Denial chuckled at my predicament, and continued to jerk off vigorously before me, licking his cracked, dry lips as he awaited my reply.
I drew deep upon my Anunnaki resilience and nodded. ‘I agree to your toll, gatekeeper.’
The demon ejaculated, groaning with delight.
My head instantly felt lighter as my beautiful healthy hair appeared on Denial’s head. He looked delighted by his acquisition. The chill of complete nakedness enfolded my body and I looked to Emmett to catch his reaction. His eyes were still averted from me and his jaw was clenched in rage. I put a hand on his shoulder to reassure him.
‘It’s just hair, it will grow back.’
‘I just wish I could contribute to the cost of this quest,’ he explained, offering me his coat once again without looking at me.
I gently pushed his offering back towards him. ‘I am not ashamed,’ I said. ‘And I am not afraid.’
The black onyx doors began to part.
‘I’ll walk ahead of you,’ Emmett announced gallantly. ‘I trust you’d find that arrangement more comfortable?’
‘I would,’ I said, but in reality felt that Emmett was more discomforted than I was about my predicament.
Go forth, goddess, into Irkalla, Denial bade me, stroking his long silky hair. You have honoured the ancient rites of Ereshkigal.
As I entered the tunnel, I shuddered to think how much more disgusting and degrading this journey would become, with five gateways left before I reached my destination.
We found ourselves before two massive doors of steel, in a prison cell cast of the same metal.
Emmett took in the repressive environment. ‘What stage is this?’
Now that really makes me mad! The guardian’s voice boomed around the room.
Emmett guessed the response to his own question. ‘Anger.’
No aspirant to Irkalla ever has the common decency to appear in my chamber clothed!
‘Shock took my clothes,’ I appealed.
That’s what they all say! Anger appeared before us as a gladiator, hung about with weapons and wearing a metal helmet that protected his skull, ears and eyes but left his ugly mouth exposed. His extremely muscular body was naked and glistened with oil, but, unlike his two predecessors, his penis hung limp between his legs. I am sick to death of Shock and Denial getting all the best spoils.
I looked around the chamber—there seemed to be an excess of bodies here. Anger was obviously not easily appeased.
Well, at least you have a weapon! he roared.
‘Yes, I do, don’t I?’
I fired upon the demon thought form and infused him with love. His penis became instantly erect and a smile of pleasure graced his face.
Wow…a weapon that actually makes you feel GOOD. The demon was intrigued, and discarded his own weapons before confiscating mine. I haven’t felt this good EVER!
‘Gate?’ I prompted him to unlock the metal doors before he shot himself again and became so high he couldn’t function.
Of course, lovely lady, he leered, admiring my naked form.
‘You’re only allowed one toll,’ I said, and pointed towards the doors.
May you find love, peace and contentment in Irkalla, my friends. The demon waved us goodbye.
As we departed through the gateway of Anger relatively unscathed, I looked back to see the demon dancing about admiring his new weapon.
‘I think that toll might have rendered that gatekeeper completely useless,’ Emmett commented as we entered the metal tunnel. ‘You’re getting better at this.’
‘Perhaps, but I’m running out of items to barter.’
Emmett rooted around in his pockets to see if he had anything of value, and pulled out a set of car keys, his wallet, some gum and a portable games unit. Nothing of much value to the Underworld there. ‘What about my pendant,’ he said, returning the items to his pockets and going to take off his treasure.
‘No,’ I insisted. ‘If that’s the authentic item—’
‘If?’ He questioned my doubt.
I ignored him and went on: ‘We can’t lose it or allow it to fall into Nefilim hands.’
‘Why not?’
I came up close behind him and whispered in his ear. ‘The Nefilim would do terrible harm to my prince with that pendant and I’d rather give up my life than see any more horror befall him.’
Emmett seemed appeased, and touched by my resolve. ‘I hope he appreciates you, your prince,’ he said. He wasn’t yet confident about it being him, but obviously wished it to be the truth.
‘My prince gave for me until there was nothing left of him to give,’ I said. ‘I desire nothing more than to find him and reward his aeons of selfless devotion to me.’
