The Awakening of the Gods (Forgotten Ones)

by M. H. Hawkins

  The night came alive, and out of the fog, a snarling sound crept up behind him and Malick snapped around towards the sound, his blades ready to strike. But, just as soon as he had turned around, he saw the fog puff up. A wolf followed it, leaping out of the fog, out of its shadow, out of the dirt itself. Shooting through the air, the wolf’s jaw opened wide then snapped down on something and tore it off. Malick’s arm. Malick heard a bark as another wolf leapt out of the shadows and tore off Malick’s other arm Then another came vaulting through the air and tore off through Malick. Three more wolves came; one from the front of him, one from behind, each one tearing off a chunk of Malick as they passed. Suddenly the shadows were gone, Malick looked down at himself then at Mea. “Mea, I’m sorry. We can… we can discuss this, can’t we?” Mea said nothing, only watching as the wolves leapt into and out of the mysterious fog, tore off a piece of Malick, Then, as third wolf appeared, falling from the sky. Its jaws snapped down, tearing into Malick’s shoulder, it bit down, held on. Growling, the wolf shook the body between its razor sharp teeth as Malick screamed for help. The wolf, shaking its head and growling, turning Malick into a limp lapdog, further ripping apart whatever was left of Malick’s mangled body. Then it dragged Malick’s body a few feet, the wolf shook it head around again, angrily and flopping Malick’s body around. Then, with another hard shake, the wolf opened its jaws and slung whatever was left of Malick into the night’s air. Armless and nearly dead, Malick spun around through the air, still unsure of what was happing to him. Then as he spun helplessly through the air, another wolf rose out of the fog, five others rose out of the fog, from behind the first wolf. They all chased after Malick’s catapulting body. They first wolf got there first, shooting into the air and catching Malick’s body in its jaws. The other four followed it, bouncing after the first until they disappeared back in the fog.

  Malick’s creatures were too busy watching Malick’s that they didn’t see what was happening all around them, the fog. The thick smoky fog seeped out of the ground, between them, and polluted their circle of creatures. The fog grew thicker, so thick that it began to look like snow.

  Malick’s creatures didn’t seem to notice, not at first anyways. They all shared confused looks amongst one another, unsure of what they should do. Then seeming like they had decided, they all turned towards Mea, lowered their shoulders as they prepared to rush her. Rattling and ruffling, their tails crept upwards, arching over their backs like scorpion tails.

  Some did notice the fog. Relaxing, they looked down at it, confused and memorized by the swaying smoke within it, perhaps seeing something else. They turned their heads sideways and looked deeper, more intently, into the fog.

  The fog seemed to respond, drifted upwards in thin squiggles that bundled themselves into hands. Scratching the creatures’ chins, the smoky beings whispered to the creatures, again in their poorly-timed cadence. “No more killing-killing. You should rest-should rest. You’re tired—so tired.”

  For the ones that weren’t hypnotized, they gave those that were fleeting glances then turned back towards Mea. A clicking sound followed, growing in cadence and volume, signaling the attack. And as the gentle fog scratched at their chins and rubbed their collars, they ignored it all. After a loud screech from one of the larger creatures, they sprung forward, charging towards Mea. They tried to at least.

  The fog sprang into action too; it came alive. Banshees. Some were wrestling the beasts to the ground. For the ones still scratching the beasts’ chins, their hands emerged from the fog, complete with the banshees’ knifelike fingers. In hard uppercuts, they sliced through the beasts jaws, leaving nothing but black smoke.

  The creatures tried to fight back, and their tails were suddenly whipping around and through the air. The banshees reached higher out of the fog and snipped look the wild tails.

  By now Malick’s creatures in a panic, a frenzy. They started to retreat. Some trying to make their way back into the forest; others flared out their dragonfly-wings and leapt into the air, flapping their wings as hard as they could.

  It was an unsuccessful retreat. As the creatures turned around and faced the charred, still-burning forest, they were met by a wall of fur and fangs. Charging wolves. Barreling out of the burnt-down and the flames of the still-burning forest, the wolves maintained their ranks while charging at a break-neck speed. They came in like a tidal wave, crashing through Malick’s creatures, tearing through them with swiping claws and snapping jaws.

