The Prophesy: Book 2 - The Right Hand of Destiny

 

"You shall not pass sex!" repeated Thorsten, even more strongly, as he let go of the hammer in a spinning motion toward the dragon. The thunder that the hammer did on the dragon's rocky skin was unheard of. The dragon was surprised to even feel the impact as it resonated within its innards. Five times, the hammer left the hand of Thorsten, creating a deafening thundering drumming sound, reminiscent of a marching army at war.

The black dragon looked at the defiant figure standing in front of her, mere yards from her open maw, and she was surprised. The last one¹²¹² ("St-George.") that had stood up to her was much bigger, riding a four-legged beast and had used a wooden perch to assail her. Ridiculous! How she had relished the crunchiness of the human lobster as her jaws has picked him apart while holding him still with her front paw. Human lobsters were such delicacies! And she thought they had vanished suddenly some time back. It had been so long ago! How far back? It did not matter; dragons did not attach importance to time! That new lobster definitely looked smaller! Bah, the smaller the fry the tastier! She salivated at the idea of cooking the meal in its own shell! It took a metallic taste she had missed! Cooking the shell-less ones gave her the impression of eating coal, something she did not particularly appreciate, so she had taken to feeding on them raw. And the shell-less ones were way too easy to eat! The crunchiness was part of the fun! Now then, how does it go to start that fire? Ah, yes, fill the lungs to capacity with the pure combustive¹³¹³ ("Oxigen.") extracted from the air as she opened the side-gills to expel the needless part¹⁴¹⁴ ("Mainly Nitrogen and Carbon Dioxide."); close the passage from the lungs to the mouth; fill her mouth with the digestive gases¹⁵¹⁵ ("Methane.") stored in her bloated stomach; open the lung valve and let the gases mix a second; open the mouth, aim, expire while rubbing the top of the mouth with her tongue to create sparks, and contract the stomach and lungs at the same time to create a powerful jet! It had been so long she had almost forgotten the sequence, but it came back fast and furious, as a powerful jet of burning gases left her mouth to hit Thorsten straight on!

But what was that? It should have been writhing on the ground emitting such nice sounds! It was still standing! Not understanding, the dragon repeated the process time and time again, to no avail. The meal stood its ground!

***

Thorsten looked at the giant flying snake, and remembered whom he was protecting with his own body. He looked up, fire in his eyes and as the first heat from the black torch reached him he brought his hammer high above his head; for the first time, he saw the dome form as the heat reached the hammer's tip and deflect in a beautiful rainbow the dragon fire. As soon as the flame sputtered, the dome vanished, and he smelled around him the odours typical of the death pits: natural gases that accumulated within badly ventilated mine shafts. A breeze blew it away rapidly, but the dragon was not giving up easily! It tried again and again to penetrate the dome, without success! Still, Thorsten held his ground and prepared for the next assault. He stood straight as an oak in the midst of a storm, eyes ablaze with a whitish-blue light so intense it outshone the sun's own, the fury of love facing the fury of hate.

Figure 12: The Black Dragon sneaking on Thorsten and Harp

***

Harp was sure he was going to go deaf from the thunder Thorsten unleashed at the dragon. He saw the Hammer leave his love's hand and rematerialize as soon as it impacted the dragon's scales, creating sparks and leaving a sulphurous odour. Then Harp had seen the flames hit above them and spill around without even touching them. Yet he felt no magic involved. However hard he looked at the succeeding events, he could not find out what protected them so effectively; there was no magic domes whatsoever, yet there was something! There had to be something!

He also saw Thorsten's face, looking up at the dragon, hard as a diamond, shining like a finely polished gem, his eyes fire and the gold crown now glowing white almost invisible in its incandescence, fused to his helmet! Thorsten himself sparkled with repressed power, which seemed to travel in waves from his feet to his outstretched arm and to the tip of the hammer. Each time the dragon assaulted the towering figure, the intensity of the power increased, as if it gained energy from the flames thrown at it. Thorsten was undergoing his trial by fire.

***

The gold dragon, still stuck in his precarious position, saw one of the small figures lie down and the other one stand above it, facing a foe that was at least seven times his length and weighted well over a thousand times more. He could not but help admire the courage this human showed against such unbalanced odds. If this is what humans had become, they were indeed worthy of the Covenant.

At first, the dragon thought the human foolish to throw a tiny thing at the black lord, but as he felt the vibrations created by the thunder unleashed, he had to admit this was unexpected. The ozone that permeated the area told him the Hammer had hit the scaly skin with enough force to create intense sparks. Then, he saw the female ready her breath of fire and expected the tiny figure to roast on the spot, much to his dismay, but, as the gases cleared, he was surprised to see the figure still standing, unmoved! That was, indeed, something to record for the memory of the Dragons! A puny human had withstood the Fire of the Dragons and lived to tell about it!

As he looked more carefully at that miraculous survivor, he noticed it was glowing, gaining in intensity under the repeated attack of the Black Lord. The more intense the attack, the more it glowed and showed strength!

***

Deep within the Black dragon, a Dark Lord stirred, awoken from his slumber by the intense battle and the rattling of the dragon's innards by Thorsten's Hammer. It had laid dormant within the beast for thousands upon thousands of years, the Prince of all Princes of Darkness. It had been trapped in the dragon, desperate to escape and regain its freedom of action, content to be a scavenger of souls while the dragon fed on its prey. But maybe, today, it would escape! If only that dragon met its match!

