Pursuit of the Zodiacs (60 page)

THEY ARRIVE, AND WITNESS GREAT THINGS
.

On their return to the underground retreat, Cameron and Julius couldn’t help but notice new faces surrounding the Pope. They felt new power in the room.

“Ah, here they are.” The Pope embraced Cameron and Julius and introduced them to Virgo and Scorpio, who sat in the Counsel Hall. Already infuriated over the imprisonment of her Son, he left Aries alone fearing they might incite her to do unkindly things. “Aries is not in the best of moods … not that anyone can blame her, so let’s move forward.” The Pope walked the final steps to his golden throne and sat down.

The Pope resumed his conversation. “I understand you two just arrived, which is why I’ll give you a day of rest. But, after that short reprieve, I must send you on another very important mission. Capricorn must go. There is no compromising with that little brat. He’s a vigilante roaming the Universe, just doing as he pleases, and Lucifer wants none of that. The two Reptilian assassins I’ve sent have failed me. Using
one of our fascinating Super Satellites, I’ve sent a decoy to lure him to the Mountain of the Seven Moons. The hologram program was my Plan B if the Reptilian’s failed. I’m confident you two will get the job done.”

Loyal to their Pope, the two humbly accepted their mission and retired to their rooms for the night.

Unexpectedly, Aries took the opportunity to approach the Pope, who motioned his guards nearby to stand down. “I want to see my Son, you bastard.”

The Pope answered, “I assure you he is fine. No more harm will come to your Son. Soon it will be time to set fire to those tears, so get it together, Zodiac.”

Aries replied, “I’ll be setting fire to a lot of things if you are wrong, Pope.”

The Pope said, “Just do what you’re told, and I’ll see your Son returned to you. Thanks to you, I have to wait a few months until they complete renovations to those cathedrals you’ve destroyed. We must sit here confined underground, absent, in a World that needs to be ruled!”

Aries retorted, “And that is the problem. You Mortals want to rule a World that has no interest in your decree.”

She walked back to her section of the hall and collapsed with immense pain, holding her heart as it glowed.

“What the Devil is wrong with you, woman?” The Pope asked. He knelt down to examine her. She appeared deathly pale. “Oh, this is not happening, not under my watch. If anything happens to you, Lucifer will skin me alive!” He called for his best doctors. When they arrived, he heard even more disturbing news, Taurus, Virgo, Libra and Scorpio underwent the same distress. “What the Hell is going on? I might as well cut my own throat.”

Taurus yelled, “Bastards! Another Zodiac is dead!”

The Pope recognized the connection between all the Zodiacs when one endured death. “So, that’s what this is about?”

Virgo said, “Who is it this time?”

The Pope replied, “Ha-ha. Well look forward to experiencing this pain again. That little shit Capricorn will be dealt with soon.”

The Pope heard the door open and saw one of his couriers entering the hall, who, judging by his body language, carried some important news.

“My apologies, Sir, but our spies are here with a report.”

The Pope said, “Hmm, send them in.”

With more tricks up his sleeve, the Pope could not be too careful. His spies consisted of five extraterrestrial beings: one Reptilian, an Alien Grey, a Super Human from Sirius, an Annunaki and, last but not least, one Demon.

The Pope asked, “What news do you bring?”

They informed him, “The Pursuers have arrived in the city and plan to attack first thing tomorrow.”

The Pope replied, “Excellent, let them come. It’s time we got rid of these pests once and for all.”

Chapter 29

MANIFESTO

“These testing days will bring out the coward in most, and the deliverance in some.”

— L
UCILLE

“M
urderer! Death will come to you, traitor!” Spirits harassed the traveler from a distance. Grenad ignored the extreme verbal outbursts and exited the Dimension to Bishop’s Kingdom. The soldiers guarding the entrance gate knew him on sight and opened the fortress doors to let him in.

“You’ve returned, Grenad!” Nevil, one of the Advisors, said as he handed him water out of a fine golden cup.

After drinking from the golden cup, Grenad spoke, “It’s been a while, but I’m back home.”

Nevil added, “Your name will be added to the bookshelves of these great walls when we are victorious in this final war. Also, I see an elevation in rank in your near future, Grenad.”

Grenad answered, “Yes, it wasn’t easy concealing my identity for so long. There wasn’t a moment when I didn’t think death would wake me as I slept by the fine blades of The Pursuers.”

Nevil replied, “Yes, Brother, but here you are standing accomplished in thy duties. Bishop will be proud. Get some rest. I can see you have hardly slept at all.”

Before going off to rest, Grenad asked, “Any word on Bishop? I understand he’s with Lucifer.”

Nevil answered, “Not sure when he’ll return, but it shouldn’t be too long.”

Nevil showed him to his room and left. He later returned to find Grenad relaxing in a warm bath. Nevil signaled the women waiting in the hall, and they entered his room half-clothed with food and wine. As Grenad attempted to thank Nevil, Nevil interrupted, “Not a word, Grenad. Enjoy,” he said while closing the door.

Emmanuel, a Master Archangel from God’s Kingdom, accompanied Sabrina to test the strength of Bishop’s fortress. They’ve taken an undisclosed wormhole to avoid Bishop’s armored Super Satellites manufactured to destroy enemy craft. They brought a team of their best snipers equipped with revolutionary force field-penetrating ammunition. They stealthily set up a perimeter around the compound and waited until they saw opposition. A group of Archangels exited the compound. The snipers unleashed a barrage of heavy cannon fire. The bullets penetrated the force field of the fortress. Archangels plummeted to the ground, and those who were lucky escaped back into the fortress. The security systems sounded.

