All the world was gearing up for all-out war, but it was yet to fully break out. Except the intense battlefields of America and Egypt confrontation between Gods and Angels was yet to fully occur. It seemed the world was holding its breath while both sides purged their territories and drew the most amount of faith they could.
Which was what they were doing in the conquered Indonesian islands. “Do we really have to do this?” he worriedly stroke his sister’s plumage. She rubbed his cheek in affection.
Zelaris nodded slowly “You know we do. We are the only Divine here, it falls to us, and we must do our duty.”
It was true they were the only Divine, even if they were mortal Divine. Brigid could be anywhere within the Empire, she was currently awakening the lands under her control. It had become the tipping point in the Goddesses’ favour. Refugees were taking a long hard look at the lands held by the Gods and the lands held by the Angels, and the differences were easily noticeable. The Gods’ lands were healing or healthy. Greenery flourished from border to border, crops were being grown in abundance outside of laboratories and the difference between them was huge. Britain had grown very rich very quickly exporting its excess produce to the world. China was also starting to do the same. The Gods’ empires were growing increasingly rich while the Angels’ lands wallowed in increasing poverty. The Angels were creatures of the sky and had no connection to the land.
“I don’t know how to do this.”
“I do, but I lack the power.”
James’ eyes widened in horror, he couldn’t do this by himself “but you have Angel blood in you.”
“My Atlantean heritage runs the strongest, true my powers are greater than the average Atlantean but despite our Divine heritage we are not powerful mages. We can do this together.” He crouched down next to the Elder Angel, who glared back with hate filled eyes.
“You will burn in Hell when the Angels get you!”
Zelaris laughed “fool, we have the Chaos Goddess, who freed Hell and its High Lord. We also have one of Hell’s Princes as a general.”
“And they have no love for Heaven nor the Angels who rule it,” James added.
Zelaris drove his sword into the Angels’ chest, who swore in every language under the sun. “Here James, I need your power to do this. He left the hydralgia sword where it was and crouched down next to the Angel. As James crouched down on the other side, Zelaris grabbed his hands and placed them on the wound. “Blood is the living river through which magic flows easiest.”
James felt a touch on his mind, and he allowed Zelaris in to make the connection. It was strange to feel someone else in your mind, to think with two minds simultaneously. Zelaris directed his magic into the Angel, tearing through his attempts at shields, bound as he was his body had the natural desire to protect itself. The Divine imbued sword through his chest prevented the wound from closing.
Power flowed down into the Angel, tearing through his magical core and wrapping around it. They started syphoning off the Angel’s magic but the only vessel to ground the magic was themselves. Magic flowed both ways as the Angel tried to defend himself. Light started to flare at his fingertips before they blackened and crumbled into ash. He started to scream as light poured out of his eyes, mouth and the wound through his chest. Three other screams filled the air as the power was grounded in Zelaris, James and unintentionally his sister Sophia.
Red blood squirted out of James’ eyes, mouth and from under his nail beds. Glimmers of gold shimmered in the expelled blood while Zelaris’ blood shimmered with glimmers of blue. Liquid fire was expelled from Sophia.
Power surged up into them as the Angel was stripped of all his powers, his glow diminished from his limbs which crumbled away in drifts. James kept pulling up the power even though he felt like he was on fire. It blazed through him, it was as though his blood had turned to liquid fire and for some reason his shoulder blades burned more than the rest of them. He could feel his skin splitting all across his body, glimmers of red and gold blood showing in the splits. He wanted to falter, to cast away the Angel’s power but Zelaris had an iron will and would never falter in his duties. Even as the three of them burned up under the magic, he finished it off and drew out the last of the Angel’s power. Light exploded out from the Angel, and the whole world became nothing but bright light. Two pairs of hands plunged into the Angel’s chest to rip the heart out and together crush it.
James screamed as fire burst out of his body, his sister shrieked in agony and Zelaris screamed as the last of his mortal blood was cast out of him in a wide spray.
The light slowly faded to reveal worried soldiers and mages a safe distance away but the scene was now quite different. Zelaris pushed himself up with glowing hands, a blue glow came off his skin and hair. His eyes were as cold as glaciers and shone with the power of water. Water and ice danced along his wings which were now a mixture of glacial blue and white feathers. He watched the blue tears in his skin heal, the very last of his red blood he brushed off. From here on he had hydralgia blood, he was now the first fully Divine Atlantean in millennia. Oh, how the Gods would worry to know that an Atlantean had unlocked their very powerful and primordial heritage.
Sophia sang as she started to preen her feathers which had grown from soft flames into beautiful streamers of blue, green and purple flames. She had grown from the size of a parrot to the size of a large eagle. She had developed into a truly beautiful creature, more so than any other Phoenix for she had embraced the Divine and was now truly immortal. Her song filled the air with beauty and made the rays of sunlight dance with light.
