Pain. But it was nothing compared to the years of suffering she had put the human race through.
He rocketed for her and smashed his rifle into her shield again. She skirted across the rooftop and flung a blood spear into Kevan’s left arm.
Suffering. A flesh wound was only a minuscule amount of pain compared to all the horrors Queen had forced on the world.
Kevan’s rifle grew hot in his hand as he pushed all his power into it. Before Queen could skid to a stop, Kevan poured all his might into a single swing and smashed hard into her blood armor.
She screamed as she flew back hard across the rooftop and slammed into the platform that the gateway sat on.
Queen moaned; even with her armor she felt it. Part of it cracked off and turned into dust.
Kevan walked over to her and raised his rifle. Queen pooled all her blood in front of her.
Kevan smashed down. “This is your fault!”
He brought it up and smashed down again and again. Pounding as if his life depended on it.
Queen couldn’t move; she cowered under her shield as Kevan smashed down.
“It’s all your fault! For forcing my father and humanity to do horrible things.”
He smashed down again.
“For creating the hell I’ve been through!”
He smashed down again.
“For abandoning the people you’re supposed to protect!”
He smashed down again.
“For killing my mother!”
He smashed down harder.
“For driving my brother to murder!”
He smashed down again.
“It’s your fault you’re about to be killed!”
He paused as he raised his weapon.
“Now, please die and leave us alone forever.”
He smashed down one last time and Queen’s shield cracked. She raised her hand, Kevan felt the blood pulling from his wounds. But it was too late for her. His rifle cleaved into her hand and blew it apart.
She screamed out as blood erupted from her wound and blew Kevan back.
Kevan tumbled until he hit the other end of the roof. He struggled to his feet. He was pierced with five of her blood spears. They faded into dust.
He looked up at Queen. She was swaying on her feet, clutching her stub of an arm under her armpit, her skin white as death.
The clouds above grew dark.
Kevan didn’t feel pain anymore. He was unsure if it was because of his power, or because he was on the edge of death. With the amount of blood he had lost, he shouldn’t have been standing.
“Let’s end this,” Kevan said.
He charged her. Queen raised up her intact hand as Kevan came for her. Her eyes flung open as nothing happened. She had run out of power.
Kevan’s rifle pierced into her stomach.
She gasped, her remaining hand clutched onto him. She leaned in close enough for Kevan to smell the faint scent of her perfume over her sweat and blood.
Queen whispered through her clenched teeth, “That’s… the problem… with you… fucking… fucking humans… Always blaming us… for your problems…”
“Famous last words.” Kevan tore her open as he swung his rifle. Her blood sprayed out onto the rooftop.
She collapsed on top of him and Kevan shoved her off. She fell onto the floor, bleeding out all the blood she had left.
He guessed that she couldn’t use all the blood in her body or she would’ve died from blood loss. A poor choice on her part.
…
Svante was surrounded by the clouds. The Wavering Radiant. Two of his men stood behind him. They would follow him to the ends of the Earth. When he told them that he was going to betray Queen, they didn’t even question him.
He was troubled that he hadn’t used them more. They were fishing for some action. But it was too late for that now.
Svante stared out into the expanse of the Wavering Radiant. He had to find He in this impossible-to-navigate place.
But he had remembered what He said when he last saw him. To become the light. It had been wracking his mind for the last two thousand years.
He had become the light. Many times before. But maybe, he wasn’t to become the light in a battle or down on Earth, but in the Radiant itself.
He hoped this would work; if not, then the world would never be the same.
Svante raised his hands and lightning shot out into the air. The electricity pooled in a small ball of blue light.
The ball expanded out revealing white in the middle. Inside the white was a room of clouds.
It worked. He found him.
He had told him that only a few knew of his resting place. His true throne room.
Clouds swirled in front of the hole and formed into stairs leading to Svante. Svante walked up the stairs and into the throne room.
There He sat on a throne made of glass. Face a blur, with a rainbow colored-chain shackled to him. The colors of the chain pulsated slowly. He was asleep in a forced eternal slumber.
As Svante approached He, his men fell in behind him, fell to their knees and said, “God is in his heaven.”
Svante’s hands hovered over the chains; they emanated a small heat. The power of it was long gone.
“So, that’s what Queen did.”
In a flash of light, Svante shot the chains with an electric blast and they dissolved into the air.
Svante stepped back as He was awakened.
The blurring of his face intensified. But Svante knew that if He had eyes, they were opening. Realizing what the situation of the world was.
He stood from his throne.
Svante fell to his knees. “Sorry for taking so long. I’m at your behest.”
He took in his surroundings and walked toward Svante and his men.
You May Rest.
With his words, Svante and his men disappeared into a mist and returned to the Wavering Radiant.
He stepped off his perch and out into the world.
…
August stood in the Wavering Radiant in front of the Omega Key. He willed his blade into his hands and swung and slashed the Omega Key.
