A Gluttony Of Faith

by Steven Lindsay

  The expansion of its borders it seemed could not be contained.

  But knowing that you would lose a war did not mean you would surrender willingly. It was now the only question all of Thailand was considering. To surrender and peacefully be annexed or fight with their heads held high.”

  “I would sign it. The choice is really now or later. Britain is on our doorstep and has politely not strayed across the border. To the north, the Dragon Empire is standing at the borders of Vietnam. It seems we have two huge empires eyeing us up.

  The Empress has offered us a peaceful annexation with the right to maintain your monarchy and the current government. With the exception of anything that contravenes the Imperial Decrees you will retain the right of self-governance.”

  She created an image of Thailand across the table. Highlighted were the newly greening areas around the party cities of Bangkok, Phuket and Pattaya. Lines of green radiated out erratically. They reflected the revival in Thailand’s environment. It was the most greenery Thailand had seen in a century.

  The image rippled as a line of green raced across it. “There are other benefits to annexation. Brigid is a frightfully powerful Goddess, but she does improve the lands under her care. Look at how healthy and green Britain, Iceland and Canada are. Look at the change sweeping through the Australian, South African and Singaporean Provinces. Thailand could once again have farms and jungles.”

  Brigid would do a far superior job than she would.

  “What of yourself Naamah?” The queen asked.

  “It is yet to be seen whether I will be welcome within the British Empire. I know one sister was not, yet another, her husband and daughter were.”

  “Perhaps we could make it a clause of our surrender.”

  She was touched. She didn’t have much feeling for these mortals, but she did have a sense that they belonged to her. “I doubt that we are in a position to bargain with the British. We really have one option before us. We will become part of the British Empire, it is merely our choice of how.”

  Where would she go if Brigid would not allow her to remain in Thailand? To Agrat or Eisheth? No. The only sister she would willingly ask for help was Lilith. She would grant her help without conditions, and she would not hold it above them. Despite how bitter they were to Lilith, she was forever extending the olive branch to them.

  Now she would no longer offer that olive branch.

  Lilith had been allowed within the British Empire, but then Lilith was able to adjust herself to the leaders of pantheons. Lilith could shine brighter than the stars and be the only light in the dark. Lilith’s daughter was Brigid’s Protégé, she wasn’t sure how or why. Her husband was one of Brigid’s Divine Generals and the Divine Governor of the Province of South Africa. It seemed that much of Sariel’s family had been granted freedom within Brigid’s empire. Perhaps she could ask for clemency from Brigid, or Heaven forbid ask Samael for help. No, she would not ask him for help.

  But perhaps she could ask her niece. Though that might not go down well. The last time she had seen Sariel she and Lilith had been attacking her outside the walls of Dis.

  Chapter 27

  Amsterdam was a mess, and that was the politest way to say it. Nuriel looked around in horror at the devastation that had been wrought on the city. It was impossible to believe that merely days before it had been a perfectly functioning city under the Lilin’s control. It had been recovering from the environmental ruin affecting the world, it had rebuilt its dykes and drained its flooded lowlands.

  It had all drowned again. The dykes had burst at some point during Lilith’s battle and swept away a great deal.

  Now Amsterdam’s centre was a massive crater surrounded by overflowing channels and a raging Chaos storm. It was so powerful she had had to appear well outside the outskirts of Amsterdam and trek her way into the city. Surrounding it was a disordered array of confused emergency and military forces. Scattered within all the Humans were Daemons and Angels.

  All knew what she was when she passed, just as she knew what all were. She had hidden her wings, but nothing was going to hide the massive amounts of power she was holding within herself. She held so much that even Humans picked up on the fact that she was different and dangerous.

  Once she had entered the city limits she had released her wings, there was no point hiding what she was, and containing wings was painful and irritating. There wasn’t anyone around anyway. All with even the smallest trace of Divinity had fled the city. Even the mortal inhabitants had left. Humans might not understand magic, but their senses disturbed them within the city. Even the animals had fled the region. Chaos might not affect mortals in the same manner that it could kill the Divine, but it did register on their senses and made them uneasy.

