Twilight of the Gods (Universe in Flames Book 8)

by Christian Kallias

  Why? You doubted that?

  Never mind.

  Argos got his head back in the game, and his next three attacks all resulted in instant kills.

  WHEN RYONNA and Keera arrived at the bottom of the elevator ride, they exited the cage and ran toward the nearest Gorgar.

  “Hey, you!” shouted Ryonna as she approached him. “Can I have your attention?”

  But then hundreds of Gorgars around them all turned their heads and shouted in unison. “Intruder alert!”

  The words echoed through the entire factory as waves upon waves of Gorgar repeated the alert.

  “That’s not good!” said Keera.

  “You think? Be ready for things to go horribly wrong.”

  Ryonna had barely finished her sentence when four Furies beamed in and started unleashing fireballs toward them. Keera used the super-suit speed augment to dodge the first volley and started returning fire. Ryonna dodged the fireballs by jumping in the air, aimed her anti-Fury weapon forward and scored her first hit. The powerful shockwave energy-enhanced particle rifle took out the Fury’s head. Upon landing with a roll, she aimed her weapon again and unleashed a spray of semi-automatic shots that brought the second Fury down.

  Keera had more trouble making serious damage with her suit’s weaponry but she pummeled one Fury with fast-moving punches as she ran rapidly around him. That created enough of a distraction for Ryonna to line up her rifle and burn a hole in the Fury’s forehead, who collapsed to the ground. By then, the last Fury guard was upon her and scored a hit with his fireball, which landed directly on the anti-Fury weapon, both knocking it out of Ryonna’s grasp and damaging it. It exploded when impacting with the stony floor.

  “Dammit!” she exclaimed.

  The Fury ran toward her for the kill. She instinctively grabbed her blaster from her belt and shot three energy lasso shots at the Fury’s legs, stopping him in his tracks and hurtling him forward. Before he could hit the ground, Ryonna had drawn her sword and cut the Fury in half.

  “Are you alright, Keera?”

  “Yes, but I don’t think that was the extent of their forces—”

  Indeed two-dozen Furies beamed in the distance, and soon they were under fire again.

  “Screw this,” said Keera, shortly after finding cover behind one of the quadrinium processing machines.

  She heard a noise and saw a trembling Gorgar hiding under one of the larger machines. Ryonna brought up the neuronal HUD from Argos’ mind reprogramming tech and entered a command of her own. One short and to the point: Kill all the Furies!

  When five more fireballs hit not too far from her head, and nothing seemed to happen, she swore out loud.

  “What’s going on?” asked Keera from her own cover, a few yards away.

  “I don’t think this damn thing is working—”

  But then the Gorgar near her stopped trembling and got up from under his hiding place and madly ran toward the Furies.

  Two seconds later about twenty Gorgars did the same, grabbing tools and anything they could use as a weapon on their run toward the guards. The insectoids shouted from the top of their lungs as they madly rushed forward. The Furies started engaging and incinerating the Gorgars. Ryonna exited cover, grabbed the second rifle from her back and provided cover fire for the horde encircling the Fury guards.

  “I sure hope the guards are dealt with before Tar’Lock gets hurt,” exclaimed Keera, who also started providing cover fire.

  “You and me both! But we don’t exactly have much of a choice at this point. Can you locate Tar’Lock with your sensors?”

  “He’s about three miles away and converging, but you know how fast he runs.”

  Ryonna clenched her teeth and frantically ran toward the Fury opposition.

  “Are you nuts? Let them deal with their captors!” shouted Keera.

  But Ryonna wasn’t listening anymore, and she thrust forward, taking advantage of the confusion to down as many Furies as she could before Tar’Lock reached the chaotic battle. The Furies killed Gorgars by the dozen, but they were soon so overwhelmed that they fell one after another, being kicked, punched and impaled by all sorts of working tools. In less than a minute, they were all dead.

  Shortly after Tar’Lock arrived on the scene, he seemed disappointed.

  “Aw, the battle is already over, shoot!”

  Ryonna gestured him to come to her.

