Calamity Wars Chapter 7 Sneak Peek
Fire and Thunder
The Ancient Times, War of Desolation
The clouded sky loomed over a desolate landscape. A once lush pain turned into a battlefield of death and misery was plagued by the wrath of a heavenly race. Fleeing caravan refugees stretched into the horizon from one side of a road into a large city.
High above the cliffs, a lone seraph was overlooking the desperation of humankind. His long sword was placed beside him as he sat down, losing himself in his thoughts. The decision he would make would turn the tide of the war forever.
He sensed the misery, sadness, and hopelessness of the human refugees down below. He raised his hand, looking at his white clear gauntlet. He calmly gazed into his reflection and coiled it in determination. Now it was a matter of time before all hell broke loose.
A dark group of clouds advanced toward the city. Red lightning bolts jolted all over the sky as the people looked back in horror, recognizing it as their doom approaching. Mothers took their children and men let go of their belongings, grabbing their families and running to the gates in masses.
The seraphim sat there in total calmness until the clouds stopped above him.
A harsh, strident voice called him from within, echoing with contempt and dissatisfaction.
“Why the human city still stands, Susanoo? No one shall disobey the command! Destroy it this instant!”
Susanoo opened his eyes and raised his head at the dark clouds above him, staring intently into them. “There is no need for more bloodshed. Those that were responsible for atrocities have been dealt with. I will not harm these innocent creatures.”
“You dare argue with me?!” A terrifying growl filled the sky and a thick red thunderbolt hit the wall of the city, tearing it down and another bolt hit the tallest tower. The boulders and debris rained on the people down below. Screams filled the air as the surviving refugees dispersed from the wreckage, each running away in different directions.
Susanoo pulled his sword and slashed it widely in front of him. A bright blue thunderous cut purged the red bolts and pushed back the crimson storm.
“Stop it. These people are innocent. We cannot do as we pleased with underdeveloped life, no matter how basic or young their civilization is.” Susanoo scowled with his long dark eyebrows into the cloud. “These will not pay for the crimes they did not commit!”
“You,” The voice darkened with hate, “If you do not obey the command, I will put you to death!”
Rays of light shined beneath the clouds and an army of seraphim warriors and beasts descended gracefully. They landed all around Susanoo, making a circle as they surrounded him. Susanoo swept a gaze over them. His stoic and calm gesture made every heavenly beast and seraphim warrior unease.
One of the seraphim with a long spear and golden horns on his head stepped closer in fury. “You traitor! Why do you insist on taking the sides of the inferior insects?”
Another one with a golden mask joined the first one side by side in protest. “Why? You, who was the greatest among the seraphim… Answer us, Susanoo!”
The humans below looked above toward the elevated cliffs, watching the scene with dread in their eyes.
“I shall answer,” Susanoo turned to the seraphim and raised his longsword. “But I’ll do it with my blade!”
In an instant and without warning, a sudden strike sliced through the two seraphim closer to Susanoo and their bodies instantly disintegrated in a brilliant light. The rest seraphim stepped back and readied their weapons before a bloodlust battlecry reverberated all around them. Susanoo dashed at the horde with eyes shining in blue light and his longsword trailing lighting bolts. It happened in a blink of an eye and another group of seraphim warriors perished in a wave of strikes unseen to normal eyes.
A wave of heavenly beasts and warriors stormed Susanoo and a barrage of fire and wind artes bombarded where stood, but all the magic shots hit the empty ground. The Seraphim looked around in panic, searching for Susanoo before a flash of a blue thunderbolt passed beside them. The seraphim warrior bodies cracked and they burst into white light, shrieking in pain and agony.
Susanoo reappeared among the specks of lights; his gesture was calm as he didn’t even break a sweat. He raised his head again at the dark cloud above him as the gruff voice hatefully called his name.
“I should have expected this from a coward such as yourself,” A ball of red lightning shot from the clouds and zapped toward Susanoo. He raised his sword and it hit his guard with an insurmountable magical force. The blow emit a blast around the area and waves of destruction travelled around the continent, demolishing houses and tearing out the ceilings from walls.
The humans below dispersed and took cover before raising their heads and noticing another entity fighting Susanoo.
