Zeke readied his sword and joined his friend. “Let’s do this.”
Daniel clipped the radio to his collar and hit the transmitter. “It’s time.”
Almost instantly, Dumah’s voice blasts out from the Muselheim. “Attack!”
Small fighter jets and bombers fly out of the Muselheim. They head toward the gate, above the draugr hoard. Bombs fall from the planes. Some draugr explode. Others burst into flame. Most run away.
“Now’s our chance,” Zeke shouts. He runs. Daniel follows.
Soldiers follow after them. The pirates and the Romans approach from the sea. They flank the two fighters and open fire on the monsters. Draugr retreat.
Zeke runs at the head of the attack, cutting draugr. Daniel, at his side, fires his shotgun relentlessly. Zeke misses a draugr. It slips past him. Daniel hits it with the butt of his gun. It falls and is quickly trampled by the following army.
The gate cracks loudly and expands.
Flights of dragons rain out into the sky. The bombs stop falling as the fighter jets engage the beasts. Bullets rip through wings. Fire melts the planes. The Muselheim fires into the onslaught. The sky erupts in an inferno. The cold air grows warm.
A few dragons fall, but more continue to pour out of the gate. One burning monster falls down toward the infantry. Soldiers rush out of the way.
Zeke doesn’t.
He leaps. A trail of red glows behind him. With one swing, he cuts his way through the dragon. The monster’s two halves fall harmlessly on either side of him. He lands on his feet and keeps running, Daniel behind him.
Draugr close in on them. They stand back-to-back for defense, waiting for the following soldiers to break through to them. “Can you cover me for a minute?” Daniel asks.
“Out of ammo?”
“No, but my gun is.”
He smiles. “Be glad to.”
Draugr attack. Zeke fends them off, spinning in a circle with Daniel at his back. The gunner stays low, shoving shells into his gun. A group of draugr rush at them. Daniel pumps his gun. “Get down!” he shouts.
Zeke ducks. Daniel stands.
He fires the gun once and the entire group of draugr falls backwards.
They both stand and glance at each other. Then they run. Behind them, the draugr surround their support. Gabriel and his troops fight their way out of a circle of monsters. Joel and his pirates, also surrounded, begin defending.
In the sky, fighter jets shoot. Dragons swarm. The jets explode. Fire and debris rains down.
The gate is near. Zeke and Daniel keep running, oblivious to all else. They burst into a small void in the fighting. The dark sphere hovers high above them.
“Mind giving me a boost?” Zeke asks.
“Be glad to.” He holsters his gun and links his hands together.
Daniel crouches. Zeke backs up. He runs forward, stepping into linked hands. Daniel pulls up. Zeke jumps, soaring into the air.
The gunner watches his friend vanish into the darkness. He reaches for the radio clipped to his collar. “Mission successful. Time for a little cleaning house.”
“I read you, Uzuki,” Dumah says into the radio. He stands and turns to his command crew.
“New orders, sir?” asks a lieutenant.
“Shift the main firepower away from the gate. Branderlief is safe. Our mission now is to purge the monsters from our world.”
“Yes sir,” says the lieutenant, saluting.
The Muselheim soars into the center of the battlefield. The photon cannons shift direction. Beams fire outward. Dragons begin to fall.
Far below, a beast plummets onto a mass of draugr. Frightened monsters dash away. Pirates cheer as their attackers flee. All but forgotten, Joel begins to walk calmly through the fray, dismembering draugr with his knives.
A small, noisy draugr leaps at him. He crosses his knives. The monster’s neck catches between the blades. He slides his arms apart quickly. The wrinkled head flips backwards as it falls lifelessly to the ground.
“Is this all they got?” Joel shouts. “Ha! A walk in the park.”
He hears a loud roar. He turns. A draugr as big as Grendel picks up a soldier and swings him around in the air. Other soldiers shoot carefully at the monster, but it uses the man as a bludgeon and beats them away.
“That’s what I’m talking about,” he says confidently.
He runs. Daggers fly, cutting smaller draugr as he passes. Soon, he stands before the giant. It stares at him, curious about the new challenger.
