Twilight of the Gods (Universe in Flames Book 8)

by Christian Kallias

  “I’m not ready, period!” protested Sarah as her heart beat quickly out of control.

  Can Gaia 2 still be alive? Did we lose so much for nothing? Sarah wondered.

  Sarah was unable to form another thought when Gaia’s battle bot jumped toward them, and Chris instinctively leaped forward to intercept it.

  Chris blocked the AI’s first series of combos and managed to land a few of his own hits, sending Gaia crashing against the nearest wall. She quickly launched back onto her feet and unleashed a multitude of energy beams. Chris dodged most of them, deflected another pair of attacks, but then got hit on the shoulder and spun in the air before landing back down. By this time Gaia was already upon him, but Chris’ increased Fury speed was no match for the battle bot’s limitations. He quickly blocked the incoming uppercut and sent Gaia flying for another round with a powerful kick of his knee into the bot’s face. Just when she was about to crash, she somersaulted, then stopped herself in the air and landed back on the ground with a metallic clang.

  “Very good, but you’ve forgotten my forgiving sister created this training room, and I have assimilated her matrix,” said Gaia, her voice cold and devoid of emotion.

  Chris’ face dropped at the realization.

  He suddenly felt a vibration, immediately followed by the sensation of feeling pressure and heaviness. Gaia was altering the gravity from under him. It didn’t seem to affect Sarah, who was many yards away. Soon the gravity reached 100Gs and Chris could barely move his muscles. Gaia launched herself at Chris and unleashed a flurry of punches. Unable to move his limbs fast enough, he had no chance to dodge any of the attacks, and his blood spilled throughout the training room with each of Gaia’s new attacks.

  “Chris!” shouted Sarah before her voice was replaced by an inhuman cry of anger.

  Something in Sarah’s mind snapped, and it felt like she lost control over her body and mind. A wave of power like nothing else she had ever experienced filled her entire being as she leaped forward at lightning speed and blocked the latest metallic punch aimed at ending her son’s life. She then crushed Gaia’s battle bot’s hand, which then spit oil and sparks.

  “Don’t you lay a finger on my son!” ordered Sarah as flames consumed her eyes.

  She unleashed three quick fireballs on Gaia’s torso and sent her flying backward, stumbling with each impact but somehow managing to stay up. That didn’t last when Sarah resumed firing and scored multiple hits all over Gaia’s metallic shell. As Sarah was firing, her long crimson hair danced atop her head like flames and a large tangerine-colored aura radiated around her.

  Smoke rose from the heavily damaged Gaia. Her battle bot’s eye-like LEDs erratically flashed and returned to white.

  “Nice try,” said Sarah as she walked toward the evil AI with only one thought, to protect Chris at all costs. “Of course you’d try to pass yourself for Gaia now that you are defeated.”

  Before Gaia could answer, Sarah jumped toward the bot and locked on, ready to finish off the piece of scrap metal that tried to kill her son. She unleashed the most powerful jab she could muster and aimed it straight at Gaia’s head.

  What her eyes showed her next took a second to process. Chase had blocked the blow and was clenching his teeth, clearly in pain. But he still mustered a smile.

  CHASE REACHED within Sarah’s mind, and he could feel that she was overloaded with a power she clearly was not accustomed to wielding. It let her basic instincts take over her rational mind and right then she was driven by revenge, self-preservation for Chris and an uncontrollable rage. Her Fury-acquired genes during pregnancy were wreaking havoc with her psyche. Chase dug deeper into her subconscious and found the block preventing her from accessing her powers consciously. Her thoughts revealed a deep-rooted fear of hurting the ones she loved. No surprise there. Chase removed the block with a single thought.

  Sarah’s hair flew back down and her eyes recovered their green tint. She took two steps back and looked at her hands while closing and opening her fingers.

  “I— I can sense it now, I— I can access it.”

  With furrowed eyebrows, Chase turned toward the still smoking Gaia battle bot. “I thought we discussed this and agreed that you’re not taking the easy way out.”