A hulking seraph, with an ogre-like body, was clashing his two hammers against Susanoo’s greatsword. Sparks of magical electricity surrounded them.
“Raijin,” Susanoo mumbled his name and stood firmly against the seraph’s push.
Raijin bared his fangs and his red eyes burned in hate. “You’re a coward who kills his own kin!”
Susanoo spotted more hordes of seraphim descending and landing behind Raijin.
Raijin’s hammers glowed red, charging up in red bolts. “I will bury you along with those who you want to protect!”
The hammers released their energy and Susanoo backpedalled masterfully, dodging the blast.
The new wave of seraphim warriors and beasts joined Raijin, standing beside him. “Humans are unnecessary for the stability of this world. They easily sin and succumb to their impulse desires! Your rebellious intentions are born out of ignorance. They must be purged not understood. ”
Susanoo gripped the golden handle of his sword and his eyes flashed in a bright blue. “You’re all afraid of them. But you failed to see through your ego and hate.” Susanoo’s white robes around his torso loosened and revealed trivial tattoos all around his muscles, lighting up one by one.”Not every human fails to resist the temptation.”
The rest of the seraphim brandished their weapons and a female seraph stepped into the burning dirt that was the result of the thunder seraphs’ previous clash. She was unarmed and looked less threatening than others. She looked concerned. Susanoo recognized her; the third child, Kayda. “The four heavenly kings made it clear to you that is forbidden to make a pact with the humans. Step aside and I will make sure you’ll get a fair trial.”
Raijin pushed aside the smaller seraph and scoffed. “I don’t care about Tiamat’s judgement. I want to see him burned for his sins!”
Susanoo raised his sword skyward and held it with his two hands. “Little dragon,” He told Kayda, “Your mother fails to understand the compassion, and so did the four heavenly kings. Only the weak get sucked into malevolence and humanity is not weak!” Susanoo let loose a deafening battle cry and his blade shot a lightning bolt into the sky.
Raijin gritted his sharp teeth and a series of ethereal drums appeared behind him, rotating circularly. “Die, Susanoo!”
As the giant seraph reached Susanoo, he brought down his big hammers with great force.
The weapons hit something harder than an iron fortress and a blinding explosion engulf the cliff.
Raijin’s shrieks of pain echoed around the beach and the ocean behind them and his body crashed in front of the seraphim. Smokes steamed from his reddish skin and he gasped in pain. Kayda and the rest noticed Susanoo’s battle stance n front of them. Blue lightning bolts zapped all around and Kayda flew away from the scene.
A battle ensued and the surviving humans watched from below. A father of two shed a tear of hope. “H— He’s fighting… For our sake.”
Another woman embraced her scared daughter. “For us, powerless people…”
A young man coiled his fist and raised it at the battle. “He is taking on all those gods by himself!”
An old man struggled to hold his frail body but made his way above everyone else on a broken wall. “Susanoo is a god!”
The old man cheered.
“He is our god!”
Avernus’ breath shortened. With a weak gasp, he woke up from his nightmare. Sweat trickled from his forehead. The world was dark and hazy, but a soothing voice and a pair of bright golden lights greeted him.
“Are you okay?”
Avernus’ anxiety dropped down immensely with Velvet’s presence, enough to regain his thoughts. “I’m… I’m okay now.” He locked eyes with Velvet.
“You had a nightmare.” Velvet stroked his tousled hair and placed a hand on his wet forehead. “No fever.” Velvet was relieved.
Her concern painted a smile on Avernus’ face before he turned to see their kids still sleeping soundly in their cradle, with Orthie and Russ, their dogs calmly resting below them.
“That was a strange dream,” Avernus shook his head. “A battle, against a seraphim army. It felt so real. I could sense his emotions. His hope, his hate and-”
Avernus was interrupted as Velvet pulled him into her embrace and squeezed his face between her bosom. Avernus submitted and calmed down.
“Shh. Don’t think about it.”
The heavenly feeling of Velvet’s softness and the rosy fresh smell of her skin robbed Avernus of his worries and he hugged Velvet on her waist.
