Divulgence (Song of Sophangence Book 2)

by E. I. McAllistair

  Divulgence

  a novel

  by E.I. McAllistair

  Song of Sophangence

  Book#2

  Divulgence

  Song of Sophangence, Book #2

  Copyright © E.I McAllistair 2019

  Editor: E.I. McAllistair

  All Rights Reserved

  This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only.

  This book may not be re-sold or given away to other people.

  If you would like to share this book with another person,

  please purchase an additional copy for each recipient.

  If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or it

  was not purchased for your use only, then please return

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  Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  This book is entirely a work of fiction based on real-life locations,

  organizations, and institutions.

  Any correlation with real people or events is coincidental.

  To Athena, like your namesake, the goddess of wisdom, little do you realize how much your words help me grow and inspire me to be better in all I do.

  -E.I. McAllistair

  1

  Through a film of deep blue, the constantly revitalizing Phavian looks on in complete disbelief at the man he loved, with varying emotions warring for supremacy. His first emotion, fear, which is inextricably tied to his deep love for Anaar, grips him, driving him deep into despair, as even though his mind is becoming ever more lucid, it is clear Anaar has no idea what he is up against, and has all but forfeited his life. The second, confusion, as even though Anaar had been known to do amazing things, never once had he gotten the slightest indication the man standing in the midst of the raging waters could have been anything but a Fire Affinity. Finally, as he has the opportunity to process the other more pressing concerns, something wells up inside of him, anger.

  Why had Anaar been lying to everyone, but to him most of all? Did he not say that he loved him? If you love someone, why would you lie so completely about your entire being? Watching his wounds close as if he were being healed by a world class Medic, he begins to question everything Anaar had ever told him now about who and what he was.

  Reaching out to touch the dome of swirling blue energy which was seemingly responsible for his miraculous recovery, he was completely shocked to find that despite it healing him at a remarkable rate, it was greatly enhancing his regenerative response, not actively healing him, and the dome was just as much a prison as it was his savior. The walls were more rigid than he had ever known water attuned barriers to ever be, which called into question if Anaar also a Defender as well. Even Earth attuned barriers which were inherently the strongest, wished they could reach such a level of protection on their best day. Yet here was this man he thought he knew, maintaining it without any thought, somehow infusing it with healing properties, while creating the watery spectacle in front of him.

  Realizing his potential misstep in provoking what he thought was an unstable Fire Affinity to his untimely demise, the de facto leader finds himself bewildered not by the amazingly vicious storm of water before him, easily capable of filling several Olympic sized pools, but by the abject disregard of the boy who was creating the phenomenon, as if he was doing something as simple as breathing. Understanding the danger he was in, it became clear the boy’s words from before were no empty threats, and alone he had no way of stopping such a monstrosity.

  Finding his head amongst the stream of madness, he finally makes the call to his comrades for assistance. Though understood he had no chance of stopping him alone, there was no way one man, one child could take over forty trained men and women, some with devastating powers of their own they could bring to bear. Giving the call to arms, he summons everyone to attack with everything they had as there was no way he could take down their sheer numbers.

  “I know I said I’d handle this alone, but the situation has changed! Everyone get your asses out here and destroy this kid! We might not be able to use guns, but there is no way he can take even five of us, nevertheless the whole squad!”

  What the boy casually responded in turn, brought an icy chill to the depths of his soul.

  “Finally, are we to dispense with the hiding and have some fun? I was beginning to think you were going to make me actually put in some work.”

  As men and women alike rush from their hiding spots in various areas of the warehouse, they wasted no time beginning their assault. One woman who always felt she should have been the leader, immediately unleashes a torrent of wind so dense and at such high speeds there were few things in the world that could match their slicing power. The man realized the battle was all but finished if Plyr was bringing out the big guns right from the start.

  Though he still thought her below him as an Air Affinity, there was no denying the woman’s destructive potential. As the dual blades of wind bisected the boy in an X shaped pattern, he begins to laugh at the thought he had let some flashy display worry him for even a moment. Even if he was a True Water Quintessence, it did not mean he had the power to take them all out by himself without creating an explosion like the one that had ravaged his friends and boss.

  As he began to speak his victory, eulogizing the boy about the potential he could have shown if he had instead joined them and not been so arrogant as to toy with powers he could not hope to understand, he notices the raging waters had not subsided. If anything, they had intensified. Peering through the murky gloom of the warehouse, he sees a clear X pattern along the boy’s clothing, exposing his rippling chest, but otherwise he was completely unaffected.

  Eyes growing wide, he was not sure if the boy had simply healed that quickly, or managed to partially shift into an aqueous form to prevent the damage. The raging waters finally subside, gently coming to form what appeared to be a regal throne made of water in which the boy casually sits down in. Floating slightly off the ground, the boy puts his elbow onto one of the ornately sculpted arms and rests his head on his closed fist.

