We were at the amphitheatre, watching the Pyromane races, until I got up the nerve to ask Vere how his session with the coucil had gone.
His face turned grim.
'Fine,' he said. 'Just Fine.'
'So you might still land your dream job?'
He glanced at me suspiciously. 'Acacius t-told you?'
'Well... no I have no idea. He just said you
had big plans, you know… and that you needed to protect a Nephilim to prove yourself. So did it go well?'
Vere looked down at the rabid flaming cats. 'Marmoo reserved judgement. He said your fate had not been deciced yet, so for now we are both under observation.
If you got a quest and I went along as your protector, and we both managed not to die, then maybe he'd honor my bravery.'
My spirits lifted. 'Well, why are you sad then, dont we have a shot?'
'of course not! He might as well have sent me to the farms. The chances of you being allowed back into the world… and even if you did, why would you want me along?'
'Who else would I bring along!'
Vere was unconvincing. 'I ought to just sign up for the plantations anyway'
I tried to reassure him that it wasnt the end of the world, but je didnt budge.
We talked about the activities, then how repulsive Marmoo was, then debated the pros and cons of the different Celestials.
Finally, I asked him about the three empty Ilses.
'Number four, the silver one, belongs to Isis,' he said. 'No Nephilim has been born with the qualifications to live there, beacuse she is one of the prime Celestials.
I remebered Mr Kamau's myths. 'Atjira, Baime, Yhi.'
'No, those are their ancient names. We know them as Zeta, Orion, and Isis. After the great battle with Magog, they forged this plane: the dreamtime.'
'Zeta became the lord of the dreamtime,' I remembered.
'Orion, the lord of the Material world, and Isis maintained the ordee of things.'
'Uh-huh.'
'You said no one has the qualifications to live there, why?'
'Because the Ilses of the Primes are only open to Nephilim of the Omega class: True bloods.'
'And what are those.'
'In short, half Celestials, Nephilim of unimaginable power. Some able to challenge the celestials themselves.'
'What happened to them?'
'Several generations ago, after the War with Magog, the Celestials agreed not to have any more children with mortals.
Their children were just too powerful. They were affecting the course of human events
too much, causing too much carnage.
And also they all suffered horrible fates!'
After Magog defeat the deoms entered a frenzy. The only artifact that could keep them away was suddenly stolen form titan, the home of the Celestials.
The demons couldnt harm the Celestials, but their half mortla children paied the price.
They were swarmed, hunted to extinction. Both they and their decendents until the Celestial gene became a mere flicker in the human population. Waning till it became wahyvwe know now as the Nephilim gene.'
So the Celstials all swore on the.'
Thunder boomed.
I said,
'And kept their word – no kids?'
Vere grimaced. 'Half a century ago, Zeta fell
off the wagon. He met this big time supermodel – he just couldn't help himself.
When their child was born, a little girl named Sarai… well, the demons havent gotten any nicer in the last few millennia.
Zeta himself got off easy because he's immortal, but he brought a terrible fate on his
daughter.'
'But that isn't fair! She did nothing wrong.'
Vere hesitated. 'Abel, direct offspring of prime Celestials have power countless time greater than other half-bloods.
And so their magical scent is also extremly potent and aggravating to demons.
Zeta hid her form the sneses of the demons, but he could only do so fo so long.
When the demons sensed her, it was nothing like any of us had ever seen.
A million level horde, voilent and uncontrolled arose from hoth. A sprite was assigned to be her protecter when
she was fifteen, but there was nothing he could do.
He tried to escort her here with a couple of other Nephilim she'd befriended. They almost made it.
They got all the way to the phusical entrance to the dreamtime and the made it int.'
And yet some how to horde broke through as well. If theu had been allowed in, it would have been the end of all Nephilim.
Sarai knew this and so she asked her protecter to het the other two Nephilim to safety while she held off the demons.
She was wounded and tired. The sprite didn't want to leave her, but he couldn't change her mind, and he had to protect the other Nephilim.
So Sarai made her final stand alone, and used her powers for the first time.'
'Whay happened.'
'No one knows exactly. She disappeared forever, and as did the horde. The spatial laws that guarded the dream time miraculously repaired themselves stronger than ever, ensuring that no nephilim would ever share her fate.'
I stared into the distance.
The story had suffocated me with pain.
A girl around my age had sacrificed herself to save her friends. She had faced a vast army of demons and somehow succeeded.
Next to that, my victory over the Burronjor didn't seem like much. I wondered, if I'd acted differently, could I have saved my mother?
'Vere,' I said, 'Hoth is where the souls of the dead are kept right?'
'Yes,' he said. 'Hoth is extremly big, The land of the dead is within its outer perimeter where the goddess of desth presides.'