Oh how it loathed the day they had played God once more and tried to use His Power of Creation to destroy these two 'cities' of Sodom and Gomorrah, mere collection of mud bricks and wood. The Fallen Ones had fallen even more, and he had escaped the total annihilation by an atom's diameter, finding refuge in the cavernous, but empty soul kernel of that Queen of the Black Dragons, that seemed to have been flying by just at the right time. Ever since that day, he had fed off his familiars, rebuilding his strength, pecking at the morsels the dragon fed from. He, the Princes of all Dark Princes, reduced to a scavenger!

He let the dragon do the physical fighting, readying himself for the real fight to regain the control over his realm. His last familiar had been drained dry by his awakening, and he knew he had no choice: escape the dragon or die prisoner of its decrepit and oh too familiar soul kernel. The day would come when he would deal with those that had left him behind and extract vengeance.

He remembered all too well Gabriel's sentence: "You shall stay prisoner of this universe until such day that the humans, all humans follow a single calendar, and on the seventh thousandth seventy seventh year of that unified calendar, you will be released from your bindings to deliver your last battle. May the Light reach your soul before then for that day we shall meet again and if darkness is yours, then you shall perish! Darkness is void, my brother, and it cannot win against light, which is substance." As he remembered these damning words, his fury increased and his darkness became impenetrable any reason.

Oh, how they had worked to create the unified calendar, and time and time again, their efforts had been foiled. Prophets came, starting a new religion, and a new calendar, seemingly every thousand years, just to piss them off! They had tried everything! But humans were divided and these divisions kept getting in their way! The antimatter bomb had been proposed to create a common date, but had backfired, destroying everyone of the Fallen that had been too close to it, and only starting another religion!

His second in command, which had been with him during that fateful attempt, and had also barely escaped, had decided to promote divisions rather than unity, and to make the humans destroy themselves by giving them the knowledge to do so. If all humans were dead, then the condition would fall on the wayside since no calendar could be held by a dead race. So, what was left of the original fallen had spent their time spewing wars, divisions, and promoting ever more massive ways of destruction and genocide. Finally, they had invented the Atom bomb and the hydrogen bomb!

It had been a great day when the first bomb exploded over White Sands, and Belzebuth had been unable to hold back and had nagged the humans by showing his face in the rising cloud of hellfire! A severe reprimand from his master had brought down the arrogant shit a few pegs, and it never repeated elsewhere. Yet, their greatest failure had to come yet; after inventing the Atom bomb and the hydrogen bomb, they had pushed hard for the creation of the Doomsday weapon, the antimatter bomb. The humans had balked! Balked at creating the ultimate destroyer!

Bah, the result had been reached anyway when they had managed to trigger the Cataclysm. Most humans had died, and a common calendar had been achieved. It was now simply a question of waiting, and the Fallen had taken a back seat to the events as they unfolded. Time was on their side. The Prince of Darkness had taken a nap, waiting for the onset of Armageddon, where he would finally be set free.

***

The dragon female finally ran out of reserves and felt heavier for it. She decided to crush the offending meatball and charged, intent on stomping on it with her whole mass. She rose on her hind legs to ram down her front paws on the human, but her right paw slipped on something that seemed to be protecting that human. It took a second or two for the pain signals to reach her brain and for her to understand what it was and where it originated. She tried to bite the human, only to find that her teeth broke on him, while her throat burned like never before. Disgusted, she pulled back, spitting teeth and blood, the interior of her mouth charred by a heat she had never experienced in her life, not even when she drank from the lava lake near her old home. Lava had this syrupy feeling, and felt so nice as it went down, cleaning her of parasites. Each lava lake had its distinct taste, and she particularly relished the thick flavour of those found on the inner sea's coast¹⁶¹⁶ ("The Etna and Vesuvius.") of her old home. But this! She tried to move her tongue to feel the roof of the mouth, to discover she felt nothing! All the mouth felt numb, as if she had lost the sense of touch. It got worse! She could no longer smell the human or the pungent odour of the male dragon!

Furious, she tried a sideswipe at the human, only to jump at the burning sensation she felt as the tip of her tail rammed into the diminutive figure. She roared in pain and fury, her voice made even raspier than usual by the sorry state of her mouth!

***

As the dragon came charging toward him, Thorsten gripped his hammer and prepared to slam it at the animal. As the dragon's strategy unfolded, Thorsten again lifted his arm above his head, to deflect the downward motion of the massive legs. The moment the sole of one of the paws touched the hammer, a dome of bluish energy appeared and the impact was deflected, but not without causing severe burning to the skin of the dragon. The hammer crushed cartilages, bones, and coagulated blood, creating a cavernous hole in the forelimb. The delayed roar and backing off of the beast registered to Thorsten's ears, almost deafening him. If this continued, he would not be able to hear the sweet voice of his love anymore!

He was almost lifted off the ground by the retracting paw but the hammer disengaged just in time, and Thorsten fell on the ground slightly ahead of his original position. He quickly stood up and resumed his position over Harp, ready for another assault.

The next assault did not take long to occur! The monster opened its gigantic maw and took a vicious bite. This time, Thorsten found himself directly inside the leviathan, and used both his axe and hammer to hit and cut. The monstrous tongue fell off and twisted on the ground, cut off by the axe; the hammer racked the teeth, breaking every single one of them like crystal and pulling some of them out in the process. As the mouth closed, the dome again reappeared, whiter than the sun, and shining a light down the animal's guts like a torch. The residual natural gas detonated violently, searing the throat and contributing to the destruction of the animal's interior. The roof touched the dome and burned, revealing the bone structure and the nasal cavity, whose greenish gob backtracked from the nostrils to sizzle at the contact of the fiery wall.

