The Wrath Of The Forgotten, page 33
part #4 of The Fallen Angels Series
“We have to do something” Hecate yelled as she lashed out with her powers again, but it didn’t matter what she wielded; flame, light, darkness, ice or lightning, it seemed to have the most negligible effects on the Monsters.
“I am doing something” more magma poured up in ever increasing volumes. She sent a blast of raw power beneath them, cracking the crumbling ground.
The creatures roared at the deluge of magma and to see their prey disappearing beneath the bubbling surface. She poured forth more power, she felt a vaguely familiar power, that of an Earth Goddess and she fused with the searching tendrils.
The whole of Tartarus trembled as a connection was forged.
“What have you done?” Hecate screamed as magma surged up past them and Sariel struggled to make their bubble descend through the onslaught. There were roars and screams, the thunder of more released water from the Dark Abyss and the rumble of something else.
Far above in her decrepit realm, Isis hissed in surprise as she felt power, strong power, brush against her tendrils. She had been probing beneath the Underworld for months and months to no avail. She hadn’t so much as encountered tunnels. Now there was a bridge forming between her and the unknown depths.
She shot up through the ceiling, smashing through the realm up into the Surface. The Nile trembled as she burst out from within it. It was dark and silent in the night, there were no animals or people she had disturbed. Pity, she thought as she anchored the bridge and gave it all the strength she could.
To her surprise lava and plumes of black water exploded out of the vent she had created. Fire and smoke billowed up as lava bubbled up in a violent burst before easing off to lazy surges the fell down in arcs.
Within moments a small volcano had formed within the Nile, already its current was shifting course around the obstruction, even as it poured out and swept away the remains of the cataract. She had no idea which one had just been destroyed, and she had no care either.
She was far more interested in the forms starting to writhe their way out of the plumes. She stared in wonder at some of the things. Colossal eels with tentacles and claws, giant reptiles covered in metallic spines, crystalline arthropods, and cephalopods seemingly composed of darkness.
She shrouded herself in darkness as she rose into the air. She had no idea what these creatures were, but she could sense that they were Primordials and ancient ones at that. They made her parents seem young in comparison. Regardless, they were dangerous, and they would fuck up the Angels and their Islamic corruption of her kingdom.
If she had to raze it to the ground to rebuild, then she would.
Roars filled the air as the terrestrial beings started to wander warily away from the Tartarian Gate and the water creatures slid into the deepening waters of the Nile. Upstream or downstream, she didn’t care where they went, they would cause devastation for the Angels in either direction.
Smoke continued to rise up into the air as the ground shook, birthing yet more Monsters onto the African continent. Perhaps they would eradicate the masses of Demons that had seized most of Western, North-Western and Central Africa. They might even scour as far south as the British Empire and its insatiable expansion.
Whether they did or not was of little consequence, they had been unleashed on the Egyptian part of the Caliphate. The Angels wouldn’t know what had hit them, she didn’t even know what was going to hit them.
Her maniacal laughter echoed across the plains for miles.
Nyx and Erebus stilled to watch their brother grasp his torso. “Are you well brother?” she asked.
“A bridge has just been formed between lower Tartarus and the Surface.”
“Whatever for?”
“I cannot tell. Sariel’s magic is thick at the bottom, but she does not explain how a direct route was formed.” He stilled, and they waited patiently as he searched within himself for the answer. She knew how long it could take looking within herself to find things in the night. She had no idea just how vast Tartarus’ subterranean networks were. Other than the Titans and lost Underworlds she had very little knowledge of the realm.
“Isis. She has drilled down through her realm, who knows what has been unleashed within Duat and Aaru or on the Surface for that matter.”
“Is it bad?”
“Within the darkest depths of my realm are Primordial beings far more ancient than us, Gods that hark back to the earliest ages of the world. It would also seem that a connection to the Dark Abyss has also been forged.”
The severity of that she understood. While she and Tiamat had battled, they had descended to those depths. They had been impervious to harm because they had been without form, but she had swept past creatures out of even the Gods’ nightmares. There was much in the world that had been forgotten.
“Are you going to do anything?”
“No, Isis can bear the consequences of her actions, it will also be a lesson to all the other Divine to not mess with realms that are not their own.
While she agreed with him, she felt it pertinent to inform her daughter and grandsons. She did not want Nemesis, Samael or Azrael to be slaughtered because they didn’t know what they were up against.
Samael stared at the smouldering volcano. It was still erupting and spewing forth its ancient cargo.
“Why would she do this?” Brigid asked.
“I fear that my aunt’s sanity has fled, why else would she form a Tartarian Gate. Even the most foolish of the Gods know not to mess with that dark realm.” Anubis shuddered despite himself.
They had all grown up with the warnings and never questioned it because of the tales the Primordials and Gods told. There were some truly unsettling trophies within Heaven’s Palace to press home the importance of that lesson.
