The Goddess Within

This Is War

I felt as if I were to vomit. I didn't like violence to begin with, but fighting an army of evil beings and whatnot was the only exception I would make, only to save the world. I held my breath and walked into the woods behind Gaia and Lilith, looking around in slight curiosity, but mostly with fear. There were black storm clouds overhead, which darkened everything and appeared more like midnight than mid afternoon. Wind tugged the ends of our hair like a mischievous child, and ripped leaves off the highest trees. The waters of the Bellum River looked the same as rip tide at the ocean, thrashing about vehemently. The battlefield was about 500 miles, or 2,640,000 feet.

I surveyed the amount of people that were present on either side. On ours, the human forces looked about the size of a Roman Legion, or about 6,000 but the magical forces tripled that. All together, I calculated about 4,000 humans on my father... on Tartarus' side and about 200 magical forces, all promised freedom from Hades.

I stood up on my toes and searched for Mikey, who, to my relief, is in the back of the army, instructing the magical beings. A deity, that I believed to be none other than Mar's himself, was instructing the humans in the front of the brigade. I was pleased that our human’s armor and weapons appeared not only up to date, but Elvish in origin.

Elvish made weaponry, well, Elvish made anything, was extremely sturdy and had a tendency to last for a couple thousand years, never wearing down and only needing sharpened every thousand years or so.

I let out another sigh of relief. Tartarus's army appeared rather disorganized, but fierce nonetheless. Their armor was minimal, like that of old time peasants, their weapons consisted of clubs, knives, and dull looking swords. I hadn't read up on my mythology, so I have no idea what to expect on the beings he had released from Hades.

I could feel my hands tingling, a warm sensation making its way up my arms, spreading across my shoulders and down my spine, making my legs long to run. I stood my ground. Clanking at my hands, I noticed an aquamarine and violet glow illuminating from under my skin. I was finally feeling the magic that Gaia had described. I would have full control over my abilities when the time came, and that time was now.

I glanced over at Lilith, who nodded at me and raised her right hand to the sky. I watched in curiosity as a flame appeared on the palm of her hand. The bright green flame danced upon her fingertips and shot into the sky, exploding as if it were a simple holiday firework.

Screams soon flied the air as the armies charged forward. Clanging of metal on metal and explosions of magical warfare echoed in the valley around us. I charged as well, lightness filling my being, as if this was what my body was waiting for. Smiling to myself at this sudden realization, I shot a ball of lightning into the face of a dark skinned man. His blood red eyes widened and he dropped lifelessly onto the hard ground.

I hopped easily over his body and continued running. My dress was allowing easy movement and my hair flowing in waves behind me. Glancing around once more, I saw Gaia send a heavy bearded man into the air and Lilith thrust her blade into the thick gut of a possessed woman. I wasn’t entirely shocked to realize that most of Tartarus’s minions were possessed lowlifes.

I sighed in relief when I caught sight of Mikey. He was fighting a giant bat-like creature, firing arrows into its torso and laughing like a child shooting squirrels.

I went to fire another lightning ball at one of Tartarus’s minions, but a heavy hand grabbed my arm and spun me around. “Well, well, well. Lookie what we have here! My dearest little sister, what brings you here?” James hisses, with a voice filled with poison and sarcasm, his eyes glowing red like candle flames, decked out in black leather and silver spikes.

“I’m here to kill you, big brother,” I spit in his face and attempted to punch him with my free hand, which he caught easily and twisted.

“You’ll never learn...” He snarled and slapped me across the face making my head come in contact with something heavy. I tried to wrench myself from his grasp, but then my mind went black...