Earth's Last Angel (37 page)

Years slowly, pass as they do. Phoenix and George are now full grown Mazubans and members of the committee and due for election. Six weeks out from the election three members fell sick and died. The dead host was blamed for luring in the other two to a poisoned feast. Soon after, another member died in a mine shaft collapse while he was on a tour. That left only seven very worried members, counting Phoenix and George. Three of the remaining members join Phoenix and George. The rest simply disappear forever, never to be seen again.

On election day Phoenix stands before the surviving members.

‘I declare myself sole representative of the Almighty,' pausing for effect and any resistance. There was none.

‘I also declare myself The Word.'

‘I will be called The Word from this day forth.'

‘This is stated in Holy Scripture, I now quote:

‘In the beginning The Word was, and The Word was with God, and The Word was a god.'

‘Today is our beginning! We are now to be known as “The Most Holy Righteous Empire.'”

So starts the rise to power of the most evil Mazuban to walk planet Thera.

The city of Glasenok becomes ‘The City of Light.'

His engineers quickly set about the task of opening up the underground caves and caverns below the city to accommodate his massive underground incarceration and torture chambers. The Word declares the Great Inquisition now in effect, only people he authorizes are allowed to read and write. The general population will receive instruction only from him. Anyone who is presently literate and not authorized by him are immediately drafted into his army and sent to the frontline or sent on suicide missions. Very quickly The Word enforces his dominance over his people.

Four years later, his geologists make a startling discovery on an island not far from his home island. Sticking up out of the cold rock lava flow is the corner of what looks like a small reinforced strong room. They set to work extracting it, eventually freeing it from the grip of the lava. Just as they thought, it is a strong room. They load it into a transport shuttle and return back to the City of Light with it.

The Word waits for them on the landing platform.

The shuttle gently touches down and the rear ramp door drops down. The head geologist walks up to the Word bowing low to his master.

‘My master I have recovered what appears to be a strong room. I am guessing its origin could be from United Kingdom of Sobektar. We found it in the same general area that their city stood before the eruption that swallowed it whole.'

‘You are wise to bring it to me unopened, who knows what death lurks within.'

A massive hover lift glides down the ramp onto the platform carrying the strong room past The Word and onto its final destination, the military workshop.

The Word arrives at the workshop as the side wall is finally cut free. revealing the charred bodies of the recovery team trapped inside when the lava engulfed the small room. This sight does not faze The Word, what does excite him however is the large black box that they appear so desperate to recover. ‘What is in that box?' he wonders.

Six guards callously throw the bodies out of the strong room and brace themselves to lift the heavy box. Slowly they emerge from the room with the box. They move away from the strong room and place the box on an open area of floor space.

The Word approaches the box with a feeling of excitement and trepidation mixed together. A younger guard hurries over to the box with a brush to sweep away the dust and reveal any inscriptions that may be on the box. A dull light glows from what appears to be a glass panel, the guard sweeps the dust away to reveal the panel. He pulls out a handkerchief from his pocket and wipes the glass clean, and as his skin brushes the panel an audible warning sounds from the box.

‘Warning Only the blood of the Croc is authorized to open this box.' Then the light in the glass panel goes out, it's clear the box has shut itself down.'

Frustrated The Word runs over to the box, banging his bare fist on the panel. Immediately the panel lights up as the box lock pops, and the lid opens. Inside are five discs. Five Hammer devices! The Word, almost in a trance, lifts one free from its rack. Feeling its weight, he notices the warning printed on the side of it.

‘This device is a nanodisrupter specifically designed to eliminate Mazuban life only. Any tampering with this device or attempts to reverse engineer will result in the total annihilation of all Mazuban life on this planet, as the default blast radius is global. Only the blood of the Croc can adjust the blast radius and activate the device.'

The Word nervously runs his hand over the device, wiping away any dust that may have settled on it. In doing so a small screen lights up on the device with a keypad.

‘Shit!' squawks the now frightened Word, dropping the device onto the floor with a clatter. He quickly drops to his knees, scooping the device back into his arms.