  She glanced about at the veins of Hellfire rippling through the air and across the surface of the water. Water lapped against the side of canals, it fell into crevasses that spider-webbed through the city. In other parts rivers rose up into the air as columns. Pools of water floated about in the air interspaced with wreckage and the flaring browns of Chaos. It seemed gravity no longer worked properly within the Chaos Storm.

  And what a storm it was. Everywhere she glanced there was brown flares, shimmers, and ripples. In the air, in the water, in the ground. She could feel it corroding through her shields, she was very glad she had empowered herself. Her natural shields would be nearly depleted by now.

  She was also almost senseless. Her magical senses were slipping all over the place or being sucked into the Chaos pockets. The only senses she could rely on were the basic senses of mortals. It made her feel very vulnerable, especially considering the vast amounts of Chaos swirling around her. She had never felt so much Chaos before, but then she had never ventured to the Moon. Her aunt Artemis had, and had told her all about it when she was growing up.

  Chaos was something all the Divine feared.

  Now one of their own could wield it as a weapon. The power Sariel had at her disposal was truly terrifying. She could end the world.

  She spent several hours walking through the ruined city approaching the epicentre of the maelstrom. It was dirty, degrading work that she wasn’t used too. Angels preferred to fly when possible, but she dared not. They also had a tendency to teleport, something she knew would be suicidal. So she was left with the degrading effort of walking and climbing. Thank the Heavens for her Divine strength and speed. Imagine a mortal trying to make the same journey. It was moments like these that made her realise just how difficult life was for mortals.

  She sensed the difference as soon as she stepped over the lip of the crater. This was where the Chaos had been unleashed. This was what Sariel had done.

  She looked down at the smouldering crater easily several miles across. Channels and cracks flowed unrestrained into the crater but very quickly the water was turned to steam. The ground glowed with pockets of lava and the unmistakable ruins of famous landscapes she had seen hundreds of times. The air was thick and heavy with steam and smoke. Through it all were thick ripples of Chaos.

  One swirled uncomfortably close to her, and she danced out of the way, only to slip on the loose rubble and slide down into the crater. She screamed as she fell with the debris down the sides of the crater. She had no purchase to grab onto and her attempts to use magic only resulted in pitiful flares that burned her and blinded her. She continued to scream as she was swept along with the landslide. It came to stop at the bottom of the crater. She climbed out of the muddy pile shaking off the muck. She bet she looked absolutely awful. She was covered head to toe in filth and was drenched and had been burned. Thankfully her Divinity would heal her quickly, but her inability to use magic meant she was stuck being disgusting.

  She heard the strangest sound. It was a low gargled moan. She was not alone. She shifted the handle of her sword so that it would be easy to unsheathe but she didn’t want to draw attention yet. She also didn’t want the precious gift ruined by Chaos. She looked about, frustrated by her lim
ited eyesight. How she wished she could track with her magic.

  She scrambled up over mounds following the strange sound.

  When she located it, she was filled with shock and horror. In a small depression lay a body. It was horribly burned with splashes of golden blood all over it. From what she could see it appeared to have multiple stab wounds but surely it should have healed if it was a Divine. She slid down to the body, terrified at what she was looking at.

  It was Lilith, in all her ruined glory. A cold realisation spread through her. Lilith had become almost Desiccated from the Chaos Storm. Her beauty had been scarred and emaciated by the raging Chaos surging through her body. Her stab wounds had not healed and continued to ooze a steady trickle of golden blood. Lilith’s blood matched her own, not the norm of the Angels. Her wings had been burned to nubs, one of her hands was but a stump, the other was missing fingers and burnt. One of her eyes was missing, burned off with most of her face. But one red eye remained to stare at her. A red eye that flickered to gold then amber then violet.

