War of Mortal Gods Read online

  WAR OF MORTAL GODS

  (Book One)

  Kipjo K. Ewers

  Copyright © 2020 by Kipjo K. Ewers

  THIS IS A EVO UNIVERSE BOOK

  PUBLISHED BY EVO UNIVERSE, LLC

  All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. Published in the United States by EVO Universe, LLC, New Jersey, and distributed by EVO Universe, LLC, New Jersey.

  www.evouniverse.com

  All rights reserved.

  ISBN: 9798670109963

  Copyright © 2020 Kipjo K. Ewers

  All rights reserved.

  For Sophia…

  OTHER WORKS

  THE FIRST (THE FIRST SERIES)

  EVO UPRISING: (THE FIRST SERIES BOOK 2)

  GENESIS: (THE FIRST SERIES BOOK 3)

  EYE OF RA

  FRED & MARY

  “HELP! I'M A SUPERHERO!”: BOOK ONE

  THE ELF AND THE LARP: BOOK ONE

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  I would like to take a minute to thank everyone who brought me to the dance. My mother and father for having me and giving me the best life a kid and his two brothers could have. My brothers are not just my siblings but my best friends. Mrs. Greene, my second-grade teacher who taught me and made me believe at a young age that I could be a writer. My wife, who is also my business partner in EVO Universe, both got me into New York ComicCon and paid out of her pocket for me to attend the event, among other things. She’s the woman that stands next to the man, not behind him.

  Finally, I would like to thank you, the person reading this book. Without you, this would not be possible for me. So thank you from the bottom of my heart.

  And I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I did writing it.

  Table of Contents

  CHAPTER 1

  CHAPTER 2

  CHAPTER 3

  CHAPTER 4

  CHAPTER 5

  CHAPTER 6

  CHAPTER 7

  CHAPTER 8

  CHAPTER 9

  CHAPTER 10

  CHAPTER 11

  CHAPTER 12

  CHAPTER 13

  CHAPTER 14

  CHAPTER 15

  CHAPTER 16

  CHAPTER 17

  CHAPTER 18

  CHAPTER 19

  CHAPTER 20

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  CHAPTER 1

  Planet Volori, several billion light-years from Earth, a world ruled by a single iron-fisted monarchy, its citizens, a species of humanoid hairless felines with feathers growing mostly on their heads and backs, were judged by a class and gender system. Where being male and of nobility got one a seat at the table.

  An industrialized planet once covered in the foliage was now seventy percent covered in hardened metal.

  ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜

  On the surface of the planet, an intense battle teetering on all-out war erupted throughout the capital city as the massive Volorion War Machine faced off against three Anunnaki emissaries known as the Eye of Set, the Eye of Osiris, and the Eye of Ra.

  A peaceful diplomatic meeting with the High Prime Vbzarma to discuss putting an end to his citizens partaking in piracy against ships under the protection of the Dominion Council in exchange for the Council not levying sanctions against his empire and barricading their trade routes turned into an ambush in the throne room with the intention of beheading and mutilating Laurence and his cousin Anubis’s bodies while enacting vile sexual atrocities upon their cousin Bastet.

  Needless to say, the trio decided not to partake in the High Prime’s plan and to leave the planet by force if necessary.

  The battle-torn capital littered with destroyed Volorion war machines and dead or injured soldiers was a clear indication that prior negotiations had fallen through.

  ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜

  Armed with their familiars and powerful Anunnaki armor, the trio currently in their Celestial mode conversions, Laurence Danjuma, and his cousins continued to wreak havoc on the Volorion military forces attempting to bring them down.

  The mouth of Anubis’s helm shaped similar to a jackal creature, opened up, and fired an intense sheering blue beam that tore through three Dominator tanks. Red and black gargantuan thirty feet tall crab-like four-legged vehicles with two plasma beam cannons on the main body's side and other armaments. The main body rotated and elevated on the arm attached to its underbelly and base legs allowing it to execute three hundred and sixty-degree attacks.

