The Fall of Gods 2
Act VI: Worldfire - Le Début de la Fin
Act VI: Worldfire - Le Début de la Fin
Tête Blanche, Switzerland, 16 years ago
Max Morton rose suddenly, breaking through the thick layer of snow which had slowly been gathering on top of his lifeless body. He gasped for air, his heart beating like a drum on steroids. Looking down at his blood-covered uniform, the inquisitorial lord couldn't help but wonder why he was still alive. He recalled the duel between him and Ansed Booth on the very spot where he was sitting right now. He remembered the pain he had experienced as the winged man's sword pierced his heart, and how he had uttered a few final words as he lay there dying in the snow.
He carefully stood up. His legs felt stiff as if they had been frozen by the cold, but he managed to remain standing. On the ground before him he saw his silver handgun, an empty clip just inches removed from it. Beside it lay the bayonet which he had tried to block the fatal strike to his heart with. Cracks outlined its surface. One or two more frontal blows from Ansed and it would have shattered.
The inquisitor turned around. He was standing in front of the great white wooden cross adorning the mountain peak. The almost completely clear blue sky behind the cross could be seen through the decorative holes carved into it. For some reason or the other, Max suddenly felt compelled to look through the big hole in the middle. He trudged through the snow towards the cross, his eyes fixated onto the religious symbol. When he was close enough to touch the wood with his nose he hesitated, but he soon brought his face closer to the hole and stared through it like a child would stare through a hole in a fence.
There was no clear blue sky behind the hole. No bright white mountain peaks. There was only fire. An eternal ocean of flames licking at the naked red-hot remains of what were once the Pennine Alps. And somewhere deep within the burning heat, something stirred. The inquisitor squinted, trying to see what it was. It appeared human, but it was far too large to be one. It was as big as a mountain. It seemed to realize Max was watching it, because it slowly began to turn around. The inquisitor waited patiently as the fiery giant turned. When the giant's eyes finally became visible to Max, they immediately locked onto him. At that very moment, the inquisitor's entire body combusted spontaneously and spectacularly. Startled, Max screamed and backed away from the cross, almost falling back first into the soft snow as he did. As soon as he had broken eye contact with the creature behind the cross, his body was no longer burning. His heart was still pounding in his chest, and sweat gushed from his forehead almost like a river. When his eyes found the hole in the cross again, the clear blue sky behind it had returned, and the burning giant was nowhere to be seen.
Max turned away from the cross. He looked into the distance, expecting to see snowy mountains as far as the eye could see, but all he saw was a black nothingness. He found himself confined to an isolated little platform of snowy rock, floating in an ocean of darkness. His eyes widened. It was one strange encounter after the other. He suddenly felt someone's or something's arms wrapping around his waist. The inquisitor looked down. He was kneeling, and saw that someone was clutching onto him. It was a woman, whose long black flowing hair was covering her face in its entirety. Max tried to take a look at her, but the woman would not budge, and her hair was as heavy as chains of lead.
Max gave up on trying to identify the woman, and instead looked down at a similar isolated platform floating silently in the vast bleakness below. It was much larger than the one Max was on, and on it stood several figures frozen in time and space. Every single one of the figures looked human, though they possessed no human features whatsoever. They could be differentiated from one another only by their colors, which covered their entire bodies, and the occasional items some of them were holding. Most of the figures were completely black or white or somewhere inbetween, though there were also more vibrant colored ones: a dark red figure holding a translucent sword seemed to be marching away from the others, while a golden one was silently watching a group of perfectly white figures gathering around something blocked from Max's view. One of these white figures was carrying a man-sized scroll, another one a slightly oversized key, and yet another one seemed to be carrying a human baby with him, which unsettlingly enough seemed to be the only one down there not frozen in time: it was gently wriggling around in its sleep, seemingly unaware of the entire absurd scene taking place.
