The silver ring of protection that Aegisthus had stolen from Electra with Clytemnestra’s help was not on his person and Mahaud did not bother searching for it. It would be buried along with the rest of this wretched civilisation.
In the thick coating of blood that now covered the floor of the dungeon, she willed the seal of Uriel to take form. ‘The time of judgement is nigh. Regent of the Sun who is the spirit of political reform and holder of the Key to Hades, I command thee, release Abbadon!’
A moment later Mahaud found herself floating in the centre of the Mt Duranki Plateau confronted by a radiant spirit. Uriel appeared brighter to her perception than ever before and she could make out little more of him than the scroll he held in one hand and the open flame that danced upon his other hand. These were his defining signs.
Your plight has sealed the breach, the spirit told Mahaud. The gate is open. Let Abbadon teach his lesson to humankind.
Mahaud felt a great tremor deep within her. Distant at first, a feeling of great expectation quickly rose to the surface of her being, and as the feeling rose it changed to one of liberation. The powerful force reached the surface of her manifestation and burst forth from her. The first burst of energy shot directly upwards towards the sky. Then a steady flow of energy ensued and distributed itself via hundreds of streams of light that shot out across the world in every direction via the ley-grid.
The distress call from the Dark Lodge in Chailidocean couldn’t have come at a worse time for Yahweh Aris. His largest space vessel had been hit by an unknown light anomaly and it had adversely affected the navigation and tracking systems of the electromagnetic laser light weapon which the Orions had used several times to redirect the asteroid threatening Gaia.
‘Why are we repositioning to fire?’ Aris demanded an answer from his crew.
The head technician could only shrug. ‘None of the control panels will respond, Yahweh Aris … somebody is overriding the entire system.’
‘That’s not possible!’ the Dragon leader seethed. ‘The Black League wouldn’t dare to try something like this!’
‘Our primary weapon has locked on target, Yahweh,’ his tactician fretted. ‘There’s nothing I can do to stop it firing.’ His fingers raced over the control pad but there was no response.
As the laser fired, Yahweh Aris began to quietly seethe. ‘Tens of thousands of years’ planning, ruined.’
Immediately following the missile’s release, all control panels returned to normal.
‘Will the impact send the asteroid into Gaia?’ Aris asked the tactician. He anxiously caressed the silver ring of protection on his finger, which he’d taken from Aegisthus.
‘No, Yahweh,’ the tactician was pleased to inform, ‘but —’
‘No!!!!’ Aris yelled as he watched the huge chunk of asteroid blasted away from its moving target and placed its focus in the heart of Chailidocean.
‘I fear there is little point in going to the aid of our human brothers.’ Aris was resigned to the disaster. ‘There is trouble beyond our scope headed their way.’
Orestes had fled Chailidocean, with his peace offering from the Dark Lodge, in the fastest, most luxurious airship in his fleet and was currently headed east beyond the kingdom and mountains that Lugal had once ruled.
He’d indulged himself for hours with Pandora’s beautiful form and now Orestes was snoozing peacefully on the bed.
Pandora was so deliriously happy that she could not sleep and as she lay awake admiring her young lover, she was filled with a sudden curiosity regarding the vase that Shamash had given her as a dowry.
The Nefilim lord had told her that the vase was invaluable, but rising from the bed to observe it, Pandora didn’t think the workmanship was that extraordinary; she’d seen many finer vases during the brief glimpse she’d been awarded of the Chailidocean palace.
‘Perhaps my Lord Shamash was hinting that he’d placed some riches inside?’ Pandora whispered to herself as she hurried over to check. She couldn’t believe that she hadn’t thought to remove the lid and view inside her dowry earlier, but then her new master had been keeping her gainfully employed since they’d set foot upon his transport.
Lifting the lid Pandora reached inside the vase and was excited to find a large item wrapped in black silk. She unwrapped her treasure carefully whereupon a sold silver dagger fell into her hands. Pandora gasped, for its jewels were bedazzling. She found the weapon most enchanting and was gripped by a compelling lust to use it.
