Elisa held the hammer in a white-knuckled grip and walked past the corpses, trying not to let her eyes linger on them too long. It didn’t matter that these men worked for the Order, they certainly didn’t deserve this—they posed no threat to him. Elisa had killed before, but always out of necessity.
This was brutality.
But beyond the horror of what lay before her, the other reason she didn’t want to see was because it reminded her of what Connelly’s power was capable of. She managed to defeat Himmler, but would she be able to stop the Grand Master?
Elisa followed the trail of bodies, her allies behind her, and that trail stopped at the blown-open door.
“This was it,” said Max. “Where they held me.”
They entered and Max’s eyes bulged. “My god…we’re too late.”
“The skeleton,” said Elisa. “It was here?”
Max nodded, looking at the empty spot. “Connelly took it.”
“No, he didn’t,” said Jason, kneeling down in front of the empty case. He stared at the corpse, examining it. Jason raised the corpse’s hand, a Freemason ring adorning the deceased’s finger. “This was Connelly.”
“The resurrection must have required a sacrifice,” said Max.
“So what the hell do we do now?” asked Asami.
“It changes nothing,” said Elisa. “Connelly managed to resurrect Kurios, so now we stop Kurios before he can raise Atlantis. Sun, can you—”
She turned, but saw Sun wasn’t in the room. Elisa walked out into the hall, her friends following, and she saw Sun slamming open another door with his staff. A scream came from the room and Sun backed off.
A dark-skinned man crawled out on his hands and knees, his eyes wide open and sweat drenching his beard-covered faced. Max walked over to him and knelt down. “Omar? You’re alive?”
“B-barely,” said Omar, looking at Max. Then he saw Jason and screamed again. “No! Freemason!”
“It’s okay, he’s on our side,” said Elisa. “You saw what happened?”
“Yes, but in my mind,” said Omar. “I could feel his presence, could sense him coming. So I hid.”
“Do you know where he’s gone?” asked Max.
“A place where he can complete his dark magic,” said Omar. “I see…pillars.”
“Stonehenge,” said Elisa. “The map in the library, it attached significance to Stonehenge. That must be where Kurios needs to perform the spell.”
“What about him?” asked Sun, nodding in Omar’s direction.
“I think he’s seen enough,” said Jason. “We should send him home.”
“Max, you go with him, make sure he’s okay,” said Elisa.
“Elisa, you can’t—”
Elisa held up a hand and sighed. “Please don’t. I just need you to listen to me, okay?”
Max paused, then gave a nod of understanding. “Fine. Just be careful.” He looked at Sun. “Could you open a portal to Morocco? We’ll find our way from there.”
Sun nodded and did just that. Omar went through the portal first, but Max paused before stepping in. “Watch yourselves. Kurios may be greater than any threat we’ve faced.”
He went through next and the portal closed. Sun opened another one. “This is it,” he said.
CHAPTER 20
Above the ancient site of Stonehenge, Kurios hovered, his massive wings unfurling and stretching to the sides. He looked down at the stone pillars, constructed centuries ago by his people. Long ago, this was the site of ancient rituals they conducted. The place where Atlantis’ most powerful mystics resided. And the spot where Atlantis could finally be released from its prison.
Kurios held his hands to the sides, the vril coursing from his eyes down his muscled chest and into his arms. Energy arced from his fingertips and his eyes burned bright. The intricate, ethereal strands reached all along the area, striking the tops of the pillars and flowing into them and then the ground.
Below him, in the center of the pillars, the collapsed stones rose back to their original place, reforming the original structure. The grass burned away, revealing beneath it a stone surface. The entire structure rose from the ground slightly, and in the center of the stone dais was a symbol that glowed with the same signature as Kurios’ powers.
The Atlantean King descended, his wings lowering him to the surface. His bare feet touched gently on the stone and he got down on one knee before the altar, head bowed.
“You sought to damn me, to punish my people for the simple act of making this world better,” he said, now looking up to the heavens. “You thought you could simply wipe us from history. But I have returned and now the time has come for Atlantis to rise and overthrow the false gods of this world!”
Kurios raised his hand and power crackled in his palm. But before he brought that power into the altar, it was struck by a projectile of some kind. Kurios blinked and looked around.
Not far, he saw one of those weapons he’d gleaned from Connelly’s memories—a gun, that’s what it was. A pair of them, held by a man Connelly knew as Jason Shroud. The Freemason ran towards him, and by his side were others. One he knew as a servant of the gods, the one called the Monkey King. The other was a supernatural creature who allied herself with humans, Asami.
And in the lead, wielding the hammer of Thor, was the woman Connelly was most-concerned about. Elisa Hill, the fabled myth hunter who had overthrown the efforts of other Atlantean worshippers.
“You’re too late!” laughed Kurios. “Nothing can stop me now!”
“We’ll see about that, flyboy.” Asami’s form shifted, reddish-orange fur growing on her exposed skin, snout and jaw elongating, and claws extending from her fingertips. She raced across the distance and Kurios readied himself for an up-close attack.
