A Gluttony Of Faith

by Steven Lindsay

  Jophiel walked along the prison corridors with curiosity, it had been centuries since she had last been down here. After several of the Gods had been killed by overzealous Angels it had been banned to all but the Arch Angels. It was still strange to her that these places were no longer off limits to her, she was well within her rights to be here. She was encouraged to be here, which was why Uriel was escorting her through them.

  Today Dionysus would die, and the Maenads would falter. Ariel was overseeing the UCSA’s first charge against the Heradmantium Empire. Today they would reclaim lost land and strike a decisive blow against Hera’s forces.

  She watched the name plaques as she passed them. Uriel had already explained that the captured Gods had been arranged into categories, they were currently passing through the Gods of Healing. She also knew that the most central and slightly larger rooms were reserved for the two most important prisoners. Dionysus was not within the inner sanctum, he was of little relevance to the Angels, and his powers were of no great aid to them. Wine and revelry were not something Angels partook in. He was essentially little more than a battery, to supplement one’s own powers.

  “How many are there?”

  “Gods? Maybe a hundred or so. There are also powerful Angels and Nymphs. At one time there was even a Dragon, but Metatron was overzealous in gaining its powers.”

  “Is it that fine a line between taking power and killing them?”

  “No. It only happens when you are trying to take too much power. The key is to take power from lots of the Gods. That way they will recharge ready for the next time.”

  “Do they not Desiccate? Do they get fed?”

  “No, there is no need to feed them. Gods are not technically living things, unlike us. We are the progeny of Gods, but we are living, breathing creatures in need of sustenance. The Gods, on the other hand, are not. They do not need to breathe or eat, they require no sustenance. They are essentially bodies made to enclose their power, their bodies are a magical extension of themselves. Thus, we have no need to look after them.”

  “But don’t the Gods Desiccate?”

  “They can do but usually only under the most extreme situations or when they are forced into it.”

  “Extreme situations?”

  “Things like the Apocalypse, Ragnarok, God battles or Chaos showers can cause it. Though they are all exceptionally rare.”

  “Chaos showers? What are those?”

  “Very rarely Chaos will filter through the Moon’s defence, when it does terrible things happen.”

  They came to a stop outside of a door, its bronze plaque read Dionysus. Uriel opened the double doors wide then stepped aside. Jophiel saw the first God she had seen in centuries.

  He sat chained to the floor amid swirling circles of symbols in blue, pink and white. He was black haired and olive-skinned in the way of the Greeks and many of the Divine. Faint silvery scars covered his arms and legs, a testament to the violence in which he had grown up and been reborn to. He had lived a curious life. His burgundy coloured eyes watched them with pure hatred and resignation.

  “What brings Arch Angels to my prison?” his voice was rough from disuse, but it echoed its once cultured past.

  “Your death” Uriel spat at him.

  To her surprise he didn’t rise to the bait or show any anger, his face calmed “The final release approaches.”

  She placed her hands on either side of his head, his eyes looking up into hers. He had beautiful eyes, such a deep burgundy she couldn’t help but think of wine, captivating and set within beautiful long lashes. “You are very calm.”

  He studied her “after such a long imprisonment being freed to return to the Lifestream is a release.”

  She wasn’t sure she understood but then she had never been imprisoned in the same room for centuries. “How do I do this?” she asked Uriel.

  “As you would normally take magic but don’t stop. Keep taking it all until there is nothing left to give.” He started to prowl around the room, she got the impression he would have loved to have been doing it, but she had come up with the idea so it was her honour to do the deed. She wasn’t sure that she saw it as an honour.

  She probed through his defences, shockingly low due to the bindings, and started to pull it up into herself. Her hands glowed white, and he closed his eyes. She was surprised with how much she could feel within him. Her arms started to glow white as she pulled out more magic from him. Lights flashed under his chains as the magic flowed around the constraints. His fingernails started to glow, before spreading up his fingers. As she drew his power into her she started to feel very powerful, it flowed through her body making her shine more.

