The Cosmic Spark

by Leo Ndelle

  The youngling’s eyes sparkled with renewed hope and courage as she nodded more confidently. Eliel stood up and extended his arm. She clasped it in a strong grip as he helped her to her feet. He thought it was odd that no one was attacking them anymore but shrugged it off as him being lucky.

  “Ready?” he asked with a smile of encouragement.

  “Ready, sir!” she replied with more courage and fire in her eyes than before.

  But when Eliel turned around to face the fight, everyone and everything had come to a complete standstill as if someone had hit a ‘PAUSE’ button on a DVR remote control. Before he could process the sudden change in scenery, he heard a familiar voice call his name the same way it did when he was watching over Baby JEM.

  “Eliel.”

  Eliel turned around and saw the youngling smiling at him. He relaxed his body, dismissed his weapon and wings, and responded the only way he could.

  “Yes, Mother.”

  ***

  Lunok neutralized the destructive power The Darkness had released into Earth Realm by releasing a vibration of order against the vibrations of chaos from The Darkness. Slowly, Earth Realm no longer shook like a ragdoll and the threat of an implosion was gone. The geo-storms, earthquakes, tsunamis and everything else ceased, but Earth was still smothered in darkness. At the same time, Lunok contained the raging, viscous, energy form of The Darkness by releasing equal doses of light consciousness against the dark consciousness of The Darkness. These doses of light consciousness caused temporary destructive interference when it clashed with the dark consciousness from The Darkness. Lunok and The Darkness were two Shemsus who had undergone major transmutations of their essences battling it out at the cusp of the Cosmic Spark.

  Emok, The Darkness, raged and focused all its power on Lunok, just as Lunok expected. As Emok charged towards him, Lunok summoned an energy field around the two of them, trapping himself and The Darkness in the energy bubble and thereby shielding the power of The Darkness from the rest of Creation. Emok was infuriated beyond words and released insane amounts of energy, fueled to exponential levels by his rage. But Lunok continued to contain Emok, despite him growing weaker by the moment, it seemed. Almost immediately, the darkness in the realm disappeared and everything seemed to return to normal.

  Marlo thought he was dead but was relieved to realize that the spear did not kill him, though it stuck out of his chest. He pulled it out of his chest and as he did, his wound closed up by itself. He waited, but nothing else happened. Marlo took his good fortune as a blessing from Creation. He scanned around him and saw Team Shi’mon wiping out the remainder of Beelzebub’s creatures. He located his target of interest: Yehuda. Finally, his vengeance was going to come full circle. However, as Marlo was about to zip for the kill, a figure appeared in front of him. Marlo froze. He was too shocked to react when Marcus reached out and snatched the spear from Marlo’s hand.

  “I warned you not to kill me,” Marcus said and plunged the spear into Marlo’s heart as he grabbed Marlo by the jaw and forced Marlo’s mouth open.

  Marlo saw Marcus’ eyes flashed in a pure, white brightness as pure white flames flowed from Marcus’ mouth into his. It was déjà vu, only this time, it was different. This time, he was not losing his soul like the first time when a white mist flowed from his mouth into Yehuda’s. This time, Marlo felt the burn from inside that was unlike any burn he had felt before. His essence burned away and everything that constituted his perception of who he was burned away; his pain, love, memories, passions, lust, thirst for vengeance, his ego burned away. Marlo felt his existence being consumed by something he could not describe; only that it was pure. And as the lifeform that was Marlo burned away to his end, the last thing he remembered was the nothingness he was fading into.

  Marcus’ empty hand that held what used to be Marlo’s jaw dropped to his side. Not even a single ether remained from what used to be Marlo. Marcus placed the spear of destiny long-side against his chest and it blended with his essence.

  “My purpose is served,” he said to himself. “I can now depart in peace.”

  And with those words, Marcus faded away into the ethers.

  The surge in energy Keerim felt earlier gave him a false sense of courage and he wasted no time in attacking Fazim. He flamed up and saw Fazim flaming up as well and zipping towards him. He summoned a sphere of energy and threw it towards Fazim but Fazim evaded the sphere of energy with a forward roll and lunged at him. Keerim reeled backwards as the crown of Fazim’s head connected with his chin and the sphere of energy went right through the Sphinx’s rump, leaving a smooth, round tunnel across the Sphinx’s rump.

