“Wow…I guess I already know everything, at least now I do.”
Marin gasped then smiled.
Aether decided to crash the possibly growing romantic moment. “Which sounds a bit creepy. Something that should be logically impossible.”
Marin didn’t show any surprise, easily predicting how the demigod would respond to a possible imprint. She didn’t mind having a smart but dense life-mate.
“Nevermind,” Aether continued. “That’s something to look into later. Are you really up to what I have in mind? You know, the letter.”
Marin nodded.
“I’ve always wanted to change the system, even if the method you’re using is reckless.”
Aether nodded, is face solemn.
“People will get hurt, but it’s time for a change.”
Interlude 2
During the elite’s assault…
A heavy knock on the front door took Seth’s attention from the stew he prepared. He turned the heat on low then answered. The man he hoped to see greeted him. He shook his hands with his friend.
“Found her,” Luke said, “but something’s wrong.”
“What do you mean by that?” Seth said. “I mean there was just an announcement for the elite to wipe out the fallen prince. Of course, she’d be in distress.”
“Not that,” Luke said. “Their appearance on earth made it obvious. I mean there’s something happening in the city she lives in. Something that shouldn’t be happening. The location is Middleburg, North Carolina, in the country called the United States of America. Focus on that place. The energy there is extremely chaotic.”
“Let me guess, another human war,” Seth said as he walked over to his pot of stew. Luke entered, shutting the door behind him. Seth turned off the heat, filled two bowls, and passed one to his friend.
“It’s not a war between humans, but there’s some serious power being thrown around, carelessly.”
“You mean to tell me the elite has found the fallen prince already,” Seth said as he handed over a clean golden spoon. Luke nodded his thanks.
“I believe they have,” Luke said.
“Well, he’s pretty much dead,” Seth said. “I just hope Amelia will still speak with me.”
Luke chowed down another spoonful of the delicious beef and bison before speaking again. He gave his friend a stern look.
“Are you not just a little worried for the fallen prince. The House is going overboard for just one person.”
“It’s who he is,” Seth said. “And he’s dodged his punishment long enough.”
“I don’t think he deserved it in the first place,” Luke said then sat down his bowl.
“The guy has nerves of steel for fighting the system, but made some poor choices,” Seth said. “If it were me, I would’ve taken the universal throne then smashed the system to bits.”
Luke sighed. “As if brute force would accomplish anything.”
Seth shrugged.
“Look, I want to crush Sunset. In order to do that, I’ll need the latest information about them from Princess Venus. We don’t have time to get involved with what’s happening in the city.”
“We’ll probably get involved either way,” Luke said. “You’ll see for yourself.”
Seth took a pause, recognizing the passion…no, urgency within his friend. He never seen the shopkeeper like this. The emotion burning off him peaked Seth’s curiosity. Luke was right. He would have to see for himself.
“Alright, let’s go now,” Seth said. “We’ll check out the city then track down the Venus girl.”
Luke nodded.
“Bring your battle senses.”
Seth’s eyes widened.
“Against the elite? Are you mad?”
“No, but think on this,” Luke said. “Do you know why Conus usually keeps the most powerful heavenly-beings off earth. Do you know why everyone here isn’t down there tasked to simply eradicate every threat on earth?” Luke paused to see if Seth would answer and when he didn’t, he continued. “It’s the balance. The universe demands balance at all times—a little power flux here or there isn’t a big deal. But this isn’t a little power flux. The House should know this, yet they recklessly sent all of the elite there.”
Seth’s eyes widened, the implications smacking into him like the thunk of a coconut from a tree above.
“That’s…. that’s bad, my friend,” Seth said, pacing. “I knew the call for the elite was strange. Even if the fallen prince committed a crime against the King, it’d really only take one hunter to deal with him. Maybe four at the most to account for any allies. Do you think there’s something going on with the House?”
“I don’t know for sure but that action to this degree might indicate corruption.”
Sether nodded in agreement.
“I thought it was weird that Conus sat out of the judgment during the fallen prince’s trial. He’s the ruler of the universe. He can afford to speak with his son.”
“He had to show all realms that the Helios clan were subjected to their own laws,” Luke explained.
“Still,” Seth said. The god made sure he had everything he needed for this trip—a special bag capable of holding anything without gaining a pound, a long sword, human world currency, and a smart phone just in case. The two men nodded at each other, then charged essence to ascend.
“One more thing,” Luke said. “Sunset has more than one location. The rumors state the Drifter only runs half of it. His sister runs the other half.”
Seth sighed.
“We’ll cross the bridge when we get there.”
Interlude 3
Present…
The horrible feelings of panic, loss, sorrow, fear, and defeat crushed Amelia as she witnessed the glowing blade slide from his shoulder. Time seemed to slow as every inch of him completely turned to stone. Blood dripped off the edges of the leader’s katana.
Amelia had to process everything again in an instant.
The sudden appearances of all elites, tipping the earth’s balance of power, the strongest of them being among them, and the absurd orders.
Amelia glanced around at the ruined city, cut off from the world, sacrificed. Epex’s friends barely escaped—the only sensible move on the demigod’s part so that they wouldn’t have to see the cruelty inflicted upon him.
