Chapter 5

Ra began to pace the room back and forth. Even he could be nervous, with his powers he could sense something bad was about to happen. His troops and the gods commanding the other ships in his battalion stood of in the next room either physically or mentally. He needed to prepare them for the worst because he knew the end for many of them was drawing close. This was the moment he hated about being a "god". His followers looked up to him as if he could protect them from any and everything, when in fact he can only do so much. He knew he couldn't save everyone, but that was the expectation of him. The burden was great but one only he could bear. He buried his emotions into the back of his mind and left it for the time being. He thought about the room next to him and instantly teleported into it. The soldiers stood still in awe. There were no cheers. There was no noise. There was only unlimited respect and admiration for their leader. The others from the council were present in mind as they were preparing for the great battle. Ra was about to begin his speech, communicating with everyone telepathically, but he decided to talk to them directly because he felt it would make him seem more human. It would make him seem more like he was one of them. He began his speech in his angelic tone.

"I know that you stand here in front me, with expectations that you will all survive and live through the battle that is about to take place. Many of you see me as a god, as if I can do anything. This is not the case. I am powerful and can do many things, but I can not save all of you. The foe we are about to face has every power myself and the others of the council possess. It will be a very hard fight, but not one that we can not win. Each and everyone of you has dedicated your life to the council, the protection and preservation of the human race, and myself. For this I am eternally grateful and I swear to you that the fallen will never be forgotten! I realize that you have not been given much information about Apocolyptica and his followers. I will tell you with the utmost confidence that if given the chance, Apocolyptica will destroy the Earth and the entire human race with it if he is not stopped. He believes humans to be an infestation. Like a hive of bees we must show him that if he disturbs the hive he will be hit with the full force of its inhabitants. I will do everything within my powers to make sure the battle goes smoothly but the council and I will be engaged with the members of the council that follow Apocolyptica. It will be extremely difficult for any of us to assist you in the space battle. We will however, do everything we can to keep our fight from destroying you all in the crossfire. I leave it up to our most trusted members, our generals. You will have to lead the battalions on your own while our fight takes place. I trust each and every one of you and leave you with my blessing. I wish you all the best of luck and I give you my word that I will lend you my assistance whenever possible."

Ra opened his mind up so he could hear the thoughts of everyone at the same time. He felt the many emotions running throughout the room. The ones who were fearful Ra dug into their minds and calmed them. Even scared for their lives, they still trusted Ra completely. Being human himself at one point, even he had a hard time contemplating the way humans worked sometimes. After calming everyone in the room, Ra gave them all one more nod then teleported back into his personal quarters. Hathor,Nut, Geb, Thoth, Ma'at, and Amun began to contact Ra. They began to work out the battle plans so that they could create a strategy. After a few minutes of discussion, it was time to decide who would fight who as far as the council members went. Ra spoke up first. There was a bitter cold chill in his voice that sent chills down the others spines.

"I want Sekhmet, you can each figure out the rest but I will be the one to fight her."

The others in the council each decided it would be better not to bring the past up and make the situation worse than it already was. If Ra were to lose control of his temper it would be a hazard for everyone including the earth that they were fighting to save.

Ra began to fume about the upcoming fight with Sekhmet. All he could think about is the betrayal she had committed against him and the council that sided with him. He began to have a flashback.

Around the time that Apocolyptica and Ra had returned, there was quite a bit of friction within the council. Apocolyptica seemed to be getting worse than he normally was and it was obvious that the transformation that he had undergone had stripped him of who he used to be. There had been many discussions about the growing curiosities of the humans and what to do with them. They were in the final meeting before the council had split into two halves. Apocolyptica took the floor.

"I can't believe you don't see them being so curious as a threat Ra! Eventually they are going to figure out the truth and then who knows what's going to come of it! We don't even know the extent of our powers yet and we have no idea if those mental blocks we put into place will hold if they were to find out! Why can't you just see the risk?"

Ra glared at him with the utmost intensity but spoke with a much calmer tone.

"Apoclyptica, I can see your point to an extent. However, I can not see it to the extent that it should come to total extermination. Why are they such a threat to you? If you could just give me a valid reason I would be much more inclined to take the actions you are asking to take."

