Prometheus’s eyes turned to the unknown lord, whose height and pixie-like features identified him as Nefilim. ‘And who might you be, lord?’
‘He is the Lord Shamash.’ Orestes spoke up. ‘He’s here to collect Electra.’
‘No!’ both Prometheus and Electra protested at once.
‘You gave her to me,’ Prometheus reminded his ally, ‘thus she is no longer yours to exchange.’
‘And you gave her back to me,’ Orestes argued. ‘Or was it you who locked her in a cell, hmm?’
‘I won’t allow it.’ Prometheus drew his laser sword and extended the blade.
The Lord Shamash chuckled heartily at the heroic gesture and, although his mouth was not moving, Electra feared that the Nefilim was telepathically communicating with her would-be saviour. When Prometheus nodded, Electra became concerned. ‘What is he saying, Prometheus?’
Prometheus’ eyes opened wide, as if a dagger of fear had pierced his heart.
‘Please don’t listen to him.’ Electra openly began to sob once more, as Prometheus closed his eyes, holstered his weapon, turned and walked away from her.
‘Prometheus? Prometheus!’ Electra wept, horrified by what his departure meant. ‘You swore to me,’ she yelled after him.
‘Oh, dear me,’ Shamash commented as he approached the oracle. ‘Have we given away the prize already?’
‘What do you want with me?’ Electra brushed the disappointment of her betrayal from her face and turned to confront the huge, glowing figure of a god.
‘I am just the messenger,’ Shamash assured her, and as he clamped a hand down on her shoulder, Electra’s world disappeared in a flash of etheric light.
‘Dragon? Are you listening to me?’
Maelgwn heard Electra ask the question although she sounded far away. His eyes were wide open, but it was not the King’s Men stone circle in Oxfordshire around him now. Maelgwn was still in Orestes’s room of court, confronting the question of why he’d abandoned Electra.
‘I won’t allow it.’ He drew his laser sword and extended the blade in Shamash’s direction. The scene was realer than real; all Maelgwn’s senses were functioning and on overload as they picked up on the peculiarities of his new circumstance.
‘Dragon, what is it?’ Electra requested to be filled in. ‘Why are you shaking?’
‘I must know what Shamash said,’ Maelgwn stammered. His own voice sounded distant to him and it was drowned out by the Nefilim lord’s hearty chuckle that mocked Prometheus’s heroic gesture.
Before you do anything you might regret, allow me to let you in on a little secret I’ve discovered.
The lord did not move his mouth and Prometheus heard his voice inside his head. He looked at Electra, who was frowning, confused by the silence.
No, she cannot hear me, for this little secret is to remain between you and I.
Prometheus nodded and Electra’s concern mounted.
‘What is he saying, Prometheus?’ Electra begged to know.
I know of a certain little Shar of Usiqua who is working on a project for a rogue relative of mine.
Prometheus’ eyes opened wide, fear gripped his being.
‘Please don’t listen to him,’ Electra sobbed.
If you do not make a silent and peaceful about-face and return home, with your forces, I shall drop a bomb on Usiqua this day that will render the entire kingdom uninhabitable. Nothing will survive. I remind you that the protection awarded your kingdom by Enki protects it from attack by Chailidocean forces and technology. Mortal man has not possessed the technology to threaten your mountainous kingdom to date, but I do, Prometheus, so don’t tempt me.
Prometheus knew that such a fate awaited his kingdom in any case, but his son needed time to finish the vessel he was working on and load it. He had no choice. It was Electra or his family and Prometheus knew what his wife would have expected him to do. He closed his eyes and prayed for forgiveness, as he holstered his weapon, turned and walked away.
‘Prometheus? Prometheus …!’
Maelgwn fell to his knees as the vision dissolved and his own sight brought him back to his current situation. He had abandoned Electra in her hour of need, and the fact choked him with regret. ‘I … I, I cannot express how —’
‘Save it,’ Electra said flatly, unmoved by his remorse and distress. ‘It won’t change anything.’ She paused from her tutorial, lost as to how to find words to relay the next part of her tale. ‘What the Dark Lords did to me —’ she began, but choked on the thought.
