Where The Dead Ones Go Book 4 -Union-

Chapter 14

"So Ms Irene, President Atomo, Emira Deira, and the Grand Marshall is..."

I took a deep breath as I tell them some of the contents of the twenty-four pages report detailing in great detail the status of not just Gearth but key figures and their status after the Second Fall.

"Yes, Zenith. However, they don't have any information about the Imperial Crown Prince. It is as if he vanished into thin air and no matter how hard the Novus Zepyranthians look, they cannot find him or any traces of information that may lead to his status."

Syden just slumped in his seat and looked outside the airplane window to the open bloody ocean below, "Well, if you are all going to ask me, no news is good news, eh, Asher?"

The son of Lytta barked in agreement before continuing to double-check the supplies that Councilor Andrade has generously provided us for our journey ahead.

Weapons, food, medicine, and maps among other things. They also didn't just repair Zenith's toy plane.

Novus Zepyranthian mechanics upgraded it to its planned final form that they have a blueprint of.

It is now armed to the teeth with everything the Golden Age can give it.

Trading sheer speed for the capability to fight back is an exchange Zenith can definitely live through and honestly, none of us are complaining.

"Well, the same can be said with Ms Peregrine. She did visit Novus Zepyranth once after the Second Fall but after that, they lost contact and track of her," I said sadly as I rue the fact that she can be a very strong ally on our journey."

Zenith just shakes his head as he leaned on one of the passengers' seats of the plane, "Well, at least she is still in this world. Besides, we are talking about Ms Peregrine here. She survived not just one but two Falls. That and she's the demiurge of Hebe. I am sure she can manage herself better than us."

"When you put it that way, I am inclined to agree," Syden said happily but suddenly, his face is contorted with panic and confusion, "Guys, I think we are in deep, deep trouble."

When the son of the god of stupidity says we are in danger, you can be sure that it is something we cannot just wiggle out of easily.

Koalemos' children are not known to be afraid and once they do realize they are in jeopardy, it is something so bad, it can pound some sense into a spawn of foolishness.

"Asher, make sure that all our cargos are safely secured, Syden fasten your damn seat belt! Gala, come with me in the cockpit!"

I quickly run after the High Priest as fast as I can and what we saw after reaching the cockpit made all the hair rise from my body.

A vast conglomeration of vicious shadows, dark smoke, and an all-consuming aura of destruction can be seen barring our way.

"Activate all countermeasures and armaments!"

"Activating all countermeasures and armaments, aye, captain!"

I sat beside Zenith who is flipping all the switches and buttons of the Elysian control panel.

The moment I secured my belt, the plane was hit with a pure unadulterated wave of destruction and catastrophe.

If not for the automatic defensive electronic barrier installed by Novus Zepyranthians, we would've exploded instantly.

"Barrier at sixty percent capacity. Integrity falling. Shield failure imminent!"

Zenith slammed the yoke in frustration, "You don't have to tell us the obvious! Release the weapons safeties. Target, that damn titanic thing ahead!"

"Wait, Zenith! Don't fire them "all"!" I ordered the son of Zeus which nodded in agreement before altering his directives to the artificial intelligence to just fire all the missiles instead.

Elysian unleashed an impressive swarm of hundreds of missiles from its various missile launchers installed by the excellent mechanics effectively giving it the firepower comparable to the entire branch of the Imperial Armada Airforce of Novus Zepyranth.

I don't even know if we can hit that "thing" if that's even existing in the strictest of sense.

Its dimension is way beyond the limits of measurements.

I don't even know our distance from it.

We can be far or already about to collide.

"Come on! Hit! Hit damn it!"

It's not just Zenith who is wishing for our missiles to at least hit something, anything.

And then after few painful seconds of waiting, we saw our attack connect with the being's physical manifestation and they exploded in magnificent sequence making whatever it is howled in a pained roar after being seared and blasted by the ordinance.

"If it can be hit, it can be pierced..."

The son of Zeus looked at me as if I am going insane because he quickly realized what I am planning.

"You can't possibly mean that..."

I quickly nodded and ordered the computer to do something for me, "Give me the manual trigger for the last available ordinance!"

"Aye maam. Transferring controls to the co-pilot's interface now."

"Gala!"

I pointed at the being who is about to send another wave of destruction, "If we are hit directly by that blast, its all over! Increase our speed and make sure we will survive the second wave!"

"Damn it! I hate it when you get so bossy!" he angrily retorted but did what I asked, "Release the speed limiter! Give me the manual control of the Elysian! Focus all the remaining barrier energy directly at the front of the plane!"

"Limiter released. Manual navigation control transferred. Diverting all available barrier power true north, aye, captain."

I took a deep breath and steady my handle of the trigger with my two hands.