  Fazim chased Keerim as he reeled backwards. However, Keerim rolled to the side, and Fazim missed her follow-up attack. She quickly rebounded, only to meet Keerim’s knee with her face. The force of Keerim’s attack sent her body flying in the air until she felt Keerim’s hand around her left ankle. Next thing she knew, Keerim slammed her body against the Sphinx, breaking off several pieces of rock from the structure.

  Even from Yehuda’s perspective, these paradins moved in violet blurs that were too quick for him to register. The Sphinx and the ground around the Sphinx were taking a massive beating though. It was too bad that such a wonder of the ancient world was being destroyed as such. At least, the pyramids were still intact but even that may not be the case if this continued much longer.

  The fight was dragging on far longer than Fazim had planned and so she decided to end it. Her initial plan was to end Keerim, the one who betrayed her and caused her to fall and who was guilty of treason against Zodica. Was her quest of vendetta more important that the ethical demands of her duty as guardian? Maybe and maybe not. Anyway, her mission was to locate and bring back Keerim, using any means necessary. So much was left to interpret from her orders but she had to apply wisdom and emotional maturity. Fazim made up her mind. She slid behind Keerim, trapping both his arms to his side and immediately teleported to the council, where Keerim was immediately placed in an auric containment.

  ***

  “You have done well, Guardian,” Nakim complimented Fazim.

  Nakim quickly adjourned all other ongoing and pending cases until further notice. Keerim’s situation was of utmost importance.

  “We are all very proud of you!” Nakim added.

  “Thank you Council Mother,” Fazim replied politely, as she turned her back towards Keerim to face the council members.

  “Guards!” Nakim called out and four guards appeared. “Take him away,” she ordered and brought down the auric containment around Keerim.

  Keerim sensed the auric containment coming down and immediately seized his opportunity. He knew he would be going away forever. He knew he could not handle four guards by himself, not without The Scribe’s help and The Scribe had been snatched away by some other similarly powerful, or even more powerful, entity. So, no one was coming to his rescue; but before he went away, he would make this tiny moment of his freedom count and do something that will give him true happiness for the rest of his existence in prison. He summoned a sword burning with violet flames as the four guards started zipping towards him. He knew the guards were too late, and so was Council Mother who was in the process of returning the auric containment around him. Keerim’s victory would be final with the fall of Fazim, Guardian of Zodica. And that was Keerim’s mistake; he did not fully grasp what it meant for someone to be called a guardian!

  Fazim’s right hand lashed outward and backwards as a sword burning with violet flames also formed in her hand. Her sword sliced cleanly through Keerim’s forearms as they were cocked backwards in preparation of his attack. Fazim was much faster than he was as her sword continued its path through his forearms and neck. She met the eyes of her former lover and betrayer. There was a final spark of shock, regret, anger, pleading and confusion in his eyes before all life evaporated from Keerim’s body. Fazim watched with pleasure as Keerim’s severed arms slid off and fell to the floor along with his head. Next,
his headless body crumbled to the floor before bursting into violet flames. Fazim dismissed her sword and summoned bright white flames that burned away Keerim’s ashes to nothing. She then turned around and faced the council.

  “My mission has been accomplished, dear Council!” Fazim declared.

  “Indeed, Guardian Fazim,” concurred a council man. “Indeed.”

  The Realm of Zodica cheered on as Fazim heaved her shoulders. She had no idea closure could feel this great.

  Nakim’s expression was still grim, though, and Fazim understood why.

  “Council Mother,” Fazim said. “Something troubles you, I see.”

  “Yes, Guardian Fazim,” Nakim said. “We are glad our guardian is here with us and that the traitor is no more. But something major is happening to Creation. The cosmic clusters are behaving in very erratic and strange patterns. We have never witnessed anything like this before and it troubles me deeply. The Overlord has no answer for this situation either.”

  “I may know what is happening to Creation, Council Mother,” Fazim offered.

