Shane Porteous - The Battle of Ebulon - A Shared Anthology

I was so distracted I could barely hear the voice calling to me for help. Even when I did hear it, the voice almost got lost in the numerous voices screaming desperately in my head. It wasn’t until I actually saw one of the bodies move that I realized there was still someone alive among the dead.

“Hello?” I walked cautiously up to the body. With all of the snow and mixed blood around I couldn’t tell if it was a human or an Orc. “Did you say something to me?”

“I asked why it took you so long to come.” A distinctively human voice came from the mass of snow and fur.

“I’m sorry?” Most people didn’t ask me that. They didn’t want to see the angel of death coming to them. More often I got asked why I was there so soon.

“We have been waiting for hours for our reinforcements to come.” He turned around and I quickly hid my expression of shock. A huge gash ran from his left temple to the lower, right side of his jaw. It went through one of his eyes and sliced his nose completely in half. “There were only twenty of us down here. We sent out a distress call hours ago and no one came. Why did you take so long?”

“I’m… we’re not your reinforcements,” I told him.

“Than what the hell are you?” he wanted to know.

“I’m the angel of death,” I reluctantly answered. “I’m here to collect the dead.”

“Good luck with that.” He laughed bitterly. “You’d have better luck collecting the living. Why don’t you tell me when there’s good news? Like when my reinforcements finally show up.”

“I don’t think anyone is coming,” I stated. “I think that once we come it means that the battle is over. There’s no one left to come to you.”

“This may be why you’re the angel of death.” He turned away from me. “You don’t even have the common courtesy to comfort a dying man with the possibility that his death might have been worthwhile.”

“I’m sorry… it’s just… this is my first time doing this.” I winced inwardly. That came out wrong.

“This is your first time doing what?” He turned back around. The last thing a man on the brink of death wanted to know was that the angel of death who should be taking him to rest was on her first day on the job.

“Never mind.” I shook my head.

“This is your first time being the angel of death,” he guessed.

“Maybe.” I glanced over to Jesse. He was surrounded by dead Orcs with more rushing towards him. I really would much rather be helping him keep the Orcs at bay than talking to a bitter, dying warrior.

“One of my fellow soldiers came this close to death last year,” he started to explain. “He said the angel of death was at his bedside for hours before he pulled through with the help of our most talented healers. He also said that the angel of death was a man.” I looked away from him. He didn’t need to prove I wasn’t who he expected. I already knew.

“I am sorry that I am not what you wanted,” I started. “But I am not here for you. I’m not here to help you fight and I am not here to collect your soul because you are not dying. Count yourself lucky. Not everyone else was so gifted.”

“I don’t count myself lucky.” His eyes were filled with a frightening fire that made me wish I was facing an Orc instead. “I would rather die defending my city than live knowing it has fallen.”

“We don’t know for sure that it has fallen.” Now I was starting to feel uneasy. As soon as I got back to Washington DC I was going to give this title and this job over to Elizabeth. She had wanted it from the start and I never wanted it.

“I know it has fallen.” The fire left his eyes. “This city is in the heart of all who live in it. We know when it is dying.” Joshua and Jesse were finishing off the last of the Orcs but I knew he was right. There was nothing left of this city.

Smoke rose in all directions from across the mountainous city and the death rippling through my head was worse than anything I have ever heard in my entire life. Death was not something I wanted to experience anymore. I was supposed to be focusing on life but I couldn’t when all I could think about was that every life ended in death.

My own life would end in death as would Jesse’s and our baby’s. Joshua was already dead and I was the one who had made that happen. Every person and every creature of every kind was going to die and it was my job to take their life. This was not the life I wanted. The life of the angel of death is a lonely and desolate one. The life of an angel of death is the only one that truly welcomes death when it comes to them.

The Star Power Puppy was awoken from his nap by a voice in his head. Due to sleepiness all he heard was, From what he understood, someone or someplace called Ebulon was in trouble and needed help. He was unsure about the last part. Who or what was he supposed to follow?

Being a superhero, Star Power knew that it was his duty to help, but how? What was Ebulon? This is the question he felt needed answering first. Luckily the young terrier mix was expected at the Fountain City Observatory, where he and a group of other superheroes called Heroes United, met weekly and in emergencies.

At the observatory, when all members of Heroes United had arrived, the team leader, Black Cat, began the meeting. As usual the cat began by saying, “If there is anything that needs immediate attention, please bring it up now.”

“I received a telepathic message this morning and was alerted by a mysterious voice that someone or something was in danger and needs help,” Star Power reported.

“Did it have a name?” Black Cat asked him.

“I don’t know about the voice, but someone or something called Ebulon is in danger,” Star Power replied. When Black Cat didn’t respond right away he said, “We have to help. We are heroes, it’s our duty.

“I agree,” Black Cat said, “But does anyone know who or what Ebulon is?”

“It sounds like a world to me,” a human with the power to shape shift into a Grizzly Bear called Grizzly girl said, “And I should know, I come from one.” The Grizzly Girl was from The World of Shape Shifters in the Other Realm.

“If that’s true then Asantra should know about it.” Wonder Wolf said. Asantra was a witch who came from the Other Realm. Her mom, DWW, had been the Head of the Witches Council, which is the person in charge of all magic users in both the Other Realm and Mortal Realm, as well as all the worlds in the Other Realm. Because of this Asantra knew about all the ones in existence and as a kid, had explored many of them.

“You mean the original Wonder Wolf?” Black Cat asked.

“Yes,” Wonder Wolf said. Before her days as Wonder Wolf began, Wonder Wolf was a girl called Dillon who had superpowers but hero identity until she met Asantra. In order to stay out of trouble with DWW, Asantra had asked Dillon to become Wonder Wolf, after creating the hero and going on an adventure with Black Cat and Chihuahua, which she wasn’t supposed to do.

“Do you know where to find her?” Black Cat asked.

“I’m pretty sure I can find her at the school,” Wonder Wolf replied confidently.

“I don’t think we should waste any time responding to the distress call,” Trixie said. Trixie was a shape shifter who could turn into any animal and look however she wanted. She could even become an exact duplicate of any animal or human in looks. Because she had this ability Trixie didn’t feel she needed a superhero costume to hide her identity and so she and her two sidekicks, a Golden Eagle called Miles, and a magical white Bengal Tiger cub, Cosmo, where the only members of Heroes United to use their real names full time.