"Here it comes!" yelled as it let loose another wave of pure catastrophe which hit the barrier of our plane completely destroying it in the process but successfully defending us in the last minute, "Imperial Rod, fire!"

I pressed the red button and I saw in one of the monitors how the entire bottom of the plane opened to reveal a sleek black projectile made of tungsten slowly coming into view.

Elysian dropped it and we felt that almost half of the weight of the ship has been unloaded.

In a screeching sound, it hurtled towards the center of the thing that is blocking our way in supersonic speed.

"Put the pedal to the metal, Zenith!"

He roared as he pushed the plane to its maximum speed that made Syden scream and Asher howled in surprise by the sudden increase of the Elysian by ten folds.

"Detonate!"

The rod that just pierced its body exploded in such power, it rivaled the cataclysmic explosion that the goddess of hope unleashed in a split second.

Though it doesn't have the sheer power of Vivet's mother, it did the desired effect I am expecting.

Blowing an entire hole for us to safely get through.

"Zenith!"

"On it!" he then navigates Elysian towards the hole we just created and safely through it, "We did it!"

I shook my head as I look at the monitor, "Don't celebrate just yet it's not over. Look!"

Our jaws dropped in horror as we saw that in less than a minute, the thing that is barring our way reformed its physical existence easily.

"Time to make a landing, Zenith. We cannot lose Elysian!"

"No need to tell me that twice!" he then pressed the comms, "You better hold or bite into something. This is going to be a rough landing!"

And with that, our plane nose-dived and evading the third wave of destruction barely as we hurtled towards the ground at maximum speed.

"Deploy the airframe parachute system!"

Airframe parachute system deployed."

We saw on the monitor how a gigantic black parachute was ejected from Elysian's body and it deployed itself automatically and reducing our speed quickly that made the whole ship groan dangerously.

"That was faster than expected. Anyways, preparing for landing. Syden, Asher prepare for combat! The moment we disembark, I am turning our plane into a toy once more!"

I nodded at the High Priest as I remove my belt, "You take care of the things here, Zenith. If our hunch is correct, that thing is the very being we don't want to face. Not now, at least."

"Face it we must, Gala! No other way but forward!"

-0-

"PATHETIC GODLINGS! HOW I ENJOY WATCHING YOU AND YOUR PATHETIC FRIENDS MEET THEIR IGNOBLE DEMISE SLOWLY AND PAINFULLY!"

We can never forget about that overconfident monstrous voice bellowing from all directions.

"Typhon!" Zenith howled back angrily as he launched himself into the bloody skies and summoned a gigantic lightning bolt crackling with pure electrical power before throwing it straight to our nemesis.

But unlike the Imperial Rod, it didn't do so much as scratch the surface of its physical body.

He was thrown away like a fly out of the sky and was caught by Asher safely.

"I DESTROYED YOUR PUNY FATHER IN A SINGLE WAVE OF MY POWER! WHAT CAN HIS INFESTIMASLY SPAWN DO AGAINST MY STRENGTH ETERNAL!"

It then opened its mouth and let out a rageful howl towards us.

"Athena: Pallas Shield!"

The gorgoneion protector of my mother shattered after absorbing the blow that made Typhon laughed horrendously.

"EVEN THE VERY AEGIS OF YOUR MINDLESS MOTHER CAN'T POSSIBLY STAND AGAINST MY MIGHT!"

I just fell to my knees in hopelessness as reality finally hits us.

We know that this is his mere shadow only but even then, we cannot hope to defeat it. Not without the rest of our Auxiliary Class and even the entire Armed Forces of the Scythian Emirate.

No matter what calculations I make or strategies I devise, there is no way out of this except death.

A hole suddenly opened beside us that made Syden scream in surprise before idiotically peering down on it.

"Narcine?"

Even faced with certain doom, you just have to hand it over to Koalemos and his pawn to do and say weird erratic things out of the blue.

"YOUR FOOLISHNESS ENDS HERE, SPAWN OF STUPIDITY! YOUR FATHER MADE A GRAVE MISTAKE SIDING WITH THE WEAK GODS AND THEIR ILKS!"

But Syden is more surprised by the fact that a gigantic rafflesia erupted from the whole and the very girl whom she just called appeared before us in a form that made even Zenith and Asher take a step back.

"Stupidity has its uses, Typhon. You are defeated by it once..."

This is not the demiurge of flowers we knew and love.

No...

Her pale skin instead of a fair one, solemn face fitting for standing near someone's deathbed instead of a usually jolly one, and sheer powers we never thought she can command.

Amongst all the demiurges in our class, it is widely accepted that Narcine is the weakest of them all.

We attribute it not to the lacking strength of her flowery mother but to her inherent kind heart.

She just doesn't have the destructive tendencies of her close friends nor the will to control her considerably vast powers like Morris and Vivet.

Carefree and dainty to a fault, she is content to chip in, never to take the lead.

