by J Moon
Legion aimed his right hand, and fired a spear through Pop’s right shoulder. Pops dropped to his knees, and cried out in pain. “Do it and your father will be annihilated.”
Blood rain down Pop’s arm like rain. The staff trembled in Nia’s hands. “Wait... just wait.”
“Open the gate!” Legion bellowed.
Nia swallowed hard, and turned her head up towards the sky. Inside she wished she had more time, but knew in the perilous situation she had no choice. Sweat beaded her forehead. “Please oh please part!” she cried. She sobbed as the horror of it all tore through her. In her hands the staff vibrated. “Please,” she moaned. The vibrations increased.
In her hands the staff came to life, a violet jet stream flew out of the staff, and shredded through the sky like a laser. Suddenly the ground beneath them shook as the stars and sky ripped apart like fabric.
Nia shielded her eyes as they all did. A blinding pulse of golden light made the trees sway, and the lights set up by the site toppled over. The stream of light intensified as it spread from the base of the staff, over all of their heads, and fanning out into the sky. A deafening raucous filled the air as ancient hinges ripped open. It sounded like a ship being turned over.
Could this be it?
Heaven?
Nia dropped her hands.The sudden realization of her actions shook her to the core. The around the way girl from Brooklyn had just started the apocalypse. And if she couldn’t stop Legion, then all of the world would be doomed.
Chapter Forty-One
Panic swept through SMITE headquarters as the building quaked and the power went out, leaving the offices dark with the red hazard lights glaring. Chaos reigned over the angels sending them running in confusion. Some unsure of what to do while others readied their angelic armor. Evelyn remained unfazed amongst the chaos. As calmly, and unbothered as possible, she shouted orders from the command center.
“I need every archangel armored up and defending those gates now!” She ordered. Evelyn spun to her left to grab another archangel. “We need a team to escort all the souls awaiting entrance to safety. You got that?” She asked as the archangel nodded in agreeance.
Raphael drew near her side, anger in his smoky brown eyes. “I told you Evelyn, that you should’ve sent me down there to help him. Now, look what’s happening.” He said as he pointed to the front gate monitor.
Evelyn watched in horror as the mountain sized ivory pearl gates of Heaven shattered like crumbling glass. “That bottom dweller actually pulled it off,” she said in disbelief. Then she turned to look at Raphael. “It wasn’t my call to make Ralph. This was Gabe’s mission alone. I have faith in him.”
Raphael lowered his helmet as he drew his golden spear near. “The Evelyn I know wouldn’t allow things to get this bad. No matter who was assigned the mission. They are on our damn doorsteps. We haven’t had a battle in Heaven since the great rebellion. Where is Michael?”
“He’s on Earth helping the Anointed fight Asmodeus.”
“The game is here, and we need our star quarterback. Tell him to get his ass here.”
“I’ve chimed him over and over,” Evelyn said through gritted teeth. “Whatever is happening with Asmodeus is keeping him busy.”
Raphael shook his head. “I’m going to lead the team to defend the fallen gates.” The archangel took a threatening step towards the Dominion. “When the Creator gives us the strength to get through this. I’m going to the upper choir about this. You have been off lately and I don’t like it.”
Evelyn folded her arms. “You can disagree with my methods all you want. But the fact of the matter is Heaven is under attack, our souls are being threatened, and you are needed to hold the line of protection. So get your ass on the wall!”
With pursed lips and a strong hinged jaw, Raphael turned and raced towards the fallen gates of Heaven.
Chapter Forty-Two
Legion turned towards his army of cyborgs. “Now we shall strike. The League shall ascend to Heaven and wipe out the agents of SMITE.” As the demon spoke, the ground trembled beneath his feet once more. A huge shadow fell over them. Legion was creating more cyborgs, and calling them via their network to march towards the ascension key. Hundreds of them began rising within the deep sanctum of the factory, strolling out of the frozen containers, grabbing weapons, and filing out in a straight line.
In her mind, Nia quickly reviewed the situation. She had seen what was to come if the League was successful, the horror, the death, all of the future erased and the whole world fallen into darkness. Firmly she gripped the staff and swung.
