“As ready as I’ll ever be.”
“It’ll be okay, just keep to the light and stay away from the shadows. We have to run quick, though, okay?”
“Yes, but this isn’t the best outfit to be climbing mountains in!”
She laughed. It was true, though; a Grecian goddess dress and vine sandals. I could see it was going to be hard work. What I would have given for my jeans and a t-shirt.
Misky scuttled up into my mother’s breast pocket as we lifted the heavy backpacks onto our backs and geared up, ready to leave.
Leaving the make shift home, Mother took one last look behind her. “I’ll miss this place,” she said, smiling. I smiled, placed my hand in hers, and we ran out of the confines of our protective barrier. Darkness swept over us, creeping and crawling beneath your skin. The air was thick with fright as tiny creatures ran for cover, hiding in every nook and cranny available in the mountain side.
Standing before the mountain was similar to Jack standing before the beanstalk. It was an awe-inspiring shade of black, crystallised and shimmering in the waning sun. Sunset fell to an end as we started to climb. It wasn’t easy at first, but as soon as I hitched up the dress and tied it around my bottom, I was limber and ready to go.
It wasn’t as frightful as I’d expected. It was actually quite pleasant once my body eased into the climb. The blackened lava crystals were unique to this world, something I’d never seen before. The crystals shimmered through the night sky as the two suns diminished their rays and settled in for the night.
“Eve pick up your speed, they’ll be coming.” She said. Shit. For a brief moment I’d forgotten about the monsters. But looking down across the land, the forest seemed silent. How could something so evil live in a place like this? Had the darkness amassed and corrupt this environment too? Perhaps it had followed Mother in when she was banished. Could it be?
“What are they?” I asked, huffing and puffing as we climbed faster.
“You don’t want to know.”
“Is it the darkness? Did it follow you here?”
“No, not at all. These monsters are just the top of the food chain here.”
“Has there ever been any humans living on this planet?” I asked, wondering if any of my creations had found a way through.
She shook her head. “If there had been, then they wouldn’t have survived very long.”
“But how did you survive?”
“The light guided me, it kept me safe and enabled me to build the home I lived in for all of these years.”
“Didn’t you ever search and try and get home?”
“Of course I did. I thought about you and the twins every day. It was almost unbearable living here without you, knowing he had you in his clutches.”
“If it wasn’t for Adam, I doubt I’d still be alive now.” I said.
“Yes, your brother has been the saviour I had hoped he would be. It’s just a shame your sister couldn’t follow suit.”
“Lilith. Well, Lilith is clearly disturbed.” I said, “but after being alone for so long, and being away from your family with only the darkness to keep you company, it’s bound to take its toll.” Mother nodded. “I don’t think she wanted to hurt me, though. She saved me from falling into the acid, after all.” She did, didn’t she? My sister had saved me. That must have meant that there was still good in her somewhere. Adam said he could still feel her laughter, her anguish. Perhaps he was right, perhaps she could be reached. “Do you think we can save her?”
“I hope so, Eve. I truly do. I would love nothing better than to see my family reunited.”
“What, even with father?”
“Yes, he wasn’t a bad man, he was my...” she paused “What do you humans call it?”
“Soulmate?”
“Yes, that’s the one. When we were birthed, we were matched, as two lights that shone the brightest when together. Our power came from each other. We were always stronger when we were in love.”
“Do you not love him anymore?”
“Of course I do. I always will. I just don’t know if my light is strong enough to push away the serpent that chokes his fragile soul.” She frowned. “And if I cannot expel the darkness, then he cannot be let loose on the universe again.” She said. “Where is he now, anyway? Did Adam manage to cage him?”
“Cage who... Dad?” I said, a little shocked. “No. Adam wouldn’t ever dream of doing that. But I believe he resides in Hell, it's where the darkness lives.”
“Okay,” she said. She didn’t look like she found that okay but appeared trusting of the fact that Adam knew what he was doing.
“Hell is a place for the souls of mortals that turned to stand by his side. They now live under his shadow for the rest of their eternal damnation.”
“And these mortals, they’re the humans you told me about?”
“Yes,” I said, nodding.
“Okay, there’s so much I’ve missed.” She frowned.
