Chapter 12: Whispers of Prophecy

Chapter 12: Whispers of Prophecy

I held Cecilia in my arms as we sped past the trees. I tried to take the turns around trees slower. I didn’t want to shake Cecilia too much lest she starts feeling ill. We should reach this swamp soon, we’ve been moving for almost half a day. This is the furthest I have ever gone from the tomb so this will definitely be interesting...

It wasn’t long before the terrain started to change, I could feel the ground was now much wetter and the grass soon turned to a marsh. I began to slow down from the increased resistance. I was still going quite fast but not as quickly as before.

Then I spotted an old shack in the middle of the swamp. It stood on a slight incline, a piece of dry land in the wetlands. I noticed there was this powerful signature radiating from within the shack. I immediately activated my invisibility and put Cecilia down.

“Hide.” I muttered trying to keep my voice down.

Cecilia obeyed instantly casting a spell turning herself invisible. I continued to observe the shack, then I saw a flash of light within and I immediately felt a presence behind me. I felt my blood go cold. I turned and saw an old woman standing there calmly looking up at me. I raised my blade and delivered a quick slash at her. At the same time, I fired off a volley of spikes. The old woman held her hand out and my blade was stopped by a barrier, my spikes as well were just stopped midair. When I tried to pull the blade back I realised my blade was held in place by some kind of magic. I looked down at the woman and I saw her eyes were glowing gold. This is very bad...

“Calm yourself friend. Long have I waited for your arrival...” the woman said, her voice old and weary.

“Who are you?” Cecilia said as she rematerialized from invisibility.

“A friend Princess Cecilia.” the woman said as I got a good look at her I realized her eyes were horribly scarred, it looks like someone took a blow torch to her face...

“If you are curious about this... the Archangel Mihael blessed me with his searing touch long ago.” the woman said as she touched her marred face.

“How do you know who we are?” Cecilia said.

It was painfully obvious that we couldn’t beat her, in fact, I couldn’t even move my arm and unless I cut it off I’m stuck here...

“Fear not, I mean you no harm, I understand if my presence is shocking to you.” the woman said as she put her arm down. My arm was freed from her magic and the spikes fell down into the mud.

My first instinct was to grab Cecilia and just book it but I had a feeling we wouldn’t get far...

“Who are you?” I asked cautiously as I took aim at her with my spines just in case.

“A friend, my protege made the prophecy that binds you Princess.” the old woman said.

“You are a seer?” Cecilia asked taken aback by the revelation.

“Yes, or at least I was. The gift of Divine Sight is not something that can be disregarded, when I served my purpose the Archangel Mihael attempted to remove my sight thus you see his work on my face.” the woman said as she looked at me.

“That doesn’t make sense, if you are a threat to them why didn’t they just kill you?” I asked as I looked down at her.

“Arrogance my friend. My gift was too powerful to be let loose into the world, now that they had their replacement. I was no longer useful to them. So they blinded me to ensure I could not use my sight and for my long years of service, they allowed me to live. After all, what can a sightless seer do? The Arch Angel was so confident in his power he did not think to gouge my eyes out, he felt this was sufficient. Unfortunately for him the sight is not so easily lost, even if it is greatly weakened.” as the woman’s eyes glowed anew before fading, revealing milky white eyes.

“What do you want with us?” Cecilia asked as she furrowed her brows.

“This is a poor place to speak shall we head inside?” the woman asked as she waved her hand and the ground below us glowed with runes.

In an instant, we were now standing outside the shack. With another wave of her hand furniture appeared, two chairs and a table now stood atop the small patch of dry land.

“Have a seat.” the woman said as she gestured to one of the chairs.

Cecilia gave her a look before warily taking a seat, I just stood at the side on guard as I carefully observed the old woman.

“What do you want from us?” Cecilia asked again at this enigmatic woman.

“Nothing, I want nothing from you. What I want is to help you.” the woman replied as she conjured up a teapot and two cups. She calmly poured a cup and pushed it towards Cecilia.

Cecilia raised a brow as she gazed down at the cup. She looked back at the smiling woman and her hands glowed as she cast a spell on the tea cup.