Legion caught it like she was a child. With a back hand he knocked her to the ground.
“Do not try me or you will be annihilated.”
Legion looked to his left. “You shall ascend,” he commanded. A group of four grunts marched over in a stiff formation, and stood on the seal. They were battle ready, adorned in their metal grey armor with their weapons locked and loaded at their sides. Once all four were on the seal they began to levitate as one unit, their feet floating above air as the white light slowly propelled them upward.
“Not today buddy boy!” Gabe shouted as he launched a rocket that zoomed across the parade, striking a cyborg full in the chest. The results were immediate and spectacular, as the grunt exploded in a ball of flame that consumed the others, and a shower of metal fragments rained down on the ground.
The sight of the archangel, his face streaked with water, hair drooping, clothes clinging tight to his perfectly chiseled body, yet his eyes still burned a brilliant fire. He had his swagger back. Nia looked over to Legion. “What did I tell you? You’re fucked now.”
Legion snarled. “I have no time for this. Annihilate him!”
The entire League present of grunts, enforcers, strikers, elite, and centurion launched on command. Owney, who wanted to get as far away from this horrible place and these horrible people as quickly as possible, leapt at the chance to expedite his departure.
Gabe put two fingers in his mouth and whistled. “Have at it boys!” At once the small unit of soldiers started firing, and the archangel was pleased to see the special rounds were able to pierce the armor of the cyborgs, as they fell back while advancing.
Gabe surveyed the advancing group of cyborgs coming from the factory. He only had a small group of seven men, a limited amount of ammo, and a small window of time to clear the advancing threat. The archangel didn’t even waste time using the SMITE matrix as he knew the biggest threat on the field were the enforcers and the Centurion.
“Follow me,” Gabe said, indicating with his hand for the rest of his group to move his way, slightly behind him, giving them cover as he took a quick look at the battlefield in front of him.
It was an extraordinary scene. In the center stood the glowing ascension key with the moonlight glinting off the polished golden plate as it radiated energy. Legion stood over it surrounded by five of his elite cyborgs for protection, along with Nia and her father.
The League grunts poured out at them in tidy disciplined squads with the strikers swiftly moving through their ranks at a cunning pace. Over in the far corner the enforcers lay piled up surrounding the Centurion as it prepared its attack, and Gabe knew this was where he needed to start first.
In a matter of seconds, the strikers will be on them, he had to get his team ready to strike first. “Slow them down boys. Toss the grenades at the white and yellow bots.”
“Grenade!” the command was called by Major Rhodes and echoed at his side. Then one after another, two grenades were lobbed overhead, and detonated at the feet of advancing striker and grunt squad.
Gabe took this time to load the last rocket. He lifted the launcher on his shoulder and begin to take aim. The enforcers wasted no time in hurling dark energy at the archangel, causing him to roll out of cover.
A loud scream filled the air.
Gabe looked over and one of the Shepherds was fried to a crisp by a ball of dark energy. He had to move fast,
he dragged the rocket launcher along, he ducked under a mound of dirt and rubble.
Quickly he peeked up from the mound to find his shot. Dark energy flew at his head as he readied the rocket launcher. In a calm and steady breath, he looked for a place to target. The centurion was transforming into its battle stance and elongating.
Gabe found a spot in its center.
With an slow exhale, he took the shot, the rocket whizzed through the air, landed in the center of the centurion, and consumed all the enforcers in the flames.
“Magnificent!” Gabe shouted as cheers erupted from his Shepherd crew. The victory was short lived as movement came from the woods. The archangel grimaced as more grunts poured into the area, and they wasted no time in hopping onto the ascension key. “Don’t stop now boys! Keep shooting!” From his side, he pulled out Lucy and set his sights on Nia.
Nia watched it all unfold with a smile on her face. She peered over her shoulder to see her father collapsed in one of the elite’s arms, he was losing a lot of blood. To her right she spotted the staff and quickly she grabbed it, got on her feet, and attacked the elite cyborg that held her father.
