Ancient Origins: Books 4 - 6 (Ancient Origins Boxset Book 2)

by Robert Storey

  Trish got to her hands and knees and then spied two bodies lying nearby. She let out a cry of anguish. ‘Jason!’

  Struggling forward, she reached Jason and rolled him onto his side. She shook him. ‘Jason!’

  Jason coughed, expelling a gush of water onto the stony surface.

  He groaned. ‘What happened?’

  ‘I don’t know. One minute I was about to die, the next, I washed up here.’

  ‘Pharos,’ a voice said.

  Trish turned to see Ruben sitting up.

  ‘No,’ Trish said with a shake of her head. ‘I don’t think it was.’

  It was Ruben’s turn to shake his head. ‘No.’ He reached for his sword and pointed with his other hand. ‘Pharos.’

  Trish whirled round to see a shimmering form emerging from the water. Liquid cascaded down from its invisible body and Jason let out a cry, ‘There’s another one!’

  Another light appeared through the mists, with another, next to it.

  ‘There’s three more.’ Ruben grasped his sword and backed towards Trish and Jason, and all three stood in a circle, facing outward, as six Pharos surrounded them.

  The demon light before them let out a strange series of clicks, which was met by more from its companions.

  ‘What do we do?’ Trish whispered.

  Ruben raised his sword. ‘There’s only one thing we can do.’

  ‘And what’s that?’ Jason said, his voice hopeful.

  Ruben looked at them, his expression grim. ‘Die with honour.’

  Chapter Two Hundred Eighty

  Trish stared into the shimmering lights of the six Pharos, which encircled the three humans in their midst, and knew Ruben was right. They were already as good as dead. She grasped Jason’s hand as the beasts closed in and then shut her eyes.

  An ear-shattering roar made Trish’s knees quiver and she cracked opened her eyes to see a Pharos appear before them, its transparent body burning bright red. The creature roared again and then a shining light cut through its body, cleaving it clean in two. Black ooze cascaded to the beach in a flood and a moment later a being of light stepped through the steaming carcass, its footfalls burning away the slain creature’s blood like fire on ice.

  The being of light moved towards them and Trish found herself gaping at it as it stopped before them. The other Pharos retreated a few paces, some letting out deep menacing growls, before, one by one, their lights shimmered and then blinked out.

  The light from the Pharos slayer also dimmed, revealing a figure within, and Trish took a step towards it.

  Jason grasped her hand. ‘What are you doing?!’

  ‘It just killed a Pharos and drove the others away; that’s a friend, in my book.’

  ‘Friend?’ said a voice from within the light. ‘Yes, that’s what I am. I’m your friend.’

  Shocked, Trish stared at the figure as its light faded further. ‘Sarah? Oh, my God, Sarah, is that you?’

  The radiance surrounding the figure faded to nothing and Sarah Morgan took a step towards her friend, smiled and said, ‘Miss me?’

  Chapter Two Hundred Eighty-One

  Sarah stared into the shocked faces before her, then reached out and touched Trish’s cheek.

  ‘Sarah!’ Trish embraced her friend. ‘Oh, Sarah, I thought I’d lost you.’

  ‘You were dead,’ Jason said. ‘I saw you. You were dead.’

  Sarah released Trish and held out her hand to Jason. ‘I wasn’t dead,’ Sarah said, ‘not then, but I was afterwards.’

  ‘What?’ He looked at Trish in confusion. ‘I don’t understand.’

  ‘Neither do I,’ Sarah said. ‘Not completely.’

  Jason allowed her to hug him.

  ‘I think you might need this,’ Ruben said, shrugging out of his white tunic, leaving him wearing only a pair of black boots and black leather breeches.

  Sarah looked down at her nakedness and grinned. ‘You don’t know, do you?

  ‘Know what?’ Ruben said, trying to avert his eyes and failing.

  ‘This place, you don’t know what it is.’

  ‘I told you!’ Jason said. ‘We are dead.’ He looked at Sarah’s benevolent expression and said, ‘Aren’t we?’

  ‘Do I look dead to you?’

  ‘Your scars,’ Ruben said. He reached out to her bare chest and then quickly remembered himself and withdrew his hand. ‘They’re gone.’

