Where Gods Dare (Divine Protector Book 4)

by Scott Kinkade

  “Try ‘Zeus’,” CiCi said.

  Maya tried it, only to be refused again. “We have to figure out the correct password now!” She couldn’t take this, couldn’t take watching Ev die and being powerless to stop it.

  They tried several more passwords, none of which were correct. Suddenly, Maya gave up and walked away. “What are you doing?” Daryn said. “We have to keep trying.”

  She went over to one of the glass walls. “We’re never going to guess the password in time. I have a better idea.”

  “Which is?” Priscilia said.

  Maya floated up to one of the metal vents. “I’m going to smash through the vents and let the energy in. You guys had better get out of here. There’s no telling what it would do to you.”

  “Maya, no! There has to be another way,” CiCi said.

  “Hurry up!” Maya said. “Ev’s almost out of time.”

  CiCi frantically shook her head. “I won’t leave you!”

  “Neither will I,” Jaysin said.

  “Me, neither,” Daryn added.

  Priscilia stood silent for a moment, and then sighed. “Dammit. I guess I won’t, either.”

  Maya turned away. She couldn’t look at their hopeful, defiant faces. Why did they have to be such good friends? “Have it your way.”

  Without wasting any more time, she shoved her fist into the metal vent which tore with a shriek. Primal green energy roared out and assaulted her. She felt the power invade her body, making her stronger. Overwhelmed, she fell to the floor.

  CiCi rushed over to help her. “Are you all right?”

  She staggered to her feet. “Never mind me. Lift Ev up to the vent. He needs to absorb that energy.”

  Jaysin scooped Ev up in his arms and floated his near-lifeless body into the roiling green energy. For several moments, nothing happened.

  But suddenly, Ev began thrashing about. Surprised, Jaysin let go and watched his friend flail about in mid-air as the most powerful Ultimus Point flowed into him.

  Within minutes, the room filled with the gaseous force and it became hard to see. That was only momentary, however, because soon all six of them began glowing an eerie white. “W-What is this?” CiCi said, panic in her voice.

  “Full exposure to an Ultimus Point,” Maya said. “Most Ultimus Points, including the one at Mt. Orleia, are belowground and we’re only ever exposed to the outer-most edge of it. But now we’re getting one hundred percent of it. And this is the most powerful one of all. You can all feel it, can’t you? We should now be several times stronger than normal.”

  Through the haze, she could see the glowing white form of each of them. Daryn flexed his muscles. “Yeah. I feel way stronger than I ever was. How long will this last?”

  Maya shrugged. “I have absolutely no idea. There’s no record of anyone ever doing this before. It could wear off pretty soon, or it could be permanent.”

  She looked up at Ev. He stopped moving and slowly righted himself before floating back down to the floor. “Well, that was… different.”

  “Ev!” Maya embraced him, and everyone else gathered around them.

  “Are you all right?” Daryn asked.

  “Yeah. A hell of a lot better than before. That was the worst pain I’ve ever been in, and I’ve been known to get my ass kicked from time to time.” Like the others, he appeared to her as a white luminescent silhouette, but it was unmistakably him. She suspected he was putting up a brave front to hide the mental scars this event had most likely left on him.

  “Well, that’s—” Jaysin’s words were cut off by a violent shaking.

  “What’s going on?” Priscilia said.

  “Zeus said it was almost time for the main event. I think it’s happening now,” Ev said.

  Thick metal shutters came down across the glass partitions, drowning out most of the room’s light. Klaxons sounded and yellow strobe lights began flashing along the ceiling. The voice of Ragnarok suddenly announced, “Project Titan is now beginning. Everyone, please report to your designated stations.”

  “Ragnarok, what’s going on?” Ev said.

  “Determining classification status,” Ragnarok said. “Project is now underway and no longer classified top-secret. Therefore, information may be given.”

  “So give it!” Daryn yelled.

  “Yeah. What is Project Titan?” CiCi said.

  Ragnarok explained, “Project Titan is a heavily-armed warship encircling the moon’s core. It utilizes Ultimus Point Zero as a power source. The Ultimus Point can be moved along with the warship. The Flawless Few have spent the past several decades constructing it.”

  Ev realized, “That’s Zeus’ plan: take this gigantic thing and crush everyone and everything until they bow down and worship Zero Grade. That’s what we detected powering up inside the moon.”

  Maya nodded. “That also explains why they didn’t put any serious effort into defending the Ultimus Points on Narska; it was all a diversion so we wouldn’t figure out what they were really up to.”

  “Seems like overkill,” Daryn said.

  “I’m with Daryn, mate. With everyone down there powerless, doesn’t seem like they need this.”

  “I guess the Flawless Few don’t want to leave anything to chance,” Priscilia said. “They want an overwhelming show of force no one can possibly stand up against. One that will terrorize the entire planet into bowing to them.”

