The Cosmic Logos

  Millions more just like Aris. It was repulsed by the notion.

  ‘Our other alternative, of course, is that I could dismiss you into Density before it is shut down,’ Noah suggested, knowing this wouldn’t appeal either. ‘Then we can wait for another suitable evolution in which to indulge your nastiness.’

  A whole planetary scheme filled with the likes of me … that’s even worse. It finally conceded that Noah’s way was the only option.

  ‘I agree. A long stay in the purgatory of the lower astral realm will serve us far better.’ Noah entered the circle and came to a stop in the middle. ‘Once you’ve come to terms with all your negativity, you shall have a blissful, cleansing hibernation in Devachan to look forward to before you rejoin us.’

  You’re trying to make me vomit, aren’t you? the creature seethed. Can we just get on with it?

  Noah turned around in a circle. Four torches appeared and ignited, each in one of the cardinal points, so that the circle was reinforced with his own positive energy. The Sage then pointed to the ground to either side of him, whereupon two circles of vegetation cleared and out of the earth inside them rose a design — two seals of summons, practically identical.

  What are you planning, Sage? From being over-eager the beast was suddenly wary and was careful to remain floating outside the circle.

  ‘This,’ Noah motioned to the seal on the ground to his right, ‘is the seal taken from a digitally enhanced image of Electra’s stomach.’

  Electra’s stomach? the creature queried, having not heard that name in many eons.

  ‘’Twas another dimension and is not important.’ Noah waved off the query. ‘What is important is that this seal,’ he motioned to the symbol on his left, ‘is the seal that Shamash used to summon you, and although the seals look identical, there are a few subtle differences.’

  As Noah said this, the sections that were identical to the seal Electra had used to summon the elementals into her fell away and only the alterations Shamash had made remained.

  ‘This is the key to your freedom, Aegisthus — your seal,’ Noah told the creature, which, for the first time ever, was speechless. It had not heard that name in a long time.

  How did you get Shamash’s seal? the creature demanded to know.

  ‘Well,’ Noah grinned, having predicted the creature would want to know, ‘Shamash had a rather long stay in the Otherworldly prison of Gwyn ap Nudd, which is located on Gaia’s moon … just a thought away from here,’ Noah clarified, pointing a finger towards the sky. ‘In that prison, Shamash used the seal to summon you forth to his service. And, although he chiselled the secret seal from the stone ground in which he’d carved it, there are a few stony critters hanging about the detention centre who hold no love for you and have an excellent memory.’

  The mineral kingdom’s answer to rats, those gargoyles. The wretched being cursed them to avoid having to praise the Sage’s ingenuity. The sorcerer had never even considered that Shamash might have pulled a fast one and tampered with the original seal of summons — without this vital piece of information, the Sage may not have been able to part him from the elementals. By changing the seal, the Nefilim lord would have had the last laugh and damned the sorcerer forever. All right then, get on with it!

  ‘You would have to come into the circle first,’ Noah pointed out, and the reluctant subject dragged his beastly appendages, snarling and growling, into the positive energy Noah had rallied to aid his cause.

  Separate elemental

  from your human host

  Dismantle the abomination

  known as ‘Mematros’.

  This was the secret name that Shamash had given to the sorcerer when the beast was created — much the same as he’d renamed Electra Mahaud. This piece of vital blackmail information had once again been supplied by the gargoyle Tobit and his mineral mates on Gaia’s moon. Noah wished he could take credit for the brilliant idea of visiting the Otherworldly prison, but he had in fact been summoned there by the recently ascended Prince of Darkness.

  Noah closed his eyes to focus his will.

  Denizens to your seal

  Release the sorcerer’s ghost.

  to confront his misgivings

  before the throne of the Logos.

  The shrill of agony the beast released prompted Noah to open his eyes.

  The etheric creatures tore themselves away from the sorcerer’s spirit as they were sucked towards their seal of summons and Aegisthus’s being was left quivering in the wake of his great loss of power.

