“You heard me, brother. I’ve ended this war; I’ve saved us and our legions. Who else can say the same? The Lion? I think not, no. We need not fight, not to our deaths, not for them…” Dragon said straight-faced, as though he hadn’t just revealed a betrayal of unthinkable depth.
“What do you mean them?” Hydra breathed. “Oh fates, he was right…”
“Who was? The Fool?” Samael spat.
Hydra was plainly offended. “His name is the Lion, but yes. He always said arrogance would get the better of you. You just don’t get it, do you? We were human before all this, so we’re no better than them; we didn’t become what we are by our own doing! We are not gods!”
“That’s where you’re wrong, all of you!” Samael bellowed. “Who else can do what we can? Who? Was it not a goddess who gave us all of her spirit, who gave us these powers? We’re not human anymore. We haven’t been since the war began and yet here you are…”
He glared in irony at Hydra like he was the malign force in the room instead of him. “You actually think we can save them, don’t you? Do you really think I would have given Invidius the fleets he asked for if I thought we could be victorious?”
Hydra said nothing. He didn’t even react to Samael using the dark god’s real name; so much was the feeling of shock and horror overwhelming him. Instead he finally sat down, sunk in his chair and put his head in his hands. “You stupid, stupid bastard; you’ve doomed us all…”
“Doomed us? I’ve saved us. I did this for all of us, all the Apostles…Don’t you realise what we’re capable of? We should be ruling our own planets, our own creations, not fighting to protect a miserable mistake of one!” Samael bit back.
Hydra was outraged by his brother’s arrogance. He stood up like a thunderbolt, his chair flying back by the force of the gesture and breaking apart against the stone chamber wall. “That is not our purpose! If that was our destiny, we would have been born as gods, not changed by one…Our purpose isn’t to rule! It’s to serve, protect and defend. You think you’ve sealed a deal with the enemy for giving Him a fleet to destroy the humans? You really believe He’s going to spare us and our legions if we do nothing to stand in His way? You really are naive…”
Samael burst into mocking laughter. “Me, naive? How can you stand there, thinking we honestly had a chance of defeating a real god? That’s what you all seem to forget – we’re Apostles, none of us are the equal of a god…How can we defeat something that has mastery over creation? We are fickle corn to His sickle, and you’re all going to die pointless-”
“NO! We are a match together, that was the point. That’s why Vermillion Blessed the twelve of us together and not just one. She knew if She gave everything She had to just one of us we would become so tainted by power we’d become the Great Enemy ourselves and She couldn’t do that to Ourellius, or to our race. Now you’ve given Him the advantage in a war we were already hard pressed to survive! You failed Her and us, Samael. You’re a disgrace to the Apostles, let alone Mankind!”
Breathing impetuously, Samael began to fire up. “I will not stand by and pretend to care for a race that has shown us nothing but disrespect and ingratitude! We are their rightful leaders; they should be serving us, not us serving them.
The human race is weak and pathetic. Clearly Vermillion realised they couldn’t survive on their own…what does that show about their worth? They will hide in fear like the cowards they are and while we die on the battlefield, none of them will care until they start to die too! They are the disgrace; I feel nothing for them…”
Hydra couldn’t take any more. “You were once a brother to me Samael…but no more…The Lion will have to see to you; I cannot stand your stench or your atrocious face anymore. I am sickened by the monster you’ve become”.
“You dare call me a monster after what you’ve been doing?” Samael roared. Hydra felt paralysed by what his brother must have known. “Does the Lion know what you’ve been doing with the humans? Because I do!”
Despite his own shame, Hydra refused to allow Samael to make him out as the evil one. He turned to his legionary commander, who had by now understood what was going on and stepped into the room careless of privacy he knew they had wanted before. “Tiberius, take this…thing…into custody and chain him so tight he can’t move.”
Before Tiberius could call in support and take the traitor-Apostle away, Samael bellowed in defiance and took his form with a speed Hydra thought impossible. Beating his stretching wings, he snarled in deadly challenge. His nostrils flared and flame appeared around his jaws. Without further warning he opened his mouth and sent a jet of fire aimed to engulf his brother.
Yet, as fast as the attack was, the flame never reached its target and Hydra stood there surprised behind a shimmering shield of energy. Walking down the stairs to the hall and to the fore of the confrontation, a woman armoured in blue and gold focused her strength on protecting her loyalist brother.
“I suggest you back down Samael or I will be forced to strike, and you and I both know which of us would slay the other…” Valkyrie threatened with eerie calmness.
The Dragon yielded his attack and looked down upon his former comrades. He grimaced with contempt and before another word could be spoken, he took flight through the cavity behind him and escaped from the Hydra’s House.
“My Lord, should I order the gun batteries to fire?” Tiberius asked without delay. Valkyrie glanced at him, knowing what answer she would give in her brother’s place, but turned back and joined Hydra’s side in pensive silence.
Looking into the abyss of the chasm, Hydra expected to feel rage or fury, but instead he felt only heart-breaking remorse for his fallen brother. “No, Tiberius, don’t. His fate is up to the Lion now, as is all of ours”.
###
About the Author:
Thomas Trehearn is a young, creative author living in London, England. He has a degree in Psychology, but has chosen to go into retail management - crazy, huh? He has been working on this book series for over five years. He is terribly excited to at last unleash it on the public!
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Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/#!/profile.php?id=1119395683
The Deian War: Conquest Page 25