  “Hey, Ryonna! How are you doin—”

  But Ryonna punched his lights out.

  “Sorry, my friend, but trust me, this is for your own good.”

  More Furies beamed in and the Gorgars dealt with them as they had before. War cries, fireballs and sounds of Furies dying in horrible pain could be heard for miles.

  DANIEL ADDRESSED his squadrons solemnly and with a trembling voice.

  “Listen up! The Hope has been targeted by some of these kamikaze ships. If a single one of them reaches the ship, it will be destroyed. We’ve already lost Saroudis and the Destiny not long ago, and we can’t let the Hope fall as well. Admiral Athanatos is fighting for us on the planet, and we can’t let his partner, Captain Kepler, be killed. I know this is asking a lot of you. But we need to take out these ships. Try and duplicate my earlier maneuver, and let’s return these damn ships back to their sender. But if you can’t reach them in time, you have to make sure they detonate before reaching the range that would incinerate the Hope. I can’t order you to sacrifice yourselves but—”

  “This is Beta Leader. We all understand what’s at stake here. Chase Athanatos has saved our lives and the planet more times than we can count. I know I speak for my entire squadron when I say that if we need to lay down our lives to save the Hope and Captain Kepler, then we will do this gladly.”

  “Roger that,” added Beta Three.

  “Let’s give them hell,” said Alpha Four.

  Daniel’s eyes watered at the level of dedication from his pilots. Still, it killed him a little inside to have to send some, if not all of them, on a suicide run.

  Soon all the fighters in range went after the kamikaze star fighters. Some of them managed to open hyperspace windows and send the flying bombs toward Fury super-destroyers. But there were too many bogies, and some of the fighters were too far away to catch up with them in time.

  “Goodbye, guys, it was an honor,” said Beta Two as he micro-jumped directly into one of the ships and detonated it, sacrificing his life in the process.

  A tear ran down Daniel’s face.

  Before Daniel could react, another pilot gave his life to blow up one of the five remaining Fury star fighters.

  The Beta Leader successfully managed to open a large enough hyperspace window to encompass two of the ships. But something went wrong at the exit point, and he was incinerated when the ships took out the shields of the Fury destroyer who had sent the ships hurtling toward the Hope in the first place.

  Two to go.

  The Fury destroyer who had lost its shields started firing from its weapons range, trying to blindly destroy the pilots rushing to take out their kamikaze fighters.

  They destroyed two more of Daniel’s fighters.

  “Bastards!”

  Daniel, who was approaching one of the last two kamikaze ships, was only a few klicks behind. Farther ahead was Beta Seven.

  “It’s been an honor, Commander! Goodbye.”

  Daniel clenched his teeth as his pilot’s ship rammed into the kamikaze ship and blew himself out of the sky.

  There was only one last kamikaze ship to take out, and Daniel was the only one in range. He pushed his StarFury’s engine to the limits.

  “Daniel! What the hell are you doing?” protested Sarah. “Let it hit, perhaps it won’t destroy the ship.”

  “I can’t take that chance, Sarah. Say goodbye to Chase for me, will you?”

  “Daniel, no!”

  “Goodbye, Sarah.”

  Daniel was only two seconds from impacting the kamikaze fighter when he closed his tearful eyes.

 
; Goodbye, Chase. I’ll miss you, buddy.

  But then Daniel felt his ship change course and opened his eyes. A tractor beam had grabbed him and pushed him out of the way at such velocity that he thought he would pass out. The ship that tractored him was massive, and he couldn’t identify it as the system’s star shone a bright blue light in his eyes. When the ship finished its rotation, the last kamikaze exploded near its shield, successfully protecting both the Hope and Daniel’s fighter from the devastating explosion.

  “Sorry for my tardiness,” said Athena, “it’s been a busy battle. But when I intercepted your transmission about saying goodbye to my son Chase, I knew I had to reach you in time.”

  “Thank you, Athena,” said Daniel with the longest exhale of relief.

  “Yes, thank you,” added Sarah.

  “I couldn’t let my future daughter-in-law get blasted, now could I?”

  “Excuse me?” said Sarah, unable to hide the shock in her voice.