  Lost denizens,

  Noah turned to focus his attention on the mixed bag of low-consciousness etheric world entities, who had been conscripted into the service of the Dark Lodge for far too long.

  by the flame of fire,

  power of the air,

  cleansing of the water,

  stability of the earth,

  I command you to disperse

  and forbid any reunion.

  ‘I pray you find your way back to your group soul and the light of the Logos before you cease —’

  You’re setting them free! The sorcerer made it sound like a protest, although he was, in fact, surprised.

  The entities fled in all directions before Noah had the chance to respond or change his mind. ‘It becomes very easy to walk the path when there is only one path to walk. Lucifer and his associates, myself included, only confused the issue and now it will be simplified once more.’

  Are you going to set me free? Aegisthus asked, hopefully.

  ‘I am free,’ Noah responded. ‘Therefore, yes, you shall be freed, on many levels of awareness. But this must be your choosing, Aegisthus.’

  The sorcerer whined, put out by the condition.

  ‘Move to your seal of your own will, for I will not force you to comply.’ Noah stepped back to await Aegisthus’s decision.

  The sorcerer gave a laugh, realising he had the option to take flight into the physical realm and see if he couldn’t establish himself once more — maybe the Sage was lying about the Talas? Given leave to use his abilities, Aegisthus willed himself invisible to vex his Chosen incarnation, who only stood patiently awaiting the spirit’s return — as if it were inevitable. By the very fact of having a Chosen incarnation the sorcerer knew that he would bend to the cosmic will and that the Sage knew it too — attempting to prolong the fact would only make the Dark Lord appear naive.

  The spirit appeared over the seal. You win. So let’s not pretend I have a choice.

  ‘There is always a choice.’

  But I don’t have to like it!

  Noah shook his head slowly. ‘Still, a wise soul would love it … be at peace, care for and love unconditionally all things living in the light of the Logos.’

  The sorcerer was screwing his nose up at the suggestion.

  ‘It’s your choice, of course, but your journey back to us will be a whole lot easier if you do not cling to your past.’

  I’m still here, aren’t I? Aegisthus looked at Noah, giving him leave to send him on his way.

  Noah served the sorcerer a smile of encouragement, for Aegisthus did not need his permission. ‘Just make the wish and we shall be healed.’

  24

  FULFILLED

  When word of the victory on Gaia reached Lahmu via his now returned team, Brian had Doc Alexander and Vanora brought forth to Kila, where they were invited to sit as Gaia’s representatives on Lahmu’s council. Doc would represent the human face of Gaia and Vanora the nature realms, with whom the Four-fold Chapter were intimately involved.

  The humans on Gaia were going to need a little preparation before being informed about their interstellar neighbours. Brian could see many long conferences ahead to plan Gaia’s coming out into intergalactic society. But it would happen, very soon.

  Gaia’s guardians graciously accepted the appointment, doubly thrilled, as this represented their official pardon and gave them leave to join intergalactic society themselves. To this day, all of Doc and Vanora’
s attentions had been focused on repaying their karmic debt to Gaia and this had kept their physical bodies planet-bound there. But their penance was done now and the couple greatly appreciated the excuse that their new position would give them to familiarise themselves with all the planets in Lahmu’s alliance.

  Aris’s mothership had been commandeered and flown into the Aten for teleportation to the future by Rhun, Zabeel and Bast immediately following Aris’s demise. The MIB prisoners, numbering a few hundred in all, were detained in a prison complex on the outer island ring of Kila, along with the children of Dumuzi. This prison had only ever had a handful of poachers stay there in the city’s seventy year history. The complex was specifically designed to cater for immortals, being equipped with a PKA teleportation shield lock. Some of the Orions had been psychically adept before being hit by the Orme dart which rendered them mortal, so the choice of accommodation was just a precaution. Their dark powers could not serve them, in any case, on a planet where there had been no illwill to speak of.

  Lahmu saw each of the prisoners in turn after Rebecca had prepared her report on them. Brian may not have been able to lead the latest quest of the Chosen, but in the few days his Vice-Governor and team had been absent, Brian had been working on developing his etheric sight; now he could tell the true intent of any subject just by looking at them.