  Gaia’s eyes blinked as she spoke. “Not my idea this time.”

  Both Chase and Sarah turned toward Chris, who was only now getting back to his feet, blood still spilling from his open wounds.

  “Why?” asked Chase and Sarah in unison.

  “Isn’t it obvious? Believe me, if I knew my plan would get my ass handed to me this way, I might have approached it differently,” said Chris as he spat a large quantity of blood on the floor. “But it worked.”

  Chase shook his head disapprovingly. “While I’m happy this experience helped your mother get in touch with her powers, this was foolish at best. You could have been killed, and Gaia could have been lost.”

  “I’m sorry,” said Chris, looking down. “I meant well, I— I could feel how anxious it made Mom not to be able to get a handle on her abilities.”

  “No, I’m sorry,” said Sarah. “I was terrified, that’s true. I was so afraid of what I could do with this power that I fought against it. I just don’t understand why I’m not afraid anymore.”

  Chase scratched the back of his head uncomfortably while exposing a worried smile. “I might have had something to do with that.”

  “I feel like I should be mad at you, but instead I feel grateful. Such a heavy weight has been lifted from my shoulders. Thank you.”

  Don’t thank me just yet, thought Chase to himself. I hope unlocking this power of yours this quickly won’t have dire consequences later. Perhaps there was a reason for your mind to have made this choice. But as much as he loved and respected Sarah, telling her that wouldn’t do her any good right then. Just as there might have been a reason for her mind to push away these powers, there might have been another greater reason for them to unlock faster. That thought brought Aphroditis at the center of Chase’s thinking. For just a moment, he wondered how he would act if he had his aunt’s ability to predict possible futures. The weight of responsibility on her shoulders every time she intervened to lock on a future possibility over another was unimaginable. Chase didn’t envy her. Especially after Athena told him about her sister never doing anything by accident. The huge causalities of this war were weighing heavily on his shoulders, so he could only try to imagine what Aphroditis had been going through during tens of thousands of years. The resulting emotion was sending Chase toward a swallowing pit of darkness that he couldn’t deal with right now. Instead, he used his will to push that thought into a dark corner of his mind.

  “Are you alright?” inquired Sarah.

  “And would you mind?” pleaded Chris.

  “I’m sorry,” said Chase. He ran toward his son and quickly healed his wounds.

  He then turned toward Sarah and took her hands in his. “I’m fine, and you’re welcome.”

  WHILE CHRIS and Sarah kept training, and after helping Gaia repair, Chase went to check on Argos’ advancement regarding the Spiros clone.

  “How is he coming along?” asked Chase, pointing with his head toward the cloning cylinder.

  “He’s ready, Admiral.”

  Chase’s look hardened, and he didn’t have to speak to be understood.

  Argos raised apologetic hands. “Alright, I’ll stop with that now.”

  “Thank you. So he’s ready? He looks much younger, doesn’t he?”

  “I couldn’t exactly waste time on trying to age him too much. Remember, that clone won’t sustain his life for long.”

  “But you could work on a better, more stable one?”

  “Yes, but is that what you want? Life has meaning because it’s supposed to end, eventually.”

  “You’re sure you want to go toward that discussion? You and I are technically immortals on our half Olympian side.”

  “Right. I— I was jealous of you for not grow
ing older when I seemed to. I wonder why it stopped.”

  “You probably haven’t looked closely at yourself in a mirror lately, if it wasn’t for the color of your eyes and that scar you insist on wearing, we almost look identical now. The grey in your hair is all but gone.”

  “I have noticed, I just don’t like staring in the mirror for too long.”

  “That I can understand.”

  “Thank you for putting it so mildly, Chase. Still doesn’t explain why my aging is reversing.”

  “Anytime. Well, isn’t it obvious?”

  “The only logical explanation I could come up with is, that since I’m no longer focused on hatred, my body seems to not only age slower but actually reverses the aging that my hatred did to me.”

  Chase smiled. “See? Obvious.”