  “My son hasn’t told me anything, but I can sense that he wants to spend his life with you. I’m looking forward to formally meeting my grandson as soon as we finish off this fleet. As for the wedding, if there is one, after this war, I’d love it if the two of you would consider holding it on Olympus Prime.”

  Sarah kept silent for a while, sobbing, before speaking again.

  “That’s a deal, but first let’s finish these assholes.”

  “You took the words right out of my mouth.”

  25

  Poseidon looked at Zeus for several moments. Zeus was still breathing, but he was critically wounded. Poseidon’s eyes flashed blue as he gazed at Arakan’s still trapped body thanks to the mythical Olympian weapon.

  “You should never have come here. You’ve killed my brethren and destroyed our wonderful planet. For this, you’ll pay with your life.”

  “I don’t think so!” spat Arakan, as blood dripped from his mouth.

  The wound was deep, but he would heal the moment the weapon was removed. All he had to do was wait, and soon he would kill yet another Olympian.

  “Let’s see if you survive this, then.”

  Three water dragons started dancing around Poseidon as his aura grew exponentially. His watery hair waved about like a stormy sea. The water dragons intensified their dance and gathered more speed. Soon, they rolled around the Olympian’s arm and accelerated so fast they created a water-based twister. Poseidon unleashed a battle cry, and the twister shot forward toward Arakan.

  Arakan tried to reach for anything he could grab with his mind, but the Trident planted in him seemed to null most of his powers.

  “Nooooooo!!!!” screamed Arakan.

  The water twister hit the Trident and forced it to rotate on itself at increasing speeds. The blade inside Arakan did the same and started boring a large hole in his chest as it ripped most of Arakan’s organs to shreds, including his heart. The crimson aura around him died down, and so did the crimson fire in his eyes.

  When there was nothing but a hole where Arakan’s ribcage was before, Poseidon mentally recalled his mighty weapon.

  Arakan fell to his knees and collapsed dead on the ground.

  Poseidon ran toward his brother Zeus to check on him.

  The planet shook more with each passing second, and the moment Poseidon was near Zeus, a large crevasse opened under him, and Zeus’ body fell into the dark void. Poseidon’s eyes glowed, and he raised his Trident up. Water horses galloped in the air from below, bringing Zeus back to safer ground.

  ARAKAN LOOKED AROUND HIM. He was in a place unknown to him, mostly dark with some shining reflections coming from the strange material forming on the ground. A dim, dark-red light shot toward the heavens many miles from where he stood.

  “Where am I?”

  “You are exactly where you belong,” said Hades.

  “Who the hell are you? How many Olympians do I have to kill today? But fear not, I have enough juice to get one more to bite the dust.”

  “I don’t think so, Arakan. You’re dead.”

  “I can’t be dead!”

  “Then why are you in my realm?”

  “What realm? What is this place?”

  “This is the Underworld, and I’m its guardian, or keeper if you prefer.”

  “You’ll tell me how to get the hell out of here now before I rip your head off.”

  “You don’t have those powers anymore here, and you can’t intimidate me. Furthermore, resurrection is not my department.”

  Resurrection?

  Arakan’s mad laugh echoed throughout the valley of the Underworld.

  “I don’t see what’s so funny.”

  “I won’t be here for long.”

  “You got that right, but not in the way you think,” said Hades, pointing toward Arakan’s legs.

  Dark shadowy silhouettes without faces or eyes were climbing on his legs and pulling him toward the ground. They had a black smoky aura throughout them, and when they opened their mouths, a strident, soul-crushing screech echoed all around.

  “What the hell is this?”

  “That’s your ride to Purgatory. Bye, now.”

  “I told you I’m not staying here,” said Arakan.

  “Only one person ever managed to get out of here, and I’m sure he’ll be disappointed that he didn’t put you in here himself, but he’ll get over it.”

  Arakan felt a light glow inside of him and smiled.

  “I guess you’ll have to add a second name to this list.”

