The Wrath Of The Forgotten Read online

  The Wrath of the Forgotten

  The Fallen Angels

  Book 4

  Steven Lindsay

  Cover Illustration Copyright © 2016 Riana Sellek

  Copyright © 2016 Steven Lindsay

  All rights reserved.

  ISBN-10: 1534675434

  ISBN-13: 978-1534675438

  For Keegan & Riana

  who have become such a part of this

  and for Marina

  who has been part of it from the start

  Part 1

  Forbidden Secrets

  Chapter 1

  Hera flooded the cavern with light, illuminating all of the far reaches of the circular prison. Still within his adamantine bonds was the Olympians’ greatest enemy, before the Angels. Typhon, the Titan, who had nearly single-handedly beaten the Olympians after the Titanomachy.

  Typhon was a truly fearsome being. Gigantic in size, a trait of the Titans, and Monstrous in appearance. Even among the Titans he had been formidable. She remembered being eaten by her father, growing up in his stomach until Zeus saved them all. She had thought of him as her saviour until he had raped her and forced her into marriage. But then he had been far more powerful than she. They had won the Titanomachy, casting the Titans down into Tartarus to never be seen again, but a few had eluded them. Typhon in his brilliance had boded his time to attack when they were vulnerable, and he had nearly won. It was only through trickery that their pantheon had beaten him.

  For his crimes, he had been sealed beneath Mt Etna to live out eternity. Or until he eventually Desiccated, which he looked to be in the process of. Having been imprisoned for thousands of years he was looking remarkably healthy, he only had marginal Desiccation.

  Typhon was truly formidable, even imprisoned he was still a testament to his mother’s power. There was no doubt that Gaia’s blood flowed strongly in his veins. It probably explained his unusual appearance and powers.

  He had the head and torso of a man, olive skinned and dark haired. Burning red eyes glared through the gloom. From his back rose two titanic wings that reached high into the air. From his waist down he became a collection of viper coils, thicker than cars and long enough to rise up above his wings. She had seen the destruction that he could wreck with those coils.

  His powers were something else entirely. Typhon had inherited many of his mother’s earth and Chaos powers. Perhaps that was why he and his mate had produced so many Monstrous offspring. But that had been the decree of the Gods, that Echidna would live with Typhon so that heroes could battle their offspring. And so that valuable resources could be obtained from them. Their offspring were hunted high and low because of the rare qualities of their body parts.

  She glanced around wondering where Echidna might be. Argus had apparently killed her, but he had been no more powerful afterwards. Though vanquishing a Primordial didn’t grant you extra powers, then again she wasn’t necessarily a Primordial. She fell in the extra category for those outside the normal distinctions.

  She touched Typhon with her magic, watching as the dust and petrification crumbled off. His coils and wings grew to their full length. Brown and coppery-green feathers grew from his empty wings. Green flashed along his coils and formed glowing tattoos across his chest. His mother had favoured him well, for she had wanted him to win against the Olympians. She did not take well to her offspring being killed. Strangely it was the fact they had been sealed away in Tartarus that had infuriated her the most.

  It was one of the few times Gaia had become involved in the politics of Heaven.

  There was a reason Gaia almost never involved herself in Divine politics, for one thing, it was below her contempt. She was the spirit of the Earth itself, none could dream to match her except the Chaos that had birthed her. But there were other reasons, one of which was that Gaia viewed all life equally. In her eyes, a God had as much worth and value as a tree or worm. They were all creations of her in one way or another, and each apparently had their value.

  There were, of course, exceptions when Gaia did involve herself in Divine politics. The last time was the Titanomachy and Typhon. She had cherished her children in her own way and had sought to aid them, and yet she had not directly interfered in the war. She could have easily made it go the way she had desired, and yet she had not. Hera had always wondered why.

  She hypothesised that it was because she saw all life equal. The laws of nature were that only the fittest would survive. Gaia might have a preference, but she was the forces of nature, the very driving force behind evolution. She saw survival of the fittest as the pinnacle of existence and success. Why help the weak so doomed to extinction?

  The Olympians had proven to be stronger than the Titans and had thus earned their right to live and rule. They might have toed the line, but they didn't step over it. The Olympians had not killed the Titans despite their protests. They had listened to her insistence for Hera had read of what Gaia was capable of.

  Back when life first begun, when Gaia was first creating those initial primitive life forms that would one day become so much more, other Primordial Gods had sought to destroy them for their own amusement. They had cast the world into a deep, thick ice age and they had paid for it. Gaia had tracked down every single one of them that was responsible for the ice age, then shredded their strength into the very organisms they had sought to destroy. Their powerful lifeforces had fuelled life’s earliest leaps and bounds. But she had not been so quick and clean as one might expect. Even by the Primordial Gods’ savage views she had been cruel and sadistic.

  Those few Primordial Gods who had survived that purge had written the story in stone and warned all their offspring. But as they had returned to the Lifestream and become long forgotten so too had their cautionary tale. But a few had read it and understood the sleeping giant that Gaia was.

  Those red glowing eyes slowly found her and focussed into a glare.

