Pursuit of the Zodiacs (25 page)

Pharisees replied, “Interesting, he can enter an unconscious mind; and Virgo, as I discovered, can enter one’s conscious mind. They must never meet. I’m afraid those two would be unstoppable together.”

Justus asked, “Virgo?”

Pharisees answered, “Yes. She seems to be the whore of Lucifer himself, and her gifts are great. One glance from her, and you’re rendered a helpless as a child, so beware of her telekinetic capabilities. By the time I pried Abdeel from her clutches, he was almost as incompetent as a mule.”

Abdeel, embarrassed, replied, “Thanks for sharing that, Pharisees.”

“I meant no disrespect, Brother. But there’s a good chance that she knows our whereabouts and our current strategies,” Pharisees replied.

Unsettled, their Guide spoke, “Great, just what I need. I must relocate.”

Pharisees asked, “Any luck from that psychic?”

Justus added, “Correction: ‘Witch.’”

Timius replied, “Justus, your quarrel with that woman is over. Despite your differences with her, before her death, we did get some informative insight about the next Zodiac’s location.”

Ozias queried, “Death?”

Justus answered, “Yes, that Witch tried to kill me and had to be eradicated.”

Abdeel said, “Alright, let’s stay focused. Pharisees could be right. We must relocate to Rome. The Reader stated that’s where Aries is hiding.”

The lights went off in their hideaway. Everyone went quiet. The Guide enabled his emergency lights. His security cameras detected hundreds of Demons outside the safe house. Pharisees recognized the forerunner leading the attack and pointed him out on one of the surveillance cameras. “The one with the red markings on his arms is the one who led the attack back at the Judgment Realm.”

Each hid by a window with weapons drawn.

“Are you certain of this?” Ozias whispered, crouching next to a window ready to engage.

Pharisees said, “Quite certain, my Brother.”

Their gifts alone couldn’t match the numbers gathered outside their hideout.

Abdeel said, “Quick, Timius, how long will it take to make a Gateway out of here?”

Timius answered, “There won’t be enough time. They will have breached by the time I’m halfway through.”

The Guide said, “Quick! Come quietly and follow me.”

With his automatic weapon in hand and loyal guard dog by his side, the Guide led them to a well-hidden secret chamber door in his library. Pharisees’ fear regarding Abdeel’s dilemma with Virgo had come to pass. The Demons knew all corners of the safe house. As they entered the chamber, they heard glass shattering and footsteps as the Demons breached the front door.

The balcony windows of the library shattered, and they heard more footsteps. The Guide opened fire with his automatic special weapon. His bullets contained holy water. The water exploded on the Demons, burning away vast swaths of flesh upon impact.

This slowed down the Demons enough so The Pursuers could make their escape. Pharisees teleported from Demon to Demon, delivering headshots with his laser weapon while Timius used his punishing flying guillotine axe. With the push of a button from its handle, it blasted toward his enemy. The golden chains attached to it allowed it to return to its host by another push of the same button. He incorporated the guillotine axe with his Dimension Spawning Gift that contained a black hole in its blade, delivering his victim’s head to another Dimension. Irisan stood on the second floor balcony of the library piercing the flesh of Demons with her poisoned tipped arrows fired from her crossbow. Justus brutally levitated his challengers into the slicing force of Abdeel’s water assaults.

The Guide yelled, “Come on! Let’s move!”

But, before the others could react, more Demons appeared. They came from the same secret chamber door of the library. As they slaughtered one battalion group, more emerged to take their place, as if they came from the cracks of the walls.

The fight took more of a toll on Pharisees than anyone else, as it brought back memories of his apprehension in the Judgment Realm.

Irisan landed hard onto a desk from the balcony. Her body, thus knocked unconscious, was retrieved by the Guide.

As Pharisees warned, the Demon with the red markings on his arm stood on the balcony where Irisan had fallen. He shouted above the den of battle, “Relinquish your weapons and suspend your gifts! You are outnumbered and completely surrounded!”

The fighting ceased, and The Pursuers awaited words from Abdeel, the Archangel currently in charge of the group.

Timius whispered, “Where is Ozias?”

Pharisees answered, “Worry not. He hides in plain sight. I witnessed him shapeshift into one of them to evade capture.”

Abdeel, seeing the increasing numbers of Demons, yelled, “We’ll die before we kneel before you, Devil!” He spoke to Timius. “Timius, we’ll provide cover while you make a Gateway out of here.”

The fighting commenced. The Pursuers heard the Devil in charge of the invasion shout “A reward to whoever brings me Abdeel’s head!”

Jacob and Mileck, reached out to the Dark Graduates, and an Alignment was called into session. The Dark Graduates consisted of Representatives from all parts of the Universe. This was not the first time the Dark Graduates had to be Aligned. Similar events in the past had called them together.

Noah, Chairman of the Dark Graduates, greeted everyone in attendance and officially called the Session to order.

Jacob announced to the Dark Graduates, “I’m just going to get right to it. The Pursuit of the Zodiacs has begun.”