Before he wished for a second round of sleep, the sound of warning bells pulled both of them back. They jumped from the bed and slid into their outfits. The twins yawned and looked around in surprise before their parents planted a kiss on their foreheads, making them smile and leaving for the deck.
The dawn had arrived and Benwick along Eleanor were already distributing weapons. Benwick passed the binoculars to Velvet. “We got company.”
Velvet looked through the spyglass and spotted black ships pursuing a fleet of refugee ships. “Change course to intercept Dragoina’s battleships,” Velvet ordered, gesturing her arm at the front. “Full speed!”
Max entered the deck in confusion with eyes still half shut. “What’s going on?”
“Getting ready to fight,” Avernus said without turning to Max.
Max’s eyes widened in shock, totally waking up. “W-What?! This early in the morning?!”
Velvet gave Max a sideways look. “You can go back inside.”
After a few seconds of thinking, Max stepped back and took cover behind the main mast. “I-I think I’ll just watch from here, thanks.”
A figure crept behind Max and whispered into his ears. “Coward.”
Magilou’s breath made Max’s neck hair straighten and he jumped in fright. “What?! You!”
Magilou whirled a paper guardian on her index finger and yawned. “I almost missed sea battles.”
Eleanor jumped on the mast, traversing up. “I never thought I’d see the day we have to fight again. This is like a nightmare.”
Laphicet and Lailah came out of the crew quarters. They joined Velvet and Avernus with Laphicet focusing on the black ships. “I sense a tremendous amount of malevolence coming from the enemy armada.”
Velvet nodded. “Yes. I can feel it too.”
“We might need the Silver Flame for the cleansing,” Avernus said and looked at his hands. “If I still had the power to use it…”
“Or you can beat them up like you always do,” Magilou circled Avernus with her hands locked over the back of her head, smirking. “Truth be told, you are now more dangerous than you were before, even without your powers.”
“Thanks for the compliment, I guess.”
Lailah stood by Avernus. “I will support you, brother.”
Avernus shook his head. “I appreciate it, but I want you to work with Eleanor from now on.”
Lailah looked at Eleanor in surprise. “A-Alright. If that’s what you want.”
Zaveid rushed out of the cabin and growled in hate, cocking Siegfried and waiting for their inevitable combat eagerly. “We worked so hard for the peace. Time for payback.”
Velvet surveyed the Drogina’s ship formation. “We hit the smaller ones with canons in a quick pass and ram the second one. Then, we catch the main battleship before it can reach the refugees.”
Laphicet raised his hands and summon a powerful gust of wind, adding more speed to Van Eltia. Laphicet saw Velvet looking at him and immediately realized her request. “Don’t worry, Velvet. I’ll protect Elaine and Alistair.”
Velvet smiled. “Thanks.” With Avernus giving Laphicet a firm nod too.
As Van Eltia gained more speed, Max held on to the railing for dear life. Magilou approached her with a hint of mischievousness behind her smile. “To all passengers from the great Menagerie’s leader and superstar, Magilou Mayvin: please enjoy the next part of our show,” She moved closer to Max. “It’s the plundering time!”
Max blinked fast as he placed a firm hand on his hat and suddenly, aft canons fired together. The long-range barrage hit one of the smaller escort ships and a column of fire rose from the boat, splitting in half.
“First one’s down!” Avernus yelled in victory.
For the first time, Max felt the shake and sound of canons and the smell of gunpowder on the sea, as they painted feelings of fear and excitement at the same time. Contrary to what was happening, the twins were in the safe magical bubble in Velvet’s cabin, oblivious to the war outside and enjoying their time with their uncle Maotelus and their canine guardians.
“Fire!” With Velvet’s command, the canons rained death upon the surprised enemy and the second ship turned into a giant fireball.
Avernus spotted the main battleship turning away from pursuing the refugee’s boats and the rest of Dragonia’s fleet followed suit.
“We won!” Max said, hoping that fight is already over. But Avernus turned to him, eyes filled with determination.
“No, Max. It’s just begun.”
“But we beat them! They’re not hunting the refugee’s ships anymore!”
Avernus gave him a confident smile. “They’re not hunters, Max. We are the hunters and they are our prey.”