  The Orions were going to need a lot of TLC before gold Orme would take to their systems and restore their immortal status via the path of light. Only a handful of Viper’s diehards were refused Chosen status, but their cases would be reviewed after a year under the tutelage of Noah and the cleansing processes of the healing Orders. All of the new Chosen Ones would be cleansed and prepped for governmental training and service for a minimum of a year. This would give the new residents of Kila time to decide on which planet they wished to settle, and what vocation suited them most. The only exception was Gazelle, who had been given Lahmu’s blessing to wed Sparrowhawk in the near future and settle on his home planet of Tarazean.

  Brian was much relieved when the long line of prisoners came to an end. Still, he’d seen the dreams of many come true and that was very satisfying. Even his daughter, Fallon the ever-sullen, was suddenly outshining her sister. Engaged to the ruler of the Otherworld, Fallon had discovered her calling, won her love and found true happiness. Brian was overjoyed for the couple, and sad to be losing another daughter from his household so soon.

  And while he was on the subject of sadness, the news of Tory and Maelgwn’s physical destruction and ascension had completely rocked Brian. Could he believe that his sister and her husband’s soul-mind added up to be Satan, and that all fourteen of the souls who started out together in Eden, himself included, were Fallen Ones, incarnating into human consciousness to make amends for the Nefilim? And, if Tory and Maelgwn were Lucifer, then who was he?

  ‘Sammael. The ruler of the fifth heaven and the planet Mars.’

  Brian went into deep shock upon viewing Maelgwn sitting on his office lounge, appearing the same as he ever did.

  ‘Hence, Lahmu,’ Maelgwn added, as Brian appeared at a loss for words.

  ‘Are you an …?’

  ‘Apparition?’ Maelgwn asked, and Brian nodded. ‘Yes, I am toying with your perception. You perceive that my physical body is present, as I thought you’d find that more comfortable.’

  ‘More comfortable than what? No, don’t answer that.’ Brian decided he didn’t want to know. ‘So, you’re not really here?’

  ‘Not in body, no,’ Maelgwn clarified, ‘but in spirit.’

  Brian was only mildly comforted by this. ‘Are you really … Satan?’ He whispered the name as if it were still taboo.

  ‘It seems so,’ Maelgwn nodded. ‘I really thought that I was driven by divine purpose to achieve all I did, and it turns out that we are all just repaying our debt to Gaia for speeding up the perfection of the human vehicle.’

  ‘Well, I’m sure we thought we were doing mankind a favour,’ Brian defended.

  ‘Frankly, Sammael, we didn’t give two hoots about mankind. It was earthly pleasure we were interested in.’ He grinned mischievously and Brian did too — this explained a lot about his own promiscuous nature in the past.

  ‘But where did our interest in the human vehicle stem from when the perfect human had yet to be fashioned?’ This was the one point Brian failed to understand after hearing the report from his Vice-Governor and En Noah.

  ‘In this dimension,’ Maelgwn clarified. ‘And there are many, many different inter-dimensional realities to this scheme,’ he went on. ‘In one reality the Nefilim never came here and neither did we.’

  ‘And what is life in that reality like?’ Brian was curious.

  ‘Pretty much the same as it is today, only Gaia was never abused and so never needed healing — mankind worked in co-operation and understanding with nature’s spirits all along. Of course, the other human tribes were never created, Kila was discovered and mined by the Nefilim and the Chosen Ones never existed, for indeed, every soul on Gaia was aware of being a divine entity … as will be the case on Gaia soon.’

  ‘So, with all we did, we’ve only restored Gaia to how she would have been if we’d never interfered!’

  ‘That’s about the size of it,’ Maelgwn granted. ‘Still, it was an honest mistake we made. The Nefilim had always treated each other fairly well. We weren’t to know that subjecting them to Gaia’s emotional principles would have such an adverse effect on their morals and character. By the time they’d fashioned the perfect human body, no soul in heaven wanted to risk exposure to the heartless wrath of the Nefilim. Our desire for the materialistic experience, rebellious nature and accountability for the grievous mistake of guiding the Nefilim here made us the perfect volunteers for the job of getting rid of them … long and arduous as that task promised to be. And yet here we are, our mission completed.’