Maelgwn could plainly see how distraught the memory made her and he leaned closer to suggest they skip the gory details. When the gory details suddenly manifested on his wife’s body, he was shocked into falling backwards. ‘Oh, my lord.’
‘The result of my stay in the Dark Lodge,’ Electra stated, feeling a picture would save her a thousand words. She floated up into the air and turned around so that Maelgwn might be given the full picture.
Maelgwn would have said her naked body was all skin and bone, but she had sustained so many cuts, bruises, sores and burns that he could barely see any skin. Her toenails and fingernails had all been removed along with a few toes and fingers. Her hair had fallen, or been ripped, out of her head, all bar a few tufts and her beautiful face was battered and scarred beyond all recognition. The most prominent scar was a large, round, intricate seal that had been carved into her belly.
‘Dear Goddess of mercy,’ Rhun mumbled, echoing the horror of all witnessing the transmission from inside Doc’s Otherworldly headquarters. ‘What Mahaud has done in revenge over the years almost seems reasonable.’ He’d always despised the crone for her crimes against his family and yet now he realised she was family. It was gut wrenching to imagine how the beautiful Electra had been reduced to this state in just a few days.
‘Hah, hah,’ Viper laughed out loud as he viewed the witch’s wounds. ‘Silly old slut! Serves you right.’ He blew a raspberry at the screen on which he viewed her. ‘Enough with the drama.’ He waved an arm about in protest. ‘Get on with the story. Did you raise the Prince of Darkness or not?’
When Electra noted Maelgwn staring at the seal carved into the skin of her belly, she explained, ‘I am proud of this wound, as it was the only one I inflicted on myself.’ She held her rotting hand over the huge symbol. ‘This is how I defeated Aegisthus,’ she stated proudly, but with regret, ‘and damned myself.’
‘Will you explain?’ Maelgwn requested gently.
‘Have you not enchanted this body to do your bidding?’ Electra didn’t see that she had a choice. She resumed Tory’s form and floated back down to a seat in front of Maelgwn.
‘If I didn’t need to know, I wouldn’t ask.’
Electra seemed impervious to his assurance, and after he had seen Prometheus abandon her as he had, Maelgwn wasn’t surprised.
‘I believe I was exposed to several days of physical torture and sorcery before Aegisthus asked me to name the leader of the Fallen Ones otherwise known as the Prince of Darkness.’
‘Satan?’ Maelgwn queried. ‘Abaddon?’ He had a second guess.
‘Satan is the name given to the Lord of Darkness in an opposing aspect. Abaddon is his name when he assumes the role of the destroyer,’ Electra explained. ‘But the name that is most true to the devil himself is Lucifer, meaning he who gives light. I met him once,’ she boasted casually, ‘but I shan’t get ahead of myself. In any case, it didn’t matter which of the mighty spirit’s names I gave the sorcerer, the Prince of Darkness was locked away and I knew he would be unable to respond. Then Aegisthus got wise to me, having had a discussion with Power who informed him that a certain spirit held the key to Abaddon’s pit and that only I could summon the keymaster.’
‘Power has revealed to me the seal to command the Prince of Darkness. Now all I need is for you to set him free,’ Aegisthus prompted from his crouched position in front of the oracle. He feared that the prisoner’s senses may have completely taken leave, and so he prodded her
a few times to see if he could raise a response. ‘Given up the fight, Electra? Well, I shall have you perform that summons, so don’t go anywhere just yet.’
Electra knew the flaming orb must be due to impact on Gaia soon. It was the only thought that kept her uncooperative. Soon death would come and snatch her from this nightmare. ‘You’re a dead man anyway,’ she mumbled. ‘We’re all dead.’
‘Oh, that’s right,’ Aegisthus announced cheerily. ‘Being in a cell you wouldn’t have noticed that the orb has changed course and is now headed away from Gaia.’