The light of day reappeared as the dragon once again backed off, spilling teeth and charred pieces of bones and magma of nasal fluids. Thorsten had barely time to take a breath before he saw the animal turn on its side and sideswipe him. This time, it was the axe that met the incoming cartilaginous mass, and created a protective dome while slicing the end of the tail right off. The inertia of the animal was such it did a full three-sixty before the pain registered, and the ball of poisonous darts flew off in the distance, in a parabola that sent it flying miles away. Another furious roar followed as the added pain registered with the black dragon's brain.

***

Harp saw the charging dragon rise and fall on Thorsten, the dome burning right through what could resist the fury of Gaia itself, as if it was butter. He saw the giant foot slam barely half an inch from his face, digging a hole three feet deep. White as a sheet, he felt paralysed, held immobile by a force he could not comprehend. He saw with horror Thorsten lift off the ground, the hammer stuck in the paw, then fall mere feet ahead of him on his ass. Boy, was he relieved when the dwarf prince took his defensive position again above his body.

Then came the giant bite and its consequences. Sharp pieces of teeth flew everywhere, harder than diamonds, and raining around him in a deadly shower; and that slimy tongue fell between his legs, right on his family jewels! Yet, nothing happened. He had expected the saliva to start eating at his exposed skin, but it was like the shield extended above and around him, affording him additional protection from the dragon's most potent poisons.

The sideswipe did not come as a surprise to Harp, for he had recognized the tactic from his earlier encounter at the College of Magic, but the effectiveness of the axe took him by surprise. It did not even slow down the rotation, and the cut was surgical in its cleanliness. The trajectory of the bit that took off testified to the energy the dragon had put into it. He would have to think things out. Why had he been able to defeat the dragon at the college? The Book of Life clearly stated they were immune to magic, yet he had won. He was missing something here.

***

The Gold dragon saw the charge and the female rise to crush the little human. Resigned to see the little figure be reduced to bloody pulp, he was spellbound as he saw the damage the diminutive figure inflicted on the Black Lord. Even his most vicious attacks had not dented the skin of the dragon, yet, here, in front of his eyes, he saw it melt and tear like a piece of sandstone or ash. He too saw with anxiety the figure rise and fall as the tiny tool it was handling so expertly got stuck inside the paw, but was relieved when he saw him stand and take position once again to defend the one on the ground he could barely discern.

What was this new feeling, anxiety, for the tiny figure? Was it fear for its wellbeing? And relief? He found himself rooting for the tiny human, mentally encouraging him to fight on! He had never been so enthralled by a battle before, and felt a huge sense of pride and admiration for the tiny one. Yet he dared not roar his approval, afraid of distracting the human from his dangerous and delicate task.

The brightness of the figure grew to such a point he felt he was looking directly at the face of the sun at its highest point of summer. He could actually feel the heat radiating from it, and it was comforting to his tired body, like a balm of lava on his wounds. He was surprised that the other figure, which still lay on the ground, was not burning, or, for that matter, that the ground on which they were standing had not melted.

***

The Lord of Darkness became more agitated as the battle wore on. He felt his liberation so close yet so far! He prompted the dragon to continue the attacks as he saw the shell of the kernel begin to get thinner with every wound. He could smell freedom, if only that stupid container would die!

***

The black dragon decided to attack from the sky, throwing in her last reserves in the battle. She limped off barely clearing the low rise as she painfully climbed in the sky, She had all the difficulty in the world in holding steady and turning proved a serious challenge. Finally, after some rather comical mishaps, she managed to get on the trajectory she wanted and headed for the tiny dot that scoffed at her from below.

As she scooped down like a hawk on a hare, she was surprised to see a tiny blinding light head her way, and, before she could do anything about it, she got hit, and her left wing was cut off! She began to spiral down from her mile-high flight path and to her horror, she saw another one of these tiny sparks head for her. There was nothing she could do to evade the incoming missile and her second wing was cut off as well.

Her fall steeped down into a perfect vertical, spinning on her axis ever faster. Another flash of light left the figure as she was less than a thousand feet above the ground and came toward her. The pain had grown to such an intensity she no longer cared, and welcomed the void as the last spark sliced her lengthwise from head to tail, opening her shell for her bowels to fall out. The shock was so great the brain shut off and she never felt the impact on the ground, merely a hundred yards in front of Thorsten.

Spasms travelled the body, making it still dangerous to get near the Black Dragon. The smell of the guts also discouraged any speedy access to the body. Even carrion eaters, such as the vultures, stayed away for a few days, probably waiting for the carcass to putrefy and soften up.

***

Thorsten kept watch on the dragon and was surprised to see it shuffle off and take to the air. He could see it was in pain, and he hoped that it would go off to lick her wounds. However, good sense prevailed and he kept watch on the black dot that marked the dragon's position a mile up. As it spiralled up in a difficult climb, Thorsten turned on himself, keeping the Quetzalcoatl at the centre of his field of vision. It was apparent to Thorsten that the animal was having serious troubles controlling its trajectory, and that the loss of the tail bit, which, initially had seemed slight to him, was having massive impact on the capacity to control change of direction and even the maintenance of a level flight.

As he watched, he saw the dot begin to grow as it came toward him, in a steep dive. Thorsten waited until he was sure the dragon would be too close to change trajectory and threw his axe in a spinning motion upward, at a high velocity. The screech of the spinning axe as it cut through air and headed toward the dragon was as loud as a thunderclap and the sun's reflection on the blade gave the impression lightning had left the ground. It hit the left wing right at the shoulder, cut right through the entire membrane and exited to vanish in the air behind the now spiralling dragon.

As soon as the axe vanished behind the dragon, it reappeared in Thorsten's hand, much like a boomerang but without the need to the wait for the return. Thorsten was mildly surprised, but did not let that trouble him more than necessary. He took aim, and fired off slightly ahead of the falling Black Lord, taking into account its ever increasing speed, shortening distance, the uncontrolled flat spin, and too many more factors to list them. Sure of his aim and timing he let go according to a different trajectory, and again, the axe cut where he had wanted, slicing off the right wing.

