Chapter 30: Secret pasts
William and Cynthinia ran up to the smouldering remains of the government building where Jack was to meet with the general. Blue flames still roared as firefighters clashed with them to try and put them out.
No one had survived.
Cynthinia froze on the spot.
"Caitlin, what wrong!" asked William. He grabbed her shoulders and shook her a little bit.
"The blue flames of the lord ... it's ... it's him ... he's returned to the mortal realm." muttered Cynthinia. Her eyes were wide, she was shaking, and her feet were glued to the spot. William looked at the burning building and then back at Cynthinia. William ushered Cynthinia towards a nearby bench and sat her down before he went round the back of the building, out of people's sight, and brought out his trident.
He put out a small area of fire that he could walk through and ran in to find any survivors. He found bodies that were burned beyond recognition but the closer he got to the middle the more he found with stab and slash wounds. That's when he found him. James. Enveloped in blue fire holding a blood soaked katana in his left hand while his right arm was replaced with a larger, dis-formed, red arm. Red horns had started to sprout from James' head and there was already a red tail with an arrow-like point at the end. William went to approach but, without seeming to move, James sent a wave of fire towards William who responded with a torrent of water. The two bodies of elemental power clashed. William pushed more power into it but with the lack of moisture in the air James easily overpowered him and the wave of fire started to surround William. James began walking over to William with a malicious smile on his face. James raised his sword, walked through the flames that were surrounding William, and went to swiftly end his life with his blade.
Suddenly, Cynthinia leaped out of the flames behind James and grabbed his sword from his hand. James collapsed to the floor with a burst of blue flames from his body. The horns, tail, and arm retracted. Cynthinia formed a sheath out of thin air and placed the sword inside with a 'click'. A symbol appeared on her chest. She pushed the sword into it and it seemed to disappear inside her as she pushed it.
"What the hell just happened!?" exclaimed William. Cynthinia walked over to James, pulled him up and placed him left arm over her shoulder.
"I'll explain later. But first we need to leave." said Cynthinia. She quickly carried James back through the now disappearing flames and out the way William had come in. William ran over to a car, smashed the window in, and opened the door. A loud alarm went off. He opened a compartment under the steering wheel, sparked some wires. The alarm ceased and the engine roared to life. Cynthinia threw James on the back seats and got in the passenger seat. Crowds started running over to them after being alerted by the alarm.
"GO!" ordered Cynthinia and William instantly put his foot down. The car skidded a little but it quickly pulled away and they drove past the crowd and towards the warehouse.
After a while of panicked driving and avoidance of news crews, the three of them were now driving down a country road with the warehouse just in sight.
"Are you going to explain what just happened at all?" asked William. Cynthinia looked out the window. "Caitlin, you can't just act like nothing happened!"
"I'M NOT! And stop calling me that, it isn't my real name. My name is Cynthinia." said Cynthinia. William slammed on the brakes.
"Goddess of fire, Cynthinia?! I've been living with a f@!king goddess!" shouted William. He got out of the car and started walking down the road.
"Where are you going?!" asked Cynthinia.
"I can't handle this! I'm walking back!"
"But I don't know how to drive and I can't carry James back all by myself!"
"You'll figure something out! You are a goddess after all!"
Cynthinia moved into the driver's seat and looked at the pedals. She pushed the left one and nothing happened. She pushed the middle one and nothing happened. She pushed the right one and the car jerked forward. After some trial and error, Cynthinia was cruising along at a steady twenty miles per hour. She quickly caught up with William who was seated at the side of the road. She stopped and opened the passenger door. Without a word, William got in and they drove back to the warehouse. Once they arrived, William got out and quickly walked to his room. Cynthinia pulled James out of the car and carried him off to the front door. She then pushed the car into a nearby lake and returned.
Cynthinia walked down to the kitchen and poured herself a cup of tea. She had just left James in his bed after checking and finding no signs of horns or tail. However, James' right arm hadn't returned to normal and had instead reduced to a stump. Cynthinia turned around to find William sitting at the kitchen table drinking coffee. Cynthinia went to leave William alone but he got up and grabbed her arm.
"Please, Cynthinia, tell me what's going on." said William softly. Cynthinia sat down and William returned to his seat.
"Thousands of years ago, Dianne, the goddess of beauty, told me that she had had a child in the mortal realm. Since it's a punishable offence, I agreed to keep it a secret from the other gods. That child was later called Lucifer by it's mortal parent, also known by you mortals as Satan or the devil. After witnessing his destructive powers grow, I tried to stop him from killing any mortals but he stole some of my fire abilities and made them his own. Hence the blue flames. I realised at that point that it wasn't Dianne's child but rather the child of Okubi, god of darkness. I told the omni-god about it and Okubi was banished to the mortal realm and Lucifer was sent to hell." explained Cynthinia.
"But how does that explain James having the blue fire?" asked William. Cynthinia sipped her tea and placed the cup next to William's.
"Before he was sent to hell, Lucifer had a child ... James' grandmother, Julia. She gave birth to Arthur Kendrickson, James' father, who then had a child of his own ... James. Luckily, the abilities of Lucifer seemed to have skipped Arthur so he was never taught how to use them and neither was James."
"But how does he now have them?"
"I don't know but I think it has something to do with how James' celestial weapon changed form. If Lucifer has returned, he must have used a lot of his power to escape from hell. This energy must have rippled through the multiverse and come in contact with James while he was missing. It would have cause his power to be released and the celestial weapon to react and change to better suit the different energy."
"So what are we going to do with him?"
"I'll hold onto his celestial weapon for now. If this weapon is what reacts with his body to cause that form of blitz then we can't let him draw it. The sheath I made can contain it's power and block it from affecting James but if the sword is drawn again then the seal will break and it's power will be released." Cynthinia picked up her cup and walked out of the room taking a mouthful. She instantly reappeared spitting her mouthful back into the cup and placing it back down on the table.
"That's coffee." she said in disgust. She picked up the other cup and walked back out again.
William looked at the cup of coffee. He picked it up, walked over to the sink, and tipped the contents down the plughole.
"So James is the descendant of the devil. What's next, Izzy and Liam are reincarnations of Adam and Eve!?" joked William. At that moment, there was a rumble as an object broke through the atmosphere. It was followed by many more. William ran outside to find many transport ships landing and saw Izzy and Liam in the cockpit of one of them.
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