Meta Gods War 3, B. Miles [best english books to read for beginners .txt] 📗

the flags billowing in the wind, some already blown away and scattered toward the field. The drums were abandoned and silent.

“Look,” Key said, half turning back to him. “By that tree over there.”

Cam followed her gaze and felt a flush of emotion. Felin and Miuri stood beneath it, their hands intertwined, their faces turned up to the sky. They stood close together and Cam could almost feel the tension in their bodies, even at a distance. But their hands remained together.

He pushed forward as Key picked up the pace. They reached the leveling point and several of Cam’s guards rushed forward.

“Retreat,” Cam said. “Gather as many men as you can. Find Arter, tell him to try and keep as many people together as possible.”

“Yes, sir.” The guards ditched the flags beside the drums and began to head down the slope.

Felin and Miuri didn’t move as Key approached. She lingered a few feet away and Cam stopped beside her. Felin and Miuri stared up at the sky, their expressions locked in a strange mask of fear and ecstasy. Cam followed their eyes and watched as the blurred forms of the goddesses continued their impossible fight, now higher and higher in the sky, almost lost in the roiling black clouds.

“Look at that,” Key said, pointing down.

Cam let out a soft breath.

The field was torn to pieces. He could see a smattering of bodies, mostly wolf, but hundreds of Humans as well. Spears and shields were shoved into the dirt. The earth was torn up like a massive plough had been pulled through it. The tree line was torn to pieces, and jagged stumps stood in place of the previously massive pines.

Cam had never seen such devastation before. He didn’t think it was possible. Even when he channeled as much magic as he could, he never got close to destroying so much land so thoroughly.

His eyes moved back up to the sky, to the two clashing blurs. Another boom sent a chill down his spine.

“They’re horrible,” Cam said.

Key looked back at him. “What?”

“They’re monsters,” he said. “Look at them. Look at what they can do.” He stepped forward, toward the field. “That’s so much power, Key. Even in my wildest dreams, I could never hope to do even half of that.”

“They’re gods,” she said. “Of course they’re powerful.”

“But they’re monsters.” Cam gripped his sword and shook his head. “How can the world survive things like that? If they start fighting each other, they’ll wipe us all out. And they’re not even trying. Lycanica could have leveled this army if she wanted to, but something held her back.”

“I don’t think whatever held her back is an issue anymore,” Key said.

Cam looked at her. “You’re right. And that scares me. It scares the hell out of me.”

Key stared back at him, and he could see that she agreed.

He looked back up at the sky, and in that moment, he knew what he had to do.

The gods couldn’t survive this. They couldn’t be allowed to pull strings and fight their own petty battles. So many lives were lost, all because a single goddess decided to use her immeasurable power to force an entire species to go to war.

“Lycanica made this happen,” Cam said, his voice soft. “You heard her, didn’t you?”

Key stepped closer to him. “I know what you’re thinking. But she’s a goddess, Cam.”

“She did this,” he said. “She made the wolves attack. It doesn’t matter if she’s a goddess, she’s still responsible. She caused so much death, so much pain. Not to mention all the slaves sent back for her own personal amusement. Remember, there were rumors about Human sacrifices?”

“We don’t know if that was true.”

“I think it was,” Cam said. “I think Lycanica is doing this for revenge, for something that happened a long time ago. I think she hates the Urspirit, and she’s going to do everything in her power to wipe us all out. She would’ve succeeded, if Danua hadn’t stepped in the way.”

“We can’t fight the gods,” Key said.

“I’m afraid we have no other choice. Lycanica could make all this happen on her own, so imagine if the gods worked together? Or if all the gods went to war with each other? The world couldn’t survive something like that. We couldn’t survive it, and I won’t let more people die because of them.”

“They’re gods. We’re just… we’re just mortals.”

Cam shook his head. “I held her back down there.”

Key took a deep breath and slowly let it out. “I know you did. But how long did that last?”

“Not long,” Cam admitted. “But imagine if there were ten shaman just like me, all working together. Or if there were fifty… or a hundred. We could stand up to Lycanica. We could stand up to all the gods.”

“Cam,” Key said, her voice a whisper.

Cam turned to her, his eyes wide, his pulse racing so fast he thought he might choke. “We have to train more,” he said. “We have to be ready. We can’t ever let this happen again.”

She took a step back from him. And for a moment, the fear in her eyes made him question his sanity.

But he looked away, back to the goddesses fighting high up in the sky. A bright green flash made him squint and a boom rocked the hillside again.

“We have to fight them,” he said, more to himself than to anyone else.

The fighting kept going. He couldn’t follow their movements, but he thought Danua might be winning. Her green flashes were getting brighter, bolder, while Lycanica’s silver began to wane. The clouds thinned and sunlight poured in through their bodies as the two goddesses came together over and over again.

Key moved over to Miuri and Felin. She whispered something to the girls, but Cam didn’t hear her. He was too busy staring into the sky, picturing the kind of power it would take to counter monsters like that.

But soon the fighting slowed. Miuri and Felin seemed to wake, as if from a deep dream. Key gently