  Uriel paced back and forth watching as she gently took the life essence from Dionysus. His nails had started to crack and drift away as powder. It continued to spread up his fingers and toes, erratic flares speeding up as she continued to draw out more magic from him. His eyes and mouth started to glow as his limbs crumbled away. The shackles binding his limbs clattered to the ground while the one around his neck flared brightly. Jophiel crouched down as he slid to the ground, his legs crumbling beneath him.

  As she did so, she noticed that his shining mouth had curled into a smile. Orange and green flared all through his bright lights, his heart exploded outwards with green light as his laughter filled the prison. She jumped back raising her shields and flames to her hand. Uriel had assumed a similar stance where he was.

  “What is going on?” She flicked her glance to him. He shook his head. He had no idea.

  Dionysus’ laughter filled the room “Fools, I have named Heirs to my power.”

  “Shit” Uriel swore.

  Jophiel buckled to the floor as all the power she had extracted from Dionysus’ flew out of her as a swirling mass of bright white light. Dionysus’ body continued to crumble into powder, power flowing out of him to the swirling mass. “May you pay for your sins” he spat before his face crumbled in on itself. His chest cavity collapsed to reveal his burning orange core which flickered green. It rose in the room, Uriel tried casting spells to contain it, but all failed. It joined with the swirling mass that flared green with flickers of orange within. Laughter echoed through the room before it exploded outwards.

  “What does this mean?”

  “It means we better warn Ariel that the Maenads are not going to weaken.”

  She was glad she wasn’t the one going to be making that connection, but she had a feeling that they were going to have to explain their actions to the Council.

  Inhuman shrieks filled the air as the Griffins launched themselves down on their prey below. Gunfire filled the air, competing with the screams of the dying. Angel magic blasted across the battlefield tearing holes in the Heradmantium defence. Tanks rolled forward from both sides firing their explosives. Shadows flickered across the battlefield as the Elites darted about with their inhuman speed but the Griffins knew how to look for them.

  Lights flared as the Griffins hurtled into their quarry, screams filled the air as feathers and acidic blood was sprayed across the ground. Screams of mortals surrounded them as acidic blood and flailing limbs brutalised unsuspecting allies and enemies.

  Moans filled the air as Persephone fielded the Wendigos, their eerie cries breaking all but the staunchest of backbones. The sight of those emaciated horrors jumping into the fray broke the resolve of even the strongest of men, especially when they started to feast on the corpses of their comrades. But the sight of avenging Angels with burning swords tearing through ice and bones was enough to spur them on again.

  Ariel flicked her commands to her warriors. Gunfire erupted across the battlefield forcing the mortals to bunker down. The firing stopped on as the Griffin’s struck again, pinpointing the immortals who had kept moving forward. Griffins shrieked as they were speared on Maenad spears and Elite tails. But there were many Griffins and only a few immortal Maenads, there wasn’t a lot of Elites either.

  Persephone watched the changing tide
of battle. She had not been prepared for the Angels to field Divine creatures. It was likely the day would go to the Angels. Frustrating but she had not lost a battle yet. Perhaps for the next one, she would elevate more to the ranks of the Divine. It was becoming clear to both sides that it was the immortals that determined the battle not the numbers of mortals.

  She watched as the Angels’ Humans continued to die under the onslaught. They were no match for the combined forces of the Dead, Obese, Daemons and Wendigos but it was clear the Angels and Griffins were pushing forward cutting down both her mortals and immortals.

  Light flared in the dark stormy sky, her first instinct was Hera had come to turn the tide with her ever present storms. Angels could hold off the storms from their territory with their combined sky magics, but they could only do so much to stem the extensive flooding from upstream. But the green and orange flashes did not belong to Hera.

  They rained down on the battlefield causing many to glance at the sky. Ferocious screams filled the air as the magic flooded through every Maenad present on the field. They shone with green magic as they charged forward. Persephone smiled as the tide of battle turned again. All the Maenads on the field had been granted their Divine immortality. She had more than enough to turn back the Angels in this battle.