  “But, aren’t you curious at how emotions are influencing us at the DNA level? Or why?”

  Chase shrugged. “Nah, we have enough to worry about. I can see why it baffles the scientist in you, though.”

  “I don’t consider myself a scientist.”

  “Says the man who just grew a dead crew member a new body.”

  “Touché. I’m a warrior first and foremost.”

  “That we certainly both owe to our Fury side of the family.”

  “Indeed,” said Argos absently.

  “Back to Spiros. I feel we’re getting off topic. What about his consciousness?”

  “Gaia built the interface she thinks will transfer it from the ancient tech back into the clone’s mind. But I’m afraid we’ll only have one shot at this.”

  “I don’t think Hades would expect to hold onto Spiros’ soul much longer.”

  “Speaking of which…shouldn’t Gaia be here for this?”

  “She’s had— well, let’s just say she needs a little time at the moment. Plus, I’d rather she wasn’t present if this goes horribly wrong.”

  “Well then, since she’s not coming— whenever you’re ready.”

  “I’ll be right back.”

  CHASE TELEPORTED INTO THE UNDERWORLD.

  “About time!” protested Hades behind him.

  Chase turned around. “Hades, always a pleasure.”

  “At least it’s never mundane when you come and visit.”

  “What?”

  “Always a pleasure? I mean, who greets the god of the Underworld like this?”

  “We both know you’re not a god per se.”

  “Technicality…but I’m glad you’re here as your friend Spiros is driving me mad with his sob story.”

  “Hey!” protested a translucent Spiros nearby.

  Chase turned to look at his friend and smiled. “Good to see you.”

  “It’s good to see you too. When are we getting out of this dump?”

  Chase thought he heard something resembling a growl escape Hades’ throat.

  “As a matter of fact, now.”

  “Is Gaia still alive? Did we defeat Gaia 2?”

  It didn’t even cross Chase’s mind that Spiros was probably clueless about what had happened after his death.

  “You could have told him,” said Chase looking toward Hades.

  Hades shrugged. “He didn’t ask.”

  “Will somebody tell me what happened already? Did we kill that bitch or not?” interrupted Spiros.

  “Long story short,” answered Chase, “Yes, the bitch got fried, thanks mostly to Kvasir and Thor. Our Gaia is looking forward to seeing you, one last time.”

  Sorrow filled Spiros’ face. “What do you mean one last time?”

  “Upon her request and, well probably for the good of humanity, it’s—” Chase bit his lip. “It’s probably best she is decommissioned soon.”

  “Then why even bring me back?”

  “Don’t you want to say goodbye?”

  “I’d rather tell her something else; I just never imagined it would be one of the last things I tell her. Can’t we talk about this? Preferably in private.”

  Hades exploded into a fit of laughter.

  “What’s so funny?” asked Chase.

  “Since the moment I told him there was a chance he could be resurrected, I’ve had to listen to every single version of his rehearsal speech of what he would tell Gaia if he ever had the chance of seeing her one more time. And now he wants to talk ‘in private.’”

  “You weren’t supposed to listen!” protested Spiros.

  “I don’t remember formerly inviting you into my realm. But if you’d rather become a permanent member?”

  Chase had to interpose himself in between Spiros and Hades. “That doesn’t matter; you,” he said, pointing a finger at Spiros, “You’re coming with me, we’re going now.”

  “And you,” he said to Hades. “Well, thank you for you help— and no, Spiros doesn’t want to stay here, no matter how lovely a company you’ve been keeping. I’ll see you when I see you, I guess.”

  “Not so fast, Chase.”

  “What?”

  “There’s someone else who’d like to speak with you before you go.”

  SARAH WAS NOW STARTING to block Chris’ attacks with greater ease. It filled her soul with the confidence she had so been lacking as of late. Of course, she knew that with great power came great responsibility, but Chris had been right to push her, and whatever Chase had done to her mind, it had worked like a charm. The more she used her powers, the more instinctive it became.