Apocolyptica knew exactly why he wanted the humans exterminated. Because the Zurokian had taken over and turned his body into a pure being, he knew the real reasons why they had their minds unlocked the way they had been. He knew it had been the Zurokians that had came there before he had set the trap to take over the humans body at the meteorite site. He couldn't reveal this to any of the council however. All he knew is that the Zurokians combined with the humans as evolution took its course threatened the existence of what was left of his race. Apocolyptica calmed down a bit and tried to convince Ra once again.

"We have been given a gift. For some reason our minds expanded where all of the other humans remained in recession. Obviously there must be a reason for this. Why should we sit here and tolerate this insolence from these inferior beings? Why should we let them question us like they are? Most of them see us as gods. We should take advantage of that and rule this society through fear. They should not question our motives or our powers and let us rule because we have the abilities to. We are smarter and have the ability to do almost anything we can think of. It would be catastrophic if we were to let them rule themselves. The human species is stubborn and corrupt. You can feel it within their minds. They are just ready to go to war over the slightest things. They are not afraid to kill each other, or rob another family of a loved one without a single doubt or regret. If they were to break through our mental barriers and gain our abilities, their primal instincts might lead them to destroy us and themselves. We should just wipe them from the face of this planet and then create a new civilization. That is the only way to ensure that the planet along with ourselves can be safe."

Ra took a minute to consider the argument. He finally shook his head in disagreement and spoke up.

"It still is not enough justification to make them an extinct species Apocolyptica I am sorry. You speak of how corrupt they are and their primal instincts. If you would examine them closer you would realize that most of them do not fit the description you just gave. Many of them would be perfectly happy to live their lives and not harm a single being other than what they need to survive. If you want to break it down into that, then look at yourself. You speak of them wanting to go to war, but look at yourself. You are ready to wipe out an entire civilization over a theory. You are not any better than the corrupt humans you are speaking of if you take that action."

Ra's words hit a nerve and Apocolyptica's body of pure energy turned a bright scarlet. There was an outbreak of words between all of the council as they argued back and forth. Sides were taken as the argument escalated. Hathor, Nut, Geb, Thoth, Ma'at, Amun and Sekhmet took Ra's side of the argument. Osiris, Isis, Anubis, Seth, Horus and Bastet took Apocolyptica's side of the argument. After days of continuing on and on the council split into two halves and ceased to gather as a whole. Ra's side would meet and Apocolpytica's side would meet in different designated locations. Months went by as no actions were taken. The people began to wonder why the 'gods' would not hear their calls and prayers. About a year after the split in the council, after one of their meetings Sekhmet approached Ra to talk to him privately. They opened a link between their minds so that it could be between the two of them. Sekhmet began to speak.

"Ra, I am worried that everything has been so quiet and distant between the others. Do you think they are planning something?"

Ra took a few seconds and then replied.

"I am not sure Sekhmet. I really have no idea what to expect from them. I have not been able to make contact with any of them since the split. I fear that something bad will come of it. I don't think that any of the humans here are safe."

Sekhmet seemed to agree and began to elaborate on her thoughts.

"I just don't understand why it came to what it did. I do see where Apocolyptica is coming from and it is kind of frightening when you examine a few of these humans minds. Imagine what they would do if they broke through their barriers. It would be horrific. I agree with you though that there are not enough like that to wipe them out completely. Why couldn't we have met halfway though? Why not destroy the ones with the impure thoughts and leave the rest alone?"

Ra instantly knew the answer.

"Apocolyptica might seem like he would accept that compromise but I assure you that it would not satisfy him. The argument he would make is that the newborns in later generations would eventually breed with the same traits we destroyed. It is a rather valid argument to be honest. I just still don't think we should exterminate them for that. There are too many innocent people to justify doing that."

Sekhmet began to consider the comments made.

"I suppose you are right Ra. I guess I am just a little fearful about some of the things Apocolyptica had said."

Ra gave him the reassuring smile they were all accustomed to.

"It won't turn out like he thinks it will. I promise you that it won't."

