Until We Break (31 page)

Ev took his seat at what he assumed was the captain’s chair. It was very comfortable, and for the first time since leaving the Academy, he allowed himself to relax. He may have been completely exhausted, but he was content.

The others—who were gathered around him—weren’t thinking about the chairs. “Weird,” Jaysin said.

“You said it,” CiCi said.

Maya surveyed the room and then said, “Computer?”

The AI politely replied, “My designation is Ragnarok.”

“OK,
Ragnarok
. Where are all the computer consoles? In the old Star Explorers series, the bridge had one in front of every chair on the bridge.”

“Never figured you for a sci-fi fan,” Ev said.

She shrugged. “My dad liked it.”

Ragnarok responded, “Most functions are handled by me. Simply tell me what you want to do, and I will comply. The role of non-command crew members is to provide energy for the ship.”

“How does that happen?” Daryn said.

“Automatically. I have been siphoning off your energy since you became my new crew.”

Daryn looked nervous. “I don’t think I like that.”

“I assure you, it is not dangerous. I do not take more than your body produces.”

“But there are only five of us,” Ev said. “Do you have enough energy to run the ship?”

“The previous crew installed solar panels along the hull. I have been able to put away ample energy in my reserves.”

Ev nodded, satisfied. “Good. Activate the forward view screen.” An image of the Dokiu skyline appeared in front of them. “Initiate cloak. Damn, I always wanted to say that.” The ship hummed lightly.

“Cloak engaged,” Ragnarok said.

“All right. All crew, take your seats.” They did so. “Ragnarok, take us to Mt. Orleia.”

 
“Understood. Traveling there now.”

* * *

Soon they were staring at the imposing mountain crags of Mt. Orleia.

“Ragnarok,” Ev said. “Open hailing frequencies.” He then added, “Another thing I always wanted to say.”

“I do not understand. Please restate the command.”

Ev groaned slightly. “I want to talk to the people inside the mountain to, you know, let them know we’re not the enemy. They’re probably freaking out right now.”

“I am detecting a primitive radio inside. I can commandeer local frequencies to let you send a message.”

“Fine. That’ll work.”

After a moment, Ragnarok said, “Frequencies commandeered. You may transmit your message.”

Ev cleared his throat. “Attention, Divine Protector Academy. This is Ev Bannen. My team and I have taken control of this ship. Do not be alarmed. We are allies. I repeat, we are allies. We won the God Games and have obtained the location of Zero Grade’s base. We will now be coming in. Over.” He turned to his friends. “Was that good? I wanted it to sound good.”

“It sounded very good,” Maya said.

Getting up from his oh-so-comfy chair, Ev said, “All right. Time to receive our heroes’ welcome.”

* * *

They touched down inside the hangar. “We’re back!” Ev triumphantly declared.

But there was no one there to greet them. “Hello?” Maya called. “Anyone home?”

“Where is everyone?” Jaysin said.

“Beats me,” Daryn said.

“Maybe they didn’t get our message,” CiCi suggested.

Suddenly, Bethos, Brandon and Freya burst into the hangar. “Thank goodness you’re all right!” Freya said.

Within moments they were face to face.

“Yeah,” Ev said, not quite sure what to make of this. “What’s going on?”

“Didn’t you feel it?” Bethos said. There was a hint of panic in his voice, very uncharacteristic for the Academy president.

“Feel what?” Maya asked.

Brandon explained, “There was a light from the sky. This is going to sound crazy, but we think it came from the moon.”

“The moon?” CiCi said.

Ev immediately knew what it meant. “Zero Grade.”

Bethos stared at him. “What?”

“Zero Grade’s base is on the moon. They must have launched an attack in case their side lost the God Games. That must be what damaged the
Midgard
. I’m guessing the ship’s shielding protected us.”

“That’s not the worst part,” Brandon said. “That light took away our powers.”

 
“What are you saying?” Ev said.

“I’m saying everyone at the Academy is as helpless as a mortal right now.”