  Purple was the colour of warning amongst the Divine. It marked dangerous power.

  When had Lilith’s eyes turned violet? The red was easy to understand, she had been Hell Cursed.

  “Lilith?” she knew it was her, but what else could she say?

  Her only answer was a low gurgled moan.

  She crouched down next to her and lifted her head up. The changing eye watched her with no expression, but it flicked about watching her.

  She pulled out her dagger, shining brightly in the gloom. Her father had loved her very much, she had been his only Angelic child, though he had had many others. He had been so proud of her, an Angel born of a Siren mother. She had been so unexpected, he had avoided Angels because his father had claimed many of them already. For her Siren mother to bear an Angel child was of great surprise. She had always known that she had been her father’s favourite, he had granted her much time, more than her half-siblings. He and his sister had trained her to shoot and hunt. They had taught her many of the skills that made her the best at her position.

  She remembered Lilith growing up, she had been a friend of her father’s. She had taken the time to educate the young Angel in Apollo’s apartments, to teach her to fly and to hold her head high. Nuriel had always looked up to Lilith. Being Apollo’s daughter, she had always been accepting of all sexualities and sexual behaviour. Lilith had been her role model. An Angel uninhibited with her sexuality, willing to use it to her own advantage.

  She slashed the blade across her wrist. Golden blood squirted out, a fact she had hidden from the other Angels. Her father’s blood ran strong in her.

  She held her wrist to the burnt lips, prying them open to let the blood flow into Lilith’s mouth. She watched with satisfaction as the skin directly around her mouth returned to its glorious sun-kissed colour. Pale skin flickered across her face as the healing spread.

  She glanced up and screamed.

  At first, she thought Azrael or Samael watched her, then she half recognised the woman crouching watching her. Sariel had changed a great deal since she had left Heaven. She was now a woman instead of the child she had been for centuries.

  She looked a great deal like Lilith now that her mind had time to digest the details, but she had her father’s colouring still. Her black wings rose around her like a threatening cloud, her violet eyes watched her with no expression, no emotion. In her hands, she held two blades, one of blackest night, the other of brightest day.

  She sheathed her swords, watching Nuriel all the while. When had she learned to be so graceful with weapons?

  Warmth spread through those cold violet eyes and the ghost of a smile appeared. “Such an unexpected kindness Nuriel.” She hopped down on the other side of Lilith, glancing down at her mother. “I thank you, a life is such a precious thing. Easier to end than save, but you have done a kindness with no expectation of return. I do not ask your reasons, but I thank you.”

  There came a gentle, relieved sigh from Lilith, breaking whatever hold Sariel had over Nuriel. Her face had almost returned to her splendour.

  “You took your time Sariel.”

  “Tiamat said to wait, that a pivotal moment would occur. It seems that your kindness Nuriel may be that pivotal moment.”

  “I thank you Nuriel.” Lilith closed her eye for a moment “you grew up to be a beautiful woman.”

  “My father says the same thing to me.”

  “How is Apollo?”

  “Imprisoned but his spirits are high.”

  “He was ever a cheerful man. Then again the young Sun Gods often are.” She focussed those eyes on Nuriel, their red and gold flashed violet. “But why bother to save me Nuriel? I am your enemy.”

  “You are my father’s friend. You were kind to me when I was little, I could not repay that kindness with death.”

  “And such kindness is rewarded. A life for a life. You have saved one life for me Nuriel, I will owe you a life. Any life you chose, in any situation. I owe you this favour for saving my mother.” Sariel reached out to cup Nuriel’s face. She shivered at the touch, feeling unfathomable power flow through her.

  “I thank you for your consideration, my Lady Arch Angel.”

  Sariel laughed, a strange sound in the ruins. “Ah, Nuriel, you amuse me. My mother and I are Arch Angels no longer. We are Fallen, just like my father and Lucifer.” She gave her a sad smile.

