The Uplift Protocol: Union Prologue

 

The Uplift Protocol: Union

Copyright © 2022 by K..M. Able

All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the author except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. All the characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to those living or dead is coincidental.

Dedication:

To all those who wish for the Superversive! Humanity is Awesome! For old-style heroics! This is for you.

 

Prologue: The Word of Old

 

            Those who seek the Word? Beware of finding it. The Truth comes at a price.—Letters of the Shattering

            Many think time is a river. It is a sea. The waves crash upon the shore. Each cycle brought us closer to Rebirth.—Omu’sol

            The sea. Lucifer never submerged himself. That was left to me. All life flowed from the Divine. Yet even he could not hear it. So he assumed power where he had none. A broken mirror. –Sleeping in Starlight: Convergence Vol 2

Keeper Null Capital Ship Shroud Unending

Eternal Empire Universe

May 9^th, 2116

 

            Chronos watched as the words rippled across the holo screens.

The white sphere before him changed. Becoming black, golden irises pulsated across its surface. The danger of possessing this artifact would change the outcome of this war. Lucifer leaned down. His true form towered over Chronos. Just the way he liked it.

            “What do you see upon that surface dear Director?”

            The Keeper’s large obsidian eyes studied the fallen Angel. He was the perfect specimen. As designed. Golden armor was unblemished. Eyes like burnished yellow suns. A crown of cascading golden hair.

            Chronos replied coldly, “Based on the vibrations? Its message will be different for each of us.” The Lightbringer bowed mockingly.

“But of course! My father so loves his toys.”

Karvax grinned. His eyes flickered miasmic green in the laboratory lights. He drawled, “Want to know what it's saying to me?” He waved his beefy arms around.

BEGGAR KING

CLOTHED IN BLOODY RAGS

UPON THY HEAD A SHARD RESIDES

TO BE DEVOURED

GLUTTONY MARKS YOUR PATH

Lucifer pressed a hand to his hilt. “Yes, that is what Unity is fattening you up for. Pandora was the opening appetizer.”

Karvax grinned wickedly, “As long as I can crush the Golden Bulleteer to dust? I care not what awaits me.” Lilith watched from the ledge overlooking the chamber. None of them realized Lucifer had been Set once upon a time. Unless Unity had desired that outcome. A wave of dread clawed around her heart as the Fallen one gazed up at her.

A cruel smile upon his lips. >>Indeed pretty bird. Do you remember what Unity did to you? I was the only lone voice against it.<<

Lilith’s fingertips bit into the flesh of her palms.

            Pinpricks of memory circled. Beyond her life as Renenutet.

            Satan had seen her as a delight. The others? A defect within the consensus hive mind that was Unity. They had used Lucifer’s former Divinity to storm the gates of Creation itself. She had been excluded shortly after the Shattering. What had he done to be forsaken by Unity? Lilith paled as she gazed at the Word.

HOLLOW CREATURE

LIVING DEATH

TOUCH UPON THE SURFACE

NOT BUT ICE

POXED HEAD DEVOURED WITHIN THE WAVES

            Lilith hissed, “Lies.”

            Lucifer peered into the shifting orb. It was white now. The golden eyes locked onto him.

            No words reached out to him. He paced around it. Golden threads recorded the proclamation of others. The Word would not summon the energy to mock him. Lucifer frowned. He took one look at Sister Nyx. Sensing the Divine within her womb. Why did his father not save such a noble creature? It was a speck within the shriveled corridors of Nyx’s body.

*****

            Chronos linked with Nyx, >>What do the orbs say to you? Something has perturbed the favored son of the Highest.<<

She observed cooly, >>It does nothing for him. Yet proclaims the fate of everyone else that beholds it. I forwarded my findings to your private servers.<<

            He passed by Pyra or was it Pira? The human assassin would prove useful. If only as a distraction. As the iris sealed behind him he brought forth the Word.

THE BLOOD OF INNOCENCE

SPILLED UPON THE THRONE

THOSE OF THE SHADOW FLEE

NO SOUL SHARDS OF THEIR OWN

NO DELIVERANCE

THE MAD KING REIGNS SUPREME ON A TOWER OF BONE

            He would have to summon his daughter. He was under no illusions. He would never sit upon any throne. Neither would the Lightbringer. They all were fair-weather allies at best. He only wished for the source of Creation. That would be provided by Noah’s Ark. He just had to make sure this Murphy girl found it. Then he would activate  Nyx’s gift.

