by R. Twine
She stood up from behind a table, walked over to Samuel and said, smiling.
‘Excuse me, Samuel, but I’d like to ask your companion some questions in tête-à-tête. I hope you won't mind.’
‘Miriam?’ Samuel looked at me inquiringly.
‘It’s all right,’ I agreed.
He came up to me and kissed me on the lips.
‘I’ll be waiting for you, honey.’
‘Please, follow me,’ Agella said invitingly.
It seemed to me at that moment that there was some similarity between Agella and Samuel; they seemed to have some barely perceptible common traits. I’m gradually going nuts! I thought.
‘Make yourself at home, Samuel,’ Agella said to him watching him go.
He returned from the round bunker back to the hall. The heavy door clicked shut behind him.
Agella beckoned me to follow her. One of the walls opened to reveal a study behind it. There were no windows there either.
‘Please, be seated, Miriam,’ Agella said, pointing at the easy-chair. ‘Indeed, there are no windows either, just like in the auction chamber,’ she confirmed, while watching me looking around. ‘This is a safety measure. All rooms in the castle are protected by infrared rays. Every visit is detected by sensors. Then the signal is sent to security guards. This is the way we check everyone who comes here.’
‘I see you’ve thought everything through down to the smallest detail, Agella. I can assure you I’m not going to break into your castle to steal what is not mine,’ I said.
‘What I mean is that there was a similar security system in the late Phil’s house,’ Agella explained.
We stared at each other intently. Everything was becoming more or less clear, but the game was only beginning. I felt the main surprise was still to come.
‘Miriam, you’re the last person who saw Phil alive,’ Agella said for some unknown reason.
‘I think this is exactly so,’ I agreed.
‘I’d like to show you something interesting,’ Agella said, standing up from behind the table and walking over to the built-in closet.
She carried out several simple manipulations, and the closet opened, revealing a secret door within.
‘Follow me, Miriam.’
We found ourselves in a spacious room. There was a wall-size painting in it showing a hairy beast with a human face. He sat on the throne holding a book in one hand and a staff in the other one. Apart from this, he seemed to be watching me in the process! I’d seen something like this before. Whichever shape the beast would take, he always remained Satanail. Agella came over to him holding the Book of Shadows in her hands!
‘I’m sure you are familiar with this book, Miriam,’ she said, putting the heavy tome on a stone table. ‘This is a duplicate. Phil had another one, but there exists the third tome – the original one. Everybody thinks there are three duplicates, but there are only two of them. The Third Book is the one which the King of the Dark Kingdom keeps. No one but Satanail knows the co-owner of this book. There’s only one thing I know: the Secret Testimonies will reveal all the secrets and treasures of the earth if they end up in the hands of the person who co-owns the Book along with the Prince of Darkness... But it’s going to be hard for this person to pry the Book out of his claws.’
‘I can’t see your point; you say this person is a co-owner, right? Then why will it be hard for him to take what belongs to him by right?’ I asked.
‘That’s the thing,’ Agella replied. ‘This Book will be given to this person only in exchange for a big sacrifice on his part. That is, for the Book to go back to its earthly owner, a certain swap has to take place. We know nothing about it. We don’t even know whether this person has been born at all.’
‘What if he has? What difference does it make then?’ I asked.
‘If an earthly owner takes hold of the Book he will become one of the most powerful men in the whole world! The first Book of Shadows which is, in actual fact, not a duplicate but the original, can also serve someone who will lay his hands on it after the initial owner. For instance, if the Book fell into my hands – and I’m the one who’s in the know – I’d put it together with mine and the one that once belonged to Phil and thus would become the most powerful human being on Earth! I’d be able to bring about drastic changes in the life of our planet, make corrections in its past and reprogram its present to make sure it has a different future and even totally different people! This Book will be able to reveal all the secrets!’
‘All of them? Are you sure?’ I inquired.