  ***

  Patrick was on top of The Beast before The Beast knew it. He rained a number of punches on Beelzebub’s face before Beelzebub caught his hand and gave it a sharp twist to the right. Patrick was distracted by the sharp pain from a shattered wrist as The Beast plunged a dagger into Patrick’s gut. The blade sank two inches into Patrick’s gut before Sarael’s whip wrapped around Beelzebub’s dagger-wielding wrist and pulled it away from Patrick. Beelzebub turned his attention towards Sarael, allowing Patrick the split second he needed to heal. Patrick summoned a dagger in his free hand and drove it into the chest of The Beast.

  Lithilia’s sudden blast of Shemsu energy had worn her out and her humanity had returned. No parent should ever bury their child and worse of all, no parent should ever have to witness the death of their child. She was completely oblivious to the world around her as she crawled slowly towards the lifeless, headless body of her son and cradled it in her arms. She had no iota of will left in her, not even the will to weep. She sniveled as she looked around, searching for her son’s head. When she found it, she gently placed Cahen’s body on the ground, crawled towards the head, picked it up and brought it back to Cahen’s body. She pressed Cahen’s head several times against the exposed stump of Cahen’s neck as if she could reattach his head that way. It was a futile attempt, but Lithilia’s temporary insanity dictated that she continued trying.

  A hand gently took her wrist and another gently went to her cheek. Lithilia’s eyes flashed upwards. The tearing eyes of Miryam saw the look of a woman whose pain had propelled her to the precipice of paranoia. Miryam held Lithilia’s gaze for a few seconds before she turned her attention towards the son she had once lost and had just found. Miryam broke down and wept as her body burst into green flames. The brutal reality of the situation finally dawned on Lithilia. Her body burst into orange flames as she wept for Cahen, the center of her universe. The two mothers cradled Cahen’s mortal remains as the rest of Shi’mon’s team shared their grief.

  “Let’s finish The Beast once and for all!” Yaakov spat.

  “Hold on, brother!” Shi’mon countered.

  Somewhere in her grief, Lithilia found a spark of anger. Somewhere in her pain, Lithilia fanned an ember of vengeance. Somewhere in her loss, Lithilia summoned the Shemsu in her. She turned around just in time to see Patrick plunge the blade into the chest of her son’s murderer.

  Make him pay! For our son! Lithilia heard Miryam’s voice say in her head.

  Lithilia nodded and teleported towards Beelzebub. She snatched him by the throat and levitated with him. Her strength dwarfed Beelzebub’s many times over. She stared into the eyes of The Beast and saw the morbid dread in his eyes. She neutralized his attempts to teleport away from her grip around his throat. Her eyes flared with pale, purple flames as they dug deep into Beelzebub’s. Lithilia wanted Beelzebub to know what was coming to him before it actually came. She felt his powerlessness, fear and hopelessness in every sense of the word and now, The Beast was going to meet a befitting end for the gravest mistake he ever made in his entire existence. Pale, purple flames erupted from her mouth and eyes into Beelzebub’s mouth and eyes respectively.

  The Beast felt the burn as Lithilia let him feel every bit of anger, every bit of hatred, every ounce of pain, every ounce of sorrow, every morsel of loss and every morsel of vengeance she felt in her essence. She summoned all these and more and poured them into Beelzebub. Beelzebub screamed and wailed as he was consumed inside-out by a fire that burned his essence. But The Beast was not burned out of existence. That would have been a mercy! He felt as if he was in a constant state of death, revival and death repeated millions of times over. He wished he could die, but Lithilia would not give him that satisfaction yet. Right then, she was a furious Shemsu and The Beast was the reason for her fury. Finally, Lithilia felt her Shemsu energy slowly drain out of her and with that drain, The Beast was finally burned out of existence. Lithilia floated towards the ground and faced the rest of the team.

  Patrick helped Sarael to her feet. Shi’mon and his team slowly approached Lithilia with sincere condolences written all over their faces. She may have been an enemy, but her loss felt like theirs. After all, she and her son, also once their enemy, had fought alongside them.

