled in victory “I have found Hera.”
Chapter 29
The Fifth Level of Hell was as dreary as the Second and Third but had the violence of the Fourth mixed in. It wasn’t as dark, the various fires illuminated the bleak swamp. What little land there was was covered in bodies fighting each other. Whether it was by tearing each other apart with their bare hands or utilising any weapons they could find, be that rocks, planks of wood, swords, axes and even guns.
There was very little vegetation and what there was was clearly dead.
The other landmarks were just as cheery, rusting tanks, cars, and trucks. Crashed fighter planes stuck out of crumbling walls, suits of armour and rotting catapults were heaped on top of rusting submarines. Skeletons of bunkers stuck up out of the dark water, dead creepers wrapped around them and the missiles sticking out of them. The deeper she got, the more features appeared. There were the occasional streets, with wrecked cars and checkpoints. Skeletons of rusting skyscrapers sat next to the ruins of castles and palaces while crumbling walls stained with blood and twisted railway tracks cut randomly through it all.
In the water floated the bloating corpses of the Sullen, their bodies barely moving as they were knocked about in its currents. Some climbed up out of the water to join the Wrathful fighting on any available scrap of land, building or vehicle. Those that fell into the water either struggled to get back out or simply fell into their morose brooding. The fires that raged across the water’s surface forced many of them to scramble into the waters until it passed only to struggle back out.
Sariel felt very glad she was flying. There was no discernible path through the ruins and wreckage, she would have had to fly from island to island. And she would only enter the water as a last resort. It stirred with strange ripples that could not be explained by either the Sullen or the currents. Something dangerous was in there, every time the ripples neared the Sullen even they scrambled out of the water. She also saw vehicles and buildings move about, their in
habitants doing everything they could to stay out of the water.
Mammon’s warning was still ringing in her head. From here on in it was only going to get worse. The previous Levels’ inhabitants had mostly ignored her while the Wrathful below watched with such hate filled eyes it made her skin crawl. She was glad she was flying, she felt sure they would attack her if she landed on any of the islands. So far her greatest danger had been the Guardians, which would only continue to get worse. She feared to think what the other Guardians would be like. She had lucked out with Mammon and Abbadon. She doubted she would be so lucky again.
She flew for a long while, the ruins beneath her growing ever more numerous. The weight of loneliness continued to press down on her increasingly. She still had so far to go but no one to talk to, strange conversations with Demons notwithstanding.
This journey was shaping up to be an excessive task just to reach the Surface. Mortals had better be interesting . Otherwise, she was going to return to Hades in a foul temper. Which wasn’t fair to her family, after all, they had done for her. There surely had to be a simpler way to the Surface, bloody Gabriel making life hard for everyone. She made a mental note to check the spells once she had snuck past the Beast and see if she could use her Chaos powers to create a back passage.
She had flown for so long that she felt the need for a break. It could have been days for all she knew, she had no idea just how long she had already been in Hell. Flying in Hell was nothing like flying in the Heavens, it was a joyless task.
Spotting a cored out skeleton of a particularly tall skyscraper she glided down to the crumbling roof. The Damned were contained to the bottom floors, at least a hundred storeys away from her, she would be safe. But as soon as her feet touched the metal an orange light flared then plummeted down into the water where it flared brightly. Her shoulders slumped as a surging wave of water started moving towards her. It would appear that she had fallen into the focus of Wrath’s Guardian. She called up extra wards and shields, it didn’t hurt to be prepared. Not that she was worried. She had survived the previous Guardians, she would survive this one.
Beneath her the Damned had completely abandoned the skyscraper, they were all trying as hard as they could to get at least several blocks away from her. Not that she noticed from her vantage point.
She squared her shoulders and faced the wave as a large sucking noise filled the air. Water was being pulled from in between the ruins, rising up at least twenty floors. Whatever was approaching was big, very big, whole ruins were being smashed by the surging wave that was only growing taller. It was only then she realised she must be near the end of the Level, the area was incredibly dense with ruins and distinguishable streets. All of which were rapidly being destroyed by the approaching tsunami.
Then from the wall of water rose the head of a Monster. It was a gigantic serpent, its head a sharp triangle to slice through the water opening to reveal a many-fanged maw. Its eyes burned ruby red, glowing brightly through the darkness and water. They were the only mark of colour on the creature, its skin was black as the water, the sharp fins running along its length and armouring its face were darkest grey.
It lifted its head fully out of the water, its long sinuous neck following as it grew rapidly closer. It was truly colossal, larger than even Ziz, though nowhere near the mountain Behemoth had been. This could only be Leviathan.
Whole city blocks were swept away in a deluge of destruction as in approached, its head and neck were now fully raised out of the water, its mouth level with her. From its fangs dripped black venom, falling down to sizzle in the water or corrode the buildings. The wails of the Damned, Wrathful, and Sullen alike, filled the air as they were swept away in the deluge surrounding Leviathan.
In a disturbingly short amount of time, it had stilled before her ruin, the tsunami before it shaking her perch. The sound of crumbling concrete and screaming metal filled the air as the tsunami crashed into her skyscraper and the surrounding buildings, then Leviathan’s coils constricting around them. She tried not to flinch as drops of venom hurtled past her. They were as big as she was.
