***
Lucifer paced impatiently in his command tent. Three months into the march, and the angels had insisted on waiting for Jehovah. His brother Michael was taking the brunt of his rant.
“He told us to stop,” Michael said, white wings flaring behind him. “He’s bringing something from Order. He says it will help, and we need to train the men in how to use it.”
“We’re falling behind,” Lucifer explained. “If we don’t pick up our pace, we won’t be able to take the high ground before Eranos arrives.”
“He’s bringing a weapon, Lucifer,” Michael said. “He’s invented a type of combustible substance for this atmosphere and a synthetic compound that …”
“What?”
“He says he has invented a compound that can rip through immortals.”
“You mean like zinanbar?” Lucifer asked.
“Except lighter,” Michael said. “Light enough for mortal creatures to carry. Less mass. Just as deadly.”
Lucifer sat down on the packed earth and rubbed his face with his hands. “So, now mortals can shoot us from ranged positions?”
Michael nodded and squatted beside him. “I fear we’re becoming expendable.”
“Has he shown you his creations yet?” Lucifer asked. “The creatures with souls?”
“No,” Michael said. “But that doesn’t surprise me. He stopped teaching us pattern magic years ago. Times have changed, and I guess the plans have changed along with them.”
“And so have his promises,” Lucifer said. “Didn’t he snag you from us with the promise of magical training?”
“I’m fairly decent at wizardry,” Michael replied defensively. “I just don’t know how to push myself further. I want to be more useful to him.”
Lucifer’s frown deepened. “Were you like this before you went into the Halls? Wanting to please him, I mean.”
“If you’re worried about Batarel, don’t be. He’ll be given the same choice as anyone else. Accept Jehovah or live without him forever.”
“Sounds like a cult.”
“Maybe it is, but I belong.”
Anne waddled over with Gaea in tow. Three months pregnant, and she was showing.
“How’s my boy doing?”
“I’m not sure, but he sure seems to be moving around a lot.” Anne blew a red lock of hair from her eyes.
“I envy him,” Lucifer said, winking at Michael.
“Hello, Anne,” Michael said. “You’re looking beautiful, as always.”
“Oh, you’re a sweetheart,” Anne said.
She started to sit down next to Lucifer, but Gaea stopped her before throwing two pillows down.
“Ground’s too hard,” Gaea said. “Be careful.”
“He’s an immortal child,” Anne said. “He’s causing me more pain in there than I can possibly cause him through all this fat.”
“You look lovely, dear,” Lucifer said.
She glared at him. “This is all your fault.”
He laughed and put his head on her belly. “Listen, Chris. Some words of wisdom coming to you now from your dear old dad. One day, you’re going to be seduced by a woman in a lake, and she’ll blame you for the rest of your life.”
Anne pushed him from her lap and made a sour face, but a cackle forced its way past her lips.
“Has he started talking yet?” Lucifer asked.
“He’s not even out of the womb yet, you dolt!” Anne said.
“Well, I figured with your smarts, he might be an early starter.”
“Oh, you’re good,” Gaea said from nearby.
A commotion reached their ears from the camps below, and Michael stood up and walked to the side of the knoll. He raised his wings and bent them into twisted shapes before illuminating them in a sequence.
“Who taught you signaling?” Lucifer said.
“I learned it at the Alurabum Academy,” Michael said. “As a mid-tier officer, you are forced to acquire that kind of skill.”
“I didn’t mean anything by it.”
“I know.”
“Well, what did they say?”
“Jehovah’s here. He’s coming up.”
Lucifer stood up and helped Anne to her feet. Gaea followed suit.
Not far away, a gaggle of blurps and gurgles could be heard, and Lucifer smiled. Apparently, some fish-heads were headed to the knoll. As they came into view, Lucifer noticed they were holding sticks and pumping them into the air. He started walking toward them, and Anne followed. As he got closer, he noticed that they weren’t sticks. They were guns.
“Look at what Jehovah gave us,” Sal called to him.
