AFTERMATH (Descendants Saga)

by James Somers

  He turned from the boys. The steady thrum of power coming from the three cherubim was pervasive. With his angelic perception, Lucifer could see these emanations as visible waveforms. In this same manner, he was able to pinpoint the source where this power originated.

  The boys would quickly get underway again, now that this situation had concluded with the centaurs. Lucifer set off toward the cherubim. His presence here on the spiritual plane had undoubtedly been realized already. The emanations of his own power would have revealed him even further away than he was now.

  But then that was the point. He had intended all along to be noticed by these creatures. Otherwise, they might have paid attention to the boys crossing the spiritual plane into the Underworld. By giving them a more threatening target, Lucifer hoped to allow them to pass the cherubim unhindered. If necessary, he would do more to make that happen.

  Posturing

  Black had felt the tremor upon the spiritual plane earlier. For Lucifer to be sensed in some way was nothing new. However, he was presently roaming the spiritual plane, drawing ever closer to the fixed position of the three cherubim. This was unusual. Lucifer had not done so before, nor could he fathom why he would do so now.

  Being far greater in might than his and Lucifer’s order of angels, to approach them threateningly seemed the height of folly. The former Covering Cherub could not hope to undo their hold upon the spiritual realm they had all but destroyed. Neither could he do the creatures themselves any real harm.

  Still, Black wondered if his dear brother might be aware of the connection to himself. He had not gone so far as to secure any secrecy on the matter. And, following his showdown with Donatus at the Shade King’s palace, he was confident that Lucifer knew all too well that his sniper had failed back in London to kill Black’s mortal host.

  Therefore, unless Lucifer was merely investigating the situation on the spiritual plane for curiosity’s sake, he must conclude that his brother meant to approach the cherubim on friendly terms. His devilish brother might even have the idea of persuading them to break their bond with Black. He was uncertain whether or not the cherubim might be willing to do so. After all, their conjoined minds did not operate in the same manner as his. Lucifer could hope to make them a more favorable offer instead.

  Presently, Black was conducting the last hundred automatons from the warehouse to a staging ground where Gladstone’s human army was already assembling its troops. Together they would pass through with the automatons by way of portal into Ireland in order to attack the forces of the Shade King and Brody West. Though the Descendants in Ireland undoubtedly represented a significant fighting force, the mighty metal giants under Black’s direct control would prove too formidable for them. Soon, his revenge upon West and those in league with him would be completed.

  But what was happening there in the spiritual realm with the cherubim? He found, as he attempted to see through their eyes, that he could not. Were they blocking him out now? Why would they withhold their thoughts from him?

  There could be no good reason. And, yet, he was too busy here at the moment, assembling the army that would do his dirty work in Ireland. He could not abandon the task. A tight schedule was already underway. If he left, the automatons would no longer function.

  At the very least, Black could be glad for one thing. The cherubim might not be showing him what they saw of Lucifer on the spiritual plane, at the moment, but they had not reduced the amount of power he was able to expend. His power alone might have successfully controlled three or four or five of the metal giants. But he could never have hoped to control all of them at once like this. The sooner this invasion got underway, the better.

  Lucifer approached the swirling vortex of power surrounding the cherubim. Three creatures joined back to back to back, rotating with the vortex itself. He could feel a gravity about them—a force drawing him in despite the spiritual nature of his person. True gravity had no effect on him whatsoever. However, Lucifer felt that he had to exert himself in order to stay at this range.

  The former realm of the Breed lay waste below them. Greystone’s frozen tundra had been shattered like a dinner plate. The surviving vampires had all fled months ago when the destruction came upon them. At the epicenter of the Breed city, once ruled by Tiberius, Greystone had divided. A bottomless pit stood in the middle of the ruins directly below the vortex and the cherubim above.

  There was light of a kind emanating from them. The entire landscape was bathed in orange and yellow and crimson, yet no fire was present. Even the dreary gray sky that shown everywhere else on the spiritual plane gave way here. To Lucifer, it seemed like everything within range had been washed in the cherubim’s hatred and malice toward the Almighty who had banished them from Heaven to the Underworld.

  Still, Lucifer had not approached any further to their position, and they had yet to offer any form of communication to him. He was not disguised, nor could he truly have hoped to be this close to them. They were known to one another, though certainly not in the intimate way that Black had managed.

  He wondered how long they would simply observe him. The boys would soon come this far, and Lucifer intended to preoccupy these creatures while they passed. He considered attacking them briefly, though that might be pressing matters too far. Neither he nor they could truly be destroyed, but they could suffer in the exchange. And it was likely he would suffer greater if this came to blows.

  “Lucifer, Son of the Morning,” the cherubim intoned, three voices speaking as one. “Why have you come to us?”

  “Have I come to you?” Lucifer asked.

  “Why are you here then?” came the reply, an omnipresent voice here on the spiritual plane.

  “I desired to see the destruction you have wrought, wondering why you have undone all the wonder you once helped to create here,” Lucifer said.

  “We created and we can destroy what we have created.”