Questions flood his brain. ‘How can this be? His father is Doctor George Webber-Dixon isn't he? Suddenly he remembers the kids from school when he was 12, they said the good Doctor had saved him and adopted him into his family. They had been reprimanded and forbidden to speak of it ever again. He had never believed them, until now. That would also explain the nightmares he sometimes had of running away from the surging, searing, white hot lava intent on devouring him!

It would also explain his horrendous injuries. ‘Is he really the son of the Croc?' he thinks, ‘and if so, why was he abandoned and just left to die?' Rage and raw hatred now wells up inside him! He will destroy them all! Replacing the device into its rack, he slams the box closed.

‘Lock this in my personal vault,' he commands his guards. ‘Funny how gifts can just drop onto your lap!' He grins an evil grin walking back to his chambers.

The Word decides to attack the Croc's supporters on Thera. First on the list is the One World Order, he will destroy them and the host city of their upcoming trade summit. The day before the summit he dons a disguise, and with George he travels to the summit, the device hidden in a briefcase. The city has many fine restaurants. He chose one with an all-round city view, from 230 levels up the view is spectacular. During the meal he arms and conceals the device on top of a cupboard, and leaves the building. Boarding the shuttle, they fly back to the City of Light to await the climax of their cunning plan.

The following afternoon ‘Breaking News!' screams the broadcasters, covering the mysterious slaughter of millions, the annihilation of the One World Order, plus the entire summit host city's Mazuban population and their trade partner delegates.

George now known as Web, glowers with his master, The Word at the screen showing the now deathly, silent city.

‘It would seem the Lord's work is done.'

‘No, little one, there is much to do yet!' smirks evil incarnate, The Word. ‘We have two more enemies of truth that need our attention. It is we who are the chosen ones of God, not them! The Most Holy Righteous Empire will dominate Thera. It is our God Azeebar's will!' The Word screams in a high pitch maniac voice, his frill's erect and pulsing scarlet red.

‘Should we broadcast our entry into the Holy war?'

‘No not yet, let's have them blame each other for this attack on a neutral region. It will serve us well to have them tear at each other, then when they are at their weakest we will pounce, wiping them both out!'

‘You are pure genius, my master!' Web bows and leaves The Word to return to his newly fitted out adjustment chamber, as he calls it. The prep tank is in the final stages of installation.

As the months roll by conditions outside the City of Light deteriorate rapidly as the holy war escalates. The chambers below the city gradually fill with lawbreakers, daily executions now just routine events.

Now comes the pinnacle demonstration of his power, the public execution of the Sky Lion, Bill, and Sheona the three of them now skewered and hanging limp with their golden blood pooling at the bottom of each lance. A final muscle spasm from the Sky Lion as he now joins the other two in the deep sleep of death.

The flash is intensely white as all 18 nukes explode in sequence 20 milliseconds apart for maximum impact, with the last six locked together for the final blast. Death is instant. In that nanosecond the First Croc feels the intense heat and blinding flash of the blast that propels him into oblivion. A total of 3,678,926 inhabitants of the asteroid belt are vaporized where they stand. The city of Sky Jewel shatters like a dropped glass. The massive asteroid U'kala explodes into a zillion pieces of rock, taking out surrounding asteroids as it destructs. With the event of the first blast the vault is reduced to rubble, the treasures scattered to the stars. In the strong room the gold is instantly melted into a large pool, fully exposing the staronium crystal. The next blast propels the staronium crystal into the icy cold depths of space. She absorbs enough radiation from the blasts to glow white, streaking away from the rubble that was once U'kala. Her trajectory carries her deeper into the asteroid belt, finally colliding with a large ice asteroid. Ice sprays up with the impact, her penetration velocity pushes her deep into the ice. Here she will be entombed once more, hidden away.