  ‘It was the storm,’ Sarah said. ‘It did something to me.’

  ‘Did what?’ Trish said.

  ‘The storm is Heaven’s Gate. Or rather, we are; the storm just showed me the way.’

  ‘The way?’ Jason said, looking more confused than ever. ‘We’re Heaven’s Gate?’

  ‘Of course,’ Sarah said and pressed her index finger to his forehead. ‘Who do you think is inside that head of yours?’

  ‘Me. I am.’

  ‘Yes, but “who” is the “you”?’

  Jason looked confused and turned to Trish.

  ‘She’s saying—’

  ‘We’re God,’ Ruben said, finishing Trish’s sentence.

  Sarah’s smile broadened. ‘And as God,’ – she looked around herself – ‘this world is as we make it.’ Sarah concentrated and clothes appeared on her body as if from nowhere.

  Jason swore and Ruben took a step back, his expression darkening.

  ‘This place isn’t real?’ Trish said, cottoning on.

  ‘Yes and no. We’re in the mirror and it’s as Ruben told me; reality is as we make it.’ Sarah looked at the Templar knight as he struggled back into his tunic. ‘And if we’re all going to get out of here alive, you’re all going to have to realise that, and very soon.’

  ‘And why’s that?’ Jason said.

  ‘Because,’ – Sarah held up the Swiss guard’s sword, which once more fluttered with light – ‘we’re about to have company.’

  Chapter Two Hundred Eighty-Two

  Trish watched Sarah disappear into her glow of radiant light and then spun round as a roar of sound announced the return of the Pharos.

  ‘This way,’ Sarah said, as more Pharos emerged from the water.

  ‘There’s too many of them!’ Jason said, as Sarah’s light held four of the creatures at bay, while another attacked from the opposite side.

  Ruben swung his sword, but teeth tore into his arm and he was thrown from his feet.

  ‘Sarah!’ Trish said, as the shimmering beast bore down on her. ‘Help us!!’

  A blazing sword of fire lanced down, forcing the Pharos back.

  Trish looked up at her saviour in amazement. Jason stood there with an enormous blade of fire grasped in each hand.

  ‘How?’ Trish said, getting to her feet with Ruben’s help.

  Again, Jason swung his new weapons at the Pharos, which roared in defiance.

  ‘I just imagined it was there!’ Jason said, his expression one of terrified excitement.

  Sarah grasped Trish’s hand and dragged her forward. ‘Ask and it shall be given.’ Sarah raised her hands and swept them down in an arc to create a shield of light which encompassed them all.

  Ruben cradled his injured arm. ‘This is sorcery.’ He stared through the dome of light, as the Pharos threw themselves at it. ‘An abomination.’

  ‘An abomination that just saved your life, dumbass,’ Jason said. He raised a fiery blade. ‘You’re welcome, by the way.’

  Ruben glared at him. Trish concentrated and produced a small blade out of thin air.

  ‘Trish,’ Jason said, stifling a laugh, ‘in this instance, size really does matter.’

  Trish scowled at him. ‘It’s how you use it that counts.’

  ‘I knew it!’ he said, and blocked a Pharos as it penetrated the shield.

  Trish screamed. ‘They’re coming through the ground!’

  Sarah held out her hands and sealed the breach, but as she did so, she saw a dark figure emerge from the water.

  The Pharos retreated as it approached and Ruben said, ‘Konstantin.’<
br />
  ‘Or whatever possesses him,’ Sarah said. A tingle of fear weakened her resolve; she motioned behind her and an opening in the shield appeared. ‘Go,’ she said to them. ‘I’ll hold them off.’

  ‘I’m not leaving you again,’ Trish said, her expression fierce. She brandished her small blade.

  Konstantin reached out a hand and touched Sarah’s barrier, and then very slowly pushed his arm through it.

  ‘GO!’ Sarah said. ‘NOW!’

  Sarah’s shield wilted and the Pharos moved to encircle them. ‘I’ll follow you!’ Sarah said to Trish.

  Jason grasped Trish’s hand. ‘Time to go!’ The two of them ran for it, but Ruben hesitated.