  As the Angels called for the retreat, she smiled. She called back her living, but the dead could continue to chase them down. The sight of the risen dead pursuing the fleeing Humans made her smile.

  Whatever had caused the Maenads to all Ascend so suddenly?

  Ariadne glanced around, something was wrong but what? It wasn’t the power of the Labyrinth, it seemed almost full of anticipation. She looked at the people around the court room with their various duties. None seemed to have noticed, but all the Maenads had also stopped to glance around.

  Everyone looked up when orange light flared past the windows and the sounds of ferocious roars filled the air. Shields and spells were raised as orange magic rained down through the walls and ceiling. Where it struck each Maenad roared in fury and pleasure, their bodies started glowing green, and power flowed into them.

  All around the room Maenads Ascended, any glamour was stripped away. Their hair changed to greens, reds, and purples, their eyes flared. One green, one blood red. They grew slightly taller and as the green faded they started to glow softly as the Divine did.

  But following the Divine rain came a swirling mass of orange magic, within flickered greens. It zoned in on Ariadne and enveloped her. It drew her up into the air and before the eyes of all their empress was cocooned in foreign magic.

  Within the magic, Ariadne cried and smiled. This magical embrace was not new to her, she knew her husband’s power. It flowed into her, wrapping around her core and becoming hers. She felt the power flow through her, felt her mortality slipping away as she once again Ascended to Godhood. She felt the power of the Maenads flow into her, along with all his other wild powers.

  He had named her his Heir. Now he was dead.

  She descended to the floor with tears in her eyes, her eyes shining brightly, one blood red the other forest green. The Empress was now a Goddess.

  Mortals threw themselves before her while the Maenads approached her to bow on bended knee. They were not mortals to prostrate themselves, but she had been marked as they had. Ariadne was Dionysus’ Heir, she was now the guardian of the Maenads. For those who would accept it.

  Chapter 19

  The Council fell quiet as Ariel appeared on her throne wreathed in flames. She was absolutely livid. Her eyes darted about, everyone they fell on cringed away from how frightful she was. “What in God’s name happened?”

  “It would appear that Dionysus had named an Heir.”

  “Then why the bloody Hell did you not stop?”

  “Jophiel didn’t realise what she was doing?”

  She turned on Uriel in disgust “you were the one assisting me. Don’t lay the blame on me. I didn’t rush it, I did it slowly and meticulously. I didn’t know what I was doing.”

  Ariel turned her angry glare from Jophiel to Uriel “You know the signs to look for Uriel.”

  “There were none until it was too late.”

  “It is never too late Uriel, there is always warning.”

  “To be fair Ariel, Dionysus probably named his Heir millennia ago. The obvious signs may not have been present.” Gabriel tried to calm her cousin, but from Ariel’s body language, it was obvious she would not be placated. “What happened?”

  “We were winning, we were driving them back. The Griffins were slaughtering the Divine Maenads and the Elites. Our Angels were cutting through their ranks. We were winning!” She had started pacing on the dais “then the inheritance came, and the tide turned just like that. Every single Maenad on that battlefield became Divine, and they started slaughtering us left, right and centre. Do you have any idea just how many Maenads there are? Every single one from the strongest to the weakest became Divine. There were thousands of them suddenly with the power that only Dionysus’ loyalist handmaidens had held. They were ferocious. We had to flee.

  Then they sent the dead after us. We are losing ground always in America, we did not need this.”

  “The tide has also turned against us on nearly all our battle fronts. We have been holding our own in Indonesia with great losses, but we lost several more islands under the Maenad assault.

  They raged through Hel’s territory in Scandinavia and Ereshkigal’s in Iraq. We presume the same has occurred within the Dragon Empire. Our forces in Egypt have faltered with this setback, and Crete is all but lost. Samael’s push in Africa has also gained momentum. We are losing, and the War has only begun.” Michael shook his head sorrowfully.