Jordan, a Dark Graduate and a Representative from the Planet Venus, stood up in front of the multitude in the Council and spoke, “Again? My people are still in the process of rebuilding from the last one!”

Before Jacob could comment, the entire room broke out into arguments between Representatives and Council Members. Many had suffered great losses ever since the last Pursuit of the Zodiacs decades ago.

Noah spoke, “I will have order in this hall! I will not stand here and allow infighting amongst the Dark Graduates. We prevailed in the first Pursuit. We will prevail in this one! We must go over what went wrong with the last Pursuit and what we can do to prevent any unfortunate mistakes in the prosecution of the one now under way.”

After getting the attention of everyone in the hall, Jacob opened the floor for discussion. The first to speak was Noah. “Upon a Zodiac’s death, without warning, their Ruling Planet undergoes a violent period that causes catastrophic events. Not much can be done about that, but we can do something about the illegal gun exchange between these time-traveling merchants. They’ve profited the most from these wars. Illegal time-travel soared to an all-time high. We’ve put a few to death, but the damage had already been done before we knew what took place. We must secure all borders. We cannot allow the exchange of Super Weapons between the black market merchants and People of the Future.”

Naum, the Representative from Planet Jupiter, spoke next. “What about the Children of Time? I’m reminded of the great service they did for us during the last Pursuit.” Others agreed with his sarcastic remark. He continued, “The Children of Time are the ones responsible for time itself. How they allowed these criminals to go rampant through time is preposterous.”

Noah broke in, “Whoa! Let’s not blame the Children of Time for what happened. They’ve detected every breach. It’s not their fault we failed to apprehend all of the offenders.”

Genesis, the Representative for the Planet Uranus, spoke, “Forgive me, but we are drifting away from the issue at hand. God has made his decision. This Pursuit will go on whether we agree to it or not. We must prepare for the worst and let His will be done.”

Aru, the Representative for the People of the Sun, added, “That’s easy for you to say, Genesis. Your people took the smallest hit during the last war. My people will never be the same after that damn Pursuit. I demand that we set up a meeting with the one who sanctioned this Pursuit of the Zodiacs.”

“Are you mad? This means you are already insulting His judgment. Our job here is to abide by His rule and make sure countless lives are not lost in the process,” Genesis said.

Aru responded, “Your logic shows cowardice. We already insult His judgment every time we meet here. He should be here clarifying his actions.”

Both Aru and Genesis’s forces arose from their seats and argued.

Noah pounded his gavel to restore order. “That’s enough! Aru, there will be no insults here. Everyone, we must come to a compromise.”

Lucius, the Representative for Planet Mercury, signaled that he wanted to speak and was given the floor. “I must confess, I will not leave here contented knowing that my Planet is in jeopardy. The news alone will bring a greater tribulation than the Pursuit itself. This news will be like a cancer, and it will spread throughout the Galaxy. War between all of us will be certain again unless we come to a compromise, as the Honorable Chairman suggested.”

Saturn, the Representative of the Planet Saturn, spoke next. “Representative Lucius is right. We must avoid war at all costs. We must prepare for whatever sacrifices that will suffice if Mosqidou succeeds. Even if I myself stand as one of those casualties, our job is to make sure we are right with God, so when the time comes, we will attain Immortality.”

Ephron, the Representative for the People of the Moon, asked the question many were thinking. “Not to cast doubt here, but what if The Pursuers do not succeed? What shall become of this place if Lucifer succeeded in forming this alliance between the Zodiacs?

Genesis said, “I can’t believe what I’m hearing. What if they don’t succeed? Are you serious?”

Vaniah, the Representative from Pluto, added, “It’s a risk we all would have to take. I have to side with Lucius. There must be no word of this beyond these walls, or war is inevitable.”

Chair Noah, the final arbiter of the Dark Graduates, spoke, “It’s settled. There will be no more word of this outside these walls. Anyone in violation will be considered a traitor and punishment, as we all know, will be death! We will await our fate. Your only job is to turn your heads from this Pursuit of the Zodiacs and leave it up to God.”

All were in favor of the judgment except for Aru, Representative for the People of the Sun. Not pleased with his objection being overruled, he had to abide by the terms or forfeit his own life. The meeting of the Dark Graduates closed.

BACK IN NEW YORK CITY

Cancer, along with Levi, Simeon and Zodeen, exited the Gateway. However, their return home wasn’t what they expected. Half a mile away, Zodeen’s gift sprung into action. His danger sense resonated throughout his body. They snuck to the top of a hill, peered over it, and saw hundreds of Demons surrounding their hideout.

Zodeen asked, “How is that possible?”

Simeon answered, “Our traitor must have led them right to us.”

Cancer interjected, “What? There’s a traitor amongst us? When was I going to be informed?”

Levi whispered, “Shhh! I hear combat. We must help our Brothers!”

As Levi stood up, Simeon grabbed his arm. “Hold on, I have the perfect weapon for this situation.”

Simeon froze time, and everything around him stood motionless as he sketched his weapon of choice on his shield. After his End of Time Gift expired, a portal formed, and he pulled his work of art out of his shield.