They continued talking back and forth for a while longer when there was a loud piercing scream. Ra, Sekhmet, and the others of their half of the council were there in an instant only to discover a horrifying scene. Apocolyptica and the others on his side were there and thousands of humans were levitating in midair. They were being pierced hundreds of times across their bodies and blood was raining down as if it were a waterfall upon the earth below them. The humans were already dead when Ra had arrived and still Apoclyptica and his followers were desecrating their bodies and letting their blood rain down on the city below. Ra and his followers were in shock at the scene. Ra became instantly infuriated and boomed towards them all.

"What have you done? How can you do this to all of these innocent people? They didn't deserve this, and even after their deaths you still destroy their bodies! You will pay for this I swear it!"

They broke out into battle, each of them going one on one with another. Ra went after Apocolyptica himself knowing that it had been him behind the slaughter. As the fight escalated the people left within the city scattered for cover though they found none. Many were caught in the crossfire as explosions rang out and large portions were destroyed in the attempts the council made to kill each other. Ra knew that they needed to take it elsewhere but he had no idea how to take the fight away from the humans. He also knew that Apoclyptica had planned on that. What he didn't know was that the entire thing was just a distraction. Apocolyptica's plan was far from what he led Ra to believe of it.

After days of fighting within the city, Apocolyptica managed to escape from Ra and make himself scarce. Sekhmet had been in battle with Osiris while the fight had been going on. She was the real treasure Apoclyptica was seeking. With his abilities as a Zurokian he was able to examine the others in the council and see their abilities. He knew that Sekhmet was special and that she was very powerful. He needed her on his side. Osiris had played his part perfectly and now it was time for Apocolyptica to step in. He teleported directly behind her and delivered a crushing blow. He knocked Sekhmet to the ground and unconscious. Ra sensed a final thought of pain come from Sekhmet's direction and quickly made his way over to his area. Ra and the others of the council besides Apocolyptica had not yet learned how to teleport from one place to another. They would only learn this ability with time as they matured. As soon as Sekhmet had disappeared, the others from Apocolyptica's side fled the scene.

Ra and the others began to look over the now demolished portion of the city and all of the carcases. He didn't even know what to do with the carnage. Eventually after a long discussion, they just buried the entire portion of the city in sand. After that day they spent all of their time on guard, waiting for the next attack from their enemy. It was months later before anything had happened. They all felt it at the same time. Sekhmet's presence was felt among all of them. The first thought in their heads was that she had managed to escape somehow. They all got to her location as quickly as possible. Once they arrived she was just levitating in the air, motionless. Sensing their presence she smiled. Before a word could be spoken, she let out a bone chilling laugh. The hair on their bodies stood straight up as the area around them became electrified and charged with static. Ra had a feeling about what was about to take place, but he hesitated because for a moment he didn't believe Sekhmet was capable of doing what he thought was about to happen. In that single moment of hesitation it was too late. Ra had no way to counter the attack because of that moment. The lush forest that stood and the many cities and villages were vaporized as the blast pushed out from Sekhmet. Hundreds of thousands of humans and animals lost their lives in the course of a few seconds. The blast stretched from Sekhmet to the coast of the Atlantic and almost all the way to the Nile river.

She was still laughing as the dust and remains began to settle to the ground. Ra was in complete shock. He could not believe why Sekhmet would do such a thing. In the time he had grown to know her, it didn't make any sense to Ra. Either way he knew that he would never be able to forgive Sekhmet. No matter what the reasons, too many were slaughtered that day. He would also never be able to forgive himself. He was so caught off guard that it caused him to hesitate. That single moment of hesitation caused the loss of so many lives. He could have stopped that attack had he not hesitated. He also couldn't figure out how Sekhmet had gotten that powerful so quickly. He had trained with her and she had never been even close to that powerful. He put it away in the back of his mind. All he knew is that this betrayal against him and the others on his side, the destruction laid upon the people and the land, and his own hesitation would never be forgiven.

Ra snapped out of the flashback and only a few seconds had gone by. He concentrated and calmed himself down and prepared for the upcoming fight. He knew that it would be a really tough battle but he had come a long way since that day and knew he was strong enough to defeat Sekhmet now. Ra's battalion was nearing Mars. Apocolyptica's forces were on the other side awaiting them. As the enemy came into view, Ra gave out the order in a calm tone to his generals.