Again the axe materialised in his hand and, just as sext was due, fired away again at the now vertically falling body, aiming for the underbelly of the soon to be deceased lord of the sky. The aim was as true as before and opened the dragon up in half, letting the countryside get showered in guts and blood. The impact of the now empty mass of skin shook the earth some, but much less than one would have expected had the body remained full of its innards.

Thorsten had barely left the falling carcass out of his sight, and the axe rematerialise again, ready for a new use. It did show blood and guts stuck in its handle, clearly showing it was one and the same axe that had been used repeatedly.

"I warned you, dragon! You did not see sext pass!" thundered Thorsten.

***

Harp saw the dragon move off and fly in spiral as Thorsten watched calmly its evolution. Thorsten seemed both sad and attentive. When the dragon began its dive, he wondered why Thorsten stood still, his axe pulled back, as if he was offering himself in sacrifice to protect him. Suddenly, he heard a thunderclap and saw what seemed to him like a lighting flash head for the dragon. The falling black wing told him that Thorsten had scored a direct hit and disabled the dragon, but as he watched the dwarf Prince still focussed on the falling body, he kept still.

A few seconds later, another lightning bolt left Thorsten and sliced the other wing cleanly, something that left Harp voiceless. To have managed that much precision in so short a time was a miracle! But Thorsten still stayed focussed, and with less than a second to impact, another bolt left the prince and headed for the ever-closer dragon, slicing its underside, as best as Harp could make from his position. A second later, the spilling guts that came falling out of the body confirmed Harp's idea of what had happened. The splattering of guts and other meat offal around them confirmed his first impression.

The impact of the residual carcass shook the ground, and raised dust, but much less than Harp had anticipated. He heard Thorsten's verdict, given in that same deep voice that seemed to inhabit him at the moment.

As he prepared to stand, he noticed he could not yet move.

"The real battle has yet to begin, love. Stay still for a while more. This was but the vessel."

***

The gold dragon saw his foe retreat and take to the air. He was both furious and elated. He so wanted to finish off the ancestral enemy, but he was still stuck in that unpleasant situation. As he watched the small sun that was the human rotate on its feet, he noticed it seemed to look upward and began to try and see what it saw. Shortly, the black dot passed within its eyesight and he too began tracking its movement with one eye while watching the little human's moves with the other.

Suddenly, he saw the black dot grow bigger and the human take a strange position. As the Enemy drew close, he saw light leave the human and heard a thunderclap. It had thrown lightning at the incoming snake. He felt sad, because he knew as fact that lightning did not even tickle them as they played in thunderclouds.

But surprisingly, that lightning did do something as he saw, stunned, a wing falls on the wayside and the Black Lord began a flat spiral downward. A few seconds later, the feat was repeated, adding to his awe. A final strike sliced the Black dragon in half, and the carcass crashed down near them. He was ready to begin trying digging his way out when the attitude and the movements of the little one told him instinctively to stay still. He understood the command as if it had been given to him and, much to his surprise, obeyed.

***

The Prince of Darkness, the First amongst the Fallen, was elated. As life slipped out of dragon, his prison dissolved and he was finally free! His dark mass, with all its power restored from its long imprisonment, began to rise out of the residue of spattered brain on the ground, and take form.

"Free! I am free at last!" the prince roared across all dimensions. The conditions have been met!"

"Not yet, Fallen! There are five more years to pass for that date to be reached!" thundered Thorsten.

"I will not wait five years! I see but you, puny human! Who do you think you are to hold sway over the Prince of Princes of Darkness?"

"I am the Guardian of this bounding. You can always defy me, but know this: if you do, before the hour is past and sext is done, you shall have been imprisoned anew, in the prison you have escaped for too long: death!"

"You are alone, Guardian!"

"So are you, Lucifer! You have destroyed all your familiars, even Belzebuth; by swallowing their essence to the last drop. All have given themselves to you so you could stay alive in that dragon. The evil ones that have followed your path have long been freed, and those you freed yourself have perished over the eons. You have no followers except in your mind. You are prince of a shadow kingdom, which befits you nicely, given how dark you are."

"I will not wait an instant more! Die, Guardian! Disappear!"

A black bolt of immeasurable power left the Forsaken's eyes, only to be diverted by a simple movement of the axe, that reflected it up and away into the universe.

"Is that your best? I told you we would meet again!" thundered Thorsten.

"Gabriel?"

"Yes, Lucifer, you must be blinded by your obsession of power not to have recognized my presence across the ethereal space! You always have been too full of yourself, even when you were an Elohim."

"I'll show you who is full of himself!"

The dark Elohim focussed his power and lifted a huge rock, weighting several hundred tons, and threw it like a pebble at Thorsten, who shrugged and simply swung it around his position to throw it right back at the giant figure, at a speed that matched the speed of sound many times over. Lucifer had seen the move and ignored the incoming rock; convinced his body would let it fly through. But a surprise awaited him! The giant boulder not only hit him hard but also threw him back several miles. He could not fathom how matter could affect him and Gabriel was not about to educate him about the nature of matter and the possibility of changing its frequency to match those that characterised the spirit world. The Elohim had been empiricists, and theoretical studies were not their forte. He had learned more on that ground from the efforts of the humans at gaining access to the Tree of Knowledge than in all his years at the genetic laboratory of his Elohim brothers. He shared as much of his accrued knowledge with Thorsten as he could while preserving his sanity. The last few months had shown him where he had erred with the Prophets. He had dumped knowledge on them like floods, drowning them, and eventually forcing them to disconnect from reality. Thorsten was more flexible than most, absorbing things like a dry sponge in a river, but that was not a reason to rush him needlessly.