Amelia still tuned out the world, her mind just barely hanging onto stability. She believed she could save him. She thought she had everything in the bag, but she was naïve.
The goddess hated this naïve side of her. She…she thought she could protect him, hoped that he’d live the life of his choice. But…she now realized the facts.
They were not going to let him be.
Amelia would rather die than run from this fight, even if winning was impossible. She thought about the crest choices her father predicted for her. Enlightenment or disaster. She always lived up to the former but not it was time to admit it to herself.
Time to admit to being both.
“You did find him, months ago,” Moses said to her. “But now, the time of sheltering him is over. Come back with us. You’ve been away from home far too long.”
Amelia burst into tearful laughter, confusing the six elites. She laughed for almost half a minute. When she stopped, Moses offered her a hand, as he believed the goddess released tears of joy. Amelia only frowned.
“I finally get it now,” she said.
“Share your revolution, number six,” Moses said softly.
“The orders to kill him were hastily and sloppily sent. All of you blindly followed orders—I bet Conus has no idea everyone was sent at the same time.”
“What is your point, Princess Venus,” number two, Marissa said, distain in her voice.
“All of you broke the balance by coming here. This is way too much for the puny human world to handle. Look around. Look what you have done,” Amelia said.
Marissa shrugged.
“Orders are orders. The house deemed this necessary. A
sacrifice. We are the tools to get the job done.”
“You cannot possibly believe that these are the House’s orders, you idiots. There’s something going on—and this…this just makes you murderers.” Amelia spat. “I will become disaster and do whatever it takes to end you.”
Moses held up a hand.
“At peace, daughter of Natural Selection and Mother Nature.”
His voice reached Amelia too late.
She took in the surroundings, the destruction of the city she loved, the death of Jade, the hard words she told her friends before sending them away, the fruitless attempt at saving as many lives as possible.
Finally, the most recent…. she looked at the stony figure of her love.
Then Amelia allowed her other half, the disaster within to take over.
Her divine state erupted like a volcano and then changed, vibrating the ruined city even harder. A geyser of red light smacked from the sky above onto the goddess like a waterfall feeding its river. The wings of her divine state shifted from its beautiful snow white to a menacing crimson and fiery red. Amelia’s hair darkened to blood-red, her eyes taking on a glow of orange like the embers of a raging fire. Her heavenly-light, if it could be called that, turned silver and purple.
“What is this?” Marissa said to Moses but the elite leader didn’t respond, mesmerized by the frightening beauty before him.
The other half of Mother Nature’s daughter actually gave Moses chills. For the first time of his eternal life—he knew fear.
“It’s time to ascend,” he said. “Mother Nature’s daughter has lost her sense of self.”
“There is no escape,” Amelia suddenly said in a voice that seemed to cross the oceans of the earth in just seconds. “It is time for you to answer for your crime.”
The second Moses blinked, he heard an intense gurgle behind him. He also felt a strange heat in the air followed by an electric sensation. The path to ascension, their own means of getting home—Amelia somehow shut it down. He could die. His elite could…. he turned around right as Marissa fell.
The Venus girl moved so fast, she jumped a half-second through time. Moses’s eyes widened—Marissa—her head vanished. He looked at Venus, eyes soaked in horror. She tossed the head to the side and beckoned for one of the remaining elites to come at her. Jose, engulfed in rage, charged like a fool, ignoring his training.
“Hold!” Moses barked but his elite ignored him. “Elite hunter Jose, hold!”
Too late. Jose was very powerful, his skill easily getting him in the elite, but he didn’t stand a ghost of a chance against Disaster. The god executed a brilliant combo of sword forms that would’ve killed anyone else, but the Venus girl’s time-leading kept her a half-second ahead of his blade.
She cut him down with a single knife-hand, slicing Jose in half like butter. Blood, gore, and matter sprayed in every direction.
Fortunately, Moses’s remaining elites obeyed his orders. He’d focus on saving them. At first, the elite leader didn’t intend to hurt Princess Venus, fully aware that her actions could’ve been a result of imprinting. But even he knew imprinting was a conscious declaration to seek love, enhancing the heavenly-being’s capacity a bit. He planned to give the goddess time to mourn then move on. Some things she said did bother him but that didn’t matter.
The elites were placed under oath with the new orders. They were going to complete the mission one way or another.
“Fall back,” Moses said. “While I handle her, focus on breaking the trap.” His elites nodded but before they could move, Disaster appeared in between them.
“I don’t think so,” she said then smiled at number seven, Anna.
“Amelia, wait, we’re friends. Please. I don’t want to fight you.” Anna threw down her sword to the cold horror of Moses. This surprised him—Anna normally followed the elite rules to the letter. Surrendering to a dangerous enemy wasn’t an option.
“Did you give him a chance when he willingly surrendered?” Amelia said. “I felt him surrender. Did you let him release the breath that would allow him to explain everything, and while he’s not the type, did you listen for a plea of mercy? Orders will be your excuse. No…I WILL CONSUME YOU!”
Disaster’s wail shook the earth, sending more chills through Moses’s body.
