“Thank you,” Derrick said to him.
“Now, let us leave this place,” the demon said, and he led them into the alien tower, with its clockwork room at the top.
Epilogue
With Kalandar’s guidance and Derrick’s godly gifts, the clockwork room on the world that once belonged to now-dead giants came to life. The demon gave simple and precise instructions to the boy, and guided the trio through time and space to the safest place they could be;
Kalandar’s Fortress in the Hells.
The demon—armor crusted in gore and filth, and back to carrying the damaged and now spent Derrick—strode through his towering foyer, flanked by monsters who answered to his every whim. He gave more instructions: seal the doors, alert the guardians on the pillars of flame. Cleanse this armor, purify and sanctify everything that they arrived wearing, or carrying.
Ready the pit, was the most crucial of his commands.
They were in a race, you see. Cleanse Derrick of his own spiritual aura, or risk Oldros and his army of minions tracking him down. Even here, in Hell, they were not out of the reach of the traitorous monster that wore the pelt of a god.
Kalandar lay the sleeping Derrick down on a fur-covered sofa in a wide, tapestry-filled stone hall. He shed his ancient and now rather battle-scarred armor to clatter on the floor. Dozens of tiny creatures picked the pieces up. They scurried or flew as needed, taking the gear away to be attended to. To be rejuvenated for the upcoming battles.
Kalandar gathered Derrick in his arms and led his son down many flights of stone stairs. The giant demon walked on the outer edge of the stairs, where the steps suited his size. Timtar walked beside him, on the narrower inside of the spiral. After a long time of descent, they left the towering stairwell and passed through a rough stone arch into a deep rectangular room with a central pool of reddish fluid.
Blood.
Without pause, the naked demon and his naked son approached the pool and walked into it, stepping down into the opaque, crimson fluid. The surface of the blood quickly reached Timtar’s shoulders, and Kalandar sat, allowing the liquid to reach his own shoulders. He held the resting Derrick flat, submerged almost completely in the cleansing bath.
“How long until his aura has been altered enough to divert Oldros?”
“We are here until dawn,” the demon replied. “And then, he will be invisible to their prying and meddling.”
“Then we what? Reunite him with his sister on the moon you spoke of?”
“It is the wisest course of action. We must leave as soon as we can. Their safety on the moon is tenuous. Without me to defend them, they are sure to perish.”
“It’s always all about you, isn’t it?” Timtar said, half as a joke.
“No,” the demon said, looking down at Derrick with fondness in his dark eyes. “It is no longer just about me. Now, it is about fighting the Bleed. Stopping it, where before, we chose only to avoid it.”
“You believe that this is a war you can win?”
“We have no choice but to fight it. The Bleed is desperate. It senses something we cannot yet divine.”
“How do you know that?”
“Have you ever seen a champion such as the one Arridon called Sebastian? Have you ever heard of so many worlds and realities being consumed simultaneously by them? They are slow and inexorable. But this…is different. This reeks of desperation. Now is the time for unity. The moment is nigh for the armies of Hell to rise against that which seeks to destroy everything.”
“Heaven and Hell working together. Who would’ve thought?”
“I think the Bleed saw this coming, that’s who. And I think these people, these frail little human beings, might be the key to stopping Armageddon.”
About David Moody
DAVID MOODY first self-published HATER in 2006, and without an agent, succeeded in selling the film rights for the novel to Mark Johnson (producer, Breaking Bad) and Guillermo Del Toro (director, The Shape of Water, Pan’s Labyrinth). His seminal zombie novel AUTUMN was made into an (admittedly terrible) movie starring Dexter Fletcher and David Carradine. Moody has an unhealthy fascination with the end of the world and writes books about ordinary folks going through absolute hell. Find out more at www.davidmoody.net.
Contact: [email protected]
Web: www.davidmoody.net
Facebook: facebook.com/davidmoodyauthor
Twitter: @davidjmoody
Instagram: davidmoodyauthor
About Chris Philbrook
Chris Philbrook is the Amazon and Audible best-selling author of the Adrian’s Undead Diary series, The Reemergence series, COLONY LOST, and the fantasy world of Elmoryn. Chris has several years of experience working in game development and editing as well as writing fiction for several major game design companies.
Chris has authored ten novels in the horror/post-apocalyptic series Adrian’s Undead Diary, plus five urban fantasy novels in The Reemergence series and three dark fantasy novels in The Kinless Trilogy. His first science fiction novel; COLONY LOST has received stellar reviews. He writes young adult sci-fi under the pen name W.J. Orion.
Chris calls the wonderful state of New Hampshire his home. He is an avid reader, writer, role player, miniatures game player, video game player, husband, and father to two little girls.
Contact: [email protected]
Web: www.thechrisphilbrook.com
Facebook: facebook.com/PhilbrookAuthor
Twitter: @PhilbrookAuthor
Instagram: @PhilbrookAuthor
About Mark Tufo
Mark Tufo is an International Best Selling author of Horror, Science Fiction, Apocalyptic Survivalist Fiction, Young Adult Dystopian and Paranormal fiction. He has penned over forty books, sold over a million copies, and been translated into five languages. His books have won numerous awards and have spent weeks in the number one slot on the Amazon charts.
All of his titles are available on iTunes, Audible and Barnes and Noble through Devil Dog Press LLC.
His longest running series, Zombie Fallout, now in its thirteenth instalment, is currently being adapted for television at the anticipation of