Thorsten, meanwhile, let the Elohim handle that part of the fight; he was over his head, and knew better than to try and intervene. Anyway, that presence was comforting, and reassured him about the issue of the battle.

***

Harp could not figure out what was holding Thorsten's attention, but as he saw the dark spark appear out of nothing, he figured something was up. It took him some doing, but he finally could see what Thorsten was facing, and it sent shivers down his back. His Atlantean memory came back with the image of those evil entities they had come across during the reign of Atlantis, the Banned Ones! An original banned one! Over and over, they had fought them, keeping them at bay; they had been the main obstacles to the elevation of mankind out of Barbary. Suddenly, they had backed off or vanished, but not without letting indelible traces in the society. Then they were back! That was not a good omen.

As he watched the battle between Thorsten and the Banned One, he marvelled at the ease that his love manifested at returning the attacks to the Dark Lord. It seemed to be natural to him. He was impressed by the casual disposal of the evil spell, and the return to sender of the giant rock. What else did Thorsten hide behind that firm yet beautiful face?

***

The Gold dragon could not but help shiver as he saw the Evil Prince emerge from what was left of the Black female. No wonder she had been so evil, not that she had needed its influence. He too saw the black lightning strike the little human, and he was surprised to see it deflect like it had met a pool of water. Then the rock emerged from the ground and came toward the diminutive figure. This time he was not taken by surprise to see it swing around, pass above him and return toward the Evil spirit. But when he saw the mass vibrate and change nature, to literally throw back the evil entity miles away, he was more than shocked!

***

"Can I get up now, Thorsten? I'm getting cramps!"

"Yes, we have to get to that jerk, and you might as well be standing. Lying down motionless will not be of much use against Lucifer. We will need to deal with him definitively, and its now that it happens!"

The forceful tone Thorsten employed surprised Harp. Where was the shy boy he had so grown accustomed to over the past months? He quickly stood and turned to look around. For the first time since the battle had begun, he had a relatively clear view of the extent of the damage it had wrought about. He turned and saw the Gold dragon still stuck in place.

"What about him? He seems awfully quiet!"

"Can you handle him? Magic may not allow you to move him directly, but you can certainly move the lava crust that supports his weight? I have to keep an eye out for that spirit, and it is sneaky. Be on your guard."

"From the dragon?"

"No, from Lucifer. He can walk through matter like it is not there, except when he is enclosed in a soul kernel."

"What about magic?"

"Alone you stand no chance. His soul can be locked, but not by mages. He is the Creator's first born, and he took it to mean he was to replace Him."

"Is it not strange that the human tragedy is a perpetual repeat of this play, ¹⁷¹⁷ ("The Oedipus complex was described by Freud and derives its name from plays by Greek authors of the fifth century BCE.Oedipus[bootbox_start]The Oedipus complex was described by Freud and derives its name from plays by Greek authors of the fifth century BCE."), where the father figure is hated and feared by the son? It seems even the Creator faced this dilemma."

"Ah, well, yes, life follows the same rules, I guess. After all, we are all his children, whatever form we take. Now hurry, Harp, I do not wish to leave too much field to Lucifer. The further the distance, the more time he has to plan a riposte."

Harp quickly turned and looked at the Gold dragon. Thorsten was right; it was indeed a beauty to behold. Focussing, he created a force field just below the layer of lava, covering a little more than the entire wingspan of the dragon, and began lifting the matter out, separating it from the underlying volcanic ash. He went at it gently so as not to scare the rather massive beast, and risk getting hurt in the process. He remembered too well the roc's violent reaction from his previous life! A few minutes later the dragon found himself deposited on solid ground just beside the two very small figures, which seemed to be very calm even given the sizable differences between them and him. The lava crust fell to the ground and he could finally flex his wings with delectation.

He began to survey the area and noticed the damage as well; seeing it from this new perspective impressed on him these two were no mere humans, and he decided to offer his services to their cause. Fighting the Evil One was worthy a cause by any means, but they had shown they possessed the stamina to fight and win against odds unheard of.

As Thorsten and Harp began to walk across the mountains leading to the river in the distance, following the trajectory the Evil one had taken the Gold dragon followed them on their left, staying at their level. He noticed they were not rushing headlong to the battle, but seemed weary of potential traps, of which he had made the painful experience! All three opened their senses to any change or anomaly, Thorsten in the spiritual world, Harp in the magical, and the dragon in the physical.

***

Lucifer had been sent some five miles east and, as he crashed to earth he sank deep below its crust pushed down by the rock. Finally, well within the mantle the rock melted, freeing him of its impetus as it flowed around his essence. He flew out of that mantle, more enraged than ever, and emerged at high velocity to the surface, creating a new hot spot where his essence fractured the crust in its rush, and a new undersea volcano was born in the process on the edge of Atlanticus. Normally, he would have taken the time to flow around the crystalline structure but his mood did not allow for the time such finesse required. He had a Guardian to kill!

He ignored the spray of lava his hypersonic exit pulled behind him unaware it pointed his position like neon signs in the sky. The boys, on the other hand, saw it for what it was and turned slightly north, taking to the air in an effort to catch up with the Prince of Darkness. The dragon itself, understanding the urgency of he situation also took off and tried to keep up with the boys.

«To all who can hear! Prepare for battle! The Prince of Darkness is coming!» ordered Harp.

