Dark Rain: Book 1 of The Aetherium Saga

by Jilly MacKenzie

  ‘What happened to the original Nibiru?’ she probed, following the flight of a strange blue firefly, thinking about its home planet. He sighed, forlornly.

  ‘My kind were barbaric once. Greedy. They abused their land, with warfare. Scorching the earth, drying the waterways. Droughts were common. They took too much from the planet. It could not recover from their abuse its resources, and the destruction of its ecosystems. Eventually, it became inhospitable. So they all left.’

  ‘And they made this?’ she enquired in awe.

  He nodded, ‘Yes, and they have remained here for almost half a million years, and probably will be here for millions more to come. This is Nibiru now. Their home.’

  Anubis was confused as to why Marduk was saying ‘they’ and not ‘we’. Why isn’t he including himself?

  ‘Is it not your home too?’ she wondered.

  He laughed with a pained expression, and she had the feeling that many memories were racing through his mind in those moments. The sky was beginning to turn to dusk, the orange hues being replaced by deep blues.

  ‘I was born here, but I have lived on Earth for almost all of my life,’ he stated, as they emerged from the gardens to the banks of a wide slowly, flowing river. Currents of glowing blue liquid could be seen inter-running with the regular flow of river water.

  A few white marble temples and shrines were on small islands within its course. Their brilliant pillars and domes shone brilliantly in the flames dancing out from lit braziers.

  ‘This is the river Buranun, or Euphrates in your tongue. Though it should be renamed to Iteru. It reminds me so much more of the Nile, than the Euphrates,’ he lamented, glancing out at the flowing water.

  ‘How old are you Marduk?’ she quizzed, curiosity urging her to ask ever more probing questions. He laughed, creating beautiful lines of humour on his porcelain face.

  ‘I am exactly… 447,092 years old.’

  Anubis’ feet almost collapsed from underneath her and he heart skipped a beat.

  ‘That… is…’ she could barely speak. Unable to comprehend the amount of time he had lived. The ages he had seen.

  ‘I know that it may seem overwhelming to you, but I am not immortal. I too can die.’

  He sat down at the river side, letting the lapping waves splash onto his dark, strapped boots, and continued wistfully, ‘I grew up on Earth, I flew over its mountains, I helped build its cities, I sat within halls of gold. I ruled its people as a king. And I was the god of gods, for a time. Until eventually, I was imprisoned there.’

  Anubis sat beside him on the cosmic shore, sensing his sadness, but she burned with more questions than ever.

  ‘Imprisoned? For what?’ she quizzed, concerned.

  His eyes closed as his brows knitted together in a pained expression. He didn’t want to tell her. Divulging his greatest shames. He feared her judgement, but he could not keep anything from her. The bond they share, he was determined to keep it the purest thing in his long and tumultuous life.

  ‘Like the Anuna before me, I too have made mistakes,’ he began, looking away from her to hide his shame, ‘I was... much too ambitious. And blind, to all the suffering I was causing. I did not see...’

  Anubis reached out to touch him but he stood abruptly, covering his solemn face with a hand, as he tried to compose himself.

  ‘Marduk,’ Anubis softly began, ‘was it really that bad?’

  He turned around and faced her, letting her see his distressed expression, ‘Yes!’ he grieved, ‘I played with your kind like they were toys. I refused to see humans as anything more than... beasts of burden. Producers, soldiers. Expendable, brief creatures. My refusal to change was my downfall. I could let go of the old ways, even when my kin had. I remained, after they all had long gone,’ he squeezed his eyes shut and turned away from her once again.

  ‘And that sealed my fate. If I could not change, I had to be stopped. I was stripped of my aether, and with it, my wings, my armour, my grace. My Anunnaki soul.’ Anubis rose to her feet slowly behind him. So this is the sadness I saw in his eyes, during my dreams. A tortured past.

  ‘My kingdom and my beloved city... fell, and crumbled to dust while I languished. And with it, the stories of me morphed and changed with those of my kin. And in many of them… I became the monster of the story. The ultimate evil,’ he mourned, kicking off his boots and stepping his bare feet into the clear water.

  ‘I never really understood humans... until I had finally awoken, and walked among them, as equals,’ he explained in a low faraway voice, dissolving away his dark clothing as he waded naked into the river.

