The Deian War: Vermillion's Apostles Read online

  The Deian War:

  Vermillion’s Apostles

  By

  Thomas Trehearn

  * * * *

  PUBLISHED BY:

  Thomas Trehearn

  The Deian War: The Vermillion Apostles

  Copyright © 2012 by Thomas Trehearn

  This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should return to the Kindle Store and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the author's work.

  I dedicate this eBook to my family and friends who have shown me constant support and advice from beginning to end. You gave me the motivation I needed.

  Prologue

  THERE WAS A thunderous boom as the goddess performed the act she promised she would. Before her, twelve boys and girls shielded their eyes with their hands as an overwhelming golden light surrounded them. Some of them staggered back under the force of it, some even fell to their knees.

  A soft, embracing voice called to them all. You must go now, my Apostles. They quickly realised it belonged to the goddess and they wept as they finally understood all that she had told them before.

  Wherever I shall send you, will be your home. Nothing I do is without purpose. I have given you all my power, and all the knowledge I can. The Guardians will find you. Be safe, be bold…be my Chosen.

  With that, they started to disappear, one by one. Watching their equals fade away as if they were never there, each one felt their heart break as a thousand questions yearned to be asked. These were questions, though, that only one of them would have a chance to ask.

  As the other eleven were sent away, one remained. He alone would share in the last moments of the goddess. He alone would see her die.

  A MIGHTY, WHITE wolf growled at the pups around her. They were only cubs, but they should have known better than to disturb someone of her stature when she was resting. She had only been there for a few moments, an existence in this form marked only by minutes. Yet she needed no explanation, no recollection of why she had been this way only for a few moments, but felt like it had been decades. Her memory was perfect. She was one of the few not to cry.

  Beside her sat a weeping girl, beautiful and scared. At her feet was a dying cub, yelping for help. The white wolf realised with a warm familiarity that it was her sister. Reaching out with her hands, the girl began to stroke the animal, as if trying to make a connection that would deny the laws of impending death. The cub’s cries stopped and after a moment it slowly stood on all fours. It licked the girl’s hands in appreciation and she was joyous before she seemed to lose interest, her focus distant as she recalled what her sister had no need to.

  You are the Whitewolf; you have been, and will be, for all time. And you, sister of hers, are Valkyrie and you will save those you love from dying.

  SAMAEL OPENED HIS eyes after what felt like a timeless sleep. Immediately he winced as howling winds, filled with ash, tore around his body and threatened to choke him. He felt a massive twitch on his sides, as if unconsciously beating wings to keep him steady.

  When his eyes adjusted, he looked around to see that he was high up. So high, in fact, that the air was thin and his breathing shallow. Feeling hot, melting rock underneath him, he tried to shift his feet, but felt his hands adjust at the same time.

  As his vision returned, the sight of the steep slope below him finally made it clear to him the danger he was in. He shrieked in terror and the small gout of flame that appeared to escape his nostrils further surprised him. He felt the twitch at his sides again and the discomfort sent him sprawling from the sheer mountain top that he had been perching on.

  Slipping and sliding on the loose ground, he lost his footing and fell. Tumbling down the rocks, his eyes widened with fear as he reached a sudden, fatal precipice. Though in reality it was far away, his eyes managed to see further than they ever had before. Feeling his peril approaching, a primeval instinct took over and he suddenly found himself in the air, massive wings beating at his sides.

  With a sudden recollection that both pained and warmed him, he remembered what happened before he woke…

  You will be my Dragon and fly high above all the worlds the goddess had told him. You will bring fire and doom to all the enemies of Man.

  ALL AROUND THANOS was a burning ring of fire. A herd of animals, so monstrous they were more like creatures from the underworld, fled before his massive form. He was dazed, confused and acutely panicked that he was in danger.

  His feet were wet, yet warm and as he gazed at the puddle below him, he could see why. The reflection in the water should have petrified him, yet he was calm, as if expecting it. Staring back at him were three heads, each a mirror of the next, with eyes that glowed a molten red before fading to a black nothingness.

  His skin was covered in fur and embers coursed through it as if he were ablaze, yet he could feel no pain. He reminded himself of an old mythical beast, one that no sane person would dare challenge.

  Thanos sighed as he remembered his new name, and with a sense of longing heard, the words said to him from before.

  You will be Cerberus and you will bring the fury of Hell itself to your foes.

  Behind him, a spectral figure faded in and out of sight as she walked nearer. Her ethereal form seemed to slip out of the physical realm and back again as she drew closer and a chilling cry escaped her lips.

  She was fighting the very rules of the universe just to stay in the real world and she screamed as she witnessed her monstrous nature in the pools of water around them both. Thanos approached her sympathetically, lowering his body to the floor in a gesture of allegiance. The ghost-like apparition began to weep, a voice filling her head with mixed emotions.

