Evelyn Earth Part 54

 My first instinct was to fling up a wall of darkness between them, but as I summoned up the last dregs of my energy I realised that it wasn’t enough. The force-field had taken every last drop of power that I had. I cried out as she collided with Sebastian. I expected a surging blindness, a bright flash of light or something supernatural, but nothing happened.

The next few moments flew past so quickly that I barely registered them. My body was on autopilot. My eyes saw that Bas had grabbed Ariel by the throat and transferred some of his miasma into her. Her face intertwined with dark slithers of power stood motionless against a background of chaos. Grigori howled and launched himself at the pair. I intercepted him midway swinging my arm across his face as hard as I could. His tiny frame went flying off to one side leaving me to face a furious Zadkiel. He was no longer the image of Zen and tranquillity, no golden showers rained from his fingertips; instead he clasped what looked like a blade made of sunlight.

Behind me I heard Bas cry out and I barely restrained myself from spinning around and seeing what was going on. Zadkiel advanced on me, his army fatigues swallowing the light that was emanating from the knife that he brandished before him, which as he came closer I realised wasn’t a blade at all, but a steadily controlled ray of light. Despite the fact that I knew that it wasn’t corporal I understood enough about divine power to know that if it touched me I would be in big trouble.

I spun around to the side giving myself a wide berth between him and Grigori who had picked himself up of the ground. Bas flickered in my peripheral vision and I glimpsed the blinding rays of light that I had initially expected. This time Ariel’s cry pierced the air and it sounded triumphant rather than despairing. At the same time Zadkiel ran towards me with Grigori on his heels.

                I didn’t have time to think or to see what had happened to Sebastian. I dropped down to my knees and placed both palms flat onto the soft cool ground. No matter how much I resented our Mother for wanting to sacrifice us for her own needs I knew that self-destruction would be a better way to go then getting pierced by a ray of light brandished by a zealot. Maybe I could destroy the angels and Bas would somehow survive. I squeezed my eyes shut tight and sought out the Mother’s presence.

                I felt the peace of the connection slip over me as if I had just entered a warm pool of water. Time slowed down to normal speed and then to no speed at all. I saw tiny grains of earth shift around my fingers as my hands pressed harder into the ground. Small flecks glided over my wrists as the wind picked them up and transported them to their next destination and suddenly I was kneeling at Her feet in the deep underground chamber where all things returned to after death.

                You are in the midst of a great battle. Her voice whispered around me. “We are about to be killed” I said as I raised my head, but somehow I knew that that wasn’t the battle she was referring to. She looked the same as I had last seen her, regal yet alien. Her bulging belly and thick legs seemed to be twisted with branches and veins of stone. Even her eyes looked like they had been carved out of hardened lava.

                My brother’s messengers have become corrupted, just as you have become corrupted. A heavy sigh vibrated throughout the chamber.

                We have fought over the love of man since the first man could love. We have been worshipped and despised, we have been many things except forgotten. To watch your creations wreak havoc upon your flesh whilst thinking it is their own personal property is unbearable.

                “What are you telling me?” I asked in desperation, “We are about to die, I don’t understand…”

                Life is fleeting yet it is what sustains us all. All of my creatures respect me except man, you are the only ones who dismiss my existence, who call me rock and dirt and spit on me. You look up to the sky and you call it heaven. You see my brother’s brilliance and you think of god. I AM A GOD AND I WILL NOT BE FORGOTTEN!

“You are a god” I answered breathlessly, “no one can deny that, not after they’ve seen the power you have given us. Help us to survive this battle and we will make everyone remember who you are.”

You are cunning. Just like the first humans were cunning…and vile. This has not been my first attempt at destroying your kind. Each time you have swayed me to either reconsider or have gathered a greater power to compel me to cease my destruction.

“You’ve never shared your vengeance with us before. We are your vessels, please believe me when I say that we share your vision” I pleaded. A great tearing sound thundered through the cavern as Her thick legs disconnected from the bedrock. I fell back onto my elbows as She rose to tower before me.

I have never succeeded in obliterating humanity because it cannot be done by me. I have understood this for a long time, which is why I gave you part of my divine spirit. It has changed you Evelyn Kohl, but not enough for my plan to have succeeded.

My name sounded odd being uttered by a god. My mouth hung open in shock and I knew that I should slam it shut and look more awed than daunted.

You are a part of me, and that part will always do what I believe to be right. The other part though, that is unpredictable and only Fate knows how you will use my power. Go now Evelyn of Earth, spread my vengeance the way you see fit. It is my only chance at resurrection.

“The sun soldiers...” I stuttered.