The alarm was immediate; Paschal, Sitar, Enron, and Harold immediately donned their weapons. Samson quickly moved to the dwarfs' apartments and informed them of the incoming foe. Diamondcutter and Amethyst responded by donning their weapons, although they knew they stood no chance against this entity. Samson also informed them that their eldest son had been fighting the entity since before sext and, according to Harp, was holding his own. A wolf nanny took Sven to a safe den. Ian stood on the back of Silver Moon, a tiny but deadly battle stave at hand and a knife in the other. His grave face told all he would sell his skin at a high price!

"Samson, if we do not survive, tell him we have always been proud of him even before he took the mantle of the Regency. Tell him our love will always be with him, even from beyond the Veil," Amethyst told Samson as they walked to the battlement to face the Enemy.

"Do not give up before the fight, please. I will do as you wish, but defeat is in the mind of the loser."

Williams took command of the defences, ready to trigger them the moment he could find a target. Dunbar organized the battle supply lines, and Francesca made sure every healer was on duty.

Queen Annabelle was on her destrier, waiting with her legionnaires for the time to enter the battle.

«To all that can hear me! Seek your magical core! Seek your Essence! Seek your soul! Become ONE with your species! Become ONE with Life! Become ONE with Gaia! For it is at this level the Enemy is the strongest and will lay siege to our existence!» ordered Thorsten, for the first time taking the leadership of the World in a battle.

The call of the Guardian shattered all species barriers and reached even the orcs and crocodile priests. Unity was, at this moment, so critical that even the Rocks partook in its creation, Gaia itself joined the battle against Lucifer and its minions, the Free Devils. The first battle of Armageddon was engaged, under the leadership of Thorsten. Others, many others would come, but this one would temper the bound between Thorsten and the other Princes, much as it had already done between him and Harp earlier during the Battle of the Black Dragon. The lines were set.

***

Lucifer had left the mantle at such high velocity he found himself in the void of space before he could even curve his trajectory. He collided with the barrier the Elohim had set around the planet to keep him and his servants within the confines of this world, so they could not contaminate the Universe with their perversion. That was the real prison he had to escape from! Humans, the Ancients, had escaped to the Moon and he could have been part of the trip, but at that time the Black Dragon, and himself, lay sleeping in a volcano in Siam, blissfully unaware of the development. Belzebuth, the second in command, had also decided to sleep on duty and missed the twenty years that could have let them escape by becoming astronauts. When he woke up, Lucifer found himself in a society that had lost all capacity at space travel, and even had lost the memory of it. It was probably what saved Belzebuth's skin for a while!

After a resounding bang that resonated across the universe, reminding the few Elohim left that there was still this contention to resolve, he fell back toward the earth. The impact had the effect of calling the residual Elohim to converge toward the site of the disturbance, ready and geared up for their last battle. Fifteen billion years of incessant battles against factions within their own ranks, of which Lucifer's was but the first, and certainly not the last, had left the Elohim weakened and dispersed. It had been some years since the first Fallen had been seen, confined by the others to a backward and forgotten planet orbiting an insignificant star of an even more minor galaxy, left there to expiate their insubordination and for foiling the Plan of the Elohim to guide an emergent life toward the Creator, but they were now, again, knocking at the door to create havoc. Family feuds have a bad habit of lasting forever, and that one had begun at the Big Bang and would probably last until the Big Crunch.

***

The call to unity by the Guardian was having its effect. More and more species joined in this one common effort, and enemies of yesterday became allies of the moment. All four Elements joined: fire and water, air and earth, water and air, all became one as even the trees and rocks forgot their incessant battles to become One with their mother, Gaia. For the first time since Life had existed, none fought and all stood joined in a Global Conscience. The Demons were unable to achieve a countermeasure as they had always been divided even in their greatest victories.

Lucifer plunged toward the rapidly moving Gabriel, known as Thorsten to mortals, trying to attack from behind. Unfortunately for Lucifer, he met unexpected resistance from the usually intangible atmosphere of the planet and his speed plummeted from near luminal to a bare crawl in a matter of milliseconds! His return to a more sedate pace opened the atmosphere to a painstakingly slow descent.

As he reached the ground and tried to set foot on a totally innocent-looking rock, he felt himself sinking into it; His Essence, usually insensitive to matter, found increased resistance to any and all displacements, like he was a fly caught in freshly seeped amber. He had to expand continuous energy just so as not to sink, and had to swim the rocks, which took an apparently malicious pleasure at making him fight for every inch.

Even water seemed harder than diamond, and blocked his progress. His ally of the first days, fire, itself seemed to create obstacles, devouring his energy to the point he had to take running circles around hot spots rather than search them out to help his progress.

Trees seemed to block every single path he tried to take, and he constantly found himself stumbling on roots, branches that weren't there the previous step slamming him into vines. How could matter, which never did affect him before, be such an obstruction to his displacement?

***

Harp and Thorsten moved above the shadowy figure of Lucifer, whose presence could be felt as it created a path of death, draining all energy in its progress. Trees exploded on his passage; as they fought his progress, rivers froze on his contact before fracturing and splintering in shards of ice; rocks cracked to his touch, crumbling to dust as he sank every step of the way into them to the thighs; air became liquid, opposing his progress.

"The call had been heralded! Nature fights the Abomination!" said Thorsten, as they watched Lucifer's ever-slower progress.

"Why is he slowing down, Thorsten?"

"He is expanding more energy progressing than he gains. He is tiring, creating his own prison. He needs free energy, heat, and, as he weakens, his range to gain energy diminishes. See how the band of death shrinks? Shortly, he will find he can no longer drain any. This is what I'm waiting for."

"What then?"

