literature

The Surviving Soul IV

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"You tricked me AGAIN!" Iryon raged at Balmina while they stood in front of the empty safe in the temple of Elion, the god carrying a flame to chase away the darkness of the night. "I may comprehend that you, a stupid mortal, out of fear tried to think fast and clever and thought I was the one to be fooled. But I won't let you fool me a second time. Now, where is the Merbetaran? And no lies this time, you hear me!" By these words the god grabbed Balmina with his left hand and held the fire beneath her chin, scorsing her until she cried out loud. At that moment he let go of her and she tumbled back and hit her head against the wooden wall before she slid down until she became sitting on the floor in the little chamber, holding her hand against the blackened skin of her cheek, tears streaming down from her dread-filled eyes.

She knew there was no good crying or calling for help, the god would certainly mute her then. She knew also that he couldn't kill her since he needed what she knew about the Merbetaran. And he was not telepathic enough to pull it out of her brain. But that was little comfort since he could keep torturing her like this, until she told the truth. And while keeping her on the right side of the border between life and death he could harm and cripple her beyond reason. Until she told.

Now the rampant god picked her up by her foot and holding her upside down he growled threats at her, threats consisting exactly what she had been suspecting the moment before. The next second he teleported them out of the temple, the very same way he had let them in. Thus Balmina found herself somewhere outdoors, where cold and wining winds were caressing her with their icy hands around her trembling body just as the angst was pressing against her rib cage. She was unable to see anything but a stony ground beneath her together with Iryon's legs, clad in knee-high, dark gray leather boots with sharp iron studs.

As he kept holding her upside down Iryon was shaking her lightly:
"You know I mean business. Now isn't it better you begin to talk, mortal?"

Balmina bit her lips, she still felt hesitant about Derevenor's name, although she was quite sure he didn't have the scroll anymore but had passed it on. But she was not sure she had bought enough time yet. That the scroll had gone too far, had traded hands too many times to be able to trace again even by a god. Iryon, who took her hesitation as obstruction, decided to soften her up and delivered two kicks in first her left cheek and then into her scorched chin, and once again Balmina cried out loud in pain.
"You know you can make this stop easily," Iryon scorned while shaking her a bit more. "All you have to do is tell me where the Merbetaran is right now."   

In that instance she got an idea. A basic and very simple one, but it was often those that worked the best.
"I... I don't know..." she whimpered. "...anymore..." she added after yet another kick to her other cheek. Then Iryon dropped her to the stony ground and delivered a kick in her stomach instead.
"What do you mean 'anymore'?"
"I... I... sold it! And I didn't take the name of the buyer. I only needed the money. Fast. I didn't know the scroll was of...  importance. To gods. Only... only valuable..."

"Little idiot!" Iryon snarled. "Did you know how much of my precious time you have wasted now? How much precious time you have stolen from Atlantis? I am trying to save our beloved home continent and it maddens me when petty little mortals stand in my way for the sake of their own paltry benefits. There are foreign gods threatening our society and all and everything we hold dear. Although with the Merbetaran in my hand I know I can save it!"

Then he had beaten her up a bit more just for the heck of it before he left her alone, lying on the stony ground as an icy rain began to fall. Lying there disoriented and wondering why he hadn't killed her. Perhaps he though she wasn't even worth it.  

***

The four strangers who had blasted their way into the Adelphoi facility now continued their trek further trough the large building. The woman with the katana and the brawny man were a few steps further ahead as they unflinchingly continued mowing down any resistance that came their way. Behind them the Orlando-Bloom lookalike, evidently their leader, walked calmly past the bodies now lining the hallways without so much as a second glance. And last in the row came the tall rastaman carrying a scarcely developed machinegun and a laptop bag, his steps swaying as if he was moving to a beat only heard by him.

Eventually they reached a huge metal door with large hinges and an electronic lock reminiscent of a bank vault. The duo who had reached the door first looked back at their leader expectantly. He said a few words in their foreign language and the muscleman responded by walking up to the giant door, placing two hands on it, and then he simply ripped it right off of its foundation as if it was nothing but a cardboard construction. Finally he tossed it to the side where it made a loud metal thud.

