GOTS - REWORK (ePub) AUGUST

Tunde Leye 159
tell her about her father for the first time. She had asked again and again over
the years, but it was the one thing Tara refused to talk about.
“You must promise me you will not feel less than a normal human being after
you hear this,” Tara said.
“Mum, spill it out. I should be able to handle it.”
“You never had a father.”
Imani squeezed her face in disbelief. “I don't understand. How do you mean?
Everyone has a father. If you did not want to tell me, why did you even bring it
up?”
Gabriel resigned himself to waiting. This was going to take a while.
The first lights of dawn revealed the utter devastation the colossal battle
fought there through the night had brought to the valley of New Megiddo.
Everything was scorched. Imani's flying car was nowhere to be found. Tree
trunks were charred, split and twisted in a bizarre fashion all over the valley.
Deep gullies had formed all over the ground. New, burnt-out caves had been
formed on the sides of the surrounding mounts and rocks hewn out of them lay
scattered.
All the demon lords were gone, banished into Tartarus forever. Only Lucifer
himself remained, and even he had retreated to Neatherworld. The vast
hordes of demons that had come in for the battle were all gone, not a single
one was left. The toll the battle had exacted on the demons was heavy.
But the guardians had paid a heavy price for the victory. For now, in place of
four, Lucan stood alone. The bodies of his fallen comrades lay in a neat row
beside him. They had successfully defended their seals from the demons, but
they had paid the supreme price. In Lucan's hands, he clutched the prize of
the war. He had cried until the tears in his eyes dried out. All of this was his fault.
His impetuousness and naiveté had brought this upon them. Each man fell in
battle defending him. Lex's word as he fell echoed in his mind “you remind me
of Anthony. And of Farida. I finally did right.”
They had sacrificed themselves for him. No, he had sacrificed his