An Imperceptible Ruse Indeed (The Gods' Executioner Series) Read online

  “Cole… can you take us to see Lady Isis? I want to see Milady… can you take us to see her?” Naia requests when some speech faculties return to her.

  “Sure. Let’s go.” I gently reply.

  I grab Naia’s hand and picture the three of us standing in Isis’s room. Looks like Horus’s power gives me direct access to Duat as well.

  “Cole! It’s been quite some time! And Na—Naia, dear? What’s wrong?” Isis warmly greets before becoming concerned when she sees Naia’s state.

  “My mother is dead and I am the last jinni alive!” Naia replies while starting up the sobbing as she runs over to Isis.

  “What’s going on?” Isis asks me as she holds Naia.

  “Loki destroyed Duniya al Jinn. Shehar is gone, and as far as I can tell, so are all of the jinn.” I reply.

  “Loki? Could he have anything to do with…” Isis trails off.

  “Could Loki have anything to do with what?” I inquire.

  “Ra, the other head of the Egyptian pantheon, was killed two days ago. Apparently he was killed in the manner that Horus was; Osiris thought you were behind it until I checked with Hel and she told me that you were in Niflheim at the time of the murder. Everyone is a bit on edge since Osiris is the only pantheon head left.” Isis explains.

  My gut instinct is to blame Isis for the murder of Ra based on their relationship in the Egyptian mythos, but I doubt that she would do something like that… right?

  “Well, if Ra had his core absorbed, then Loki definitely had something to do with it. He supplied Hades with the weapon that he used to absorb the cores of the other heads of the Greek pantheon four years ago.” I reply.

  “Oh, yeah; I had forgotten about that. Didn’t you help them out and kill Hades?” Isis asks.

  “Yeah, I did and then I named the new heads of the pantheon to restore the power balance.” I answer.

  “How did you manage that without eradicating the Greek pantheon?” Isis inquires.

  “Trade secret. Anyway, I need to get home. Is it alright for Naia and Ryuji to stay here for a few days?” I ask.

  “Of course! Osiris actually isn’t here at the moment so everything will be fine in that regard.” Isis replies.

  “Alright; just give me a call somehow when you two are ready to head back.” I tell them.

  “How?” Ryuji asks.

  “Well, at the very least Isis can contact Hel to contact me so no worries.” I reply.

  “Okay. Thanks, Cole.” Ryuji responds.

  “Just take care of Naia.” I whisper to him and port back to my house.

  I appear in the living room to find Natasha and Sara eating dinner in the kitchen.

  “Where’s Cheza?” I ask.

  “She got nauseous when she smelled the food so she decided to go to bed without dinner.” Sara answers.

  “Alright, I guess I’ll head up too.” I reply.

  “Are you sure, Cole? All you’ve had to eat today was breakfast, some whipped cream, and a little bit of extra protein.” Natasha comments with a smug grin.

  “Yeah, I’m sure.” I say while glaring at her.

  I retreat upstairs to the master bedroom and prepare for bed before sliding in next to Cheza.

  “How did things go with Naia?” Cheza mumbles in a state of half sleep.

  “About as well as you can expect for someone who just found out that her entire race has been wiped out. I ported her and Ryuji to Duat to see Isis; they’re going to stay there for a few days.” I reply as I wrap my arm around her.

  “That’s good… poor Naia…” Cheza whispers while snuggling into me.

  “Yeah… hopefully Isis and Ryuji will help her find some peace…” I whisper back as I drift off to sleep.

  …

  [December 30th]

  I’m awakened at 12:33am when Cheza farts. I simply ignore it and go back to bed, but then it happens again. And again. And again. And again. It finally stops for just over a minute before one occurs that reminds me of the sound of a blue whale farting underwater and I chuckle slightly.

  “Airi, I swear if Cheza catches wind… haha… of how I mentioned that any part of her resembles a whale, I’ll… I don’t know if I can hurt you, but since you reside in my head, I’ll start huffing glue or something.”

  (I wouldn’t do that to you, Master)

  “Sorry, Cole…” Cheza sheepishly says. I think she may have misinterpreted my chuckle for something else… a cough perhaps?

