The shark-men and dark mermaids are in front of the ship, and begin to fire on The Order with energy strikes from their tridents and shark teeth mouths. Some of the agents change their shapes to head out and face the water spirits. One agent adds size to his form and chooses a killer whale, then heads out to defend the sunken city with the others. Soldiers manifest battleship style gun turrets and begin to lay down cover fire for those heading out into the open water. A great white shark-man clamps his killer jaw onto one merman turning him into white ash, and then makes his way to take on more agents. Before he can swim up behind another, one trooper conjures a spear gun and shoots it through the great white, turning him to white dust.
The battle and clouds of white powder go back and forth, the agents doing everything they can to stay on top of these dark forces. Every time they slay one, another is there to take its place. When the pirate ship takes damage, it is repaired just as fast as if a spirit would grow back an arm. Although the agents' barricade doesn't seem to be fairing as well; with the constant barrage of energy fired at them, The Order cannot keep up repairs and return fire at the enemy.
"We won't be able to keep our position for long," a Soldier of Light named Drake tells his commanding officer.
"Keep it up as long as you can, "Sean tells his men, "and when the time comes, break off and take out who or whatever you can. We go with honor boys; they can't beat us without a fight!"
The commander tries one last attempt to have the council send reinforcements, but they tell him, "Agents are spread out handling situations all over the world. There is even an assault on Pompeii, and you are not the only Commander requesting assistance."
"This was planned," Sean tells Zenon over the image comm.
Elsa the Malevolent leaves the deck of the pirate ship and takes her favorite form of a gorgon, the hideous beast from Greek mythology. She devours any soldier near as if she were a monster eating its prey. When the legionnaire puffs away in a water cloud of white ash, she moves on to the next one and repeats herself. The commanding officer of the Atlantis squad sees all of his troops being slain; he must take action against the evil woman. He swims out to meet her in a contest underwater where not even the sea life will come near, with their extra senses they know to stay far away. Sean forms a fisherman's fileting knife about the size of a sword and begins to swing it at the gorgon woman.
"I'm not surprised to see you here," Sean says to the lady snake as he gets closer to her, "You don't even want the key; you just came for the carnage."
"And I am even more ecstatic to find you here, love." These two spirits have never liked each other; this is something they've both been looking forward to.
Elsa grabs hold of one leg with her tail only to have it sliced off. Pissing her off she decides to be like the Hydra and grow two more. She swims after him with scale lined snake extremities, grabbing for him, but he manages to stay ahead of her. He knows that if he's caught then he's most likely finished. He'll be chewed to dust just like all of his agents before him. As he continues to swim away he slashes his filleting sword through any dark spirit that's in his way and oblivious to his approach. Elsa does the same to any agent within reach of her appendages in pursuit of her rival. "You can run all you like, I will get to you," she scoffs at him.
He turns to face her and finish the chase. He needs to destroy her and continue to protect Atlantis. "Alright Elsa," he floats in a fixed position waiting for her, "I'm right here, you can have me." When she comes close enough she maneuvers her dozens of scaly arms to her front in order to grab her next meal. Sean begins to slash his sword at every one of them that comes near. He swims in close, trying to get a better strike, but the Hydra like arms have grown too many in number.
Not fast enough for hundreds of limbs, Elsa the malevolent, finally gets ahold of him, bringing him close. She looks him in the face as he comes closer; this man who didn't even want to pick a form to fight her in but he himself; should she be insulted? When he's close enough he shrinks in size and gets past all of her arms. He grows back to normal size and plunges his sword into her heart, turning her arrogant form to ash. He then swims off to try and help others.
