A Gluttony Of Faith

by Steven Lindsay

  Yet even with all this done, there was still vast amounts of power to be grounded. Much of it went to ground, setting off earthquakes the world over as the plate tectonics rippled with the power or up into the sky where it gave birth to storms that wracked the globe for weeks. But the majority of the power was given to the sea and ocean beyond. It had been so sick for so very long, so the power was used to scour it clean of all the toxins and poisons choking it.

  Power burned through the black and grey waters turning them back to crystalline blue and green. Coral reefs long extinct erupted into frenzied life from Pakistan all the way down to Australia. The Lifestream flooded the coasts off all lands between, the power given to it allowing it to recreate the life long lost. Coral reefs, plankton, fish, mammals, reptiles and arthropods long extinct bloomed into life. The same power swept up across the lands, feeding their desperate hunger. Extensive rainforest and jungle swept across the subcontinent and down the South East Asian archipelago to northern Australia. Eucalypt forest raced across Australia, greening it as it had not been since before the Aboriginals had come and burned it. The power swept across New Zealand and all the remaining Pacific Islands restoring their reefs, seas and lands to full life. In the unconquered islands, all Angels’ worshippers became nothing but bloody spray.

  Yet more restorative power was unleashed across South Africa and Canada, finishing what had already been started.

  All throughout the British Empire people felt the terrifying power of their Goddess sweep through them, and all the Angels’ worshippers were liquefied. Lands were turned to lush, fertile green, oceans to bright, vibrant blues teeming with life. The skies poured with life-giving rain free of toxins.

  And still Brigid had to pull power into herself and make it part of herself.

  By the end of the day, the world was a changed place, Pakistan was but a memory, and she was finally able to shrink herself down. She collapsed out of the sky, exhausted beyond measure even though she was overflowing with power. Sariel caught her in her arms, watching her with those kind violet eyes. “Rest Brigid and know that the Mother approves” she gently kissed her forehead and used all that Hypnos had taught her to put her Mentor to sleep.

  She looked at her mother “I am going to take her to Avalon, that will assist her healing. Contact me if you need me.”

  She waited for her terrified mother to nod before she allowed her powers to transport her.

  Chapter 39

  Ereshkigal smiled as she spotted the rainbow and copper flashes of Simurgh wheeling through the sky. So she had returned. She was glad. Simurgh had done wonders for her land. Try as she might she had very little talent for the gifts her sister had wielded with such alacrity. She was doing a reasonable job at assuming Inanna’s warrior gifts but she readily delegated such tasks to her generals. They were eager to prove their worth and keep their lives. She might as well utilise their superior skills. She might be prideful, but she knew her limitations, a rare gift among the Divine.

  “You have returned,” she said as Simurgh alighted in the throne area that crowned the great ziggurat. It was as imposing as ever but more impressive with the thriving plant life to decorate it. Well, she had called her empire Great Babylon to spite the Angels and what was more iconic of Babylon than its hanging gardens? Now one of the ancient wonders of the world had been reborn, and the world was clamouring about it.

  Mortals were so strange. Their world was crumbling around them, everything was changing, and yet they were delighted and celebrating the return of one of the ancient wonders. She guessed that they must be looking for islands of sanity in this mad world or pockets of optimism. She didn’t understand but then she wasn’t mortal, wasn’t even close.

  I have, the land sings to me, and I had to return to it. It was time to return.

  “Did you learn what you needed to? Get any gifts?”

  I am pregnant, that is the gift I was given.

  Well, she hadn’t been expecting that. “Have you given any thought to my offer?”

  Humour filled those coppery eyes. Indeed, I have Ereshkigal, and I have decided to accept your offer. I cannot seem to stay away from these lands, and I would like the protection you offer. Your offer serves us both well, and I must consider the safety of my children.

  She smiled genuinely, she wondered if it was Sariel’s influence. The others had told her that their emotions seemed to have developed in her presence.

  Both of them turned to face the east when they felt the ripples of colossal power flash past them. Something terrible has happened, and yet Gaia sings to the Earth.

  “Do you know what?” she didn’t, she was just awed at the power that had rippled past her. She had thought herself increasingly powerful, but she still had a long way to go. Especially if she wanted to expand into Angel held territory.

  I do not. Only that the land has been screaming in pain but now sings.

  But what could have made the land itself scream?

  It had been a very long time since she had last been here. Even before the War, Hera had had very little reason to come to the Hesperides Garden. True it held the Golden Apple tree that granted immortality, a wedding gift from Gaia. But other than that it held only empty memories, just like her marriage. Still it had been an unexpected kindness from Gaia. She had known of Hera’s suffering.

  She walked through the overgrown garden, it had once been stunning when lovingly tended by the Hesperides, but they were long gone, killed by the Angels. Much of the garden was dead, the Lifestream had abandoned it just like everywhere else, but there were patches of green in the shape of bodies. Perhaps where the garden’s tenders had been murdered and left? It would certainly seem that way. Dominating one horizon was the petrified body of Atlas killed with Medusa’s head. She had held powerful magics even after death. Worrying that she had been reborn again when Hell had opened its gates. Still power was power and the Angels needed to be brought down in any way possible.

