Asteria

“And here, I give you the greatest piece of food that you will ever put in your mouth!” I said as I placed a large box of chocolates on the table.

Magnus, Elsa, the three EL commanders from this world, Seraphiel, Sariel, Uriel, and I were back at the lake house having a council of war.

“It’s just chocolate,” said Elsa.

“Not bad,” said Sariel.

The others made polite comments, but I could tell it didn’t really impress them. Some people have no taste!

Seraphiel and I had gone on a wonderful tour of this world’s “chocolate town.” We were both fairly certain that we could reproduce the chocolate manufacturing process back in our world.

“Alright, now that that’s over, let’s talk about our next move,” said Magnus.

“The Eatuheans remain obdurate, but now that we know what was causing Elsa’s problem, it’s easy enough for me to adjust for that,” I said. “We will resume her training as soon as possible, and I’m confident that it will be successful this time.”

“Good. As you requested, my three commanders will be on leave for the next ninety days. They can train your EL companions in warfare, with a special focus on fighting Eatuheans,” said Magnus.

“Yes, I’m sure they’re great at monster hunting, but Eatuheans are on a whole ‘nother level,” said Elsa.

We hashed out all the relevant details before Magnus left to prepare for his own role in the upcoming world-shaking events.

In the next few days, Elsa made great strides in her training, which was a good thing because I would need her to cast Glory of the Divine Conqueror soon. The ELs trained from morning till night. Sariel, Uriel, and Seraphiel were used to fighting monsters, not humans, so they would benefit a lot from sparring with the three ELs from this world. My three companions were a key part of my plan, although Elsa and I would have to do most of the heavy lifting.

***

It wasn’t long before the news spread about the strange goings on in the Eatuhean continent. Ominous portents and disasters struck every ten days.

First, there were three days and nights of complete darkness where the sun, moon, and stars disappeared from the sky above Eatuhea.

Second, all the bodies of water inside the shield turned red as blood for twenty-four hours.

Third, the statues inside the Great Temple crumbled into dust.

Fourth, fires could not be lit for three hours.

Fifth, minor localized earthquakes overturned graves, spewing out their contents above the ground.

Sixth, musical instruments played dirges by themselves for an hour.

Seventh, rain fell unceasingly for seven days.

Eighth, all the mirrors inside the shield cracked, and the mirror fragments showed scenes of death to anyone who looked at it.

Ninth, the night before the autumnal equinox, every Eatuhean above the age of eighteen dreamed Eatuhea was going to be destroyed.

In short, they experienced the nine signs of the apocalypse in ninety days, just as described in the Eatuhean eschatological Book of Judgement.

***

“What a pity it is to cover up this beautiful face of yours!” I said to Seraphiel, as I fixed his mask in place.

Uriel was in all black and was wearing a domino mask, also in black. Sariel had designed his black and red costume to be as intimidating and villainous as possible. He looked like a sexy bandit.

Sariel himself, of course, was wearing an outrageous outfit made of black leather, red silk, and silver studs. His hair was flaming red, but he had opted to forgo a mask. Instead, his face was painted with a black and red chevron pattern.

As for Seraphiel, he was wearing a simple black and red robe and pants that I had designed with Sariel’s help. It was really thrilling for me to see him in a fantasy martial artist’s costume from my favorite Wuxia novels from back home in Singapore.

I was in a simple and comfortable red ball gown, but it didn’t matter what I wore because the Eatuheans would only see what I wanted them to see.

Elsa thought that all of this was ridiculously cheesy, and that all the special effects I had prepared were likewise a waste of time.

“Is everyone ready?” I asked. They all nodded. “Then let’s get this show on the road!”

We all piled into the waiting helicopter.

“The others are already waiting,” said Elsa. Among the five of us, she was the only one wearing regular clothes.

“I hope they’re ready for the End of Days,” I said.

I sure was.