The Order of Elysium: The Aetheric Wars Trilogy, #1

By Dean P.R. Buswell

"I didn't know they existed until recently. 

They've been hiding right under our noses all over the world. They are even here in Salem, hunting in the shadows removing all evidence of their presence as they go. The thing is though, they're on our side. We need them. 

The Order of Elysium is the only thing keeping those same shadows from swallowing us up. I've studied demons all my life, getting too close for comfort on more than one occasion, but the Wardens of the Order fight them every chance they get to keep us safe. Today I found out they used to be regular humans once, but each one of them died and were deemed worthy to be brought back by the angels to serve. To help fight a war against the darkness. A war they are losing… 

Now I've found myself right in the middle of it, and the lines between the dark and light are getting harder to see."
Excerpt from Adley Black's personal memoirs.

• Language: English
• Publisher: The Book Reality Experience
• Release date: Jan 16, 2020
• ISBN: 9780648702276

Book preview

Dedication

For Lisa

In the time I took to create this, you've gone

from my friend to my partner and now my amazing wife.

Your support and encouragement, and my

unwavering desire to impress you, if no one else,

not only motivated me to finish but to do better.

You put the fire into my words when

I thought it had gone out,

so you are every part within these pages as I am.

Every line. Every word.

List of Characters

Wardens

Wardens (Continued)

Humans

Angels

Demons

Terminology Guide

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness covered the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God hovered over the waters. God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the dark, and the darkness rotted and swelled and took physical forms of its own to infect the light and reclaim the earth in darkness.

The beings created by the darkness rebelled against God and the light. God reached into the light itself and created beings of his own, who would call him Father and fight to repel the growing darkness, and so the seven seraphim were born.

The first children of God, so-called angels and beings of pure light, descended upon the primordial evil that the darkness had created on the earth. As the angels fought to protect the earth, God continued with his plans and created mortals; these were creatures of seemingly infinite variety, and he loved this creation most of all.

God’s love for humans was eclipsed only by the darkness’ hatred for the light, and so the primordial evil spread to infect the mortal souls of man, creating demonic soldiers for itself, which soon grew to overwhelm the seraphim. In answer to this threat, God created seven-hundred new angels for each of his seraphim to serve as their legions of light. These angels were the archangels of the first sphere. Still, for every victory another threat emerged, and the battles started again as the darkness was unconfined and without restraint.

So God created another dimension, the seven circles of hell, where the evils of the dark could fester and rot until they could do so no more. For those human souls who resisted the infection of darkness, God rewarded with paradise after death, and from these souls his seraphim created new angels. These angels were of the second and third sphere, lesser than the archangels created by God, but they were angelic in their own right and lived to serve in their legions.

However, hell did so swell until its ferocity could no longer be totally contained within the circles of hell alone. Sin continued to seep from its depths and into the hearts of mortals until it was too much to bear.

God’s gaze seemed to disappear from the world, while the manifestations of the primordial evil, the demons, continued in their perpetual instinct to snuff out the light.

Prologue

Somewhere in the second circle of hell

Ten years ago

A flickering red light danced across the smooth, pitch black rock that made up the long corridors of the sprawling demonic den. A steady clack of metal on stone echoed harshly down the hallway and into the chamber beyond, preceding the arrival of a tall, brightly clad figure who strode into the heart of the hellish structure. The figure was accoutered in heavenly ornate armour, and pearlescent white wings were folded on its back.

The chamber was filled with the pleasurable moans and quiet giggles of its occupants as they lounged around on darkly coloured silk pillows, fondling and playing with each other’s naked forms in pits teeming with writhing flesh. On the opposite side of the den there were those that had been blindfolded, gagged and chained to the wall by shackles that dug into their wrists, rusting the metal with their blood; they were toys and tools both, ready for the lustful succubi and incubi. In the centre of the chamber was a lavishly decorated throne made from the same black rock as the walls of the den. Lounging in the chair was a dark-haired figure, draped in strips of thin charcoal silk that did much more than simply tease the curves of her all too human-like body.