  “Hera” he spat her name, it boomed through the cavern like an earthquake.

  She smiled at him “Hello Typhon.”

  “What do you want?”

  “Do I need a reason?”

  “You do. You have a reason for everything Hera.”

  Her attention diverted from the thundering Titan to the shrivelled corpse lying a little way in front of him. She alighted gently on the ground, her violet magic spreading out around her.

  “Leave it alone.” Typhon snapped. It was the worst possible thing he could have done to spark Hera’s interest.

  Hera’s eyes easily recognised the Desiccated form of a serpent’s tail below a godly waist. She walked closer to the vestige of Echidna, curious as to whether she still lived.

  “Stay away from her” Typhon roared. It rocked the whole cavern. If she had been anything but a God, she would have been swept to the ground. But she was not, she was a very powerful Goddess.

  She reached out to Echidna with a glowing hand ignoring Typhon’s roaring that was making the whole volcano shake. Her hand touched the dead flesh, but she could feel the magic trapped within. She could so easily drain her and absorb her powers. She could birth her very own army of Monsters.

  Violet magic flared along Echidna’s body while Typhon roared, straining against his chains. His tentacles flowed out past their constraints intent on wringing the life out of Hera. His chains glowed dangerously as they burned into his skin but his tentacles managed to smash against Hera’s impervious shields. She didn’t even bother to acknowledge his attack.

  Red tinged Chaos starburst eyes flicked open in a dead, sunken face that was starting to revive itself. Those eyes flicked straight to Hera’s own violet eyes to study her while health returned to her features. The grey skin flushed olive green followe
d by intricate brown symbols that raced across her body.

  From her neck, olive green and brown skin shot downwards, revitalising and invigorating skin that was devoid of all hair. Across her shoulders and down her spine grew thick, sharp scales and from her healing fingertips grew long, lethally sharp talons. From below her waist grew an extremely long serpentine tail. Chaos symbols glowed into life all along her dark green scales. Rising off of them were wispy coils of Chaos magic that made even Hera wary.

  She rose up on her coils spreading her arms wide. Blooming from her back in a beautiful explosion grew six white wings. They beat back and forth helping to lift her up further as she coiled around. She was a beautiful being, even by Divine standards. Her Chaos symbols might have detracted from her looks, but they were striking. Her black-brown hair floated around her head as she ran her fingers through it, she then ran them down her neck across her breasts and down to her waist.

  Her neck snapped around to face Typhon. Her eyes burst into flames as all the feathers exploded off her wings and they joined together to form just two wings. Her lips settled into a smile as she saw that her lover was alive and well. She reached out to embrace him but hissed in anger as the spells confining him burned between them.

  She curled around and slithered towards Hera, her eyes full of calculation. “It has been a long time Hera, but I am surprised that you would resurrect me when it was you who had me killed.”

  She feigned surprise “kill you? Why would I have you killed Echidna?”

  Her eyes narrowed “Argus was your servant, and it was he who ventured into these dark depths to slay me.”

  “And how could I have ordered him to do that when I was imprisoned myself? Argus once served me but after Zeus imprisoned me he ceased to be my servant. He became Zeus’ to command.” Why had Argus decided to try and kill Echidna anyway? It served no purpose whatsoever. For centuries the Gods had left Echidna alone, she served a vital part in birthing new Monsters. Whatever the Angels might think, the world needed Monsters

  Two sets of eyes studied her intently, they were both curious as to why Hera would be imprisoned. What had happened in Heaven for its Queen to be imprisoned?

  “Why are you here Hera?”

  Hera turned to face Typhon, her violet lips curling into a smile. “I have come to set you free.”

  His bitter laughter filled the air. “Free me? Why in the name of Gaia would you free me? You know that I will attack that husband of yours and the rest of Heaven.”

  “Perhaps that is exactly what I want. But Zeus is long dead, it is his children that rule Heaven now.”

  He laughed again “oh foolish Hera, don’t lie to me Zeus is not dead.”

  He could see from the way her eyes whipped up to his and the way her hands fisted and the lightning flashing across her that she was angry.

  “No, Zeus was killed centuries ago.”

  “My old foe is not dead. He and I are tied, I feel his lifeforce and will continue to do so until one of us is dead.“

  Hera couldn’t believe what she was hearing. The world ceased around her as her world shattered into fear, she thought he could never harm her again. Thought she was forever free of him. Then her fear gave way to anger. Even if he was alive, he couldn’t harm her. She was far more powerful than she had ever been before and she would do everything in her powers to stop him gaining such powers.

  Typhon studied her, hiding the mirth and satisfaction he was feeling. “You didn’t know that he still lived.”

  “It doesn’t matter, you’re going to kill him anyway.”

  His eyes blazed “I will tear him limb from limb, I will destroy him.” His roar shook the cavern and Hera felt satisfaction blooming within herself.

  Hera stepped forward, past the glaring Echidna and in between Typhon’s tentacles. She had no fear of either of them, they both knew she was far more powerful than them. That said, though, Typhon was an unpredictable force that she was hoping to use against the Angels. They would have no defence against a Titan, and certainly not Typhon.

