Dragon Over Washington (The Third War Of The Bir Nibaru Gods) (28 page)

The magical fire melted the heavy boulders with ease, creating a heavy cloud of steam. The fire gradually increased in intensity as the ape-demon continued opening its jaws. A cascade of rocks fell down as the stone ceiling give way before the demonic fire. The fire changed the rocks it touched, making them twist and change, and large stalactites were thrust out into the dark green firestorm around the Dog-God minion. The demon released all the power it had accumulated, the dark green fire in its eyes and maw fading till all that remained were dark green, smoldering pinpoints of light deep within the sunken eye sockets. The line of fire winked out and the dark-green inferno around the dog minion disappeared.

The steaming vapor vanished a moment later. The metallic ape-demon growled and dropped back to stand on all fours, its long arms supporting it with ease. Its attention was riveted on the forest of stalactites that had sprouted like mushrooms after rain, thrusting from the ceiling at weird angles. The Dog-God minion seemed unhurt, its fur as vibrant as it was before. The canine monster started to move, but stopped. Its left back paw had sunk into a liquefied rock which had solidified, and now it was trapped. The dog monster snarled and forced its leg free through the solid stone, sundering the stone with ease.

While the Dog-God minion’s attention was focused on freeing its leg, the metallic ape-demon hissed and leapt up. A metal arm with huge claws raised sparks as it struck the armor around the Dog-God minion’s midsection. The huge jaws of the canine monster gaped open and bit deep into the metallic demon, fangs tearing into the car parts with ease. Both monsters fell down, smashing several of the sculptured mountains as they rolled, locked in deadly struggle. The cavernous chamber filled with bestial growls and shrieks, as the two demonic beings fought furiously. The dog monster was as large as the metallic demon, both of them being more than ten feet tall. Its jaws ripped into the metallic demon, the dark red fangs gouging deep tears into the haphazard metal body, ripping metal and plastic apart.

“The ancient wizards would not forsake the future followers of their foolish ways; they would leave a trail, a path leading towards the next Kernel Conjuration.” The witch stopped and circled a stone mountain painstakingly sculptured with small trees and grassy meadows. But it bore no clues as far as the witch could ascertain. There was nothing manmade about it and no artificial features were depicted on the mountain. The witch brushed it gently with a gloved finger, wiping some of the dust that had accumulated on it, then circled it again, discovering nothing. A bent piece of metal flew past him as the dog-headed monster tore chunks off the metallic demon, its sharp jaws leaving red, molten metal on its adversary’s chaotic body. The witch next tried hitting the stony mountain, and then pushing it aside. Nothing. Approaching growls made the witch look upwards. The metallic demon had been tossed into the air. The witch quickly moved out of its way as it fell, smashing the sculptured mountain the witch had just been examining.

Dark green vapor poured out of the terrible wounds torn into the metallic ape-demon’s metallic form, and twisted and melded car parts fell away as it moved. It raised its left arm. A humming noise came from it and a dark green radiance enveloped its left arm, eventually concentrating in its hand, elongating, and then forming three long sword-like talons more than six feet long with green flames burning along their lengths. When the flames winked out, a row of eyes, focusing hungrily on the dog monster, appeared on the blades. The ape-demon’s face contorted into a smile, its tusks gleaming, its long, glassy, triple-forked tongue snaking outside its jaws. The dark green eyes on the blades, miniature versions of the demon’s eyes, narrowed. The blades vibrated with anticipation, yearning for blood.

The ape-demon shuffled forward towards the dog-demon. The long talons on its left hand passed through the miniature stone mountains, slicing them without resistance, like knives cutting through butter. A viscous, black mist oozed from the deep cuts left in the stone. Small, green plants curled away from them, sending twisted roots and vines over the smashed miniature mountains. Oversized spiders and centipedes crawled away from the deep tears in the rocky models.

The ape-demon leaped, snarling as it flew towards its adversary, its three blades brandished high. It crashed into the crouching Hound of War, bearing it to the floor in a tangle of metallic limbs over furry muscled ones. The hound growled, its jaws snapping and locking onto the left arm of the ape-monster, preventing it from using its blades. The ape-monster hissed while it tore at the dog-demon, slicing it repeatedly with the long talons on its right arm.