  “Don’t worry about it; this is a pregnancy thing, right?” I confirm.

  “Yeah… should I light a candle?” Cheza asks.

  “Dear gods woman! Are you trying to kill us all!? With the amount of methane in this room, the smallest spark will blow up the entire second floor!” I exclaim and chuckle to myself to let her know that I’m kidding. The temperature in the room suddenly drops by about twenty degrees.

  “Cheza?” I cautiously ask.

  “Out.” She mumbles.

  “What?” I ask.

  “GET THE FUCK OUT! ARE YOU DEAF!? GODS! WHY DO YOU HAVE TO BE SUCH AN ASSHOLE!?” Cheza screams and I recoil back so hard that I fall out of the bed.

  “Cheza, honey, I’m sorry; it was just a poorly timed joke.” I try to calmly explain… because history has taught me that calm explanations and Cheza’s anger go along so well!

  “I DON’T CARE! GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!” Cheza screams.

  “Who makes jokes at their pregnant wife’s expense!?” Cheza asks as she starts crying.

  “Cheza, I wasn’t trying to make a joke at your expense; I was trying to make things less awkward!” I explain.

  “No you weren’t! You just don’t care, do you!?” Cheza cries.

  “Of course I care about you! I love you, Cheza; you know that’s true. You’re just being a little hormonal right now.” I calmly say and immediately wish I hadn’t.

  (Yeah… remember how we’re supposed to avoid words like ‘irrational’? Hormonal is another one of those words)

  “Get out.” Cheza says through barely contained fury.

  “Wait, I didn’t mean that!” I exclaim.

  Three small ice daggers are thrown and sink into my torso: one in my navel, one in my left shoulder, and one through my right nipple.

  “Right, getting out.” I gasp out as my right lung deflates.

  I stagger out into the hallway and down the hall to the bathroom. I grit my teeth, yank the three daggers out, and toss them in the sink to let them melt.

  “Are you alright, Cole?” Natasha asks from the doorway.

  “Yeah, I’ll be fine… can you go sleep with Cheza?” I request.

  “Sure. Go ahead and sleep in my bed.” Natasha offers.

  “Thanks, I think I’ll do that.” I reply as Natasha walks down the hall towards the master bedroom. I hear the door open and then close as Natasha heads inside.

  “Natasha…” Cheza whines. “Why does he have to be such an asshole?”

  “There, there; I know.” Natasha replies, presumably while climbing into bed to comfort Cheza.

  I walk across the hall and enter the guest bedroom. I flop down on the bed and turn over to try and get some sleep. The smell emanating from the pillow gets me thinking: the banana seems more attractive than the orange when the orange just gave you three stab wounds.

  …

  The next morning at the breakfast table, Cheza gives me the cold shoulder… literally, she freezes my left shoulder. I guess she’s still angry at me… but at least I know what I did! Am I right, fellas!?

  I simply keep my mouth shut while taking my punishment so I don’t make anything worse. By noon, Cheza sits down next to me on the couch and snuggles up to my right side to watch a movie, all without saying a word. I accept this silent mood improvement and watch the movie with her. By dinner, Cheza’s mood towards me has greatly improved and things are back to normal.

  …

  [December 31st]

  In the words of the great Christopher Titus, “So I woke up at 3
o’clock last night and she was just sitting on me, popping me in the temple… Then today I went out and got her flowers.”

  I never thought that a joke about domestic abuse would apply to my life, but that’s exactly what happened, and I still have no idea what I did; my only guess is that a dream version of me did something that she didn’t approve of. Cheza accepts the flowers silently and then starts sneezing uncontrollably. It’s around this time that I remember that a heightened sense of smell is another ‘pregnancy thing’.

  “You did this on purpose didn’t you?” Cheza accuses with narrowed eyes.

  Awww… I’m about to get stabbed again.

  “AUGH!” I scream in pain and grab my head as I suddenly feel this undeniable sense of dread.

  “Cole!? Are you okay!?” Cheza asks with concern.

  “Airi, what is going on!?”