Electra had a seizure of fear as she recalled some of what was said during the meeting of the Brotherhood of Light. The Orions take full responsibility for setting the approaching asteroid on a collision course with Gaia and they will divert the threat away from the planet once we have agreed not to oppose their invasion of the civilised world. The Brotherhood had agreed and Electra had overlooked the consequences of their decision to give the Orions a free reign. She’d been clinging to a misconception and her stupidity and circumstances made her incredibly angry. Electra screamed out her frustration and just kept on screaming.
The sorcerer was pleased by the reaction. She was weakening, and upon his return visit she would be ready to do his bidding.
When she had screamed and cried away what little strength she had left, Electra realised all her faith in the Logos had fled along with her other hope in the asteroid. The almighty was not going to punish the wicked after all. The Dark Lodge with their sorcery could keep her barely alive like this indefinitely, and they would, just to keep pumping her for information. She couldn’t imagine what the future of the human race would be like if the Dark Lodge harnessed the powers of the Dark Lord to further their own cause. ‘I must not release Abaddon into their charge.’ She strained to think of a way out, but she had no energy, no will. ‘I don’t want to be a victim.’ She hung her head, wishing death would come.
What if you could seize all power from the Dark Lodge, and safely release the destroyer to finish them off?
The presence of the Nefilim lord manifested in the dim cell and blinded Electra.
‘How?’ She questioned the means before the motive, shielding her eyes with her hand and squinting whilst her eyes adjusted to the Nefilim lord’s lustre.
‘I have learned the Dark Lodge’s ultimate seal, the one used to summon forth all the elementals in their power. You are a channel,’ he suggested. ‘If you drew this seal on your person you could summon all their evil entities unto you and hold them captive, so that they could not answer the call to service of the Dark Lodge when you direct the Prince of Darkness to wreak his vengeance upon them.’
If Shamash did know the details of such a seal, it would grant her the ability to summon forth the elementals that were aiding the Dark Lodge, but the seal would need to be drawn in fresh blood to attract them to her trap. If she died before she released the evil beings from her hold, they would remain attached to her soul and she would be damned to their realms of existence. ‘And what do you stand to gain from all this?’ Electra knew the Nefilim couldn’t be trusted. ‘I was under the impression that Aegisthus was your ally?’
‘That mortal halfwit and his wizards are growing far too greedy for my liking.’ Shamash outlined his motives. ‘They are already moving into territories who pay homage to me and, quite frankly, I think it high time they were taught a lesson.’ Shamash sent Electra a mental picture of the all-powerful seal and then tossed her a low output laser knife that was not powerful enough to end her life, but was an ample tool with which to burn through her skin’s surface and draw blood. ‘Aegisthus will return soon so I shall depart. I leave the fate of the world in your frail little hands.’
Electra had tried summoning the fallen spirit whom Mikhail had said would make himself known to her if she decided to live, but the spirit world had been silent since her capture.
‘I have no choice, either I do this or the Dark Lodge shall,’ she uttered, feeling that this was why the Logos had wanted her to live, as she was the last chance the righteous had for retribution. Electra pulled her naked, battered body up against a wall and gritting her teeth, she began to carve the seal on her gut.
When she had completed every detail of the motif, she lay herself out on the hard, cold stone floor, opening her arms wide.
‘Enter all creatures
bound to this seal,
grant me your obedience
and power to wield.’
The atmosphere inside her cell became turbulent with activity, as one by one hideous spirits appeared above her before they ploughed their way into her body. Once all had entered her being, her breathing resounded with the growling of many disgruntled demons.
Very good, Electra heard Shamash say as he appeared suddenly before her, holding out his hand towards her heart. ‘All their power shall now be mine.’
She felt her ribs pried open and then a great tug at her chest. The last thing Electra saw was her heart still beating as Shamash clutched it in his hand.
‘Come when I call you, Mahaud,’ Shamash advised his dying victim, ‘and we shall strike a deal whereby we all get what we want.’
As a great darkness and density closed in on her, the creatures to whom she was attached began growling and snarling in protest. Her spirit did not take flight once separated from her body but rather, it felt weighted, restrained, suffocated of thought, and she felt herself being dragged into a thick bog of dammed energy.
