The Bloodline Inheritance

by Brad A. LaMar

  “Doesn’t matter. Just memorize it,” he told himself.

  The man began to read the words and was growing more excited as he spoke. The sounds, also unfamiliar, bounced into Brendan’s brain and etched themselves into his synapses.

  Suddenly, the light went out and Brendan knew he was alone in the blackness.

  …

  The door was thrown open and Arawn had to squint as his eyes adjusted to the light that was pouring into the recently-darkened room where he and Argona were being held. A dark figure stood in the door backlit by the light source staring at the star-crossed lovers in silence.

  “Who’s there?” Argona demanded.

  The figure took a few steps forward and they could see his smirk.

  “Today’s the day,” Camulos informed them. “Today’s the day that you will be tried for your crimes and punished.”

  Arawn glanced down at the glint of light reflecting off of Camulos’ now infamous sword. Stories had been circulating for years about Camulos and his ability to kill would-be immortal gods and goddesses with the god killer sword. Until that moment Arawn hadn’t believed the rumors.

  “Some of my guards will be by shortly to fetch you, and you can join my special guest on stage for the trial.” Camulos spun on his heals and began to leave before having a departing thought. “Oh, and you should know that justice will be dispensed rather quickly. I’m not one to doddle.”

  …

  “What’s your cousin like, Airmid?” Lizzie asked as the group began the trek to Sarvaloo.

  Airmid took a moment to think about her answer. “That’s a complicated question, Lizzie—you seem to be full of them today. I’ve known her for thousands of years and who she is can morph and change and transform all over again, and seems to do so often. At times Boann has been my best friend and confidant, then, at other times, like now, she has a lot of hate in her heart.”

  “I couldn’t imagine having to have a relationship with someone for thousands of years,” Rohl interjected. “It seems that most people can’t stand a few hours with me as it is.”

  “I’ll second that,” Garnash said in jest. “But you’re with friends now, Rohl.”

  “Isn’t that sweet? Let’s see if you’re friends to the death,” Boann called from the top of an approaching hill.

  Boann grinned cruelly as twenty fachen fanned out behind her, howling and wailing, gearing up for the carnage of battle.

  “Come on! Again?” Rohl whined.

  Boann lifted her arm into the air. “Destroy them!”

  Fachen charged down the hill, their mouths frothing in their eagerness to taste blood.

  …

  Caoranach floated across the desert terrain ignoring the beauty of the expansive night sky and the imposing buttes and mesas of the Mohave. She navigated by pure sense and instinct, allowing the ancient power of the Chamber portal to guide her. It didn’t take long to find the little cave that housed secrets that the mortals would never uncover.

  The mother of demons moved inside the cave and noticed a small pack of coyotes huddled together against the wall. She exhaled a small amount of spores when the canines started to growl at her. The poisoned mist floated where she directed it and engulfed the pack, causing them to mutate on contact. The dogs shook at the shock of pain and fell on their sides panting and howling until the change began to occur. The coyotes tripled in size as horrific yellow veins began to pop up on their skin, burning away the fur that dared to conceal them. When the transformation was complete the animals looked to Caoranach for direction.

  “Murder any human you come across and bring about despair,” she said with a sly grin.

  Instantly the coyotes ran for the exit and disappeared into the night. The thought of the screams to come made Caoranach almost giddy.

  “Back to work,” she said to the empty cavern.

  She held out her arms and allowed her feet to touch the cave floor. As soon as there was contact, everything around her began shaking. She stood there long enough to disrupt the integrity of the structure and then floated out of the cave. She didn’t bother to turn around to watch it collapse in on itself. Time was short, and there were many entrances to the Chamber that she needed to seal before it was too late.

  …

  “Peigi, soon our master will arrive and the end of this world will follow. Isn’t that wonderful?” Crannog asked as he and Peigi stood near the Standing Stones of Callanish. “We will be rewarded for our efforts.”