When the door was removed, it revealed a slightly darkened room full of computer databanks and terminals with blinking lights appearing in rapid succession. This room also contained several Adelphoi Magici scientists kneeling behind those consoles in terror, but more importantly, it also held a petite woman sitting in a chair at the front of the room, with her hands resting upon a laptop and a relaxed but sharp expression in her heavily painted face of cream white skin, partly red painted lips and tar black brows.
"Kalimera!" said Wang Hu La. "I've been expecting you, so please come in."

While returning Wang's greeting in a deep, modulated voice, the Orlando-Bloom lookalike strode confidently past his three associates, into the room and came to a halt just inside of it while his companions remained outside the door opening.
"Brave of you to come here, Greeks. But imprudent!" said Wang as her darkened expression took one of malevolence to the new arrivals. The Chinese pressed a key on her laptop, a bluetooth light flashed and a new metal door emerged from the top of the rampaged doorway and clanged shut, separating the man from his companions.

"Now we can have a heart-to-heart talk alone amongst ourselves," said Wang with an air of superiority. The Greek took a brief glance at the door behind him before returning his eyes to Wang, posing himself akimbo, waiting. To the scientists it looked like a high noon standoff from an old western.
"Since I'm betting you're a man of few words, I'm more than willing to speak for both of us," continued Wang as she entered a few more commands into the laptop. " I know damn well why you're here and what you're here for and I have to be completely honest and tell you that I intend to deny you both."

A countdown appeared on the main screen, it was short, but not short enough that a slight conversation couldn't take place. The Greek just took a disinterested glance at the countdown before returning his attention to the witch.
"I always told those other fools on the Adelphoi Magici board that your arrival was inevitable," Wang went on. "That the day we discovered the deeper secrets of magic meant that more incursions were possible. They laughed that idea off and said that even if some ancient god was to show up, that whatever magic and technology they would bring, we would be able to stop them. But they never could have imagined someone like you showing up and to be quite frank, the idea of you being here right now has given me sleepless nights for some time now. But seeing you right in front of me is in some ways a relief because the nightmares are over and I won't let you succeed!"

Wang spat the last part out in uncharacteristic anger before calming herself. She then looked at the arrival expectantly as the timer reached one minute.
"Do you have anything to say before you die?" she asked curious. "Speak up now because I'm very interested in hearing what you have to say before this place explodes. And don't worry about me; I'm secured behind a magic force field. I'll walk out from here unscratched, and I'll toast to you tonight, Greek, that you'll have a safe ride across the river Styx."

The visitor said nothing; instead he just gave a stare of pure malevolence that even caused Wang to be taken back. He then raised his right hands, bluish sparkles of electricity flying around it. And as he let loose the energies all power in the room died.
"You forget, daughter of Mountain Wind, who I am a descendant off. A god far more powerful than any of your pantheon."

"You're… Zeus!" began Wang looking around abruptly in confusion at the room which had become pitch black.
"Not exactly. I am his great grandson," replied Oiroran. He then went over to knock on the door and then stepped to the side as a heavy punch impacted with it and this too became destroyed by the hard fists of Arcadios, god of war. His companions stepped in the room and looked around with their glowing eyes all the more stark in the darkness. Oiroran's right hand began to glow anew and throw off electrical sparks as he pointed at the cowering scientists. Then he pointed out the door where some sunlight illuminated the corridor. The scientists hurriedly bolted out the door and soon they were all gone from sight, leaving the four strangers and Wang Hu La alone in the dark.
"So this is it then?" asked Wang, unseen tears streaming down her otherwise solemn white face, not even tracing her perfect make-up. "Was this how I was always supposed to…?"

Oiroran pointed towards Wang and an electrical blast erupted from his hand and straight into the Chinese who convulsed in spasms as electricity flowed through her body and then stopped as she slumped down in her chair. The Greek lowered his arm and regarded Wang's corpse in silence before he nodded to the tall rastaman:
"Makarios! It's all yours now."
"This gotta be fun," Makarios grinned and walked over to the nearest console, starting to unpack his own equipment.

A few hours later the Greeks filed out of the building and returned to their vehicles outside to retreat the way they had come, leaving the chaos and destruction they had wrought far behind them. And while they disappeared out of sight a light snowfall began.