  Nightingale is your title. You will be the maiden of terror and inspire fear in the hearts of those who are evil.

  OZ IMMEDIATELY COLLAPSED into a puddle of water. He was petrified as he felt his very essence stretch and spread beyond the normal boundaries of his previously human body. It was as if his very flesh had been turned to liquid and its limits were entirely his to control.

  He focussed, trying to imagine the core of his being and the shape that she should be so that all the rest would fall into place. After some frustrating moments, he felt some semblance of unity return. He managed to coalesce the water of his form together to recreate his feet. He could finally take a step forward.

  Feeling his feet and his legs become solid, Oz tried to calm his natural terror at what was happening to him so that he could rebuild himself. When his eyes were finally complete, he saw the world with blurry eyes, until they too were perfect. Blinking, he held his hands up so he could bear witness to what he had become.

  As he discovered his transparent, fluid form, a voice resounded in his head and it vexed him with its tone.

  And you are Waterfox…cunning, slippery, and impossible to catch.

  ON A WORLD of eternal darkness, a single light glowed. It emanated from a young girl, who was not only wreathed in flame, but whose body was made from it. She held her hands to her head in fear and amazement as she recalled falling from the skies to the ground below. She couldn’t have made that fall alive. Reason told her it was impossible.

  You are the Phoenix and you will rise from death and the ashes to be born anew.

  As she pieced together the nature of her new existence, little did she know that another of her kind, another girl, was searching alone in the deep forests?

&nb
sp; Yet this one was unique in that she had no fear, no understanding of her predicament. She was both the paragon of beauty and utter insanity. Smiling joyfully as a distant whisper called to her, she transformed into a stalking demon and journeyed into the night.

  Solitaire will be your name. You will have beauty, genius...and the power that only madness can give. You are all but unstoppable.

  BENEATH THE DEPTHS of a planet mostly covered by water, a behemoth rose up from the darkness. The gigantic sea serpent screamed through the maws of seven heads, as shame and anguish tore through to its very spirit.

  You will be Hydra and will spread fear to the enemy, truth to your allies and be the master of all the worlds’ oceans.

  A GREEN DEMIGODDESS walked serenely through a sun-drenched jungle, surrounded by natural beauty. Moving branches aside with a gesture of her hand and felling trees to form bridges over streams with a thought, Adana was at one with nature and she was amazed by the gift she had been given.

  Gaia, you will be the mother of nature and use your laws to ensure the safety of all those in need.

  SERAPHIM WAS A suitable name for him, because he resembled the perfect angel in every way. Standing on a mountain made of crystal, diamond and glass, he gazed over the vista before him. It felt like pure heaven, as he knew it should. His home was a place no-one else could hope to reach without his allowance.

  Seraphim. You are the Gatekeeper. The Protector of my world. May your grace keep it a symbol of hope forever.

  THE FIRST APOSTLE had been kept behind for last. The fact refused to make any sense to him, but he could sense that the terms referred to more than just a chronological sequence. He would never understand why, but Vermillion wanted him to see this. He alone was meant witness her death.

  “Please… don’t make me watch. Send me away” he begged her.

  You are strong enough for this. You alone are strong enough. It must be done. Only when I die can this process be complete and my final powers will be granted to you. If you do not bear witness, all my sacrifice will be for nothing.

  “I don’t understand…” he wept.

  She was perfect in every way and to think that she could die was unfathomable. He couldn’t believe that such a thing could be possible. How could the universe allow it? How could this be her fate?

  Lupus, I have chosen you to be the Lion. You will be strong beyond compare, invulnerable to everything. Love will be your strength, honour your purity and serenity will rule your mind. With these, you will do what must be done. You will end the war that I cannot finish. Unite the others, be the one they can depend on, bring them together. Mankind must be saved.

  There was a last burst of energy as the goddess finally succumbed and gave in. A blinding range of colours, all bright and new to Lupus, filled the air around him as her very essence splintered and escaped her physical form to merge with his own. After a scream unlike any other that will ever be told by time, Vermillion’s life ended with a soft whisper more powerful than any death throe could have been.

  On his knees, the Lion cried until he was numb and faded away to his new home. Soon, he would start his journey to end the war that the gods created.

