* * *
Mihai was lying on her belly in the ashen dirt, watching from behind a charred tree stump overlooking a volcanic wasteland in the valley below. Long lines of enemy Pseudes were making their way from the landing depots to the cosmic arena, a built up area nearest an opened energy field that permitted them easy access to the gathering crowds in the city below.
Startled, Mihai jumped at the sound of someone approaching. Periste, crawling through the thorny underbrush, let out a muffled cry when she drove her elbow into a woody brier. She looked up to see scowling though much relieved eyes staring at her. Quickly, she slithered up beside Mihai.
Staring down at the moving throng, Periste quietly let out, “Whew! I haven’t seen so many Pseudes in this realm since the Greco-Maccabean Wars. Can they just be here for the one reason, to watch Symeon recant his faith?”
(Author’s note: ‘Pseudes’ was the name given to the followers of Asotos by the loyal children of Lowenah who joined together to form the Children’s Empire. The name was derived from Pseudin-Posades, meaning ‘false witness’ and/or ‘liar’, and later gained the added meaning, ‘to make oneself an apostate through fornication (lusting with falsehood for something to which one has no right)'.
By Ishtar’s day, Asotos’ followers had elevated the use of mind control over earthly men to an art. By use of newly refined and contrived machines, the common Pseudes was able to take limited control over the minds of ignorant and/or willing men, thus causing them to act in ways so subhuman and demonic that later historians came to write with disgust concerning that particular generation of men.
The Pseudes also developed machines that could greatly enhance pain and panic in chosen victims. Through implantation, they could feel the emotions and fear racing through these persons as they suffered any torments being heaped upon them. This was the reason they gathered together above the arenas of Greece and Rome, to not only watch the slaughter but to feel the thrill of terror and agony of the people in contest and to revel in the bloodlust of the crowd.
For these truly corrupted servants of Asotos – for not all of his followers sank into this eternal abyss – there were no feelings of love remaining within. All emotion, then, had to derive from sordid means, or there was no emotion at all to be had.
The main reason for Perk’s violent rape of Ishtar was to implant thousands of the Pseudes’ malicious bugs into the girl. These devices would have heightened Ishtar’s personal fear and agony, but also made it possible for anyone tuned in to the harmonic frequency of the bugs to feel, along with her, the child’s tribulations. Legion, himself, had perpetrated this deed, part of his reason for hating Darla so. For, when she purified Ishtar, healing her, all of Legion’s efforts came to naught.)
“Here.” Mihai whispered, handing Periste her vision/listening machine. “See for yourself into the world of Hell and damnation.”
Placing the headpiece over her temples, Periste worked the tiny lever on the handheld control, scanning surroundings in Ephesus. Eventually she found the frequency that allowed her to spy in on Ishtar. At length she pulled the headset back, whispering concern. “I though Mother’s directions were to only remove Legion’s machines from Ishtar, her healing only enough to prevent death so as to receive pity from her tormentors. Here Darla has made the child perfect in flesh, almost as much so as we are. Had she made her a little more so, the girl would have become a weapon of destruction, her beauty rupturing the very hearts of lowly men.”
Mihai nodded.
“And did you see the dress?” Periste put the headset back in place. “She was not to leave the unearthly garment with the girl. Nowhere in that realm does such a thing exist. Magic it may well be perceived by those creatures, possibly lifting the girl up to godship.”
Glancing away from the crowds below, Mihai replied, “Don’t cast blame on Darla. This was her first clandestine mission, one in which she was to have received guidance. We failed in providing promised support, not only endangering the girl’s life, but possibly altering the history of men. Whether it was by mistake or intention, Darla’s actions must now be taken into account. We must work with what we have. It may be the governor will now take pity on his own heart, seeking some way to preserve such a ravenous beauty from the jaws of death.”
Mihai was offered her headset, she motioning it away. “The power of this ring allows me limited vision of current goings on. You use it for whatever needs you may find. I desire to watch the enemy below. Some of Legion’s personal guards have passed this way, maybe in search of us. You, too, keep a sharp eye out for them.”
Periste replaced the headset, adjusting it to fit. She crawled forward enough to watch the gathering crowds below, then settled down to see other events. Motionless, she and Mihai watched the world above and beneath. As the Pseudes continued to collect themselves, the test of Ishtar slowly unfolded within the palace walls. With bated breath, the women waited to see what the outcome would be.