‘Long way from home aren’t we, little angel?’ she teased as she shifted forward in her chair.

‘Were it that I could be anywhere else, it would be so,’ said the angel. ‘The fact is—I require your skills.’

‘There are many who need my skills, angel,’ retorted the beautiful she-demon with a fanged grin. ‘But go on…’

‘I need an army.’

‘Then you have come to the wrong place,’ she spat as she sat suddenly upright. ‘I don’t do armies. My succubi are not war factories for you or anyone else.’

‘I heard differently,’ stated the angel. ‘Your power in this circle grows rapidly. Even the most savage demon lords are bending at the knee for a chance to be heirs of the armies you create.’

‘I give them the weapons they require to raise their own armies, not the armies themselves,’ she corrected firmly.

‘And in turn they offer you loyalty and obedience,’ the angel surmised.

‘Yes.’ The beguiling she-demon sat back with a contented smile. ‘For without me they’d be simply fighting in the dirt themselves or wandering forever, lost in the first circle.’

‘Such things are true for every successful soldier. No matter their skill, they owe their victories, at least in part, to the blacksmith that supplied their weapon.’ The angel looked around the room with a pointed gaze. ‘You are no different.’

The she-demon let out a quiet, sarcastic laugh. ‘I owe no one. I am older than most of those even deeper in the realm and stronger than any of the whelps that managed to drag their way out of the first circle.’

‘Your blacksmith is calling in a favour,’ the angel stated, shifting his wandering gaze directly back to hers.

‘You mean she—’ the demon stammered, to which the angel simply nodded. ‘I-I am in the middle of a war here. This stronghold was hard won, but the rest of the circle is—’

The angel threw a bag, which clinked as the demon snatched it from the air, and a glow of gold poured out as she inspected its contents. ‘There are benefits of dealing with me and mine,’ said the angel. ‘A steady supply of this, coupled with your own talents, and this entire circle will be yours within a decade.’

The she-demon beamed with delight. ‘Perhaps something could be arranged. How many do you want?’

‘Two-hundred should suffice,’ the angel replied.

The succubus stood up from her throne, her eyes wide with incredulity. ‘Two-hundred? Do you even realise how long that would take? Even for someone of my calibre, I only have so many succubi and incubi at my disposal.’

The angel said nothing. He simply continued to look at her, waiting. She sighed. ‘I can do it, but—’

‘Good. But there is one other thing,’ the angel cut in. ‘You need to use wardens.’

‘Cambion created from warden hosts?’ she mused, staring off into the air, deep in thought. ‘Interesting. I’ve never tried it, but I imagine the angelic essence within the wardens would create something more than simple cambion. Angels may not be able to breed, but this may be the next best thing.’ She paused for a moment lost in thought. ‘I’m sure I could do it, but securing the hosts may prove dangerous.’

‘She would not have sent me here if you were not thought capable of dealing with such hazards,’ the angel rebutted. ‘Use the first batch to make the rest easier to acquire if you have to. It’ll prove a good opportunity to see how they fare.’

‘The process will be tedious, especially with your special request; it will take time,’ she informed.

‘Of that, I have plenty. Your cambion are simply the last means to an end that has been in the making for longer than even you have been alive, Lilith,’ said the angel as he turned to leave, the flicker of red firelight marring the white of his wings as he stepped back into shadow.

Chapter One

Eligos

Salem, Australia - Western Harbour Dockyards

2025 - Present day

The shipping dock was far enough away from any of the populated areas that it was almost silent save for the lapping swell of the sea. The wind blowing gently in from the office window was enough to chill the air with a fierce tenacity that would have cut to the bone of any normal person, but Asha barely noticed, even as her subordinate shivered like a small dog.

Asha surveyed the body at her feet as the Aetheric Dust started its job of dissolving the remains. The face had contorted into unnatural expressions of pain and anger even now as it lay dead. This human had been the victim of a casteless demon—a demon too weak to take a form of its own, but instead took control of weak-willed individuals. The Order of Elysium encouraged their wardens to avoid killing possessed humans if possible, though it rarely was. This human host looked as though it had already been dead when the casteless demon took over, so it mattered little in any case.

