Conquest: Rise of the Fifth Horseman (The Fifth Horseman Series Book 1) (14 page)

Chapter Twenty Five: City of the
Ancients

And all the land of
earth didst consist of one large mass. The greater kingdom of Seth ruled the
north, whilst the lesser kingdom of Cain ruled the south. And it came to pass
that the posterity of the kingdom of Seth became a slothful and wicked
generation…

–
Methuselah 10:7 –

“There you are!” Allan
stared at the filthy vagrant sleeping in the alleyway, “John, I’ve been looking
for you everywhere!”

“Allan...” he spoke
groggily as he woke from his late-afternoon nap, “where have you been?”

His face was pale and
he looked haggard and panicked, “I... I was in jail.”

John stood and brushed
himself off, “I told you not to meddle. What were you charged with?”

Allan’s eyes darted
back and forth nervously as he whispered, “First degree murder.”

John stared at him for
a moment and then stated matter-of-factly, “You’ve never killed anyone in your
entire life.”

“Get out of my head!”

“I’m sorry!” he
stammered, “I just had to make sure. Who do they suspect you of killing?”

“An old friend of mine.”
his voice was shaky, “I think Timur did it, but the police won’t listen to me.”

“What exactly did you
tell them?”

“The truth, of course.”
Allan stated flatly.

John cringed, “And how
exactly did you describe your miraculous healing event?”

“How did you know about
that?”

John raised an eyebrow
and narrowed his gaze.

“Oh...” Allan
acknowledged, “that’s right. There’s no keeping secrets from you, is there?”

John shook his head, “Every
Seraph has a unique gift to complement their powers.”

“Wait...” Allan
stammered, “are you saying that you are one of these Seraphim too?”

“I was one once, yes.”
he quickly changed the subject, “Why did they release you from custody?”

“They didn’t…” Allan’s
eyes nervously darted toward the street again, “I kind of… broke out.”

“This isn’t good.” John
shook his head, “Your powers erupted again, didn’t they?”

Allan nodded.

“Clearly something
upset you.” he sighed, “You must learn to control your emotions before you will
be able to control your powers.”

“He took…” Allan moaned
as the tears began to flow again, “he took Lily.”

“Lily…” John stared
into his eyes again, “Lily… ah, your fiancée. I see…”

Allan immediately
averted his gaze, “What… what should I do?”

“Tell me what happened,
exactly.”

“An officer came to
visit me last night.” he explained, “She told me that there were signs of a
struggle at my house, and they found…” Allan choked on the words, “They found…
they found a lot of Lily’s blood in the front room.”

“And you suspect it was
Timur who did this?”

“I spent all day
walking along the underside of the boardwalk trying to find that drain, but I
couldn’t find it!” Allan spoke frantically, “That’s the only place I can think
of where he might have taken her.”

John nodded in deep
thought, “There’s another entrance.”

Allan’s eyes lit up, “Where?”

“It’s actually
downstairs in that building.” he pointed to the building to the right of them, “Let’s
move quickly before you’re spotted.”

They snuck around to
the opposite side of the headquarters for Motif Global Encryption, and entered
through the driveway opening for the subterranean garage. Fortunately the toll
booth guards had gone off duty for the evening and the garage was currently
being metered by machine. Ducking under the barriers, they trotted downhill
into the garage. With John leading the way, they quickly made it to Timur’s reserved
parking space.

“It might take me a few
minutes to locate the entrance.” John approached the wall, “It’s been a few
years.”

After a few minutes of
fumbling around, the wall sunk inward and slid to the side with a whirr. Together
they ran down the dimly-lit passageway for over twenty minutes until they came
to a large door. Allan threw it open and recognized the familiar pipes that
formed most of the walls and ceiling. Upon entering the main chamber room, the
spray-painted message stood out offensively:

What does it mean?”
Allan gasped for breath.

John knew the message
could only mean one thing. Timur had taken her to the world called Zion. Long
ago John had been able to travel freely between each world, but that was before
Timur had stolen his amulet and destroyed it. It was a very fine steel bow, and
had weathered the tests of time. At the time Timur destroyed it, he had learned
by reasonable deduction that John always traveled with his bow in hand. The
instant he removed the bow from the equation, John was suddenly bound to the
earth.