It split in half and the world went dark and then back to normal. August blinked and the Omega Key was gone.
“That was easy.”
Next was the Wavering Radiant, and then, God himself. August raised his sword in the air and struck down.
Screeches wracked the air as August heard the screams of millions. Blackness started to appear in the white, spots of darkness erupted chaotically around August.
The blackness spread out, consuming all the white it touched.
“You… you are a fool…” Michael’s dying voice said.
August glanced around and found Michael looking at him. His body was slowly getting consumed by the Radiant.
“I cut you in half. Just die already.”
“He… He has awoken… your brother…”
“What about my brother?”
August ran over to Michael but the Radiant had consumed everything up to his face.
“All…will be… right… in the… world.” The Radiant fully consumed him.
“Fuck! What the hell was that supposed to mean?”
August looked around. His brother, he must have been in danger. God was coming for him.
He tried to remember where his brother was. The rooftop of Ifor. He built an image of it in his head and pooled all the will he could in front of him.
A hole appeared and opened to a view of the rooftop, about one hundred feet above them. He saw his brother standing over the dying body of Queen and something else.
“No…” August muttered.
…
Queen’s eyes stared at Kevan. She wasn’t dead. Kevan cursed under his breath. Even though she wasn’t dead yet, she couldn’t fight back.
Kevan turned to the rest of the battle on the rooftop. Everyone had stopped and was staring at him. The gods on Queen’s side got to their knees and bowed down to him. Use
less.
His men looked at him and he nodded. They moved to the gods and put their weapons to their heads.
“Wait! Don’t we get a fair trial?” one of them asked.
Kevan laughed. “A fair trial?” He heard movement behind him. Queen was crawling to the archway.
He slowly walked up to her. “Pitiful.” He should have killed her earlier.
“Please! Don’t!” Queen pleaded as she continued to crawl.
Kevan raised his rifle to her head. “This is the end.”
“I’m sorry! Please forgive me!” Queen’s voice said in a murmur. Her eyes agape on the archway. “Please, show me mercy…”
Kevan looked up to the archway, to whom Queen was pleading to.
Kevan’s heart skipped a beat. There He stood. The creator of all, the almighty, the powerful, the omega and the God.
He.
His face a blur, his pure white robes seemed weightless, the nature of the world was ethereal to him.
Kevan dropped his rifle. The being of creation was right in front of him. He tried to fight, he tried to kill him, but his body wouldn’t move.
His will to kill was gone, all that was left was awe.
You Have Failed Me. But I Have Failed You.
The voice seemed to come from nowhere and everywhere at once. It was directed toward Queen. In a blink she was gone, her torn clothes left in her place. All of the gods disappeared from the world in an instant.
Kevan was frozen. The intensity radiating from He was immense. So powerful, this very being, that everything he had known was coming into question. Kevan felt He’s gaze upon him. All Kevan wanted to do was to ask for forgiveness, to run away and hide. To collapse in He’s arms forever and bask in his glory.
…
August watched this from above. He looked around him. The Radiant was slowly getting torn apart from the darkness, from his blade’s power. But it was going too slow. At this rate, his brother would be dead.
He looked back into the hole as his brother was slowly approached by He.
He had to do something.
He had to separate the Radiant from the world.
He had to save his brother.
But he couldn’t do both in time.
August ran to his sword and pulled it out of the Radiant, the screeching ebbing as the whites of the Radiant slowly covered the black as if nothing had happened.
August raced and jumped through the hole.
…
God walked toward Kevan. The other rebels on the rooftop turned into mist and disappeared into the air. Their clothes falling in their places, finite gems floating over their remains.
Kevan watched as He slowly approached him. Kevan’s lips trembled, tears entered his eyes.
“Sor…sorry…” He started to cry. All he wanted was forgiveness. The gravity of He crushed down on his soul. He couldn’t move. He couldn’t run. He could only embrace He. “Please… forgive… me…”
All that ever was, was in question by Kevan. His fight for his people. His fight to save his family. His entire existence.
I’m Sorry. For My Actions Have Caused You Great Pain. That You Had To Seek Out An Unnatural Power To Correct It. My Child.
“I’m… Sorry…”
The Power Prevents Me from Allowing You To Rest. But With My Touch, All Your Pain, All Your Suffering Will Disappear.
He neared Kevan. His hands stretched out to him. Kevan’s tears evaporated away. With his touch, everything would be better. He could finally have happiness again.
Why did Kevan want to kill him? When He was the answer to everything?
The heat from He’s hand skirted across his face. Kevan felt the heat from his presence, the joy of it.
With a single touched, everything would be over forever.
“Nooo!” was the last sound Kevan heard as He’s grace touched his very soul.
…
Kevan disappeared in a light in front of August, as he swung his sword.
“Nooo!” August screamed as his blade sliced into He.