'And has anyone ever succesful returned a soul to life?'
'No. Never. Someone once came close…. Abel, you're not seriously thinking –'
'No,' I lied. 'I was just wondering. So… a sprite is always assigned to guard a Nephilim?'
Vere was not convinced, and my fragile attempt to change the subject had done very little. That was the problem with him, he knew me too well. 'Not always. We go
undercover to a lot of schools. We try to discover Nephilim who have the makings of great heroes. As you know it is nearly impossible to find a true blood, and if we do, we alert Acacius.
Usually by then monsters have already gotten to him.'
'You found me. Acacius said you thought I might be special.'
Vere looked like he sawllowed a bug. 'I wasnt sure... you had a strong aura but far too few monsters attacked you. If you were – you know – you'd never ever be allowed to live for so long.
You're probably a normal beta class. Dont think about it too much?'
He was trying to reassure me but wound up sounding more scared than I ever did.
That night after dinner, there was a lot more excitement than usual.
At last, it was time for the war games.
A thunder clap resounded and we all filed out of the ilses.
Nephilim cheered and rushed towards the center ilse where the war games would take place. A banner embroid woth gold threads was hoisted up at the north of the Island.
I turned to Cain and yelled over the noise.'Are those the banners?'
'Yeah.'
'Who are we up against?'
'Shura, Fey and Strike class,' he said. 'But Nightmare and esper class are on our side.'
'So, how do we win?'
He grinned. 'We either beat every enmy within an inch of death or invade their territory.'
'Im guessing were going with invasion?'
He gave me a crooked grin. 'Yes we are. Tonight, we get the flag from them. And you are going to help.'
The teams were announced. The Lost Nephilim had made an alliance with the nightmare class and esper class and , the two scariest classes. Apparently,
privileges had been traded with the esper class Nephilim – wifi previledges, chore schedules,
the best slots for activities.
As for how Cain got Nightmare class to help us, that was easy enough to deduce from the googly eyes he and Esme were making towards eachother.
The Shura Class Nephillim had allied themselves with everybody else: Strike,
Fey, Speed class. From what I'd seen,
The speed class Nephillim were actually trouble, but there were
only a few dozen of them. Fey Class had the edge with their chlorokinesis, but they weren't very aggressive.
The bigger threats were srrike and shira class.
The strike class Nephilim were every bit as threatening as seth and his uglies, only they looked calmer, more disciplined. They might be a problem.
That, of course, left Shura Class: several dozen of the biggest, humanoids on the
planet.
Acacius clapped loudly to get everyones attention.
'Nephillim!' he announced. 'You know the rules.
The entire forest is fair game. All magic
items are allowed. The banner must be prominently displayed to mark territory.
Prisoners may be knocked unconcious, but may not be bound or gagged. No killing or maiming is allowed. I will serve as referee and medic. Arm yourselves!'
He spread his hands, and the tables were suddenly covered with equipment: helmets, swords, spears and shields.
'Whoa,' I said. 'We're really supposed to use these?'
Cain looked at me as like i had a few screws lose. 'Unless you want to die. Here – i thought these would fit. You'll be gaurd aganist invasions.'
Then he yelled, 'My brothers, forward!'
We cheered and brandished and followed him into the woods.
I lost Cains figure in the excitement and when I thought I managed to catch up with him without tripping
over my heavy equipment, I found myself face to face with Esme. 'Hey.'
She nodded back.
'So what's the plan?' I asked. 'Got any magic items you can loan me?'
She laughed like she had heard the funniest joke in the world.
'Just run rom any one with lasso,' she said. 'You dont want her anywehere close to you.
Otherwise, don't be so nervous. We'll win this. Has Cain given you your job?'
'Territory gaurd, whatever that means.'
'It's easy. Stand by the border and keep imvaders away. Leave the rest to us.'
She smiled warmly then suddenly bolted forward, leaving me in the dust.
'Well then...' I murmured as I found the borderline.
It was a dark, cold, humid night. The woods were cast frightning shadows, caging the noonlight above them.
I was stationed me maple tree and was told that evryone else on gaurd duty was stationedsomewhereon the boundary along with me, then rest of the team had unitedly marched scattered into the trees.
So I was left standing there alone, looking real stupid in heavy metal armour, I felt like an idiot.
The iron sword like most other weapons I'd tried just seemed wrong.
The leather grip pulled on my hand like a bowling dumbell.
There was no way I'd actually die or end up on a hospitable bed right? I mean, no one here was that insane right?
Far away into the distance, thunder boomed. I heard roars in the woods, sparks flying from clashing blades.
Great, I thought. I'll miss all the fun, as usual.
Oh boy I was wrong.
On the other side of the boundary, the bushes exploded.