Some members of the light even take the fight to the sky, hoping less intruders will keep the piece of key safe. The energy being put off is so intense a hurricane is beginning to form when it was an otherwise beautiful day. If there were any ships in the area they would not see the battle, only dark clouds with lighting and a massive whirlpool in the water. If they were to get caught up in the tide of the carnage they would for sure sink to the bottom of the sea and drown. The agents use everything they can to fend off the shape shifters, but their numbers are too few. They keep calling out for assistance but all anyone will say is, "Reinforcements needed in Pompeii immediately." Every other transmission would be about Atlantis or even mention Agents under attack needing help with a possible infiltration into the 1st Realm. It would seem there are things happening everywhere and nobody is going to come, yet these Agents continue to fight and defend.
Poseidon leaves the pirate ship to head into the skirmish and makes his way to the killer whale who is teething through dark spirits. Poseidon flaps his tail and propels himself at top speed slamming into the Orca-Man. He tosses him at the giant ship still making its way down to the ocean floor. The agent orca hybrid slams into the hull of the oncoming ship, and then the Greek God swims right for him, with his trident out in front he stabs right into the whale, sending him away into white ash.
Even with all the skills and power, the Agents of light are losing this fight. They're simply out numbered. The coalition of dark leaders is one thing The Order of Light never planned on; now they are paying for it. The dark swimmers make their way directly to the fragment of key and claim their prize. Once they remove it from its resting place, the ocean floor begins to shake and rattle letting the Shape Shifting Clan know it's time to go. Poseidon can have his throne now that they have what they came for.
Chapter 17
Battle for the Pompeii Piece
Meanwhile in Pompeii, a group of tourist are admiring the remains and the layout of the charred city, a battle is happening which they cannot see. The warring is so intense that its causing a rush of wind that is felt by the happy historical viewers. Unknown to the people here, Brutal is leading a team to take the second part of to the key. There are Soldiers of Light here fighting to keep it safe, which is why there were not very many to aid in Atlantis, and just like there, these troops are outnumbered. As Brutal throws one of the warriors across the ruins a tourist snaps a photo; when she looks to the screen of her camera, she notices some lines through her picture that look like light or a red glow worm. She looks to the landscape she took the picture of and sees nothing but the view she wanted. She keeps the picture and tries again; this time the picture comes out normal, only because there were no spirits there fighting and using energy for her camera to capture. Brutal slashes through the last Soldier of Light with his weapon of the 2nd Realm, turning him to black powder.
A rumble and a loud crushing sound come from the mountain as the tourists start to lose their nerves. Some even ask their tour guide if Vesuvius is going to erupt. The guides tell them no and try to calm all the panic. Seeing the disruption in everyone's mood, they decide it is time to go, so they try and load everyone into the tour buses, leaving before the weather or the volcano gets any grumpier. The travelers all start to make their way to the parking area, unknowing they walk straight through Brutal and the remaining Norse; Indian; Greek; and Egyptian Gods. With the Soldiers at Atlantis already in full conflict, Commander Talek, a hawk woman in the volcano, send out as second wave of fighters all in the form of gods themselves; seems fitting for the battle that may wipe Pompeii from the face of the earth for a second time.
The dark gods lift into the air to meet the Soldiers of Light, and as they do, dozens more come out of the shadows and join in with evil intent. Dragged down to the ground, the Agents of Light are crawling
with what is called The Hundred Handers as they are being slaughtered. Those with enough skill can handle some of these creatures. It would seem that for every light god slain there are three dark ones turned to white ash, but yet they are still overwhelmed. Brutal swings his sword and turns Sobek, the Egyptian crocodile god into powder, and then spreads his wings and flies off heading to Vesuvius.
"Looking at the weather out there you guys, its nuts," a tourist says to the others, he then puts his camera to the window and starts to snap pictures.
"I'd keep away from the windows, Bobby," a friend tells the excited man.
"Why? What do you think will happen to us," Bobby says sarcastically, "We're in a bus, if lightning strikes us we're screwed in here no matter what."
"The bus has rubber tires, you idiot!" Just then a bolt of lightning strikes the bus causing the windows to shatter. Bobby is cut on his arm, had he still been looking out the window, his whole face would've been in the cutting zone.
