"The God Wars" - Chapter Thirty-five: Fire from Heaven

The God Wars

Chapter Thirty-five:

Fire from Heaven

By Dwayne MacInnes

Ares smiled as the sun rose above the Dragonspine Mountains and burned through the smoke-choked air in a blood-red hue. He could see the towers of Atlantis rise above the horizon before him. His army marched tirelessly on. Neither the dead nor the animated bronze giants needed any rest. The Draco-lords and the wild companions -- the griffins -- never seemed to tire. They would ravish and burn any village in their path. Furthermore, any unfortunate human, which did not escape in time, made an easy meal for the beasts.

"Prepare your men," Ares ordered Hades. The god of the underworld nodded and rode his chariot down the line of undead. He needed to confer with his Necro-lords, Thanatos and Charon.

"Hermes," Ares turned to the messenger god. "Have your forces prepare to attack the city. We'll march in after your forces have set everything ablaze."

Hermes smiled and took off flying into the air to lead his forces.

"What are your orders for me?" Zeus asked.

"You are my king," Ares responded. "I do not give you orders, but you have the choice of joining the attack wherever you wish."

Zeus nodded and kicked his heels into Pegasus's side. The winged white horse flew into the air to join the Draco-lords now forming up for their assault.

The god of war raised his bladed-hand into the air. The sun reflected off the blade covering the bright surface in bloody light. Ares smiled some more, soon the blade would be covered in real blood.

Colonel Ray Walsh led his squadron of F6F Hellcats high in the sky. Each fighter plane carried two of the new incendiary bombs, one under each wing. His first mission was to unleash his payload upon the advancing army. His next objective would be to attack any opposition forces in the air in order to protect the TBF Avengers.

Walsh was the air commander for the fighters on the Kiska as well as the training officer for the fledgling Atlantean air corp. However, the nature of this mission allowed Walsh to request to fly against the army marching on the Kingdom of Atlantis personally. General Crist approved the request.

There were 16 F6F Grumman Hellcats as well as 12 TBF Avengers flying high in the sky towards Ares' forces. The dragons and griffins could not fly as high as the American aircraft nor could they fly as fast. Therefore, when the fighters spotted the large black cloud of dragons and griffins floating below them headed for Atlantis, the vast array of aircraft went unnoticed.

Ares again became excited in anticipation of the bloodbath about to be unleashed on the king of Atlantis's forces. He flicked the reigns on his chariot and the black steeds reared up snorting fire into the sky. Their hooves sparked on the ground when they began to run forward carrying a laughing god of war in the chariot behind them.

Ares heard the telltale whine of the diving aircraft and quickly scanned the sky. High above him and over his marching forces dove over two-dozen enemy aircraft. They carried large metal cylinders under their wings that they released as they zoomed over the heads of the undead warriors.

The aircraft rose into the air as the cylinders tumbled through the air and fell upon his army. Instantly, the ground exploded and large rivers of flaming liquid poured around his forces. The undead soldiers instantly went up in flames. The bronze giants marched on undamaged by the fire. The attack left a huge hole in the ranks of his advancing troops. Fortunately, there were plenty more dead warriors to replace the fallen.

* * * * *

Colonel Wash pulled back on the stick, the Hellcat climbed into the air with ease. The plane now maneuvered a lot easier without the extra bulk of the incendiary bombs. Walsh looked down upon the carnage the air attack left after he leveled off high in the air. There was a great lake of fire where the large inferno consumed many of the undead soldiers. The bronze automatons just marched through the conflagration paying it no heed, as it did not damage them in the least.

Walsh watched as the torpedo bombers made their run. Like the Hellcats, the Avengers swooped down and dropped their bombs into the horde of undead. Fire burst amongst the soldiers and great fireballs rose into the air. Into the ranks of the dead warriors another huge breach formed. The infernal lakes of fire ran together forming a sea of flames. Any of Ares' undead troops caught in it instantly burned up. Only the Talos were able to withstand the heat and flames.

Walsh banked his fighter towards the black dragons and griffins winging towards the city of Atlantis. The 16 F6F Hellcats gained altitude as they sped towards their next target. Once they were sufficiently high enough the fighters dove onto the Draco-lords. The men in black armor on the back of their saurian mounts did not know what hit them. The Hellcats opened up with their .50 machineguns. The steel bullets slammed into the dragons' scaly hide. Not even the thick scales could protect the lizards from the onslaught meted out by the aircraft diving upon them.

Hundreds of dragons cried out in pain shooting flames high into the air in agony. The riders were often unseated and tumbled through the air on their way to the harsh ground below. The Hellcats were able to shoot past the dragons without the beasts being able to fight back.

The more nimble and wilder griffins also felt the sting of the bullets emanating form the Hellcats. They gave off a harsh avian scream before spiraling to the ground. However, a few of the wild monsters were able to strike at the assaulting aircraft. The griffins were able to knock only one of the Hellcats from the sky. A great gash from one of the griffin's talons rent a huge tear in the wing of a passing aircraft. The pilot was able to bale out before the plane smashed into the ground below.

The surviving Hellcats climbed into the air again. Walsh witnessing the destruction of one of his precious fighters spread the word for the rest of the fighters to keep their distance and to work the flying creatures over with their machineguns.

The Hellcats now joined by the Avengers did another diving run. This time the Draco-lords were prepared and the searing flames of the dragons downed three more aircraft. Walsh cursed seeing another Hellcat and two Avengers explode into flames in midair. There just were too many of the enemy forces and now they were nearing the city of Atlantis. The carrier planes would have to break off.