That wasn’t her plan. Her eyes burned like hot coals and she leapt into the air. Opening her mouth wide, a spark formed in the center of her maw and shot forth, growing into a large fireball that completely engulfed Kurios when it struck.
The Atlantean was able to throw up a vril shield that protected him, but the blow was still powerful. Even with the energy Connelly had absorbed from the Akashic Records and transferred to him, Kurios was still comparatively weak. He used a lot of energy getting out here and restoring the altar.
Magic alone wouldn’t do it, he had to fight on their terms. Kurios held his hands out to the sides and vril cascaded down his arms, forming into twin swords grasped in his hands.
Asami’s claws tore across his face. Kurios drove an elbow into her head, then slammed a wing into her back, which drove her right into his knee. He bashed the hilt of the sword on the back of her head and dropped her to the ground.
Sun Wukong came at him next, using his staff to spring into a pole vault. His foot connected with Kurios’ head, striking the raw wounds inflicted by Asami. Sun swung the staff into Kurios stomach, then brought it up against his face. Kurios dropped one sword to free his hand and took hold of the staff when Sun next tried to strike with it. Vril flowed through the Ruyi Jingu Bang and into Sun’s hands, causing him to convulse in pain.
Kurios smiled as he wrenched the staff and tossed it away. With his free hand, he wrapped his fingers around Sun’s throat and his wings carried him into the sky. In his other hand, Kurios clutched his sword, prepared to impale the Monkey King on its blade.
Jason fired several rounds, piercing Kurios’ wings and throwing him off, while Elisa threw several shuriken. Kurios began losing altitude, then Asami got back into the fight, springing off the stone pillars and rising just high enough to grab hold of Kurios’ ankle. She pulled herself up onto his back, her claws raking his wings.
Sun was able to recover as well, his tail wrapping around Kurios’ sword-arm and his feet grabbing him by the neck. On the ground, Jason took a few more shots, scoring one at the head and the three plummeted to the ground below.
Kurios was the first one up, both Asami and Sun struggling. He delivered a swift kick to each of their heads, then moved away
from them, limping somewhat. Wings were damaged, but he still had the power to finish what he’d started. Jason opened fire on him and Kurios threw up a vril shield to deflect the rounds. While Jason tried to reload, Kurios took advantage of the distraction and fired a concentrated vril blast at him.
But standing before Kurios and the altar was Elisa and she grasped Mjolnir tightly in both hands. Kurios raised his sword and grinned at her. “I’ve taken out your most powerful allies. Why do you still stand? You have no hope of victory.”
“I don’t give up, I don’t walk away. No matter the odds, I’ll stand and fight. You want me to stop, there’s only one way.”
“That, my dear, can be arranged.” Kurios charged at her and swung his blade with a war cry.
Elisa raised the hammer to defend, deflecting the strike. He went for another and she deflected that as well. His speed and onslaught was nigh-unstoppable and she found herself being pushed back towards the altar.
The weight of the hammer slowed her movements significantly, but she had to have faith that whatever power was within it would emerge when the time was right. She concentrated on the object and just as Kurios had pushed her into the center of the altar, the runes on the aged metal crackled with electricity.
Kurios paused and took a step back. His eyes glanced skyward and he saw the clouds darken. Rain began pouring from the heavens and now, Elisa raised the hammer up as high as she could. Lighting arced from the clouds and flowed right into Kurios’ body.
He froze in position as it coursed into him. Elisa charged and bashed the hammer against his head. Then into his stomach and finally, his back. Kurios fell to the ground and lay prone across the surface.
“No…even if I die, I will take you with me!” He summoned what remained of his power and released it into the altar.
Elisa stumbled as an earthquake hit. She looked around in shock and saw the structures that made up Stonehenge beginning to glow with ancient power, the symbol burning bright. Kurios’ screams drew her attention to him and she saw his body disintegrating, becoming part of the structure.
“Elisa!”
Asami’s cry snapped her from her trance. Elisa jumped from the altar just as the earthquakes became more fierce. A vortex formed where the symbol was, and Stonehenge quickly became devoured by it. There was a great pull to it and the group had to struggle to remain on solid ground.
“What is it?” asked Asami, holding an unconscious Sun Wukong.
“A portal! Kurios has done it, he’s opened a doorway to Atlantis!” shouted Elisa over the roar.
“So what do we do now?” asked Jason.
Elisa looked down at Mjolnir, still held in her hands. The artifact of the gods was capable of opening and closing the Akashic Records and it was the power of the gods that exiled Atlantis in the first place. Perhaps, she reasoned, it could be used to close it.
“I have an idea!”
Asami saw the glowing hammer and had a sense of what Elisa had planned. “You can’t!”
“No choice.” Elisa reached for the necklace she always wore, on the end of which dangled a pearl. The one Asami gave to her when the kitsune pledged her loyalty. For the first time in years, Elisa took it off and tossed it to her partner. “It’s been real.”
“No!” Asami cried. She dropped Sun and ran for Elisa, but Jason grabbed her and held her back. Asami’s arm still reached for her partner, to no avail.
