A Gluttony Of Faith

by Steven Lindsay

  Her trip down memory lane was cut short by a god-awful screaming that tore through the whole palace. Flailing tendrils of the Lifestream went berserk as the screaming seemed to come from everywhere. She knew that scream to be Brigid and the powers were responding as though Brigid had been attacked.

  What in the name of Heaven and Earth had happened?

  Zelaris studied the army. Naamah stood at his side on the floating platform surveying the military force she didn’t have much understanding of, though she was doing an exemplary job of trying to understand. She seemed desperate to prove that she could be an excellent commander. Perhaps because her sister was doing the same thing in India.

  Still their sibling rivalry didn’t affect him, or the conquest of Burma, and Naamah was more than willing to extend her powers to ensure a smooth and speedy annexation. The quicker it went, then the quicker she could sweep in to save her sister. If Lilith had time, then she would have built up defences and not really be in need of saving. Naamah seemed most eager to get started. He felt he had hit the nail on the head with his assumption of why.

  Burma had been given the option to surrender to the Empire because it was a Buddhist majority country, the military junta that’s forceful rule had ensured the country’s survival had refused outright. The Burmese had quickly defended their borders, they were however not prepared for the fact Naamah would create portals to all the major cities and anywhere else that was deemed necessary. Burma was going to be completely swamped and unable to mobilise its military to effectively defend itself.

  It had amused him and his generals to look at the satellite images. They so confidently thought that they could effectively defend themselves against the might of the Imperial British Forces. It was laughable.

  “Are we ready Zelaris?” Naamah was most impatient to begin.

  He was about to reply when the air filled with screaming. It was horrendous and unstopping. What the Hell could cause someone to scream so much? They sounded like they were in agony. It swept through the area driving everyone, even himself and Naamah to their knees to cover their ears.

  It was awful, what the Hell was going on?

  Michael smiled in satisfaction as the nuclear warheads were fired. He glanced at the cloud streams left behind them as they quickly disappeared over the eastern horizon. Yes, this was a most effective means to rid himself of his mother and her British minions. It was unfortunate that Sariel was there, but she had made her choices, it was she who had unlocked Hell. Still he would mourn her loss, she was after all his sister, and he had raised her for nearly two millennia.

  The nukes would also remove the vipers’ nest that Varanasi had become. Of everywhere in India it was a cesspool of Demons and Brigid’s priests. It thwarted every attempt to control it, all missiles were stopped by a network of shields. They used their magic to keep the area around the city clear of all military and regularly sent guerrilla patrols out to harass the Pakistani army. They were a pain in the ass that was getting its just desserts.

  Varanasi would be the lesson to all of India. Those who resisted Pakistan’s annexation and the Angels would be wiped off the face of the Earth. Fire was the great destroyer in all its forms.

  He turned back to face the holoprojectors as they showed the progression of the nuclear missiles passing over the Indian border. Not long now until several of his problems were gone.

  Azad Ali and his Human generals watched impassively as the nukes progressed towards their target. They were not happy with the decision, but none was so foolish as to argue with him. Even his Angel soldiers were not happy with the decision. They knew of the destruction of Washington D.C, had seen the images in the Council but they were much too sensible to argue with him.

  When all was done, and the dust had settled the Council would lightly reprimand him for his actions but not too much, they would be glad that the issue of Varanasi had been removed. Ariel might be very unhappy with him, but he didn’t care, so long as Gabriel didn’t fly into a psychopathic rage what did he care for others emotions? Gabriel was the one he had to worry about, but he was going to prove to her that he didn’t need her creations, that armies could fight the Gods and their minions by Angel power and Human power. Pakistan would be the paragon of Angelic nations.

  A countdown started on the screens as the nukes rapidly approached Varanasi. He could see the soft pink shield shift to red, violet and brown. Why did the brown disturb him? For some reason, it chilled him to the bone to see that colour.

  He shook away his concerns as he saw the nukes strike one after the other. Within seconds, there were huge swaths of fire tearing outwards from the impact zone. With that many nukes, he felt that the shields should have broken nearly instantly.

  He was just beginning to smile in satisfaction when a woman’s scream filled the air. It was awful, it was like a Banshee being murdered with the volume cranked up. He had the strength of mind not to cover his ears, but the mortals and even most of the Angels fell to the floor covering their ears as the screaming went on and on.

  It was then he really grew scared when he saw all the flames on the screens turn green.

  Her whole world was pain, flames were tearing all over her. But it wasn’t her flesh that was burning, it was her lands, her air, her rivers. She was bonded to Avalon as Avalon herself had been, upon drinking her blood her powers had matured and developed into many aspects that Avalon herself had shown. Brigid was connected to her land in ways many other Mother Goddesses were no longer, for she was now in many ways a Primordial Goddess. She was also bonded to far more lands than Avalon had been, she had an empire spanning the world.

  She had taken in the last of the Hindu power, taking on the duties of India’s protection. She was forever bonded to those lands, just as she was forever bonded to Avalon. Kali had given her such incredible strength but with a price.