Joel stands defensively. The giant throws the soldier aside and roars. It takes a large step toward the pirate.
Suddenly, a dragon corpse falls, crushing the giant.
The pirate shouts up at the sky. “Be careful where you’re dropping those things! That one was mine!”
He turns and looks for a new challenge.
Nearby, draugr attack Gabriel relentlessly. The shining green knight fells them easily with his hammer. He lunges at a quick draugr as it passes by. The hammer comes down hard on the monster’s spine, shattering its bones. The draugr drops limply.
Something hisses behind him. He turns in time to see an arrow pierce the neck of his would-be assailant. Its convulsing body drops into his arms. He throws it aside as Muriel rushes up. “Are you all right, father?”
“Don’t go worrying about this old man. Just take care of yourself.” He smiles, but keeps a watchful eye. “We’ll both make it through this safe, and then we’ll dance on their graves.”
He raises his hammer and roars, rushing back into the melee. Muriel pulls her arrow out of the draugr’s corpse. A short distance away, an attack vehicle burst out of a wall of draugr, crushing them. It skids to a stop by Muriel.
“My gunner got hit. Can I have your help?” asks the driver.
She looks for her father in the chaos. “Fine. But we’re going that way.”
“Fine by me. Plenty of these bastards everywhere.”
She climbs up to the mini-gun mounted on the frame. The driver speeds off. Muriel opens fire into the draugr. The monsters fall as the vehicle passes.
A monster roars loudly. Instinctively she swivels the gun around, firing at the largest shape she sees. She hears a bellow of pain as the shape falls, then a faint voice shouting over the din. “God damn it! Not another one!”
She sees the pirate rush at nearby draugr, stabbing wildly.
Zeke walks through a starry void. He holds his sword out in front of him, ready to attack. His feet hit an unseen floor. He steps. He feels his position change. He knows he’s moving. But looking around, it seems as though he stays in one place.
“Creepy place,” he observes. “There isn’t anything here.” He remembers his last visit. The dreams. The images. There is none of that now.
He walks more. His axis of orientation begins to shift. He feels as though he’s walking up. Or down. One way or the other. Straight ahead. But the void always remains unchanged in the background, as if he is making no progress at all.
“This is supposed to be the afterlife, right? The world of dreams? I should be able to at least dream up something. Maybe a long-deceased soul.”
An apple tree materializes in the darkness.
“That’s odd.” He reaches up for an apple. It falls gently into his hand. He reaches up to bite into it. The fruit vanishes and he sinks his teeth into his own hand. He lets out a cry. “Strange. Maybe Jack was on to something.”
A voice starts laughing. He looks up. The tree is gone. In its place stands Jae-Hoon. “Hey Zeke!” he says cheerfully.
He stares at the apparition. “Jae-Hoon?”
“Yep. It’s me.”
“But that means you’re . . .”
“I’m not dreaming, if that’s what you’re wondering.” The Slayer seems strangely high-spirited, considering the fact that he’s dead. Zeke feels his stomach knot. “I cashed in a while ago. Killed by your friend, Micah, actually.” Anger flashes suddenly across his face. “I can’t find Charlie or Emily. Are
they here? They’re dead, right? What did he do to them?”
“You’re not Jae-Hoon.”
The apparition glares back at him. “Can you be so sure?”
Silence.
“Why don’t you find out? I know you’re hungry. Have a bite.” Jae-Hoon tosses him an apple. He catches it. The apparition laughs maliciously and fades into nothingness. “Of course,” says his voice, “it wasn’t really an apple at all.”
Zeke examines the fruit.
“Do not eat from the tree, for you will gain the knowledge of good and evil,” booms a deep, familiar voice.
He drops the fruit. It vanishes into the darkness. “Sorry. It’s been done.”
“Yes, but the progenitors of man did not learn,” Metatron booms again. His voice echoes off non-existent walls.
“Learn what?” Zeke turns slowly, scanning the void for his enemy.
“That there is no good or evil.”
“Show yourself,” he shouts. “Where are you?”