  (Something has happened in Tir na nOg)

  Chapter 22: Tir na nOg and Black Fire

  After rushing upstairs to equip my old suit and my holster, I touch the triskele on my left shoulder blade to port to Tir na nOg’s gate and I’m met with an unexpected sight. The grassy hills and groves of trees are all ablaze with black fire, in addition to a feeling that something is off about the whole plane. I feel the heat of the flames around me as I notice dozens of Dagda’s black winged soldiers, all of them dead and most on fire.

  The ones that are most likely responsible for the deaths of the soldiers make their way toward me. The six creatures are unlike anything I’ve seen before: all black, humanoid shaped bodies between five and seven feet tall with long, thin limbs, and no visible facial features or sensory organs. They remind me of shadows, albeit unstable ones as they seem unable to move straight towards me; their movements are jerky as they shift to the left and right while quickly advancing.

  It seems kind of like they’ve all done a load of speedballs before eating several dozen crystal meth cupcakes, but instead of overdosing and dying, they developed a whole body twitch with super speed. They blur back and forth as they approach, looking like they are moving even when they are standing still. The most disturbing part about them is their aura, and I’m not even referring to their lack of outline that is usually only reserved for the deceased; Their all black central aura that is barely noticeable against their bodies is far more disturbing to me… is this what’s going to happen to me?

  I engage my helmet while drawing my right Diamond sword and my .460 S&W as the shades advance, armed with either a sword or an axe. The permanent darkness in my left arm floods into my gun, turning it black as I take aim and fire at the shades. I miss all five of the shots that I take at the creature in the front of the pack; I’m going to have to stall these shifty bastards if I want any hope of hitting them. The purple lightning bolt surfaces on the back of my left hand as I take aim and fire. The lightning hits the front shade and stalls it long enough for the bullet to connect with its head. The shade at the front flies backward through the pack with the force of the hit, like anyone who gets shot in a Tarantino film. The other five shades stop and look at their fallen comrade. Then something unexpected happens: the shade gets back up like it wasn’t just shot in the head.

  The shades restart their advance and I charge forward with my Diamond sword to meet them. I dodge past an axe slash and bring my Diamond sword through the neck of a shade, its head turning into black smoke upon decapitation, only to have the shade attack again and hit me with the axe after its head is gone. I jump back to distance myself from the shades so they can’t surround me as the decapitated shade’s head starts to reform. What in the hell is going on!?

  “I’m just going to go ahead and warn you that this threat cannot be beaten without using the Void!” Loki’s voice echoes in my mind.

  (You are correct in thinking that, Master. I’m almost certain that these ‘shades,’ as you have started calling them, are made of the Void. You can easily send them back using the Void, but they cannot be harmed through traditional means)

  Dammit… I guess there aren’t any other alternatives…

  A shiver of pleasure runs down my spine as the tingling flows up my shoulder, across my chest and back, and up my right thigh; I should probably be more concerned by the fact that the prickling sensation has now become a pleasant tingle, but I really don’t mind at the moment. I holster my sword and gun as the Void reaches my eyes and the shades stop advancing, cocking their heads to the side in confusion as they watch me. My left fingertips warp into claw-like points and I flash forward. With six quick slashes, I rip the shades apart and they disperse like smoke. The nearby flames suddenly dim from an inferno to little more than a campfire; so the shades are causing the fires?

  (It seems that the fires aren’t feeding on the grass and the trees, but on the plane itself. The presence of the shades seems to be igniting the fires. Eradicating the shades should extinguish the fires and the plane should repair itself with time)

  “Well you should certainly know; you created the planes after all. So what’s the next step?”

  (The plane will still fold in on itself if the heads of the pantheon are eliminated, and the gods have no way of destroying the shades)

  “Shit! Will porting still work throughout the plane!?”

  (It should)

  I touch my triskele and think of Dagda’s palace. I land in the white marble foyer to find that all the alcoves that were full of trees are now aflame with black fire and that there are more dead soldiers on the ground. The dozens of shades around me take notice of my presence and turn towards me before Void tendrils emerge from my arm. I quickly spin in a circle and the shades get split in half, turning to smoke; I chuckle at how easy this is as the alcove fires diminish.