  The ones that took to the air swirled above their horde then scattered to the winds. They didn’t make it far. Some of the fog followed them, and the banshees tore through them, darting from one creature to the other. Some of Malick’s creatures made it a little bit further, higher into the clouds. But the clouds came alive, swirling around like a tornado. White strips peeled off of the swirling clouds, looking like torn strands of cotton candy, and more banshees materialized. “Come play—come play,” they chanted. Then they raining down on Malick’s creatures. With outstretched arms and sharpened fingers reaching out, they carved through Malick’s flying monstrosities. More of Lilly’s banshees came rushing through the sky, smacking into Malikc’s creatures and tussling with them, as they finally slammed them into the ground. As more came crashing down, the ground shook, and it felt like they were caught in a meteor shower.

  On the ground, the creatures that saw the rampaging wolves in time darted off to the sides and through the battle, retreating for their very lives. They suddenly through on the brakes, and their large, sharp claws dug into the earth as they slid to a stop. Cresting the berm in front of them, they saw a flurry of green lights and emerald blades. Outcasts. Slashing wildly through Malick’s creatures, others collided into them and tumbled around with them on the ground. One by one, more puffs of black smoke exploded around them, joining the multitude of the other ones that were popping all across the field and in the sky.

  Too disoriented to truly understand what was happening, Mea tried to stand up, to fight, to reach Asher; but all three goals were impossible and she collapsed forward, back into the ground. At the moment all she could hear was the steady ringing of battle in her ears, but a familiar sound somehow crept through the ringing noises and, for some reason, sent chills of her spine. Her subconscious shook her awake, using whatever senses she still had available. The sound was so familiar, but she couldn’t pinpoint it. What is that? chic-chic-chic. Mea’s eye popped open widely, and she realized what the sound was. A rattlesnake, a rattling tail… Lilly’s tail. Mea Squeezer the sword and brought it closer to her. Exhausted, she went to spin around, to attack, but something slam into her sword and knocked it from her weakened grip. Small, shiny, black—black latex. Lilly’s foot.

  “Calm down,” said Lilly. “Both of you.”

  The rattling of Lilly’s tail stopped and it pulled back, further behind her. Its black scales ruffled slowly, and the tail sagged down limply, like a scolded dog might do. It rattled sadly—Yes, Ma’am—then slinked down behind it master, disappearing to wherever it was that tails went. Still pawing at her sword, she helplessly tried to get it unstuck from beneath Lilly’s foot. She was still confused and disoriented, expecting Lilly to kill her. I cut off her arm, Mea thought, Lilly’s going to kill me; she hates me. I have to escape. Mea was even more confused when she Lilly bent down and kneeled next to her. “I said, calm down,” Lilly repeated.

  Looking up at Lilly, Mea didn’t say a word. Instead she just remained as she was, scrawled out across the dirt and wet grass; dirty, bleeding, and too exhausted to move. “Well?” Lilly said, staring down at her. But after Mea didn’t answer, blinking instead, Lilly huffed then moved behind Mea. “Have some dignity, would you. You’re a god for god’s sake.” She turned Mea around and pulled her into a seated position. “Damn it,” Lilly said, as held up Mea with one hand on her back as she started looking around the meadow. “I swear, it’s always something.” Still looking around, Lilly seemed to have found what she was looking for and smiled. “
There we are.” She held up her hand, and a medium-sized rock came shooting through the air, right into Lilly’s hand. She put it behind Mea, using it as a backrest. “There you go, all better.” She smiled and gave Mea two half-hard slaps on the cheek then took a seat next to her. Mea, she just sat there limply, slack-jawed and half-coherent.

  “This is quite the surprise, Lilly said, “isn’t it?” Then she smoothed out a section of one of red ribbons and tore it off. Now wrapping the red sash around Mea’s waist, around her wound, Lilly continued talking. “Now… I know what you’re thinking: what the hell? And I guess that’s a fair assessment, but I wouldn’t overthink it.” As she finished wrapping the sash around Mea’s waist, Lilly huffed, her shoulders sagging. “To be honest, I wouldn’t overthink anything the gods do. We’re quite mercurial—Hmmpf.” Pausing for introspection, Lilly squeaked happily, bounced her shoulders, then went back to fiddling with the ends of the ribbon she had torn off. “And now…” she said, then curtly and with a smile, “This is going to hurt.” She yanked the two ends of the ribbon—hard—then tied a knot in it, harder. Both times Mea grunted in pain as she squirmed away from Lilly while her eyes rolled back into her head.