  “Obviously,” Lucifer replied. “That doesn’t necessarily answer why you would though. After all, this mess has done no harm to the Almighty.”

  Silence for a moment.

  “We have harmed the Descendants dwelling on this plane of existence, thereby bringing harm to the Creator.”

  “Did the Almighty create Descendants, or the Fallen?” Lucifer asked.

  “Irrelevant,” the cherubim replied. “They are Descendants of Adam in part.”

  “Still, all you’ve really done is drive them into the human world,” Lucifer observed.

  “We reign here on the spiritual plane.”

  Lucifer looked around as though he was giving the matter some genuine consideration. “And it’s a lovely kingdom you have here. Shattered and muck-ridden, but quaint nonetheless.”

  Silence from the cherubim again.

  Lucifer waited patiently, still keeping his distance.

  “The status of this realm is irrelevant,” they said finally. “What point are you attempting to argue?”

  “Actually, I believe the status here is completely relevant,” Lucifer replied. “Just as the status of the heavens and the Earth glorify their creator, so does your kingdom testify of you. And it’s not a flattering testimony at the moment.”

  Silence yet again from the cherubim.

  “We do not seek glory,” they said.

  “But what better way of assaulting the Almighty and his purposes?” Lucifer reasoned. “You cannot fight him directly and win, but to rob him of glory is another matter, is it not?”

  “What do you propose, Lucifer, Son of the Morning?”

  “Create on the spiritual plane again,” he said. “Take what you have dissolved and make it even more glorious than before!”

  “What gain do you seek in the matter?”

  “Gain?” Lucifer asked. “No gain except to see the Almighty robbed of glory. You waste your time and effort with my brother in the human world, accomplishing so little. Yet, is this not a more direct attack? I would not ask you for your power as Black does. He has only his o
wn desires to fulfill, but we are already of one mind. We want to see the Almighty robbed of glory, while Black thinks too small, only using you for his own advantage.”

  “We can work against the Almighty on two fronts,” they replied. “We can fulfill our purpose in the human world and then create here again.”

  “I suppose,” Lucifer said, seeming unconvinced. “After all, Black is your master and so—”

  “We have no master,” the cherubim said.

  “Really? But you do everything that Black commands taking no thought for your own desires. Doesn’t that make you the servant and Black the master?”

  The aura began to change in color around the cherubim. The swirling vortex was shot through completely in crimson now. The light was dimming and thunder began to cascade across the sky as bursts of lightning radiated away from the cherubim in every direction.

  Lucifer smiled inwardly. “I did not mean to offend you,” he said, watching the changes occurring around them.

  “We serve no master,” the cherubim said again, menacingly.

  “Then what will you do?” Lucifer asked.

  “We will consider your proposal, Lucifer, Son of the Morning.”

  Covert

  Following our near death experience with the centaurs, Adolf and I made our way steadily into the realm of Greystone. Strangely, it was not as cold as it usually was. No doubt, this was another testimony to the dissolution of what had been normal in the realms of the spiritual plane.

  Coming to the place where I had been raised, we found everything awash in fiery hues: red, yellow and orange. High above, in the distance, we could see the cause. A tornadic column of energy swirled about the three cherubim. Their bodies radiated the light that fell upon everything here. Rotating now in the center of this vortex, their eyes seemed to see all. I could not imagine how we would get by them in order to enter the Underworld.

  Giant gashes in the land radiated from the epicenter of the quake which had destroyed Greystone. I watched through the crimson light, trying to discern details that may have changed about the environment. About one mile from the epicenter, my vampire’s eyes found the permeable barrier that now cut between the spiritual plane proper and the Underworld.

  “All we have to do is get past the cherubim and through that barrier,” I said.

  Adolf stood with me among a grove full of petrified trees. An entrance into Greystone had once existed here. The portal had linked with the ancient site of Stonehenge at Wiltshire. However, it had been destroyed since that time.

  “What are those there?” Adolf asked, pointing toward a large number of animals coming upon the plain to our left.

  I watched as the details became more distinct. “Oh no,” I murmured.

  “What?”

  “An entire herd of Minotaur grazing out there,” I reported.

  Indeed, this herd was now spreading out between us and the great rift at the heart of my home city. They were blocking our way—the one way we had to go in order to reach that permeable barrier and enter the Underworld. We would have to find a more indirect way.

  “Couldn’t we teleport?” Adolf asked.

  “Not advisable,” I replied. “The cherubim might see the creation of a portal. They might even be able to stop us mid-flight. Who knows what that might do to us, being yanked out of a portal envelope like that? It’s too risky.”

  “We can’t turn back.”

  “Agreed,” I said.

  I thought about our situation for a moment before noticing Adolf’s expression. He was staring not at the cherubim any longer but at something else. Following his gaze, I found another entity hovering at a distance from the cherubim.

  “Who is that?” I muttered, not really expecting an answer.

  “An angel,” Adolf replied.

  I looked at him, wondering how he had come to that conclusion. However, he paid no attention. He was transfixed on the angel.