Asha wiped her blade on a dark piece of cloth that hung from her belt then replaced her sword in its sheath, which was strapped around her, resting comfortably on her back. As the sword clicked into place, the quiet sizzling of the Aetheric Dust stopped, and where a corpse had been a few moments earlier, there was nothing but a bloodstain on the carpet. Upon entering the small office, which functioned as the dock’s main administration building, the wardens had been attacked by three casteless demons, each of them occupying already-dead hosts that now lay in slowly growing pools of blood before Asha.

There was a quiet beep as Asha placed her hand to the left side of her face and pressed on the communicator inside her ear. ‘Office building secure,’ she reported. Her eyes swept the large office bullpen as she spoke, keeping an eye out for danger. The room was still; it was waiting for the morning workers to drag themselves in for the next day of drudgery. For now, as it had only struck midnight, the only ones with work to do were Asha and the rest of the warden team. The full moon that flooded the room with a cold light created many sinister shadows. These shadows could play tricks on a lesser mind, but she knew she had seen movement. ‘For now, at least.’

‘Copy that,’ came the voice of Delarin, her loch warden, the team leader. ‘Still no sign of the collector on our side of the dock. Wait there in the admin building for further instruction.’

Asha glanced over at the man they had partnered her up with. Anthony was the Salem chapter’s newest recruit, or lance, as was his official title. He had been so quiet she almost forgot he was there, but that took nothing from the fact that he was a pain in her arse. She was beginning to think Delarin paired him up with her on missions as some kind of punishment. Unfortunately, experienced wardens like herself were becoming harder to bring together due to a global increase in warden casualties. This meant the Order was forced to shorten training times to replace them, resulting in a lot of on-the-job training. Something Asha always hated.

‘What are we hunting, exactly?’ asked Anthony.

‘A collector,’ she replied stiffly. By the look on the lance’s face she knew she’d have to elaborate. ‘Collectors are hive-minded demons that control large groups of casteless demons.’

A few feet away from them was another of the possessed humans they had killed. This one had also been dead long before Asha had run it through. Like the body before, this corpse had white markings smeared on its face. ‘You see the white?’ she asked the lance.

‘What is it?’ he inquired. ‘Paint?’

Asha’s jaw clenched in frustration. He should know this. ‘It’s the blood of the collector we are hunting,’ she explained. ‘They smear it on the casteless’ face to share their vision and so they can give instruction—which is usually to find wardens like us and take our runes.’

Asha's rune sat in a small metal cage that hung around her neck on a silver chain, which is where most wardens kept it. She brought her hand up to it as she spoke and ran her finger around the orb. The rune let off a faint glow as it responded to her touch. Runes were the wardens’ most powerful assets. Gifted to them once they were deemed competent, runes granted a variety of abilities that helped them fulfil their duties.

‘I haven’t received mine yet,’ her companion said.

‘I would not take comfort in that, Anthony,’ replied Asha, visually sweeping the room for movement again. ‘Demons are just as happy to kill you for fun, not just for your rune.’

That seemed to shut him up, and a ten-minute silence followed where Asha kept track of every shadow, lest one of them move. A voice broke over her comm unit.

‘I’ve spotted the target inside the main warehouse.’ The voice belonged to Grim, another warden on her team.

‘Alright,’ came Delarin’s response. ‘We’ll make our way to that yellow track crane by the water. Regroup there.’

Grim was the first to respond to the order, then Asha acknowledged and led Anthony out of the office building.

Asha and her lance were the first to arrive, or at least Asha thought so until a patch of air above one of the crane’s large wheels shimmered in the moonlight and Grim suddenly materialised, a large rifle in his lap. Anthony almost jumped clear off the ground.

‘Dammit, Grim,’ Asha muttered.

‘What?’ Grim teased.

‘How many times do I have to tell you?’ she growled.