"Attack."

The battle ships lurched forward at top speed as the enemy mimicked. The council one by one disappeared as they sensed their foes they had assigned themselves earlier come within their grasp. One by one they left their ships and commenced fighting. Ra kept waiting for Sekhmet to appear but she wasn't showing herself. It gave time for Ra to help give the upper hand to his forces. Neither Apocolyptica nor Sekhmet were present in the battle so Ra took the chance and teleported to the head of his battalion. The gunfire and missiles being launched towards his fleet were stopped in their tracks and vaporized as Ra came close to the enemy fleet. Ra focused on the ship nearest to him and started to tear it to shreds piece by piece. He felt his artificial atmosphere ripple as it was pierced by Anubis. Ra instantly turned around and their forearms met and sent a shock wave of energy out that knocked all of the ships from both sides off of their courses. They exchanged blows a few more times sending shock wave after shock wave off into space. It was only a few seconds before Ra felt the presence of Thoth next to him. Anubis tried to fight them both but he was forced to retreat. Thoth went after him which left Ra to continue with what he had been doing. Once again he located the ship he had been tearing apart. That was when he felt it. Sekhmet was near him and wanted him to know it. Ra was at his location in an instant. Sekhmet was standing there, with that same crazed smile from that day. Ra commanded him to speak.

"Where is Apocolyptica? Why has it taken you so long to finally come and face me?"

Sekhmet continued her smile but answered in an evil tone.

"What my master is doing is none of your concern Ra. As for it taking me so long I do apologize. I am here now though. What do you say we begin?"

Ra was not going to argue with him and made the first move. He was at Sekhmet in a split second and went for a direct punch to her face. Sekhmet caught the punch in her fist and looked Ra straight in the eyes and laughed.

"You'll have to do better than that Ra."

It took Ra by surprise how fast she had become but it wasn't enough to worry him. Sekhmet charged her fist with the same electrical energy and went for the killing blow. Ra felt the raw energy surge and teleported out of its range. He knew that even he would not be able to take a hit from Sekhmet with that much energy behind it. Sekhmet laughed at him.

"What's the matter Ra? You scared of taking a little punch like this? I'm not even trying yet."

Ra didn't answer her but had some ideas to counter the energetic attacks. Ra had honed the ability to create stars at will. He could make them as large or small as he chose. He would just make a very small star and collapse it into a black hole at the last possible moment and absorb all of the energy into it. He hoped that maybe he could take a portion of Sekhmet with it. Ra took the offensive to implement his plan. Sekhmet was ready for his attack and lunged at him with full force. Ra's hand lit up with a brilliant white light that blinded Sekhmet for just a moment. It was just enough time for Ra to collapse the small star and morph it into a black hole. Sekhmet's energy was sucked from her arm along with her artificial atmosphere that she had created. Sekhmet felt her arm being pulled into the black hole and quickly teleported to a safe location. Ra delivered a crushing blow to Sekhmet's jaw and sent her skyrocketing to the surface of Mars. With her artificial atmosphere being sucked in by the black hole Sekhmet was defenseless to counter Ra's attacks in space.

Sekhmet's body landed at the foot of Olympus Mons, the largest volcano in the solar system. Ra followed shortly after and went to deliver another crushing blow. Sekhmet sensed him coming now that he had the very thin atmosphere that Mars provided and dodged the attack. Sekhmet went for Ra but he was too quick for her. They exchanged blows for a few minutes back and forth. One of Apocolyptica's battle ships was hovering over the planet and must have seen the battle going on below. They launched a nuclear bomb at them in an attempt to help in the fight with Ra. It landed about a mile from their location and the explosion roared towards them. Both Ra and Sekhmet held their hands in the air and redirected the energy of the bomb into Olympus Mons. The focused energy cut deeper and deeper into the Volcano until the shock waves dissipated. An intense heat burst from the massive hole in the ground and an intense light began to slowly pulse. Sekhmet looked at Ra and gave an evil laugh. She disappeared into the hole. Ra knew that it was going to be a tough fight once he went in but he had no other choice. He followed after Sekhmet into the interior of the planet. The heat grew exponentially as he got further into the planets innards. He eventually came into a chamber that was gushing with molten rock.