***

Ignoring the strange lights near the coast of Letitium, Sirana decided to finish her work as fast as she could inside the ruined temple located on the highest peak of the island of Ersanza. Sirana vividly remembered the history of the island, as it was clearly written in one of the many books of the Temple of Senaltari. For centuries, the island had been home to the most devout worshippers of Iryon. Every day the god's loyal servants gave offerings and prayers, asking for help and guidance in this mortal plane.

But their prayers never reached Iryon. Busy with his war in Europe and finding little sense in helping out humans, he had left them to their own devices, which meant that they had soon abandoned him in return, turning to other gods who were actually answering their prayers. These days the temple was crumbling, nature overtaking the formerly so stately halls, followed by thieves and looters who had carried the treasures away. Now only a ruin of shattered marble pillars remained of the once so magnificent building, the wind blowing last year's autumn leaves across the worn mosaic floor picturing gods fighting nameless beasts.  

Sirana closed her eyes and chanted a prayer using the Sacred Tongue. Turquoise energies then flew out from her crown chakra and gathered at the marble floor of the dilapidated temple, forming a huge, circular seal filled with Sacred Lettering. The priestess kept on chanting until the seal was complete, making sure that she didn't miss anything. A single mistake would most likely kill her.

Finding her work finished, the High Priestess decided to leave the temple at once. There were a lot of things to be done. She hurriedly went out of the ruin and searched for a suitable area to create a gravitational hex. The moment she stepped outside however, a familiar, yet unexpected face greeted her.

***

Thousands of emotions and impressions floods over Lanineme as she returns to her full consciousness of her divine self. There are her old memories from ancient Atlantis but also these from Emilia Cooper, her former existence before she has accessed the body and identity of Mina Erasmie. But the Emilia Cooper memories are dream-like and vague - blinking neon and large office buildings filled with people walking around in an endlessly repetitive loop, driving a car and talking to people on the phone, a Japanese woman taking her by the hand and guiding her past curious faces and inside a tiny room with a blue sofa, closing a white door behind them and a slender man waiting inside. But that means nothing or very little and it fades like a dream in the night after waking up. Soon those memories are only images which shatter and drift apart and all she remembers is the Japanese's face and then a huge pain and a humiliating feeling of failure. And a loss of… someone…

"Cysir," the name drops off her lips before she even remembers what or who that means.
"He's out there, but he can't harm you anymore," her brother comforts her.
"How am I… he?"
"Hush, it will all be well!"
"I remember - so very little."
"Lani, it will come back to you if you just relax. Take it easy, let it come to you. Sit back and relax, sweetie."
"I am - a baby!"
"Yes, you are. And I'm impressed that you managed to find yourself so fast. And most of all that you were able to reincarnate! We thought we'd lost you forever. And then you go along and 'do a Gandalf'!"
"A Gandalf?"
"A demigod wizard who survived death in a classic work of literature," says the lady Lanineme remembers as Sanomina. She's standing a bit behind Elion together with some deities Lanineme doesn't recognize at all.

"Or perhaps a Jesus Christ." A dark and bearded man says.
"Dunno 'bout that one either," Lanineme blushes.
"Never mind, we'll get the time to explain that later." Elion smiles. "Foremost we need to release your mother -or how I should express myself - your mother in this incarnation. Nirmenne!"
"Yeah, it's odd I should pick Nir, my old best friend!" Lanineme turns around and looks at Vickie who appears all surprised and confused - and at the same time oddly relaxed and content, as if she knows everything is going to be fine.

"About the electricity..." the bearded man begins.
"Later, Kirinos, we need to release Nirmenne first." Elion replies.
"But people are dying out there!"
"I know. But this takes fifteen minutes."
"And meanwhile fifteen thousand more dies!" Kirinos insisted.
"Yes, but we don't know what's caused it yet and…" Elion starts.
"If you can save some lives, I sure can wait," Vickie interrupts with a feeling of incompleteness.

"We don't know how to fix the electricity at the moment, but we do know what to do with Nirmenne," Elion insists. "I'm letting her out, and that's a final."
"Then what…" Kirinos starts.
"You can call the Greeks. Ask Oiroran if he has a solution for this! He might know something, he's electrokinetic after all." Then Elion turns towards Victoria / Nirmenne and takes her hand, asking her to come sit next to him. And Sanomina smiles. Perhaps Elion is finally starting to become a leader, learning how to take the responsibility of a pantheon head for real.
Part 4
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