"Then? I'll put him in a prison he will not be able to escape from. Space is very cold, 3 degrees above absolute zero, which means very little free heat to feed from. Absolute zero is where no residual heat remains, which means the atoms have stopped moving entirely. He has been sending shivers down the spine of every life form, but it will be his turn to shiver! The fun is about to begin!"

Below them, Lucifer was struggling to pull himself out of another rock, as he had sunk to the waist, and his progression had stopped. Gaia held Lucifer in her grip, and was not letting go. Matter itself coalesced into a bind of crystal, resonating at Lucifer's frequency in perfect harmony. That was the event Thorsten had been waiting for.

"There you are! It seems you got caught in molasses, like the fly you are?"

Lucifer's fury was such at being taunted he fired a bolt at the obnoxious bug he saw Thorsten to be. That, in turn, reduced further his energy reserve, and he failed to notice that the atmosphere around him began to solidify from his draining.

"Come on, Lucy, I thought you wanted to kill me?"

Another bolt left Lucifer, missing again, and further aggravating his position. The prison was closing in at an ever-higher speed, as Lucifer drained more and more energy from less and less resources. He lifted his arms and, in a futile attempt to kill his foe, let out a last killing curse that could not even leave his fingers for more than a yard before faltering. The icy prison closed with a snap enclosing Lucifer to the tip of his fingers. There stood Lucifer, frozen for eternity in a position vaguely reminiscent of someone praying, eyes raised to Heaven.

"All is almost done for this battle. Dragon Lord, Harp, move to the side. I will move this block of ice to space and place it geostationary orbit thirty-three thousand miles above the earth. By the time the shroud of ice melts and he is again free, he will be so weak he will be adrift in space."

"How can it melt? From the number you gave, it is way below freezing?" Harp wondered.

"The radiation from the sun and the cosmic rays will impact the mass and eat away at the prison. By the time he is free, Gaia's destiny will have played out, and he will find himself adrift with no soul to feed on. It is a death sentence, for a soul snatcher. I told him he would find himself in the ultimate prison, death, but there are many ways to die."

As Thorsten explained this, the mass enclosing Lucifer lifted from Earth at a very slow speed, giving the impression of a bust set on a pedestal and enclosed in a crystal dome. Only the face revealed the excruciating pain Lucifer was experiencing from within. The three companions accompanied the capsule in its slow progress. The first to drop back was the Dragon, which had reached its maximum flight envelope. Next, Harp dropped off as the cold of space threatened his life; finally, Thorsten, protected by the shield of Gabriel, placed the tiny speck of dust into geostationary orbit, and set it spinning on its axis.

< Why the trouble, Gabriel? >¹⁸¹⁸ ("Text contained between brackets, &lt; like this &gt; indicate private exchange between two entities inhabiting the same body.") Thorsten asked from the back seat in his own brain.

< To make sure there are no hot spots favouring an early escape, and then, oh irony, he sees the stars and the Earth alternate slowly. He will be able to see what he lost. When the prison my brothers have set releases and I am relieved of my role as Guardian, he will see the few Evil ones they spawned escape while he stays back, held prisoner by a gravity well. Oh how sweet will that be to watch! But Thorsten, you and I will be busy that day. >

< That means it is to happen in my lifetime? >

< Yes, on the seventh hour of the seventh day of the seventh month of the seventh year. >

< That sure isn't clear. >

< Come on, Thorsten, you know the risk of knowing the prophecies' meanings too early. Harp almost broke the one concerning you when his fear almost overwhelmed him. Do you think I'll tell you in clear what date that is? You already know more than most, and it's more than enough. >

< Harp has no fear! > Thorsten exclaimed, taking offence at Gabriel's comment about his love.

< About himself? No. But when you consider your wellbeing? That's another matter entirely. Love is strength and weakness. He is brave, to the point of folly, but today he showed courage! For it took immense courage to submit to you, untested, in these circumstances. Had he fought the dragon, and not trusted you, both would have perished and the destiny of the Universe would have been altered. >

< Will I ever be a mage? I so want to be like Harp! >

< You are a mage, Thorsten, and you can manipulate energy and space-time as well as any. It's just you do not believe in yourself. And you have a strength you will share with the princes, when the binding is completed with the addition of the Dragon Prince. >

< What is it? >

< That's another question I cannot answer, Thorsten. But you know the answer already. For now let's go back to Earth, prince of Dwarfs. >

The two entities enclosed within Thorsten's body returned at a much faster speed to pick up Harp, who was getting nervous and icy in the stratosphere. They dropped to the Gold Dragon's level and began moving toward Eloise.

«The first skirmish of Armageddon has been won. Resume your activities and try to remember!» Thorsten released life to its bloody normalcy.

"Thorsten, why was it so slow to rise? I am sure it did not weight that much?"

"Harp, I had to make sure it was enclosed in a bubble of void. Friction would have fed Lucifer's energy, and we were way too close for comfort. He could have tried to feed off your soul, had he been less obnubilated by his obsession."

"His obsession?"

"Me."

***

The arrival of the Gold Dragon in Eloise was seen as another sign of the gravity of the events that had occurred during the previous hours. The sixty-foot long beast inspired awe and quite a dose of fear, but the casualness with which Harp and Thorsten walked beside the animal reduced the jitters to manageable levels. They walked into Eloise from the northern gate, and the streets were lined with spectators, both on the sidewalks and from the windows and roofs. Canines, Equines, Elves, Legionnaires, Dwarfs, Unicorns, and Fairies lined the street, making sure the middle stayed clear.

The dragon lord was impressed by the diversity of the races present, and when he saw that the courtyard, cleared of any residual snow, contained a Troll, along with the representatives of most other bipedal species except the Centaurs, orcs and crocodiles, he knew he had come to the right place. Now, how to communicate with them? It had been so long ago. He pondered on the issue, his memory nagging him about something his grandfather, long deceased, had told him about, but what was it?

