Blood.

Need blood.

Jessamine flopped over onto the mountain she teleported above as her lifeforce weakened. The gash in her thigh, coupled with the burn marks from Sophia’s parry, was doing a number on her body. Technically speaking, she would be fine even if she ‘died’ here. She had entered the mortal realm with only a smattering of her reserved energy. Thus, if this body failed, she could always rematerialize with the rest. But given how close she came to losing this battle, she decided it was time to go all in and risk all her energy. If she could crush Sophia in one swoop, the heavens will descend to take her on. With that irritating sword out of the picture, sweeping up the remaining 59 Seraphim would be simple. But I need blood. Now.

She limped over the mountain to its neighbor. This mountain looked different from the nearby ones: While the rest were capped with pine trees, this one was bare. Grey rocks cover the peak, giving it a bald and foreboding character. Underneath the mountain sat an invisible root to the center of the Earth. Jessamine tore the cap off the mountain, sticking her hand down to grasp the head of the node. The energy surged into her, closing the gashes and cuts on her body. Quicker than she expected, the energy ran out. Fuck. If this isn’t enough I might die. She would need to collect more energy from the nearby mortals, and do it fast before more angels appeared. Jessamine walked over to the hive of humans nearby, the mighty city of Celioth. At 15 million people, it was the largest city in the world. And Jessamine will feast on it until she is ready to tear down heaven itself.

The inhabitants all screamed at her approach. Having heard of the destruction of Peshrim, many were sheltering in place, praying for a savior. Others tried to leave, but the clogged infrastructure meant no one was making any progress out of the city. All they could do was watch in horror was the giant woman brought a foot up, ready to smash into a section of the metropolis. Jessamine savored the fear of the humans, ready to enhance it with blood-freezing terror as she slammed her foot down hard.

BOOM.

She did not strike the city. Her foot didn’t hit ground. She struck some kind of invisible dome about 600 feet above the neighborhood she was to destroy. Frustrated, she stomped again and again. The dome creaked and deformed, but it did not break. She put her foot down, toes clenching the bedrock in anger, as she contemplated how to break the defenses--

Her plans were interrupted by a swooshing sound followed by a force launching her to the side. Yelping, she slammed into a nearby mountain. The massive formation crumbled like sand at the impact. Reeling, she pushed the object which hit her away, and froze in fear. It was Sophia. 10 miles taller than before.

How? How could she- Mother.

She sped away from the blonde angel to get composure. She tried to put her feeling of abandonment aside, but it was failing. The Great Mother never helped her these last 300,000 years, but she’ll help the entitled Seraphim the moment they feel the least bit challenged. Their creator was impersonal, but she was not necessarily impartial. Jessamine’s hurt turned to anger at the woman in front of her. Fine. I’ll show Gaia who the worthy woman is, here.

She faced the Seraphim, craning her neck to her massive head, “You got fat, Sophia.”

The angel looked down, face still, “Your disobedience will be punished, Luminary. Surrender, and I may make it quick.”

“Fuck yourself,” Jessamine snapped her fingers. Straining with effort, the mountains nearby lifted from the ground, slowly ascending thousands of feet into the air. Jessica screamed and tossed them at the knees of Sophia, hoping to knock her over. Three massive crashes shook the Earth nearby apart. Massive cracks opened up, one of which sped right to the city. It smacked the perimeter and stopped suddenly, Sophia’s protection preventing the humans from being buried in rubble. Sophia, for her part stumbled back a half-step. Jumping on the opportunity, Jessamine summoned a spear made of hardened obsidian and shoved it into her calf with the strength of a bomb. The spear instantly shattered, the blow not even puncturing skin. Need more power!