John also knew now that
Timur had uncovered the truth, that there was yet one final Seraph to come
forth who would prepare the world for the great and terrible days to come. How
much he knew, John feared to guess. It seemed rather strange however that he
would request Allan’s presence in the other world. Though Allan had Awoken, he
still didn’t understand his purpose nor did he have any idea how to control his
abilities. It seemed however that Timur had figured out that Allan was a
problem he needed to eliminate before he could fully execute his sinister
plans.

“I’m afraid I need to
accelerate your training.” he determined as he pulled the remaining seer stone
out of his pocket.

John shoved the stone
in Allan’s hand. Upon immediate impact, he saw its desired effect and confirmed
that his epiphany had been correct. The stone glowed white hot, searing Allan’s
palm. He screamed out in pain as he tried frantically to shake off the white
stone, but somehow it seemed to have adhered itself to his palm. His eyes
glowed with a bright silver light as his rage mounted. John held tight to Allan’s
shoulder as the two of them were engulfed in Allan’s silver aura. With a sudden
flash of light, the two of them were gone.

Chapter Twenty Six: Dragon Venom

Amongst the seventh
generation of Seth was born unto the earth Enoch, who didst become a mighty
Prophet. The Leviathan became very desirous to consume the soul of this man
Enoch, for his divinity hadst become manifest…

–
Methuselah 11:1 –

Lily
studied her rescuer who continued to row relentlessly. Though he was an elderly
man as was apparent by his white hair and beard, he had the stamina and
strength of a young horse. She was impressed not only by his longevity, but by
the fact that he didn’t seem to be short any breath even though he had been
rowing for several hours now.Lily thought back to the strange room underneath
the city. The whole room had been arrayed with rows and rows of servers, which
were ultimately attached to a single console in the center of the room. Standing
in front of the console was a large satellite dish pointing horizontally toward
the far wall where a large dark mirror hung ominously. She racked her brain
trying to decipher the message that had flashed on the console’s monitor.

How
could Timur possibly know about NSA technology, and why would he need the
access code to the GFID tracker system?

She
was also disturbed by the fact that the NSA hadn’t rescued her yet, considering
her beacon had been active for quite some time now. She knew that it would soon
run out of power, so she was grateful this stranger had rescued her.

                A
curious thing was happening in the sky. Although the sun had already risen
several hours ago, the clouds were emitting purple and pink hues as if dawn
were breaking again. The beauty was breathtaking, and she couldn’t help but
stare into the heavens.

Abner
smiled as if he were reading her mind, “Alas, ‘tis second dawn.”

“Excuse me?”

“The colors that doth
beautify the heavens.” he nodded upward, “Yea, the second dawn is breaking.”

               
What’s
that supposed to mean?

Her face contorted in
confusion, “What time is it?”

He
gave her a curious look as he continued rowing and stated, “Didst I not just
say unto thee ‘tis second dawn?”

               
“Yes,” she corrected, “but
I mean what hour of the morning is it?”

                “Hour?”
he queried, “What dost thou mean?”

                She
stared at him with bewilderment, “You know, is it eleven in the morning? Noon?”

                “I
know not the customs of thy world.”

“
My
world?” she stammered.

He
stared at her curiously for several minutes, “Dost thou not know of this world?”

“I’m afraid I don’t
understand what you mean.”

“Thou art not from
hither.” he explained, “Look behind thee, and ye shall understand forthwith.”

She nodded in
acknowledgement, and her curiosity got the best of her. As she turned to look
behind her, she squinted and shielded her eyes. Her brain took a minute to
register what she was seeing. The sun was peeking over the horizon to the
southeast. But yet… the sun had already risen in the east and was approaching
midday! Her eyes darted between the two solar giants in disbelief. Slowly she
returned her gaze back to Abner, dumfounded.

“As I told thee, dear
child.” he smiled, “Thou art not from this world.”