‘Yes, Miriam – all of them,’ Agella confirmed. ‘The Book is so powerful that, once it falls into the hands of its true owner, it will be invisibly protecting him against all bad things the future might hold in store for him, no matter whether the Prince of Darkness wants it or not! It will even become capable of standing up to Satan himself by warding off his blows! This man will become invincible to any hostile forces. The Book in the hands of an earthly owner generates the energy that links the two parallel worlds together.
‘This is really very interesting!’ I said.
‘My dear Miriam, someone who owns this Book will be immune to any misfortunes: he or she will always be rescued in the end! This person will be able to return to the past and live in the future, if he so wishes. He'll be capable of doing virtually everything!’
‘And this is why Satanail’s never going to give this Book to someone it belongs to by right,’ I guessed. ‘Because if he loses it, even temporarily, he will somewhat lose strength.’
‘You’ve got everything right,’ Agella said. ‘This Book can only be obtained by an exchange, favorable for him. And it’s going to be a risky business, anyway!’
‘An exchange?’ I asked.
‘Yes, Miriam,’ Agella confirmed. ‘There’s one thing I know: the Book of Shadows has remained in the Kingdom of Darkness almost every time its owner came to Earth!’
‘Agella, will this co-owner be able to make corrections?’
‘Yes, of course, and what’s more, he or she’ll be able to do something that has been deemed impossible to this day!’ she replied. ‘There were only two instances in which this Book found its owner in a long chain of his or her reincarnations. It was a very long time ago! So, I guess you understand perfectly well now that this Book is virtually impossible to come by. Unless the swap offered to the Black Angel is so lucrative for him that he’ll agree to let the Book leave him and the Kingdom of Darkness.’
I got confused.
‘Who’s your Master, Agella?’ I asked, hoping to somewhat untangle this knot.
‘His chair remains vacant,’ Agella said, clearly reluctant to disclose any name to me. ‘Everything “The Star of Baphomet” owns belongs to one man only, and this man is our Master. But someone who will be the first to lay his hands on the Book of Shadows will own absolutely everything. Including us and everything we have. Everything!’
‘You mean to say that you have a Master, and this Master may get another master?’ I asked.
‘Exactly so,’ she replied. ‘But the thing is that we know our Master, but nobody knows who the Master of our Master is.’
‘I got it, Agella,’ I said.
‘Miriam, the earthly owner of the Book of Shadows has either been already born or is about to be born soon. And this time he’s likely to lay his hands on the Book.’
‘But how will he find this out?’ I asked in astonishment.
‘His life will be different from the lives of other people,’ Agella said staring at me with her piercing eyes.
‘Agella, tell me the name of your Master whom you mention so often!’
‘I cannot do it just yet, my dear,’ she responded. ‘You can have a look at this tome and find out what the difference is between it and the one you’d seen in Phil’s house.’
The second duplicate of the Book of Shadows was bedecked with jewels in the same manner as the one I saw at Phil’s place; the jewels were giving off a dim light. It look
ed enormous, much larger than the Book I’d seen in Phil’s house. Its pages were made of metal, and its appearance scared me off rather than generating interest.
‘Once all three Books of Shadows are put together,’ Agella said, bringing up the previous subject, ‘there will be global changes taking place all over the planet. Life will change so drastically that one might think the End Times are coming! It might even happen that all living beings will perish from the face of the earth.’ Agella clearly talked round corners. ‘Nobody will ever be able to destroy these Books; they will exist forever, while recording all the history of the earth,’ Agella went on, talking in riddles.
‘This Book is heavier and darker than the one I’d seen before,’ I said. It suddenly dawned upon me that even those people were very afraid of something. ‘I’d previously thought that man could free himself from Satanail’s influence by destroying the Books.’
‘You’re mistaken, Miriam, because all those connected with him will never be able to free themselves from his influence! No one is strong enough to do this! Otherwise he’d be dead,’ she said in a confident tone of voice and added. ‘Naturally, there can be exceptions. But they are very rare.’
‘Just how strong is the first Book of Shadows, Agella?’ I asked.
‘It is strong enough to generate bolts of lightning, the sound of thunder and earthquakes as soon as it gets into the hands of its legitimate earthly owner…’ Agella said, but suddenly stopped in the middle of the phrase.