  Though Atlas’ death had troubled the Gods when it had occurred, it had reminded them of their vulnerabilities, something they had a tendency to overlook and ignore. The Gods harboured an image of invulnerability to the world, a mostly true image but they were always threatened by other Divine. Whether they were immortal or not.

  Unsurprisingly the Golden Apple tree was the healthiest thing in the whole garden. When something was created by Gaia herself, it knew how to flourish. Bacteria were a prime example of that. She had planted the young plant herself and used all her Mother Goddess powers at the time to nurture it into bloom. One looked after the gifts Gaia gave. She did not give them very often, and it was never wise to spurn or upset a God. They might not have the same emotions as mortals, but that was exactly what made them more dangerous. A single slight could cost your life in the interactions with Gods, even among each other. And there was none more powerful than Gaia, and when it came to life, she was very protective.

  If the stories were to be believed, then she truly was more dangerous than many would assume of the gentle mother. Gaia’s distance from the game of empires and political mechanisms of Heaven had been confused by many to mean that she was not ruthless, that she was kind and caring. And while she could be kind and caring it was rarely to the Gods. Gaia simply didn’t care about Heaven’s games because they held no interest for her, she had always been, and would always be, the most powerful being on Earth. She had no need to prove it or gain more power.

  What many hadn’t realised though was that they should have been glad of that distance. Gaia was as ruthless as the rest of them, if not more so. She reflected all aspects of life, and many of its aspects were downright scary. A point not missed on her and one she was using to her advantage.

  She had once thought Gaia kind, but she had wondered if Gaia had given her the Golden Apples as a wedding present for her suffering why not just use her powers to free her. She had rooted through the library archives and what she had found had chilled her to the bone. She hadn’t dared ask Gaia the
questions she had once thought to so blatantly ask.

  Within long forgotten journals she had discovered much of the unknown. Gaia had created life, not unknown or unexpected, but at the time, she had shared the world with many Primordial Gods who did not see her creation as the miracle it truly was. Or had the sense of mind not to piss her off. They had tried to obliterate early life by freezing the planet and initiating volcanic eruptions all across the world. Life had survived because Gaia had made it. The Primordial Gods who had crossed her did not. Gaia had hunted every single Primordial God who had participated in the sought destruction, and she had not been kind or gentle. She had torn through them and ripped them apart with a savagery that had terrified the other Primordial Gods at the time. She had consumed their powers only to give it back to life, the first beginnings of the Lifestream.

  There had been other tales of Gaia’s unbridled savagery when it came to the protection of her creations. All had chilled Hera to the core.

  So even though she had rarely visited the garden every time she had she had built on and renewed the spells of health and vitality on the tree. She did not want Gaia offended at her. She had too much to live for.

  She ran her fingers over the tree trunk, like the entire tree it seemed to be a patchwork. Her fingers ran over smooth and rough bark, the colours ranged from pale white to ebony. It was an impressive testimony to Gaia’s skill. Then again when you had created life was there really anything in the realms of the living beyond you? The wood was interesting, but its true beauty came from its leaves. The tree was an ever deciduous, bright green leaves were opening up next to leaves turning yellow and red. Golds were tinged with orange and scarlets were tinged with pinks. And nestled among the beautiful foliage was the tree’s greatest gift. The golden apples of immortality. The name was slightly misleading, people had a tendency to focus on one aspect. The apples actually started off a silver colour and as they matured gold started to appear. In some cases, the apples turned completely golden but in most cases they remained a mixture of gold and silver.

  Her spells were still strong, still standing, and not alone. Someone else had been adding spells to her tree.

  Her hands curled into fists as she deduced who the caster was. Why the Hell was Gabriel casting spells on her tree? She needed to move the tree away from Gabriel. There was no telling what Gabriel could do with access to the tree. The Angel was talented in an alarming number of ways. With continued access to the tree, she could make anyone she chose immortal. The problem was how does one move an ancient tree that was blessed by Gaia?

  She stopped in her musings as power rippled through the region. Power she recognised and feared. Why was Brigid’s powers entwined with Sariel and Gaia’s powers? And why had so much power been released? She didn’t have the answer to them, but she did have the answer to her current dilemma. She reached out to the power rushing past her and managed to coax a small amount of Gaia’s power to uproot the tree. Gabriel would get no more of her golden apples.

  Now all she had to do was grow one into a sapling for Hades.

  Agrat slunk between the buildings, her glamour was thick and strong, and she had suppressed her wings, but she wasn’t taking any chances. Heaven’s Angels would kill her if they found her. Especially if they knew her intent.

  She was taking a more direct approach to her research in mortal diseases. She had considered releasing cholera into the waterways and letting it work its way downstream but then she remembered that Humans treated their water before drinking it first. This would render her creations obsolete.

  So instead she was lurking about in Angel held cities to infect people more directly.