The witch looked at the smashed mountain he had been studying. His boot sifted through the debris, searching for something, anything. There was nothing to be found except rocky debris. The black athame was pulled out again, a sliver of total darkness in the mayhem of light coming from the battling monsters. The witch moved to the far side of the chamber, walking between the rows of mountainous scenes. The black, lusterless blade sank into a miniature mountain, slicing the mountain cleanly in two with ease. The mountain’s top fell off,. The black iron mask looked at the debris, but found nothing. The witch hefted the dagger again and now made a vertical cut, splitting the stone mountain into two parts, the halves falling to either side. The witch stepped forward eagerly, but found nothing, only smooth stone.

The witch tapped his boot impatiently on the floor and turned around as the sounds of the conflict approached. The ape-demon had been hurled away, smashing several mountain ranges before slamming into the wall of the chamber, cracking the huge boulders in the wall. The metallic demon rose up and snarled savagely, a thick stream of green smoke flowing out of the socket of its ripped-out left arm. The dog-demon leaped up, ran upside down on the ceiling and charged the metallic demon. The Dog-God minion’s fur was ruffled and it sported a number of tears bleeding red-hot drops that fell, boiling, onto the mountains below it. The dog minion was slowly gaining the upper hand, biting great chunks out of the ape-demon that found it increasingly harder to defend itself with only one arm.

“
Saawantaa
! Will you let a mere dog vanquish you, gaining access to the sweet essence which is your lawful prize?” the witch called out. The massive jaws of the dog minion had sunk into the body of the metallic demon. The great head jerked and the jaws tightened, the huge fangs sinking deeper into the melded and twisted car parts of the ape-demon’s body. The metallic demon tried to claw its opponent, clinging to it with all three remaining limbs, holding on with its feet while raking it with the claws on its right hand.

“At the least, it seems I have found the cause of the breach. It seems the Bir Nibaru Gods were not anxious to have the wizard’s Kernel Conjurations known again. In the future, I must remember to bring a bone with me. I -” The witch’s body jerked, tensing up and freezing, but a moment later slowly relaxed. “Yes, yes, I am leaving.” The metallic voice was sullen. The iron mask cast a last look around the chamber and then the witch headed out, passing quickly through the enormous stone passages. The black figure was suddenly illuminated in a red baleful light as the dog minion’s gaze fell on it. The witch hurried on, sharp barking following him. The monsters surged in his direction, the metal ape-demon in pursuit of the demon hound.

The witch strode through the ancient chambers and corridors, demonic conflict never far behind. He was careful not to pass near the nonagon around the pit on the floor of the first chamber. However, the ape-demon had been thrown and was flying through the air. It crashed down and skidded on the floor, raising clouds of dust as its claws scraped on the floor, raising sparks as it tried to stop. The misshapen creature entered the nonagon and fell into the pit in its center.

It was as if a star had winked into existence; an impossibly brilliant orb of multicolored light hovered in the pit. The metal demon crashed into that ball of light and bounced off, its one-ton weight making no impression. The black iron mask turned towards the star. Sigils were faintly visible inside the scintillating brilliance, the arcane symbols floating slowly, intertwining and orbiting one another in complex patterns. Then the incredible light winked off the moment the demon had been hurled away. The vibration that shook the chamber slowly disappeared like an engine revving down.

“They knew how to make conjurations, the old wizards. The construction of the conjuration still holds, even after all these years.” The witch continued on, a series of angry barks chasing him from the chamber he had just left. He turned and hurried towards the exit, entering the tunnel of molten rock that the ape-demon had created, quickly walking through it, robes fluttering. He glanced back only when he had left the molten tunnel, and had entered the outside nonagon corridor. There was a faint green flickering light behind him that was quickly swallowed by an angry red radiance. The witch hurried along the corridor and reached the long flight of steps leading up ,a small black thing hurrying in the darkness, demons in its wake.