I opened the Book of Shadows – its pages were blank. Desperation gripped my heart: the Book was unwilling to get into contact with me. Suddenly I sensed somebody’s gaze on the back of my head and turned round: the hairy monster was staring at me with his scary eyes. All of a sudden the beast stirred, put out his hand towards the Book and opened the required page.
I started peering into the figure that had materialized as if out of nowhere. This was a man standing with his back to me so I couldn’t see his face. In his hand he was holding a key similar to the one I’d discovered in Sean’s house. I kept on thinking about the first Book of Shadows; now it seemed to me that this very book was the key to my deliverance. And there suddenly came a quiet monotonous voice as if articulating my thoughts.
‘Satanail gave the first Book of Shadows to the person he’d chosen. And this Book will be discovered by the very person it belongs to!’
The pages began turning, barely able to overcome their own weight. I saw Michael who was shedding blood-red tears. Then the image of Samuel appeared: he kept his hands behind his back as if hiding something. And then there was Phil who sat on a huge throne surrounded by people who were reaching out for him.
Then there were squares and triangles appearing chaotically in front of me, following which I saw an inverted black pentagram: there were droplets of blood trickling down from its tips, the outline of a heart visible in its center. Leaning over the pentagram I saw my reflection in it as if I was looking in the mirror.
‘Oh, my God!’ I exclaimed, backing off in horror.
This Book turned out to be a priceless guide for all those seeking domination and power. It was a powerful patron of its owner. One could find almost everything in it: from the recipe for the prolongation of life to the method of obtaining unlimited power. Agella was its second owner and it meant that she, just like Phil, was capable of domineering.
The pages got wet and acquired a dark red tint, there was an unpleasant harsh smell coming from them. My fingers became sticky with blood.
‘Its owner will know the secrets of death!’ said the voice from the Book.
I was seeking to know this, too. I wanted to find out who had killed my parents, Natalie and others and why. I wanted to find out whether there could really be incidental incidents. I wanted to ask Agella about it and looked around, but she was nowhere to be seen.
‘Agella! Agella, where are you?’ I called out loudly.
The room was empty. The door leading into the cabinet had disappeared, too, giving place to a blind wall.
‘Agella!’ I shouted, hammering against the wall with my fists. ‘Let me out of here!’
There was something going on in the room. I stopped hammering and turned round. The table with the Book on it had disappeared. The ominous portrait of the hairy beast began sucking me in…
I was lying on a stone altar. There were black candles in big golden candleholders burning on both sides of the altar’s headboard and footboard. My body was fully naked; black pearls woven into my unfastened hair were shimmering dimly.
Right in front of me there was Satanail sitting on a throne installed on a small dais. There was an enormous flaming inverted pentagram behind him, and in its flames I saw twisting human bodies…
Standing to the right of the dais was Agella, in company with demons and hosts of deviltry. On the left, there were humanlike creatures in black cloaks with hoods hanging low over their faces, their eyes fixed on their feet – they were clearly afraid of looking up more often than was absolutely necessary. Streaks of smoking incense were rising up in the air from somewhere below, filling the space with the harsh odor.
The Threads of Light had formed a kind of a silvery shining cocoon around my body. Nobody but Satanail dared to look at me. He knew perfectly well that I was under protection of the planet Enza. But the Black Angel didn’t seem to be much concerned over this fact. He sat silently, looking at me and thinking his own thoughts. He was enormous, unkempt and had black wings behind his back. Dark squinted eyes and big pointed ears gave his hairy face a repulsive look. There was nothing in common between Satanail’s human appearance and this hairy beast that generated nothing but disgust.
I would have to finish lying on this altar sooner or later so I waited patiently for what was to happen next. Lying by Satanail’s feet were his pets – the cat and the snake, their eyes fixed on me. Everybody was eager to watch the opening of the ceremony that took place once in many centuries.
‘I declare the ceremony open,’ Satanail said in a deep voice, putting up his hairy hand.
