Lucifer's Legacy: Book 1 of the Heaven's Insurrection Saga

by Joel Stewart

  “I’m going to stay on the road until we hit the Eastern Denoria National Forest, then we are going to stop for a training break.” Lena informed them. “There is a good chance we might run into the demon generals again before we get where we are going, and we need you able to hold your own.”

  Davis looked over at Lena with an irritated expression. “And where exactly are we going?”

  “An Island in the southern Farasi Ocean.” Lena replied. “Tebir.”

  Davis and Jesse glared at Lena. Cliff even sat up out of his stupor at mention of the name. “Are you serious?” Jesse asked with a mix of excitement and terror in his voice.

  “No one has ever come back from that place alive. Are you sure we will be the first?” Davis asked warily.

  Alex looked around confused. “What is the big deal about the Island of Tebir?”

  Chapter 8

  Off the Coast of Jorgen

  Serenis walked past the army of dragons that littered the deck of her carrier. Today was going to be a great day. Today was the day she took a foothold on Denoria’s mainland and began to force her will on their people. She took a long deep breath of the morning air. Yes. A good day. She looked out at the mist that she would be clearing away in just a few moments, but something didn’t seem right. She hadn’t performed her morning routine. Her people really should see her face on this of all days. She waved and an officer came running over as fast as his legs would carry him. He fell to one knee as soon as he reached her. “Bring out the camera and someone worth killing.” She commanded. Moments later a camera crew for the television stations in Chengar appeared out of the ship with a prisoner in tow. “Untie and release him.” She told the camera. They complied and the man stood there wild eyed and confused.

  Serenis turned to the camera. “Today the balance of power in the world changes. I will conquer the Denorian city of Jorgen and begin my march on the capital itself. Before you today, stands a man, a man that wished to stop me in my righteous goal of eliminating Denoria from the world and taking their people as slaves to serve ours. Well here he is, and here is his chance.” She waved to the man. “Come rebel, attack me. Kill me. No one will stop you.” The man looked confused, but then warily started taking steps toward her. “Oh come now, don’t be shy.” Serenis taunted. “Here, have a little something to even the odds.” She motioned to an officer and he tossed his pistol at the captive’s feet.

  The man picked up the pistol and pointed it at Serenis’ head. “You . . . you killed my family . . . for nothing . . .” He yelled. He screamed a primal scream of mixed desperation and grief as he fired the gun over and over at Serenis. The bullets embedded themselves in her face and chest, each impact resulting in little more than a small jolt at the impact site.

  Serenis turned her face back toward the camera. The bullets slowly worked their way out of her skin and fell to the ground. Glowing red holes remained where the bullets had been, but within moments they, too, disappeared. “I shall bring prosperity to Chengar the likes of which it has never seen, and my enemies will fall like this pitiful wretch that dared stand against me.” Her eyes glowed as she talked. She turned toward the man and clenched her fist. An invisible hand closed around the man, crushing him. Blood spurted involuntarily from his mouth and nose. Serenis whirled and threw the man out toward the ocean. He flew, and flew, and flew at incredible speed. His body bounced twice on the water before slamming into an adjacent ship. The water lapped at the blood smear he left on the hull.

  Now Serenis felt like the day was off to an even better start. Killing humans always brightened up her mood. She waved the camera away and focused back out at the ocean. Yes, today would be a good day. She focused on the mist and it began to dissipate, revealing hundreds of ships. She wished she could be in the city at that moment, watching the expressions of terror on the faces of the people. Listening to them scream and run. It would be so entertaining! She smiled as she looked down the impressive display of naval prowess.