  The beam cut each of the tanks’ arms in half, sending the central bodies crashing down on top of their bases, causing explosions to shake the ground.

  Not to be outdone by her cousin, Bastet, also in Celestial mode, had the appearance of a metallic humanoid lioness as she leaped into the air going aerial with her familiar Mafdet in its bow configuration. She took skillful aim firing an arrow-shaped energy projectile punching a fatal hole straight through a flat metallic gunmetal grey hammer-shaped Volorion warship.

  Smoke spewed from its new orifice as it went into a stalled drift before falling from the sky. The ship first became a fireball as it clipped a small building breaking in half. Its two parts came down, crushing any soldier or vehicle unlucky enough to evade it while scattering the ground forces in the vicinity.

  As she descended back down into the capital, her familiar transformed into its bolo whip mode. With a lashing motion, she latched onto the hammer-shaped bow of another warship. As her familiar channeled raw Awakening energy through its tail converted whip, Bastet gave a simple pull cutting the ship into several pieces.

  She landed shaking the ground while bringing destruction from the sky onto more of the Volorion War Machine.

  Mirroring his cousins, Laurence, the Eye of Ra, with his armor in Celestial mode, which gave him the shape of a metallic golden humanoid eagle, tore through the sky with sound barrier-breaking speed barreling through a squadron of Birds of Preys. They were one-person black fighters with a mix of speeder bike and a headless metallic hunting bird with razor-sharp wings and tail feathers housing three powerful anti-gravity engines.

  The sky became crackling fireworks as Volorion soldiers and fragments of detonating Birds of Prey fell from the firmament due to the Eye of Ra’s raw planetary brute force tearing them apart.

  Those who survived the attack spun their ships mid-air, regrouping to chase Laurence down and kill him.

  Laurence quickly decreased his acceleration and hovered in mid-air, aiming with Sol in staff mode. Sol widened his mouth, firing a cosmic beam of Awakening energy obliterating another large portion of the advancing squadron, leaving just a couple that scattered, avoiding the attack.

  There was no opportunity to celebrate as he created a golden energy shield construct to block a powerful primary cannon blast from a Volorion warship.

  Although the shielding prevented any damage, the force of the blast smacked the Eye of Ra out of the sky, launching him through two buildings. Inches away from plowing into a boutique store, Laurence got his bearings and slowed his momentum coming to a full stop.

  “Well, that was embarrassing.” He muttered to himself.

  “Yes, it was.”

  Laurence sneered to the sound of the playful gloating voice of Bastet ringing in his helm as a visual of her face showed up on his inside display.

  Before he could respond, the Eye of Ra came under fire again. Laurence rocketed back into the sky skillfully, flying through the tunnels his crash landing created within the two buildings for a bit of cover. As he exited the second building, Laurence mentally punched his armor to hypersonic speeds plowing into the warship's hull that shot him out of the sky.

&
nbsp; Stunned Volorion soldiers froze in their tracks as the Eye of Ra, now inside the vessel itself, aimed his staff firing another cosmic energy blast, which blew off the front of the ship while vaporizing anyone within its path. Laurence exited the remains of the burning craft, joining the overall battle with his cousins as it fell from the sky, detonating from its impact striking the ground.

  “We cannot continue this battle,” Laurence announced while landing next to Anubis, swatting away energy attacks with his familiar transformed khopeshes.

  “Who says we can’t?” Bastet asked with a scoffing tone. “I still wait for these Volorion scum to draw sweat from me.”

  “The longer we stay here fighting, the faster this turns from a diplomatic incident to an act of war in favor of the Volorions.” Laurence summated.

  “Our cousin speaks painful truth,” Anubis answered in agreement.

  “Agreed,” Bastet snarled in disgust. “However, we’re not the ones drawing out this conflict. Further bloodshed would come to an end if they dropped their shielding and let us go about our business.”