  Part One

  The Lion

  When Man sets foot into the stars

  He shall sink his oars in deep

  A hundred worlds shall be conquered

  But centuries later the same will weep

  A time will come when nature flees

  The galaxy will be torn apart with war

  The people of Old will all be slain

  And Youth’s virtue shall be no more

  But a darker future awaits yet still

  Full of evil monsters thirsty to kill

  Though a warning Man shall have;

  A dark giant

  In the skies will appear

  Bearing a billion Demons

  For the Young to fear

  Yet where there is night

  A dawn will surely come

  And after the dark will a thousand

  Black Guardian Legions stride forth from

  On that day where Man lays down his doubt

  Twelve humans shall rise, the Evil will rout

  And let it be known:

  Ahr ker se ashii

  lo retyr pyria ri tyr ka-rine Apostlii

  - Extract from the Prophecy, as known by all citizens of the Gothican Empire

  Chapter 1

  “CORRECT, THAT IS the Prophecy in its whole. But who can tell me why, of all the religions and faiths in the Empire, has an ambiguous omen survived and become so central?” The lecturer, a man greying before his years, stood at the front of the assembled students in the lesson theatre and opened his hands out in an inviting gesture.

  “Mr Ious? Sir, because it can’t be falsified?” someone ventured.

  “Ah, but could any religion, faith or message before it? Some, perhaps, but not all. The Prophecy had its rivals and they all faded away when the Age of Colonisation ended, did they not?”

  The student who tried in vain slumped back into his chair defeated, but another eventually took his place. “It was because of that Age they faded.” The lecturer’s pleased eyes urged her to continue. “When we found the Ancients, they told us nothing about their history, so at first all our faiths remained…but after they disappeared, we explored their worlds…and we found something. A record of the Prophecy?” she murmured at the end, uncertain whether what she had been told was actually true or hearsay.

  He nodded at her eagerly. “Yes, dear girl, a tablet of the Prophecy. Written in another language, I’ll grant you that, one so old and complicated it took us a full century to translate just those few lines of text. Can anyone tell me the most peculiar thing, though?”

  This time, no-one could offer up an answer. “The last passage was written exactly the same as our own record of the Prophecy” he told them, but very few of them understood his implication. “In all my years I have rarely had reason to believe in coincidence and certainly not in this. The shared language, native neither to us or the Ancients, belonged to a race not of this Dimension…” he explained. “And that is why the Prophecy has survived against the sciences”.

  The students before him reacted in a dozen different ways. Some were stupefied, others intrigued, a couple completely amazed and the odd pair still confused and claiming it was only a made-up myth, yet they could not deny the answer fit the question. There was one, though, who seemed unable to look more disinterested and in his own world.

  Lupus, a young male who to all that knew him seemed both born from another race and another time, was using his energy elsewhere. His attention had drifted from the mundane lesson of the day and he found himself yet again thinking about more important things. Like whether this was the life he should be living and where he really ought to be, for instance.

  “I say there, Lupus…” Mr Ious was pointing at him. “What are the eight sectors’ names?” He looked impatient.

  It took a few moments for Lupus to register that it was him being talked to and not someone else in the lecture hall, not noticing Mr Ious’ gesture for several moments.

  “Are you deaf? Answer me, boy!”

  Reeling at the insulting reference to his outward age, Lupus answered quickly and with a tone of authority that belied his status as a student. “Pandora, Aurora, Orpheus, Tempest, Meridian, Pantheon, Abodian and The Frontier” he answered, his eyes boring through Mr Ious. “Do you want the names of the Lost Sectors too, or will the ones we’ve managed to hold on to since the Age of Colonisation and the wars against the Old Races be enough?”

  The flawless response startled the lecturer, who was more than confident his student would stumble under the spotlight. He had been looking forward to scorning the ‘boy’ and now his hopes were dashed. Of course, everyone knew what the Sectors were called; fewer knew why, but practically no-one was supposed to know about the Lost Sectors now. Their names hadn’t been spoken for centuries, their history faded a
way so carelessly it seemed of little accident to the cynics of the Gothican government. Their names were little more than rumours and legend.

  “A bold claim to make, but can you sup-”

  “Well, Hades was one,” Lupus casually answered. It was also the least known of them all. The man who challenged him only knew a handful himself, his family being one of those who had passed the stories and truths down the generations. “Will you allow me to say any more?”

  Blushing at his underestimation of the student before him, the lecturer took a step back under the rarity of Lupus’ knowledge. “Well, you must have been told the same stories I was as a child…” he conceded. “But nevertheless,” he addressed the whole room now, “only stories, nothing more” he smiled, but no-one was convinced. “Very good on the ones that do exist, however…it shows you’ve been listening to the facts. Perhaps the rest of the class can learn from your apparent awareness” he appeased, but the sarcastic tone didn’t escape Lupus.

  When he didn’t offer a reply, knowing he had gone too far in alluding to what the government hadn’t allowed to be public knowledge, the academic who became his own victim continued. “Eyes to the front please everyone, even you Lupus” he announced strictly, trying to regain his power.

  As Mr Ious carried on with his lecture and started to ramble about the star sectors and the glorious conquests of the Gothican Empire, Lupus sat back and sighed deeply. He desperately wanted to be elsewhere, to relinquish his secrets to a confidante, but he had no-one to talk to honestly and openly. No-one else knew who he really was…or what he was.