*****

            Pyra frowned. That orb was the creepiest thing she ever beheld. It ripped into the deepest part of her soul. She raised her arms and shouted, “LIES!” She fled into the deepest corridors of the ship. Her breath came too quick. Her hands shook. She rocked back and forth. “No.” The word was repeated. Feverishly.

With reverence she would deny upon reawakening. She sank to her knees as Medusa of all people hissed, “Get up. We may have a spot for you on the Relentless.” Snake Charmer carried the comatose assassin to the docking bay.

He remarked drily, “Did you look?”

Medusa replied, “Not even once. That relic smells atrocious!”

She still had a majority humanoid shape. She sniffed the air. Her forked tongue darted out to test the particles. “Clever.” She motioned to her brother, “Not here. Let’s take her to the ship.” He grunted but complied. He did not want to be on the main menu. Karvax could take that plate and offer his whole body. From the looks of his dress and new power level? It was already a done deal. He did not want anything to do with Unity. Only to survive what was coming. It would be a bloodbath.

Once Eliza Murphy fell?

There would be no hope left for anyone or anything.

They planned on capturing an Icath. Making it take them to the distant past. If that didn’t work? Then to the end of creation. Where they could watch from a distance as everyone else died.

*****

            Bel motioned towards Morgana and Lilith. The former Dark Queen of the Fae Realms had gone pale at the summons. Lilith asked, “Chronos got that relic too easily. Even with Nyx’s trump card.”

            The Amache castoffs within Bel replied, “Yes. That was the point. The Highest’s pets will try to take it back. We will plant it somewhere irresistible. Upon the piece of Noah’s Ark, we found. Thoth is such a dear!”

            Lilith knelt at Bel’s feet, “What do you wish of me? King of Kings?”

            Bel leaned in close, “All the pieces of Noah’s Ark. The Highest hid its greatest weapon upon it.”

*****

            The Word spun silently on its axis.

            Deep within its spherical heart, two forms resided.

            Adam and Eve. This was their duty.

            To serve Life. To serve the Highest? They would risk everything.

            They reached out. Even in slumber. They would even the scales for their transgression. For in their innocence, in their folly, they had given Lucifer the knife that had ruined them all. The reason why Convergence was needed: to bring the lands of Creation back into alignment. The hilt of the blade had been made from the Tree of Ultimate Knowledge. In response, the Highest had birthed the last of the Thronebearers. Not clothed in obvious Divine light but within the forms of Man. Mortal.

            Vulnerable.

            To atone for their sins.

            Their mistakes.

            Eve muttered, “All sleep. Awaiting the day of Convergence. Sweet Lies wrapped in bits of Truth. She will see through the mists. Her brother at her side. To escape the coils of Death. Reborn only to die once more.”

            Adam added the remaining Word, “Thy Knife shall break upon the Throne of Bone. Actions foretold. Master’s pet. By no will of your own. Hollowed Shell of Oblivion. Bane of Angels.”

*****

            Thoth sneered, “It is Eliza Murphy who will die. She doesn’t have the stomach for it. No one can die twice and return.” His crimson eyes met Lucifer’s. He bowed mockingly, “I do hope to meet your father one day and lay into him with this Knife!”

He held out the blade. His clawed weapons muttered, dismayed by the thought of Thoth using just a knife to settle a fight.

            The Lightbringer replied, “Do not underestimate my Father or Unity. Both want us all dead. One way or another.” His time as Set had proven fruitful. He had gained more knowledge about all the players than most suspected. The angel studied the knife. It was just a simple weapon. Not the blade of the Forbidden he had used on White. How delicious it had been when it had pierced her flesh. Bone and soul.

            He longed to hold it again. A thought drifted. That was why Azrael had stayed behind within the ruins of Elysium! To find the fated blade. That sister had told him. That’s what the Word was trying to hide. His father must think them all duller than a box of rocks. Always underestimating his creations. Lucifer rubbed his chin. Pretending to regard the Orb of the Word. He would corral the current user of Black.

            Dexter Murphy was the true key.

            Lucifer stared out into the expanse of stars.

            The End of Days was here. 

Travelian Surprise Issue 10: Here

Issue 1: Here