Grenad and his two female guests awoke after hearing the security alarm. The two women panicked and raced out the room while struggling to put on their robes.

“Damn! What’s this! I haven’t been here a full day, and already there’s chaos,” remarked Grenad.

Grenad saw Nevil holding his head, running towards him. “Your head, it spills blood. What happened to you?” Grenad asked.

Nevil answered, “I bumped my head. They’ve somehow breached the walls. There are already soldiers inside the compound.”

Grenad said, “What? That fast? How is that even possible?”

Nevil replied, “These are no ordinary soldiers. They possess great gifts. Some are capable of walking through walls.”

Grenad said, “Walk through walls?” He put on his armor and ordered Nevil to keep watch.

Meanwhile, more laser fire crashed against the great walls of Bishop’s Kingdom, but the walls refused to budge. Thousands of Bishop’s soldiers returned laser fire while giving chase to the Archangels who were capable of walking through walls. Sabrina called to one of them for an estimate of how many soldiers were inside.

The soldier answered, “My estimation is over ten thousand. Could be more.”

Sabrina commented, “Thank you. You’ve all done well. Now, return to your posts.”

Before leaving, Emmanuel gave his assessment of the situation. “Even though their numbers are greater, we will continue to take out as many as we can until they decide to come out. Their walls cannot hold against us forever.”

They continued to punish the barriers with relentless fire. With no answer to their opposing force’s laser cannons, Bishop’s men took the fight airborne.

Sabrina said, “Excellent! Bishop failed to teach his men some patience. Fire the secondary cannons.”

They obeyed her orders. And just as the two Master Archangels anticipated, thousands of lasers met Bishop’s incoming soldiers. Hundreds plummeted from the sky onto spears fixed around the battlefield.

Bishop’s men trusted in their greater numbers and met them on the battlefield before the laser cannons destroyed their walls.

Dark figures appeared on the skyline. They resembled birds from a distance, but their massive wingspans belied a threatening appearance. Sabrina watched as Bishop’s fleet of domesticated flying Reptiles soared, swooped and crushed formations. Their laser canons had no affect against their thick, scaly coating.

To avoid further punishment, they sounded off the trumpet that signaled retreat and headed for multiple secret Dimensions hidden from the eyes of their enemies.

Grenad gazed over the guardrail of the great wall. “These were mere tests of our strength, not a full-fledged attack. A bold move, if I must say so myself. But if they think they have us figured out, they will meet death soon enough.”

Bishop’s men destroyed some of the last remaining classified ACGM’s … or Automatic Century Gun Machines … that had helped Sabrina, Emmanuel and the rest of their fleet escape.

“Hmmm, fascinating. Take some of these machines inside, and have our engineers look at them,” Grenad instructed others while examining one of the machine’s infrastructure dismantled on the ground.

“THIS IS LUCILLE, EX-MEMBER OF THE DARK GRADUATES, AND I AM ON MY WAY BACK TO ROME.”

To the ex-Dark Graduate, these days seemed unpromising, so Lucille kept an onboard recorded log. “I’m not sure what occurred. After witnessing Lucifer’s fleet heading towards the war between the Children of Sirius and the Dark Graduates, I’m certain their intentions weren’t pure. Concerned for my own well-being, I failed to discover their purpose there, which side they sought to aid, or if it was another annihilation campaign for both parties. Soon the answers to my queries will surface, and I doubt any of the answers will be pleasing. These testing days will bring out the coward in most, and deliverance in some.”

As she arrived, she could sense death. It hung thick in the air like a persistent odor. A craft hovered in the distance, and she felt certain they detected her. She moved carefully, hiding in a spot, and waiting for space to clear before moving to another.

She reached the hideout and had no clue to where Jacob had gone. Kidnapped, fled or killed … she didn’t know, and so she departed. “Great,” she thought to herself as she hid behind the side of the house. “I have a visitor.” She could see another craft scanning hers. Even though she saw symbols, she did not recognize any of them.

She set up shop in the hideout and unraveled her sniper rifle. Looking through the scope, she could see the Pope’s Reptilian guards through one of the ship’s portals. She went to work firing special force field-piercing ammunition. Expertly, she picked off the pilots one-by-one until they were all dead. She saw another Reptilian removing one of the dead from the pilot’s seat to gain control of the craft and save it from plummeting to the ground. The Reptilian didn’t gain control in time, and the spacecraft crashed into a condo a few yards from hers.

Lucille gathered her belongings and made her move. She snuck to her ship while keeping an eye on the downed craft. She saw the crashed ship’s door open. Because of the damage to the ship, the Reptilian who had survived the crash could only open the
door slowly by means of a manual crank. This gave Lucille enough time to position herself beside the opening door. And as the injured Reptilian stepped out on the ramp, she easily overpowered the creature and demanded that it tell her all that it knew about the attacks.

The Reptilian told her everything that had unfolded in Rome after the arrival of the Zodiacs. It went on to tell her about The Pursuers, the Four Talismen, Cameron and Julius, the Alliance between Bishop and Lucifer, Aries, and even Jacob’s murder. She received more information than she could handle and let the Reptilian go after confiscating its weapons.

“You had better remember the day I spared your life, Reptilian.” In silent response, the creature placed its hands together and shook them as if in solemn prayer.