  ‘Go!’ Sarah said, as the shield vanished.

  ‘What about you?!’

  Sarah backed away from Konstantin and gritted her teeth, concentrated and raised a blazing sword of light. ‘Trust me, I’ve got this.’

  A Pharos darted in and Ruben dodged the attack, stumbled and then ran, and the beast pursued him into the glowing mists into which Trish and Jason had just fled.

  All alone, Sarah held her fearsome weapon before her as the Pharos kept their distance and Alexander Konstantin stopped before her.

  The Knight of the Apocalypse stared at her with jet-black eyes, the whites displaced by the darkness.

  Sarah glanced around her and then looked back at her adversary, who remained motionless before her. ‘What do you want from me?’

  Konstantin said nothing, but a small smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. He raised his hand and a sword like Sarah’s formed within it, only his gleamed like the blackest black.

  Sarah took a step back and a Pharos growled in warning behind her.

  ‘We,’ Konstantin said, the voice making the hairs on Sarah’s neck stand up on end, ‘are here for youuuu,’ – he took a step towards her – ‘allll.’

  Sarah’s eyes grew wide and Konstantin launched himself at her. Their swords clashed in a blinding flash of light and Sarah found herself flying backwards through the air. A second later she landed on the ground with a thump, the air knocked from her lungs.

  Sarah groaned and opened her eyes to see Konstantin striding through the mists towards her, his black sword aglow with lightning.

  Sarah staggered to her feet and had barely raised her own weapon before Konstantin swung again. Another explosion of light reverberated through the mists, but this time Sarah held her ground. Konstantin forced his sword towards her and Sarah’s eyes blazed in defiance as she let out a scream of fury, gritted her teeth and punched her sword upwards. Light flashed and this time Konstantin flew backwards, the possessed knight tumbling over and over across the ground.

  The Russian came to a stop and gave his head a shake, then looked up at Sarah, his expression one of shock.

  Clambering back to his feet, Konstantin opened his mouth, displaying razor-sharp teeth, and let out a series of Pharos-like clicks. The other Pharos roared in answer and surged forwards, and Sarah turned tail and ran.

  ♦

  ‘We shouldn’t have left her!’ Trish said, hauling back on Jason’s hand. ‘Not again!’

  The two of them came to a stop in the glowing mist and a moment later Ruben emerged from the swirling vapour to rejoin them. ‘I think I lost it,’ he said, glancing behind them and breathing hard.

  ‘You know that’s not air you’re breathing, right?’ Jason said, looking amused.

  Ruben looked up at him. ‘What?’

  ‘It’s as Sarah said, this place isn’t real.’

  ‘It’s one of his films,’ Trish said. ‘Don’t ask.’ She frowned. ‘We can still die here though, can’t we?’

  ‘Yes.’ Jason’s expression grew dark. ‘I think we can.’

  ‘Then we have to go back for her.’

  ‘Didn’t you see what she could do?’ Jason said. ‘She’s like some kind of ... I don’t know what, but she’s powerful. Like – crazy mythic powerful.’

  Ruben breathed onto his hand. ‘I can’t feel my breath.’

  ‘I told you,’ Jason said, looking smug.

  ‘I think I see something,’ Trish said, looking behind them.

  ‘It’s Sarah,’ Jason said.

  Ruben moved past them. ‘She’s running.’

  A moment later Sarah burst out of the mists and screamed at them, ‘Run! RUN!!’

  Trish, Jason and Ruben stood there transfixed as Sarah’s glowing form raced towards them, and then one, two, three and more Pharos exploded from the mists behind her, their lights and roars a wall of onrushing death.

  ♦

  Everyone turned and ran, as Sarah joined her friends in headlong flight.

  ‘Where do we go?!’ Jason said, glancing behind as the Pharos gained on them.

  ‘There!’ Sarah pointed left and the party of four veered towards the outline of a glowing eye.

  A Pharos leapt towards Trish, who screamed, and light erupted from Sarah’s hand, blasting it aside.

  Jason cried out a warning as another shimmering demon threw itself at Sarah. Giant talons raked down her back and Sarah screamed as pain lanced through her. She managed to keep running, but her legs grew weak and she stumbled and fell as her friends reached the eye.