  Out of the blue, and in the middle of parrying Chris’ latest high roundhouse kick, she countered it and launched a fireball at his torso, sending him crashing yards away.

  Her heartbeat accelerated.

  “Oh my god! Are you alright?” she gasped.

  Chris jumped back to his feet in a swift and fluid motion and flashed her a thumb up.

  “Don’t worry, Mom. You can’t really hurt me at your current power levels. But good job, don’t hesitate to strike me with everything you’ve got.”

  Sarah reflected on her son’s words and didn’t know if she should feel relieved, offended or both.

  “Are you patronizing me?”

  “Not at all. But you can’t expect to be as strong a fighter as Dad or myself in just a few hours.”

  “Fair enough, but mark my words, I’ll soon kick both your asses.”

  Chris chuckled. “That’s the spirit. Time for me to be slightly more aggressive now—”

  Without warning he moved at hyper speed toward her and slashed his elbow toward her head but he hit nothing but air. Sarah had moved out of the way, purely on instinct, and sent Chris flying around by unleashing a powerful shockwave. He spun and recovered in mid-air. A drop of blood running down his smiling face.

  “Is that your way of being more aggressive?” taunted Sarah.

  “Oh, it’s like that?” he said with a smirk.

  Sarah almost instantly regretted her previous comment when twelve fireballs all homed on her at increasing speed. She managed to deflect the first three and erected an energy shield in front of her to block the remaining ones. But one fireball’s trajectory changed at the last moment and arched ahead and impacted the back of her shoulder, sending her spinning and crashing to the floor.

  Chris landed next to her and aimed an open palm toward her before she could fully get back up. He unleashed a flurry of low-energy yielding fireballs and sent her flying in the air. Each new impact made her swirl and twirl to a point where she couldn’t tell the ceiling from the ground planes anymore. It culminated with a painful knee being thrust into her side that sent her crashing unceremoniously against the wall.

  Make children, they said. Right!

  Chris hadn’t stopped and was already flying toward her as she used the cracked wall as leverage to get back up. She envisioned stopping him in his flight with a knee strike to the chin. To her surprise, she felt her body move at speeds her mind didn’t comprehend, and her knee impacted Chris’ chin from below sending him flying and rebounding on the ceiling of the cargo bay with a yelp.

  On his way back toward t
he floor, she saw blood escape his mouth and her maternal instincts made her hold off on what her fighting instinct pushed her to do.

  No! argued Chris in her mind. Don’t stop! I want to know what you’re capable of when you’re fighting purely on instinct.

  Sarah wanted to ask why her son was communicating telepathically when she realized that she had received his mental message in a fraction of a second. Communicating this way was faster and more efficient. Especially in the heat of battle.

  Very well, she sent back before unleashing a flurry of fireballs toward Chris, who was still falling from her last attack.

  What he did next took her breath away. He intercepted all her attacks and merged them together in between his hands. When he landed next to her, a large bloody smile on his face, he was holding a watermelon-sized pulsating sphere of energy. From their original golden tint, the energy turned emerald green and Sarah felt Chris add his own energy to the mix. Jade-tinted lightning bolts sizzled all around the still growing attack expanding in between Chris’ hands.

  Sarah swallowed hard. You wouldn’t dare?

  Watch me!

  Chris threw his arms outward and the energy sphere in his hands shot forward as a powerful column of green energy streaked toward her.

  What happened next felt even more supernatural to Sarah than everything she had learned today. Time felt as if it had slowed down to a crawl. In this slowed-down moment she had time to think of how she would deal with the impending attack, one that looked like it could inflict an incredible amount of damage if it hit her. Were her Fury powers activating to avoid just that? She wondered about it but mostly she felt incredibly empowered by the thrill and rush of adrenaline she could sense being unleashed inside of her.

  She saw three options; dodge the attack by somersaulting over it, try to deflect it—though she felt an instinctive nudge against that option as she thought about it—or counter the attack with one of her own. She went for the latter and was surprised to see an equally powerful golden column of energy fire from her thin hands as she threw them forward with all her might.