  “Bored now.”

  From behind them, various portals of water spew forth into the warehouse, pumping in so much water at such a furious pace, it would only take mere minutes to flood the entire large structure. As some people were washed away by the raging currents, others were able to grab hold of things affixed to the ground to prevent being swept into the deluge. While the man was able to anchor himself to prevent being consumed, he became to realize though the boy was definitely powerful, his ability to create a flash flood in a matter of seconds was evidence of such, he was only capable of flashy displays of power that were only good for unnerving his enemies. Without his explosive capabilities he still had very little in the way of offense.

  “Just hold tight, he can’t do much, all of this little more than a parlor trick! He may be capable of extreme feats, but he is still just a kid who can’t hold a candle to our decades of training and honing our skills! Take that fucker out!”

  Almost as if affronted by his words, the man swears hears the boy scoff, and while he was focused on the still casually disinterested boy, posturing as a king presiding over his court, he failed to witness the terror that his team was experiencing. All the water that had been a massive flood in the building, quickly coalesced into two forms, each more terrifying than the last.

  The first form created a massive adder of living water, at least 100 feet long and about 15 feet wide. As quickly as the snake formed, it began lashing out with speed unbecoming something of its size, wrapping around multiple people at once, constricting them, their bones making nauseating crunches, and thei
r organs exploding from their bodies. After each person had been literally squeezed to death in a flash, they were consumed, where the clear aqueous beast gave a gruesome display of what would happen if a human body was placed into a blender with the power to liquify it.

  The snake began to take on a sickly reddish tint as it consumed more of the hapless people, lucky if they were gifted the sweet release of death by swift constriction before being devoured whole, being reduced to pureed human matter mixed amongst their comrades. Screams rang out all over as people darted to and fro, trying their best to escape the beast, seemingly alive with a singular purpose: consumption of human flesh. Beams of energy flashed, barriers went up to no avail, people with Teleportation seemed to have their destinations telegraphed as they reappeared right into the maw of the beast, immediately reduced to nothing.

  Though the people scrambling about the large warehouse, trying to fight or hide, thought they knew terror, it was nothing compared to the utter despair at the hopelessness of their situation when the second beast had formed. Towering over the petrified men and women who were told this was going to be a simple show, a punishment of someone who had taken nearly everything from them, they knew they had been extremely fortunate to still retain their lives. That was at least until the aquatic dragon came into existence, somehow roaring despite only being made of two of the simplest, most abundant elements on the periodic table. Scrambling to get away from the massive serpent, having seen what the adder was capable of when allowed proximity, no one was ready for the furious breath from the king of serpents that though not fire like depicted in fantasy, vaporized human flesh and bone on contact. Such an onslaught left some with only a lower torso and legs standing to be greedily consumed by the adder, or nothing at all as no barrier, no enhanced speed, no blade of wind, nor energy blast did anything to stop it.

  The man who had brought all the remnants of his organization to watch the brutal punishment of someone who dared cross them, found himself utterly paralyzed. The final members of the most powerful affinity purist association in the world, coming together without regard to national borders, was dismantled by one single boy. No, not a boy. The man came to realize his first and last mistake was assuming that what Anaar was capable of was simply uncontrolled destruction. This was not indiscriminate obliteration like he expected, like he planned for. This was cold, calculating and deliberate. This was the work of a demon, possibly the devil himself.

  Surprisingly, he found himself reveling in the knowledge that if he were to be bested, at least it turned out that it was not by some Xasser that just happened to get the best of them. With this display of overwhelming might, it brought him some sense of peace that everything he had always believed was justified. The power of Water Affinities was absolute, and if his life were to end, at least it would come by the hands of a brother who was worthy of extinguishing it.

  As the carnage ensued, Anaar picked up a familiar sound over the bloodcurdling screams of the men and women doing their best to flee or fight in vain. The sound of extremely expensive heels made their way toward the blue dome, housing a completely mortified Phavian. Flicking the dome and noticing she could not break it if she wanted, Ixnes Sastre decided it was of clearly not of detriment to the boy, since she could see Phavian Ingraham looked nothing like the video she had just viewed, and that she could see he was actively healing under the slight glow of the dome.

  Further into the building, she could make out some grand structure composed of water, quite exquisite if she might say so herself. Calmly watching the two massive beasts in the distance lay waste to a number of people, she found herself in no harm as she calmly approached what she realized to be a floating throne. Rather than being disturbed by the scene in front of her, as in her centuries of life she had come across her fair share of grisly incidents, she was rather impressed that with her own abilities she could feel the smooth refinement in the manipulation of the water. This was no amateur by any means, so it came as little surprise to her that the bored face she met when coming around the front of the floating seat was none other than her most recent anomaly, and now adopted son Anaar Vorpahl.