  Peigi stood in silence only half listening to the voice that she knew all too well. It had haunted her since childhood. It was synonymous with her family being murdered and now it was the only voice she heard. Something was wrong, but she couldn’t quite place it.

  The moon was high and bright but was only in its three-quarters stage. Several puffy clouds, dark and purple, were moving in from the west threatening rain. An area of grass near the Standing Stones began to move as if a thousand gophers were milling about just beneath the surface. Five black obsidian megaliths erupted from the earth and began to flare to life.

  “Master!” Crannog said, bowing low.

  Elathan stepped out of the megaliths with Oscar and Angie being carried by his powers. He took one look at the girl and raised an eyebrow. “Do you think it wise to try and keep a Berserker under your little enchantment? She could kill you at any moment.”

  “I admit that I was desperate. I needed to find the Dryad so that I could locate the Crown. Besides, she doesn’t know what she is. I killed her family long ago but spared her. I knew she would be useful one day.”

  “Ever the planner.” Elathan took a step closer to Peigi and took in her aurora. “This one has spirit. She’s dangerous—for you.”

  The golden god spun around and took in the site of the Standing Stones. The arrangement now made sense to him. They were arranged in a circle at the center with four arms that stretched out in the cardinal directions. This was delicate work that had been done to access the pulse of the universe making it the only reason Elathan could understand why the Earth existed at all.

  “Is the mother of demons joining us, sire?” Crannog asked sheepishly.

  “No. She’s busy,” Elathan said.

  …

  Hours eked by in Brendan’s mind, but the one thing that never left him was the pure white shard of the dominion pulse. The more time he spent in his mind the more familiar he was becoming with the pulse.

  The shard spoke to him in unexpected ways. Wherever he walked, the little white mineral would float nearby, slightly pulsing, daring him to find the set of six that had been ripped apart. He could feel its pain at having been torn asunder.

  “It’s not right!” Brendan said. “Elathan must be stopped.”

  He looked at the darkness around him and screamed. “Wake up!”

  …

  Simmons sat at the fairly messy CHH kitchen table leaning on his left hand and stirring his coffee with the other. Wanda and Patty snacked on some crackers, a poor substitute for scones.

  “I had convinced myself that none of this could be real—I mean, how can it be?” Simmons said, shaking his head.

  “Believe me, when I first found out about this world I was in shock as well.” Ken glanced towards the Smith sisters. “It’s sort of the every day now.”

  The house began to shake momentarily, surprising them all.

  “What was that?” Simmons asked, jumping to his feet.

  The air was then split by an ear-piercing cry of a creature.

  “Forget that shake—what was that noise?” Patty asked as she and Wanda flew closer together.

  The house creaked, and they could hear the physical strain that the building was experiencing. The creature’s noise sounded again and Ken’s eyes were drawn straight up to the ceiling. All at once Ken, Simmons, and the Smith sisters made for the front door. They hit the porch steps and then looked up at the roof.

  “Holy crap!” Simmons exclaimed.

  “Oh, honey, you are on y
our own with this!” Wanda declared before she buzzed away.

  “That girl’s not lying,” Patty said as she followed her sister.

  “What is that thing?” Simmons asked as he reached for his phone.

  The niseag roared again but didn’t seem to notice the pair of humans who were staring up at it; instead it took to the air and circled the CHH. It was massive with unnatural horns shooting out of odd spots on its body. Yellow veins made it even more monstrous as it flapped its impressive wings.

  “What is it doing?” Ken asked.

  He didn’t have to wait long as the beast dove down at the house and unleashed a stream of cold breath encasing the building entirely in ice. Then in one quick move the niseag launched its body headlong through the center of the structure smashing it to bits before flying off into the distance. Ken and Simmons were forced to take cover from all of the debris and ice.

  “What just happened?” Ken shouted as he got to his feet.

  “I don’t know, but I know there are going to be a bunch of frightened people out there. I gotta go.”

  “Wait! Take me with you,” Ken shouted as he followed the detective to his car.