  Now India was burning, and her powers screamed to her. Africa disappeared and in its place appeared India and a world of flames. Fire, like she had never experienced before, was burning through her land, as it burned through her flesh. Her construct of a body was destroyed leaving her but an angry mass of magic.

  Power unknown to the world was released through the flames as she took control of the raging explosion that was battering against the shield defending Varanasi. She doubted that the shield would collapse for she could feel Sariel pouring Chaos into the shield but she had to deal with the flames.

  She did what she had never done before, which many of the younger Gods had never deigned to do though the leaders of pantheons often had. She grew in size, she became the swirling flames, turning them green. She made them her magical body, shaping them into her image and she pulled up the Lifestream. She would give the excess power to the Lifestream, let the power be gently spread across the world.

  Michael stared at the screen as the flames turned emerald green and the image of Brigid began to appear from the flames. She was gigantic, as big as the mushroom cloud had been, with her six wings spreading wide as the cloud changed into the body of her. Magic flared all around the region, he could see that she was taking control of the explosion, taming and utilising it.

  She would not win. He flicked his fingers across the screens triggering another launch sequence. He fired more of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons at Brigid and Varanasi. She would burn, and all the region would be destroyed, but at least they would be free of her.

  He watched the countdown flash down as the missiles rocketed towards their target.

  There was pain again, searing pain that made her scream again. Screams that were heard all throughout the empire and for miles in every direction beyond Varanasi.

  Fire was ripping through her again, and her lands. Furious now she ripped the fire out of the air and pulled it into herself even as more nukes started to explode. She could feel the undeniable flames and the amount of power and radiation being released. Whoever had sent them had not realised she held the power of a Primordial.

  She channelled
the power through the land. India exploded into a flurry of green. Once barren wastelands and toxic deserts erupted into lush, fertile jungle. Grasslands swept across the lowlands as forests thrust up. Monsoonal rains were pulled in across the subcontinent to douse the flames and wash the radiation and toxins away. There was so much power to be grounded.

  She felt the presence of the Pakistani army and the Angels within it and her anger found a focus. The ancients knew well to fear the wrath of the Gods, something even the Angels seemed to have forgotten.

  She released the power at them in concentrated bursts. All vehicles and buildings were burned up in the controlled bursts of atomic explosions. As for the people she used up more of the power transforming them into the animals that had gone extinct all over the subcontinent.

  Michael watched the screen in dismay as all the nukes were absorbed by Brigid. What was going on? He had seen what the nukes had done to the Angels not protected by Ariel’s Weave. He had felt just how close Ariel’s Weave had come to crumbling beneath the onslaught of frightening power. He had seen all that remained of Gabriel’s Divine creatures. How was Brigid surviving this much unreleased power?

  The images showed him the frighteningly quick greening of the land and the explosions wracking his armies.

  Frustrated he punched the holoprojector screen, his hand went through the crystalline matrix. His power flowed out into the network bypassing all Human constraints and security systems. His mind and magic sought out all that he desired.

  All across Pakistan the remaining nuclear silos initiated launch sequences. Every last nuke in Pakistan was fired at Brigid. But he did not stop there, he swept through India’s security networks and bypassed all their safety measures. All their silos began their launch sequences.

  Brigid would burn in the cleansing flame if it was the last thing he did.

  Brigid felt them coming. She now knew what to look out for, but she did not have the understanding or time to bypass their technological settings. Instead, she tried her best to shield them as they exploded against her.

  She screamed yet again, such an unearthly scream that caused windows and glasses for thousands of miles around to explode. She had underestimated just how much power was being released by their barrage of nukes. She stared at her gigantic form and saw orange flames burning through her emerald construction. She was being consumed by a force greater than her body’s. She was failing all those she had made promises to. She had failed Avalon and Kali, she had failed Sariel, Victoria, and Sorcha. She had failed the Fae and Atlanteans, the Daemons and Humans who had wholeheartedly embraced her. And that hurt nearly as much as the fire burning through her.

  She was being consumed by a Human force greater than herself. How strange that the Angels would win not by their own powers but by the force that Humans had learned to unleash in their magicless existence. How dangerous these creatures had become in their absence. Perhaps there was small mercy in the knowledge that there were other Gods fighting the Angels and that perhaps Humanity might free themselves of all magic by their technology.

  She closed her eyes as she felt all her limbs be consumed just as the land beneath her was consumed in the atomic flames. Just how was the shield around Varanasi still standing? She was the most powerful Goddess in the world with the exception possibly of some of the Primordial Gods. Neither Lilith or Sariel had as much power as she did, then again Sariel’s powers were truly unfathomable. Perhaps that was where her true strength came from.

  She felt the flames tear through her body, consuming the very powers that tried to constrain and control the enormous power of the nuclear warheads. She allowed tears to well from her eyes, after all, was not death an appropriate time to cry even if it was unseemly of the Gods. The tears had barely formed before her head was consumed by the flames. She was but power within her core, power that would soon be consumed by the power tearing through her. How strange that she would not die by a Divine’s hands but by technology.