  Ev cracked his knuckles, psyching himself up for what was to come. “Yeah, well I’m not about to let them get away with it. Ragnarok, we’re on board the Titan right now, aren’t we?”

  “Affirmative.”

  He grinned. “Then tell us how to get to Zeus. We’ve got one last ass to kick.”

  “I will direct you to the bridge.”

  * * *

  Bethos had been too busy to worry about everyone’s lost powers. As the Academy President, he still had a job to do, and that meant taking care of the day-to-day aspects of the school. Curriculums needed to be decided, Holy Pizza needed to be restocked, and students needed to be convinced to keep going to class, even though no one was sure if they would ever become gods now. Hell, even the faculty didn’t know if their powers would ever return.

  But even though he kept busy, the doubts, the fear, still crept into his mind. Nevertheless, he resolved to continue doing his best to see the Academy through this crisis.

  He wondered what Ev, Maya, Jaysin, CiCi and Daryn were up to now. Had they found someplace safe to stash the ship and were now hiding out until the danger passed? Somehow, he doubted it. Ev in particular was headstrong and sometimes reckless; he was probably getting them into trouble somewhere. Despite everything, Bethos smiled at this thought.

  Currently, he was holed up in his office doing paperwork when Freya burst in. “There’s something you need to see!”

  He sighed and followed her to the hangar where the entire student body was lined up along the massive open bay at the far end, staring up into the sky. The two of them made their way through the throng to see what everyone was looking at. Bethos wondered nervously if Ev and friends had returned with the Midgard.

  “What’s going on?” he asked.

  “Not long ago, astronomers across the globe began detecting massive energy spikes coming from the moon. They’re just now announcing it.”

  What he saw in the afternoon sky was not a ship. At least, it wasn’t any ship he had ever seen. Before their eyes, the moon split in half and opened up, revealing a smaller shining sphere in the center. The sphere began moving away from the hollowed-out moon—straight for Narska. The moon then closed shut again. “Are you seeing this?” he asked Freya.

  “I’m afraid so. No doubt about it; Zero Grade’s coming right for us.”

  He didn’t say what they were thinking. He didn’t add, And we’re powerless to stop them. He didn’t want to scare the students any more than they already were. Instead, he ordered everyone inside and had the hangar doors closed. That was the best he could do under the circumstanc
es.

  He decided to head back to his office. “Shouldn’t we have a meeting to discuss a plan of action?” Freya asked him.

  “What’s the point?” he replied grimly. “There’s absolutely nothing we can do right now except hide out here.” Dian Cecht hypothesized direct exposure to the Ultimus Point below them could potentially restore their powers, but without said powers they had no way of getting down there. Hundreds of feet of rock separated them from the pocket of Big Bang energy.

  As he walked the hallway, he felt like an old rawrg hound: Proud, experienced, but too weak to do anything. His only hope was that, somewhere, Ev and friends were taking action to stop Zero Grade’s plans. They were mankind’s last line of defense against the greatest threat the world had ever seen.

  Bethos wished them luck, knowing they would need a hell of a lot more than that.

  * * *

  Zeus stood in front of his gigantic chair on the Titan’s massive bridge, staring at the forward view screen which filled the entirety of the far wall. Even though he had a chair, he was too excited to sit.

  The bridge itself was circular and ten stories tall. Each story contained operator stations for manning the largest machine anyone had ever constructed. The walls in front of him and to the left and right showed the space outside the ship.

  They had incorporated elements of the Sancta Praesidium’s design into the Titan’s construction, including laser turrets and a diamond-like hull. The thing would shine like the sun; Zeus wanted everyone to see them coming.

  “Status!” he demanded to know.

  The operator stationed directly behind him—a lowly Second Gen like everyone on the bridge—said, “All systems are online. We will reach Narska in ten minutes.”

  Another operator declared, “We have an energy leak in Containment.”

  That was where Zeus had left the Bannen pooslicker. “How bad is it?”

  “Negligible. Current output is at 99.9993 percent.”

  That would be more than enough to decimate the entire planet and anyone who got in their way. Besides, Bannen was no doubt dead by now; the energy would have no effect on him.

  “Continue to Narska,” he ordered. “Notify me when we are in firing range.”

  “Yes, Lord Zeus!” they shouted in unison.

  * * *

  “Proceed through the next door on your right,” Ragnarok said as they ran through the Titan’s hundreds of identical corridors. A few guards got in their way here and there, but they were easily dealt with. Locked doors were also encountered, but the group just smashed through them as if they were paper. Nothing was going to stop them from reaching the bridge and shutting down Zero Grade’s plans once and for all.

  Chapter XIV

  Zeus watched the clouds clear before them. Titan had entered Narska’s atmosphere. The roaring orange flames of atmospheric entry had now abated after dancing harmlessly around the hull. “Report,” he said.