And that's not bad. We need someone like her to remind us from time to time that it is okay to rely on our friends to help us get through the difficult times and challenges we often face rather than trusting in our own individual strengths.

But now...

"Narcine..."

"Silence, Zenith! Don't you see I am trying to do something here?!"

The son of the Heavenly King himself quickly nodded and shut his mouth in submission as our fearsome friend we once knew spread her frail arms in defiance against the destruction incarnate that made me feel proud to call our own.

"Hello, Typhon. Remember me?"

"YOU! DIE!"

I screamed at the top of my lungs as our friend was engulfed with the all-consuming wave of destruction in a split second.

But after the attack was finished, our friend is still standing as if it didn't affect her in the slightest.

Her elegant black funeral gown not even affected by it.

"You can't kill what is already dead, Typhon. I thought you should know," she said coldly before evoking her mother's name, "Persephone: Underworld Rose!"

Compared to her last use of the attack, this time, the rose vines traveled with so much speed from the ground to entangle the titanic destruction incarnate effectively covering it with millions upon millions of blooming black roses slowly draining away its strength.

"THE SAME TRICKS! HOW LAUGHABLE!"

Typhon tried to forcefully remove the flowering vines but the more he resists, the more it grows and clings to him.

Not even waves upon waves of pure catastrophe can destroy those fearsome flowers cultivated by the Queen of the Underworld herself on the realm of the dead.

"And you fell for it, again," she replied in a patronizing cold voice that made our skins shiver in fear, "You fell for the same tricks over and over and over again. Vivet knew that I am at the bottom of your priority list to destroy since I am just a spawn of a "rotting goddess" that's why she instructed me to pretend that you killed me in a single blow when you appeared in our front lines."

"Narcine..."

She looked down at Syden who fell over beside him in fear and shock, "I was lost in the darkness. After the Second Fall. I have to retreat underground and hibernate. Until when I didn't know. With my dearest companions gone, I was left all alone in the darkness. Wondering what is my purpose in this world as dead as I am. But you called my name, friend. From a hole of all places and it gave me a momentary consciousness to rise back from the grave and send this brute packing."

"ALL HOPE IS GONE NOW! YOU CAN NEVER DEFEAT ME! I LORD UPON ALL MY MOTHER'S EXPANSE! THIS MERE SHADOW OF MINE IS NOTHING COMPARED TO MY REAL..."

"I'm tired of you. Begone," and in a single snap of her pale, bony fingers, Typhon's shadow exploded in large combustion of flowers which rained black petals on us all as the skies became clear once more and the setting sun was seen again.

She began to sway and was about to fall over but Zenith caught her frail body, "Narcine! Gods, you are as cold as dead! Quick, Asher, get some medicine from our supplies!"

"No, don't. What I told Typhon earlier was the truth. I am already dead, Zenith," she said in a rather indifferent voice that made Asher howled in sadness, "Oh come now, Asher. The last thing I want is a dog howling creepily over my dead body."

I fell on my knees as I touched her cold hands truly bereft of the warmth of life and cried, "I'm sorry we didn't arrive earlier. If I just woke up sooner then we might be able to save you."

"Hush, Gala, you too, Syden. I know I already died the moment those two left me behind," she said sadly as her breathing became laborious, "Do you think they will be proud of what I have done here for you all? I mean, I followed Rebie's sermons about being confident and brave, Taurei's lead on perseverance and relentlessness. I hold on for as long as I can so that I can carry their torch to the very end. Will they be proud?"

As if to answer her heartbreaking question, the golden feather from my chest materialized and bathed us all in its warm glow.

The very boy and girl who can answer that question appeared from the dust motes over yonder which if I guess correctly, the direction where our two classmates are resting.

The voluptuous girl grabbed our dying companion's body and forced her to stand on her own while the frail thin boy patted her head kindly.

"Friends..."

Rebie glanced at Taurei who nodded quickly and then the demiurge of the Queen of the Seas gave Narcine her absolutely rare thumbs-up.

"Thank you," she then began crying as her female friend hugged her lovingly while bowing her head respectfully in my direction.

"Taurei..."

We all looked at the demiurge of Hera who walked in front of Syden who is crying silently for him.

Taurei touched the face of the son of the god of stupidity before giving him a small kiss on the lips.

They began to fade away together with our fallen friend.

Her body slowly disintegrating into golden dust motes.

"I am proof that Typhon can be defeated. Twice already has it fallen to the mere goddess of flower's daughter. That is not his mere shadow but a fraction of his very power. He is not indestructible but to put him down permanently with no hope of returning. Gala must do one thing."

I slowly stood up and carefully listened to the fading voice of my friend.

"What?! What is it that I have to do?!"

She closed her eyes finally as the light finally took over her entire being turning her into the same being as her dearest friends before her.

"You have to give up..."