  Simmons started to protest but then softened. “Fine, kid. You’re going to be my witness so that no one else thinks I’m crazy.”

  “Let’s hope that they don’t just see two lunatics.”

  …

  Dorian wasted no time with the first two fachen that approached her as she blasted one crisp hole through both of their chests.

  “Try not to kill them,” warned Aine. “These creatures are under Elathan’s influence. They can’t control themselves.”

  “That’s not going to stop them from killing us!” Frank said, swiping at an aggressive fachen baring its fangs and claws.

  Rohl’s body quadrupled in size so that he could tower over the ravenous fachen in the form of a gorilla dragon. Garnash leapt on top of Rohl’s broad shoulders, his hands already alive with ancient Gnome magic.

  “I’ve got your back, mate!” the Gnome King shouted as he hopped from one fachen to the next planting globs of magic and threading them together like a spider. Seconds later the trio of beasts were tugged on by the tether and forced to slam into one another.

  Boann slipped through the battlefield until she came face to face with Airmid. “Do you think that Camulos would allow you to heal the Protector even if you get past us? He will kill you where you stand, cousin. I’m doing you a favor.”

  “By trying to kill me? Remind me to not ask for any more favors from you.”

  “The fachen aren’t going to attack you—only them,” Boann said, not sure how to react to the puzzled look on Airmid’s face. “Those beings mean nothing, Airmid! Humans and scum like Púcas mean nothing.”

  “Who do you think Camulos is? Who do you think Elathan is?” Airmid shook her head. “Do you really believe they care about you? They are evil, spiteful gods who care about nothing but themselves. You saw Camulos kill Maponus in cold blood.”

  Boann’s brow creased at hearing the ugly truth. “You don’t know what you’re talking about!”

  “Let’s go to Camulos and ask him together,” Airmid challenged.

  Boann turned away from her cousin and looked out at the fight, lost in reflection.

  …

  A large crowd of gods and goddesses had been gathered in the square of Sarvaloo at the base of Camulos’ building where the stage had been transformed into an opened courtroom. The largest of the fachen at Camulos’ disposal were posted around the court-stage along with his task force lead by Neit to make sure that the peace, at least Camulos’ peace, was kept.

  The crowd began to mumble as they stood waiting for something to happen. What was Camulos the Mad—as small whispering circles had come to refer to him—going to do this time? Was this what Elathan had promised? Were Arawn, one of the greatest of all the gods, and Argona the fiercest goddess of war Tir na nOg had ever seen, really going to be put on trial?

  Trumpeting horns began to bellow as the Sarvaloo orchestra walked out to flank the stage. No one among the onlookers believed for a moment that the musicians were willingly coming out to play a part in Camulos’ sick performance. But there they were all the same belting out a majestic overture for Camulos the Mad as the god of war himself stepped onto the stage.

  “Citizens of Sarvaloo,” Camulos thundered. “You are privy to the mercy and judicious process that the ultragod and ruler of all Otherworld has given me, his most valued general, the responsibility and duty to uphold.”

  Camulos waited for a reply from the citizens, but when none came he narrowed his gaze and took a calming breath. Part of him wanted to leap from the stage and begin to slice the gods down for their lack of respect. He could have done it, too. The majority of gods and goddesses were nothing more than muses and philosophers and held little power in the ways of magic. The smug fools would be surprised to know that they had less magical power than the Leprechauns and Gnomes of Earth. Granted that was partly due to Nuada’s meddling, but that was beside the point. Camulos was just about to show them again. Gods were immortal, but as he had displayed on multiple occasions, they were not immune to death.

  “Bring out the accused!” he ordered.

  Arawn and Argona, still tightly wrapped in the strange tarp that bound them from the neck down, were carried in and made to stand up against a metallic easel. Each of the powerful gods were strapped to the easel and turned to face both Camulos and the audience.

  “Let us go!” Argona shouted. “We’ve done nothing.”

  “Nothing?” Camulos began to snicker and rock back up on his heels. “Nothing? Interesting, Argona, goddess of war, but I recall many things that you have done—evil things.”