  “Sol, how do we break through this barrier?” Laurence asked.

  “Given the energy sources that are powering it, any counter-power source used to bring down the barrier would tear the planet apart. The shielding is also currently preventing me from tapping into any external power source.”

  “Killing billions of innocent inhabitants just to escape is not an option,” Laurence growled. “There has to be some form of generator or series of satellites focusing this barrier!”

  “Detecting a combination of both being used to generate this field.” Sol analyzed. “A total of two hundred satellites focusing the power of their sun, along with twenty strategically placed power plants across the planet connected to the planet’s core.”

  “What about commanding their systems to shut down the field?” Laurence asked.

  “I, Ska, Azkra, and Mafdet have already attempted that. The Volorions have educated themselves on how to deal with a hostile cyber-attack. Their system is guarded by ten independent artificially intelligent programs that are quite efficient in keeping us out.”

  “How many of those stations need to fall for the shielding to fail?” Laurence asked.

  “I calculate at least half.”

  “Tactical change then,” Laurence determined. “We need to split our resources to bring down the shielding ourselves so that we can leave this planet.”

  “Well, what delays you?” Bastet snorted. “Be off then. Anubis and I shall continue to play with the Volorion War Machine.”

  Laurence glared at her as he sidestepped the primary cannon blast from a War Chariot and returned fire, with Sol blowing it to bits.

  “This is an age thing …isn’t it? I’m forty years old woman.”

  “And fifty human years is weaning age on Anu.”

  “Bastet gives valid point, cousin,” Anubis answered.

  “Fine! I’ll do it my damn self!” Laurence barked.

  With a thought, the Eye of Ra took flight shaking the sky of Volori, heading for the first power plant he had to bring down.

  Sure enough, several squadrons of Birds of Prey and some power suits that had flight capability gave chase to hunt him down.

  “Think he’ll be alright?” Bastet asked while bringing down another Dominator.

  “You raze him every opportunity afford to you, and then act as a mother whose child no longer craves the tit when he leaves,” Anubis mocked. “Our cousin is more than capable of the task at hand.”

  “I act no such ways toward him!”

  “Aye, you do.”

  ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜

  The Eye of Ra skillfully maneuvered out of the array of energy cannon fire from Volorion warriors chasing him as the first shield power plant came into range. As expected, heavy defenses were in place to repel him. Several Dominators, soldiers in heavy-duty power suits, and stationary cannons opened fire with scorching air volleys to blow Laurence out of the sky.

  His speed did not decrease as he weaved through the hostile attack, while the squadrons behind him were torn apart by friendly fire. The remainder that followed him broke off their chase two miles from the plant as ports opened up and fired missiles and the Dominators protecting it.

  “Identifying projectiles as energy seekers,” Sol relayed.

  “Tankable?” Laurence asked.

  “If by ‘tankable’ you’re asking if you can survive two hundred fifty projectiles, each with ten times the destructive force of an Earth Soviet RDS-220 hydrogen bomb. The answer is yes; however, it will not feel pleasant.”

  “No pain, no gain,” Laurence smirked.

  “I highly doubt the phrase popularized by Jane Fonda originating from a second century Hebrew text pertained to this.”

  Laurence ignored his familiar’s retort changing his trajectory, shooting upward heading toward the stratosphere of Volori. As the missiles tracking his immense energy signature switched course chasing after him, the Eye of Ra evaded them for a second time, going into a dive bomb.

  “Based on your evasive flight pattern, course, and unwillingness to destroy the missiles, you are leading the armaments back to their origin point.”

  “Killing two birds with one big stone,” the Eye of Ra confirmed. “And no, I wish not to learn the origin story of that phrase.”

  As Laurence suspected, the stationary cannons protecting the plant were prepared to suppress any incoming attack except for one directly above. Before the Dominators and Volorion soldiers in power suits could get into position to shoot him down, the Eye of Ra increased his speed punching a sizable hole through the ceiling of the power plant.