Sophia, now restabilized, brought her left foot back. Jessamine tried to run away, realizing her plan, but the angel was too big. She kicked the Luminary, launching her miles away into a set of hills. She rolled through a scattering of villages and mines, smearing all under her massive back. Picking herself up, she screamed an incantation to the heavens above. The Earth below responded as Sophia approached at a leisurely pace. The ground erupted in fissures, from which emerged the bones of giant beasts, ancient monsters slain long ago. “KILL THE WORM!” Their red-eyed resurrector commanded. The beasts, miles tall themselves swarmed Sophia, charging at surprising speeds given their weight. They clipped and bit Sophia, causing her to bend down to swat at them. While she did so, Jessamine teleported behind her, trying to reciprocate the blonde’s strategy from prior. With a newly summoned spear she launched toward her spine, this time throwing it like a javelin at her spine. The javelin pierced skin, but only tapped at the deep muscle underneath. Sophia plucked it from her back like it was a toothpick, tossing it to the side. She didn’t even face Jessamine as she focued on the undead beasts at her feet. She pointed at them, speaking long incantations, and they set alight, massive fire engulfing the ancient bones. One by one, all the monsters burned to ash forever. Turning around, Sophia saw the little Jessamine, hope leaving her crimson eyes. “Give up, little thing. It’s over now. You do not have our Mother’s grace.”

“Death first!” came the desperate reply. Flying into the air, Jessamine screamed at the top of her lungs. The high pitched noise stung Sophia’s hearing as she noticed darkness sweep over the land. The sun, once shining high in the sky, was now blocked out by a dark circle. Jessamine had caused an eclipse. Using the fresh terror this generated in the mortals, she disappeared from view. Sophia tensed, readied for an ambush. Suddenly, she heard a pop behind her, followed by a series of jolts. She turned to face Jessamine, and she disappeared again. Another pop, another set of jolts. Sophia could feel the sting of spears lodging into her each time Jessamine appeared. She could tell the woman was running out of steam. This was pathetic, even by her standards. The blonde angel tried to step out of the way, but the pestering continued until she became truly annoyed. She stopped dodging, and just listened. Silence. Shimmer. POP. A set of stings hit her thighs, but she had learned the sequence of sounds of an ambush. Jessamine dissipated again. Silence. Shimmer. SLAM

Just as Jessamine appeared for another hit, Sophia smacked her hands together where she heard the shimmering. Jessamine was totally enveloped in the powerful clap as if she were a mosquito, completely stunned as she fell miles below. Before she could hit ground, however, Sophia grabbed her, holding her tightly in her fist.

“Time for a lesson in Order, Jessamine. The mortals are at the bottom,” She launched Jessamine straight at the city, her body slamming against the protective dome. The metropolis shook at the impact. Jaunting over, Sophia inched the raven-haired woman’s body to a clearing of grass. She pressed her foot over Jessamine, putting her bare toe over Jessamine’s left leg,

“You are a lesser angel,” CRACK.

She put her toe over her right leg now, “That means you do WHAT,”

CRACK

“I”

POP

“SAY”

SNAP

Jessamine’s limbs were shattered by the giant. Plucking the defeated angel in her hands, she suspended Jessamine by the neck, pinching her between her fingers. Slowly, she increased the pressure as Jessamine looked on in agony, her eyes begging for mercy, “And I am a Seraphim. Favored by the Great Mother. You know what that means to you?” The pressure increased, her neck nearly about to pop,

“I am your god.”

CRACK. Jessamine went limp. Her neck broken, she lost control of her body entirely. Dropping the woman to the ground, Sophia hucked a ball of spit at her corpse, “Weakling.” Was the last thing she ever said to the corrupted Luminary. The people of Celioth, still terrified, seemed slightly hopeful that the demoness had been slain. The dome dissipated in a sheen of light as Sophia approached the metropolis. Her toes flattened a major highway entering the city as she stared down at the inhabitants. Those who dared to look up felt their stomachs drop when they recognized the expression on their winged savior’s face.

Disgust.

-

The sin which emanated from this hive of mortals nearly sickened Sophia. With her incredible power, she could sense the debauchery these mortals lived in. Sophia could not let this place stand unpunished. If she did, some other lesser angel would just exploit the sin and fear and try to cause trouble, just as Jessamine did. The mortals can’t stir up the rabble. These bugs need to know their place. And there need to be witnesses.

Sophia held out her hand as she loomed over the city. A little vortex emerged above, and out popped Amelia, shaken and screaming. As she stopped, she looked up at the much larger-than-before angel who held her. “What happened? Where are we!?”

“You are at Celioth, little Amelia. Jessamine is dead. Your people have been avenged,”

She could see Amelia was happy with this outcome, “T-then, we’re safe? Why are we all the way out at the capital?”

Sophia glared down at her, “You are safe. These degenerates are not. You will bear witness to their punishment.”

The little mortal was upset again, “Sophia, please! I beg you, we can be better!”

