Lords of Kobol - Prelude: Of Gods and Titans

by Edward T. Yeatts III

truck and was preparing to put them inside when something happened. The major's radio began to squawk and he was being yelled at in Fengi. His eyes went wide and he ran to his soldiers and began to order them around. Two men grabbed Hermes and tossed him into the transport. Then they lifted Metis and Semele before doing the same.

  "What's going on?" Dionysus asked.

  Zeus answered, "I'm not sure."

  As soon as he finished saying it he saw Poseidon looking toward the sky. Zeus turned to follow his gaze and he heard the sound of a distant jet plane. High above they saw twin vapor trails behind a single wedge-shaped aircraft. It arced across the sky and attracted the attention of all the Olympians, soldiers, and police there on the tarmac. Some of the soldiers began to mutter to themselves and make warding gestures in front of their bodies.

  "Oh no," Bia said. "They're praying."

  Zeus' shoulders slumped and he looked at the ground. A few of the Huban nearby dropped to their knees. He looked toward his brothers and felt a sudden pain in his chest. His throat tightened and he gave them a little nod. Then Zeus looked at the rest of the Olympians. Bia and Polemos seemed strong, but the others were unsure. Zeus smiled at them all and nodded again. "It's time."

  Bia smiled and said, "We'll see you up there."

  The plane was nearly on the opposite side of the sky when it finally happened. A blinding flash to the east. The light warmed their skin as though an oven door had been opened. There was no sound. At all. Then their ears popped and the ground quaked with the roar of the detonation. Zeus squinted and dared to look at the inferno. An expanding white finger fueled by fire stretched into the sky. Before he could fully appreciate the scale of what he saw, the shockwave reached the shipyards, blowing dust, trees, vehicles, and more across everything in sight. The Psilons nearly fell and they braced their feet on the asphalt against the harsh wind. The truck was knocked over, killing several of them. Zeus saw Macaria, Ate, and Hephaestus get hit by debris from a building. He fell to his knees and struggled to keep his eyes closed as dirt tore into his skin. Then the heat came and burned anyone who remained.

  CV

  THE MESSENGERS

  The Day of the End

  It was, in a word, remarkable.

  The being stood in the dimly lit marble room with the Caesar, a man whom he tried to influence more than a hundred years ago, and with Thon Ahljaela, a person whose family he had followed and guided for nearly as long.

  So humble and meek were their beginnings, he thought. And here he is. Unbidden by me, he has come to this place in this hour to meet with the most powerful person on the planet.

  "My reckoning?" Maxentius asked.

  Ahljaela nodded. "Your destiny."

  The Caesar didn't answer. He looked toward Ares and said, "And you?"

  He shook his head and said, "I'm with him. This is between you two."

  The emperor sighed and clasped his hands behind himself. "I don't know who you are. You have come into my house like a thief. An opportunist. The world burns around us and you've come to … do what?"

  "For the moment, talk."

  Caesar looked at his throne and took a step toward it. "Very well." He cleared his throat and said, "So, who are you?"

  The intruder stood straight and held his head high. "I am Thon Ahljaela. Son of a long line of workers for the Empire. We have been at your mercy for generations."

  The imperator nodded. "And I've held you down for centuries, is that it? I and my forefathers?"

  Thon nodded once. "Yes."

  "Plebeians," Caesar muttered. "You take and take from the Empire and you want more." He saw the man become agitated, "Now, now. It's not only plebeians. The patricians, too. They wanted their favors. They wanted to extend their lives." He shook his head and said, "Millions of them gone now."

  "You're welcome."

  Maxentius raised his eyebrows. "Oh, so you're a terrorist, too? Bombing datafarms and disabling the Matrix so the Transfers lose their way and vanish into the ether?" Thon nodded. "I see." He glanced toward the window and sighed at the sight of a fire grown larger. "Only now do I begin to feel the loss. The loss of … millennia." He turned from the chair and walked toward the window.

  Ahljaela followed. "What are you talking about?"

  "The Empire, thief." He put his hand on the glass. It was cool to the touch, but he didn't smile at the sensation this time. "For three thousand years, Tiberia was the greatest nation on the face of the world. In all that time, people took and took. Optimates. Patricians. They took. You workers. Farmers. You took." Caesar looked out the window and nodded toward the fires. "Still taking." He shook his head and spoke louder. "None of you, none of them, can fathom its value. The Empire is falling! And none but I know its worth." His throat seized and he felt tears welling in his eyes. It had been so long since he cried … maybe he should now for the experience.