‘Again my love?’ Orestes felt Pandora return to the bed and rolled over to oblige her with more love play. ‘I feel rested now and I —’
It was only through a reflex action that Orestes’ right arm deflected the pending strike of the dagger and he only sustained a bad cut to the lower arm. Orestes rolled out of bed away from his attacker, horrified to realise that it was his shot at future happiness that was trying to do him in. ‘Why, Pandora?’ he appealed to her, his heart truly broken. ‘I betrayed my father’s memory so that we might have a life together.’
‘Do I need a reason?’ Pandora licked his blood from her blade and pounced at him to try again.
She did not manage to draw blood this time and as Orestes struggled to take the weapon from Pandora their airship was hit by a great shockwave. The power failed and the ship fell into darkness.
‘Pandora!’ Orestes yelled as she was cast away from him in the blast. He felt himself begin to float when their vessel began plummeting out of control towards Gaia’s surface and then the sound of Pandora sobbing, a fair distance from him, reached his ears. ‘Pandora, why do you weep now?’
‘I don’t know why I tried to hurt you,’ she spluttered, ‘you made me so happy.’
The power restored itself and Orestes hit the ground with a thud that near shattered his bones. As he moved to raise himself, he noted the blood on his hands and a trail of red droplets on the floor of his cabin.
He followed the trail to find Pandora with the dagger stuck through her chest. Orestes fell to his knees and wept for the woman he’d traded his soul for. Remorse consumed him with violent intensity. He’d lost his kingdom, betrayed his people, forsaken his sister and best friend. He’d failed to avenge his father’s death, and he’d bargained with the murderous sorcerer to save both their skins.
As one of the Shar’s advisors entered, Orestes rose to state his resolve. ‘Turn the ship around. I’m going back to face Aegisthus.’
‘But my Shar, there is no point,’ his servant urged, his brow as wrinkled as could be when he spied the maiden on the floor. ‘Our data indicates that the shockwave stemmed from there. We shall be lucky to outrun the wall of water headed our way as it is.’
Orestes was dumbstruck. ‘What kind of a weapon puts out such a shockwave?’
‘Only the gods have such power.’ The advisor humbled himself.
Orestes glanced back at his dead lover. ‘And they have punished us.’
Shamash stood at the large windows in the private quarters of his spaceship, laughing heartily as he watched the chaos erupting below. ‘This is marvellous, just spectacular.’
The landmasses on one side of the planet were cracking into pieces like a jigsaw puzzle; some were being engulfed by water, others by fire and lava. All the ash spewing into the air was starting to darken the atmosphere and hinder the view of the surface.
‘It’s certainly going to take some time for the dust to settle.’ The lord turned to his guest.
Atlas was not so amused. ‘You promised me Atlantis for the seal, that was the bargain.’ The Titan slapped one hand into the other to demand payment.
‘Relax,’ the Nefilim assured. ‘The impact of that small asteroid will cause a bit of an axis tilt. By the time everything settles on the surface, your kingdom will be a prime piece of real estate.’
‘But my family, my subjects, they shall all have perished.’ The realisation of his stupidity and betrayal had a shocking effect and Atlas fell to his knees filled with remorse and sorrow.
/>
‘So you outlasted them all, Atlas. You are the last of the Titans!’ Shamash tried a little cheerfulness. ‘Don’t brood. Not all humankind will have perished and when you return to Gaia, they will worship you as a god!’
‘I don’t want to be a god!’ he snarled, clambering to his feet.
‘That is not what you said when we had our first little chat.’ Shamash’s tone advised the Titan to tread cautiously. ‘“I would give anything to rule the City of the Golden Gates”, I believe were your exact words.’
‘But I am not to rule Chailidocean, am I?’