“I know you can. But not without a demonstration. You animals respond to examples. I see now that’s the best way to teach you. You will be silent.”

This attempt at intimidation was successful as the little human no longer spoke. Sophia concentrated on the people below her. She felt their intentions, their memories, their beliefs. All to find the worthy ones. Soon, she had a count of pious people out of the 15 million residents here: 49. Speaking an incantation, toned with extreme disappointment, she summoned the pious ones to join her witness. As the humans began to arise, she lifted a foot above the outskirts, seeing a large cluster of tall buildings just in front of her. The mortals screamed in terror as they realized her intentions were far from benevolent.

49 little dots arose from the city and collected on Sophia’s right palm. Quickly, she dropped them on the invisible platform along with Amelia. “Introduce yourselves! You will be the entire city in a few minutes. But no matter what you do, I want you to remember what you see. This is the price of your sins.”

The foot slammed into the side of the cluster. Tens of blocks crumbled under her soft sole, hundreds of thousands seeing her tanned skin flatten the steel giants above them before they, too were turned to dust. Savoring the feeling of so many perishing under her simple step, she swept her foot to the right, pushing buildings and people underneath a tsunami of destruction and debris. With two little movements, three million were dead.

She took the next step, crushing more skyscrapers. She could feel a little to her left sat the infamous Red Quarter, a cluster of casinos, brothels, and bars. Filthy degenerates. Come and see what your lust will give you. She turned on her heels, compressing flattened buildings into the Earth, and sat down on the Quarter, her ass smashing and pasting millions more. She dug her backside in a little to fully envelop the den of sinners.

Seeing the city from this angle impressed upon her just how fragile these mortals were. With the slightest effort, any of these buildings could be ripped apart. Placing her thighs to the ground, she stretched out her legs to crush the as yet unharmed part of the city. She moved with agonizingly slow speed, her trained divine physique allowing her precise control over her movements. She spread out her legs, wiggling her toes as she felt more die, battering down millions an inch at a time. An entire third of Celioth met its end under the muscular legs of Sophia.

Only a few pockets remained. Some sat unharmed to her back. Without even looking behind, she moved her wings up and down. Their immense size created hurricanes behind her, blowing away entire high-rises and pasting the mortals inside. Now, every part of the captial city was in some way destroyed by the angel. In 5 minutes, she had killed 14 million people.

But that still left 1 million sinners, and a massive amount of debris. Sophia decided to enact her plan to ensure generations of proper worship among the mortals. Standing up, crushing a few pockets of survivors under her dirt covered feet, she walked over to Jessamine’s body. Jessamine was paralyzed but not yet fully dead. It was quite hard to kill an angel. But not impossible. Sophia held aloft her hand, and a bright white dagger appeared, the hilt formed from tempered bone. Holding Jessamine’s body by the chest, she slit her throat and held her upside down. She walked along the city, sprinkling her blood out across the ruined streets. Once Jessamine was drained of blood, she tossed the body aside. It vanished as it hit the ground. Where it went was of no concern to Sophia: an angel’s power is in her blood, and now Jessamine is just an empty sack of meat.

Sophia leapt into the air, suspended next to the surviving humans, all paralyzed in horror at what they saw. She kept her back to them as she held out her hands, “Great Mother, your land is cleansed of these sinners! I return your power! I beseech your blessing with the blood of traitors to reshape this land! To make it bountiful for the humans to love and worship you! Grant me this, O Eternal Lifebringer!”

She spoke the forbidden name once more. The Earth shook violently. Slowly, the blood began to move, then steam arose from it. With no warning, the blood shot out from its pools, expanding to cover the whole city in dark red. After a minute of the blood violently shaking, it vanished. Underneath, there was no city. No rubble. No bodies. Instead, there was a forest. Trees of deep purple leaves and red bark. Grasses and moss with yellow and blue shades filled out where the trees could not cover. And peppered throughout were massive boulders, huge deposits of shiny stone, their color a dark black. So dark it would swallow all light that hit it were it not for its glossy coating. Sophia shouted praise at the Great Mother. This forest was a blessing.

-

Crying.