“Fear not princess it isn’t poisoned. Though they say poison is a woman’s weapon I have no need for such methods. If I wanted you two dead you would have already departed this mortal coil... [Walpurgis Fire]” the woman said as her eyes glowed once more and high above us a massive black fireball appeared above us.

I knew instantly if I was hit by that fire I would be done, but as soon as it appeared it vanished.

The angel thrashed and howled as slowly but surely the wings were ripped right off her body. Then with a final tug, the wings were off... I could see the angel was groaning in pain as her body shook from the wound. Interestingly enough the angel’s blood was gold...

Nemesis then summoned black claws around her hands. The claw looked to be made of shadows and she grasped the angel around the neck with the claws.

Then I heard her voice whisper out from the projection.

Shhhh, sleep....

Nemesis whispered as she slowly strangled the angel. I saw the angel gasp as her lips turned blue then with a sickening twist and crunch Nemesis snapped her neck. Then the chains vanished and the angel collapsed onto the ground.

Nemesis looked down for a moment, she then reached down and picked up an angel’s feather off the ground. She held it for a moment as if lost in thought. She walked over to a nearby golden blood puddle and she dipped the feather in the blood. When she brought the feather back up to her eyes, it was now stained gold. She then slotted the feather on the front of her clothes like a pin.

Then the projection cut...

“Is Nemesis her real name? Or is it an alias?” Cecilia asked as the projection vanished.

“An alias.” the old woman said.

“They all gave up their birth names when they formed the Syndicate. As for the others, the second is Theseus the Exile. He fled his home hoping to spare his village from the wrath of heaven. Alas, it was not to be...” the woman said as she once again tossed another thread into the air.

This time the projection showed a man with a shield a spear battling an angel with four wings. Around them burned Theseus’s village, the battle raged with neither being able to best the other. Theseus stepped over the bodies of countless angels but I could see he was covered in wounds. Then the angel landed a decisive hit and sent Theseus’s shield flying. Theseus knocked off balance was about to be struck down when black hooks appeared from behind the angel and snared all four of her wings.

The hooks dragged her down to earth and brought the angel to her knees. Then from behind the angel emerged Nemesis. Now she was wearing a white mask, it looked like it was leering at the angel. Her dress was also now covered with gold feathers. Looks like she had been busy...

Nemesis calmly walked past screaming and thrashing angel and she offered a hand to Theseus. He took the hand and Nemesis pulled him to his feet. Then with a gracious bow, she gestured to the bound angel. I saw Theseus’s face darken as he gripped his spear and approached the now helpless angel. Then the projection cut again...

“How strong are they?” I asked as I looked at the woman.

“Far stronger than me, they could fight on even terms with an Arch Angel. As for you Firstborn, you can one day exceed them all. You will one day be a wolf among sheep if you can survive that long that is...” the woman said.

“And the other two?” Cecilia asked.

“These are my visions of these two, I met with them previously. I did not have any visions of the two that came after. All I know are their aliases, the third is Persephone the Ruined Queen she is a powerful magic caster. Her city-state fell to the angels and now she is part of the Syndicate.

The fourth and final founder is Heimdall the Vigilant. He is a powerful warrior that is the chief of security for the Syndicate. He also leads the branch of the Syndicate that is tasked with fighting the angels on Terra. He is very good at his job, the angels who appear in Terra now only stay for short periods, if they linger for too long they risk meeting the Heimdall and the Syndicate.

Occasionally Seraphim death squads do appear to hunt down any particularly powerful humans but sometimes those death squads never make it back to heaven.

Make no mistake friends there is a hidden war being waged in Terra. It is just that most people don’t know it.” the woman said.

“And what arrangements have you made for us?” Cecilia asked.

At those words the woman’s lips curled into a sly smile.

“The leader of the Syndicate, Nemesis. She awaits you in Averlon.” the woman replied.

“Then how do we find her?” I asked.

At those words, the old woman let out a small chuckle as she turned her scarred face towards me.

Do not worry my friend

You won’t need to find her

She will find you...

When the time is right...