  Looking up at her, completely unfazed by the ravaging of human life in front of him, or by the fact she was there, she was quite aware he had been expecting her, he only did not know exactly when. What did finally surprise her, and quite frankly send a chill down her spine, was not the boy’s bored look, as if playing with toys he had long grown tired of, but the fact his eyes, what she often found to be the centerpiece of his being, with their almost luminous glow even in low light, were barely more than dark pools at the moment.

  “It seems Hobb was more conflicted than I thought. Here I was thinking I wouldn’t get to have any fun. I guess he really is the big brother I never had. Now I have a way back home.”

  “Fun? Child it seems you have an interesting-”

  As she is about to finish her statement, a man comes screaming toward Anaar and Ixnes, seemingly intent on at least trying his best to take out the new person who had arrived. As Ixnes braces to defend herself, the adder flashes, consuming the man whole before he can even notice. It then coils upon itself near the space, its already deep red hue turning even darker upon the consumption of yet another morsel.

  “Hold that thought please. It seems he was the last one that managed to hide.”

  “There is another on his knees right there though.”

  “Oh I know. He fancied himself the leader. Fagan was far more intimidating to say the least. I wonder how he managed to get the job.”

  Springing from his chair, Anaar creeps over to the man who is on his knees paralyzed, with looks as if he if begging for mercy. He sidles around the man gently caressing his face with a single finger, as he leans down, dark pools staring into the man’s eyes. Slack jawed and whimpering the man pleads for his life.

  “Please, I didn’t mean it. I promise I won’t ever bother you again if you just let me go. We are brothers! If I had known you were a Water-”

  With a crisp backhand, Anaar draws blood from the man’s mouth. “How dare you?! First you people used me and tried to take my mother from me. Then, you tried to take the man I love from me. Now you have audacity to call us brothers? Was it not just minutes ago I was mere trash in your eyes to be disposed of? It seems you had the wrong idea about who was doing the collecting. You affinity purists make me sick. I am nothing like you, nor will we ever share any sort of kinship. To make things worse, you didn’t even make things interesting! How am I supposed to have any fun with this pitiful display?! The only reason why you all were allowed a quick end is because Phavian is still alive and by this point he should be fully healed. If there was even a thought you would have left a scar, you would have prayed for the hottest place in hell to come take you.”

  The adder, looking on hungrily at the man, leans down flicking its now deep red tongue along the man’s face causing him to whimper, loosing his bowels in the process.

  “What did you do to me?!”

  “I thought Water Affinities were superior? I would have expected you had figured that out by now. Just a little something I picked up from a friend, and my own studies. What is your body primarily made out of, hmmm?”

  “You… You shouldn’t be able to control the water in my body! That is just insane!” He looks over to Ixnes, “You! You are the Headmistress of that school! You can’t just stand by and let something like this happen! What kind of leader would you be!?”

  Ixnes takes a few steps forward, addressing the man. “Twice you people have caused this boy pain and suffering, all for your own ends. If I had the chance, I would have never let him dirty his hands with your blood, but some things cannot be changed. Child, I can only presume with the others you could at least say you acted out of self-defense. Seeing as these cretins kidnapped yet another of my students, tortured him, all while trying to lure another into a deathtrap, I personally find their sentence too light. This one however is of no threat to you any longer.
He has no support, and no resources. It would be a win for the authorities to take him into custody. Also, if you end his life, you cross a line you cannot come back from. Know this, and do not fall prey to the same ills they wished upon the world.”

  With her words, Anaar straightens up, frankly sick of the smell coming from the despicable man, turning to make his way back toward Ixnes.

  With a sigh of relief, Ixnes breathes easy, glad she could stop Anaar from making a potentially grave mistake. As Anaar nears Ixnes, the man shouts out in gratitude to the woman.

  “Thank you! I knew I could trust a fellow Water Affinity to do the right thing and save their own! There is no way you could just let that savage-”

  As the man is shouting his gratitude toward Ixnes, she lets out a small yelp when millions of microscopic threads of water converge upon the man, sharper than any blade, and cut through him with such precision, there is a delay for the physics to catch up as he is reduced to nothing but a finely chopped pile of human matter and clothing. With a shocked look, laced with disappointment, Ixnes peers from the Anaar, to the mound, to Anaar again.

  With a shrug, “What? He deserved it. Not to mention he could totally tell the authorities what I did and about my abilities. Loose ends and all that.”

  Walking over to the dome where a completely healed Phavian sat mortified as he watched the scene of what he could have never imagined in his worst nightmares, the screams, the crushing of bones, the consumption of people like bite-sized candies, play over and over in his mind. More than the gruesome scene itself, he had to come to terms with the fact the man he loves, or possibly loved was capable of such cold malevolence. As the dome dissipates and Anaar leans down to check Phavian, he sees that Anaar’s eyes are mere shadows of their normal splendor, which gives him pause, then he scurries backward in fear.

  “You look good as new. It would have been a shame if they would have messed up such a pretty face.”