"So, son, what happened after your call to arms? I was sure I heard Thorsten's commanding tone right after yours, ordering Life itself to battle. For the briefest of moments, I felt whole again."

"It was Thorsten, dad. He has changed so much in the past few hours I have problem recognizing him. Thorsten's prophecy is accomplished, and he has passed his Ordeal, with flying colours, I must add. He is now one of ours."

"A mage?"

"Yes. But how he does it, I haven't the faintest idea. He works on a completely different register than we do, but it is as effective. Now, if we can merge the two seamlessly, it will reinforce Ian's protection by another whole level."

***

Thorsten had moved haltingly toward his dad, afraid of the reception he would get. After all, he had been named Regent and lost the crown in battle. He felt lightheaded and yet it was like it was still there, weighing down on him. But Thorsten wasn't a dwarf for nothing. They had a reputation for stiff-necked attitude and Thorsten was pureblood dwarf. He looked at his parents, and head held high, walked toward them.

Amethyst and Diamondcutter had seen their son with Harp and the Gold Dragon from the walls of the city and moved to the courtyard with the other royals for the return of the fighters. He seemed so tiny and yet, he had changed. Even from a distance, they had seen his regal posture, no longer the shy, almost crumpled form they had grown accustomed to, but one of the Princes of the Realm, straight as an oak, confident in his steps, walking beside Harp as an equal amongst equals. They could see from their posture that the two princes had bounded beyond mere acquaintance to deep and full friendship if not more.

Now, as Thorsten walked toward them across the courtyard, they could see his face, serene, yet serious, still a child in its shape but showing the burden of unfathomable experience, age immemorial masked by youth. What stood out at closer range was Thorsten's eyes: They shone of an inner, icy fire, and his grip on the Hammer and Axe, albeit it looked casual, showed a mastery and confidence they had never seen in his actions before.

Diamondcutter had trouble leaving his son's face as he came closer, but Amethyst's eyes kept roaming, and she noticed the chainmail her son wore was different yet the same he had always worn since his tenth year. The mithril shone as if it was more than polished, like light was coming not from the outside, but from inside. The Axe and Hammer looked similarly infused with an inner light.

Diamondcutter's eyes had been captured by his son's appearance. He could see it was Thorsten, but more than Thorsten. His son had always had a creamy complexion, but now it shone from an inner light, like he carried his own sun inside. Even shadows seemed to balk at his presence. He could not see the Crown of Regency, but yet, there was something there, a Crown that seemed to fit his son better than any gold one would ever do. Diamondcutter stood and then, on impulse, put a knee to the ground, so his eyes could be at the same level as his son's.

The move by Diamondcutter totally shocked Thorsten. He had expected the man to tower from above, trying to scare the shits out of him, but there he was, humbling himself by kneeling in front of him! Thorsten couldn't help it, he hugged his dad with all his might, eyes leaking and sobbing hard. How he had missed his dad! Thorsten felt the embrace from his mom and, for a long while, the three-way hug was all that Thorsten cared about.

The Gold Dragon watched and felt something new, again. An intense bond, that shone through and warmed him inside, warmth he felt only for his children, different yet similar to the one he felt for his mate during season, but it was so much more intense. He was even more intrigued and interested in making sure these strange people became his friends. He was old, but he had so much to learn from them.

As the tears abated, Diamondcutter looked at his son.

"You have changed a lot in these few hours, son. So much so I can barely recognize you. What happened?"

"We fought; it was my first battle and we won. It was my first kill, and I feel sad. Taking a life weights on me dad."

"Thorsten, do not be modest. You fought and won," exclaimed Harp as he hugged Annabelle.

"Without your support, I would have been frozen in fear. I felt your love and it fuelled my resolve."

"In a way, Thorsten, that you feel sad is important. Killing must never become casual. We are at war, but each death must be weighted. Just make sure this does not stop you from doing what must be done," replied Harold, from Annabelle's side.

"And who did you fight?"

"A Black Dragon, which housed a how is it named, Harp?"

"A Banned One, dad. Remember our battles with them when we still had our kingdom. We thought the fall of the Child moon had disposed of them, but apparently, some survived."

"Do you have a name for the Dark Lord?" asked Harold. "When you sent out your call to battle, you were not very clear. We thought the Orcs had breached the ward and that they had formed a huge army. There are many Dark Lords, more Lords than soldiers. Everyone wants to be a lord, and no one wants to do the footwork. It always has played in our favour, as they bicker all the time."

"I do not know the name, dad. Thorsten mentioned it but I was too worried to care much about it. It was Thorsten that dealt the blows to the Fallen. I only was a spectator."

After a few appreciative whistles from the assembled princes and assorted royals, Harold looked at Thorsten.

"And did you manage to get a name?"

< Do not mention me, Thorsten. The Atlanteans have a long history of trouble with the Fallen, and finding an Elohim in you, and my role as Guardian, must stay hidden until the day of Accomplishment. >

"It is Lucifer, Thor. He never left. For some reason I have yet to understand, he seems to have found refuge in the Black Dragon female. So much history is lost, and the time that preceded the Flood and followed it left many things undocumented. Turmoil seems to help Evil in hiding its tracks."

"And how did you learn his name, Thorsten?"

"He introduced himself," replied Thorsten, abiding to Gabriel's request. It did not abuse Harold one bit, but he held back from confronting the boy on his lie. There would be time later for this.

"And who is the dragon?"

"We have given him the name Gold, for obvious reasons. But we have yet to find a way to communicate. He seems friendly enough."

"Gold, the friendly dragon. That sounds nice!"