Lord Garuda, the dark bird god is in a heated battle with Horus, the Egyptian god. Garuda conjures a sword worthy of a deity as does Horus. Both come together with such force that the land of the living sees and hears it, as deafening thunder and blinding lightning, just yards in front of them. The two bird gods slash and swipe at each other, and then when Horus swings his sword, Garuda uses his wings to float out of striking distance. Not that he needs them to go after his foe, but Horus grows wings of his own and takes flight to meet his combatant in the sky above. Their swords clash and bang together more as the tourists now in their bus head out of the area, scared out of their wits after seeing unexplainable weather conditions only feet high above them in the air, even lightning that seems to just miss the busses.
Horus comes slamming his adversary to the ground causing earthquake like tremors throughout the area. He then throws the stunned Garuda across the courtyard of ruins and the dark spirit lands at the House of the Fauns, destroying the fountain that is outside for all the tourists to see. They sit up on their knees with their cameras at the windows, flash bulbs of the cameras flickering as the bus drives away. They even capture with the snaps of the button a ghostly image of a bird man getting out of the fountain before completely being out of sight. When Garuda gets to his feet he flies for Horus and slams into him, dropping some ruin pillars to the ground. Garuda stands up and raises his sword, but before he can come down with it, Horus takes his legs out from under him. Horus flaps his wings to get him out of the rubble and away from the blade of the Indian god.
Now that his head is a little more clear he can form a staff and defend himself from the onslaught that he knows is coming. After he blocks Garuda's fourth strike, Horus swings his golden staff with force and slams Garuda into a stone wall. He then moves in quick and tries to take hold of the training of Terra-Belle and keep the pressure on before his foe can recover. However, Garuda seems to recover much faster than one would hope or want. Through the wreckage of the crumbled wall, Garuda reaches out and grabs Horus by his beak and slams a chunk of stone into his face with his other hand sending him back. Horus swings his staff wildly trying to keep the dark one at bay. When his swing comes back repeatedly, the demon bird grabs it then extends his claw like foot, sending the already shocked bird of light back even further. Garuda forms another sword and comes down hard into the Egyptian Bird God, sending him off with the others to become white ash. He looks at the powder float off into the air and fills himself with achievement, and then looks off into the dismay and can feel their mission coming to fruition.
Brutal enters the mountain and heads straight for the piece of key, of course there is someone waiting, a guard dressed as a Spartan soldier. Brutal doesn't care; he lifts his sword and extends his wings, with a strong thrust he is hurled at the lone guard. The Spartan uses his massive shield to block the first attack but knows that the fiend will not quit there. The guard turns and throws his javelin but it only goes through the leathery flesh of Brutal's bat like wing. When the Spartan tries to conjure another to throw, it's too late; Brutal grabs him and flies him straight into the cavern wall. He then plunges his sword into the Greek's chest and watches him fade away. He walks to the piece of key and grabs at it, once he does, the volcano begins to shake and rumble like only one time ever before.
"You're not getting it that easy." The commanding officer says to him, she will do all she can to keep him from the fragment.
"Talek!" Brutal knows who it is just by the sound of her unassailable, yet alluring voice. He pulls his hand away but the volcano does not cease its shaking. "Are you going to make this hard for me?" He still hasn't turned to face her; instead he shows the blade of his sword of black ash just poking past his wing, almost as if he was trying to frighten her.
"That weapon means nothing to me," she says when she recognizes it, "The way I look at it, I am already dead, this has all been an opportunity to help keep order, and I will die doing so." She then rushes to meet the winged killer, if she is sent to the void; she will do so doing her duty. She was not lying when she said she didn't fear him, like most others do in this world, her fear is failing because she did nothing. To fail is to fail, but how will you fail, she will put everything into this fight because she knows how powerful Brutal is, he is the apprentice of Mack the Ripper after all.