The next time she became aware of anything else but her fear-filled struggle to surface from the thick sea of hysteria in which she was embroiled, a voice called through the deafening din of the sub-planes.
Mahaud, I summon you forth!
A mental picture of a symbol carved of flesh and blood presented itself to her soul-mind and broke the drought of thought she had been experiencing.
I am Mahaud, her soul-mind was able to respond. At last she was breaking free.
A great lightness swept over her and she found herself floating before the Lord Shamash. The numerous growls, snarls and howls that were emanating from her being seemed to indicate that all her beastly elementals were still in tow. After their little stint in Density together, her demons felt like old chums now; it was comforting to know she had them on side.
‘What took so long?’ she thought and her beasts spoke her mind for her.
‘I came straight here and summoned you forth,’ Shamash assured. ‘We are in space and so shall not be disturbed.’
‘Awfully brave of you, if I may say so,’ Mahaud commented coolly, seeing how the Nefilim lord regarded her damned being with a sense of reserve. He feared her newfound power and that too was comforting. ‘You idiot!’ her numerous voices growled. ‘By killing me you’ve bound me to these elementals indefinitely!’
‘Now, now.’ He urged her not to try and rebel. ‘The seal over which you are hovering binds your beasts to obedience, and you, being bound to them as you have pointed out, will endure their punishment if you do not behave and show a little respect for he who created you.’
She tried to lash out and found herself being drawn into oblivion once more. ‘NO,’ her beings cried, ‘anything but that!’ The great weight on her spirit lightened and her state of alarm ebbed.
‘Wonderful,’ Shamash announced. ‘Now that we have that sorted out, I assume you still wish to lavish your revenge on those who destroyed your kindred … so, let’s make a deal.’
‘We are listening, lord.’ She humbled herself before the Nefilim. She despised being told what to do, but there were others she hated more than her new master. She would grin and bear him … for now.
When the Otherworldly shield that had been protecting the Dark Lodge from attack vanished, the lodge was overrun by a diehard force of natives who were still keeping vigil in Chailidocean, waiting for an opportunity to take their grievances out on the order.
Aegisthus had been on his way back to see Electra when the invasion started. The sorcerer had not run
anywhere in eons, but he scampered for his life down to the dungeon and locked himself in with his hostage.
The sight of Electra’s gutted body chilled Aegisthus to the bone, not because it repulsed him, but because only the Nefilim made so clean a kill. The same deed done by elemental forces was decidedly more messy. In fact, Electra’s heart had been ripped out so efficiently that the bottom portion of the seal carved on the oracle’s gut was still clearly definable. Upon recognising this seal the sorcerer figured out what had happened to his creatures, and this information provided him with a means to summon them back to his service.
Quickly he pulled a drawing stone from his pocket and began depicting the seal on the stone floor. The sound of the native hordes destroying everything in their path was drawing closer and urged him to draw quickly.
‘Too late, Aegisthus.’
The sight of the hideous etheric world beasts attached to a vaporous human form sent the sorcerer scampering backwards.
‘I kept telling you that you were a dead man, but you wouldn’t believe me.’ She gloated over her impending kill, feeling herself strengthened by his fear. ‘How does it feel to know that you’ve spent your whole life perfecting the instrument of your death?’ She reared up ready to strike.
‘Wait!’ Aegisthus screamed. ‘Without me you shall be bound to my pets forever … is that what you want?’ The sorcerer was pleased when the demon backed up to consider his question. ‘I know how to separate your spirit from their influence,’ he added, to hasten the decision, but his tactic backfired.
What he really meant to say was that he could separate his pets from her influence. ‘Oh, I don’t know … I kind of like my new companions,’ she teased, stroking the heads of the numerous creatures who protruded from her form. ‘They make me feel safe,’ she advised, ‘safe, from people like you.’ She startled the sorcerer as she moved in close and chuckled at his fright. ‘I know how Prometheus’s wife was killed.’ She leered over her victim, the claws and jaws of all her beastly elementals opening wide. ‘Care for a demonstration?’