Grim had always been adept at remaining unseen, even before he became a warden, and his rune simply accentuated his ability. Asha could tell Grim was going to say something in retort, but he didn’t get the chance to as Delarin and Amber approached them. Amber was another newcomer to the team, though she was a transfer from another chapter and already a full-fledged warden. She was a whole different kind of pain to Anthony though. Where he was like looking after a friend’s toddler, Amber was like a forced dinner party with an in-law who always knew best about everything.

‘Anything to report before we go in?’ asked Delarin. There was silence. ‘Good. Amber?’

Amber straightened her back and lifted her nose slightly before she said, ‘These casteless are corpses.’

Asha couldn’t stand the way Amber spoke; it was as if she felt she was above the rest of them just because she came from a larger sanctuary. In fact, there wasn’t much that Asha liked about her at all. That wasn’t exactly out of the ordinary, considering her usual relations with people, but she didn’t like the way Amber spoke to Delarin—like she was his equal. Whenever Asha said anything to the other wardens, however, Grim would just accuse her of being jealous.

‘Of course they are.’ Grim said in response to Amber’s statement. ‘So what?’

Delarin shot Grim an impatient look. ‘So what is that a collector isn’t powerful enough to anchor casteless demons to dead bodies.’

‘They shouldn’t be able to anchor so many alone either,’ Asha chimed in.

‘Which means?’ Anthony said, apparently having recovered from his near-heart attack.

‘There’s something else here,’ murmured Amber. ‘Something considerably more powerful than a collector.’

‘Should we abort?’ asked Grim dryly. ‘It’s probably a trap.’

‘No.’ Delarin was firm. ‘Whatever this thing is, it has been a nuisance for too long. We have a duty to perform regardless. We just need to reassess the risks.’

‘Grim, perhaps you should get up into the upper level and cover us. Out of sight,’ Amber said, once again asserting herself as though she were in charge.

‘Perhaps you should just let our loch warden give out the orders?’ Asha snapped. ‘The collector’s pets have already seen us, so whatever else is in that main storage warehouse already knows we’re here.’

‘Enough, Asha,’ Delarin ordered firmly. ‘Grim, they both have good points. Make your way up to the upper level of the building, but don’t give away your position unless I command it.’

Grim shifted himself off of the crane, fading to all but a shimmer as he set off towards the warehouse.

‘Let’s go,’ commanded Delarin. ‘Keep your eyes open.’

They spread out slightly and entered the warehouse via a small personnel door that was a part of the still-closed main door. The smell of fish and seaweed struck them hard as they entered; now it was all Asha could smell. The warehouse comprised a large single room with a vaulted ceiling, and it was littered with steel containers and wooden boxes. A metal catwalk ran a circuit above them—no doubt Grim was already in position up there. In the middle of the room was a raised four-by-four metre platform. A quick inspection of the room showed no sign of any demon whatsoever, least of all their target.

‘Amber and Asha, go that way,’ Delarin instructed, pointing towards the far-left side. ‘It’s in here somewhere.’

Asha followed her orders and made her way over to the other side of the warehouse without checking to see if Amber was following her. She carefully moved around a blue sea container as she drew her sword from its sheath on her back.

All of a sudden the deafening rattle of rifle fire broke the silence. It wasn’t the single clap of Grim’s rifle, so it must have been Delarin’s. She was about to call out to Delarin when the steel doors of the sea container behind Asha and Amber burst open with a bang. The doors swung all the way open with such force that they rebounded off the side of the container. Casteless demons!

Asha’s rune lit up as she gathered its power, and its familiar cool tingle surged through her body. She slashed at one of the casteless at it ran towards her, cutting across its stomach. The demon took two more steps before ice crystals emerged from the wound. Asha swept forward with her sword, shattering the casteless’ torso. Suddenly, the warehouse was crawling with the damned things.

Amber shouted something, and as Asha turned, she saw three more charging them. Behind the three closing in, on the raised platform in the centre of the room, Asha could see the collector. It was a disgusting bloated mass of floating flesh and tentacles. It locked eyes with her and let out a snarl.