  “We are fifty miles above Seraphim City. We can fire at any time.”

  “Good,” Zeus said. “Do it.”

  One of the bridge crew suddenly announced, “Master, we’ve got intruders on board Titan!”

  “What?”

  “They appear to be teenagers. Security reports they’re no match for them.”

  Bannen! “Seal the bridge. I don’t have time to deal with them right now. Have all available personnel focus on stopping them.”

  The crew member complied and brought down the haradium doors in front of the regular doors. Zeus knew only someone as strong as himself could break through them.

  In the meantime, the people of Narska were about to awaken to a harsh reality.

  * * *

  Below, the people of Seraphim City watched in horror as the giant sphere descended below the clouds. Even at that distance, the massive object could be seen clearly, a terrifying harbinger of things to come. It dominated the sky and towered over the populace who now seemed insignificant.

  If they felt fear upon seeing it, they soon felt absolute terror as a massive cylindrical shaft extended from its surface. The shaft began to glow a warlike shade of reddish-orange, and they realized it was a cannon. And it was pointed directly at them.

  There was barely time for their jaws to drop. The cannon fired a beam of incomprehensibly hot energy which divided the city in half, carving out a mile-wide gash and sending multi-ton chunks of buildings into the air while vaporizing the rest. Suffocating clouds of smoke rose from the ashes, completing the apocalyptic scene.

  People screamed and ran, but it was pointless; either you were in the path of the blast or you weren’t. And if you were, you didn’t have time to get out of the way. It was over in a matter of moments.

  * * *

  Devastation in Seraphim City

  That was the headline on the news as Bethos and the Academy faculty watched in the conference room. Some faces in the room displayed shock, others horror, and some showed no expression at all.

  Bethos tried to play it cool, a battle he knew he was losing. He couldn’t find the words to react properly to this situation.

  “This is horrible,” Freya said.

  “Horrible?” Aphrodite said. “It’s unthinkable!”

  “We have to do something,” Brandon said.

  That was a futile thing to say, Bethos thought. Everyone in the room knew the truth, even if they didn’t want to admit it. “There’s nothing we can do. Without our powers, we can’t even leave Mt. Orleia. And even if we had our powers, I doubt we could stand up to that.” He pointed at the news footage which prominently displayed the gargantuan sphere. It routinely switched between that and the devastation being wrought in Seraphim City.

  “We’d give them a run for their money,” Atlas said, as full of bravado as ever. It didn’t matter; without their powers, they couldn’t even try.

  Bethos shook his head. “I hate to say this, but we’ve only got one hope for stopping them, and it’s slim as hell.”

  They exchanged glances. “Ev and the others,” Brandon said.

  Bethos, shrugging, replied, “They’ve got their powers and that ship. Maybe they can do something.”

  Aphrodite didn’t share their optimism. “That thing Zero Grade has is far bigger than any ship we’ve ever built. I don’t think the Midgard can stop it.” She looked every bit as worried as they all felt.

  Freya put a comforting hand on her shoulder. “We trained those students, and we trained them well. It’s time for us to believe in them.”

  “Exactly,” Bethos said. “They’ve defeated refghasts, Nephilim, and even full-fledged gods in the God Games. If anyone can pull this off, they can.”

  Aphrodite perked up slightly. “Yes, you’re right. But as a goddess of love, part of me hopes they stay far away from that thing above Seraphim City.”

  “I feel the same way,” Freya said. “But if they don’t stop Zero Grade, a lot more people are going to die. This may sound selfish, but we need them to fight this battle for us.”

  Bethos nodded. “I agree. We should be there leading the charge, but we can’t. As shameful as it is, those kids are our only hope.”

  Their attention was abruptly returned to the TV when the camera focused on the sphere zoomed in to show a tiny explosion on the hull. At that distance, it was no more than a pinprick, but it signaled not all was right with the Zero Grade vessel. That gave Bethos a tiny glimmer of hope.

  “What’s that?” Freya said. She wasn’t talking about the explosion.

  The camera zoomed in further. Two figures, a normal-sized one and a giant, went hurtling out of the sphere.

  What on Narska was happening up there?

  * * *

  A few minutes earlier.

  Zeus looked down upon the devastation wrought by the Titan’s main gun. All those lives, lost. All that pain. All that fear.

  He smiled.

  He remembered in the previous universe when America had dropped atomic bombs on Japan. The Land of the Rising Sun had surrendered
and were forced to do whatever their enemies wanted. Zeus wanted to recreate that scenario here, but on a much larger scale. And with the Titan, that dream was within his grasp. No one would be able to stand up to Zero Grade. Even with the exo-suits the mortals had stolen from them, they didn’t have a prayer of even slowing him down.

  The plan was simple enough: blast the mortals until they capitulated. Zeus didn’t particularly care how much damage he inflicted, though he wanted to leave a good number of them alive as worshippers.