“Where… where am I?”
she stammered.

“I welcome thee to the
Land of Enoch in the world of Zion.” he dropped his oars finally and gestured
his arms outward.

She stared at him
incredulously, “You mean, the City of Enoch from the Bible?”

“Alas, from whence we
doth come.” he nodded and pointed behind her, “The great and glorious City of
Atlantis of which you doth speak shrinks in the distance to the south.”

“Excuse me?” she
pinched herself, “Atlantis?”

“Yea, child.” He again
pointed to the large city, now only barely visible in the distance.

She squinted in the
rising sunlight, and could see the silhouette of the ruinous city. Above it
swarmed several flying creatures.

“What are those large
birds?” she pointed.

“Ah, ye can see the
dragons?”

“Dragons?!” she
stammered, “This can’t be real. This must be a dream.”

A startling look fell
across Abner’s face and he stood abruptly, rocking the small boat. He squinted
and shielded his eyes for a better view. Just as suddenly, he dropped back down
and grabbed the oars. He turned the small boat with a few strokes, and began
frantically rowing toward the northeastern shore.

“What’s wrong?” Lily
inquired as she read the panic on his face.

“Those… dragons.” he
huffed, “Alas, they be flying… in formation…”

“Like a flock of birds
flying south?”

“No, dear child.” he
gasped, “Dragons… do not… naturally fly… in that manner.”

“Then why are they
flying like that in this direction?” she asked anxiously.

“Those dragons… are
trained hunters.” he rowed for all he was worth, “And Sir Tamerlane… rides… at
the helm.”

The instant they
reached shore, Lily helped Abner quickly drag the small boat inland and into
the woods where it wouldn’t be seen. Together they stumbled though the
underbrush, grateful that the thick trees provided adequate cover to hide them
from view.

“I hath family in a
hidden village to the north.” he panted, “We shall find refuge there.”

Lily nodded as they
stumbled into a small clearing. Abner stopped cold and held a finger to his
lips. The grass and underbrush seemed to have been flattened by an unknown
force, and there were several fallen trees throughout the clearing. She couldn’t
understand Abner’s hesitation at first, but then she saw it. In the center of
the clearing there was a cluster of what she had originally thought were
boulders… but then she saw that they were slightly moving with the rise and
fall of each breath.

A loud shriek pierced
the air. Abner took off in a sprint across the clearing and quickly disappeared
into the thick forest on the opposite side. She stumbled into the clearing in
an attempt to follow, but didn’t entirely know where she was going. Her only
driving force was pure adrenaline and fear.

Lily looked up, and saw
the hideous beast descending toward her. She screamed and stumbled to the
ground. The giant beast landed on her backside, knocking the wind out of her.
She tried to cry for help, but it only came out as a hoarse whisper. The beast
latched onto her shoulders, preventing its prey from attempting to escape.

Lily’s life flashed
before her eyes, knowing it would soon be over. She felt the beast’s talons
pierce her chest, and she let out a bloodcurdling scream. Before she knew what
was happening, her legs were dangling in the air. She looked down, and saw the
earth below shrinking away rapidly. She trembled as her body hyperventilated,
and forced herself to try to take slow breaths. She used her arms to pull up on
the dragon’s feet to relieve some weight in an attempt to counteract the
excruciating pain.

Her eyes blurred and
she knew she had started hallucinating. In the distance she could see the
enormous city, but its appearance had entirely changed. Absent were the toppled
spires and filthy soot, now replaced by a glorious white luminance. She
momentarily forgot her pain as her eyes beheld the beauty and luster of the
city. It seemed to glow as if she were staring at heaven itself.

Forgive me, for I knew
not who thou wast. I didst fear for the lives of my children.

She reeled in confusion
as the foreign words entered her mind. She then realized that they were
descending rapidly back toward the clearing, and she remembered her pain as the
dragon finally released its grip. She screamed in terror as she fell, and
flopped heavily onto the ground only a few feet below. Blood pooled around her
from the talon’s wounds, and she was certain she would die. She took a few last
gasps, and then blacked out.