The Lost Book of Chaos: How to Divide the World (The Secret Wars of Angels 1) (18 page)

Arcana sighed.

The angel was right. She sensed that there was nothing wrong with Judas, at least physically. There was no telling, however, what kind of memories the Immortal King was passing onto Judas.

Arcana tried not to shiver.

With all the lives that the Immortal King had destroyed, it must not have been pleasant. Arcana wished those memories would not affect Judas in any way. She worried because such memories could drive a man crazy.

She rode on in silence, for now, determined to put as much distance between the group and the Immortal King, as if that would somehow weaken the hold of the memories on Judas.

Every human soldier that fell in the camp was one more for The Immortal King’s army. Under normal circumstances, his army was invincible and ever growing, and yet the cursed angel Gabriel burned the corpses,
his
corpses, with lightning.

Such a waste of life.

Angels like Gabriel had no respect for what they could not understand. They pretended to protect, but only those who fit their ideals. They were drunk with righteousness, but they failed to see their own shortcomings. Angels cut off and destroyed anyone who stood in their way. The hypocrites!

There were those who might argue that his minions were no longer alive, but the Immortal King knew otherwise. As long as they moved, as long as the hunger was there, and as long as he hatred was there, his corpses were still alive. Why? Because his corpses could still die. All of those corpses still had much of their memories intact, where their brains had not yet been damaged or rotten.

In a way, The Immortal King had given the corpses a second life, one in which they could live forever, unless destroyed to small enough bits, or burned by fire.

It was improper to call his minions “Undead”, even offensive. Such word implied that they had already died. But no, they have been given new life.

The Immortal King, on the other hand, was no longer a part of Life. Because no matter what his enemies did to him, he could no longer die. The power to choose between life and death had been stolen from him, and in a way, he had become Death itself. But maybe, just maybe, The Immortal King hoped that this angel could do it. Gabriel, archangel, among the highest of heaven, an angel so powerful that if there was anyone who could stand against The Immortal King’s power, it might be him. He had been chasing after Arcana, because she possessed the power of the Zohar, but now that Gabriel was in front of him, he had a more suitable target.

The Immortal King held his Undying soldiers back, there was no sense wasting them, and he himself moved forward.

Gabriel turned towards him.

“Immortal King,” Gabriel spoke. The angel almost looked like a young boy, but the Immortal King knew otherwise. The angel had lived long before even the first man. Even before Adam. The Immortal King. “I will cleanse the world of your pestilence.” Conviction filled the angel’s voice.

It was madness, hypocrisy and madness.

“Ah, Gabriel,” the Immortal King countered, attempting a smile that felt unnatural on his flesh. “Perhaps you will make a fine addition to my undying army. An angel Undying. Can you imagine?”

He needed to make sure that Gabriel could not escape. It would be troublesome if the angel would decide to run away and not confront him. He needed a way for them to fight it out until one or the other perished. Secretly, he sent his corpses to surround the area, and even far beyond. The Immortal King had a special power, and that was that he could become any of his minions, and, he could also become all of his minions. That was, he could join together all the corpses under his command, and they would all be part of his consciousness, like one living creature rather than many creatures.

In a way, The Immortal King had achieved True Unity. It was a Unity that mortals could never understand.

“Think about it!” The Immortal King said, trying to buy time. Perhaps Gabriel would become complacent. “You will gain True Immortality, and have eternity at your fingertips. Out of respect, I will give you a chance to surrender. I would rather have you fresh and complete, rather... torn to pieces and reassembled.”

True, a fresher corpse was always better than a long dead, desecrated corpse. The quality was just not the same. The more time had passed, the harder it was to restore the body back to its original state.

“I will even let you keep your consciousness,” The Immortal King continued. “You will not be like the others who are mere puppets.” The Immortal King reached out with his long fingers, hoping the angel would take him lightly. But the angel was not complacent.

The angel unsheathed his sword and cut The Immortal King’s hand in two. The Immortal King took a step back, however, Gabriel was too fast. Even before he could move back, The Immortal King’s vision spun as his head rolled off and fell on the ground.

For a moment, The Immortal King’s vision turned black.

So fast.

So powerful.

He felt excitement welling inside him. Despite having his head cut off, he could still feel his body. This was more like it. He had never fought someone who could fight at Gabriel’s level before.

A dull, annoying sound came to him. With his head recently cut off, his senses weren’t working so well. It sounded like the speaker was on the other side of the room, or even like he was underwater and someone was speaking above the water. But he could still make out the words, though barely.

“HAH! All that talk and he’s not that tough after all,” the annoying voice said.

