Chapter One
Orion
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The training a soldier goes through consists of countless hours of drills, combat simulations and physical conditioning, along with mental exercises, battle theory and procedures during a battle. Not only do they learn about what their own army is capable of, but what the enemy is capable of. The weapons, tactics, number of strongholds and forces are all valuable information. Knowing the communication of the enemy is key to a successful campaign.
Code words and signals are commonly used to keep commands simple and secret. The true enemy of any war is disinformation. If a group moving into enemy territory hears an uncertain sound it will give them pause. Is it the sound of retreat? Attack? Is it an ambush? Reinforcements? For Orion of the Jacinth, he discovered the meaning of the horn he heard. The four other angelic beings surrounding him all glanced at one another for answers.
The horn sounded out of the deep, two short blasts then one long call reverberated through the enormous cave they entered into when they gave chase to the small group they found spying on their camp. “Get back quickly,” he told the others, waiting for them to get ahead and he tucked in behind covering the rear.
“What is it Orion?” the one closest to him asked. Orion’s answer was drowned out by an earth shattering roar. The stalactites crowning down from the cave system fell all around the fleeing angels. The one in the front had thrown a guiding light above himself so the others could see their way. The pillars of stone were crashing all around, the angels dodging effortlessly with their superior agility.
As the mouth of the cave came into sight, a rhythmic vibration was becoming stronger and louder as they ran out in the natural light the stars provided. When Orion burst through the cave he shouted orders to his soldiers, “Angus, magnify! Everyone, shield the entrance! We need to send for help before that beast breaks loose!” The one named Angus quickly moved his hands in a practiced motion and the other four glowed briefly with a yellow shimmer. They pushed their hands forward and an enormous dome made of starlight covered the entrance and the better part of the cave protruding out of the ground.
“Donovan! Get to the camp!” Orion shouted over his shoulder. Before the silver clad Donovan could respond a burst of dust filled the dome, followed by the ground lurching up causing the starlight shield to dazzle and quake. The impact was strangely muffled by the shield and it settled back into the original dome shape. Donovan and another of the angels fell to their knees, straining to concentrate on keeping the shield together. Their wings dug into the ground to hold themselves up. “Donovan! I said go!” Orion repeated. “Sir, it needs to be you,” Donovan said, the rush of noise becoming eerily quiet. “He isn’t wrong,” said Ramore.
“Ramore, Donovan, don’t do this. I need to stay…” Orion was interrupted by a distortion in the shield. Ramore dropped to his knees, leaving only Orion and Angus standing. “We don’t have time to debate,” Ivan strained to say from his knees. “Whatever has come for us, we will hold it until you come back with help. Godspeed brother” Angus flew into the air, drawing his sword in a pattern onto the sky. Slowly, the pattern was etched in a golden script. When it was complete the writing turned red and a pillar of light descended onto the protective dome. The four holding the shield released it just before the beam of light hit.
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The impact caused a plume of smoke to shoot upwards, the ground rumbled and a force pushed over the long grass a hundred meters away from the blast site. The three on the ground planted their wings in front of them and braced for the impact. Orion fought his natural urge to stay and fight with his brethren and in a single bound, took to the sky. He was able to leap up high enough to avoid the sonic wave, soaring as fast as his wings would carry him and made straight way towards his camp, not sparing a glance back towards the battle that would be under way.
Orion realized his hubris when the camp came into view. Flames were licking the night sky while the few who were left alive fought on. There were five squads of five before Orion and his men gave chase when they discovered something off in the distance spying on them. They never did catch up enough to see who was under the cloaks, but they were unnatural in movement and swift. The enemies at the camp were clear as he descended like a hawk, tucking his wings in for a dive bomb.
He took out the Pit Fiend that was about to finish off one of the angels. Orion landed hard, but he was able to tuck in and roll off some of the momentum, The Pit Fiend roared in fury at the disruption of his imminent victory. “Jordan, can you fight?” he asked his wounded commander. He answered with a powerful dash forward and cleaving the Pit Fiend asunder with a barrage of lightning fast attacks, falling to the ground dead. “Thank you lad. What happened?” The angel named Jordan asked.
“This was all a trap. We need to get everyone and get back to help the others. There was something beneath the earth and we couldn’t hold it off.” The conversation was interrupted by a HellHound pouncing on Jordan from behind. He rolled with the pounce in a smooth motion, but the hound remained latched onto his left wing. It gave a ravage tear and a chunk of feathers came loose, followed by a gush of blood. Jordan grunted through the pain and kicked it back a few meters. A bolt made of pure light was thrown out from the injured messenger and eviscerated the hind quarters of the HellHound, followed up by Orion striking down the beast with a powerful kick from above.
“You must know the truth,” Jordan said through clenched teeth. “Your brother…” Jordan trailed off when something behind Orion got his attention. His olive skin went pale and his wings drooped in shock. Orion turned around to find a dragon taking off and circling where he had just left. The red scales could be seen as a cone of dragon fire was shot towards the ground. It roared as light darted from the ground and struck it in the face, the flames on the ground causing a distant and dim glow. It would have made a beautiful picture if not for the fact his friends were in the midst of those flames.
Orion conjured a trumpet with a flicker of golden light and sounded out a simple tune. It was the sound for all able body warriors to take flight and target the greatest threat. There were seventeen messengers from the Gates of Heaven that took flight. Orion signaled the charge with his trumpet and they all flew off towards the Red Dragon to try and save their men and stop the threat. As they closed in on the great beast, it turned and faced the new challenge. With a few giant flaps of its wings it was much further above the rest of them. A gravelly grumble echoed from the dragon's chest as it inhaled and it shot out a spiral flame right towards the group in the air.
A moment before the flames met the angels, Adam shot up in terror and fell off the couch onto the floor. His wife Rae scrambled out of the kitchen to see what happened. He was sweating and panting hard, staring off into the middle distance replaying the dream in his head.
“What happened?” Rae asked as she reached her husband. “I must have dozed off,” He said. “Well I could have told you that,” she giggled, “I heard you snoring over the TV and the dishwasher running. You really need to consider cutting out all that chocolate.” Adam ignored her as they both took a seat on the couch. He took a few deep breaths to try and calm himself.
Rae waited for Adam to get his bearings straight. Being married for almost eight years now she was used to the process. He would usually wake suddenly and stare at the ground or the wall for a few minutes with his eyes closed. Keeping his eyes closed helped him replay the dream as much as possible. Most of the time he didn’t bother talking about any of them, simply for the fact of how violent and graphic they tended to be.
“Lord, that was crazy,” Adam mumbled to himself. He leaned in for a long side hug, resting his head on his wife's head, “Love you, hun.” He stood up and made his way to the bedroom. “Love you too. Do you need anything?” He turned and flashed her a smile and a wink. “Go to bed. I’ll join you shortly,” She said, going back to her project in the kitchen.