The Forgotten God

Chapter 50

The wrath of the God was being felt the world over.

The seas became heated, sending the life beneath to the surface in a desperate attempt to live. Smaller fish had little chance, floating up and forming a silver carpet on the rippling waves.

Larger beasts, some unknown to mankind, followed in their wake, clearing them and whatever else was within reach in one snap of their jaws.

From the deck of a fishing trawler, stranded when the fire fell and destroyed the engine, a quartet of fisherman watched the carnage. The sea a mass of foam, blood and steam.

The bitter odour of rotten and burning fish filled the air around them and seeped into their overalls, already reeking of brine and scales that sparkled like gems on the fabric.

"If this is it," the skipper's gruff voice reached his crew. "Then I'm glad it was with you. To die alone is the greatest fear of any man."

The three fishermen looked at him silently. The sun-bleached face was trembling and the granite eyes had crumbled. This was man who had fought hurricanes, conquered the might of mother nature and the force of the oceans. But never had they encountered a challenge as great as this.

"Think about your lassies at home," he added, sinking to his knees. He didn't want to watch the shadows come closer. "Your kiddies. Just pray they're safe, forget your own suffering. You took this job for them, so you signed up to face tragedy."

His words were cut off by a scream as a creature beneath sent up a pipe of water, the scalding fluid striking the man full in the face. He clawed at his cheeks, skin and flesh lifting beneath his nails like the peel from rotten fruit.

"Keep back!" He yelled madly as someone rushed to help. His eyes already unable to make out more than an outline. "I ain't living like this!"

He shoved the figure back and threw himself against the rail, toppling into the grip of the writhing waters. Under the blue a shadow, large as Leviathan, began to approach.

----

Screams echoed.

The dead impatient in the city began to search elsewhere. Their instincts to feed were far greater than the will to obey their summoner and any open door or weakened entrance was their salvation.

Wise as it had been to barricade oneself in the back rooms, when the fortress weakened, many of the occupants found themselves trapped.

Their death cries reached Am-Heh's ears and he couldn't help that macabre sense of satisfaction from the blood and fire that reigned unstoppable.

It was only Isaac's reproachful eyes that diluted it. He sighed, clapping his hands together and grabbing the goblet as soon as it appeared. Alcohol solved nothing, but it was an enjoyable way to do so.

Near him the sole relic seemed to glow, radiating with the spell, still strong.

"Can you not cease it?" Isaac asked. "You clearly don't know how much it sickens me to hear their pain. I'll admit, I'm not a people person as such, but I'd never see anyone suffer like that." His lip curled as he looked down before turning away from the scene. "The agony...it's unbearable. The children...and their parents, I remember the pain in my parents' eyes when they left me all those centuries ago. I used to dream of two people, weeping, I never realised who they were until now."

Am-Heh was unable to meet his eyes. When he spoke, it was as if his throat was closed, the words hoarse and forced.

"I can cease the fire. But the dead can only be returned to the earth by force. It is the irritation of such an incantation. Spirits can banished again, but the shells continue to walk, they have no souls to remove."