  ‘Godric...’ he whispered under his breath as he stopped at chest-high depth. ‘Not even water can wash away my sins, old friend.’

  Anubis wanted desperately to console him, yet she could not begin to imagine the millennia of memories that haunted him, but she could try to help him forget in his moment of pain. I owe him my life. He’s saved me in so many ways. He’s been there for me in my darkest hours, and I want to be there for him in his.

  She began removing her clothing, relishing the freedom her skin felt when she peeled the bloody, damaged articles off of her body. She looked down and noticed the full extent of her scars for the first time. As I thought, his healing does not completely repair the skin, she discovered, studying her numerous laser scars. Pink, shiny imperfections on her pale skin.

  Anubis waded out to Marduk, gazing upon the luminous blue symbols on his muscular, unmoving back. The strange glowing blue liquid was snaking off from the river currents, towards Marduk, as if magnetically attracted to him.

  The water was comfortably cool as Anubis came up beside him, with only her neck and head above water. The fluorescent blue ebbed and flowed around him, highlighting his sadness, and his glowing tattooed cheeks were like tears on his downcast face.

  ‘I will never be fully Anuna, ever again. That is my eternal punishment.’

  She placed a gentle hand on his cheek, brushing over the symbols, and felt fuzzy static between their touch. And smooth skin, like marble made flesh. His eyes flickered open, aglow in electric blue. They focused on her and dimmed, revealing his usual sky blue eyes. I don’t care. The past is the past. We can’t change it no matter how much we want. We both have to learn to accept this unfortunate fact. A monster cannot grieve, or feel regret, or empathy. You, right now, are anything but a monster.

  Marduk allowed himself to hear Anubis’ mental acceptance of him in her thoughts, and he managed a small smile. A blue firefly glided between them, attracted to the aether concentration around Marduk, and it momentarily lit up Anubis’ pale face. Marduk drank in the sight of her. Even her scars and facial wounds were art to his eyes, painted by her hard life, and worn with pride and grace upon her body.

  He moved and embraced her tenderly, all too aware of her fragility beneath his Anunnaki grip. Lifting her chin up gently with a finger, and his mouth met hers in a starving kiss. Moving together, tasting the divine differences between them. Sinfully sweet. He caressed her shape, relishing the feel of her skin on his, causing a moan to build in his throat, and he finally let it out. Frustrated, and demanding. And hungrily scooped her up into his arms and carried her back to the lapping shore. His great thighs waded out to the shallows and he dropped to his knees onto the soft sand, in weak impatience. He lay her down gently on the riverbank, for him to see. She was all pearly sheen, lithe curves, eyes of blue nebulae, and wild mahogany hair. She tethered her slender fingers into his black hair and pulled his face to her, raising her chin to meet his smiling lips once again.

  They enjoyed each other beneath the bright moons of the Nibiran night, with only the sounds of cicadas, owls, and the lulling waves accompanying their passionate harmony. Human and creator became one and the same.

  Chapter 29

  In The Company Of Rogues

  Marduk lay admiring the sight of Anubis’ bare form in the moonlight beside him. She matched the cold starlight of the countless artificial orbs
above. He stroked her golden hair, making sure she was really there, and she turned to him with a contented smile.

  She is my first human lover, I did not know what to expect. My infinite energy is a disadvantage in this situation. Our Ankida bond comes in very useful in such situations, he huffed in amusement to himself.

  Yes it does, she concurred with a smile.

  He had healed her facial wounds during their passion, leaving only six raised pink scars. He smiled and planted a gentle kiss on her full, shapely lips, ‘I’ve waited millennia... for someone like you...,’ he uttered between hungry kisses.

  We share a connection, bonded by aether, the energy of the universe, he began, we share everything. Heart, soul, and body. What is mine, is also yours.

  ‘Our hearts beat the same rhythm, even before they knew one another,’ he lightly brushed a thumb over her chest. ‘And our souls danced in the same wild flames, even before they became one. You saved my life. You found the pieces of my broken self and put them together again. Reminding me who I am. Giving me a purpose.’

  His words warmed her core with shared purpose and bonding, and she grabbed a handful of his thick black hair.