I will make you as hard as my heart. No light can penetrate what you will become.

I craned my neck back to look into Her face to see if her stony expression had changed to one of sincerity, but with a sickening jerk I was propelled back to consciousness. I felt the soft earth beneath my fingers once again and I felt the presence of someone sweep over me.

Heaviness pressed down onto my back and I shrugged it off as I pushed myself to my feet. My head was clouded with images of the Earth Mother and I put a hand to my temple as if to steady my inner thoughts. Had she spoken to other Earth Warriors the way she had spoken to me? I couldn’t be the only one. I had never been special enough to be noticed by anyone important let alone the most important entity of the Earth, Mother Nature herself.

 Another heavy weight pressed into the side of my shoulder and I lifted my arm to swat it away. That’s when I realised the eerie silence that had fallen over everything around me. I hadn’t noticed it at first because the Mother’s cavern had been deathly quiet, but when I had fallen to my knees chaos had surrounded me.

I pressed the palms of my hands to my eyes and let my vision adjust to the light, letting the cloudiness dissipate. It was unnaturally bright and at first I thought the Sun Soldiers were giving off the radiance, but as I looked into Grigori’s chocolate coated eyes I saw him shield his vision from the searing whiteness. As I turned to the side I saw Zadkiel splayed on the ground, his spear of light gone and his head cracked open oozing thick red blood and white stringy chunks of brain tissue.

                I looked down at my arm and realised that it must have been him that I had carelessly swept away. Instead of darkened skin though what greeted me was a shining limb so pure and crystalline that my natural instinct was to shade my eyes from the brightness, although it would have been pointless as I was the one who was glowing.  

                “Mary mother of mercy” Ariel muttered under her breath. I turned at the sound of her voice and found her expression to be reverential. She clasped her hands together before her and tried to take a step forward, but with a cry she fell to her knees and her hands gripped onto her wildly messy hair. She tugged on the long plait like a mad woman. I frowned and my gaze swept over her to look for Sebastian. I scanned the air at my eye level and saw no one else. I shifted my gaze down and found him.

                His body lay behind Ariel. It was as still as a stone. I placed one foot in front of the other and moved towards him, my mind still trapped in a dream state where everything was surreal and imaginary. Ariel grabbed onto my legs as I inched forward while Grigori leaned over  Zadkiel’s carcass, his fingers probing his skull. A wailing sound pierced the dream and it was coming from my blood encrusted lips.  

                I dropped down before Sebastian and my hands hovered over his body. His black t-shirt was ripped open to reveal the chest that I had laid my head on every night for the past six days. Ariel hovered above me and her shadow cast darkness over his skin that was no longer tinged black.

                “Arghh!” I screamed savagely, my hands still unable to touch his body. They caressed the air above him illuminating every inch of him with their brilliance.

 With lighting speed my hand darted out and clamped onto Ariel’s braid. I spun it once around her neck and placed my other hand on top of her head to stop her from slipping out of my grip. I kept my eyes on Sebastian as I strangled her to her last breath.

                As she sucked in the last morsel of oxygen she was ever going to get I exhaled with a gasp and flung her body as far away from me as I could. It flew over the cleared patch of earth landing with a smack that shattered bones.

                His eyes were closed and it gave me hope that life hadn’t fled from his body. I bent over his face and let my lips touch his ever so slightly. I held my breath hoping to feel his but there was nothing.

                “No, no, no Bas, Sebastian no, no, no” I chanted. I dug my fist into the earth reaching for the connection with the Mother, but she wouldn’t allow me to enter the cavern. Was he there? Had he returned to the place where all things went after death?

                “SHOW ME WHERE HE IS!” I screamed, “I NEED HIM!”

                Life is fleeting. Her voice whispered inside my head.

                “NO! Not his life” I cried out. “I can’t do what I promised without him! Bring him back to me or I swear I will use your own vengeful power against you.”

                I will return his soul to his body.

                Tears dropped onto his pale face as I sobbed hysterically. “Thank you thank yo…”

                For a price.

                Her words fizzled around me as if they were charged with electricity.

                Your life will be mine. Not just one part, but everything that belongs to Fate. You will be my vessel, wholly and truly.  

                “Yes, yes, just do it! Bring him back!” I didn’t care what she asked for. Nothing would matter without Sebastian. How could I possibly carve a new path in this world without him by my side? I couldn’t create a new world order alone I needed him.

                A shudder ran through his body and I clutched frantically at his shoulders. As his eyelids fluttered open revealing the jade green irises below the Mother’s voice receded into the back of my mind. She was laughing, her voice like a tiny bell ringing in the wind.