She raised her gaze to its. She was pinned with the intensity of hate within those eyes. It loathed her, it despised what she was, hated what she represented and hungered for revenge against all Angels.
The skyscraper swayed violently as his coils crushed the base to powder. She jumped backwards and moved with the building as it started to fall. His head smashed through where she had been seconds prior. She could not fight him as she had Ziz and Behemoth, he moved like lightning.
She dove downwards with the rubble, but she had only covered several metres before his gaping maw was underneath her. With basic instincts she spiralled out of the way, only to almost be ripped to shreds by his fins flying past her. She was very thankful for her wards. Then his head was shooting towards her again. She created a blazing blast of light to blind him as she dove into the nearest building hoping that he hadn’t seen her.
She pressed herself against the wall, trying to catch her breath and calm her racing pulse. Damn he was fast, all her prior confidence had evaporated. She wasn’t prepared for this. Ziz and Behemoth had been colossal also, but she had easily outmanoeuvred them, avoiding them easily and not meeting them on their battlefield. She had easily latched onto them, well beyond their reach to attack them with her magic. Leviathan was supernaturally agile for his size, he didn’t attack with claws but with his gaping maw and lightning fast coils. His fins had already tested her wards.
She couldn’t believe just how fast he moved. Coils that had been in a death grip around her skyscraper had been seconds later knocking flat whole blocks of the city as its head seemed to soar in every direction.
She was just beginning to think she had succeeded in hiding from him when his face smashed through the wall opposite her. The only thing that saved her from being swallowed, wards and all was a chunk of rock that knocked her out of his mouth. His whole gargantuan body shot past her in a time far too short, the building was only just starting to collapse under his weight when all of him had disappeared out into the wasteland. But she was no fool, she had shot far from where she had been, luckily enough for he smashed though where she had just been standing.
The whole building collapsed, its structural integrity completely destroyed from above and below. She allowed herself to fall with the rubble, using a bubble shield to attach and cover herself in the falling ruins. It was strangely fascinating to fall within the skyscraper, all her instincts yelled out for her to fly. But she fell in the knowledge she was perfectly safe, so long as Leviathan didn’t attack. She saw his black scales shoot past her again, she saw concrete literally turn to powder and the metal skeletons within twist beyond repair. In the moments, it took for her to plummet the hundred or so floors she saw surprisingly much.
Then she crashed into the rubble below, only to be rained down upon by the rest of the skyscraper. She was thankfully untouched within her thick layering of shields, feeling safe from his ability to locate her. She was buried beneath quite a substantial amount of rubble. She could imagine thick dust clouds rising up from the pile, obscuring that burning gaze.
She strained all her senses to tell if Leviathan was near or not, yet was hesitant to use more than a drop of magic. It would only act as a beacon for him. Moments past and she could hear him slicing through the water, getting increasingly distant. His shriek of fury seemed to indicate that he had thankfully lost her. She breathed a sigh of relief. That had been truly terrifying.
She continued to wait as the sounds of Leviathan got more and more distant, but his frustrated shrieks easily penetrated the rubble forcing her to cover her ears. He had lost her, now she had only to wait until he was completely gone before she could quickly sneak her way down to the next Level. She might not survive another encounter. She had already used quite a bit of her magic just in her shields alone.
Her waiting was cut short by the water rushing up past her and her shields. There was n
o stable land in the Swamps of Wrath. The ruins seemed to offer the only stability, but once destroyed they apparently just sunk beneath the water. No wonder there were so few islands.
Her heart sank as the water around her blazed orange, while the rubble that had hidden her sunk out of sight. The surface was some distance above her, and it was hindered by more rubble sinking, forcing her downwards as it hit her shields. She was now completely within Leviathan’s element, his preferred battlefield. And to boot, she was lit up like a Christmas tree.
In short she was doomed.
Physicality had failed dramatically, now all she had left was magic. She hoped it was enough. Light exploded out of her, the heat she was generating causing her bubble to rise. She cast out her magical senses wide, and sure enough Leviathan was heading straight towards her. He was a truly terrifying creature, far more dangerous that Ziz or Behemoth.
He shot towards her streaking out of the darkness, all she saw coming was his gaping maw. And she couldn’t fly away this time, not that she would have been able to, he was utterly pissed and completely focussed on destroying her.
Darkness fell around her, and her light faltered. She was inside his mouth, her light struggling to reflect off his fangs and black tongue. She killed her light, fused her shields to his tongue then waited as water rushed past her. The sound of his swallowing stopped, then all that was left was the drip of water and venom.
She dropped to her knees, her hands already starting to blaze with her Chaos magic, the symbols flaring across her arms glowing amber. It knew what she needed to do. The instant she touched Chaos to Leviathan she was pulled away into his consciousness.
Leviathan was rising to the surface, searching for more food when light flared out of his mouth, and magic started wrapping around his tongue. He went to shriek his fury but his mouth would not open, it had been bound shut. He shot to the surface, breaking through what had been several city blocks, sending rubble and Damned in every direction as he started to writhe about. Then his mind was pulled away from his body.
The Angels' Pride Page 44