To be continued.

Afterword

I published
God School
on December 9, 2014, and the reception was positive. It has already sold better than all my other novels combined, which makes me hopeful for the future of this series. As I write this, I’m getting ready to send
Incident 27
into beta mode, get it edited, and commission a cover for it. These three steps are
vital
for a successful book launch. Thankfully, Amazon has made this easier by enabling indie authors such as myself to put our books up for pre-order, something I wasn’t able to do before
God School
. Getting pre-orders is a good way to gauge interest in your novel, and I love it.

Let’s get on to the what, when, where, why and how of this novel, starting with the story.
Until We Break
is much longer than
God School
and
Incident 27
, and that’s the way I wanted it. I had been building up this epic story from the very beginning, and it begins to culminate here. You see, in
God School
, Zero Grade was present, but they were overshadowed by Belial and his machinations. In
Incident 27
, I gave them a bigger presence, but they still weren’t the ultimate nemeses I needed them to eventually be.

Enter
Until We Break
. I had been planning the next great god war for quite some time, and I knew it had to be big and dark. I decided to kill off Ev’s mother to bring the point home that the Flawless Few are irredeemably evil and they mean business. I also wanted to show the consequences of Ev’s actions in
Incident 27
and fulfill Priscilia’s promise that “the killing has only just begun.” I knew there had to be serious casualties in this war, or else you wouldn’t buy into it. Hopefully, you feel I succeeded and are ready to see what happens next.

Let’s talk characters now. I introduced a lot of new faces in this book, and you might be wondering just where the hell Carnaval came from. Well, “Carnivàl” was the original name of Zero Grade. But my beta reader on
God School
said it sounded festive rather than evil, so I changed the name. I felt “Zero Grade” sounded dark, mysterious, and, above all, cool, so I went with it. But the idea of festive bad guys still appealed to me, so I decided Carnaval would make an appearance in the third book. I introduced Loki and the
Midgard
in
Incident 27
with the intent to have them play a bigger role later on.

Speaking of new characters—in this book I delved into more obscure gods than I had previously. In this story, I shed some light on lesser-known deities such as Izanagi and Izanami, their children, as well as some Norse gods you may never have heard of. I also got to dive further into Celtic mythology and bring you
Fionn mac Cumhaill, the legendary hero of the
Tuatha Dé Danann whom I referenced in
God School
. Being of Scottish decent, I have a particular fondness for anything Celtic, and it’s always a pleasure to explore that area.

But as much fun as it was to create new characters, it was a huge challenge creating the other elements of the story. I feel confident in stating this has been my most challenging novel to write, mostly because of the God Games. I had to create a series of unique events for my heroes and villains to participate in. This turned out to be pretty hard, as the events themselves needed to be both interesting and fun to read. Without a doubt, the hardest event to create was hezball. I had touched on this sport briefly in
Incident 27
, and at the time, I had no intention coming up with rules for it. But for this book, I decided to really challenge myself and create a new sport that could actually be played in real life. What I ultimately came up with was this amalgam of football, basketball, soccer and rugby. If you’re reading this right now, hopefully you liked the finish product. If not…*shrugs*

At any rate, I’m proud of what I have managed to accomplish with this series thus far. I’m planning on finishing the war with the next volume, so stay tuned and enjoy. And, as always, thank you for your patronage.

--April 2015

First Look

Where Gods Dare

Warden Jane stood in the Control Center, an odd mix of fury and excitement building within her. Part of her was enraged at the audacity being displayed here, yet another part was thrilled someone had the guts to try this.

The room itself was darkly lit with most of the light coming from the video screens and computer monitors lined up along the far wall. People sat at small desks in front of said equipment, typing information and manipulating the camera feeds.

“I want good news, and I want it now,” Jane said.

“We’ve identified one of the culprits,” one of the operators said from his station. “It’s former Zero Grade officer Minerva.” Two images appeared side-by-side on the screens in front of her. One was an older photo of Minerva, while the second one was a screen capture from a few moments ago.