There was a big noise, everything stirred and moved. Humans and demons started singing loudly and dancing in a ring around me. The smoke from the reeking candles and the disgusting smell of incense were so stifling that I began to choke.
The hellish round dance was getting increasingly faster, moans and gasps were coming from everywhere, everybody was constantly bowing in turn either to Satanail or to me. Wild dances and deafening screams shook the earth. The demons intermingled with humans and merged in scary orgies giving way to their wildest desires. I was hearing pleas and requests coming to me from all directions. Numerous gifts were being brought in an unceasing flow to the foundation of the altar on which I was lying...
‘Give us your body… Give us your children… Give us your life…Give us your soul… Stay with us forever!’ I heard them shouting all around me.
After some while everything went silent. Satanail got up and raised a big goblet. He took a sip from it and then put his hands into its content and began oiling his body with the liquid.
‘My Essence came to existence thanks to you; it was you who gave all of mankind life, only you can make sure that your descendants don’t cease to exist. I kneel before the first-ever woman created by the Father who fearlessly yielded to temptation and learned the secrets of the Universe!’ he said, putting his arm on my belly.
Suddenly everything around me shook, the air seemed to start vibrating, and in a moment the hairy beast transformed into the Satanail Angel I’d seen as Eve having entered his apartments many centuries ago. Again, he became exceptionally beautiful, never before had his smile been so seductive. He began stroking my immobile shining body cocooned in the Threads of Light that gave off sparks every time he touched it. I was in a kind of torpor and was unable to stir a finger.
Suddenly Natalie came swishing, lighting up the darkness, quick as a lightning. Startled, Satanail jumped up and managed to spit a ball of fire out of his mouth, throwing N
atalie aside.
‘Miriam, you have to go! Now!’ she exclaimed harshly, repulsing the fire.
I sat up and reached out for her, but the moment I did it the demons went for Natalie, raining down their blows on her. She turned around, cast the Threads of Light onto them and threw them aside. Finally, I came round, jumped to my feet and launched my Threads of Light, too, beating back another blow directed at Natalie. We found ourselves squeezed in a circle of demons who tried by all means not to let me escape. They made an attempt to catch us with the help of a black net but Natalie’s body created a kind of vacuum they found it hard to penetrate.
‘Miriam, we have to complete the ceremony,’ Agella said demandingly. ‘It cannot be broken! Believe me, it would be better this way for all of us.’
‘The ceremony is over,’ I said.
‘This is an initiation ritual; if it is broken, many people’s lives will be destroyed. This is the ceremony of Eve’s farewell to her last earthly incarnation. Miriam, you must stay!’ Agella called out watching us ascend slowly, an unveiled threat in her voice.
Suddenly the earth started quaking so powerfully that it seemed to me as if rocky mountains had gone crushing down somewhere in the distance.
‘The Archangel?’ I saw Michael the Archangel in the center of a scorching fire.
‘He’s been waiting for the apogee of the ceremony in order to intervene,’ Natalie said. ‘To find out who the owner of the first Book of Shadows is, after all. By stripping the owner of his Book we’ll be able to strip Satanail’s Kingdom of his main force.’
‘Why are you so sure that its owner is present right here and now?’ I asked in astonishment.
‘Don’t forget that The Book of Lives and the Book of Shadows sometimes refill each other. This ceremony takes place once in several centuries, and it is attended by all Satanail’s followers, to the last one. The co-owner of the Book, known only to Satan alone, is always secretly present at the ceremony. I don’t know who he is. The supporters of the Kingdom of Darkness and Satanail himself emanate explosively a colossal energy which, by entering the energy shell of the chosen one who co-owns the Book, opens his path towards it, and this path can be rather excruciating. Upon receiving this energy, the chosen one begins looking for what belongs to him by right. And no matter whether the owner finds the Book during his new reincarnation or not, the ceremony will take place over and over again, each time giving him the force coming from the parallel world, thus increasingly winning him over as a supporter of the Kingdom of Darkness. This is the main purpose of the ritual. And this energy is received not only by the chosen one; all of Satanail’s empire receives it, too. Unfortunately, this is all I know,’ Natalie explained.