  I walk over to the large doors that lead to the main hall and throne room, only to find them locked. I consider disintegrating the doors for a split second before I realize that it would leave Dagda, and anyone else in there, without their first line of defense. Thus, I resist the urge to blow the doors away and knock instead.

  “DAGDA! Are you in there!?” I shout.

  “Cole? Is that you, boyo?” Dagda asks through the door.

  “Yeah, I just cleared out the shades in the foyer. What’s the situation in there?” I inquire.

  “The area’s secure for now! We can hold our own, but I need you to go help Brighid; she left to get Aine and Lila, but she hasn’t returned!” Dagda urgently exclaims.

  “I’ll head to Aine’s now.” I reply and touch my triskele.

  I appear in the yard outside Aine’s palace to find the entire area engulfed in black flames: the grassy lawn, the surrounding forest, the white marble palace. Water automatically flows out of my arm and deadens the heat from the flames as I look out across the sea of shades that surrounds the area. So Loki has sent the majority of his force here to take another one of my friends… did he really think I would allow that!?

  Void tendrils shoot out of my left arm and right leg in a fanned out pattern. The tendrils make their way through the crowd in front of me, turning the hundreds of shades into black mist en masse. Laughter erupts from my throat as I slowly walk towards the palace, all those around me getting obliterated. I walk up the white marble steps of the front porch and blow away the main doors. The multiple shades in the foyer are quickly eliminated as I hear the sounds of conflict coming from the throne room.

  I make my way through the doors and all I can see are dozens of shades. The enhanced awareness that comes with a Void state notifies me that the shades are standing back while one shade engages one person at the end of the room. Since they’re blocking my view, I quickly eliminate all of them. Black smoke fills the room and quickly disperses, revealing a bloody and battered Charlotte at the end of the hall. Her fairy wings are projecting out of her back, but one is halfway torn and hanging limply.

  “Cole?” Charlotte asks with her usual uninflected tone.

  “Where are Brighid, Aine, and Lila?” I inquire while fighting a darker impulse that is telling
me to kill her.

  “Lila went down the secret passage behind the throne… I stayed behind to hold them back when Brighid showed up… she followed after.” Charlotte explains while breathing heavily.

  Charlotte collapses to the floor, her wings disappearing as I notice a large gash on the left side of her ribcage. She’s on her way out anyway; I should just kill her and end her misery. That would be the humane thing to—No.

  “Come on. We have to go after them.” I say as I walk towards her.

  “You go on… Leave me here…” Charlotte says with strained breathing.

  I take my left hand and pour blood onto the gash to quickly form a seal. I scoop Charlotte up in my arms, taking care of the placement of my claws, as my tendrils shoot out and throw the throne aside.

  “Just leave me… focus on… getting to… the princess.” Charlotte responds.

  “Sleep now.” I command my blood and Charlotte’s eyes close.

  I carry her down the white brick passageway and hear the echoic sounds of metal clanging in the distance. I race down the passageway, around a corner, down a flight of stairs, and into a long, straight hallway. I see Brighid clashing swords with several shades while trying to fight her way to a room. The entrance of the room is surrounded by shades and appears to be covered in tree roots as shades with axes try to hack through them. Without needing to command them to, the Void tendrils shoot out of my arm and leg, around Charlotte, and hit the shades while weaving around Brighid. I flash down the hallway, past Brighid, and blow the roots to dust. I hear Lila scream as a torrent of brambles surges towards me; I start up the gyroscope and slice the brambles to pieces.

  “Lila, can you stop that?” I calmly ask while resisting the impulse to fight back.

  I feel Brighid rush in behind me and stop, unsure of how to approach this new threat, until she realizes who I am.

  “Cole…? COLE!” the 4’10” nineteen year old peri screams and runs toward me with her white feathered wings fluttering along behind her as I cut off the gyroscope.

  “Charlotte!” Lila exclaims when she sees what I’m carrying.

  “She should be fine, just unconscious. Where’s Aine?” I inquire.