Tsk
. “Figures it would be her. She always was a troublemaker,” Jane said. “What about the other one?”

“It appears to be the unknown prisoner we brought in a little while ago. There are no matches in the prison records.”

Jane replied, “Expand the scope. Search the entire Zero Grade database.”

After a few moments, he said, “Facial recognition software has found a match. Minerva’s partner is the Level 5 criminal Ev Bannen. He’s wanted for trespassing, theft, destruction of Zero Grade property, and murder. He was last seen in his assault on Olympus, but his ship was destroyed by our defenses.” Images of Bannen appeared on the screens.

“Seems he survived,” she said, a slight smile forming upon her lips.

The images changed to show Minerva and Bannen running down a flight of stairs accompanied by their ever-growing army of prisoners. Jane tensed; exciting or not, the Flawless Few wouldn’t tolerate such a failure on her part. She needed to contain the situation ASAP.

“I’ll go,” Ophion said. He had been standing next to her, silently watching events unfold. “I’ve been wanting to kill that pooslicker ever since he showed up here. I’ll take the Serpents and make quick work of them.” They were his elite guard detail.

 
“Make sure you take Minerva alive. She’s still a high-ranking god.”

He sneered. “Don’t worry about that. I can still rough her up, can’t I?”

Jane nodded. “Just as long as she doesn’t die. Bannen you can do with as you please.”

He slithered out of the Control Center, a sadistic look on his face. He would enjoy this.

Of that, she had no doubt.

* * *

Ev and Minerva had to pass through Level 15 to get to Level Z. They soon found themselves in the prison cafeteria. It was noticeably empty; most of the prisoners they had freed were busy rioting on other levels. Only a handful had accompanied the two this far.

“All right,” Minerva said. “All we have to do is get through here. From then on, it’s a short walk to the elevator which goes directly to Level Z.”

“Should be easy,” Ev said.

“Don’t get cocky. Warden Jane still has a few tricks up her sleeve.”

He didn’t like the sound of that. “Like what?”

As if to answer his question, a ceiling panel suddenly dropped, along with a green figure. The newcomer landed behind one of the prisoners and, to Ev’s horror, shot out a long tongue which impaled the prisoner through the head. The now-dead man fell to the floor in a bloody heap.

Before Ev knew what was happening, four other similar figures began popping out of the walls, floor and ceiling from previously-unseen spaces. In short order, the prisoners who had accompanied them were wiped out.

The last assailant to appear was Ophion, the bastard with a stick up his ass. “So good to see you both.”

“How’d you get here so quickly?” Ev asked him.

“Wasn’t so hard. We saw you going deeper into the ship, so it didn’t take a genius to figure out you were headed to Level Z. Why else would you have gone to the trouble of infiltrating this prison if not to break out our most dangerous prisoners?”

Ev said to Minerva, “Who are these other guys? More guards?”

She shook her head. “Not just any guards. They’re the Serpents, Warden Jane’s best.” She began pointing at each one. “Besides Ophion, there’s Dahomey, Orochi, Waugyl and Typhon. We have to be extremely careful here.”

Dahomey was a good six and a half feet tall with slick blond hair and bulging muscles. Orochi was a good deal shorter with short black hair and slender eyes; he appeared to be the same ethnicity as Izanagi and Izanami. Waugyl was several inches taller than him and sandy-colored dredlocks. And, finally, Typhon was deathly pale, seemingly emaciated, with scant scraggly ash-colored hair. Ev swore he could see every bone on the man’s body sticking out. Typhon was the one who had impaled the prisoner through the head.

All of the Serpents had oily, disgusting skin with scales. Otherwise, they looked like sick humans. Each of them swayed back and forth like snakes, though, and as their tongues darted in and out of their mouths, Ev had the unsettling feeling they could strike at any moment.