“I know, Mother, but it wasn’t as though you could help from where you were.”
She smiled.
The forest below wavered as the branches of trees fell, crashing into one another.
“Quickly!” She yelled as she leant down and pulled me up the mountain side, pushing me in front of her. She stood motionless, the final defence before whatever it was came up the mountain to eat me.
Climbing quicker, my chest felt as though it had taken a dip in the lava pit above me. My breathing rate soared, heavy breaths panted as my arms ached. I strained forward to reach the next crystal, the next foothold, and the next rise to my hopeful journey home. As the trees swayed the air thickened and my lungs choked on the heat around me. Coughing and spluttering, I climbed higher, reaching up one step closer to salvation at a time.
The shrieking sound of a herd of monsters leapt through my eardrums. Frozen, I stopped. What was that? It reminded me of the sound I’d once heard from a movie I’d seen. The sound of a pack of velociraptors calling to one another, targeting their prey, grouping up and attacking from all sides. They were amongst the cleverest of all the dinosaurs, well, they were in that film anyway.
The thought of being raptor bait made me push forward, climb faster. But looking up, we had a fair way to go. We were only half way up. There was no chance we could get there before those things found us.
“Mother, what do we do?”
“Keep climbing, Eve”
“But we won’t make it.” I said, stopping. We needed a plan, some way of fending them off so we could reach the portal above.
“We will, have faith in yourself.”
The rumbling of trees continued as the high-pitched scream of a fallen creature aired around us. The creature’s shrieks echoed against the mountain, resonating the sound, rebounding it from rock to rock until it bled through our eardrums. One final screech, then silence as the noise of a rampage of beasts ripping it to shreds rose up the mountainside. Jeez. It’s time to run, and now.
“Quickly, Eve!” she shouted.
THE TREES SWAYED, PARTING the way and creating a path from the middle of the forest to the edge beside the tent. They were coming, and there wasn’t a damned thing I could do about it. Shit. I’d come so far only to lose now. I’d only just found my mother again, this wasn’t right. Why did fate hate me?
Raising up, I straddled a rock, jumping higher to reach an outstretched crystal and pull myself up. Mother was behind, steadying me while I cleared a path upwards. It was a fair leap up, but we needed to do it. She boosted me and I leapt off the rock and grabbed the crystal, swinging in mid-air to pull myself up with all my might. My fingers gripped the jagged edge as I managed to bring my knee up and over. But then the thing started to crack. Shit! “Mum, it’s breaking!” I yelled. Fear struck the air as she pushed me up higher.
“Quickly, Eve!”
The crystal moved, cracking further. Pulling my body upright, I reached higher to grab another crystal. Too little, too late, though. The thing broke. Pieces of crystal sha
ttered and fell down the mountain, taking me along with them. I catapulted backwards; there was no choice, I was going down.
“EVE!” she shouted as she reached out to grab me when I fell. Our bodies smashed together and our arms interlinked. She swung me to the cliff edge and I landed safely. Pulling her up, she joined me on the solid surface. Three quarters of the way up and now we had to avoid the lava.
The sound of a herd of beasts trampling the ground echoed through the realm. They were close. The hairs on the back of my neck prickled as we climbed further, quicker. My stomach churned, my body tensed. I had to make it. We had to make it. Adrenaline surged through me. Then they were there. The safety net of my mother's make shift home had been brought down when we left. Now it was filled with a darkness and a herd of beasts on four legs, ravaging the remains of the safety net she’d created. I couldn’t see exactly what they were. There were to many of them and they were far down the mountain, back at the base. I was happy to have the distance between us; it meant we were further away from being the next meal on the menu.
“Eve,” Mother whispered, “We must keep quiet now.”
“Okay. Why, though? They wouldn’t hear us up here, would they?” I whispered back.
“Yes, they use sound to see, and smell to hunt their prey.”
“Smell?”
“Yes, their sense of smell is fantastic. They would be able to smell the slightest drop of blood, even from all the way up here.”
“Err...” I stumbled. Shit. Perhaps it was a good time to tell her I slashed my arm when I fell.
“What, Eve?”
“We better move quickly, then.” I said, showing her the blood as it trickled down my arm.