  She stepped over a homeless man then paused. She turned around and sank down to squat in one graceful move. From her jacket pocket, she pulled out a syringe filled with Polio. With gentle care so as not to wake the man she injected the deadly serum into him. She wasn’t sure how well he would spread it, but it was a start.

  She struck out in a different direction, her attention caught by the train station in the distance.

  She walked out of the rain into the station glad for her glamour. She could sense Nephilim nearby. She eyed up a pram being pushed by a woman. An eye inset in six wings had been tattooed onto her cheek, a mark of ownership by whichever Angel had seeded her. So the rumours were true, the worst was yet to come. Well, perhaps she could cut down their numbers early.

  She followed the mother, drawing close as she struggled through the crowd. With supernatural speed, she stabbed the woman with the syringe, injected its fatal contents and had slipped away into the crowd before the woman had time to even notice the pain. She stood there rubbing her back for some time before continuing on.

  She paused to adjust the laces of her boots, slipping a glass vial containing altered tuberculosis underneath her boot as she did so. Upon standing up, she crushed the vial before moving off. The bacteria would infect many in the crowded station, it might even lead to infections in other cities.

  As she was leaving the city, she found a beautiful water fountain with multiple children frolicking unperturbed in the water. Their parents sat nearby watching them, some even sat on the edges trailing their fingers through the water. It was a beautiful scene of family contentment and community. It was also the perfect vector for her cholera.

  She reached into her pocket and pulled out some loose change and another deadly vial. She crushed the vial in her closed palm and threw the handful of coins in. Cheerfully nodding at a young father who winked at her before moving on.

  The infection had begun.

  Lucifer roared his frustration into the great crater as fire bloomed out in a glorious inferno across the gloomy expanse.

  Finally, he was making some headway. Hades, Ereshkigal, and Erebus might be full of advice but very little was working. Nothing seemed to be working to help get him better and in control again. Yet Lilith had been mutilated, horrifically so by the Chaos she had channelled. He was very glad that he had not been exposed to the amounts she had. He had lost his power, she had very nearly lost her life.

  Yet now Lilith had ascended to the Surface to assume her place in Brigid’s ever growing empire, to reign as a Divine Governor almost in control of her powers again. Oh, she still wore the scars of her poisoning, but she was mostly healed in every way. It was extremely frustrating to watch her race back to health.

  Still he was making progress on his own. As evident by the flames roaring through the gloom. It was a sad reflection of what he had once been capable of but still it was progress.

  Chapter 40

  Brigid opened her glowing eyes to see kind violet eyes looking down at her. There was such warmth and compassion in those eyes that she couldn’t help but cry.

  “Hush Brigid, it will be alright.” Sariel pulled Brigid into an embrace, gently stroking her hair and rubbing her back between her wings.

  “It was horrible, so horrible.”

  “I know. I heard your screams, I heard the world scream.”

  “I killed so many people. I heard their screams, I brought those screams, but it did not stop me.”

  “But you heard the screams and considered the people. Something few other Divine would do. What else could you have done Brigid but kill them?”

  “The pain, the flames. It was unbelievable.”

  “It was a truly colossal release of power. A great number of nukes were fired at you. It is a wonder you are alive.”

  “It is only by your and Gaia’s merit that I am.”

  “Gaia assisted you?”

  “Somehow. I do not know how or why.”

  “Because the Earth screamed out in pain. And the Earth’s pain is her own pain. We Divine are able to defend ourselves with magic even when we are asleep. I unconsciously made Lilith my conduit when I was awake, it is not so far to believe that Gaia has done the same while asleep.”

  Brigid looked around the room recognising the decor. “This is the Avalon Palace.”

  “Yes
, I brought you here when you passed out, it seemed the best place to bring you. Avalon is after all your lands. Sorcha said that the land would do more for you than anything else.”

  “How long was I out for?”

  “Nearly a week.”

  “A week? But Gods don’t need to sleep!”

  “But this was no usual sleep. Your body had been destroyed, adjusted, recreated, destroyed and recreated again. You switched from your normal size to the colossal form and were stripped down to your core. Your body construction is made up of a great deal of power that is not your own, but it is the only way for the land to process it. In a way, it could be said you had radiation poisoning as your body sought to filter through the power and make it truly your own.”

  “What has occurred size the explosions?”

  “Very little really. Pakistan was razed to the ground, and the Angels seemed to have forsaken it entirely. Understandable really. Lilith and Naamah have been overseeing the mostly smooth integration of British India into the empire. There have been pockets of resistance, the people are scared after all. But the Angels worshippers were all destroyed, and the Angels have fled the region, there is no one to stir them up. Some sects of the other religions are causing issues, but they are being dealt with.

  Africa has halted, in your absence Samael and Hecate have turned to help India. Hecate has been helping to deal with the radiation poisoning choking the land around Varanasi and the River Ganges. Samael has overseen the military annexation of most of India and also Sri Lanka. No one was sure if it was safe to invade Pakistan as of yet. Zelaris has annexed Burma and has annexed over half of Bangladesh.