  “Don’t be a baby.” Lilly jabbed her thumb into Mea’s thigh, right next to the gaping hole in it, then tore off another section of ribbon, wrapping it around Mea’ wounded thigh as she had down with the other wound.

  “Asher,” Mea said weakly.

  “Yes, Asher,” Lilly sighed then yanked on the ends of red bandage that was crossed over Mea’s wounded thigh, again yanking hard. Lilly gave the bandage another hard tug and again reveled in Mea’s wincing pain, then finished tying off the bandage. “He’s be fine.”

  Lilly sighed and looked around at all the chaos. The banshees, wolves, and outcasts were finishing off the last of Malick’s minions. The rain was still falling, turning the meadow into a muddy mess and slowly putting out the forest fire. Looking up, she saw a web of lighting explode across the sky, lashing out at the last few survivors and leaving them exploding into black smoke. “Look at all this, a field drowned in death, in the blood of the immortals. This can’t be good—huh.”

  Wide-eyed, Mea pointed at something and grunted. Lilly’s eyes lazily followed the pointing finger, and out of the corner of her eye, she caught a glimpse of what Mea was pointing at. One of Malick’s beasts had somehow slipped through the cracks and was rampaged towards them. Lilly flicked her hand at it, and her red ribbon stretched out a good ten yards and snapped out of the creature. The resulting poof of black smoke followed the creature’s momentum and washed over Mea’s face with a bitter smell, and she could momentarily taste ash in her mouth.

  Lilly’s red ribbon reeled itself in. “They were angels once, you know,” she told Mea, “Malick’s creatures. From the first rebellion, when he was still known as Vandriel. But after the fall, they became corrupted, Vandriel corrupted them—or the world did, who knows. But they were once… pure. The Messengers of Elysium. Servants of the illuminated. But now… look at them, look at what they became, what Vandriel did to them.” Lilly thought of her banshees. Was their misery, their pain, her doing? Were they emissaries of her will, the embodiment of her pain? Or had the world corrupted them, wounded them, when they were human—the same as it had down to the first group of fallen angels. “A third of the angels in heaven, in Elysium… fallen. The scriptures don’t talk about that though, now do they? You know, the first rebellion. They only talk about Asher’s—Azazel’s—rebellion. ‘course that was the more recent one. So… who can really blame them.” Lilly glanced up at Pikes Peak, where she knew Mea’s family was, and sighed. She wasn’t sure how much Mea knew, how much she knew about Ryan having to be sacrificed, how much she’d have to suffer, an eternity—that is, if she truly wanted to save the world. Lilly forced a smile then licked her thumb and wiped a smudge of Mea’s cheek. “You know, I don’t envy you, your burden… what is left to still come.”

  “Lilly,” Mea muttered.

  “Shhh.” Lilly put a finger up to Mea’s lips then caressed Mea’s cheek and smiled. She said, “your welcome,” expecting Mea to thank her but not really caring if she did (thank her). “Here.”

  Lilly dragged Mea around, turning her towards Asher. “See.”

  Mea saw green blurs, glowing green trails of lights. Emerald, eyes. Shaking away her confusion, Mea blinked away the blurs and tried to regain her focus. “Hold on, Azazel,” she heard a woman say. She saw a bundle of flames dancing above a set of polished emeralds. Flames, fire—wild red hair. It was Jessica. She and two other outcasts were guiding down Malick’s golden spear like it was an oversized flagpole. Stuck two-third of the way up, on the barbed golden spear, Asher was painfully getting lowered with it. “Careful now,” Jessica said. “Watch out for the barbs. Hold on, Azazel—You two, hold the spear; hold it steady.” Jessica unsheathed her emerald sword. “Ready?” Grunting, she brought down the emerald sword, like someone chopping wood, And as she cut through Malick’s golden spear, and emerald light shot upwards, from the cut, and into the air. The light sparkled as it continued shooting in the sky. Then, like a fireworks display, the light exploded and splashed across the sky in streams of sparkling lights.

