Men Vs Apocalypse - Chapter 35

Chief High Priest of Agni, Rahul was looking at the gathering of a crowd that started inside palace grounds from the top of the palace tower. The hour to resurrection ritual was nigh, Rahul had been waiting for this moment ever since he heard the whispers of his beloved God Agni in his dreams.

Every abled fighter and priest in Clan Agni’s villages, cities including the main capital congregated to Agni’s palace ground for the ritual. “This is fantastic, we can finally call upon our beloved God for guidance as he descend from the void. His rebirth will shower us with just rewards!” Rahul was in exhilaration as he paced quickly to his wardrobe to pondle on his grand attire.

Thousands of soldiers were posted to guard the ritual’s ‘materials’. Slaves stolen, kidnapped or won from various clans, villages were being transported into the palace grounds in massive steel cages. The soldiers on duty have to make sure none of the slaves revolted or make any disturbances.

The Chief High Priest emphasised that no trouble can be made during the ritual or they will suffer a fate worse than death. Every ritual material were said to be essential but nothing was as important as the prophesied twin. The slaves and prisoners who consisted of all ages including the children and elderly were being marched out of their stuffed steel cages and they had were being whipped consistently by the guards to move into the ritual grounds.

On the other hand, the prophesied twins dressed in a floor length embroidered lace gown coloured with bright spectacular burgundy were not binded by chains or metal collars. Instead they were placed in a secured large spacious glass cage with various incantations inscribed on the glass. It was to protect the twins from unnecessary disturbances from their enemies if the ritual goes awry.

The leader that in charge of the soldiers guarding the glass cage was Malik, a personal slave but highly trusted guard chosen by the Chief Priest Rahul himself. Malik had proven himself for two consecutive years in the games of slaves. The game of slaves was akin to a battle royale where a hundred slaves were placed in the clan’s capital colosseum each year as they fought against each other until one survivor remains.

Malik fought with his teeth and fist to be the standing champion for two years in a row. This brought great favour to the Chief Priest that nurtured him after being the champion for first game of slaves .

However Malik’s heart was still unyielding even when he bend his knee to serve for the Chief Priest. Despite the promises by the Chief Priest Rahul that Agni will reward Malik once the resurrection ritual completely smoothly, he could not stand the thousands of slaves, some whom were his clansmen to be the sacrifice for a god that was greedy and thirsty for revenge. Agni’s hatred extended even towards his own god, Shiva when she was not part of the group that betrayed him.

Rahul kept saying that Shiva deserved the fury of Agni for staying at the sideline, for not helping him avenge the other gods when she heard the truth. Instead she banished the last of his living consciousness from his chosen champion and made Agni suffer in the void.

The Chief Priest communicated with Agni constantly and he did not know that his conversations were leaked to Malik whenever he drinks. All the drunk talking of Rahul made Malik realised that Agni was not working alone in this resurrection. He found out that Agni had dealings with an Apocalypse Lord whose kind once nearly brought destruction to Mehar Desert.

It was the Wyld hunt from stories and legends. The Wyld Hunt came and killed many people of the Mehar Desert. Indra the incumbent God King managed to fend off a number of attacks from the Apocalypse army but the fight made him lost even more of his Gods and followers.

He heard from the storytellers that the Wyld Hunt conquered various existences and crosses through other dimensions that were different from his. The army of Apocalypse were experienced and powerful enough to bring down existences like gods in the Mehar Desert. If Clan Agni were allowed to complete this resurrection ritual, Malik could not fathom the destruction it would bring.

Despite Shiva being one of the most competent warriors God King Indra once had, Malik knows that she would not be enough to stop an Apocalypse army coming and making the desert their place of reign.

Hence, Malik was able to quietly gain a number of followers to stop the ritual by force when the opportunity allows. If his followers were unable to stop Rahul and his clergy of priests, Malik will stop at nothing to kill the prophesied twins even though he knew they were innocent too. If murdering the twins can bring salvation for Mehar Desert, he would not care. After so many ass kissing towards Rahul, the betrayals he made and the blood brothers he lost, the rebellion of the ritual must succeed if it cost his life. He must create a Mehar Desert for his sister Mailee to live in peacefully.

Malik took a look inside the glass cage and could not help but to find pity for the twins even though his face does not show a shred of it. They were very afraid but they did not cry. All the twins did was hold each other’s trembling hands. They seem to had hope in this desperate situation they were in. Malik was unable to control his thoughts about his sister upon seeing the tight kinship the twins were showing in front of adversity. “I will do anything to see that chubby cheeks again.” Malik sigh and returned to duty while secretly coordinating information to his rebels.