Her jaw dropped, eyes widened. She leapt upright, grabbed my hand, and pulled me up the mountain. “Go, now!” she yelled. “There’s no time.”
The darkness below paused; the silence sharply cut the air like a blade. They were unmoving, silent, and deadly. I climbed quickly, struggling to breathe as my lungs threatened to burst. Tears began to stream down my face; I couldn’t keep up with the speed we had to climb at. Mother kept pulling me, muttering to herself as she climbed. “Come on, Eve,” she yelled as I slipped on a rock. I couldn’t help it. I just wasn’t as fit and strong as she was. She pulled me up and pushed me in front of her. We were nearly there. I could see it, the shimmering nature of a vortex above us. Beside the entrance to the molten pit of doom and gloom stood the most beautiful portal. A shimmering mass of crystals drifted around it as it stood open to all of the elements.
But Mother was behind me when they came. Shrieking, she pushed me up higher. I’d never seen her so frightened before, not even in the memories of my father, when he beat her to a pulp. “GO, EVE, GO!” she yelled, stopping to conjure up the light around us.
“No, not without you.” I said, adamant and stubborn.
“Now, EVE, please!”
“No.” I was not leaving her to those things. I stood beside her, pushed out my hands, closed my eyes, and concentrated on the light. Back tensed, arms straight, I bared down. Nothing. Not even a twinkle of light came to me. I knew it’s there, why wouldn't it bloody work?
The mountain shook, and rocks fell as the herd of beasts grew closer. I looked up at the portal; it wasn’t that far away. We could make it. I ditched my backpack and pulled mother’s off, too. Grabbing her hand, I pulled her backwards. The light she created diminished as I yanked her up the mountain to salvation.
Damn, they’re close. Lifting ourselves up on to the final ledge, I pushed my mother towards the portal, turning in time to see one of the feathered beasts reach the top, leap forward, and claw my body as I fell backwards, beside the molten lava pit below. Mother reached out and blasted the beast down the mountain top, but the serrated claws of six more monsters gripped the edge as they jumped up beside me. There were too many, and more threatening to come.
“Eve, quickly!” she yelled as I crawled backwards, gripping my stomach. She pulled me up to stand. Backing away slowly, the beasts snarled, calling out to one another as they entered attack formation and slowly surrounding us from every angle.
Misky scurried out of Mother's pocket and dropped to the floor.
“No, Misky, don’t!” she yelled as a deafening roar trembled through the mountain we stood on. The beasts stopped, puzzled by this tiny creature. But then Misky grew. He grew larger, wider, and wouldn’t stop growing until he was twice the size of each of the beasts around him. The monsters called out to each other, ignored us, and leapt forward at Misky, who shrieked in pain.
“Run, my friends, run!” He shrieked as he fought off the battle around him.
Mother wept when I pulled her away, gripping my bloody stomach. More beasts joined in the battle and eventually Misky was over run, pulled down to the surface and eaten alive, like a lone creature to a mass of zombies in a plague. There was no surviving that outcome.
Turning, we stepped into the portal. Both our faces were sodden, hearts crushed. He had sacrificed himself so we could save ourselves and be a family again. But what he didn’t realise was that he was always part of the family. He’d kept my mother safe all those years and the two had grown quite fond of each other.
Chapter 8: Lilith
“Rowena, sweetie! It’s time!” I yelled as my fair, sweet Rowena entered the room. “Oh, look at you! You look splendid today.”
“Why, thank you, Lilith.” Rowena shrieked in her high-pitched voice.
“Will you go be a dear and decimate the Earthlings?”
“I would love nothing more.” She screeched.
“I have the perfect place to start.”
“Where, oh, where?” she asked, clapping.
“Oh, my girl, I would love nothing more than for you to destroy all you ever knew. Starting with the beloved Darkwater army.” I requested, grinning. The test of loyalty was perfect.
She shrieked in joy. “Yes, please can I go, can I go?” she asked.
“Yes, you may, and when you get back you’ll see that I’ve turned your cherished Ricky into the perfect mate for you.”