The Immortal King slowly regained his vision and his eyes landed on the figure of the fat man, whose feet were shaking, even as he hid behind another man. The man was fat, with his stomach bulging.

My corpses would love to eat that man alive, The Immortal King thought. After Gabriel, that fat man would be next.

“Pity,” The Immortal King said, “that even an angel of the highest rank can’t kill me.” At The Immortal King’s words, the fat man squeaked in fear, and hid farther back behind his companion’s body. “After I get one angel, it will be easier to get more angels. And after that, guess what’s next?”

The Immortal King laughed madly, taunting the angel to use more of his power.

“After I take all the angels,” The Immortal King said, “I will take on GOD HIMSELF!”

It worked.

Lighting flashed from the angel’s hand and blew his head in flames, sending bits and pieces of him in all directions.

Excellent.

Excellent!

Excellent!

This was what he was looking for, someone who could hurt him to
this
degree.

“Go,” the angel commanded the two measly humans behind him.

Were they after the girl and the Zohar too? No matter, he would catch them, he always caught his prey. No one could run away from him for long. The girl, the humans, the angels, they would all fall down before Death.

The Immortal King formed into a dark mist, materialized behind Gabriel, then grabbed the angel. “So soft,” The Immortal King sneered. “Almost like a...”

Blue light enveloped Gabriel, and the angel exploded, tearing The Immortal King asunder and sending what remained of him in all directions. But Gabriel didn’t stop there, the angel sent lightning to burn every bit that remained of him. He could no longer feel his body. Gabriel had destroyed it all, and yet, his mind, his essence, was still there. Was this what it meant to be dead? Was this what he was looking for? He felt himself drifting away. Finally, what he had been waiting for.

And yet rather than disappear, his presence grew. His mass of corpses channelled their life to feed him, restoring his body bit by bit. One by one, his senses returned. He felt the presence of his entire Undying army, the humans, wild animals, the rodents, the crows, the ravens he had brought back from the dead. He heard the lightning arc in all directions, burning his Undead army. The air was filled with the stench of burnt, rotten flesh.

Gabriel turned to face him again. The angel looked calm, though The Immortal King knew otherwise. Everyone was afraid of something. Angels might be good at hiding it, but they too were like humans. Fragile. Soft. Only he could fix that. He could bring everyone back to life in a new form that would last longer.

Gabriel struck him again, and The Immortal King didn’t even resist. Instead, he took on the blow, and held the blade of the sword with his hand. He had Gabriel now.

The Immortal King bellowed an unearthly laughter, and raised his hand upwards.

“I... have... become... GOD!” The Immortal King roared. At that signal, the Undying rushed forward again. Gabriel jumped back, letting go of the sword before The Immortal King could reach him.

The Immortal King sent forth waves of the Undying, hoping to catch Gabriel off guard now that the angel had lost his sword. However, it seemed the angel could still fight.

Gabriel crushed the skulls of his Undying with his bare hands.

The Immortal King licked his lips, his hunger escalating as he watched Gabriel’s fighting form. So strong. But it seemed like Gabriel would not be able to defeat The Immortal King. If that was the case, the next choice would be to make Gabriel an Undying angel, a servant that would fight for him forever.

Wave after wave, The Immortal King sent more and more Undying. He still had more of the living corpses, and Gabriel would eventually slow down.

Just then, the leaner man from before came running from the center of the camp, though the fatty was not with him. An Undying raven landed on The Immortal King’s shoulder and brought him news. The Zohar girl was moving north. It looked like the fatty, along with a small party of soldiers were coming along with them.

It was of no matter. If he could keep the angel Gabriel here, that was all that mattered. Everything else, including the Zohar, would come easily to him after.

Judas had been asleep for several days now, but there was no sign of him getting better. Arcana worried, though she knew there was nothing useful that would come from worrying, so she focused on what she could do instead. That meant making sure that Judas and his clothes were properly washed and cleaned by a small stream. The other soldiers had offered to do the task, however, she had insisted.

While doing so, she had found something curious among the belongings of Judas.

It was a strange pouch that appeared to be an ordinary money bag, containing a few shekels of silver. There was nothing special about the way it looked. But that was only at first glance.

One time, Arcana accidentally spilled the contents. At that time, she did not think it was anything special. After all, it was just a few shekels of silver. But when it should have gone nearly empty, when she lifted it up, the weight was curiously still the same. As she looked inside the money bag, she was surprised to find an unnatural amount of silver shekels there. It was physically possible.