  ‘And you saved mine,’ she gently dragged her fingertips over the star-shaped symbol etched onto his marble chest. Then pulled his face to hers in a passionate kiss.

  A deep brassy sound emanated from the city of Eden, the noise vibrated ominously through the dark clouds, and the wildlife fell silent. Marduk stiffened and looked up astonished.

  ‘The trumpets’, and he abruptly stood. Momentarily distracted by his statuesque form towering above her, Anubis sat up.

  ‘That’s what they are?’ she quizzed in disbelief at the apocalyptic sound.

  ‘Yes, they sound only for battles, or the docking arrival of a royal,’ he explained, while quickly summoning his dark clothing upon his body. His eyes looked off in the direction of Eden, concentrating, ‘It could be my father...’ he breathed, ‘And I have much to say to him.’

  The trumpets had equally startled Nanaya, as she observed Marduk and his Chosen from afar, hidden amongst thick foliage. He really does love her, she realised, heartbroken. Humans were so far below him, he used to laugh at the mere thought of laying with them. Not now. He’s made the Ankida with one, mated with her, loves her. And has pledged himself to the Anuzi cause; saving humanity and Earth.

  Wiping a tear from her pained face, she aetherated away to the main causeway of Eden, hoping to find a distraction by viewing the new royal arrival. She spied humans and Anunnaki alike flocking to the Eden docking terminals. They’ve come by starship? Whoever this royal is, they have never been to Nibiru before. She spread her dark silver-dappled wings, and glided at speed to the docking terminals, joining a hovering congregation of chattering Anunnaki. Below were clamouring crowds, with Isimud at the front awaiting an airlock door to open, revealing the newcomer. The excitement was detectable in the air, until finally the giant doors slid open with a long hiss. A large group of fully armoured Anunnaki marched out, pale and painted wings on show, but folded.

  Identifying Isimud as the only Elder present, they knelt in the Anunnaki submission before him, and Isimud acknowledged them with a nod.

  Rogues, Nanaya observed the new group with surprise, Anunnaki who were born off-Nibiru. Voluntary cosmic castaways. Outcasts. Pirates. Suddenly, the Rogues turned and kneeled to the open airlock doorway, as one more figure finally emerged.

  There was a collective gasp in amazement as the gold and ruby armour glimmered in the lights of Eden. His golden falcon helmet gazed ahead at the awestruck onlookers, and he unfurled his great black wings. Black as the void. Just like Marduk’s.

  A single exclamation broke the hushed silence, ‘Welcome to Nibiru!’ Marduk announced as he strode amidst the parting crowd, making his way towards the falcon-headed rogue.

  ‘Nabu, my son!’ he declared with a grin, pulling the rogue leader to him in a firm embrace. The falcon helmet and wings immediately dematerialised, revealing the beaming face of a golden-haired young man, with an eye of blue, and the other a pale grey. The crowds cheered and roared with joy, welcoming the young prince.

  ‘Horus...’ Marduk uttered under his breath, using the name his son had always preferred, given to him by his beloved people of Egypt, ‘I am sorry for...’ but Horus stopped him with a flippant wave of his hand and devilish smile which reminded Marduk of himself.

  ‘It has been so long, father,’ Horus began, ‘we have much to discuss.’

  Marduk nodded in firm agreement, his eyes creasing with a smile of relief at his sons apparent forgiveness for his millennia of imprisonment. Horus may have forgiven my past behaviour, ending in the loss of our great kingdoms, the slaughter of our people... But I never will, Marduk vowed, regretfully.

  ***

  Axel’s idea of the Siberian mercenary retreat did not match what he had expected. An empty expanse of snow... great. They landed on an endless snowy plain, and Wyatt exited the skycraft to dig about in the snow, as if looking for something.

  Axel watched him questioningly from his window, as Wyatt uncovered a smooth grey slab, on which he seemed to tap and slide his fingers in a particular combination. A hidden keypad? Axel wondered. The ground shook as a large opening began to appear in the snow ahead, as two sides of the ground were pulled back. Wyatt swiftly scrambled aboard and drove the skycraft forwards, then descended down into the dark opening.