Legion’s attention was jerked once he saw her movement, he lifted his hand to strike her but his attention was called back towards Gabe as he hammered his way towards them. “Do you think I didn’t prepare for you to come?” he asked as he stepped forward. “Elite arm yourselves,” he commanded. The four cyborgs fashioning black armor pulled out swords blazing with hell fire. “Give up archangel you can’t win this battle.”
Gabe slashed the helmet of a grunt that stood in his way, he whirled in the air, and came down hard upon another. “Legion…. boy does Lucy have a sweet song to sing for you.” he declared through gritted teeth. The elite took battle positions with their weapons drawn, and ran towards the archangel, he met them with a battle rage fury.
As Gabe began to fight his elite, Legion ordered grunts on the ascension key. In groups of four, they lined up, coming out of the woods, stepping on the key, and shot up to Heaven.
The first wave of grunts consisted a group of eight. They wasted no time unleashing bullets once touching down into Heaven. A line of angels, also in armor, was put into position to meet them and hold the line. Raphael was the first to move, holding up his hand, his archangel instincts keened, as he positioned them to strike.
“Hold the line!” Raphael shouted with his spear in his hand. “We cannot allow any of them to cross.” In his group, they began to exchange gunfire.
As Gabe made his way through the fight, several things happened. First there came a deep boom from high up above, and specks of light shot out the hole in the sky as the grunts battled the angels in the Heavens.
There was gunfire behind him as the Shepherds struggled to manage the onslaught of grunts marching towards the key from out of the woods. And the elite cyborgs attacked him from all around. “Access!” Gabe commanded as he navigated his way through swords slashing his way all over. The SMITE matrix washed his hazel eyes gold as it pointed out angles, weak spots, and alerted him to incoming danger at the same time.
Two swords dripping with hellfire came down at him at once. He brought Lucy in a mighty arc to deflect the blows. With gritted teeth and sheer strength, he pushed back against them.
Another came to strike at his side to which he dodged and vaulted over the attackers in front of him, once over, he slashed the cyborg on his left, spun and impaled his sword into the chest of the other on his right.
Gabe tried to yank his sword back, but it was stuck, one of the cyborgs took advantage of the distraction and slashed the archangel on his back.
Instantly Gabe dropped to his knee as a searing pain whipped across his back. He managed to yank his sword with success, but only seconds before a boot came crashing towards his head. As he remained in a crouched position, he spun and swiped through the cyborg with ease.
Gabe took a quick glance around and most of the elite cyborgs littered the ground with their black armor. Then he caught a glimpse of what was under the helmet of one grunt, laid out on the battlefield.
A charred yet still very human face.
Gabe looked at the cyborg, thought about the human being it had once been- a thinking, feeling, real person, now no more. That person was dead already, or so he thought, because suddenly the man’s eyelids blinked.
“Where am I?” He asked as he looked around. The man looked at his hands and gasped. “Sharon! Where is Sharon?” he called. Then just as life came to him, it left quickly. He took one final gasp, and life dimmed from behind his eyes.
It happened all in a brief second, but it was long enough to put an idea in the back of Gabe’s mind. A contingency plan in case all else fails. Gunfire and alarms from the SMITE matrix tore his thoughts from the man, and back to the battle at hand.
Gabe scanned ahead and saw Nia struggle against another elite. In his peripheral, he spotted Legion’s hand begin to rise, and his heart pounded furiously. At a desperate pace, he ran towards them, with one of the last elite cyborgs stepping in to intercede with its sword raised.
He met the clash of the cyborg, and brutishly brought the hilt of his sword crashing down on its head. As it crumbled to the ground, Gabe started back towards Legion, but his attention was jerked to the right as an army truck came crashing through the battlefield and slamming into Legion, sending the demon sprawling into the woods.
“What the devil?” Gabe shouted to himself.
Josephine honked the horn as she leaned out of the driver’s window. “You didn’t think you would SMITE these bastards without us did ya? Let’s give em’ hell sugar!”