  Laurence quickly flipped in mid-fall, landing into a crouched position cratering the metal floor while startling the technicians and soldiers inside the plant.

  “I would run if I were all of you,” he advised.

  At the sound of incoming missiles, they all scattered, screaming for the exits.

  None would escape the impact of all two hundred fifty energy seekers detonating at once combined with the explosive destruction of the plant itself, taking out anything within a radius of several thousand miles.

  Standing in the center of ground zero, surrounded by smoldering rubble of what was left of the plant, was the Eye of Ra protected by a gold dome energy shield constructed by Sol.

  “You’re right,” Laurence admitted. “That was very unpleasant.”

  “Planetary shield strength has deteriorated by five percent,” Sol confirmed.

  “Off to the next target then.”

  With a thought, the Eye of Ra took off, rattling the sky to bring down the next power plant.

  ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜

  Back at the capital, the battle was turning into a stalemate. The Volorion War Machine could not fell the combined might of the Eye of Set and Osiris, while on the other side, the forces quickly replenished what the dual of cousins destroyed.

  Eventually, it would come down to whether Anubis or Bastet would either tire or make a mistake, or if the War Machine would be brutally decimated to no longer become a threat.

  “You have to commend them for their bravery,” Bastet jeered.

  She said it while skillfully side spinning and sidestepping a barrage of Dominator cannon fire, before returning fire with two energy arrow blasts popping the massive four-legged vehicle’s turret similar to that of an egg, while her second arrow obliterated a War Chariot before it could get a shot off.

  “Most of the Dominators and War Chariots are drones,” Anubis informed her amid his battle. “Volorion soldiers who fail to fight or desert are punished by drawn and quartering of all six of their appendages.”

  His cousin paused, thinking about what he said.

  “I assume the fifth rope is for the head; what is the sixth rope …?”

  Her eyes widened as it dawned
on her from Anubis’s dull expression on her display.

  “Oooooh!”

  “It is said they use a hook for that appendage.”

  “No wonder we’re winning, warriors driven by fear never …”

  Bastet’s sentence was interrupted as she barely evaded a destructive missile attack from a Warhammer ship that knocked her off her feet. She cursed in the language of her homeworld while using the momentum of the blast to tuck and flip backward, landing in an upright crouched position. She slid at least two feet back before coming to a stop.

  Before she could retaliate, Anubis, already airborne, landed in front of her. He unleashed an Awakening sword slice projectile splitting everything in its path in half, including the offending Warhammer ship that attacked his cousin.

  “Mafdet, I will need you to even our odds,” Bastet commanded her familiar.

  “As you command Mistress Bastet.”

  Mafdet converted back into its cat form, detaching itself from its tail, which Bastet held. The tail transformed into a long double polearm weapon with massive blades on each side, similar to a Japanese naginata radiating with Awakening energy.

  As its tail transformed, Mafdet changed as well, growing in both size and mass, similar to that of the Volorion War Chariots, ground vehicles with Earth tank characteristics only more heavily armored. They hovered via anti-gravity propulsion systems, while the main gun on their turrets was shorter due to firing metal melting plasma rounds.

  The feline-shaped familiar went on the attack pouncing on a War Chariot with a mighty leap, caving it in with its weight. Mafdet then opened its mouth, unleashing a powerful beam of Awakening energy, demolishing a Dominator's base bringing it down on top of itself. Mafdet then went about the battlefield on a calm, calculated rampage, attacking anyone and anything within its path.

  “Ska, join Mafdet,” Anubis commanded his familiar.

  “As you command.”

  Upon his release, the Eye of Set’s familiar transformed into its scorpion mode, landing on its six metallic legs. As it scurried away, it also increased in size and mass, becoming slightly more massive than Mafdet. The stinger in its tail retracted as it turned into a cannon. Its first victim was a Warhammer ship that it brought down with one shot.