The majestic Sobek is docked on the western side of the city Sky Jewel, attached by its docking arm. The arm is 5 kilometers long and broad enough to allow 6 lanes of traffic on and off the ship. The first blast rips the docking arm free of its mooring point, causing the arm to spear into the Sobek, tearing a gaping hole in its hull. The second blast rips the wound wide open, inflating the 25 kilometer long craft like a blow fish! The final blast propels the once mighty Sobek to her doom. The gutted shell of the Sobek now streaks through space at an alarming speed towards the fireball that is a young star. Silently the massive ship surrenders to the tongues of gravity reaching out for her, their power relentless, indefatigable. She is devoured in a flash of molten metal with barely a whimper.

There will be no search and rescue teams, nothing can survive a blast of that magnitude.

‘See the mighty hand of our God Azeebar strike the necromancer Nolack-2 and the…what the hell!' confusion and shock sap The Words voice as he stares uncomprehendingly up at the sky screen. He collapses to his knees, his slack mouth gaping open as he sees the broadcast Nolack-2 has downloaded. Now the entire planet is witness to the atrocities that The Word has committed in the name of their God Azeebar.

‘My lord The Ishtara or the Ahamrik must be responsible for this!' cries out Web, as he runs across to his masters side.

‘Then they must be totally crushed! By destroying the other two counterfeit faiths, the Ishtara and Ahamrik, we will prove our righteousness and we will sit by the right hand of God in heaven!' He hisses in a low, murderous voice, as he clutches onto the gold lance that hangs from his neck. They want war, now they will have it!'

‘What in the name of Azeebar! Whoever is broadcasting this has accessed video files on the Ahamrik and Ishtara, they are exposing them too!

‘It turns out they are no different to us. The three of us want the same thing, Total world domination! This changes nothing, we will use the broadcast as a tool to justify our war against them by blaming them for the broadcast, perhaps we will sway more people to join us.'

War now escalates to fever pitch, it's a real struggle for survival as cities on each side are pounded and smashed to dust. Bodies litter the streets the stench is overpowering. Thera is now entering her end of days.

Now it's a three way war. This is a desperate fight to the finish. There can only be one winner, and The Word is going to make sure that it's him! He launches an offensive against Erok, leader of the Ishtara. He launches a battalion of troops to take the city. After months of vicious street and trench warfare, he is no closer to capturing Bizmar, the capital city of the Ishtara. The Word sends out a communication to Erok to unconditionally surrender or The Word will use the Hammer, on the city of Bizmar.

The response is not quite what The Word expects, in fact the return message read:

‘Rot in hell, you evil, tiny, shriveled up, bigoted maggot!'

The Word immediately sends a drone carrying the Hammer device to exterminate the city's inhabitants. What he doesn't know is a mass exodus out of the city is already well under way. The older males are up front, fighting their way forward, with the majority being cut down by The Word's troops. The fight, however is not all one sided, the Ishtara are giving a good account of themselves, slaughtering the Words frontline troops as the flood of refugees pour out of the city behind them, their sheer weight of numbers pressing them forward. This is a desperate battle, a fight for survival!

Erok and his daughter are led out of the city by his personal guard, a unit of 40 elite Ishtara fighters. They have left the city by the western access heading for the mountain fortress of Ishiba.

The Hammer explodes over the city, killing the stragglers of the exodus, just over 500,000 souls in total. The Word is furious when the death toll data comes in. Sending in a second hammer would wipe out his own troops, and he can't afford that. He sends word to his generals. No prisoners are to be spared. The only exception to this order is Erok and his family, he wants them alive!

A short few kilometers from the fortress, Erok and his guards are pinned down by crossfire from The Word's troops and the defenders of the fortress. They shelter in a deep gully that weaves its way up to the fortress. Hope surges through Erok as he approaches the fortress, now only 400 meters away. He pops his head up out of the gully which is now quite shallow, shoulder height. Immediately his shoulder is wrenched to the side as a high caliber bullet nearly tears his arm off. The medic sprints up to him to attend his wound. Erok fades into darkness, losing consciousness, the last image he sees, is his daughter being wrestled to the ground, and The Word's troops standing up on the edge of the gully mowing down his guard. Two more battalions had been dispatched to join the fight. Air support using flame throwers and ground artillery also join the fray, allowing The Words troops to annihilate both the Ishtara troops and the refugees.