The Cosmic Logos (31 page)

Avery scaled the stairs and took a seat on the crystal throne, placing both his hands face down on the solid arms to communicate with it.
Awaken Eli, the elestial, I have come to set you free.

Fallon, who was standing at the base of the stairs, was given quite a start when the floor on which she stood began to retract carrying her with it, and the full form of the crystal arose to tower before her.

Young master, thank heavens you have come. I have been trapped … blackmailed!

‘I know,' replied Avery, ‘so let us get you out of here as quickly as possible. What must I do?'

Just will me free of the Aten, lord,
Eli instructed eagerly.

A moment later the metal bonds that riveted the huge crystal to the ship withdrew and Eli was released from his nightmare.

Oh, thank you, lord, thank you,
Eli stressed.
I know I have caused you much grief, thus your mercy is all the more appreciated.

Avery flew back down to the floor, waving off the crystal's gratitude, when suddenly he was possessed by a vision of Bast fighting off many attackers. ‘I think Bast is on the Aten,' he advised, sensing that she was close at hand.

‘Yes, I feel her too.' Fallon seconded Avery's hunch.

‘Eli take Fallon back to the Otherworld with you. I want both of you to wait for me at the Night Hunter's office,' he instructed, and the huge crystal swept Fallon up in his massive hand before she had the chance to protest.

‘No! I'm coming with you,' she insisted, trying to break loose of Eli's grasp.

‘I'll come for you soon, I promise.' Avery waved as Eli vanished with his fiancée and then focused his will on finding Bast.

 

Avery found himself in the master living quarters located beneath the Star Chamber. These chambers now seemed more like a public hotel than the private abode of a God.

There were several men of Leonine-Nefilim descent lying unconscious on the floor about him and Bast was showing off her psychic know-how and warrioress skills on the half a dozen men still conscious. Avery considered aiding her to fight off her attackers, but she seemed to be enjoying herself and so he waited in the wings until she'd downed the last man standing with a kick to his jaw.

‘Did I say that I never get to do any of the fun stuff? Shame on me.' She taunted the moaning males around her, as Avery applauded her display.

‘Why are you here?' Avery approached her to inquire.

‘Viper has a new magic trick.' Bast shrugged. ‘He sent me here. I suppose this lot were meant to intimidate me.' She cast her eyes over the carpet of bodies around them.
‘They may have taken dark Orme, but their psychic and fighting skills are very underdeveloped.'

The exit door in the chamber opened and Lirathea floated into the room. Only it was not Lirathea who was wearing her body today, for underneath the facade was the dark, rotting presence of Mahaud, with eyes glowing as red as hot coals.

The problem was that Avery couldn't discern at this distance if the crone was projecting the persona of his sister, or if the witch had snatched his sister's physical body. ‘You want me to believe that you could comfortably exist inside Lirathea's light-filled form,' he scoffed.

Maelgwn and Tory, having seen their other three sons safely to Lynn Cerrig Bach, had popped in to check on Avery's progress on the Aten and were horrified to see Mahaud sporting their daughter's body.

‘Well,' replied the witch in her choir of guttural voices, ‘she gave it up of her own free will, so I'm comfortable enough with the arrangement.' She slid her hands down over Lirathea's much admired form. ‘What a shame your Falcon brother isn't here, eh?' She blew Avery a kiss as she massaged between her legs with both her hands, moaning with delight.

Bast, who was admittedly shocked by the witch's foul implications, looked Avery's way to find him fuming and having never seen him lose his cool, she gripped hold of him to prevent him doing anything rash. ‘She's just baiting you.'

‘I haven't been a virgin for eons.' The witch laughed at Avery's dismay. ‘Never mind, Viper will just have to do the honours.'

Avery cut loose from Bast's hold, of the mind to attack the witch.

It's only a vehicle, Avery.

Lirathea?
Avery calmed to communicate with her.

The witch can do me no true harm as I am immortal in body and soul. Mahaud may have my body right now, but my soul is standing right beside you.

‘Lirathea?' Maelgwn willed to see their daughter, as did Tory. This latest development warranted an explanation.