The next chamber was bronze and held very few skeletal remains. Either not many aspirants made it this far, or the demon of Unfinished Business had more mercy than the gatekeepers before him.
Hello, princess.
As the evil voice of the demon echoed around the chamber, I realised my first assumption was the truth. Shudders ran through my being as I recognised Pintar’s lecherous tones.
‘It’s not possible. You’re dead,’ I said, wanting desperately to convince myself of the fact.
‘Who’s dead?’ Emmett asked, looking everywhere but at me as he searched for the source of the voice.
The huge, hideous, half-human, half-reptilian beast that had been destroyed centuries ago by Amenti’s staff and my prince, manifested before us. You think I’m dead? I’m not. I live on in your memory, little girl; your own DNA ensures I can always come back to haunt you.
I was frozen with fear as the monster loomed closer.
Emmett dashed between us. ‘What do you want?’ he demanded of the Lord of the Dracon. ‘State your toll and cease tormenting her.’
Pintar burst out laughing. You don’t really aspire to be the mighty Mathu, my creator and soul brother, do you?
Emmett was confused by the question, but was too smart to be drawn in by it. ‘It doesn’t matter who I am, great ugly one. Just answer the question.’
His cocky response actually brought a smile to my face. The demon didn’t like it one bit, and raised a hand to strike Emmett down.
‘Ah-ah,’ Emmett cautioned. ‘I’m to travel toll free, Ill’s orders. If you strike me down that would be considered a toll, would it not?’
The beast roared, vexed by the truth of it.
‘Still,’ Emmett continued, ‘I will gladly pay such a toll on behalf of my companion, if that is what you desire?’
Shut the fuck up! Pintar roared. I am not interested in making you appear gallant, horny boy! So go fuck yourself whilst I extract my toll from little Miss Modesty here. Pintar eyed my naked form. We have unfinished business.
Emmett spread himself in front of me, and I huddled to hide myself from the lustful eyes of the demon. All I had left were my prince and my virtue; at this rate I would lose both and still not make it to Irkalla.
CHAPTER 17
HATHOR—MOUNT SHASTA
The soul who oversees this pyramid
has many names and seven faces,
she is the feminine aspect of all
that moves through the matrix.
She is the Earth Mother,
the creator of life and evolution!
She perpetuates reality
in which souls may manifest.
Among the Elohim, she is Hathor
and her pyramid brings the matrix full circle,
for she is Creator and Destructor
all in one.
ASHLEE GRANVILLE-DEVERE—SOLARIAN
Upon arrival in our predesignated year, Polaris and Levi joined the rest of Amenti’s staff in the Klieo’s rec room.
‘Where’s Meridan?’ Arcturus was immediately concerned when the two men entered without her.
‘She’s resting,’ Polaris advised quickly, hoping to skirt around the issue.
‘Meridan doesn’t need to rest.’ Arcturus was wary. ‘What’s going on?’
r /> ‘Nothing is going on!’ Polaris insisted. ‘Meridan wore herself out powering the ship for the last leg of this journey. The electromagnetic cloud we flew through on re-entry would have forced us to land, but she intervened.’
‘And you conveniently had her on the control deck at the time!’
‘Arcturus!’ I strongly advised him to take a breath, and, due to our continued mutual respect, he refrained from taking a swing at my partner. It didn’t stop him haranguing him though.
‘Why didn’t you tell me you intended to use my wife as a battery for your ship?’
‘Meridan was fine with the arrangement,’ Polaris rebuked. ‘And I didn’t tell you because I knew you’d be a girl about it.’
‘Excuse me?’ Talori, the woman closest to Polaris, thumped him. ‘Let’s get back to the essentials: we’re currently functioning within the time continuum, which means the Nefilim can see the Signet stations and this ship, speed is our only advantage. So…where are we?’
‘Mount Shasta,’ Polaris replied, returning his attention to Arcturus.
Arcturus was delighted that his was the first Signet station on our mission agenda, as he was the only male member of Amenti’s staff not to have activated his pyramid. ‘So we’re all going?’ he assumed.