But it was James who had changed the most for from his shoulders he had sprouted a pair of phoenix wings alive with flames. Their dominant colours were blue and purple, but the natural colours of fire and also green danced along their lengths. Fire danced within his eyes, his irises had changed into flames. His golden scars healed before his eyes as he glanced about in confusion at the flames that danced across patches of his skin.
“What? What does this mean?”
“We have become immortal and in a sense Ascended, but your changes are most unexpected. I do not know how to explain them.”
“Ascended as in like the Gods?”
“Almost, more like immortal demigods.” He laid a wet hand on James’ arms, extinguishing the many flames. “Come, we still have the others to kill.”
“You cannot be serious? Look what one did to us! I am not going through that pain again.”
“You have a duty to the Goddess and your people James. Besides the other Angels are only Ascended or Lesser, they do not have the power to match an Elder.”
“I won’t be part of it!”
“James you have to relax-“
“How the Hell can I relax-“ his words were cut off as Zelaris kissed him. God, the man, could set a stone on fire.
“As I said, you need to relax James, we have a duty to do.”
“What the Hell? I didn’t know you were into men?”
He raised an eyebrow as he led James over to the other Angels who were watching them with abject fear. “Atlanteans, like the Gods and ancients, make no distinction about sexuality, that is a purely modern construction. Besides, who said I was into you, Sorcerer? You needed to relax, and now you are relaxed.”
“Wait, so that meant nothing?”
“That is something you will have to work out for yourself.” He drove his sword into another Angel, who spat and swore at him. He crouched down next to her and started to drain her power. Sophia stalked over to another Angel and drove her beak through her chest.
James stared at his colleague and sister as they set about stripping the Angels of their lifeforce despite their own pain and suffering. If his baby Phoenix sister could do it, then he certainly could. He walked over to an Ascended Angel and using magic shoved his hand through his chest to grab onto the heart and start draining out its magic.
Lucifer looked at the fire dancing along his hands feeling a tainted satisfactio
n. He had finally started to remaster basic magic, but it was only here in Hell that he could. He was still as useless in Hades as he was anywhere else but in Hell his magic came to him. It would appear that everything everyone had said was true. His powers were now firmly tied to Hell. He was its High Lord and Master.
Yet Sariel had power over it. Hades had called her its High Lady and Mistress.
He would ponder the implications of that at another time. For now, his concerns were much more immediate. He had to master his control over Hell and his own magic. He couldn’t believe just how much his powers had changed and grown. He was vastly more powerful than he had been before, easily outstripping even Gabriel. If he hadn’t Ascended to Godhood, he would have been the most powerful Angel ever. Well perhaps except for Sariel but she too had Ascended. Thinking about it, he wondered why his sister had not. She was an incredibly powerful Angel, it wouldn’t take much of an increase in her powers for her to Ascend, then she would have even more power at her disposal. That was a truly terrifying thought.
He glared at the bright flashes of pink and blue light that shone down from the gloom above, piercing down into the gloom below. Spirits were drawn upwards, hundreds of them before the lights faded and Hell returned to its current state. Gabriel stealing yet more of Hell’s souls, presumably for her experiments. She had ever been gifted in her abilities, one of the very best to have ever crafted chimeric life. She had outstripped many Mother Goddesses with her talents, he had always thought that if she had Ascended, she would have been some new kind of Mother Goddess. Perhaps something along the lines of Hera, who had redefined the definition of a Mother Goddess. Before her Mother Goddesses never had empires, they had been silent presences while the Gods and Goddesses of war had done much of the empire building but she had crafted several empires, she had made mortals fear her. She had made Gods fear her.
He clenched his fists in frustration, fire squeezed out from between his fingers and raced up his wrists. He didn’t need to look to know that fire now covered his black wings or the horns that would have appeared in his black hair. He knew what he looked like when he was frustrated or angry. He was never far away from his Demonic appearance in Hell.
Here Gabriel was plundering his realm for who knew what creation and he was floundering in the dark barely able to summon fire in the realm of fire and brimstone. He would make her pay for what she had done to him. Some day she would pay for his centuries in Hell.
Hell rumbled softly, and he rolled his eyes. What the Hell was Sariel doing down there and why?
She stumbled as Hell rumbled softly, it seemed every time she used her magic to change a part of Hell it wanted to announce it to everyone. Well, she had a great many more things she would change but she needed to get the feel of Hell, and she imagined that many of her designs would require Lucifer’s approval and assistance.
But she did have her own power over Hell.
She glanced around at her handiwork. At the very bottom of the empty crater that Hell had become now glowed a bright green lake. It was totally at odds with the rugged landscape around it or the oppressive gloom, but it did serve a purpose. Hell had bottled up billions of spirits over centuries preventing them from returning to the Lifestream, which had weakened it over time. She had blasted Hell’s contents out onto the Surface, and many of the old souls had faded away into the Lifestream almost immediately. The world had grown strong very quickly.