——–

“Sen, you better make sure this plan of yours work. I do not want to die after coming this far.” Mailee pouted a little after gathering all the dead bison with Feng and Sen, placing them in the crater.

“I created the grappling hooks and the shock absorbing boots, they should be sturdy enough against such an impact.” Raizan passed the hooks and boots. All of them checked their equipment for the last time before they start their plan. The sun was setting and it was such a beautiful view to behold but they cannot waste anymore time. Mailee hoped that this sunset would not be the last for her.

Sen took out 150 All-Element fate crystals out which he had converted and spread them out around the dead bison in the crater. He checked his minimap after he leaving the fate crystals out. There was movement in the map and it was coming fast.

“Get to your positions! Be ready!” Sen shouted and looked at Nes. Nes nodded her head and used 40 fate crystals to prepare her incantations. The tremor got even louder by the second and Sen’s head was going to explode when he checked the minimap again. It was not just one or two. There were at least ten giant Dune Worms coming for the bison and fate crystal mix bait!

The first great Dune Worm was reaching near the bait but Sen pressed a remote switch and both the bison and crystals exploded up into the skies. The remaining nine dune worms immediately burst out of the sands to try their luck eating whatever was left from the explosion. Nes immediately initiate the portal scroll and used the incantation she was preparing to widen the diameter of the portal gate.

The portal gate became as wide as the sky itself which was able to encompass every hungry Dune Worm on sight in the minimap. “Now! Grab hold of these worms!” Sen ordered.

All of them quickly threw their grappling hooks to the worms bursting out of the sands and they held on tightly to the worms once hooked. The portal immediately pulled the ten giant worms into its embrace and they were all teleported.

——–

The sun was setting and Rahul was standing near the center of the palace grounds, talking to a few head priests while having a sumptuous dinner before they start the resurrection ritual. The time to start was when the moon was at its highest so there were still a few more hours to go. The prisoners were getting a little restless but it was nothing the soldiers of Agni cannot handle.

“Hmm, Ken is late, even if he wants to save some magic energy from using the portal scroll, he knows that the ritual still have to go on without him.” Rahul shaked his head a little as he put the piping hot drumstick into his mouth. The smell was savoury enough to make the starved prisoners from afar extremely jealous.

Suddenly, everyone attending the ceremony felt a large magical signature coming from above the skies. Rahul noticed the magical signature and realised it was the portal spell that he crafted for Ken. He chuckled since he knew that Ken loved theatrics a lot. He took a clean cloth and wiped his mouth with it as he looked above.

Rahul was not wrong, it was his portal magic but this was way too large than expected. Out of the portal, various howling was heard and some of fighters started to recognise the sound. To everyone’s horrors, they were right as multiple giant Dune Worms came crashing from the skies into the Agni Mandir.

“This is what I called a hitch ride!” Raizan laughed loudly when they got out of the portal gate to see a congregation of people around a majestic palace.

The Capital used extremely expensive wards to fend off these gigantic dune worms for years and never failed once. However, Clan Agni did not realised that their barriers are useless if the worms are already in the city.

On the other hand, the Dune Worms were extremely elated. Meat, food, human delicacies and crystals are abundant out in the open due to the resurrection ritual. They started to rampage not just the palace grounds but ensue chaos throughout the whole capital. Soldiers and fighters of Agni recovered from their shock and started their counterattack.

Never in their worm lives they saw that much food. It will be stupid if they met some resistance and run away. The worms are going to eat until they stuffed to death.

Meanwhile many others panic in the chaos. Some of the prisoners took this chance to fight back. Even Malik gave the go ahead to his followers to start the rebellion as he pretend to protect the prophesied twins. “Kill Rahul”, that was all in his mind.

“Protect the prophesied children from this rampage of madness!!” Rahul pulled his beard a little as he panicked. His personal elite guards immediately surrounded Rahul to prevent any attacks on him from the bystanders. They tried to slowly move him into a secure place but it was tough since Rahul was situated at the center of everything. The guards never imagine a rain of Dune Worms as a tactic of disrupting the ritual.

“Lets rescue our loved ones.” Sen pointed at the direction of Kari and Kura. The ragtag team abandoned their hitch ride and dived straight to the large glass cage.