Treachery : book 2 of Codex Elysium

Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Present time: Elysium

Silence had returned to the ruined city, the battle was over. The magic that held the Passus in battle mode failed. Withered hands dropped weapons and began shedding bits of armour. The withered zombie like people began to shuffle off back towards the shadows and take up their pointless existence as if nothing had happened. Corpses littered the street and blood flowed into puddles. The stairs to the library was littered with black robed figures. If the city had a memory it would shudder at the similarity to the Temple Druids who had died on the stairs to the great temple all those centuries before. There was also countless bodies of the Furies, fierce warrior women who served Gullveig. Fallon, their leader, had escaped the battle alive and was running north back to Gladsheim. Her two lieutenants, Mist and Rayne also escaped but not without injury. They were gathering up every stray Fury they could find and were all retreating north. They all hung their heads in shame as they ran, for they had never been defeated in battle before, their queen was not going to be pleased. The only sound in the city was the echoing footsteps of a lone woman who was picking her way down the street of corpses. She would stop occasionally to examine one of the fallen druids before moving on. She was dressed in a long, tight fitting crimson dress, a silver chain with a dragon pendant hung at her neck, her long dark hair was tied in a braid that hung over one shoulder, her deep brown eyes were brimming with tears as she surveyed the carnage. At her back was a magnificent pair of angel wings that twitched in agitation, the feathers were raven black and silky, a complete contrast to her milky white skin. She reached her destination and dropped to her knees.

Eva's body lay motionless, just where it had been dropped, lifeless eyes staring at the stormy grey skies. Nearby, Jason's body also lay on the ground, unmoving. The woman leant forward and brushed his long hair out of his face, tears spilled down her cheeks and splashed onto Jason's lifeless face. He seemed oddly peaceful and at rest. The sound of expensive shoes slapping the cobbles made the woman tense, she didn't need to look to know who was coming. The footsteps stopped behind her but the new arrival didn't speak.

"Get lost Satan! I am not in the mood for you right now"

Cold and mocking laughter greeted this, then Satan said "Oh Morning star, how art thou fallen? Look at you, kneeling in the corpses and mourning dead fools!"

"Shut up! They were not fools, I mourn the waste of perfectly good fighters" the woman turned to look at Satan, her anger made worse just by the sight of him. He was wearing a very expensive looking suit, his black hair oiled and slicked back but greying at the temples, he had a short black beard also oiled into a tight point, his eyes never seemed to decide if they were blue or green. "Good will need all the fighters it can get when the final days come"

Satan's laugh was long and cold, he narrowed his eyes and pointed at the kneeling woman.

"Oh so once again Lucifer is going to challenge my plans. Always you try to undo all the beautiful evil I spread"

"Someone has too" muttered Lucifer darkly. Satan kicked one of the nearby corpses.

"Oh yes Lucifer the champion of good. Ha! You forget your place in the order of things. You are a crown princess of Hell, a fallen angel, and not good"

Lucifer bowed her head and went back to watching Jason's still form, Satan moved closer and also looked down at the fallen Druids.

"They were fools, they wasted their chances of a second life"

A third life. Thought Lucifer but she kept quiet. There was no way to know for sure if their souls escaped Elysium.

"They have been recycled" whispered Satan "their souls have gone back to Midgard, they are now nothing but tiny, screaming, pink babies with no memory of any of this." He gestured around the ruined city. "You know this. Why do you linger in this place of death?"