The Grey Chronicles Part Two: Under Siege.

Chapter 28: The Raven Queen.

           
Mariner Children's Academy, capital city of Machinae One, August of 8096 AL.

His cloak measured near twenty feet as he strode through the double doors, woven threads of fire dancing across the floor behind him. Alex and Soluna stood on either side of him, weapons at the ready. He rounded the corner and set his eyes on the doors halfway down the hall, his corneas burned with the same anger that flowed through his cloak. He felt powerful, he felt unstoppable, as if the overwhelming Nephilim forces beyond the approaching doors were maggots beneath his feet; filthy, disgusting worms meant only to be crushed. His duty was to his people, and these animals would dare threaten them. They must be punished, harshly, and with the full wrath of the Shepherd.

Briarios set his hands against the doors and pushed them open, slamming them back on their hinges as he swaggered into the room. The radio jammer was situated in the center of the room, a metal spire with several dishes fixed to the top. Over a hundred Nephilim were spread throughout the room, some lounging in corners or on the bleachers while others worked on the jammer. A portion of the floor was broken, with pieces of concrete strewn around the hole, it appeared to be the entrance to a tunnel. Bodies were piled in one corner; the remainder of the faculty, he assumed. Nephilim turned to face him, the room fell silent for a moment that seemed to drag on for days.

The world stopped spinning, everything moved in slow motion. Briarios watched the creatures start towards him, their limbs moving as if through syrup. They howled, but he heard no screams; though they bared their teeth, he heard only a high-pitched ringing that got louder with every passing second. He felt something grow inside of him, an unfamiliar feeling rising in his chest. The feeling grew, he came to realize it was hunger; an overpowering urge to devour everything in his path, to consume the monsters that dared face him. He wanted to reduce them to cinders, then scatter their ashes to the wind. To completely, and utterly, destroy them all.

He turned his head, looked to his companions. They raised their weapons, but not quickly enough. Nephilim converged on them, dozens rushing with axes and swords held above their heads. He looked at the approaching monsters, the ringing screamed in his mind and the hunger almost overcame him. He felt like he was going to explode, like he was holding back. A Nephilim came within reach, its sword started to inch forwards toward his head. A voice spoke in his mind, sickeningly sweet and intoxicating, like poisoned honey.

"You're not allowed to die, not just yet," the voice said, as beautiful and sultry as he imagined she was. "I have need of you still, I'm not done with you, my child."

The world returned to normal speed. Fire exploded outwards, a wave of black flames bursting from his body. Soluna and Alex were thrown backwards through the doors, which slammed shut and seemed to lock themselves. An unholy sound came from his mouth, he could hear his own scream as well as the roar of a dark, primordial entity older than time itself. It was the most horrifying thing he had ever experienced, but at the same time the most exhilarating; the flames enveloped everything within ten meters, wrapping the creatures in a shroud that reduced them to charcoal. The other Nephilim stopped, fear gripping them and freezing them in place. The flames didn't radiate heat, but cold; a bitter, icy chill that dropped the temperature in the room until their breath showed as vapor. The cold leeched their energy, pulling power from its victims. They were chilled to the bone, and felt tired, sluggish, they could hardly move when every instinct screamed to run as far and as fast as possible. They couldn't think, they couldn't feel anything except for the chill. The feeling brought with it an ominous aura, an eerie presence joined them; they were not alone here, something was very, very wrong.

Briarios stared in awe as the flames drew together, flowing across the floor like living liquid from the Nephilim corpses to a part of the floor directly in front of him. They came together, twisting and spinning into the shape of limbs. The flames formed a tall, bulky body with long spindly arms. A head sprang from its shoulders, a face with no mouth or nose. The flames dripped from its limbs, adding to their fluid appearance. The body had no legs, only a plume of smoke and ash that floated where its legs should be. Four horns sprouted, a sickening crack accompanied by a wet slithering came from them as they curled from the back of the head. Two curved downwards, wrapping around the jaw of the monster, the others grew straight backwards. Another crack came, and from its back bat-like wings unfolded, their tattered leathery skin stretched tightly between fingers of bone. The liquid flame dripped away from the face, revealing a bare skull beneath, with wicked features and red fireballs burning in its eye sockets. Vapor poured from the mouth of the entity as it breathed in the air of this world, of this dimension for the first time in centuries, its eyes passed over each of the victims it drew power from. This primordial being turned slowly, looking at Briarios as if he were an insect.