Free Babel Found by Matthew James

still functioning lungs would be able to, but it wasn’t necessary now. Once maybe, but not anymore. The pain she endured to become what she was now was something even she wouldn’t wish upon anyone. It was the only thing she ever regretted.
    She truly loved the thrill of being an all-powerful being, but the cost of everyone she knew and loved, killed by Father Time… That was something she lamented to this day. She left behind her friends and those she cared about to outlive them.
    “Have I truly lived?”
    She shook the question away, furious at the sadness she was feeling build up inside of her. She would burn these two alive and make herself feel better. First the woman…then the man. She would make him watch as she cooked his little friend…slowly.
    Susanoo may be the most powerful of them all, but Phoenix knew she was truly the most dangerous. She was the living embodiment of lethality—as angry as a blazing inferno looked. There was no one she would spare. She hated what the human race had become more than anyone. It was her passion now. Her reason for still being here after all this time. Her rage kept her alive.
    It was truly the only way for the Judges to perish. They would have to freely surrender, like the original Priests of An’tala did all those years ago. They trapped Nannot’s very soul in an obsidian flame. It was sealed with their physical power, never to be released until someone willingly did.
    It happened, but Nannot chose a less-than-worthy host.
    “We need Hank Boyd.”

9
    The National Mall
    Washington D.C.
     
    At the moment, Todd was the only living thing, man or local wildlife, that wasn’t on the move. All he could do was stand and stare at the scene unfolding before him. He’d caught glimpses of the monstrous stone giant in Teotihuacán, not believing the other’s descriptions of it until he actually saw it with his own eyes through the team’s various video feeds.
    “Ummm,” he said, unable to form a verbal thought. He pushed his one-of-a-kind NVS5 prototype higher onto his sweating face. Like before, he felt them quickly slip down his slick nose almost immediately. The ENVY software was giving him all the information he could handle too.
    “Tell me everything, ENVY,” he said, prompting the program.
    “Dedicated in 1922, the Lincoln Memorial sits across from the Washington Monument at the west end of the National Mall. The statue of the sixteenth president of the United States sits at an impressive nineteen feet tall.”
    “How tall if it stood?” Todd asked, knowing he wasn’t going to like the answer.
    “Twenty-eight feet,” ENVY answered as emotionless as ever.
    Ugh, he thought, finally starting to move in the opposite direction. He backpedaled as he watched the near thirty-foot tall marble golem step out of the reflecting pool that sat between the first president’s obelisk and Lincoln’s now empty throne.
    “Well,” Todd said, trying to stay somewhat positive, “at least it’s not the Statue of Liberty…”
    “The Statue of Liberty was erected in—”
    “That’s not what I meant!” Todd shouted, gritting his teeth as he watched a scooter get crushed under Lincoln’s massive foot. He knew that if he didn’t start moving, he’d be one of the next things Honest Abe would step on.
    Where do I go? he inwardly asked himself, looking around.
    He looked across the Mall, seeing the other museums. He knew he could get lost in one of them, but he’d just bring the monster in with him potentially harming others in the process. The thought spurred another.
    Is it actually after me?
    He couldn’t be for sure, but it sure looked like it was headed his way.
    Man, I wish I had a bigger gun. He looked down at his Glock, not realizing he’d drawn it. A lot of good this will do.
    His eyes lit up. He did have something bigger—two somethings actually.
    “ENVY, call in air support.”
    Without acknowledging Todd’s command, the software sent out a distress call to one