‘Poor, poor Atlas.’ Mahaud startled the Titan with her array of harsh voices and her horrifying appearance. ‘Left to uphold the world.’ As she loomed before him, Atlas backed away. ‘I bet you wish you’d aided Prometheus now.’ She gave a chuckle at his pain, for she felt nothing any more. ‘Upon the urging of the Dark Lodge I have released the beast from its captivity and thus you will have the reign of terror you have so long desired. And I shall be there to encourage the worst of you unto your death.’
‘No, I am finished with the Dark Lodge.’ Atlas backed away from the demon. He had seen and done enough damage for one lifetime. ‘Do you think I want them finding out about my part in this?’ Atlas added in his own defence. ‘Take me back to Gaia’s surface to suffer along with my people, and I shall gladly disappear into obscurity.’
‘No one can hide from the forces I have unleashed, Atlas,’ Mahaud grinned, satisfied that he would get his comeuppance. ‘But you shall live to try.’
‘Shamash kept his word to me … for a while at least,’ Electra added. ‘He did not send me back into the sub-planes as long I did not do anything contrary to his interests. I was bound to answer his summons above all others. When he did see fit to banish me out of his service on Gaia, Shamash had my legend placed in secret chambers under some of his temples of worship for men of evil intent to seek and discover over the ages; for them to copy and spread afar.’
‘To be found and utilised by men like my uncle, Cadfer,’ Maelgwn concluded.
‘Men like Viper.’ Electra brought the topic of the conversation round to more current matters.
Maelgwn nodded, although he was not yet ready to return to the present. ‘How did you find out about Yahweh Aris?’
‘Atlas,’ she replied. ‘I chased him up on Gaia, once I was at liberty to do so without Shamash finding out. He spilled the beans on the Dark Lodge and the trainer of their Grand Masters through the ages.’
‘And do you know what became of Prometheus?’ Maelgwn felt he was pushing his luck in asking.
‘The Noah myth tells us that Prometheus’s son survived to sail the Ark. But for unknown reasons Prometheus didn’t accompany his son on the voyage.’
‘After he’d seen his son safely away, perhaps he headed back to Chailidocean to save you,’ Maelgwn posed.
Electra shrugged at the supposition. ‘In any case, he founded Athens in Greece, which was where Orestes turned up. Whether or not they ended their days as friends I do not know,’ she concluded, sounding bored with the subject.
‘You met the Prince of Darkness, you said earlier.’ Maelgwn raised a topic he felt may be equally interesting to them both.
She fixed her eyes upon Maelgwn and nodded. ‘You need to speak with Mahaud about that.’
‘Thank you, Electra, for enlightening me to a great many things I had forgotten,’ Maelgwn said in parting and gave a nod for the crone to return to the fore. The red glowing eyes, demonic voices and dark presence of Mahaud returned to haunt Tory’s body once more. ‘Continue,’ he instructed.
‘Following our encounter on the moon, the Night Hunter sent me into deepest Density, so deep that I broke through the barrier of nothingness into an illuminated region beyond. I came before a great throne and upon it sat the chief of demons himself.’
‘How did you know it was Lucifer?’ Maelgwn queried.
‘Because the part of me that was Electra remembers speaking with the most beautiful of Logos’s angels and Satan far surpassed them all.’
It was strange to hear Mahaud speak of beauty and Maelgwn considered that perhaps she had a different ideal of what was beautiful these days. ‘And did Lucifier speak to you, Mahaud?’
‘He did,’ she informed dryly. ‘He told me that as I had endured all darkness had to teach, I must find a way back to the path of light or be consumed completely by darkness. For darkness absorbs energy into one point of eternity. Much like your black holes have collapsed into a point, a singularity, I would damn myself and create a cessation, a suffocation, where space-time and I would relinquish existence. This is the true meaning of being damned. “You’re no good to us here,” were Satan’s exact words.’
‘And I know why!’ Viper moved to a different soft-light screen.
‘Shall I give the command to fire, Lord Viper?’ His second-in-command reminded Viper that their spacecraft’s photon missiles were locked on the targeted area.