Asha’s focus snapped back to the casteless demons rushing towards her. She slashed the air horizontally with her sword, and a cold blast of air rushed towards her attackers, freezing their legs solid and causing the demons to fall and shatter on the ground in a clatter of white ice.

The collector’s demons were uncoordinated and weak, clawing and biting recklessly. However, their tenacity drove them to keep attacking no matter their injuries until they were dead on the floor.

The collector floated down towards Asha and Amber, who were already occupied fighting yet another group of possessed corpses.

‘Shoot the eye!’ Asha yelled at Grim. The collector had a single eye in the centre of its spherical lump of grey flesh.

‘Sir?’ Grim asked over the comm.

‘Do it!’ Delarin shouted.

A single shot rang through the air, and the eye of the disgusting demon exploded into a wet white cloud. The demon hissed violently, sounding like a large balloon filled with water that had been pierced. The collector sank down, struggling to keep afloat as it died, and then it collapsed on the ground, bubbly white liquid rapidly pooling around it.

The casteless didn’t drop as expected, which meant the collector was not the one anchoring the demons inside their human hosts. Weaker demons needed to be anchored to stronger demons to manifest on Earth. With the demons being strong enough to possess dead bodies, together with the fact that the casteless remained standing, meant the wardens’ speculation was right: There was something far worse here.

All at once, the casteless stopped. They were still alive but unmoving. Asha cut a few more down, but the rest simply stood rooted to the spot. Something caught her attention near the roof, but before Asha could warn the others, it descended.

Leather wings of dark purple unfolded from the figure as it came into view. They looked far too cut and torn to support flight, yet the dark figure glided down onto the platform in the middle of the room with surprising grace. The creature looked human for a second, but upon closer look, it had purple skin that rippled over the top of its muscular body and fangs that would rival any natural predator. It stood at least seven feet tall and was dressed in dark tattered cloth from the waist down, which covered its legs, but left its chest bare, save for black leather pieces of armour over its shoulders.

‘Well done, little wardens,’ it rasped. Its voice sounded human, but with a deeper tone echoing it underneath.

Asha froze. ‘Cambion,’ was all she could say.

‘Clever, aren’t you?’ it replied sarcastically. ‘My name is Eligos, and I’ve been tracking you wardens for a while now.’

Delarin and a pale-faced Anthony moved to Asha’s side. Grim was still sitting up on his perch on the second floor, armed with his sniper rifle.

‘Asha, get everyone out of here; I’ll keep him occupied.’ Delarin looked calm, but she knew the cambion demon would destroy him without their help.

Cambions were the result of a human woman giving birth to a baby who’d been seeded by a demon. Sometimes they came about from a willing coupling. Most times, however, a succubus would seduce or force herself upon a human man, his DNA then passing from the she-demon to an incubus, and then that demon would lay with a human woman. The process rarely succeeded, and the woman often died, but when it did, it resulted in a child who grew at three times the speed of a normal child, eventually becoming a dangerous half-human creature with more resistance to angelic and blessed weapons.

‘Sir, you need us,’ Asha stated firmly, getting her blade ready again. ‘We can take him if we do so together.’

‘If we all attack him, we could, yes. But how many of us would be left?’ Delarin was being stubborn as usual. He was right though.

‘I’ll hold him off, Delarin,’ Amber said, sounding just as stalwart as him. Asha had seen her fight many times, and the claims of her ability were true, but a cambion was a powerful demon and well above any of their abilities alone.

‘Fine,’ Delarin relented. ‘Everyone else, get going.’

Amber stepped forward, a bearded, double-sided battle-axe raised in front of her. Eligos laughed at Amber, who thought herself good enough to stand against him. He looked her over. Asha couldn’t tell if he was looking at her with lust, or like she was food.

‘It is rare I see a mortal as delicious as you.’ He sniffed the air. ‘You smell very interesting indeed.’ The demon smiled to himself, and his wings twitched in excitement.

The cambion then swiped a clawed hand towards Amber, and a green wave of energy cut through the air at her. She dodged the attack only barely, losing her footing and falling to the ground.

Asha stopped as she saw Amber getting to her feet, and she