Death hung in the air. The 49 survivors of Celioth all clung together in sorrow, comforting each other as best they could. All of them lost family, lost friends, lost lovers to the avenging angel. The angel who now held their fate, quite literally, in her palm. Amelia lost someone, too. Her uncle and cousins lived there. She guessed they were smashed by her foot at the beginning of the rampage. Amelia wanted to break, she wanted to drown in tears, but she just couldn’t start. She had seen too much death and destruction. It was like her brain shut down.

The forest that formed under the rubble scared them even more. It was unlike anything they had seen. To exist even near the alien landscape unsettled the humans. Even worse was the fact that Sophia seemed pleased it existed. The angel turned to face the survivors, all stopping their grieving to await her next move.

“Mortals. Your land is pure, now,” She held out her palm and the platform went away. All fell onto her soft skin. She continued, “You will find the forest is amenable to you. The plants are edible, and the trees provide excellent wood. This is a gift from the heavens, so use it wisely. Or there will be consequences,” She stared at the humans with cold anger.

This feels like a nightmare. Is this real? She had tried hurting herself, screaming, touching others. Nothing awoke her. There was just one more thing to try. Slowly walking to the edge of Sophia’s palm, she looked up at the woman one last time and stepped off to the colorful forest below.

Falling.

She tumbled through the air, speed picking up far faster than she imagined. The terror she immediately felt confirmed with finality that she was not dreaming. Unfortunate, then, that she was about to die this way, after having survived all the rest of the dangers. How long has it been? A few hours? Funny, I always thought Apocalypse would take longer. Her mind became blank as she accepted the absurdity of the latter few hours of her life, ending so abruptly.

Floating.

Amelia slowly descended along with the survivors above the angel’s palm. She felt a pressure on her leg that compressed bone. Sophia had gripped her with her fingers. Unfortunately, she grabbed too hard, and after a minute of resistance, her leg broke. Fire shot from her nerves as she screamed. The angel paid little mind as she descended. Sophia was shrinking down as they fell, until she returned to her original size, 50 feet. The humans all dropped one foot to the ground, and all except Amelia were safe and unharmed. Amelia fell over, her leg still damaged. Then two men approached, one of them spoke in a quiet, soothing voice, “Amelia? I’m a doctor. Let me check your leg out, okay?”

Amelia nodded in between moans of agony as the doctor examined her. “It’s broken. Feels like it shattered at a few places. I’m going to need some…”

He stopped as Sophia stomped over to them. One glance at the men was enough to get them to flee the woman as Sophia pointed her index finger at Amelia. Suddenly, she felt bones move within her leg as they set back in place. The pain was still there, but Amelia felt she could use the leg again. Sophia bent down to face the woman.

“Don’t use that leg too much. It needs a day or so to be up to snuff. I need you healthy for our new world.”

The woman grimaced in pain, shaking from fear, “What do you mean, angel?”

“You are worthy of being my voice. The mortals of this world need guidance to be pure and clean. I know how, and you will speak for me. You shall be a prophetess, Amelia.”

Amelia looked at her with confusion, “W-why me?”

“Don’t worry about that. This is not your choice to make. You are my mouthpiece. You will lead the Temple. You shall keep the flock.”

She stood, “You will build Her a great temple. Use the dark stone and mighty trees laid here. From the Temple you shall lead this realm in praise and honor of the Great Mother. You are to obey Her tenets, and Her commandments. You will ensure the piety of every mortal under the sun. You shall remember me as the executor of Her vengeance and Her authority. We will purge the heresy and infidelity from the land. And you, Amelia, are the mortal I will act through. Do you understand, little thing?”

“...Yes, O Great One. We will follow your way.”

Sophia nodded, eliciting the trust she had in Amelia. Nevertheless, she wanted to ensure she understood how this arrangement would be enforced, “Do not lead the flock astray. I will know if you abandon our Mother once again. Be faithful,” She leaned in close, Amelia still shaking on the ground. The angel of death spoke low, “I will be watching.”

She stood up, gazing at the sky, and her figure began to fade into the air. With a wisp of wind, she was gone. Amelia was helped up by one of the men, who she used as a crutch while they walked over to the cluster of survivors. The newly appointed leader stared up at a great slab of stone. Beyond fear now, all she felt was the lingering feeling of being observed. One of the women spoke up to her, “Amelia. We were thinking of setting camp away from the forest. Maybe by the mountains to the West?”

Their prophetess didn’t look away, still watching the stone, “No. Build camp here. Tomorrow we start construction on the Temple.”