  Wyatt chuckled, ‘Don’t look so scared, pup,’ he jibed, stabilising the skycraft into a remarkably soft landing. Lights illuminated the darkness, revealing a huge skycraft hangar, and armoured figures were running towards them from doors at both ends. Wyatt smiled confidently, which did little to ease Axels apprehension, as he watched the ragtag group of armed strangers form a defensive line outside of the skycraft door. Waiting with pistols and rifles drawn. They all had mismatched armour, but the same theme carried over to them all. Crimson accents on their attire, and in particular, red bands on their upper arms.

  Clapping Axel on the back to usher him to get up and follow suit, Wyatt made his way to the skycraft door and opened it. Wyatt jumped down with hands out in a smiling surrender, and addressed the group.

  ‘Your Commander returns!’ he grinned, and hushed and amused mutters echoed throughout the crowd as they lowered their weapons.

  ‘Well if isn’t Wyatt Nolan!’ a booming voice came from a large, heavily armoured man, who pushed his way towards them.

  ‘Matthews,’ Wyatt beamed, as he was pulled into a firm embrace.

  ‘You done avoiding your Commander duties, Commander?’ Matthews laughed.

  ‘Yeah, I reckon so,’ Wyatt agreed with a grin, ‘It’s all out my system now,’ and he exaggerated a stretch with his arms.

  Matthews smirked, ‘Finally,’ then pointed at the craft they had arrived in, ‘IGS.’

  ‘Yeah, I disabled the tracker early on. And I took a sporadic flight path here. I am positive they lost us somewhere over the Baltic,’ Wyatt assured with a sly smile. Matthews clapped Wyatt’s shoulder with appreciation.

  ‘Very nice,’ Matthews praised, then clicked at two engineers, ‘Fix it so she can’t remember her IGS past. Make her one of us,’ he chuckled to them. They immediately began to board and check over the new addition to their fleet.

  ‘And your name, stranger?’ Matthews questioned Axel inquisitively.

  ‘Axel. Sir,’ Axel responded uneasily, and an amused guffaw erupted from the large man.

  ‘There are no sirs here, my friend.’

  ‘Our new initiate, Matthews,’ Wyatt began, ‘He can hold his own, take my word for it,’ Wyatt vouched with a mischievous grin. Matthews eyed Axel from head to toe, making thoughtful mutters.

  ‘A fine addition to our ranks!’ he eventually exclaimed, and Axel hid his relief. Wyatt chuckled as Matthews stood before Axel, dwarfing the muscular splice.

  ‘Welcome to the Saboteurs, Axel,’ Matthews grasped Axels forearm in acceptance.

 
***

  ‘Has she returned?’ Administrator Deacon quizzed over Lenore’s OBdevice. She had decided to inform him yesterday, of Anubis’ connection with the rogue Anuna, and with the dawn of a new day, Anubis had still not returned.

  ‘Negative, Administrator,’ she confirmed.

  ‘Lenore, you can cease the formalities. Our channel is private.’

  She sighed, ‘I feel so powerless, Deacon. So useless,’ she confessed, downcast, ‘I’m responsible for this group, and I left one behind in IGS territory. And the another… is god knows where.’

  ‘Lenore, none of this is your fault,’ he assured. ‘The IGS are the ones that drastically affected your Drakestoke mission, and we are all impressed at how well you have adapted to the situation. You saved people. You must learn to see worth in yourself, and give credit where it is definitely due.’

  She managed a strained smile, ‘Thank you, Deacon.’ His words were always what she needed in times of need.

  ‘Now, I must inform you of perhaps more bad news,’ he cautioned, his voice taking on a serious tone. ‘All Anunnaki signals have ceased entirely.’

  ‘W-what? Why?’ Lenore’s stomach tightened.

  ‘We don’t know,’ he admitted, ‘Last night, all of our sensors fell silent. The interpreters aren’t picking up any Enochian, or any of the Ancient languages.’

  ‘Sumerian?’ she puzzled in disbelief.

  ‘Nothing. The only Sumerian messages we’ve received in recent years anyway, were from your Drakestoke Anuna,’ he explained. Lenore was uneasy about the sudden Anunnaki silence within Earth’s airspace. Where have they gone?

  ‘To top it all off, more of our satellites and probes are being destroyed,’ Deacon added, his tone was worrisome.