  I looked back. There appeared to be some sort of exchange taking place, but I couldn’t be sure. One thing appeared certain though. This angel was not Black. I knew the human host he now possessed. This was not Ishbe.

  “The cherubim will be distracted,” Adolf said, smiling now. He seemed to know something that I didn’t, something that gave him confidence I wasn’t feeling at the moment.

  “But we don’t know who that is, or what’s going on between them,” I argued. “Besides, the Minotaur are there now.”

  Indeed, the bulls had covered the tundra. Long tufts of grass had grown abundantly since the cherubim had caused the drastic change in temperature here. The Minotaur, walking on all fours in bull forms, were enjoying the new grasses immensely. But that wouldn’t stop them killing us, if we were spotted.

  I imagined several hundred trampling us down. At the very least, we would be spotted when we took to the air so close to the cherubim. Whatever they might do to us would probably be even worse.

  “Wait a minute,” Adolf said. “The city is underground, right?”

  “Yes, but—” I started to protest. “Ah, I get it.”

  Adolf smiled, nodding at me while I caught up with his plan.

  “We go underground,” I said. “Use the city to go beneath them and the Minotaur herd. We can enter by any number of gates into the city on this side and emerge near the permeable barrier into the Underworld.”

  He clapped me on the shoulder. “I knew there was a reason for bringing you along on this.”

  Now that we had a plan, I remembered the location of the Eastern Gate, as it had always stood near to the petrified grove and, in times past, the Stonehenge portal. We moved quickly, flying just above the ground. This allowed us to get to the gate without alerting the nearby herd. The cherubim remained engaged with the mysterious angel in the distance.

  The gate itself had consisted of a series of interlocking stone pillars and crossbeams. These had naturally been spell cast to engage and disengage at a particular command. However, the destruction upon the city had demolished the gate. The pillars and crossbeams had cracked and partially fallen in as the ground shifted all around them in the resulting earthquake.

  Still, a small space remained around one of the crossbeams that now jutted straight out from the gate. It was large enough for Adolf and I to pass through into the gloom beyond. We would be traveling in almost total darkness from here on out.

  It took me only a moment to become familiar with my surroundings in the dark. As one of the most efficient predators in the world, a vampire could see reasonably well with only a fraction of the light necessary for ordinary humans. In fact, Greystone, as a city of vampires had never been more than sparsely lit even during its glory days under the reign of my father and mother.

  In general, Descendants of all kinds tended to be better suited to the night. Adolf was no vampire. Yet, he appeared to have no difficulty staying right on my heels as we began our trek through the corridors of Greystone.

  “I’m assuming you know where you’re going, right?” he asked, jogging alongside.

  “This was my home,” I said. “However, I did spend a bit too much time crawling along the ceilings. That might be a more familiar route.”

  Adolf sighed. “More running, less comedy.”

  We were making good time. That much could be said. We only need make it to the other side of the city and we would be past the cherubim. Unfortunately it wasn’t going to be so easy.

  Adolf stopped suddenly, pulling on my arm. “What was that?”

  “What are you talking about?”

  We both paused, listening. Hoof clops echoing. We were standing at an intersection of several corridors. A fiery glow began to grow to our left.

  “The horses!” I cried. “Run!”

  We tore off down the corridor, but the horses of fire emerged where we had just been standing. They slammed into the walls setting flammable items ablaze. Back to their feet quickly, they pursued us, flames trailing from them like meteors streaking out of the sky.

  “This
way,” I cried, turning another corridor, still trying to keep my bearings so that we would reach the West Gate and the permeable barrier into the Underworld.

  Adolf was right on my heels. But the horses were gaining. Already the corona of light trailing the hall around the beasts was casting its glow upon us.

  It was then that I took notice of water leaking through cracks in the walls here all along the hall. There was water trying to get through. With all of the earthquake activity, it was entirely possible that a river or lake had been drained and diverted through fissures that ended here at the city where the epicenter had opened up the great central rift.

  I didn’t have time to consult with Adolf on the idea that shot into my mind at that moment. I quickly created a portal envelope, a small matrix that I was able to throw. As we passed by a patch of block in the wall that appeared to be more cracked with water trickling through, I tossed the portal matrix upon it.

  The horses of fire were gaining on us, and there was no time for a more organized maneuver. The floor was now pocked with puddles that erupted as steam when the horses passed through them. I thought that their cries might be pained because of the water, but they were fierce and unwilling to relent. They knew, as well as we did, that in a moment they would overtake us.

  The portal matrix hit the wall, taking in the first objects that it came into contact with. Instantly, the blocks were transported out of the wall, teleported so that a gap was left behind. The liquid gathered behind had been under more pressure than I might have guessed.

  A column of water drove into the corridor behind us, hitting the opposite wall. It had the effect of creating a barrier between us and the horses. However, that barrier almost immediately became a flood that pushed back at the horses and pushed forward after us. The horses were no longer chasing us, but a deluge of water had taken their place.

  At this moment all other sounds were drowned out for the terrible swishing and crashing of water that swept down the corridor. The echo lasted only a few seconds. Even with our speed, the flood outpaced us almost immediately.