  Within moments, a siren blared across the water. She timed this with the morning sunrise to maximize their fear. The sun was behind her warships and she knew the outline of her battleships against the sun would look impressive and terrifying. As they could see her, she could see them. There was a smattering of coastal cannons meant for taking out battleships as well as fifty or so warships stationed in the harbor, but they were as nothing in her eyes. Denoria was outnumbered at least four to one. The famed Denorian airships were her greatest concern, but her dragons had proven capable of destroying them in the past and she trusted they could again. Those magnificent creatures, she thought. Ten thousand years of technological development and they still can’t be bettered. She could see the camera was set up to broadcast the bombardment. She locked eyes with ship’s captain and nodded her head. He quickly ran inside. Moments later the deafening sound of battleship cannons were filling her ears and the smell of burnt gunpowder was filling her nose. The city lit up like a firework display as thousands upon thousands of high explosive shells crashed into its defenders and their infrastructure. The battle for Jorgen had begun, and it would be magnificent.

  Chapter 9

  South of Jorgen

  The peak of Mount Brenta moved slowly toward Commander Turner’s cockpit. Beyond lay miles of rolling farmland that eventually blended into the outskirts of Jorgen. When Turner crested the peak with Kurt and Cassandra to his left and right he was unprepared for the battle that raged before him. Hundreds of airships from Denoria and Chengar filled the sky. Dragons darted in and out of the dog fights unleashing fiery destruction in every direction. Most fire balls did not hit an airship and fell to the city below. Large swaths of the city were now in flames. Chengarian ships covered the coast from north to south, dozens were sinking, but hundreds were not. “Get ready.” He ordered. “The real show is about to start. Before we engage the dragons, as we have trained, we need to make sure a squadron of torpedo cruisers get their payload in the water.” Only two of the coastal bombardment cannons were still firing and not a ship remained that was still upright. If Denoria had any chance of dealing with the massive fleet off their coast it was going to be through wave after wave of torpedo runs until another fleet from the south could get there to help lift the siege. Turner knew the closest fleet was over half a day’s sailing to the south.

  “Roger that.” Came the string of replies over his radio. They could see the squadron of over forty cruisers moving up the coastline. Each one was laden with four ML-7 torpedoes, a defensive weapon that worked in conjunction with pre-installed coastal defenses. A sensor grid under the water fed the ML-7 targeting guidance, individually identifying warships on the surface and allowing an indiscriminately dropped group of torpedoes to select individual targets. All the Dragonsbane squadron needed was to get the cruisers in range and the torpedoes would do the rest.

  “We have two dozen Chengarian airships closing in on the cruisers.” Turner warned. “Punch in afterburners, we have to reach them before they get a firing solution on those cruisers!” One by one, the Dragonsbane airships lurched forward with a burst of incredible speed.

  “What the hell did they put in these things!?” Cassandra yelled as she struggled to cope with the raw acceleration.”

  “Keep the chatter down and stay focused.” Turner replied in a raspy tone over the coms. He, too, was struggling with the g-force. They quickly closed the gap between themselves and the cruisers. Just before the Chengarian airships could get in range of the cruisers the Dragonsbane squadron pulled in front. “Let’s hit these jokers with an Iron Curtain.” Turner ordered. The Iron Curtain maneuver, when executed with three squadrons of four, was a two-stage maneuver. Eight airships would line up in front, unloading their missiles simultaneously with the opposing airships as soon as they came into range. Once the missiles were launched the eight airships would slam on the breaks and do a loop. The four airships in back, which had most likely avoided missile lock, flew past the front airships and unloaded a steady stream
of chaff. The chaff was a hot substance designed for attracting and exploding missiles that happened to run into it. The glittering cascade of chaff looked like a curtain—hence the name. As the Dragonsbane squadron was made up of the best pilots in Denoria, the maneuver went off without a hitch. The enemy missiles collided with the falling debris, exploding harmlessly in the air, while the sixteen missiles fired from the Denorian airships all met their mark.

  The eight remaining, technologically inferior, Chengarian airships were quickly mopped up using airship cannons. “This feels like cheating.” Kurt remarked over his intercoms. “These auto-tracking turrets are so much more reliable than our old Firehawks.” The Firehawk that Kurt was used to, had a fixed turret—meaning, he had to fly the plane directly at what he planned to shoot. These new X-5 Dragonsbane airships had been retrofitted after the dragon attack on Dengrin to have a gun turret that had a limited range of motion and could lock on to targets similar to a missile.