Now they saw the truth of those words. Dinosaur Gods battled on the desert plains, unholy leviathans were carving new depths to the Nile, and colossal insects and arachnids had already started burrowing into the ground. They saw wasps and hornets the size of oil tankers flying away into the horizons, metallic spiders shuffling across the plains while crystalline crabs scuttled in all directions.
“We can at least be thankful that it is far from our territory.” She did not feel confident in her words.
Samael shook his head “while this is likely going to affect the Angels and Demons first, there is no doubt that they will not be stopped before they reach our borders. We need to start preparing ourselves now.”
“I agree. There is no telling how much damage these Primordials will cause. It is a pity that Sariel and Hecate are not here to assist. Their magic would be of great use.”
“Keep pushing” Hecate yelled.
“You don’t have to keep telling me. I’m not going to suddenly stop.” Really, you’d think she just wanted to turn around and rejoin all the Monsters that had been trying to kill them both.
Sariel continued to force their bubble down through the powerful stream of magma seeking to escape behind them.
Hecate fed her powers into the shields, she did not want them to collapse. This deep under the earth the magma would be imbued with power, enough to strip them both of their Lifeforces. They had to protect themselves. They had to act in unison.
She coiled her powers around Sariel, who took them without questioning and in turn gave some of hers. Their shields glowed amethyst against the orange-white glowing molten rock. Behind them, they could just make out the suction that was trying to draw them back up.
Hecate couldn’t believe that they had broken through into the mantle. She couldn’t believe that they had escaped the Tartarian Primordials. There were a lot of things she couldn’t believe at the moment, but processing them would have to come later. They were still not safe.
Green magic flared around their bubble as their combined powers resonated with the Lifestream. A flare of emerald green thrust them far deeper within the molten core of the planet and away from the vent threatening to draw them up.
For the moment they were safe.
“This is incredible.”
Hecate had to agree with her, she had never seen anything like it. The magma was flooded with rivers of the Lifestream. They curved and coiled around each other, they passed through the disappearing crust. It formed an amazingly vast network that branched down into incredibly delicate matrixes. Their shield brushed against these filaments, bringing flares of green that seemed to be strengthening their shields and directing them slowly deeper.
“Where to now?”
She shrugged at Sariel “Down I guess? I think the Lifestream is directing us downwards.”
Sariel touched the shield wall, feeling the rich warmth of the filaments rubbing against the outside. Each was wonderfully potent. The Surface might be filled with life, but it couldn’t compare to the power within. The Lifestream only broke the Surface in large arcs that hugged the planet. Of late, the Divine had been hauling up vast amounts of it, helping quicken it as a whole. None of what they had done held a candle to the strength of the Lifestream around them. This was the rawest essence of creation. She could feel the potential held within every drop of the Lifestream.
It was overwhelming and made her feel small and insignificant.
“I think we can rest for a while. I doubt that there is much to worry us except the heat and pressure, both of which we can hold back.” Hecate sank to the floor. It wasn’t often in her life she felt the need to rest but now was one of those times.
Sariel just kept watching the magma and Lifestream.
Chapter 50
Athena walked through the empty corridors of the Palace of Dreams. No one else had thought to come here for which she was glad, yet that didn’t explain the recent signs of habitation. Perhaps they were temporarily away, she would cross that bridge when they returned. If they returned.
There was no guarantee about anything in the world anymore.
She had been held prisoner for near two millennia, a considerable portion of her life. She might be immortal and ageless, but she resented the loss of that time. Had she not warned the other Gods the risk of their increasingly powerful servants? Yet like so many things they had ignored her, she the Goddess of Wisdom, and widely considered to be one of the most intelligent beings to have ever lived. All it did was show her just how stupid and incompetent her peers were.
They had voted with their genitals, the lust they had for their Angel and Nymph lovers was insatiable. She had watched with increasing worry as the Angels gained more power with each generation yet had been caught out by their rebellion. The other pantheons had refused to intervene because they saw it as a war of succession. Little did they know that the Angels were behind the disappearances of many Gods.
The Olympians had lost their battle to the Angels. It had shocked the whole world, but none had interfered. By the time that the other pantheons realised they had to unite against the Angels it was too late. They held too many of the Gods and the access to their powers. Elder Angels wielded the power of the Gods and could form cohesive Weaves.
She did not pity the fools, she felt it was the punishment they deserved.
Freedom, when it came, had been surprising. Hera had never been one for benevolence but then a mass break out of Gods was sure to hurt the Angels, and it had until the various Lineage Maelstroms had started forming. They had all been swept aside and overwhelmed by the purple Lineage Maelstrom, who would have known that Gabriel was descended from Hera.
How had she never put two and two together? She had watched her brother Hephaestus take Israfel as his lover, had known that Israfel had birthed two children who had gone on to delight Heaven. Lucifer and Gabriel had dazzled the Gods with their growing abilities and skills. The Gods had clamoured for their contracts as each continued to distinguish themselves. Lucifer as a brilliant general, soldier and demigod. Gabriel as an extremely talented Creator, she excelled all but the Mother Goddesses with her ability to recraft and create creatures and Monsters.