Elisa ran for the altar. She peered into the vortex and could see the ancient square of Atlantis, now all in ruins. But if it returned, who knew what would return with it, and what damage it would cause in the process. In one hand, she held the hammer. The other drew one of her kukri, given to her by her grandfather.
She gave a final glance back at her friends, smiled, and then jumped. As she plummeted into the vortex, Mjolnir awakened, power arcing from the hammer and to the edges of the portal. It shrunk until it closed completely and the skies cleared, the morning sun shining brightly.
But of the vortex, Stonehenge, Mjolnir, or Elisa Hill—there was nothing left. Not a single trace.
EPILOGUE
Asami stood at the marker for Elisa, right beside the graves of her parents. There was no body to bury, so the headstone alone would have to do. There were others gathered around—people who knew Elisa from her time at Burroughs University, former students and co-workers, and people she’d encountered over the years as a myth hunter. Rufus Stone, the retired hunter who ran an underground bar in the Caribbean. Stubby Sheen, a useful informant over the years. There was another man, tall with brown skin and eyes the color of freshly minted pennies. Asami hadn’t seen him before, but she didn’t give it another thought.
Sun Wukong was present, taking the form of a human for the service. As, of course, were Jason Shroud and Lakita Rai. Asami hadn’t seen Lucas Davalos anywhere, and she wondered if he would even come given his work in Corbaton.
Max Finch stepped up beside the headstone, his hands clasped in front of his waist. His eyes looked red and it seemed he was completely exhausted. Looking up, he took a breath before speaking.
“Elisa Hill was one of the most incredible people I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing. The daughter of my two closest friends, I watched her grow and treated her as if she were my own. Fiercely intelligent and inquisitive from a young age, she never stopped asking questions about the world. And if the answers didn’t prove satisfactory, she went out and discovered the truth for herself.
“Elisa excelled at everything she ever did. She was a free spirit in the truest sense of that phrase. Nothing and no one could ever tie her down for too long. The world is a better place with her having been a part of it.”
More than they’ll ever know… Asami mused to herself.
“Looking around, I see the vast number of lives she touched. There are many here today who owe Elisa a debt that can never be repaid. She was, quite simply, a gift, and she will be sorely missed.”
Max stepped away, taking a handkerchief from his breast pocket and dabbing his eyes. Asami remained standing still at the grave, staring down at her friend’s name imprinted on the stone. Carved right above the name were a pair of interlocked kukri and below it, the words, “NEVER STOP SEEKING THE TRUTH.”
The crowd bid their goodbyes and many left. Asami barely acknowledged any of them who departed. Jason came up beside her and gently laid a hand on her shoulder.
“I have to go,” he said. “There’s a lot of cleaning up the Freemasons have to do after the mess Connelly made. Lots of explanations to be made.”
“Yeah…”
“You could…always come with. We could use someone like you working with us.”
“Maybe someday,” said Asami. “But not yet.”
“I understand. If you ever need anything, you know how to reach me.” He gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze and left.
Max and Laki were the next to approach. Laki knelt down in front of the grave, tears streaming down her face, and she laid some flowers at its base. Max remained by Asami’s side.
“Do you know what you’ll do now?” he asked.
“Haven’t thought that far ahead. Sure I’ll figure out something,” said Asami.
“Even though she’s gone, hope remains,” said Max. “You’re family, Asami. We’ll always be here for you.”
She gave him a little smile and a quick hug. “Thanks.”
Max nodded and left. Laki stood from the grave, but something caught her eye in the distance. She wiped the tears from her eye and squinted. “Is that…?”
Asami glanced in the same direction and saw what Laki did. A man approached—shaggy, sand-colored hair and a face lined with stubble. “Yeah, it’s him.”
Lucas Davalos approached the grave and laid the flowers he brought. He looked at Laki and the two exchanged a quick hug. She excused herself, leaving Lucas and Asami alone at the grave.
“Sorry I’m late,” he said. “Tanya wanted to come, but…Corbaton’s kinda chaotic right now.”
“Thanks for coming.”
“Jesus…” Lucas looked down at the headstone and sighed, shaking his head. “Elsie, what were you thinking?”
“She was just doing her job.” Asami reached a hand into her pocket and drew out the pearl. Her eyes fixed on the orb and she slowly set it atop the headstone.
“Yeah, guess so.” Lucas hid his eyes, putting on a pair of sunglasses.
“But there’s always hope,” said Asami. “Always a chance that things can change.”
Lucas studied Asami’s expressionless face. “Sounds like you’re about to do something crazy.”
Asami looked at him and gave him a playful smirk. “Let’s just say that there’s more things in Heaven and Earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”
The two stared at the small pearl. For the briefest of moments, it hummed with a glow, or was that simply the sunlight glinting off its surface? Either way, it held the promise of something more…
***
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AFTERWORD
There you have it, the end of an era.
I was in high school when I first created Elisa Hill. She appeared as an original character in a fanfic series I wrote in a very different form, as a vampire hunter. Later, I decided to break her out of fanfic and spin an original series with her, going after a vampire criminal cartel, which I first pitched to the Frontier Digital Fiction website.
Atlantis Rising (The Myth Hunter Book 6) Page 10