  “Only because you were there with me! It was wrong what we did to the people of Earth…”

  “Earth? Who cares about them? Your crimes are more severe than that, Argona, but not nearly as ugly as those of Arawn, the Celtic warrior.” Camulos stalked forward and stood within a few feet of Arawn. “You’re not even born of Otherworld. You had to be given your status through the deceitful god Nuada, a known criminal among us.”

  “He is good and righteous. Unlike Elathan he…”

  Arawn’s words were interrupted by Camulos’ backhand.

  “Enough of your lies.” The god of war turned back to the citizens. “Here is what rebels like the human Arawn fail to realize. Nuada would have chosen, and did choose, Earth over Otherworld. He chose to try and protect the humans rather than coming to the aid of all of us. Nuada, an ultragod, had powers that you and I could only dream of—and how did he use them? He used them to put us in danger.”

  The crowd was intrigued. Camulos knew they could recall the ultragods’ brutal feud as some of the portions played out in Otherworld between Elathan and Nuada. Buildings and landscapes were destroyed, and to the surprise of many there were even casualties among the immortals. Camulos wanted to chuckle at his little secrets since it was he who discovered the mineral to forge his gGod killer.

  “Nuada cared so little about Otherworld and so much about Earth that he provided them with ancient magic to create a line of Protectors—and it all started with them,” he said, spinning around to point an accusing finger at Arawn and Argona.

  “Elathan, the benevolent and merciful ultragod, has given me the honor of ending Nuada’s symbol of rejection and Otherworld’s source of pain left from this ugly legacy.”

  The doors to Camulos’ building opened, and a table was wheeled out to the center of the stage. Arawn and Argona looked on with confusion at the young human lying prone on it and then turned back to Camulos.

  “Don’t you recognize him? After all he is of your bloodline,” Camulos said, a deviant tone laced throughout his words.

  “This is Brendan O’Neal, and if one had to argue, then a case could be made for him being the most powerful Protector the Earth has ever known, present company included. If there is anyone who is the embodiment of Nuada
’s beliefs, it’s this human.”

  Camulos walked over to the unconscious body of Brendan O’Neal and pulled out his sword. “Before you pay for your crimes, Arawn and Argona, I want you to see that the bloodline you produced has failed. I want you to see it come to an end by my hand.”

  He raised his sword high above his head. “It ends today.”

  Chapter 16

  Awakening

  Camulos’ eyes were wild with wickedness as he held the god killer aloft, soaking up the moment where he and not Elathan killed Brendan O’Neal. What would the golden god have to say about that? What treasures would he bestow upon Camulos?

  Just as Camulos began to bring his sword down, a searing red energy blasted him in the hand. It stung but he had felt much worse pain. His eyes lifted up and spotted a girl with glowing hands standing between Airmid and Boann.

  “Don’t you touch him!” Dorian ordered.

  “Of course, the Leprechaun girlfriend. I should have figured that you would come for him. It looks like you brought your little army of nobodies.”

  “Camulos, he has to live or there will be no one to stand up to Elathan,” Airmid said reasonably.

  The crowd began to murmur and Camulos didn’t like it. “Silence! Only Earth will have its Armageddon. Citizens of Otherworld who are loyal to Elathan and loyal to me will be rewarded.”

  “There is no way that we’re going to let you kill Brendan,” Lizzie said, stepping forward with her bo staff already in hand.

  “There’s nothing that you can do to stop me,” Camulos replied with an arrogant smirk. He raised his sword again, and again Dorian blasted his hand with her red energy.

  “Neit,” he called down to his head of security. “Kill them.”

  “You heard him!” Neit shouted to his task force.

  The crowd of gods and goddesses parted as the squad charged headlong at Dorian and her friends. Frank sprinted ahead of all of the others and met Neit’s sword with a sparking clang.

  Camulos looked away from the melee and back down at the unconscious Protector. “Your friends arrived in time to witness your death.”