  “Is it possible for you to create more Divine creatures to assist us, Gabriel?” Jophiel asked.

  “It is within my means, whether the Council approves of more creations is another matter.”

  “I call a vote,” both Ariel and Jophiel said in unison. Ariel gifted her with one of her rare smiles. Their hands blazed white with their vote. A quick glance around the chambers showed that the vote was unanimous. Even Michael had voted in favour, he knew they were losing and needed all the help they could get. Azrael was not present.

  “What if we were to create more Ascended? Even without their faith powers they would be far more useful than the millions of Lesser we have at our disposal.”

  All eyes in the chamber turned to look at Raziel. The Elder looked at each other as they weighed up the consequences of such an action.

  “I back the suggestion and call for a vote,” Jophiel said. She had barely finished speaking before Gabriel’s hand flared white. She had her own reasons for supporting the creation of more Ascended.

  “Of course, we would have to be selective, a reward for loyalty and hard work.”

  The vote won, but it was a close vote.

  “Get out” Gabriel barked at the Angels in the prison. They scrambled to get out of her way, no one liked to draw her ire, and her voice brokered no arguments.

  Except one fool busy thrusting away “wait your turn” he snarled at her.

  Whip-like spells lashed out around his neck and threw him backwards “I didn’t ask. I said get out.” He scrambled up ready to fight from the floor but finally realised who he was talking to. He scrambled out like a bat out of Hell. Gabriel snickered to herself once he was gone, stupid fool.

  Finally alone, she turned to face the source of all the male Angels attention. Inanna hung from the wall, her legs held open. Her eyes showed all her cold, brittle rage. The Divine were the masters when it came to ice-cold anger.

  “As thankful as I am for the interruption, I feel sure you did not do it out of kindness.”

  “No Inanna. I care not for you, but your health is now very important.” Several syringes materialised within her hand before shooting out to stab into Inanna’s flesh. Gabriel spoke as the syringes started to fill with Inanna’s golden blood “I thought you would care to know t
hat I was successful, and it is all because of you.”

  “Oh, I am sure that it would never have happened if it weren’t for you.”

  “Flattery, how sweet” she smiled at Inanna “just for that you can have the rest of the day free.” Dozens of filled syringes floated back over to Gabriel, they disappeared as her hands curled around them. She walked out of the prison, flicking a pink shield across the door. Inanna had earned her peace, besides she needed all the blood she could get out of her.

  Thunder roared outside, flashes lit up the dark night sky for seconds at a time. It was a shitty night outside, the side effect of clashing God powers. There was probably an element of Demon and Angel magic in there as well. Northern winds carrying heavy rain clouds from Britain and Scandinavia had mixed with hot, dry southern winds from the Middle East. Violent storms had bloomed all across Turkey and the eastern Mediterranean. It was a reminder of the primal, elemental power that the Gods wielded and just how easily their cast off spells could affect Angel held land.

  There were no Angels gifted in taming a storm to yield life-giving rain, all they had were the violent storms spinning off the Gods’ territories. It was the only source of water for many of the Angels’ lands. It was becoming evidently clear that the Angels could not offer the same fertility as the Gods, thankfully their followers were fanatical in their belief of God and their trust in his servants. It was always a hard lesson for any of the Lesser that their faith had been misplaced. There were many that had to be destroyed because they couldn’t adjust to the reality of Heaven.

  Why had he been summoned here on this horrible night? His spells were heating up the interior of the Hagia Sophia, but it was not as effective as it would be in the offices he had commandeered. He just wanted this storm to blow out so that the dry heat he was used to would return. He didn’t like this cold northern weather.

  Constantine was surprised when Peter appeared within the bright lights. Paul appeared seconds after him. Both of them looked around before turning to look at him. “I have no idea why we are here.” He could understand why Gabriel had summoned him, he was a member of the Seraphim and was currently controlling Turkey in her name.