  On the ground, Jessica sheathed her blade and knelt down next to Asher. “Hold on, Azazel. This is going to hurt.”

  Asher was limp and his eyes were closed. He almost looked dead. He weakly said, “It’s Asher now. Asher, not Azazel… never again.

  “You always have been.” Jessica folded her fiery red hair behind her ears, took a deep breath, then said, “Alright, Asher. Hold on.” Grabbing onto the chopped golden spear sticking out of Asher’s back, Jessica yanked it the rest of the way out. Wincing, she tossed the spear aside and looked at her hand. Blood. The golden spear seemed to have been covered in some invisible, sharp coating—like broken glass—and Jessica’s palm looked like it had been run over a cheese grater. “Go. Bury him, up to the neck. Where he was at—right there.” Jessica pointed to the pool of mud and Asher’s blood that he was just hanging over. Nursing her wounded hand, she stepped away before snapping back and saying, “And be quick about it. The blood will return to him. It’ll reabsorb into him, but you have to be fast. Get him into the dirt. Now.” Jessica turned and saw Mea; her jaw sagged and she went pale from fear. The Golden Lion of Elysium, the same god who exiled her, was right there… and she was wounded. Jessica’s hand instinctively jerked over to her sword’s hilt but quickly relaxed. While some of the outcasts were still extremely bitter—and angry and violent—about being exiled, Jessica wasn’t one of them. Instead she nodded at Mea then stepped away to bandage up her hand and tend to Asher. Watching, Mea watched as Jessica knealt down next to Asher and touch his blood-smeared face. Again folding her hair behind her ears, Jessica smiled and said something that Mea couldn’t hear.

  Mea turned towards Lilly. Seeing something in Lilly’s eyes, something she’d never seen before—compassion, regret—she turned her head sideways and wrinkled her eyebrow, still wondering what Lilly was doing here. When Lilly gave her a limp smile, a symbol of their renewed friendship, Mea said, “Your arm,” and the moment was over.

  Lilly rolled her eyes and huffed. “Yeah, my arm. I got a new one, no thanks to you.”

  “Thank you. Thank you for helping. But… why?”

  And Lilly huffed again then pushed herself onto her feet. “Why? Why not? Look... Vandriel, Malick, or whatever he was calling himself, he was an asshole, and I don’t like assholes. There you go. That’s your why?”

  Lilly extended her hand down to Mea, and Mea grabbed it. Though it was less painful than before, Lilly yanked Mea onto her feet. With Mea’s arm over her shoulder, Mea felt something else lifting her other one. Daikon. Remaining silent, he gave Mea a sad look then looked away, still wallowing in his perceived failure.

  “Well,” Lilly said as she lifted Mea’s arm off her shoulders, “looks like you got it from here. Go see your brother, both of them—and watch over the
m, especially the little one.” Lilly stepped behind them, squeezing Daikon’s shoulder as she passed by him. “Remember, there’s always something creeping in the shadows, even if you can’t it.” Lilly nodded to Mea and Daikon, lingering a moment longer on the later. “Well, my work here is done.” Lilly stepped away, and a black haze began forming behind her. “Oh,” she said, snapping around and scattering the black haze. “And if you ever—ever—come after me again—me or my banshees, or cut off my arm… I’ll kill you.” Looking at Daikon, she added, “Or I’ll kill you again.” She walked away and the black haze formed behind her again. Four steps later, the black haze was thick, and the back of Lilly appeared less human and more demonic—like a giant, black demon was walking away. A thick, black tail materialized behind her. Two large, black, leathery wings folded out of her back and stretched out and over her shoulders. Her elegant hands and feet were covered in a ghostly fog, making them look like they were enveloped by large three-pronged claws. Between the valley of her wings, the golden-blond waves atop her head sway and shifted upwards, into two ivory horns. The rest of it melted into a golden triangle that was painted over her shoulder and ended in the middle of her back—a golden triangle of gold-colored scales.