  She stilled in her core when she felt a power twine around her core. Was something trying to finish her off? Was perhaps Michael seeking to absorb her powers and make himself stronger? Damn she should have named an Heir to deprive him of such a prize. Hindsight was such a bitch.

  No, the powers were not seeking to destroy her, they were shielding her and empowering her. She felt her core growing stronger, and power was fed into her. She was growing again, out against the flames, using the power to turn those murderous flames into her own body again. She was after all a Goddess of Fire, she should know how to tame it. But where could such power come from to defend her against death and the nukes?

  She tasted one. Of course, Sariel would give her powers to defend her. She should have expected no less, Sariel was utterly loyal and a natural born defender. She would make a dangerous mother and an excellent Mother Earth Goddess when she was allowed to.

  Brigid cowered within her core as she felt the Chaos flowing across its surface, it would take very little for the Chaos to corrode through her pitifully unprotected core and destroy her. She would be but a whisper unheard in the darkness. She wouldn’t even return to the Lifestream.

  Her breath hitched, well mentally at least, when she worked out who the other power belonged to. It was not Lilith as she might have guessed. No, it was Gaia herself. The Great Mother Goddess, Chaos’ only trueborn child, the First, the spirit of the planet was defending and empowering her. She could feel the contempt and anger within the power. It made her wonder why Gaia had not risen from her slumbers. But she could feel powerful emotion sweep through her.

  Michael watched in satisfaction as the flames consumed Brigid. Giant she might be, powerful beyond belief she might be, but she was dying. Her screams stilled, her limbs were all consumed. The other Angels rose from their crouched positions, trying to hide that they had been afraid and in pain. They came to watch the screens breathing sighs of relief.

  The Humans took longer, and they were very scared.

  Brigid’s emerald magic flared and faltered as the swirling maelstrom swept through her. Michael wondered just how much of the land around Varanasi would remain. Surely that much power would consume much of the state. They would be cleaning up the fallout for months, even with magic making it possible.

  His stomach dropped when he heard a grating groan and the earth shuddered. He saw then within the flames thick coils of emerald green magic and brown magic. To his horror, the flames all turned emerald and once again formed the image of Brigid but her face was no longer screaming in pain or the kind face she showed her worshippers. It was a face he would long remember and fear in his dreams.

  She was alive as she had never been before, she was more powerful than she could have ever imagined. She knew it was only for a few fleeting moments, once she had released the power of the nuclear explosions then Sariel and Gaia would take away their powers, and she would be returned to her normal levels.

  Chaos above! She had thought she was powerful, and she was, more so that she had ever imagined or dreamed. She made other Gods afraid of her power because she wielded so much. But she was nothing compared to Gaia or Sariel. Now they were two truly terrifying Goddesses. They had power beyond imagination, power to destroy the very Earth itself.

  She focussed her mind on Pakistan and released the stored power within her.

  The building went crazy. The Angels threw shields up all around them as it started falling apart around them. It was only then that they discovered that the entire city was just as crazy. The land was shaking as though held in the hands of children throwing a tantrum. Parts of the land flew up above them only to fall back down the next. Valleys became mountain ranges, and mountains became valleys. The sea flooded in only to fall out again moments later.

  Buildings became but a memory within minutes as the land continued to quake as it had never before. Earthquakes never lasted very long, a couple of minutes at their very longest and they wreaked such devastation. They were nothing compared to this. The land shoo
k and shook and shook. Brigid had released the fury of the planet into the country that had caused it.

  The quake wiped out all structures. Buildings became but twisted piles crumbling into dust. Cities became but shaking mounds thrown up and down. Pipes were twisted, vehicles flew about, and people died. Brigid was without compassion and mercy.

  Even as the ground shook itself into an even greater frenzy, the power flowed into the air and gave it freedom to have its wrath.

  Lightning tore the sky apart and made it rain fire. Clouds blackened the sky until there was no light but that of the lightning and flames. Even as the lightning struck the ground and pummelled it into oblivion, the sky opened up and poured. And it rained and rained. In such amounts that the land was flooded even as it continued to throw itself up and down.

  All trace of civilisation was wiped clean between quake, flame, lightning and flood. All the debris was washed out to sea and even there the power was given free reign.

  Waves rose to the height of skyscrapers only to throw themselves against the Pakistani coast. The sea swept in great distances even as the deluge of water from the sky sought to escape, and the land continued its frenzied dance.

  Magic flared off to the east, sweeping through India, Bangladesh and Burma. All Angel sympathisers were liquefied, their blood splattering with great force in many directions. But the rest of the Humans were left untouched.

  The power swept through the minds of every sentient being in all three countries, and they were terrified at the power that swept through them and analysed every aspect of their mind. They were gratified to see the British forces being led by Naamah and Zelaris as Brigid teleported them across the nations.

  Her powers swept wider still, sweeping back down her empire to Indonesia where it swept through with the same brutality that it had Burma and Bangladesh. The conquest of Indonesia, Burma and Bangladesh was achieved in mere minutes. The survivors were more than eager to sign the Covenant once the representatives came. Anything to shield them from that terrifying power.