Lirathea made her etheric form visible to her parents. ‘Not now, father.' Her attention returned to Mahaud and her brother. ‘I want you to leave, Avery,' she implored him.

‘Still, it's not your sister that I am really after,' Mahaud advised.

‘Wait, Avery.' Maelgwn overruled Lirathea's order. ‘Let's see what she's up to.'

‘I know what she's up to.' Lirathea overruled her father. ‘Avery, leave!'

Avery found the argument in his head between his father and sister most disconcerting.

‘If you tell me where that mother of yours is hiding out, I could let you have your sister's body back,' Mahaud proposed. ‘Bear in mind that she has not yet died a mortal death and still feels in the mortal way.' The witch produced a handheld electric prod and held the live end to her breast a moment.

Lirathea shrieked as she felt the impact and Avery heard her pained cry echo through his mind.

Tory and Maelgwn rushed to Lirathea's side, helpless to ease her suffering.

‘Tell her to nominate a place and I shall leave my vacated body there for her,' Tory advised her son.

Mother?
Avery was nearly shocked into querying her presence aloud.
When did you arrive?

‘If Lirathea is harmed in any way the deal is off.' Tory kept Avery focused. ‘Please tell her.'

‘No, mother,' Lirathea objected. ‘Only whilst your body rests in the outer court of Shamballa can you fulfil your quest for the Masters as a muse. If Mahaud takes over your body you shall be bound to the same time and dimension that she occupies.'

‘Will Mahaud take my body?' Maelgwn requested Avery to ask.

‘Then, in order to fuck him I'd have to fuck myself,' the witch laughed at the suggestion. ‘I want Tory Alexander and then that playmate of hers will be my toy boy, anyway. Your father owes me and I intend to see that he pays.'

‘My father will see right through you, Mahaud,' Avery stated, very sure about that.

‘Where I intend to take him, my sweet, the Dragon won't care.' Again she chuckled, obviously impressed by her secret designs.

‘Sounds like we're in for a real treat.' Maelgwn looked to his wife to check her resolve.

‘Arrange a place, Avery,' Tory instructed her son. ‘Then you and Bast meet us back at Taliesin's. I have a few ideas to toss about.'

 

In the entrance foyer to Taliesin's labyrinth, Rhun and party were relieved beyond belief to have Bast returned
to them safely and Gazelle was astounded that Bast had flattened her brother's feline thugs.

Rhun, however, was greatly alarmed to learn his youngest sister had relinquished her body to Mahaud.

‘What the hell were you thinking?' He directed the query at his sister's etheric form, which had manifested alongside those of his parents.

It was the only way I could find out what the witch was up to,
Lirathea explained to everyone.

‘And what have you discovered?' Rhun awarded her the benefit of the doubt.

I know why Mahaud wants mother's body so badly.
Lirathea looked at her mother, sorry to say it:
She is a past-life incarnation of you that never returned to your higher self.

‘I don't believe it,' uttered En Noah, whom no one had noticed arrive on the scene.

‘What are you doing here?' Rhun queried, hoping nothing else had gone wrong at home.

‘I had to pick up the chariot I left on the Aten, to ensure Viper didn't find it.' The Sage waved off the explanation, and approached the spirit forms present, remaining focused on Tory. ‘Mahaud called you her Chosen incarnation, but I did not want to believe her.'

Tory was emotionally detached from the situation and so could consider the news rationally, without feeling insulted, disgusted, guilty or horrified. ‘How did I become so wretched?'

Only you can find that out,
Lirathea told her mother.
And if you do, we can truly put an end to Mahaud, by going back in time and making sure she never comes to exist in the first place.

‘Ancient time travel.' Rhun rubbed his hands together, very keen on the idea. ‘Now that's what I call an adventure.'

‘But why is stealing the body of her own incarnation so important to Mahaud?' Sparrowhawk posed, curious.

Because it would be like regaining control of her own body,
Tory replied, having already had this conversation with Lirathea, to whom she returned her attention.
How did you find out about this?