“I’ve been looking forward to this,” Ophion said. He opened his mouth to give a twisted smile, and Ev saw his teeth for the first time. No, they were more like curved fangs, exactly as a snake would have. Ev wondered if they were filled with venom.

“Can we begin?” Dahomey hissed.

“Yes,” Ophion said. “I think we can.”

Ev turned to Minerva. “I don’t suppose you know their weaknesses?”

But Ophion yelled, “Enough talk! Now we
play
.”

Dahomey leapt at Ev, his body contorting in ways impossible for a human. He came down on Ev, locking onto his shoulders with powerful hands before exposing his fangs.

Perhaps reading his mind, Minerva said, “Don’t let them bite you! They’re full of venom just like real snakes.”

Dahomey tried to chomp Ev’s neck. Ev moved his head left and right to dodge and the snake man just bit air. He tried to pry Dahomey’s hands off of him, but they were a vise.

After several moments of this, Ev decided if the guy wanted his head, he could have it. Ev reeled back and headbutted him, sending him reeling. He then conjured his gauntlets and drove his fist deep into Dahomey’s face, resulting in a satisfying crunch from his nose.

Ev spared a glance at Minerva who was trying to hold off Orochi and Waugyl. Both Serpents seemed eager to sink their fangs into her.

Unfortunately, he didn’t have time to help her. Dahomey came back at him with a vengeance, but now he was joined by Typhon. Ev punched at the latter, but he twisted his body like a real snake, nimbly dodging Ev’s attacks.

Ev realized his mistake too late; he had been focusing on Typhon and not enough on Dahomey who grabbed his head with both hands and began squeezing. A wave of pain shot through Ev while his skull was being crushed.

He couldn’t see, and Dahomey’s grip was too tight to pry loose, so Ev swung his fists blindly. When he felt them connect with Dahomey’s face, his kept at it, pounding away furiously. Eventually, the big man let go and Ev could see again.

He didn’t have time to breathe, though. Typhon came at him again, and Ev still couldn’t land a hit on the nimble lowlife. “Too ssssslow,” Typhon said.

Suddenly, Typhon’s head shot forward, his neck elongating in a disgusting display. He bared his fangs and tried to bite Ev.

But, sensing an opportunity, Ev let him get in close before sidestepping the attack. Typhon’s eyes displayed surprise and anger, but Ev wouldn’t give him time to contemplate those feelings. Ev grabbed his extended neck; it felt like slimy rubber in his hands. Nevertheless, he held on tight, resisting Typhon’s attempts to wriggle free. “Let go!” Typhon hissed.

“Nothing doing,” Ev replied.

Typhon tried moving his head toward Ev to bite him, but couldn’t quite manage it. Ev had a firm grip, and he wasn’t about to pass up this chance. So he twisted the neck in his arms and began swinging Typhon about. Around and around they went, picking up speed with each rotation.

In between spins, Ev noticed Dahomey coming at him again. Well, if he wanted some physical contact, Ev would oblige him. Ev abruptly let go, and Typhon flew into Dahomey, sending both of them careening into the far wall. There was a dull thud as they collided with the sturdy bulkhead, resulting in only a slight indentation. The walls here must have been made of a very strong metal to withstand such an impact. In any event, those two showed no signs of getting back up.

Ev turned his attention back to Minerva, who had downed Waugyl, but was being held by Orochi. “Why don’t you pick on someone your own size?” Ev had always wanted to say that.

“Have it your way,” Orochi said. He then charged forward at a speed Ev wasn’t expecting, baring his fangs like all the rest of these crazy snake men. Ev didn’t have time to dodge, so he brought up his arms to block. Orochi sank his fangs into them, and Ev thought he was done for.

He wasn’t.

Orochi howled in pain, and Ev saw his mouth was bleeding. He looked down at his arm; Orochi’s fangs were imbedded in his gauntlet but had failed to penetrate. They must have broken off when he bit into it.

Ev took advantage of Orochi’s incapacitation by decking him as hard as he could. Like Dahomey and Typhon, he flew backwards into the wall and collapsed.