An instant after the witch began to climb the stairs, a low growl filled the stairway. The dog minion entered the flight of stairs, but the ape crashed into it, trying to force it to the ground, and to stall it. Shrieks and growls filled the tunnel as the witch climbed on, never looking back.

The witch’s iron mask was steady, never wavering, always directed at the miniscule dot of daylight impossibly far away. A red radiance increased around the steadily approaching black figure. No matter how many stairs the witch mounted, the tiny dot of daylight refused to get nearer. The witch picked up the pace. Though rocks occasionally flew around him, the sharp splinters might make him duck but never slow down. The tunnel shook once, accompanied by a groan of metallic torment, making the witch lose its footing. He got up fast, limbs flailing, appearing to possess too many elbows and knees. He continued his flight, never looking back. His pace quickened, but he did not run. His breath gradually became louder, wheezing metallically through the iron mask. The limbs of the black-robed figure moved with a strange motion, its gate awkward. However, it never slowed down and never looked back, even as the sounds of conflict approached.

The rapid breath rattling through the iron mask suddenly stopped. The window of daylight above finally appeared to grow larger. The witch continued advancing, its attention directed at the exit. It began running, skipping the stairs two at a time when the exit was clearly near. The tunnel around the black clad figure was now flooded with red light, and chunks of metal and plastic, not rocks, were flying all around. The ape-demon’s growls were almost non-existent now.

The black-robed figure burst out of the tunnel, a thing of darkness entering the bright daylight beyond. Around the mouth of the tunnel were dozens of men, most of them uniformed, and all of them leveling weapons at the black thing that arrowed out of the tunnel. They shouted at it with mounting urgency, yet the black-robed man ignored them, heading towards the crowd of men and making them retreat before his relentless advance.

The howl that rose out of the tunnel made the men shudder. The attention of the uniformed, weapon-toting men was transferred to the tunnel’s mouth. Men talked urgently into devices attached to vehicles with blinking red and blue lights, vehicles similar to the one that hosted the demon. Vapor, green and dark, began pouring out of the tunnel’s entrance as the sounds of tortured metal quickly approached. The weapons aimed at the witch were cocked and the shouts aimed at him acquired a note of finality when something burst out of the tunnel. It was something made out of car parts, fused and molded together, with a demonic ape’s head that was severed right below its neck. The head rolled on the ground and came to rest next to a police car. The green light deep in its eyes sockets went out.

The men around the tunnel’s mouth withdrew. Another thing came out of it, fangs bared, snarling and salivating, its eyes a red inferno of anger. The policemen backed away from that primal creature of destruction, incredulous eyes watching as that monster fully emerged from the tunnel, the headlights from the police cars reflected on the red armor around the creature’s midsection. The monster froze, huge muscles tensing, crouching down, forked tongue snaking out between foot-long incisors. The demon, as if envisaging the witch’s end, slowly closed its jaws, as molten saliva dripped down to the ground, red flames burning the earth.

“You have failed, minion of Bir Nibaru!” The witch’s voice was ecstatic, echoing metallically across Avebury, though the words that rang out were unintelligible to the gathered police force. The witch raised his hands, the stone tablet he had found in his left, the black athame in his right. “To keep vigil for five millennia and then to so utterly fail,” the witch’s metallic voice sneered. “Your presence proves that Eretz has been uncovered, and the barrier around it has been demolished. This is Eretz! The wizards will flock to this sphere, seeking their lost city of Hamazu. The Azure Empire has already sunk its fangs into this world and the creatures of the Pit will soon follow. The Third War is nigh upon you, Bir Nibaru! Man will never bow to gods again!”

The witch slashed down with the athame, cutting the air. A black, oval, bottomless chasm yawned open before him, a dark tear into the fabric of reality, a breach in the Veils.

“Aye. Man, demon and god shall bow to witches after the war is over,” the witch whispered and stepped into the black chasm, but not before hearing a threatening growl emerging from huge jaws, a promise for the future, a vow of vengeance.

The dog monster’s fangs gleamed in the daylight as the huge creature moved forward, making the policemen around the entrance retreat fast. Its prey had eluded it for the moment. Its nostrils widened while it looked for something else to tear apart.