He pointed the gun into the air and pulled the trigger to fire a round, but his webbed fingers appeared to get caught, and the gun swung around, peppering the ground with bullets. Lucifer reached back with his hands, grabbed Anne, and formed his wings into a shield behind him. He picked her up and tucked her legs into him so he could cover her with his torso.
Dirt and blades of grass kicked up into his face as the errant firing continued for over ten seconds. He could hear a struggle and gurgled yells behind him, and then the crack of the gun stopped. Lucifer summoned his swords.
“Are you OK?” he asked Anne, who was grasping her belly and clenching a fist around a knife.
She wiped away an errant tear and nodded. “Yeah... Thanks to you and those wings being out front... Otherwise… I…,” she pointed at her stomach and reclenched her fists. “We might not be.”
He put her down and began pivoting around, but his leg gave out from under him. “What the hell?”
He tried to stand but was unable. Underneath him, a pool of blood soaked into the dirt and grass. He angrily punched his wings into the ground, lifted himself and prepared for the worst.
He raised his left leg and put his finger through the hole in his pants. The wound oozed a fresh stream of blood. It had missed bone, and he had much better scars than this one would ever be, but as he looked down at his mate sobbing and imagined a hole like this being punched through her belly, he went into a rage.
“Jehovah!” Lucifer screamed to the sky before dismissing his weapons, crashing his wings into the ground and launching himself over the cowering fish-heads.
Jehovah was still wearing a lab coat and talking to a pair of assistants, and the sight of the scientists incensed Lucifer further. Jehovah and his minions had a habit of trying to kill, gas, or maim him since his imprisonment on Earth, and it was time the tables were turned. In Order, Jehovah was a god. Here in Chaos, he was just another wizard. Batarel had told him so.
He rocketed at the unsuspecting immortal, catching him in the chest with his good leg. They tumbled together down the hill past the assistants.
“You bastard!” Lucifer screamed over and over. “You could have killed us!”
“Lucifer,” Michael called from uphill. “Stop!”
Lucifer kicked Jehovah into a rock, and the dazed god conjured a shield in front of him.
“Jehovah,” Michael said as he impacted into the ground and rolled. “One of the fish-heads accidentally unloaded about fifty rounds into the campsite, hitting Lucifer and nearly wounding Anne and the baby.”
“Hitting Anne and the what?” Jehovah stammered.
Lucifer pointed his swords at Jehovah. “You almost killed my future queen and son by giving those monstrosities to untrained men. My own friends opened fire on me.”
Anne waddled down the hill with Gaea in hot pursuit.
Jehovah watched them get closer and shook his head. “But you’re not even married yet. How is this possible?”
“You don’t have to be married to have a kid,” Lucifer said.
“Jehovah,” Gaea chided him, “there isn’t a single animal in all of Order that requires marriage to conceive. I would know. I watch over them all.”
“No,” Jehovah said. “I mean this wasn’t supposed to happen until after they got married. The wedding never happened.”
He stared at her stomach, a
nd Lucifer moved in between them.
“Train your men and keep them away from my family with those guns. You’ve already taken a piece of me. That should be enough.”
Jehovah chuckled as he regained his feet. “Attack me like that again, and a flesh wound will be the least of your worries.”
Jehovah dropped his shield and pushed aside Lucifer’s blade. He shook his head as he approached Anne.
“Where’s my father?” Anne asked, still protecting her belly with a hand.
“He’s on his way,” Jehovah said, his eyes tracking her stomach as he walked past. “He was released from his container the moment I crossed into Chaos.”
Michael wrapped his arm around his brother. “I’ll make sure the men receive proper training once a day. This was an accident. Nothing more.”
“Yeah,” Lucifer said. “But I get the feeling it was almost a happy accident. Did you see his reaction to the news of my son?”
“I’m sure he didn’t mean anything by it,” Gaea said. “He’s just under a lot of stress.”
“Stress caused by his plans not coming to fruition,” Lucifer said. “I’m just wondering why one of his plans involved my child.”