“Really, Lilith? I’m so happy you have. Thank you!” she said, skipping out of the room. She was such a wonderful little girl. Who would have thought the darkness would corrupt her so beautifully? She was like a mini me. I cackled. Laughter resonated from the walls. It was all too perfect. My army was built from her friends. “Oh my, I love it!” I shrieked at the top of my lungs.
“Guard, bring me Chase the chalice bearer,” I yelled. “I’m hungry for blood.” I grinned.
Chase wandered in. “Well, hello, Ms. Lilith.”
“Oh, Chase, I see you’ve had a few improvements made.” I exclaimed, looking at his muscular torso and demonic tail.
“Yes, I look quite the part now, don’t I?” He grinned.
“You do. In fact, I’d like you to join my side in the upcoming war, Chase.”
“Really, Ms. Lilith?”
“Yes. I think you deserve an upgrade from chalice bearer to my...” Hmm what would the humans call it? “Sex slave?”
“Wow! Really, Ms. Lilith?”
“Yes. I think you have earned the honour of mating with me.” I said, grinning. He certainly looked good enough to eat. Been there, done that. Now let’s try another satisfaction.
“Thank you ever so much, Ms. Lilith. I won’t let you down.”
“Of course you won’t, Chase. Now go meet me in my chambers.” I demanded, ushering him off.
“You there, guard!” I yelled. “Is the army ready to ride?”
“Yes, your majesty.”
“Perfect, and please, call me Lilith.” I grinned. “EJ!” I yelled. EJ stomped into the room. “Fetch the army and be ready at the gates. We’re off to play war." EJ nodded and stomped before clomping back out.
Directing my attention at the other guard, I beckoned. “Now come here.” The guard obeyed. “Hold this chalice and kneel.” I said, clapping my hands and dancing about the room. Weeeeee! It was ti
me to drink, eat, and be merry.
Chapter 9: Elisha Darkwater
Sitting beside the roaring fire in the Darkwater mansion, it was still cold for the time of year. Spring had brought daffodils and tulips as they caressed the ground with their delicate nature. Bluebells raised their weary heads in the forest at the back of our home. But even with such beauty, I knew there was still so much sorrow. Our family had been ripped apart. Elvington had been destroyed, left only with the corpses of the walking dead. Lilith’s failed experiments had completed the clean-up and eaten their fallen comrades, passing on their mutated genes and creating a whole new problem. Life couldn’t get any worse. My family had been shredded, there was no sign of Lucian or Taylor, and even Julian had disappeared. Gabriel had followed Joey in hope of bringing Lucian and Taylor back, and I had no idea where to start when it came to Julian.
The wind roared through the open window, chilling the room with its frozen kiss. Where was Julian? It wasn’t like him to miss a fight, let alone a whole apocalypse. Could he have been taken? No, he’d fight to the bitter end rather than be taken back to her. The way she had treated him, no wonder he was ice cold. Julian and Lilith had a thing a few centuries before. He was the first of his kind just, as we all were. But there was something about his icy exterior that Lilith had warmed to. I’d like to say that they fell in love, but then the queen of darkness and her frozen-hearted lover were unlikely to ever discern what love really was. They were a good match, though. He had kept her busy, so we didn’t have to answer to her messed up priorities. They had actually enjoyed living for a while. There hadn't been any planning to go to war, nor was there as much bloodshed back then, only the occasional feast of the living and the dance of the dead. Life was well... nice. It was just a shame Cain came home. He’d been out on one of his otherworldly affairs, meaning he was shagging the local college girls. Apparently, he’d only been on Earth for three weeks, but of course a day here is a month over there, so Lilith grew lonely and the frozen twinkle of Julian’s eye had caught hers. Lilith managed to get him out of the bedroom before Cain found him; there must have been some love there if she had wanted to save him. Then she ordered us all to Earth to bring back any escapees from the prisons of Enoch. At the time, we had battled her newest creation, Jojo, an enormous half-human half-bird. He was a bitch to get a handle on. It had taken months as the bastard kept flying off. I couldn't even recall why he was imprisoned in the first place, something about going against Lilith, probably. There were a few of them that did that, their human emotions would get the better of them. One day her whole damn army would turn against her. My lips creased at the thought of it. Imagine her face!
Eternal Devastation (The Celestial Rose Book 3) Page 4