Both had been on the fast track to Ascension.
Then the Angels had rebelled, and everything had changed. The siblings had never shared a great deal of love for each other, but that had broken, Gabriel had turned on her brother and cursed him. She had cut off a great deal of Heaven’s power to consolidate her own.
Somehow the Angels had dramatically increased their numbers, they now battled more Elder Angels than in the first War, and the number of Ascended and Lesser Angels was beyond belief. They had enjoyed plentiful times that much was clear.
It was a pity that they had captured her and revolted against all the Gods, she found herself respecting their decisions and choices. The Angels were worthy advisories, more so than most of the Gods had ever been.
Fighting the Angels was a challenge. One that she was enjoying, yet she had been lumped with incompetent soldiers. She wanted to blame it on their imprisonment, but the truth was that many of the Gods were useless soldiers too selfish to work together.
They had obeyed her commands long enough to breach the Angels’ Weave then had done their own things. Many had died because they were nowhere near as skilled as they believed themselves to be while the Angels had not slacked off in their skills it would appear.
The maelstroms had called a stop to the battle. She like the other Olympians had fled to Mount Olympus. Not necessary a wise choice but the only place they could think of that was safe, if only for a short time. She had arrived only to be shunned by all that were there. The damn fools had taken offence to her command. Why could none of them see that it was for their own benefit? She was a Goddess of Strategic Warfare. Instead, they wanted the chaos that Ares or Sekhmet offered. At least Sekhmet was a brilliant fighter and general.
Fed up with their avoidance she had left Mount Olympus and gone to the only other safe place she could think of. Selene had been a wise choice, the Angels had no presence here, though there were strange Human colonies now. She had no idea what state the Surface was in, but she was desperate to find out.
She paused at the main set of apartments. Books were strewn all over tables and couches. She sighed in delight, this was at least something she knew, even if the language was new to her she could get the knowledge she craved.
These rooms showed far more signs of habitation. There were dresses and robes in the wardrobes. Boots, sandals and a variety of new shoes sat on the floor. The bed had linens and silks, the bathroom had strange bottles filled with pleasantly scented liquids.
She was no fool, whoever lived here was powerful and deserved respect. She had seen the Golden Apple Tree in the gardens, which had not been planted by Gaia. Someone else had been able to utilise the power of Chaos to grow that. She wondered if perhaps it was Hecate, that was of course if she was even alive. She hadn’t been among the prisoners she had seen. Then again there had been many, she may have died in battle or not leapt to Mount Olympus. She might never have been captured in the first place and be a victim of the killings.
She picked up the nearest book, absorbing the knowledge in an instant. It was written in English, and it was a journal. Athena sat down reading the journal from cover to cover, relishing in the writing of this Sariel. From it, she discovered all about the Fall and Hell’s Curse. She also learned about important things like the internet and Human development.
She was delighted to see that one of the mentioned codexes sat on a desk. It awakened to her touch, knowledge began to form on the pages before her. She had access to a world of wisdom all at her fingertips. She laughed in delight as some green tears leaked out of her eyes. This was the accumulation of every God of Wisdom’s dream, the gathering of all information in one place. While she didn’t delude herself for a minute that it held everything, she allowed herself a moment to absorb the significance of it.
Humans had achieved what Gods had sought to do, and they had done it without magic. She had a new found respect for mortals. It was only going to grow as she absorbed the phenomenal depths of information available to her about the incredible developments in science and technology.
Athena shuddered as she leant against the windowsill. She had absorbed too much information too quickly. She was no better than a young God or child. She would normally chide herself, she was one of great patience and control, but she was far too delighted.
She watched the Earth below as Selene revolved around it. Her eyes picked up the now familiar shapes of the continents and general locations of the world she had once inhabited. Greece now belonged to the Angels, either as part of the European Union or Constantinian Empire though some of the islands were now under the control of the Minotaurs.
Egypt had fallen once again to the Angels after their Gods had tried to wrest control away from the Angels. They had been foolish to think it would be so easy. Then again Hera and Brigid had shown a great deal of luck in gathering the strength of their empires.
She respected them both.
She knew Hera, she was in modern language her stepmother, and had worked alongside her many times in the past. They had always gotten along well, perhaps because Zeus had killed her mother before Hera could even form a plot to. Athena was also aware that Hera had killed her father, she couldn’t blame her but nor could she forgive her. Hera had suffered horribly at Zeus’ hands, yet he had always treated her with love. If she had been a son, she would have been his Heir, yet if she had been a son she would have killed him the Fates had decreed. It was why Zeus had eaten her mother, to prevent such a thing from happening. Despite her father’s absolute control and views about gender, she had enjoyed a great deal of freedom and power.
She might one day work alongside Hera again, she certainly wasn’t going to burn that bridge. She knew Hera too well, such an offence would never be forgiven and could mean her death.