‘All except Castor and Talori,’ Polaris said.
The pair immediately demanded to know why they were to stay behind.
‘Because Meridan has had word from Tamar: the Nefilim are seeking Castor,’ the captain explained.
Talori was appeased, Castor was not. ‘I’m not going to spend this entire mission babysitting the ship,’ he objected.
Polaris gripped his shoulder. ‘Face the fear, my friend…accept it.’
‘Goddamn it.’ Castor turned away to quietly curse his misfortune.
‘That leaves five of us to cover Arcturus,’ said Polaris, nodding to Dexter, Thana, Vespera and me. ‘Let’s make it snappy, folks…we need to get this job done yesterday.’
He turned to Talori and Castor once Arcturus had left the room. ‘This should take less than an hour, but I’m expecting a delay.’
‘Why, because this is Arcturus’s station?’ I asked, thinking he was underestimating our old friend.
‘Precisely. I just worked it out,’ he said with a confident grin and headed out the door.
‘Worked what out?’ I asked, making haste after him, but he just shook his head.
The entrance to the great labyrinth beneath Shasta was a little stone annexe comprising two standing stones with a capstone. The annexe was inset into the east side of the mountain and at present was filled with rocks. As Arcturus moved ahead of us, the boulders shifted to form a tunnel leading into the mountain.
‘You might want to block your ears for a moment,’ he warned us.
‘Why?’ I asked.
‘The Yaktavian bells. They’re made of astral substance and undetectable to the human eye, but they alert—’
A deep sound began to vibrate within the cavern; as it drew closer it increased in intensity and shook the entire mountain. I hastily thrust my fingers in my ears, and only removed them when Polaris flinched beside me.
‘Ouch!’ He pulled a small dart from the side of his neck.
‘Nice shot,’ Arcturus said to our invisible assailant. ‘But your ammunition is wasted on the staff of Amenti.’
‘Albe-Ra!’ cried a chorus of high-pitched voices, and an army of little red-skinned men appeared around us, all bowed on one knee, their heads lowered in homage.
‘Red-skinned gnomes,’ I uttered under my breath, and looked to Arcturus, amused. ‘You truly are the spirit of the red gnome.’ This was the title Ashlee Granville-Devere had used to summon Albray to her ringstone and service by means of an old gypsy spell.
Then the strangest thing occurred. The auras of the worshipping mass rose as a single ball of energy and took the form of a glowing ethereal head.
‘They are a collective consciousness,’ Arcturus whispered to us. ‘They cannot abide humans as a rule and choose not to appear to nor speak with them.’
The spirit head tapered off into a ghostly tail at the neck, which trailed the entity as it approached to speak with Arcturus.
‘What did humans do to them to cause such a rift?’ Vespera asked quickly before the entity got too close.
‘The same thing we do to any species or race that appears smaller and weaker than ourselves,’ Dexter cut in, having a wide knowledge of the ET and other non-human races of this planet. ‘Like so many now extinct species or races that once shared the Earthly realms with us, their collective consciousness appealed to the spiritual guardians of this part of the Earth matrix to raise their frequency slightly. Thus they are still physical beings, but due to their high frequency they can drift between the Earthly realms and the lower astral and are no longer forced to associate with us.’
‘Are you saying that many of the species that have become extinct on Earth still exist here, but in a higher realm of frequency?’ Thana questioned.
‘Not some of the species,’ Dexter corrected, ‘all of them.’
The disembodied head glanced at Polaris, who was still rubbing his neck where the dart had hit, then spoke to Arcturus. A thousand apologies to your associate, lord. With the activation of the Nefilim’s new facility this day, we feared the worst.
‘No harm done, Skell,’ Arcturus replied. ‘I am, however, in something of a hurry.’
Of course. Skell bowed his head reverently. Please follow me. The Ladies of the Elohim will be eager to speak with you.
‘Not half as eager as I am to speak with them,’ Arcturus assured Skell, then looked back to us. ‘This won’t take long.’
He followed the spirit into the tunnel, and then the miniature red warriors, the ethereal head and our comrade vanished.
‘There’s going to be a delay,’ Polaris said, contradicting Arcturus’s last words.