  She laid her hands against the cold adamantium chains binding Typhon, feeling the residual power that Zeus had laid thickly on them. He had used spells well beyond his capabilities, he had evidently called in favours from other pantheons to strengthen these chains. It was strange, for adamantium could only be forged by Gaia or a chosen conduit of hers, and she had removed all favour from the Olympians after the Titanomachy. None of the Olympians had the power to manipulate adamantium, and yet somehow Zeus had obtained these chains to contain Typhon.

  Violet magic flared as her hand touched the cold, crystal-like metal. The azure tinge flushed violet as her magic raced along the surface searching for the containment spells covering the metal. If it were within she doubted that even she would be able to break them. But she knew that these chains had not been forged specifically to bind Typhon. These were old chains found and reused.

  She wondered who they had originally been used on.

  It was where all the chains joined together with the shields that she found the core of the spell. But even knowing that and with her great skills, it still took her a great deal of time to strip away the confinement spell.

  Fire erupted out from beneath Typhon as his powers were returned to him. His roars took on monumental proportions, shaking the mountain so much that above on the Surface, Mt Etna erupted in ever-increasing fury. His tentacles hit the walls and ceiling of the cavern prison as his magic exploded outwards from him.

  Hera smiled as she disappeared. Her work was done, the Angels had a nightmare coming their way.

  He reached out tenderly with his arms to embrace Echidna, it had been so very long for both of them. Her arms wrapped around his neck as he shrunk to a more normal size. Then they were on each other in a desperate, frenzied mating. Feathers were scattered everywhere, but in the end, the two of them lay in each other’s arms letting the world stand still just for a little while.

  Echidna already knew that she was pregnant, she had no idea what she would unleash on the world this time, but she believed that it would be something powerful and terrible. Her Divine lifeblood may have only just quickened, but she was ancient and terrifying, as was Typhon. Their offspring had always been the stuff of legends.

  As for Typhon, his mind had already turned to assaulting Heaven. Zeus was not safe no matter how much distance and shields were between them. He would destroy Zeus if it was the last thing he ever did.

  Chapter 2

  Gabriel looked around at the Council, it was the largest it had ever been since the Fall, but then she was the reason for that. She had been elevating Ascended Angels to Elder Angels, focussing the essential power that ruled Heaven. The Elder were its true strength, that was the one truth.

  Sure the Ascended were useful and had been of great use in controlling the mortal masses but Heaven could only ever been dominated by the truly Divine, something the Ascended were not. They might be powerful, some of them were frightfully so. Some Ascended were more powerful than many of the Elder, not that anyone knew that. But she did, because she looked for what others didn’t think to. It was those Ascended that she had turned into Elder first.

  The Elder had once been incredibly powerful, strong enough to rival even the Gods but the Fall had devastated their numbers, and their strength had been failing. The world had slowly been sliding away from their control, then Sariel had unleashed Hell, and their control had been wrenched away. They were powerful still but nowhere near what they needed to be to fend off the combined might of the Gods. Thankfully though it was not in their nature to cooperate with each other much. Sure there were a few small pantheons forming, but they were not working together to destroy the Angels. If they did, then they would probably win at this time. Instead, they were fighting the Gods on many fronts, and while they were losing on many fronts, they were winning on some.

  It was clear to her that Ariel was losing ground against the Heradmantium Empire, not that she would say as much. Ariel
was incredibly touchy about the topic, she had beaten the last Angel who had mentioned it to a pulp. He was still in his rooms recovering. But it was also clear to her that they were continuing to lose ground to the British Empire. They were their two biggest threats.

  The Dragon Empire had stalled its expansion due to her interference, a master stroke if she did say so herself. Thanks to her efforts the Dragon Empire had currently been sidelined with its civil war. So far there had been very few altercations with Great Babylon, but that was only a matter of time with the rise of a new Caliphate.

  The next real issue were the Norse Gods who had reclaimed Scandinavia. They were currently unsure as to who they were fighting there, and with their closed borders, there was little information coming out. For the moment though it would seem they were content behind their borders. Heaven already had plans to deal with this threat, but it would still take a few months to be implemented properly. But it was going to be paired with the European assault on Great Britain.

  There was also a few concerns within the Greek Islands but nothing that was a major threat. They could, for the moment, be ignored while they dealt with greater problems.

  And they did have many problems. Michael’s plans had failed dramatically, their rising pillar of Islam in the subcontinent had been destroyed and swallowed up by the British. They had lost Indonesia and Malaysia along with their faith-rich populations. They continued to lose Christian strongholds across the Americas and Africa. Every which way they turned there was another battle front, another God or Greater Demon, who was seizing power.

  But there was hope, for many of the Gods and Greater Demons would soon clash with each other. Britain’s unstoppable expansion in Africa was now firmly within lands held by Abaddon. He and Samael had no love lost for each other. Hera had killed some of her brethren who had dared claim some of her territory, not that the forces assaulting Ariel had been reduced in any number. It was also likely that Britain’s expansion would see it forming borders with Great Babylon. Between one of the great empires it bordered, there simply had to be a deterioration of cordial relationships.