  Thon shook his head. "Millions of your people, your citizens, are dying. Fighting and dying out there. Some against Cylon invaders and the rest because they are hungry and desperate after many hard decades of … of you!" He moved toward the balcony doors and made a fist. "And you are upset because they don't recognize the value of the Empire? That they don't understand the sacrifices you've made?'"

  Maxentius thought and stared at billowing smoke. "Yes."

  "You're evil."

  The Caesar smiled and said, "I don't think so." An ornate clock on the far wall dinged. They turned toward it and saw that it was now midnight.

  "No more lies," Ahljaela said. "It's getting late."

  "I haven't lied," Caesar said. "Not to you. Not to anyone for a while."

  The Messenger moved toward Thon and saw that his mind was racing. Part of him wanted to kill the Caesar now. Another part wanted to rant before him and describe what life had been like under his thumb. He was conflicted.

  Ahljaela breathed deeply and he remembered. Four years ago, the datafarm he destroyed. The files he found on his family. He remembered, briefly, the anger that swept through him. Then he felt the relief. The relief of knowledge. The pride. He knew what his family did and tried to do. Those who worked, those who fought, those who conformed. Mar, Rovil, Sado, Kana, Dovi, Rici, Thon. The last Ahljaela was overwhelmed and fell to his knees.

  The Caesar didn't notice. Planes flew overheard and he watched them. A patrol of Praetorians raced beneath him in Viminal Square. An explosion on the Avantine Hill briefly illuminated the night. He pounded on the door frame and screamed, "Why?! Why is this happening? Why now?"

  Ahljaela looked up and said, softly, "Don't get excited."

  "'Excited?'" The emperor turned on his heel and looked down at the man. "How can I not be 'excited' at a time such as this?"

  Thon smiled and began to stand. For the first time, he looked at the Caesar with pity. "You're not evil." The emperor's head twitched in surprise. Ahljaela nodded and said, "Like many of them out there … like me for most of my life … you think life is some sort of prank played on you. Opportunity is theirs now, so they're trying to be the jokers for a change. You. You were the joker for two hundred years."

  Maxentius still felt angry. Warmth rose through him and washed in waves over his face. But he knew the young man was right. "I tried. I was the emperor. I tried to keep everything together." He looked at the new fires and mumbled, "I wasn't the joker. I was the joke." He sighed and said, "Years and years, I struggled against the tide. Nothing seemed to matter in the end."

  Thon began to walk toward the Caesar. With each step, he saw and heard another of his ancestors. A tear fell over his cheek. He felt their pains. He saw their revolts and their acquiescence. When Ahljaela reached the balcony doors, he saw that the emperor was weeping, too. "We've both been through that. I see it now."

  The emperor nodded. He saw sympathy in Thon's eyes. He hadn't felt someone behold him in such a way for years. Maxentius' torso
was racked with an emotional spasm and he inhaled quickly to conceal it. He put his hand on Ahljaela's shoulder and said, "Is this it? Is this the end?"

  The intruder looked toward the floor and said, "I don't know. This … might not be our fate."

  "Back to that destiny thing, eh?" The Caesar smiled and said, "I made a bargain with destiny, you know. Long ago."

  Thon was confused and said, "What do you mean?"

  "Before Tiberia invaded Strand. My father, the Caesar, made my older brother the magister for that campaign." He felt himself growing emotional again. He paused and then powered through it. "As the younger brother, I was probably never going to become the emperor. I prayed for the opportunity to take his place. I wasn't a believer or anything, but even the godless occasionally bargain with empty space from time to time, when they're alone. I asked to get where I am now."

  "In return for what?"

  Maxentius shrugged and turned back to the view. "I believe, in the face of this loss, I'm holding up my end." He remembered Faustus and the relief he showed when his younger brother arrived to kick him out. The emperor understood. He felt guilty then, he still did, but at least he understood that look of relief.

  The Caesar also remembered that curious hallucination of Faustus shortly before his death. 'Trying to shoot life into veins you don't even have anymore.' Each time the emperor got a new body, he remembered that phrase. He looked down and stroked his fresh fleshly