The malak laughs again. “In this plane of existence? I am wherever you want to find me.” The voice is distinct. Not disembodied. The malak is standing behind him. He spins. Metatron sits on a lavish throne, suspended in the darkness.
Zeke raises his sword. It glows red.
“So long it has been since first we met, and beyond your little display of phosphorescence, nothing has changed. You still face me, ready to die.” The angel sounds disappointed.
“Not this time,” he sneers. “I can defeat you, and you know it.”
Metatron lets out a single, high laugh. “What? Am I supposed to be frightened? Good always triumphs over evil—isn’t that what you humans believe? Sad to say, that is not true. The universe is structured for power. Not justice. There is no right or wrong. For a million years, humans have prayed to the higher powers you believed were your creators, seeking the meaning of your existence. All the time blind to the knowledge that you were created just to be destroyed. What does that make us? The great power of good is merely a murderer. But hasn’t the creator always been the standard for what is good?”
The angel smiles maliciously.
“Then it’s time for a change,” says Zeke.
“I agree.”
Metatron raises a hand and draws a circle in the air. An image appears in the darkness. It shows a swarm of movement around a large, black sphere.
“The gate?” he asks.
“The battlefield. This is where your friends are fighting. So far, they have been doing quite well. But they will die now. I have a surprise. I saved it just for now, so I could show you.”
“Sir,” calls a technician. “I’m picking up a reading from behind the gate.”
Dumah stares out at the chaotic battlefield. He is uneasy about leaving his post. “A reading?” he asks, unmoving.
“Infrared sources,” the technician calls back. “They’re multiplying. On the other side of the mountains.”
‘Multiplying’ is not a word he wants to hear right now. “Let me see.” He rushes closer and leers over the monitor. Beyond the battlefield, the world is still cold. The screen is mostly black. But a small blob of red and yellow expands on the screen. Next to it is a dark blue circle. “Draugr?”
“I’m not sure. It could be anything that gives off heat.”
Dumah looks closely at the dark circle. Then it hits him. Another gate. “That thing has a back door. Can you expand the image? Compare it to the battle?”
The technician turns a dial. The red and yellow blob grows smaller and a new blob appears nearby, on the battlefield.
The new blob—the current battlefield—is the same size.
“Damn. If those things break through the mountains, we can’t hold them off.”
A loud electrical crack resounds. Nearby, the sonar operator yanks his headphones off in a hurry. They fall to the ground, letting off a high-pitched ringing. It’s loud enough that everyone hears it.
“What’s wrong?” Dumah asks.
His question was answered by his lieutenant at the window. “Sir, something is coming out of the gate.”
The gate thunders. Once again it expands. The fighters look up. Even the draugr seem curious about the new event. The air grows charged. Lightning blasts.
Malak jump out of the gate in droves. Beautiful, powerful angels and twisted, monstrous demons rush out and start killing. They avoid the dragons, but otherwise pick their victims indiscriminately. They slay humans and draugr alike.
However, they have a clear predilection for humans.
Most of the fighters retreat. A few stay and fight. They shoot at the ethereal entities. The bullets pass through the monsters. The soldiers keep firing, but creep backwards.
Rifles click.
The malak close in.
The field grows loud with human screams.
Metatron smiles proudly at the image.
“You’re deranged,” Zeke says. “You’re nothing but a murderer.”
The malak turns to his nemesis. “Were I human, you might speak the truth. But I am a divine being. Your holy texts are filled with bodies lying dead at the hands of gods, yet you worship them all the same. I am above human sins. This isn’t murder. It’s a purge.”
“Only if you succeed.” Zeke raises his sword. It glows.
“Oh?’ Metatron says casually. “Is it time?”
“Come purge me.”
The angel suddenly springs forward, both swords drawn. He closes quickly, but Zeke deflects both blades with a quick swing of his katana. He kicks, and Metatron stumbles back.
Zeke launches his own attack. He swings furiously and advances quickly. His enemy is forced to use both his swords to hold off the onslaught. Had there been ground to lose in the ether, Metatron would have been pushed back.