A bang exploded out as August’s sword met He’s flesh and then the gravel on the rooftop. The sound of millions of screams howled in the sky.
It lasted a millisecond and then, everything was silent again. Raindrops fell from the clouds above.
God was gone forever. Wiped from this world. He’s very presence was gone. The arch of the gateway to heaven crumbled down.
At August’s feet was the remains of his brother’s clothes and his rifle. It was his father’s before Kevan took it.
“No…” August whispered under his breath. “Noooo!” he screamed out.
He wasn’t fast enough.
August. He ignored the voice.
It was August’s fault that Kevan was gone. He fell to his knees. “No…”
If he hadn’t killed his father. If he hadn’t killed Sara and driven his mother to depression. If only he had died when he was supposed to. If only he allowed his father to beat him to death when he was younger.
Only then, would Kevan have been okay. He wouldn’t have been driven to fight the gods because of him.
It was all his fault.
August! He once again ignored the voice.
August looked at his hands. If he had the power to destroy, then maybe he had the power to create.
He grabbed Kevan’s bloody shirt. With this, maybe he could will him back.
You idiot! Don’t do what you’re thinking of doing! August pushed the voice to the back of his head.
He imagined Kevan standing in front of him. His optimism, his smile. He could bring him back.
August pooled all the power he had in front of him. In the image of his brother. He attempted to will him back.
Stop!
August screamed as an immense heat poured out of his very soul. The pool of energy in front of him grew brighter and brighter.
August poured everything he had into it.
Stop!
August gave one final yell as the light in front of him exploded, blinding him. A hand pulled on him.
August fell onto his back. He blinked the vision back into his eyes. The rain started to pour.
The Omniscient Man stood over him. “You are an inconsiderate fool.”
“What?”
“Look at what you’ve done.” The Omniscient Man pointed in front of August.
August slowly got back to his feet. In front of him, Kevan was curled naked into a ball.
His eyes were open, but there was nothing in them.
“Is he…is he back?”
“No. He isn’t. You created a body with an impartial soul. I’m surprised you even got a part of him in there, but that’s not your brother anymore.”
“I… I can fix him.”
“No. You can’t.” The Omniscient Man shoved a hand into August and it went right through him. He pulled out and held a sphere that swirled with millions of colors. He clutched his hand and crushed it.
“What are you doing?” August yelled.
“I told you we had an agreement, time is up.” The Omniscient Man glanced at the rooftops around them. Various men in black suits stood watching the spectacle. “Sorry, I would help but I have to go. I suggest you kill him to put him out of his misery.”
A tear opened behind the Omniscient Man and he stepped through.
“Wait! Stop!” But the Omniscient Man was gone.
August suddenly lost all the feeling in his body. The colors of his world slowly started to dull and went gray.
“What’s happening?” His fight with Michael had done something to him. He had recreated his body but it was powered by the power the Omniscient Man had given him.
He looked at the finite gems over the remains of the rebels bodies. He stopped himself from grabbing them. He couldn’t use the finite gems in fear of persecution.
He was never going to feel again.
Kevan suddenly yelled out. Screaming and thrashing on the wet ground.
August kneeled besid
e Kevan and held him. “I’m sorry, Kevan. I’m sorry.”
He held onto him with all his might as Kevan thrashed and screamed in his arms. His mind lost and unknown to the world around him.
“I’m sorry, Kevan. It’s going to be okay.” But it wasn’t. It was never going to be okay again.
August cried as the rain washed his tears away.
19
The Cost of Never Letting Go
After August killed God, life went on. At least, the very concept of living went on in the first four months after the gods fell.
At first, there was cheering in the streets, the gods were dead. They were free. Humanity was finally free at last.
They could rise up, the limit wasn’t the sky anymore, but the sky was the limit. The only thing that could have held them back were their own limitations, and not the ones that were once forced upon them by the gods.
The symbol of their oppression, the tower of Ifor, was torn down only a day after the gods fell.
But soon, after all the cheering and celebration had finally ended, the realities of their situation had begun to set in. The consequences of what they had just done were finally coming to light.
All around the world, as animals were slaughtered for food, as the injured and diseased neared death, as the old breathed past their last breaths, as women gave one last push to birth their children. Pig heads continued to squeal as they were cut off, the old and diseased moaned as their bodies stunk and decayed, the horribly mangled continued to scream in pain as their arms, legs, and spines were twisted and contorted in every which way, the newborns never wailed their first cry as they were stillborn.
The screaming lasted for months as life never ceased to live. And never sparked to begin.
…
August’s eyes trailed along the convenient store aisles. The rows were sparse and food was nonchalantly arranged. The freezer aisle was empty. There was no meat and barely anything else. He glanced at the basket he held in his hand.
It held a box of cereal and some milk. That would have to do.
August walked up to the cashier. “When will your next shipment of meat come in? My iron count is low.”
The Men Who Killed God (Sinner of the Infinite Book 1) Page 30