Spirits of the Earth: The Complete Series: (A Post-Apocalyptic Series Box Set: Books 1-3) by Milo Fowler (paper ebook reader .TXT) 📕

lungs and calm my spirit. The moon is out full and bright, casting a ghostly pallor across the bluffs and dunes of ashen sand around me.

She stands facing the sea. The breeze tosses her silk white garments about playfully. I approach her, striding toward the base of the dune where she stands. I wait to be beckoned closer.

She turns and graces me with a loving smile. Gaia...

“Mother,” I manage, hoarse with emotion as I dig my boots into the shifting sand and climb.

“My son.” She holds out a hand to me, not to help me up, but to be taken and kissed with the deep reverence that is due.

I kneel as I do so, bowing my head. She slips her hand free of my grasp and rests her palm on the back of my head.

“War is coming.” Her voice is soft and tranquil. “You feel it.”

I nod, staring at the ash between the toes of her bare feet, smooth and white as alabaster.

“It is inevitable.” She sighs, sliding her cool hand down the side of my unshaven face, lingering under my chin. She lifts it with a strength I dare not resist. “Look at me, my son. Am I afraid?”

I blink as conflicting desires rage within me. To look upon the face of Gaia is more than I can bear, but it is truly all I want. I swallow reflexively, feeling just as awkward as young Lemuel looked in front of the assembly.

“No, Mother.” I gaze up at her smile, her eyes radiating warmth as her fingers drift away from my face. How long has she been standing out here alone, exposed to the night’s chill? Should I offer her my cloak? “Neither am I. You have blessed us with these gifts—our miraculous abilities make us a force to be reckoned with. We will be more than a match for the United World bastards they vomit onto our shore.” I wait for her nod of approval.

“Will you destroy them?” She turns her gaze to the oily depths of the sea and the Argonaus in the distance.

“Yes. Every last one.”

“They outnumber you, my son. You will risk the extermination of your people?”

I clench my jaw. “This is our land. They have no right to it. They chose to forsake us long ago, and they have quarantined us ever since. Let them come. Let them see how we have evolved in their absence.”

“Do you remember your life before?”

“I...” Shouldn’t we discuss what to do with the UW scouts?

“Before they sealed you up in those tombs, you weren’t much older than that boy who irritates you. None of you were.” She pauses. “They locked you under the earth while they destroyed everything you knew. And now the world will never be the same. Your world, as well as theirs.” She faces me. “Did you know they cannot go outside freely?”

I nod, averting my gaze from her direct look. I lower my head again. “They fear our air. They believe it’s contaminated.”

She laughs softly. “Not only yours—their own air as well. The United World has been reduced to a series of domed cities on the banks of the Mediterranean Sea. They call the sprawling bubbles Eurasia. They hide behind thick walls of glass as the world goes on outside without them. They live in perpetual fear, afraid they will die out as a species without the children from this continent.”

They do want our children. It is just as Luther said. I clench my fists, hating that the infidel was right about something.

“Luther has told you this.”

I glance up in surprise.

“You cannot hide your thoughts from me, my son.”

I should have known better. “Of course not, Mother.” I scowl for a moment, then meet her gaze. Is he right? But I refuse to vocalize the question.

She graces me with a wan smile. “You would be stronger together, your people and his.”

“But they serve a false god—”

“Not false,” she reprimands me. “Another god, an ancient one no longer involved in the lives of his creation. But very real.”

I do not understand. “You want us to join with those nomads against the United World? Is that what you ask of me?”

She returns her gaze to the sea. “Five from that ship are here now. On your land.” She watches the warship bob upon the murky surface of the sea, far beyond the foaming breakers.

I nod. “They crashed down...” But she knows that already. She used the goblyns—

“Those creatures acted of their own accord. Hunger was their only motivation.”

“Of course.”

“The five survivors—what will you do with them?” she asks mildly.

“I have two men following them at a distance. They appear to be continuing with their mission, heading eastward. Toward Eden.” I pause. “We await your word, Mother. We will do as you demand.”

“Kill them.”

I watch the sea breeze catch at her dress. Her skin glows in the moonlight. She is so beautiful, so serene. A goddess, but one who deigns to set the sole of her foot into the ashes of Hell.

I tremble before her power.

“Yes,” is all I can articulate in a hoarse whisper.

“Bring them here and stake their bodies in plain sight. Leave them to roast in the sun.”

I glance at the Argonaus, only a small buoy in the distance to the ungifted eye; but I can discern every detail of the vessel with my far-sight. “You want them to see—”

“Their children have grown up.” She smiles down at me with a mother’s pride. “This is your land now. They have no claim to anything on it. If they were wise, they would leave you and your offspring alone.”

I see the knowing look in her eyes. “But they won’t.”

“No. When they see you have killed their people, then there will be war. It will come as a tidal wave upon these shores. But you will not be alone.”

“You will fight with us.” I nod, gazing up at her.

“You will join Luther’s people and go to Eden. There you will be safe—all who remain of this continent’s