In a blink, she moved faster than the group could perceive, her hand plunging through Anna’s chest, and pulling out an intense glowing blue-white version of the elite hunter. Anna screamed and cried, begging for forgiveness from her old friend. Moses froze as the Venus girl did what should only be possible by the primals. She ate the soul. What he saw was Disaster ball the still-crying Anna into an orange-size ball then took one large bite, chewed, and then swallowed. There sounded one final shriek of utter terror and crying before the elite huntress was no more.
The pressure, the force….no, it was fear that kept Moses in place vanished. Moses admitted that much to himself. Disaster did that to her former friend, who threw down her arms in surrender. There was no reasoning with her.
Survival and escape…
“Daniel, Akiro,” Moses said. The two men looked at him and nodded, realizing the reality of the situation. “Put up your defenses, for the divine state I will release will hurt.”
“Of course,” they both said then stepped back.
“I will kill you,” Moses told Disaster then…allowed his self-placed power-restraints to fall.
Wings as bright as the sun emerged on his back. His eye color and heavenly-light took on a silvery glow.
Silver heavenly-light was not just a show of incredible power mixed with intense electrical radiation, but a symbol. A symbol of a god’s true wrath if provoked. Moses’s wrath. He wasn’t number one for nothing.
Sword ready, he rushed the Venus girl, determined to end this in one strike. And he could….or at least he thought so, but something strange happened.
The Venus girl grinned as she skipped backward and forward in time simultaneously.
Moses fazed through her—this wasn’t just incorporeal, she leapt outside of time for a half-second, making her truly untouchable. Moses’s vision blurred as blood gushed from his mouth.
This was it. A first defeat and a first death. He couldn’t go down like this.
With a thrust of all his strength, the elite leader roared and plunged his blade into Disaster’s shoulder. This is it—he’d won! She’d turn to stone.
No one could resist the blade of Medusa’s power.
He looked up to see his elite’s heads get slashed from their bodies in one swoop of Disaster’s knife-hand. The shoulder that he stabbed into bared no wound.
The Venus girl walked over to him.
“Nighty-night.”
A moment of intense pain flooded him but…the goddess suddenly froze, her eyes locked onto nothing in particular.
Moses pushed his healing to the limits, essence low, as he sensed the approach of two heavenly-beings. At the same time, he felt six devils manifest in the city and they were powerful. It took him a few seconds to realize the reason.
How could he be foolish enough to not ask the House about the balance. In fact, this is something the House MUST know about, as the job of higher gods is to maintain the balance. The universe let out six royal-class devils from their containment in Hell.
Moses remained motionless as the Venus girl picked up the fallen prince’s sword then started to walk way, probably to deal with the threat alone. Moses wasn’t sure if even she could take on a threat of that magnitude alone. He struggled to stand. He’d at least go back to Paradise Realm when he’s healed…in twenty-hours.
The Venus goddess’s damage left a poison in his wounds that prevented him from ascending.
Part II
Chapter Seventeen
In the vast expanse of blackness, I felt my soul form. It was weird. Kind of like a jigsaw puzzle of myself clunking together. Oh well. What? Expected me to express a monologue of tireless depression. Yeah, no, I knew this would eventual
ly happen. I’m just surprised I lasted so long against all odds. I made them bring out the elites. If only I could enjoy the feeling of victory, but knowing the balance has broken…well, fuck.
The blackness suddenly vanished and I found myself standing on top of a floating wooden platform, as wide as an SUV, miles above a bottomless pit. I took in my surroundings. Mountains surrounded me on all sides. Above was as black as the deepest void. Selina appeared to my side.
“Hey Epex,” she said.
“Please tell me you’re here to fly me back out,” I said.
To my dismay, the reaperess gave me a sad smile.
“I’m afraid not.” Selina folded her arms. “This entire thing was arranged very hastily by some representative of the House, so there will be no fanfare of judgment nor is there any time to chain you to the depths.” The death goddess looked at me. “You didn’t hear this from me, but at the center of the depths, there is a dimensional distortion. Very big, very bright, impossible to miss. That may be your way out. You have no chain, soooo.” She winked.
I nodded.
“Which way should I go when I get there.”
“I don’t know,” Selina said, “but it’s a large mass of distorted power. Since you’ve lucked out, you should be able to sense it. Follow it, Epex. I don’t want you down there longer than you have to.” The goddess rose into the air. “Well, this is it. I’m sorry to do this.”
The platform underneath my feet vanished and I fell. Also blacked out.
When I woke up, a surge of extreme pain blasted through me. I clenched my teeth, not wanting to attract any sadistic demon.
Upon observation, I stood on a very long and narrow stony trail that led…somewhere. E very second on it, felt like someone piledrove spikes into every part of my body. I figured if I were chained, the path would be a lot worse, possibly inescapable.
Fiery drips of blood fell from the sky like twisted snow, though never reaching anywhere close to the ground. I peeked to the side, off the path and regretted it. It was a chasm of infinite chomping teeth and nightmarish bloody tentacle-like demons slithering about. Just what kind of sick fuck designed this place anyway. I didn’t think it could get worse than standard Hell—the surface.
Till the Last Breath Page 8