Betty Tate and Colonel Brown hopped out of the truck and started shooting at the grunts that were still pouring in. “Yes indeed, this is payback for all the fallen Shepherds and Anointed alike.” The Colonel shouted as he shot overhead. They worked in tandem, blowing back cyborgs and making way for the Shepherd soldiers to advance.
“Come on through Shepherds,” Gabe said with a wide grin on his face.
Langston hopped out of the car, and ran towards the archangel. “Gabe we got something to tell you.”
“What are you doing here Langston? You should be home.” Then Gabe looked over in the car to see Zora and Dr. Miracle in the back. “And you brought them too?”
Langston was short for breath. “We had no other choice the League brought down the Shepherd Base. We had to get out of there.”
Gabe shook his head, “You gotta be kidding me.”
“Get to the point my dear boy!” Dr. Miracle shouted as he walked over. He grabbed Gabe frantically. “We found a way to deactivate the key.”
“How?” Gabe asked.
“The prayers of a righteous man,” Langston answered.
On an instinct, Gabe knew who the right man for the job was. “Okay sounds like a plan. Why don’t you lead us in prayer?” He said as he patted Langston’s shoulder.
Langston pointed to himself, “Me? I’m not a pastor.”
“I’m sure you don’t have to be. It asks for the prayers of a righteous man. A righteous man is an honest man. Langston you have a magnificent way with words, and you're as honest as any man I know.”
With his mouth hanging wide open, Langston allowed the thought to sink in.
Gabe patted him on the back. “Okay, then we'll…. get to it!” Then the archangel dashed swiftly to the side to find Legion.
Langston was at a loss for words. “Come on,” Zora encouraged as she and Josephine got out.
Gabe scanned for Legion up ahead. The demon was sent tumbling into the woods. Gabe took two steps forward and then he looked over to Major Rhodes. “These are my people,” he said pointing to Langston and the others. “Keep those cyborgs off the key so they can deactivate it.”
There was a nod of agreeance to acknowledge the order and then the Shepherds relocated towards the ascension key. Now there were strikers and enforcers who were sent spiraling to the sky as they ran and stepped on the ascension k
ey. “Clear that key now!” Gabe shouted. He drew Lucy into his fist and set his sight on Legion.
Once Gabe entered the woods, he stood still for a moment, tension wound its way up his spine as he scanned across the woods, his chest heaving, and his mind on high alert.
A sickening crack in his gut alerted him to danger, and he looked up towards the sky as Legion descended upon him wielding twin blades extended out of his wrists.
The archangel darted backward, then the demon struck at his head with both blades, but Gabe moved so fast that they became lodged in a tree, once he was out of the way.
Gabe was on Legion in a heartbeat, he rose his sword high to strike Legion, but the demon spun sideways with almost unbelievable speed, retrieving both blades out and then striking at Gabe’s neck. The archangel easily parried each attack as Legion enclosed in on him. He shoved his foot in the middle of Legion’s chest to give himself distance.
“You will not beat us this time Gabriel,” Legion said, raising his right arm and shooting a spear between Gabe’s chest and shoulder blade. It landed with a sharp ache before Gabe could even react, Legion retracted and Gabe was pulled towards Legion. Then it seemed a whole house fell on Gabe as Legion connected a powerful metal fist to his jaw that sent him tumbling backward.
The archangel tried to get back up, but he failed to stand on his feet. Everything whirled around him, and he was genuinely shocked because he had never had his jaw rocked like that in his entire existence.
He wanted to push through the pain but his body wouldn’t move, there was a heavy thud at the top of his head and he could feel the poison from the hellfire begin to seep into his back. Legion loomed over him with a sinister sneer. “What’s the matter archangel? None of your usual banter?”
Gunfire from behind drew Legion’s attention away. Then the older demons that made up the Legion knew Gabe was a distraction, and it was time for him to lead the League against the angels in Heaven. “Though I’d love to continue this. I have more angels to kill in Heaven,” He slurred as he lifted his left hand and shot three blades into Gabe’s chest. Legion turned, and marched his way towards the ascension key.