  “Don’t get too cocky or too reliant.” Turner echoed back over the radio. “Remember these are prototypes and anything could go wrong with this new technology at any moment. Stay focused and alert at all times.” The cruisers dropped their impressive load into the water and turned back for home. It would take several minutes for the torpedoes to work their way up the shoreline as they were dropped at close to maximum range, but when they hit the southern tip of the Chengarian fleet it was going to show some real fireworks. “Three dragons incoming.” Turner warned as they directed their attention toward the city. “This is what we have trained for! If we can’t take down these monsters no one can!”

  The Dragonsbane squadrons slowed their speed—lowering the speed at which the X-5s could fly was one of the post prototype modifications made to better equip them for fighting dragons. The first encounter made it very clear that a fireball, while large, moved slow and used an airship’s speed against it. It was speculated that a slower flying airship could avoid them easily. Each squadron picked a dragon and engaged. Thrusters had been installed on the X-5s that gave them a lateral right-left evasive capability, something that came in handy when a fireball was heading at their cockpit. The strategy was to charge the dragon while firing the targetable turrets and strafe it. The dragon could only fire a fireball at one of the four airships, and that airship would have to rely on its low speed, maneuverability, and lateral thrusters to survive. As they got closer to the dragons they realized that it might not be so easy.

  “Are you seeing what I am seeing sir?” Kurt asked over the radio.

  “Affirmative.” Turner replied. “Strategy is the same, but we all need to engage evasive maneuvers as we approach our strafing run and put on a little more speed.” The three dragons were not only augmented similar to the dragons they had previously seen with a smattering of metallic claws, tails, and wing segments, but these had additional armor over their face and neck and had rotating gun turrets on their backs that looked to have a gunner inside.

  “I have read fiction stories where humans rode dragons, but this is a whole other level.” Kurt commented.

  “Agreed, but cut down on the chatter.” Turner scolded. “The additional armor and gun mount should decrease their speed and maneuverability, so let’s focus on evasion and use their weakness to our advantage.” As they approached the dragons and split formation, the dragon and turret fire turned the sky into a tricky place, but the skill of the pilots and maneuverability of their airships deftly avoided the brunt of their assault.

  The dragons seemed well trained, but the turret pilots were not, and in a daring gamble Turner managed to fly between two of the dragons, accidentally causing their turrets to shoot at one another in a carefully orchestrated case of friendly fire. The adrenaline made the moments seem like hours. Fireballs being hurled, bullets flying past, airships bobbing and weaving through the maelstrom, but in the end the three dragons with their riders lay on the ground, dying. At least, Turner thought they were dying—they were severely wounded for sure.

  “Excellent work!” Turner congratulated the team. “These beasts are not as invincible as Chengar had hoped, let’s join with the main force in battling for air superiority. Our primary targets are the dragons, but if an airship from Chengar is asking for it, let ’em have it!”

  Chapter 10

  West of Jorgen

  “I have never seen you look that bad.” Jesse joked to Cliff in the backseat of the bus. “We found you lying there, blood all over you . . . it was crazy.”

  “I’d rather not remember that.” Alex said dryly and clearly not amused.

  “I don’t remember that.” Cliff said with a smile. He rubbed the cloth bandage that Alex had made for him. He took it off and tried to open his eye, but it was still swollen shut. He put the cloth wrap back over it. Except for his eye and some tender skin where the rocket had burned him, Cliff had mostly recovered from his previous injuries. “I am so glad we heal fast.” He stated. “I think I would have been in a hospital for a month at least.”

  “That assessment was doctored.” Jesse said with a mischievous grin.

  “Your comments wound me.” Cliff replied. Alex rolled her eyes and made a dramatic motion that ended with her palm slapping against her forehead.

  “Well—” Jesse started to say but Davis cut him off with an irritated growl. The irritation in Davis’s voice made Jesse smile more for some reason.