  Miryam was still sobbing as she cradled Cahen’s headless corpse. Lithilia met her eyes, shifted her gaze towards Sarael and then back at Miryam. She nodded towards Miryam and Miryam nodded back at her. Lithilia teleported away.

  “Where did she go to?” Sarael asked at no one in particular.

  “To find another fallen archangel,” Miryam replied.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

  EGO II

  THE HELLSPAWNS HAD the advantage of strength and speed over the armies of Celestia. Even Raphael’s elite force was having a hard time with them. Raphael lost about a tenth of his forces before he issued a quick order.

  “Switch to long-range weapons!” he commanded. “Keep them at a distance!”

  There was an immediate weapons switch to spears, shoges, spear-swords, spiked maces and hammers with chains attached to their heads. Raphael and his squad attacked before the hellspawns zipped. They could not afford to waste any moves as each wasted move could easily equate to their fatality. The hellspawns fell faster than Raphael’s forces and that changed for the better when Raphael’s forces had a most unexpected help.

  Michael crashed amidst a group of twenty-four hellspawns and immediately drew their attention. They displayed a deep-seeded hatred for Michael, though this was their first time seeing Michael. The hatred was part of their esoteric makeup, thanks to their makers Metatron and Luceefa.

  “I need five on my wings! We fly towards Michael!” a captain on Raphael’s squad commanded.

  “No!” Raphael cancelled the order as he smashed the head of a hellspawn to pieces. “He’ll be fine!”

  “Aye, general!” the captain affirmed as he evaded an attack from a hellspawn.

  “Damn you, Michael!” Raphael cursed at Michael via telepathy.

  “We should end this quickly and return to the easier fight, brother!” Michael explained in like manner as he stared down the hellspawns that growled towards him with violet-glowing eyes. “I’ll leave one for you. How about that?”

  “Five!” Raphael replied and shook his head.

  “Five it will be!” Michael affirmed and summoned his archangel battle flame.

  Five hellspawns attacked at once in a perfectly choreographed fashion. When did they learn how to fight like that? Michael thought as he evaded the attacks from three of the hellspawns, shattered the kneecap of a fourth one with a stomp kick as he grabbed the head of the fifth one. The hellspawns were a little stronger and faster than Raphael was, but Michael was much stronger and faster than the hellspawn were. The hellspawn with the shattered kneecap grunted and crashed to a knee as Michael spun around in a complete circle with the fifth hellspawn’s head still held
tight against his body, twisting the head off the hellspawn’s body. He chased the momentum of his spin with a forward roll towards the hellspawn with the shattered knee. The hellspawn healed itself and was about to stand of its feet when Michael leaped in the air and kneed its head off its body as he summoned a shoge. He waved the shoge over his head in perfect timing to the three hellspawns whose attacks he had evaded and who were now zipping towards him to finish what they started. Their bodies crashed to the ground under the momentum of their zip as their heads were separated from their bodies.

  Michael dismissed the shoge as he landed on the ground. His archangel battle flame changed to slightly deeper violet. He surrendered to the transmutation of his essence as he became less archangel, more Shemsu, and more like Emok. Or maybe it was more like the dark entity in Emok’s tainted essence. Contemplating on such issues was a luxury he could not afford at the moment. However, he would summon that power, channel it and use it. Michael stared down nineteen hellspawns, daring any of them to make a move and be the first to fall by the sword he just summoned.

  “Can you feel it?” he asked as violet-yellow flames flowed from his mouth.

  The hellspawns regarded one another and grunted in what he interpreted as fear and uncertainty. Not that it mattered. Their fate was a given regardless of how they felt right now.

  “Come on!” Michael yelled and infused his sword with supercharged archangel battle flame. “COME ON!”

  And with a bestial cry of war, the hellspawns all charged towards Michael.

  Raphael heard the explosion and saw the beam of light that wiped out nearly a score of hellspawns as if the hellspawns were never there in the first place. When the glare of light from the explosion subsided, an archangel supreme with a violet archangel battle flame gazed ahead in awe-inspiring glory.

  “Damn you, Michael!” Raphael said via telepathy and smiled, grateful to be fighting on Michael’s side.

  “I’ll leave you five as promised,” Michael replied with a chuckle.