Viper shook his head as he reviewed the footage of the conversation that had passed between the Dragon and Mahaud. It was the segment where Electra exposed her scars that Viper was looking for. He honed in and sharpened a picture of the seal carved on her belly and then chuckled to himself delightedly. ‘Mahaud never mentioned she had a seal of obedience.’ This meant that Viper no longer needed utensils to summon or hold the crone, and this latest development did away with the need to bargain with her. He turned to his second-in-command to advise. ‘Wait for my word before firing.’
As his 2IC nodded, Viper departed to his room of summons, back on the Aten.
‘Thus the Bringer of Light touched me and back I came into Viper’s service,’ Mahaud concluded. ‘Just as Viper and myself had arranged back in Gwynedd of old. But my perception of my purpose here, in the physical realm, had changed since Viper and I first spoke and I knew that this time around I was not to serve the darkness, but to seek my liberation from it. Thus, I chased you up once again, Prometheus, knowing that you would be my liberation, just as you had been my doom. So you see, the dramatics are not necessary,’ she looked to the cloud churning above them, ‘as I do not intend to resist your intent.’
Maelgwn looked to the sky, confused. ‘But I thought you were responsible for the turbulence?’
Mahaud went to shake her head, when a vision of the all-powerful seal Shamash had used to bind her to his service, via her evil elemental entourage, filled her perception. ‘It’s —’ she tried to warn Maelgwn, but her being was snatched from the body that held her. The charm around Tory’s waist snapped, and her body fell to the ground unconscious.
This is it, my love. Tory’s spirit was close at hand to give Maelgwn strength.
In a great flash of light and heat, the earthly bodies of Maelgwn Gwynedd and Tory Alexander were scattered to the earth and four winds from whence they had come.
‘NO!’ hollered Rhun as he witnessed the blast, and the large hexagon in Taliesin’s Otherworldly abode then went blank.
All the Dragon’s boys were equally upset and began entertaining notions of taking the chariot back in time in order to get their parents’ bodies away from the site in time.
‘Mother and father both knew this was going to happen.’ Lirathea barged into the middle of her brothers to get them focused. ‘Remember father’s last instruction to you,’ she told Rhun. ‘That the present is of no concern to us. You must go back and save Mahaud and what has unfolded here today will be completely altered.’
‘I want to come with you,’ Avery requested more than demanded for a change.
‘Over a long distance, I wouldn’t risk overloading the chariot with any more than two passengers,’ Noah advised Rhun, before he made the decision.
Rhun draped his arm over his brother’s shoulder, in touch with his reasons for wanting to come. ‘You promised Lahmu you’d watch over Fallon and I cannot take her with us.’
Avery winced, knowing Rhun was right and he shouldn’t argue, but he did anyway. ‘We will
be back within a few minutes and as I am apprentice to Gwyn ap Nudd, I may be of some aid when it comes to dealing with the elemental pets of the Dark Lodge.’
Rhun looked to Sparrowhawk and Zabeel, who both seemed prepared to allow Avery to go, albeit reluctantly.
‘All right then, it’s settled.’ Rhun slapped his hand down on Avery’s shoulder, inwardly relieved by the decision.
PART 3
MASTERS
CHARACTER LIST
PART 3
Leader of the Fallen Ones
Azaz’el,
Other Fallen Angels
Sammael
Armaros
Viper’s 2IC
Tareena
Doc Alexander’s sons
Luther and Morgan
Doc Alexander’s wife
Vanora
MIB Agent
Zero
The Christ
Lord Maitreya
Chohan of the Sixth Ray
Sananda
Buddha
Prologue
Finally the writer was making a living from doing what she loved most — using her imagination. Her first trilogy had far surpassed sales expectations and she had a stand-alone novel nearly ready for publication. Work had already commenced on the next novel, a stand-alone also, which the writer was adapting from an unfinished film script.
The Cosmic Logos Page 36