  They talked for a while, Sariel’s magic shielding the three of them from the Chaos storm. “I will take her from here Nuriel.” She picked up her mother in her arms, she glanced back at Nuriel “remember Nuriel, I owe you a life, any life. But I will always look upon you kindly. Let the Great Mother smile on you. Live long Nuriel and may my blessings always smile on you.”

  Nuriel watched them disappear with a sense of confusion and pride. She had done a good dead. She could report back to her father that his friend still lived. What she would say to the Arch Angels and Council she still had to figure out.

  Nuriel walked into the Arch Angels’ meeting with a sense of dread. They hadn’t even allowed her time to clean up, she had been ordered to report straight away.

  Their eyes widened in surprise as she walked in. She looked atrocious. She had pockmarks and burns from her exposure to Chaos, she was filthy from head to toe, her wings and hair were in disarray and her clothes were tattered. She looked like a refugee from a war zone.

  “Holy crap Nuriel, you look awful.”

  “You are most kind Uriel’ she replied sarcastically. She materialised a block of marble to sit on rather than risk ruining Gabriel’s antique furniture. She saw Gabriel’s slight smile. She knew how to walk around Gabriel now, and the small things were making the difference.

  “It is a bad as we feared?” Gabriel asked.

  Nuriel nodded “Indeed, it is worse than a war zone down there. I’ve never seen a Chaos Storm before, but I would hazard to say it is more powerful than usual. Streams of Chaos flit through the air, gravity has stopped working and everything has died within. The city is a mess, it will not be habitable until all the Chaos dissipates which may take quite some time.”

  “What of the Demoness Lilith? Did you find any trace of her?”

  She had wondered how she would answer this question. She looked around at the seven Arch Angels. “Yes, I found her but so had Sariel. Lilith is alive, horribly injured but still alive. Sariel took her away.”

  “And you did nothing to stop her?” Ariel snapped.

  Nuriel flicked her eyes at her “even with all my empowerment I was no match for Sariel, and we both knew it. Any attempt to stop her would have resulted in my death. She seemed willing to tolerate my presence, but I am under no illusion she could have squished me like a bug.”

  “You overestimate her powers Nuriel-“

  “No, I don’t. If you don’t believe me go and have a look at Amsterdam for yourself. Sariel unleashed the Chaos Storm, she really is the Goddess of Chaos. She is more powerful than anyone
in this room, more powerful than Hera or Brigid.”

  “But Sariel had almost no powers when she lived here in Heaven, how can this be?” Jophiel asked. Nuriel’s gaze flicked to Gabriel and Michael before darting back to Jophiel “she had some views on that matter.”

  “Did she have anything of importance to say?” Gabriel decided the conversation needed to be changed.

  “Only personal things to pass on.”

  “In which case the rest of us have other things to attend to.” Ariel stood up, Jophiel quickly followed. Neither had had much to do with Sariel. Uriel looked at Nuriel questioningly, but she shook her head. She had no messages for him.

  Once they had left she looked at Michael and Gabriel “she says she doesn’t forgive you and that she doesn’t understand you.”

  She looked at Azrael “she said she hopes her uncle is doing well and that death sings to you as it does for her.”

  She turned to Raphael “she said to say she is playing in the fountain.” He smiled at that, though none of the rest of them had a clue.

  She stood up and turned to leave, she caught the look Azrael gave his nephew before he too got up to leave. Interesting, so he knew about what they had done. She had barely taken a step out of the door when Raphael caught up to her.

  “What did she mean she is playing in the fountain?” She asked of him. That was the one thing she had not understood.

  He smiled again “it means she is happy. She used to often go and play in the fountain for fun when she was younger, it was where she felt safe and happy.”

  “She was always a strangely innocent child.”

  “She was always very insightful and had a wonderfully childlike view of the world. I never quite understood why she was so different from other Divine children.”