Chapter 48 - 44: Rough Times Come Knocking On Sad Days pt.1

(John's POV)

'Can you call someone c.o.c.ky or arrogant for admiring their work when it is yet to be complete? That is something that depends on whether or not the job can be deemed to be on an irreversible path or not. I can gladly say that without a doubt that my work here on my homeworld is nearing completion despite the many variable running about.'

As I was mid-way through my inner monologue, my attention was grabbed by the beautiful garden of fire and smoke that I have made out of one of many Safe Havens that we were attacking tonight. Smoke, ashes, and cinders rose into the sky like popped cattail fluff. It was truly a wonder in the eyes of some as wicked as me how the destruction of many could make the night sky so aesthetic.

As I floated above the burning Safe Haven, I notice many humans putting up a nice and decent fight, which was admirable in the sense that they were showing that they wanted to live so desperately. But like all good shows, it must come to an end as the centipede-like creature had returned. 

I must truly admit my astonishment when I laid eyes upon such a specimen. Joselin had truly outdone herself with this endeavor. She had planned on waiting for me to return before naming it, but she ran out of patience while waiting for me to wake up from my egg, so she went ahead and named it Grande Chilopoda, which was simply Grand Centipede with a little flavor to the name. 

All resistance seemed futile except for the pickup truck that manage to elude it earlier. It was truly a wonder watching it thrash and destroy buildings as it rushed towards what little survivors that were resisting their inevitable deaths. 

As it finally made contact with the survivors that had made a nice defensive circle to fight till the death, the Grand Centipede simply rushed through their defensive circle, easily killing a few survivors, which scared the living hell out of the remaining survivors. As the Grand Centipede made its entrance, I found it enough and dismissed every undead mentally, all except Joselin and Joseph, who were looking confused as if I had just turned blood into wine.

They weren't the only ones looking confused as the survivors were confused as well since they didn't know what was happening or why the dead had ceased their attack. Besides being scared and confused, they felt a slight sense of relief until one happened to look off into the sky and spot me, Joselin, and Joseph flying high in the sky.

"What the hell are those things?!!!" yelled a random man who raised his gun began to point it at us.

It took the rest of the group of resistant survivors to look at the man who had yelled his question and up at all three of us. I could only guess that those who didn't raise their guns immediately assumed that I was an angel of some sort before raising their guns hesitantly. It didn't matter either way as I was about to show both Joselin and Joseph why I sent our forces away as I slowly lifted both of my arms forward with my hands bent down. Then I raised my hands up with my palms facing forward, which then I rotated my hands upside down. Finally, for the last motion, a flick of the wrist upward with my palms facing me.

At the moment that I did this, nothing immediately happened, which caught everyone off guard except Joseph. Out of everyone here, I expected him to realize what was happening since he could feel it. Not through some magical connection to me or some sort of magic detection, no, he felt it through the shadows on the ground that he could have turned into a portal for him to transverse between this reality and what I assume to be a shadow realm of sorts. Small vibrations that had appeared and disappeared without any of the survivors noticing.

Then without warning, a ripple of earth and concrete knocked every survivor on the ground like a drop of water hitting the center of a still pond. The ripple went on until it reached the end of the Safe Haven, leaving nothing but collapsed houses and glowing purple lights protruding out of the ground like blades of emerald. 

In a panic, the survivor began to run with all their might in the same direction, but their actions and hopes bore no fruit as they all collapsed to the ground where the cracks were worsening. Some had already given up, while some still struggled to move their paralyzed bodies. If I had a face, I would've smiled at their luck of being here.

After a moment, I felt that it was time to stop playing with them and finally get on with the show as I, with as much vigor and strength that I could muster, clenched my palms closed and said, "RISE."

And Just like that, the emerald light protruding from the earth that the Safe Havens were built upon shined bright into the sky, eventually looking like slim towering beacons of light. The earth cracked more and more beneath the Safe Haven until the safe Haven, which was the size of a gated suburban community, collapsed into the earth as under it was a giant cave. Yet that was the opposite as from the giant hole that once housed a thriving Safe Haven was a giant towering green pillar of light, and out from it came black and smoke like entities. Each was ethereal, yet many were either larger or small than the next entity that spiraled around the light like organized moths to a glow stick. 

As the towering spiral of ghostly specters reached the atmosphere, they began to rain back down to the earth like meteors toward many safe havens that I knew would give my forces trouble, all except my brothers Safe Haven as I wanted to visit this one personally after I dealt with another nuisance up north. 

To be honest, I myself didn't know what each of the specters could do since I simply tore open a large veil to the afterlife with the combination of holy and demonic magic that would pull any and all souls damned there from the trinity of worlds to exit into ours. Unbeknownst to them though, that by exiting through the gate into our world, they would become connected to me like my zombies and become unwilling servants. Once, someone said that there could never be enough toys of war on a battlefield, and I wholely agree with him.

I looked back at Joselin and Joseph and said, "Every action must lead to a positive outcome for your objective even when it looks as though it is not or that is useless. Remember that the greatest thing that man has ever created was chess, as it is a physical representation of strategy no matter the intent or goal. Always plan your moves and counters before conceding victory as your enemy may just be leading you to your inevitable demise."

After saying that and emphasizing the last bit toward Joselin, I return my gaze toward the spiraling tower of souls as it was truly a sight to see.