While Hell was no longer the plug it had been it wasn’t exactly useful for souls. They continued to rain down from the Acheron, but at least they were no longer tortured or given the strange bodies that the original residents of Hell had been given. But they were not free to return to the Lifestream, already crowds potentially millions strong cluttered the colossal crater, lost within the gloom. The waters of the Acheron continued to make their way through Hell’s new landscape, carving out new rivers and resting in new lakes, many of which allowed the battered spirits to climb out. But water always found the lowest point and all the waters would eventually make their way to the very bottom of the crater where once there had been a frozen lake underneath a gigantic stalagmite. Now there was just open expanses of shallow water through which the souls trudged and flitted. This was their resting place until they were weak enough to fade away.
She had raised the Lifestream to the lake to start siphoning off the residual fragments of spirits breaking apart and fading. It wasn’t much but it was a start, at the very least Hell would only be a bottleneck and not a plug.
She sat on a rock ledge dangling her feet into the water below, enjoying the warm waters around her ankles. Hell was a strange realm, both ice and fire blasted even still after the Curse had been broken. It was a paradoxical place defying the laws of physics and magic. It would presumably continue to do so until its Master tamed it and shaped it to his will. The water pouring into the shallow lake was both scalding hot and freezing cold. Ice frosted some of the smaller creek beds while steam drifted up where others plunged into the lake. She could watch them blending as they swirled around, flashes of green and white-blue showing that some spirits at least were making their way into the lake and that some were returning to the Lifestream.
She cast her violet eyes around the gloom, picking out spirits that were making their way down to the water’s edge or slipping into the warm shallow waters. At the very least it was an oasis in an otherwise bleak desert. Apart from herself, it was the only place to show any form of colour. It seemed with the loss Hell’s Demons and fires that it had also lost colour and vibrancy. It was a depressing place, and yet she found it strangely comforting. It was a place of potential and rest.
She wondered what Lucifer would shape it into.
Mournful screams filled the air as flashes of pink and blue flickered through the gloom. She felt a surge through the gloom, a touch she knew well. Gabriel was interfering in Hell, but whatever for? It didn’t seem prudent for her to keep throwing failed experiments and captured Gods into Hell, they could easily escape now.
She felt a surge and saw spirits disappear.
It took her a long moment to connect the dots. Gabriel was stealing souls from Hell. Which meant she was experimenting again. She would have to pass that onto her father, perhaps Azrael would have more information for them.
“So both constraints were repealed. This will certainly change things.”
“As far as I am aware only Ariel has been given Griffins in the UCSA but more will surely follow. It is likely that Nephilim will start appearing across Europe soon, Uriel ever had a perchance for spreading his seed wide. The Grigori that did not belong to you or Azazel belonged to him, his Malikhim seem most eager to produce a Nephilim army.” Azrael shook his head mournfully. He well remembered the problems the Nephilim had caused in the past, bust considering their fathers it was clear why they were that way. The apple didn’t fall far from the tree, or so the saying went.
“Hmm this is a surprise, Michael will not be pleased, but Gabriel and Uriel must be delighted.” Samael tapped his chin with his blackened fingertips, his violet eyes thoughtful. “So we can expect Nephilim appearing across Europe and from within the UCSA, likely they will start empowering their priests again. The tides are turning, Griffins are very dangerous, but then all of Gabriel’s creations were. We should watch the UCSA carefully, Ariel was always the first to receive her cousin’s gifts.”
“Well, Ariel certainly needs it fighting Hera’s many horrors. Have you seen some of the things that she has been throwing against the Angels?”
“I have seen some, and knowing Hera, she will have more to unleash. She always has several trump cards stashed up her sleeve, as well as a knife or two.”
“So we can expect a squaring off of Gabriel and Hera’s creations in America, then Gabriel’s creations will percolate into the other Legions. Though Michael may reject them, the others will not. It would appear that Gabriel has gifted Raphael with Griffins to consolidate his control of Jerusalem and Israel.”
&
nbsp; “All far from our borders currently. My greatest concern is Abaddon.”
“You are approaching his territory are you not?”
“Yes, and I am not liking what I am seeing. It would seem that Hell polished off his madness, now he is free he has fallen back into his old behaviour. Destruction reigns supreme across the middle of Africa. My plans have hit a wall, and I am most displeased.”
“Some humility will do you well Samael.”
He glowered at his brother “is there anything else?”
“Yes, there is.” His smile dropped “Uriel and Jophiel are planning on utilising Dionysus’ powers to strip the Maenads of their empowerment.”
“Fuck. The Maenads are our greatest military asset.”
“I would not field them on their own, it is likely that in the next few days their powers will falter, and they will be very vulnerable.”
“Now that is cause for great concern, I must pass this on to Brigid. The Maenads are the backbone of our military. Stay well brother.” He gripped his brother’s shoulder then he was gone.
Azrael stood for a long time staring into the raging Atlantic Ocean. This was a dangerous game he was playing, and it could very well cost him his life, but he could not stand back and let Heaven ruin the world again.
Chapter 18
A Gluttony Of Faith Page 21