I scowled at his negativity. ‘Don’t keep saying that.’
Polaris smiled confidently. ‘Mark my words.’
We’d not been waiting very long when the army of little men and their collective talking head manifested before us again.
Our lord has requested that we lead you to him at once, and apologises for any delay this may cause.
I looked at Polaris who gave me a ‘Told you so’ smirk.
The wee army, who looked more akin to the native races of America than the fairytale images I’d seen of gnomes, did an about-face to lead us into the dark depths of beyond. As we moved to follow, the cavern filled with light and in the blink of an eye we were moving down a tunnel with sparkling jewelled walls, which melded into a high arched mirrored ceiling that reflected a floor of glowing gold. It was so rich in colour it appeared orange and bathed the whole passage with that colour frequency.
‘Doesn’t it feel like Albray?’ Thana said to me; in her lifetime as Lillet she had known Albray very well.
‘That might explain why I feel on edge,’ Polaris commented before I could respond.
The passage’s decorations were reminiscent of the exotic palaces of Persia, and thus this Signet station did feel very akin to the soul I knew best as Albray, whose mother had been born in the Near East. ‘It is exquisite,’ I said, admiring the jewelled mosaic walls.
Why, thank you. The floating head turned to smile at my praise. We Skell are rather fond of jewels, and my kinsmen craftsmen take great pride in integrating them into precious treasures with which to honour our benefactors, the wise and powerful Elohim.
Skell bowed his head to us, then continued to lead us towards a huge glowing oval disk of gold at the end of the passage. As we reached the disk, which seemed to be a solid gold barrier, Arcturus stepped straight through it to join us.
‘The Ladies of the Elohim have made a request,’ he said, staring at we three women in a strangely apprehensive manner.
‘They want you to retrieve the ring from the ark at Serabit while you’re here in 2003, don’t they?’ Polaris guesse
d.
‘But if I comply, then Molier won’t be killed.’ The request had clearly thrown Arcturus into a state of conflict. ‘And when we return, he’ll still be at large and will have had thirteen more years to damage the Earth and her people. I hadn’t done the math when I agreed to do this for the Ladies of the Elohim, and now I have I’m…’
‘—conflicted,’ I concluded on his behalf.
Dexter gave his advice. ‘This is something you should decide for yourself.’
‘There is no decision,’ Polaris objected. ‘The Ladies of the Elohim would not ask you to do anything that was going to be detrimental to their plan.’
Arcturus looked at Polaris, a little stunned. ‘You don’t know, do you?’
‘Know what?’
‘They are the Ladies of the Elohim.’ Arcturus motioned to Vespera, Thana and me. He nodded to Thana and said, ‘Hathor removed her mask in my presence and revealed her true identity to me. It seems you were present at my showdown with Molier all those years ago…not as Lillet’s conscious self, but as her higher self.’
Thana gasped at the suggestion that her soul mind would someday evolve beyond even her Ceres consciousness on Tara, up to Gaia’s evolutionary scheme where the great female energy known as Hathor of the Elohim resided.
‘We are all destined to become Elohim,’ Arcturus stated, rather overwhelmed by the fact.
‘That seems to indicate we do something right down here on Earth,’ Polaris said, slapping Arcturus on the shoulder to snap him out of his shock. ‘I know for a fact that you do retrieve the ring in this instance.’
‘How do you know?’ Arcturus looked relieved initially, although when Polaris smiled like the know-it-all he was, he seemed sorry he’d asked.
‘I retrieve the ring from you when we get back to the entrance of this cave…at least, the me I was back in 2003 retrieves it,’ Polaris enlightened him. ‘I give the ring to a trusted friend of ours, and it’s been residing on the hand of your wife for the past thirteen years and more recently on the hand of your daughter.’
‘The invisible ring.’ Arcturus smiled.
‘Just like our clothes, which are of an etheric nature, the Ring of the Ark can be willed to take the form of any ring one desires, which helps to keep it hidden and protected,’ Polaris explained. ‘But only in its coiled ring form can it be used in conjunction with the Rod of Power.’