Something moved in the corner of Max's eyes. He quickly looked to his left. What he saw was a figure just like the ones on the platform below, though it was a hundred times larger than any of the others. On top of that, this one was not frozen in time: it was walking towards the others with slow, giant steps, even though there was nothing for the massive figure to walk upon. His color was unlike any of the others as well: it was black, though there was something very off about it. The figure was making Max uncomfortable, and with every step the giant took, the baby on the platform below seemed to grow more and more uncomfortable as well. A dark presence was penetrating the very air. The inquisitor was beginning to feel exhausted, and was having a difficult time breathing.
Max stood up, not even realizing that the woman who had been clinging onto him had long disappeared. The inquisitor tried to shout at the figures below, warning them of the black titan, but not a single sound could escape his throat no matter how hard he screamed. He could do nothing but watch helplessly as the giant figure reached the platform below. Instead of stepping onto the platform or crashing through it, the titan merely walked into it, the platform and whatever figure he touched simply disintegrating in his path like butter being cut by a hot knife. Whether the giant's goal was the unknown something the white figures had gathered around or the babe was unclear, but the babe was right on its path and would be disintegrated if Max was not going to interfere.
The inquisitor's hands went over his holsters and scabbards, but found no weapons. He was going to have to do this one bare-handed. He took a step backwards, preparing to launch himself to the other platform, when suddenly something heavy found its way into his hands. He looked down, and his eyes widened as he discovered the babe already in his hands, the child's face revealing its discomfort. Max looked up. The black titan was standing right in front of him, its massive head and neck popping up above the surface of the plateau Max was standing upon. The inquisitor found himself literally breathless. He fell down to his knees, the babe still in his hands. The black titan was coming closer and closer, but Max did not have the strength to move. He was frozen, just like the figures on the platform far below.
The giant figure was now making contact with the small platform, and just like with the platform below, everything the figure touched was simply disintegrated. Like a ghost the black titan came closer and closer to Max and the babe, now only inches removed from touching them with its giant, featureless face. The inquisitor barely had enough strength to keep his eyes locked on the approaching figure. He couldn't do anything besides waiting to be disintegrated by the titan, until suddenly the babe finally opened its eyes. The inquisitor's heart skipped a beat when he saw that the child had no pupils. Anxiety spread through Max's body as the babe's mouth opened as slowly as the giant's steps, but when it was completely open, a sudden scream so terribly horrifying came forth from its throat that Max dropped the child and tried to cover his ears from the noise. His attempt was in vain, as the babe's shriek penetrated his very being all the same. The inquisitor clenched his eyes shut and began to scream as well, trying to drown out the babe's terrifying noise. He trashed and kicked and shouted for it to shut up, but it simply ignored his pleas.
And then, with a shock, the inquisitor woke from his nightmare.
Twenty-four miles to the west of Rome, 18th of May 2044, 07:43 AM
He was back in the real world again: back in Dugal's sword. If the inquisitor still had his body, he would no doubt be sweating and shaking right now, but thankfully he was spared the shame. It was only a nightmare, Max was quick to tell himself. Calm yourself. Though he was speaking to himself with confidence, he was glad that the horrible dream was over.
He looked around, and saw that Dugal had taken him to a meeting between special operatives somewhere in a field headquarters several dozens of miles removed from Rome. Soldiers and armored vehicles were passing by the headquarters left and right, moving east where the lights of explosive detonations lit up the early morning sky. Floating high above the headquarters was Zeta's warship, seemingly preparing itself for an assault: Nasagori clones and other personell were tending to minor damages inflicted to the massive ship during the course of the previous battle, while others were carefully recalibrating its shielding systems. The sounds of war were all over the place, and after a squadron of fighter jets had loudly raced past Zeta's warship to engage Roman targets in the east, Annette Fedorov finally spoke up.
"I see everyone was able to make it," she said as her eyes went over the heroes assembled in the tent. "Is there anything anyone wants to say before I begin?"