The pressure from all of the heat was bearing down on his entire body. Ra tried to create a slight barrier to repel the pressure but the air was being consumed by the lava. Sekhmet's voice rang through the chamber in a hissing tone.

"You won't be able to counter my attacks here Ra. There are too many heat waves for you to sense my movements. You may as well give up now."

Ra laughed at her proposal.

"That won't be happening today Sekhmet. You won't be able to sense my movements either so we are still on even playing ground."

A bone chilling laugh came from behind Ra.

"That may be so but I made it here first. I was able to hide before you got here, and I know where you are. That gives me the upper hand."

Before Ra could give out a reply, molten rock burst at him from all sides. Ra moved out of the way and deflected a large portion of it in the opposite direction. Again and again Ra was bombarded by wave after wave of molten rock. There was no way for him to figure out where the attacks were originating from. The heat was too intense for him to sense any movement within the chamber. Ra received many burns from close calls and he knew that if he didn't figure out something soon he was not going to survive the encounter. Ra tried to think of a way out of the situation without causing a massive amount of destruction but could think of none. He finally came down to a last resort option, even though he knew it was going to endanger many people. Ra created a small star in each hand about half a foot each in diameter. He used the gravity created by the stars and reversed it to repel the lava. He drew enough of the gravity towards him to protect himself, and then slammed the stars together. They combined and then Ra created a massive fusion explosion that paled any nuclear weapon man had ever created. The super nova sent all of the molten rock in all directions from Ra's position. As the lava went towards the surface of the planet, Olympus Mons swelled up. The pressure of the supernova forcing the millions of ton of lava and rock pushed the mountain upwards and outwards till it was almost twice its original size.

From space the ancient volcano went from normal to twice its size in a matter of a few seconds. There was a blinding light followed by a massive explosion. A shock wave was sent out and made its way around the planet. Huge chunks of debris skyrocketed toward both fleets in space. Both sides stopped fighting each other and took evasive maneuvers to avoid as much of the debris as possible. There was too much however and chunks of Mars started to collide with the ships. The council on both sides stopped their fights to go and protect their fleets. They began to deflect the debris back to the planet and out into space. A few of Ra's fleet was destroyed in the blast but many more of Apocolyptica's fleet were blown out of the sky. A layer of dirt and dust spread over the planet as a massive pyroclastic flow spread around all of Mars.

Ra teleported out into space trying to sense where Sekhmet had gone to. He sat there and examined as his fleet positioned itself to continue their attack. It was then that Apocolyptica himself teleported directly to the front of his fleet. Ra couldn't figure out why he had been absent most of the fight but he would soon find out. Apocolyptica turned to look above where Ra's fleet was positioned and that's when it came. A tear in dimensions appeared above and a beast emerged. It took one sweep and destroyed three of Ra's best ships before they could figure out what had happened. The beast was insanely fast for its size. The fleet and the council on Ra's side unleashed everything they had towards Apocolyptica in retaliation. Ra created two more stars combined them and sent them towards him and at the last second created an explosion equal to the one inside of Mars. A barrier appeared in front of him and almost everything was redirected to the planet in an instant. There was an explosion so bright that even the council had to shield their eyes. In the moments they had been blinded, many of the nuclear weapons had been sent back into the fleet. Ra and the rest of his council did what they could to absorb the explosions but lost many ships. The beast burst all the way through the dimensional rip and headed straight for Mars. A quarter of the planet was missing at this point and it seemed that the beast was drawn towards its leftover thermal energy. Ra had no idea what was going on but he acted quickly. He communicated with the council and the rest of his fleet.

"Retreat. Now!"

The ships narrowly avoided the beast sweeping by them towards the planet. They disappeared with the council in a few seconds. Ra stayed behind for a short while longer and watched the beast ravenously devour the innards of the planet until it was dead. Apocolyptica let it return into its own dimension. Ra stared at Apocolyptica with an intense gaze for a few more seconds before he was gone. The battle was over for the time being.