She swings her mace at him and clashes with his sword of the spirit realm; the energy from it causes Vesuvius to shake more intensely. He hits the hawk woman and knocks her helmet off; when it hits the ground it disappears into smoke as the two battles on. Talek sweeps Brutal off his feet and then brings her mace down hard, only to be blocked by his wing. While on the ground he swings his right hand with his sword in it, she catches his arm and brings her weapon down on the sword, knocking it out of his hand. Being that it's not a manifestation, it doesn't disappear, but Talek quickly kicks it out of his reach.
"Now what do you have?" she says but receives a left fist for an answer. Brutal forms a sword with a thought and hurls it at the stunned commander. When she gets to her feet, she is impaled by the blade. She grips the handle at her chest then both she and the weapon fade away into white ash. Brutal walks over to his sword, picks it up off the ground and then goes to retrieve the piece of key.
The fragment is now in the hands of Brutal who is more than excited to bring this lost treasure back to Mack at Sutton Hoo. He blasts out of the mountain with his prize, and then glowing red magma starts to fly out as well. The Ragnarok key is about to be assembled, and Gaia, the Mother Earth is feeling the friction of two realms.
Chapter 18
Land of the Fairies
Charlotte and Jake have entered the space that occupies the magical fairies. They have chosen to congregate in the region of the famous Japanese tea garden in Okinawa. Off into the open sea, the two notices a massive hurricane is forming, the winds are causing ships docked in the Japanese harbor to breaking free of their bonds and are floating off to open waters. Trees sway back and forth under high wind pressure. When the two arrive they are first greeted by the group called the Elementals and trailing behind are the Steampunk Fairies.
"Well hello Jake," says Aireodny, the enchanting elemental of air. "I take it that you're not here to just chat. This must be serious," she looks at the honorable soldier while her stunning wings of swirling cloud forms flutter about.
"It's not very often that you venture into our neck of the woods," says Roxy the spunky earth elemental flapping her wings of tiny stone pebbles.
"You're absolutely right ladies, we've been sent by the Council to request your aid in the battle that is at hand." Jake informs them that Brutal had witnessed the finding of the encased key. He stresses the urgency of the situation.
Illumina, the beautiful fire elemental with flaming red hair and flowing lava wings steps forward and pronounces, "If it is help you need, then that is what you shall receive." They have noticed how nature is starting to show signs of chaos, and that their duty is to order.
"The winds blow ill will t
idings of madness," the fairy of wind Aireal tells them all as she comes to join in on the conversation, "The atmosphere has been speaking to me as of late, and I have been waiting for the Council to send word; any longer and I would have had to pay them a visit."
Many of the other fairies are chattering back and forth, discussing the situation with anxiety as they flutter about over the Bonsai trees and koi fish pond. The steampunk fairy Olivia comes forward, flying out of the group she was hanging around with to see Jake and her new friend Charlotte. She is bold and fearless; she lowers her dark wings of cogs and declares, "If there's any chance to snuff out the life of that fucker, Brutal, then count me in." Many of the fairies feel the same about the cause, and the same about Mack and Brutal, and why wouldn't they? They have ended many of their lives and have turned them to white ash on many occasions. She looks over to Charlotte, gives her a good up and down gazing, "Love the new look, girl. How are you feeling?"
"Let's just say I'm glad that I got it over and done with," she tells her with relief on her face, "I'm glad to see you, I want to thank you."
"No worries girlfriend," she tells her, "I remember my first time, I would've liked some soothing words, so I told you what I thought would work."
"It did, thank you." The two go off to look at the koi fish and have a bit of girl time while Jake and Aireal talk more in depth. "I didn't know if I would ever see you again."
"That is one big difference between this realm and the other," Olivia goes on to tell her more, "there; you don't really have to worry too much about death. It's not like here, where we put ourselves in harm's way all the time." She stops and thinks for a moment, "Oh my god, I can't believe I just said all that." She covers her own mouth at the shock of what she just said.
The 2nd Realm Book One (The 2nd Realm Trilogy 1) Page 9