A sword swings down over Metatron’s head. The malak raises one of his own to stop the attack. He uses the other to retaliate. He swings low. As the massive blade passes beneath him, Zeke jumps. Hitting the sword, he uses it as a springboard to somersault over the malak.
Landing on his feet, he stabs. Metatron turns quickly. The attack misses his chest, but sinks deep into the angel’s shoulder. He roars in pain and drops his sword.
The demon raises the empty, injured arm.
A blast of energy hits Zeke, knocking him back. He falls.
He springs to his feet quickly, but Metatron is already above him, bearing down. The angel holds his remaining sword with both hands. Zeke swings his sword up. Metal clashes on metal.
Each fighter pushes against the other. The angel’s broadsword bears down. It hovers only centimeters above Zeke’s face.
Gabriel pounds draugr endlessly. His arm grows tired. In the distance, malak continue to pour out of the gate.
But that’s a long way from him.
An attack vehicle drives up, bowling over a path of draugr. “Lord Gabriel!” shouts the driver as they skid to a halt.
“Father!” Muriel shouts from the top. “Get on! We have to retreat!”
The king looks at her curiously. She has never run from a fight in her life.
“We can’t fight malak!” she urges.
“Funny time for a change in character!” he bellows back. Draugr close in. He resumes swinging at them.
“It’s suicide to stay!”
“It’s suicide to leave! If we run now, they’ll hunt us down eventually. I say we make our stand now!” A draugr rushes him. He knocks it upside the head with his hammer. It flies a short distance into the air, then falls, joining the pile of bodies at his feet.
“My lord, I’m afraid she’s right,” agrees the driver.
Gabriel pounds madly. He doesn’t look back. “You go. I’m an old man, and I choose to die fighting.”
“Father . . .”
“Just go!” he commands.
“Lady Muriel,” shouts the driver. “Look!” He trembles.
The malak draw near. At the front of the assault is a massive demon, with a smooth horned head and massive wi
ngs. It crouches low to reach its victims on the ground. Even hunching over, it is ten meters tall. It approaches Gabriel, tossing both humans and draugr into the air.
“Go quickly,” Gabriel orders. “You can’t stay here. I’ll hold them off.”
“Let’s go,” says the driver, turning the wheel hard.
Ariel climbs off the vehicle and nocks an arrow in her bow. “No. You go. I’ll stay and help.”
“Whatever,” the driver says. He speeds off without an argument.
A draugr runs toward them, escaping the malak. Ariel looses the arrow into its neck. It falls.
“You’ve made me proud,” Gabriel says.
Muriel looks at her father, not sure of what to say. The malak would wipe them out soon. Maybe Zeke could win, but for her and her father, the battle was over.
Gabriel looks back at his daughter. “I understand,” he says, knowing what she is too proud to say. “If this is our final stand,” he shouts turning back to the malak, “then I will follow you into Valhalla!”
The giant malak is upon them. They brace themselves for the attack. Muriel raises her bow. Gabriel waves his hammer violently. The demon spots the fearless warriors and stands up to its full height, over fifteen meters tall.
A ship buzzes overhead.
It’s fast. Incredibly fast. Gabriel and Muriel don’t see it. Instead, they look up at the monster above them. It looks down at a gaping hole in its body. A bewildered look spreads across its face in its final moments of life.
Then it explodes. White light engulfs the battlefield. Everyone looks up at the sight.
The radio on the bridge crackles. “Did you see it?” Daniel asks. His voice is hard to hear over the battle.
Dumah pulls his transmitter off the control panel. “The Adramelech? Yeah. We saw it.”
“Is it the Karellan?”
“We’re trying to confirm that now,” he responds. Then he turns to the communications technician. “We can confirm that, right?”
“We’re picking up a transmission now, sir,” the man answers.
“Patch it through,” Dumah orders. The technician flips a few switches and a monitor bursts to life. Everyone on the Muselheim’s bridge turns to see a woman in the cockpit of the Adramelech.
Ragnarok: The Fate of Gods Page 33