  Trish whirled round and grasped Jason’s arm and screamed, ‘SARAH!’

  Sarah gazed up into the maw of a thousand teeth and grasped the giant jaw which snapped down at her. Pain exploded down her cheek and she cried out as talons bit into her body. The Pharos roared and then its weight vanished and Sarah turned her head to gaze up into a winged helmet and a pair of white glowing eyes. A man, clad in steel armour, bent down and scooped Sarah up and then turned and ran from the demons pursuing them. A moment later they burst through the glowing eye and into darkness.

  Chapter Two Hundred Eighty-Three

  USSB Haven, United States of America.

  Malcolm Joiner mustered the strength to unclip the final strap on his exoskeleton, and the machine then lifted him up, to carefully cradle his crippled body in its arms. Using a remote control, Joiner then used the exoskeleton to carry him to a large bed at his new home in USSB Haven.

  Agent Myers and an army of GMRC soldiers remained on high alert throughout the base, in case the Committee sought retribution for Joiner’s attack on their members who had once populated the Directorate. But now the underground world was at war with the surface, everything was up in the air and chaos was the one thing the Committee feared above all else. For without planning, their power was out of control and the results of their actions unpredictable, at best. At least, that’s what Joiner hoped; they still had the God Device to guide their hand, but then they always had, and it hadn’t predicted his attack, which meant they were fallible, which was all the incentive Joiner needed. He lay back on his bed, his dented head resting on a soft pillow. Pain lanced through his body and he gritted his teeth until it passed.

  He thought back to Professor Steiner’s recent contact and gave a shake of his head. The man gives the hacker access to mankind’s nuclear arsenal, Joiner thought, and its greatest secrets, and then petitions me for help? He would have laughed if Steiner’s crimes hadn’t betrayed everything the GMRC had worked towards. His eye grew dark. Joiner had always known Steiner was arrogant, but to risk the future of the entire species defied belief – the sheer audacity of it was beyond his understanding. Joiner’s expression turned to one of contempt as it reconfirmed what he’d always known: he was a man apart in thought, word and deed, a superior being, which was why he ruled and others failed and died. It was survival of the fittest and even though his body was failing him, his mind was still the glorious machine it had always been. ‘Computer,’ he said.

  A holographic representation of a woman materialised at the end of his bed. ‘Yes, Director Joiner.’

  ‘Display all media news channels on the ceiling screen.

  ‘Certainly, Director.’

  The room’s lights dimmed and an instant later a myriad of broadcasts filled the room with th
eir flickering glow.

  Someone knocked on the door and Joiner called out for them to enter.

  Agent Myers appeared in the doorway and moved to stand by Joiner’s bed. The GMRC CIA operative gazed up at the ceiling, like Joiner himself. ‘It’s happening, isn’t it?’ Myers said.

  ‘Yes, it has begun.’ Joiner surveyed the feeds coming in from around the world. The mayhem had started. Riots, murder and terror spread like wildfire through village, town and city alike. Few would be immune to its madness.

  ‘I’ve always heard of it,’ Joiner said, ‘but now it’s arrived, it’s quite beautiful. All that fear and anger released in a single explosive event.’ He pressed a button next to his bed and the sound of screams, gunfire and disorder filled the room in a hideous cacophony of noise. ‘The death of civilisation itself.’

  ‘Can we stop it?’ Myers said, looking pale.

  ‘Why would we want to? The Subterranean Programme has been exposed and our assault of surface installations continues. The time for protecting the masses serves us no longer, let them tear themselves apart.’

  ‘And what of the hacker?’

  ‘Da Muss Ich has made a fatal error. He believed he was in control. He believed he could force our hand. The only thing he’s achieved is chaos.’

  ‘What if chaos was his plan?’ Myers said, his face grim.

  ‘It matters not.’ The sounds of anarchy continued to fill the room and Joiner felt his body relax. ‘The hacker is no longer of consequence. The new age has begun.’ Joiner smiled and closed his eye to the sweet sounds of sirens and automatic weapons fire. ‘Nothing can stop it now.’