She became even more unsettled when, after spilling more and more shekels on the ground, she found that there seemed to be no end to them. Fifty shekels, sixty shekels, seventy shekels, a hundred shekels, a hundred and twenty, and yet the small money pouch seemed to never run out.

How could such a small pouch contain so much shekels?

One mystery after another.

First, Judas possessing the strange power he had used against Shaul and the Immortal King. Second, there was the relationship between Judas and the angel Gabriel. Third, what she had heard about the Master.

Now this.

Despite something in her saying that she shouldn’t be meddling with the belongings of Judas, curiosity got the better of her. After all, she wasn’t going to take anything. She was just going to study this a bit. Besides, there was no telling if what she learned could benefit Judas in the long run as well.

She shook her head.

It might be nothing, but if she could figure out the Knowledge involved in this money bag, she could put it to good use. She would return the money bag with all its contents before Judas could wake up.

Now, time for more experiments.

When she tried putting the silver shekels back in the money bag, there was enough room. And the small money bag wasn't even bulging. It confirmed her theory.

Either the bag was very big inside. Or, it somehow connected to a different place, like a small portal. Though, as knowledgeable as Arcana was, she had never encountered such Knowledge before nor even heard of it.

Was this, perhaps, a technology of the angels?

What was the secret behind it?

Was it something about the cloth?

She took out the blade of the Zohar. Perhaps, she could find out more about the nature of the cloth if she channelled energy from the Zohar and into the bag, to see how the bag responded to it.

“What’s that, My Lady?”

Arcana jumped.

In her concentration, she had not noticed Varak come close.

Arcana demonstrated what she had discovered. Varak’s mouth was agape, unbelieving.

“What magic is this?” Varak said.

“It’s my Teacher’s secret money pouch,” Ichab explained. Ichab, it turned out, had followed Varak.

Varak turned, almost surprised. Ichab had a way of walking stealthily, that even Varak almost failed to sense the man’s presence.

Varak seemed to look farther down the bush, to see if anyone else was coming, then he grunted with contentment when no one else came.

“Here,” Ichab offered, “let me show you what else it can do.”

Ichab pulled out dozens of silver shekels at first, then started pulling out more and more, until it flowed like a river. Then Ichab shoved the shekels back into the bag.

“Amazing isn’t it?” Ichab said, smiling with a grin that filled his entire face.

“Why with this,” Arcana said, “Judas could buy anything he wanted. And yet… He owns nothing. He only has one set of plain clothes, a pair of sandals, and he’s always living simply. Why?”

“Indeed,” Ichab agreed, “My teacher is amazing. But anyway, I think I forgot something back in the camp and I have to go…”

Ichab began turning away and started walking.

Varak however, pulled Ichab by the ear.

“Leave what doesn’t belong to you,” Varak said.

“Ummm,” Ichab said, “I’m not sure what you mean.”

Varak pulled out a small dagger, to which Ichab raised his hands defensively. Arcana didn’t stop Varak, trusting the man. But what was going on?

Varak cut through Ichab’s pocket, and as he did, several silver shekels fell on the ground.

Arcana had not even noticed that Ichab had taken the money. Ichab, caught in the act, turned and ran. Then Ichab turned, and, seeing that neither Varak nor Arcana followed, he said, “You could at least spare some of that silver. It’s not like they’ll run out anyway, and besides, it’s not like I’ll use it for myself.”

With that, Ichab disappeared into the bush.

“We should watch out for that man,” Varak said. “Friend or no friend, we might find ourselves losing our valuables.”

Arcana sighed.

As Ichab entered the bush however, he was smiling. They thought they had caught him, but a good treasure hunter always had a plan. Ichab used his fingers to feel through his other pocket, and felt satisfied at what he had collected. While Varak had been distracted with the silver that he stole, Ichab had stolen some gold coins from Varak’s own purse.

Well, it’s not like it would hurt Varak, considering the soldier had much more gold in his pocket. Why, the soldier should be thankful that Ichab had not taken it all. And besides, it was all for a good cause.

Ichab ran deeper into the bush and back at the camp, hearing the sound of the stream fading away.

Back by the stream, Arcana and Varak continued to discuss the mysterious money bag.

“If you can learn this Knowledge,” Varak started, “what do you hope to use it for?”

“Imagine Varak,” Arcana said, “if we can build something big enough for a man to come through. Then we can traverse great distances. That would make it almost impossible for us to get caught by our enemies.”

“But we’re not yet sure where this will take us,” Varak said. “And we don’t know what’s waiting on the other side of that portal.”

“True,” Arcana said. “That’s why we will find out.”