  “Don’t be ridiculou—”

  But Hades’ eyes grew wide as bright red illuminated tentacles grabbed Arakan by the arms and pulled him up. Soon, he disappeared from the Underworld entirely.

  “That’s impossible! What is this devilry?”

  THOR SMASHED his hammer against one of the Fury warriors and sent him flying to Chase who sent him crashing to the ground with a plunging fireball punch. Before the Fury could recover, Chase incinerated him.

  He then saw that Oryn had stumbled and fallen to the ground.

  “Oryn!!! Thor! Keep the last two occupied for just a moment.”

  “You got it; go take care of your friend.”

  Chase ran and slid next to Oryn who had lost consciousness. He put his hands on her and started healing her wound. First, unfreezing it and then applying his healing energy to mend it.

  Soon, she opened her eyes.

  “Thank you.”

  Chase winked. “Don’t mention it. Let’s finish this, shall we?”

  When they returned to Odin and Thor, Odin had dispatched the fourth Fury by punching through his guts, unleashing a war cry as his eyes glowed brightly, and sending the rest of the Fury body to explode into pieces.

  But the fifth Fury was nowhere to be seen. “Where is Exipnos?”

  “Who?” asked Thor.

  “We’re missing one Fury, the most cunning of the group. He’s not strong but incredibly intelligent.”

  “Doesn’t matter,” said Odin. “Four against one, even with his cunning he can’t hope to win.”

  Except that if he managed to kill Odin, it matters not if he gets killed after, said Oryn in Chase’s mind.

  We can’t let that happen!

  I know.

  All of a sudden, multiple versions of Exipnos appeared everywhere, each one holding a buzzing light dagger at Odin’s throat. There was no telling who the real Exipnos and who the real Odin were among them all!

  “Don’t you dare make a move,” shouted all the mirror copies of the Fury. “I’ll surely behead him before you find where I really am.”

  Dammit!

  “Now leave, or Odin loses his head!” ordered Exipnos.

  Chase could feel the fear and desperation in the Fury’s voice.

  “You’ll kill him either way, so we’re staying put,” said Thor coldly.

  Any brilliant ideas? asked Thor telepathically.

  I can pinpoint your Father, teleport and grab him away. But we’ll only have one shot at this.

 
One shot is all we need. I trust that you’ll not fuck this up, Chase. Whatever alliance you hope to build with us is contingent upon my Father living today.

  No pressure then.

  “I won’t ask a third time!” screamed Exipnos.

  That’s what you just did, thought Chase.

  Time was of the essence, so he closed his eyes and focused on finding Odin’s life force in the space around them and took his other senses currently being duped out of the equation. He told Oryn to stand ready to unleash her coldest attack the moment he made his move. Chase hadn’t been exposed to Odin long enough to recognize Odin’s aura, but he worked by the process of elimination. He found both Thor’s and Odin’s life force and then found two more life forces close together.

  Hurry up, Chase heard in his mind. I can sense this Fury is thinking of executing my father.

  Chase didn’t bother answering and teleported instead. When he arrived behind the pair, he quickly grabbed the Fury’s weapon-wielding wrist and didn’t need to apply much force to get it away from Odin’s throat. He thought he could probably deal with him on his own, but a blade shot from the Fury’s armor at knee level. Luckily, Chase reacted quickly. He kicked Odin on the backside to make sure Exipnos couldn’t reach him with that blade and sent Oryn the command to unleash her icy wrath.

  The Fury managed to slash his knee blade at Chase’s stomach. Chase stumbled backward and fell onto his back right next to Odin.

  Exipnos aimed his palm at Odin’s face, but before he could fire, a cold beam of energy turned him into a statue of ice that promptly exploded a second later when Thor unleashed his hammer in its center.

  Chase put a hand on his bloody guts and healed himself.

  Odin shook his head and spat mud and grass from his mouth.

  “Sorry about that,” said Chase with a tense smile.

  Odin shot daggers at him, but then his eyes relaxed, and he smiled back.

  “I would be dead if it weren’t for that ass kicking of yours, literally,” said Odin as he got back up and put a hand on his behind.

  “Let’s not make a habit of this, though,” added Odin.