  “Will you guys knock it off!?” Davis was hunched over the dashboard of the bus staring off into the horizon, Lena was doing the same from the driver’s seat. “This doesn’t look good.” They were starting to round the top of one of the lesser hills of the Brentaran mountain range and the skyline of Jorgen was just coming into view. Smoke from burning fires filled the higher atmosphere, fed by the dark pillars rising from various parts of the city that were aglow. The ominous light was evidence of large and pervasive fires. Explosions rocked the sky, ground, and buildings at regular intervals marking where airships fell, coastal bombardment hit, and ordinance from the air battle overhead missed its mark.

  “My god.” Cliff muttered as he crammed up in the front of the bus with the others. “I have never seen anything like it.”

  “I haven’t either.” Davis muttered. “But I had been wondering why there was a steady stream of cars heading the other direction, I would be evacuating too.”

  “It is complete and total chaos.” Alex said with awe in her soft voice.

  “What is that?” Jesse exclaimed as a row of cars trying to flee the city went up in flames. It was late afternoon but the thick smoke made the entire landscape look overcast and dark.

  “It’s a dragon killing the civilians as they try to leave the city.” Lena said coldly. “I’m not sure this approach is going to work.”

  “What do you mean?” Davis asked hesitantly.

  “The submarine I have procured for us to reach Tebir is on the north side of the harbor. The north side of Jorgen is already in Chengarian hands. Trying to get through this war zone undiscovered will be difficult, and if we do get there the submarine may already be sunk.” Lena replied.

  The mention of the island of Tebir made the group silent and visibly nervous. The mysterious island was the focus of many a horror movie. It was almost a perfect circle, with mountains rising almost straight out of the sea. The mountains reached to such an altitude that normal airships would have a hard time crossing. To make things more mysterious, all technology stopped working within several leagues of the island, making it almost impossible to get to. Many expeditions had been launched to uncover the mysteries of the island, but no one that ventured out ever returned. It was now nothing more than an urban legend, an enigma that tantalized the imagination in the most horrific of ways yet devouring any who could not resist to a look inside its deadly ring.

  The only report of the inside of Tebir was an unverified broadcast by a team led by an obsessed hobbyist. The man developed an airship that could reach altitudes far beyond any other airship and he tried to get a glim
pse of the inside without venturing too close. According to his team that sailed back from the island without him, he saw a second island inside the first one. The small island was completely surrounded by water, like a moat, and had a huge, gaping hole in its center that was not filled with water. Shortly after making his report, the radio went dead, and the team saw his airship crash into the island moments later. He had gotten too close. Skeptics called the report made up, a way to justify the expense of money and life, but no one knew for sure.

  “Can you shield the bus from the inside?” Davis asked Lena. “If you can, I think we can avoid getting hit by random ordinance. Going around would mean costly time delays, and if those demons heal as fast as Cliff they could already be securing Ivinor.”

  Lena pondered their options. Alex and Jesse were cringing at the idea of traveling through the warzone before them. “Even if we got the submarine, I am not sure how we would get it passed the southern blockade of ships. My shield can take a beating, but depth charges and torpedoes will take it down when focused by a hundred ships.”

  As if in response to her question, hundreds of explosions rippled across the southern end of the blockade. At least fifty ships were sinking with dozens more crippled. “Then again, that might be our answer. Davis is right, we go.” The dragon that had destroyed a host of vehicles minutes before dropped a second fireball on another road heading out of town. “Jesse, take the wheel and follow the road in, I will take care of this dragon and be back to guide us through the city.”

  The group watched Lena fly out from the relative safety of the bus. She flew low and fast along the ground, using the natural landscape to hide her approach. The dragon wheeled back to burn more civilians when Lena burst from the ground. She made a shield that deflected the dragon’s fireball away from the cars and onto the roadside. Trying to not draw more attention to herself, Lena avoided energy attacks and opted to slam the dragon in the chest with a glowing fist. The dragon doubled over, its front, mechanical claws scraping desperately at her. She quickly maneuvered around the top of it and slammed it in the back, sending it hard into the ground. Lena landed on top of it and put her glowing hand on its back. Her eyes began to glow white as she recited something in the angelic tongue. After two minutes, a glowing rectangular platform suddenly rose from the ground under the dragon and it stopped moving.