  Brian felt kind of elated by the news, but puzzled. ‘So why haven’t all of the fourteen of us ascended?’

  ‘Oh, but you have,’ Maelgwn informed him. ‘I will represent the last of us to return to the Logos.’

  ‘But?’ Brian frowned and Maelgwn preempted the query.

  ‘There is no time beyond the earth plane,’ he explained.

  Brian’s frown faded, as he partially understood the premise. ‘Where is Tory?’

  ‘I am here.’ Maelgwn spoke with Tory’s voice as his appearance changed into that of Brian’s sister.

  ‘Goddess!’ Brian reared back, rattled by their unity. ‘Doesn’t that feel strange?’

  ‘Not at all,’ she assured. ‘Just think of it as knowing the one you love very well.’ She waited for Brian to get over his shock and approach her.

  ‘So, this is it then, you’re leaving.’ He ventured to take hold of her hands and was relieved when they felt warm and solid.

  ‘We’re just off to join you and the others, at long last,’ she explained with a smile. ‘I feel quite sure that you’ll be glad to see us.’

  ‘So, you’re not planning on coming back here, at all?’ Brian asked, unable to imagine life without them.

  ‘Well, if father and Taliesin have returned to earth service after they’ve ascended, then you never know?’

  ‘What?’ Brian found his smile. ‘Have they?’

  Tory was pleased for him and kissed Brian’s cheek. ‘Ask your new son-in-law-to-be to introduce you,’ she suggested and vanished before the good mood could evaporate.

  ‘Father!’ Bast came charging into Brian’s office, unannounced. ‘I’ve just come from seeing Nin Rebecca, who tells me that you declined the prisoner, Horace, the right to Chosen status.’ She came to a stop, with hands on hips. ‘May I ask, why?’

  It was clear to Brian that Bast was playing the daughter and not the diplomat. When in a meeting of the council, Bast would not dare to conduct herself thus, so clearly this inquiry was personal in nature. Interesting, thought Brian, recalling the prisoner in question was of the Leonine Nefilim persuasion. ‘Actuall
y, we only advised him that a delay might be best, and he chose to take our advice.’

  ‘That doesn’t answer my question,’ Bast persisted. ‘Why, father?’

  There was a silent pause as Brian took a seat on his lounge. He was having one hell of a day. ‘Sweetheart,’ He waved her to a seat but she refused. ‘Horace still has a great darkness in his heart, and we suspect that he resents Viper —’

  ‘No,’ Bast disagreed, calmer now. ‘It’s not resentment. It’s just plain old sadness.’ She dwelt on this a second, seeming satisfied. ‘Was that all that was amiss with him?’ Bast checked.

  ‘Apart from the low self-esteem he’s experiencing due to his injuries at the hands of Viper.’ Brian shifted in his seat, disturbed just thinking about it. ‘His heart is the only other problem.’

  ‘Then without the heart problem he would really have a good case for a compassionate claim on his Chosen birthright.’

  ‘If you think you can fix the problem, sweetheart, then I’ll review his case,’ Brian granted, figuring she couldn’t get in too much trouble with the man at present.

  Bast smiled broadly and then crouched down in front of her father to kiss his cheek. ‘Thanks, daddy. You’re the best.’

  ‘Hey, hold on,’ he objected as she quickly made for the door, for he’d realised she’d just managed to weasel confidential information out of him. ‘This coversation never took place.’

  ‘What conversation?’ she grinned broadly and blew him a kiss of appreciation as she left.

  Once alone, Brian wondered if his sister was still hanging about. ‘Perhaps our double wedding is going to turn into a triple!’ he commented. When there came no retort, his good mood left him, and he sank back into the lounge. ‘Miss you guys already.’ He gave a heavy sigh to expel his sadness. ‘And you’re right, I will be very glad to see you when next we meet.’