Mahaud confided in Viper and told him about her desire to steal your body.
Lirathea turned Maelgwn's way and delivered the news as gently as possible.
Mahaud claimed that father set her on the dark path when he deserted her.

I would never desert you,
Maelgwn told his wife, with certainty.

Tory nodded, knowing he spoke the truth.
Something went horribly amiss somewhere.

‘It does seem to explain why Mahaud is so dark on the Dragon, however,' Noah conceded.

Do you have any idea at what period in history this sad episode unfolded?
Tory inquired of her daughter.

No,
Lirathea was sorry to say.
Although I did find out one piece of information that could prove helpful. Mahaud was the name given to this entity by Shamash when he cursed her, as it means ‘mighty battle maid'. But before her terrible trial took place she was known as Electra, which means ‘shining, brilliant'.

‘Electra was also the name of one of the seven holy daughters of Atlantis,' Noah added for everyone's information. ‘She did not escape the sinking of the continent as she became caught up in the murder of the
ruler of Chailidocean. Her sisters went on to establish great races of people all over the new lands beyond their submerged continent. The faintest star in the Pleiades is named after Electra, for it was her prophecy that saved the life of her sisters and indeed the spiritual wellbeing of mankind.'

Tory was absolutely stunned by Noah's claim.
If we are talking about the same Electra, then how was her character so grievously altered as to become Mahaud? I must get close to her and find out,
Tory resolved and began formulating a plan.
There must be a way to reverse my immortality, so that when Mahaud enters my body, she won't pose such a threat.

She'll shoot you full of dark Orme and try and turn you to her path.
Maelgwn could see their eternal life together slipping further and further away.

I am not afraid to face whatever it is she's running away from,
Tory told him in all honesty,
for clearly we cannot hope to ascend before we reclaim this missing part of ourselves. There must be a way for me to get back in control of my body and trap Mahaud in there with me.

Gazelle, unused to dealing with the witch, was appalled by the idea. ‘Why would you want to do that?'

So as to probe her memory and discover the exact time and place her tragedy unfolded.
Tory looked to Rhun.
So that you can go save her. Us,
she added as an afterthought. Tory could not simply do a past-life regression, as Mahaud had never returned to their higher self. Therefore, via regression she could not recollect the details of this lifetime.
With Mahuad out of existence, Viper's position in our home dimension and time will be weakened considerably.

‘And hopefully, that will aid Gaia's future too,' Doc advised, having viewed the information his future self had sent back for Hayden Ingram to view.

Hayden, who was standing beside Doc, nodded meekly to agree with the theory, although due to the Otherworldly spirits with whom they were conversing and the nature of the conversation, the business tycoon could not bring himself to speak.

Tory suddenly gasped, excited by a theory she was considering.
If Mahaud can give a physical being a charm that allows her to control their will, and if I were to be wearing such a charm on my person when she enters my body —

‘Then she,' Noah cut in, excited by the theory, ‘as the occupant of the body, would be forced to do your bidding.' He nodded, thinking this a sound basis for a plan.

But doesn't the wearer of such a charm have to willingly accept the amulet and put it on?
Maelgwn queried.

I will,
Tory assured,
right before I vacate my body.

Maelgwn frowned, not as certain the trick would work.

‘I know what you're saying,' Noah granted Maelgwn his point, ‘but perhaps we can devise a spell that will enable Tory to put her body under a kind a self-induced hypnosis.' Everyone looked at Noah and grinned, impressed by his suggestion; even Maelgwn raised his brow.

‘Better still, I shall be the hypnotist,' Maelgwn informed them.

 

The crone had advised Avery that she wanted Tory's body left at the King's Men stone circle.

Noah carried out his mission to retrieve the chariot from the Aten without incident. He then brought the time hopping transport to Doc's Otherworldly abode in 2108AD Gaia time, as that was where Tory and Maelgwn's physical forms still resided in the outer Court of Shamballa. Noah would then provide the couple the means to join their kindred in the past. Everyone else from Kila awaited Tory and Maelgwn's return in Doc's Otherworldly labyrinth in the year 2088AD Gaia time.