Apollyon’s face flushed. His eyes widened. “You used me!” he said, pointing his finger at Saturn.
“For your service I shall reward you with the souls of the ones who worship the false gods. They shall become your demons—your minions. Take their souls to the underworld and watch over them until I pass judgment on them for their insolence.”
“If you think I’m going to babysit your mortals—”
Saturn leaned into Apollyon. HIS eyes narrowed and turned black. “Yes, you will.”
Apollyon could not speak. He scratched at his throat, gagging. He could feel his insides begin to boil. His knees buckled and Apollyon soon found himself on the ground struggling to catch his breath.
Saturn towered over the powerless god. “Never forget, Apollyon, I am your creator!” Saturn growled.
THE GREAT DELUGE
Saturn sat on HIS throne at the North Pole, watching man topple HIS golden statues and demolish HIS temples, and erecting new shrines to honor the false gods. Man had rejected the Great Father!
Out of pure anger, Saturn struck the handle of HIS scythe so violently against the palace floor, sparks flew like flashes of fireworks. The deity’s wrath sent shockwaves throughout Earth. Enormous fissures formed, creating islands in the middle of the oceans, and stopping at the foot of the majestic mountains of the Colorado Plateau. Sediment shot thousands of feet into the air. The massive mountains began to shake and split—rising and falling until they had created a vast canyon.
Isis’ eyes widened. “Father, what are you going to do to the humans?”
“They shall die for their impertinence!” Saturn’s voice thundered. “I shall destroy them by water.”
“What about the faithful ones? Surely they deserve to live,” Asira said, lying face down at her father’s feet.
Dusana stepped forward out of the shadows. Her cherub-like face was somber. “Father, do not forget about the animals.”
Saturn grabbled at HIS long white beard and pondered for a moment before speaking. “Go forth! Shelter my faithful and the animals from the coming storm.”
Saturn departed HIS beloved Earth, thus ending the Golden Age, but not before opening up the skies.
“Ah’sezul!” (Begone!)
Saturn’s mighty voice shook the heavens and dark, ominous clouds began to form. The Great Father clapped HIS hands, causing a celestial deluge to fall upon the Earth. Monstrous thunder bolts shook the mountains. And for sixty days and sixty nights, the swollen skies inundated the earth with Saturn’s wrath. Earth’s rivers, lakes, and oceans began to swell and overflow.
Isis, Asira, and Dusana scoured the earth, gathering Saturn’s faithful, teleporting them to the only Temple of Saturn left standing. It sat hidden by a magickal fog, high atop Mulhacén in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Next, the sisters gathered all the animals and beasts of the fields. Once safely inside the shrine, the frightened worshipers huddled together, while outside heavy rains and massive tidal waves washed away lush lands of milk and honey. Everything they had known was being destroyed. Mankind was lost. It was the end of the world—the end of the Golden Age.
As punishment for mankind’s disobedience, Saturn hid all magickal knowledge from him deep inside a Mystical Forest at the cradle of the world. Mortals no longer had the cures for diseases, old age, and death. Only those favored by the god were allowed access to the forest and its magick. Although mankind had forgotten Saturn was his creator, Saturn did not forget man. HE created a hexagon-shaped portal on HIS planet at its north pole to serve as a gateway to HIS planet for HIS faithful.
FIFTIETH CENTURY SPAIN
THE DAUGHTERS OF SATURN
5 July, 1455, deep within the Mystical Forest at the edge of the world.
Drawing waters from an ancient fountain into a consecrated vessel, Nashiema Mohammed whispered forgotten prayers. She was careful not to spill a single drop of the precious liquid, as she secured the vessel inside her cloak. On the other side of the forest, Nashiema’s husband, Abraham Al-Salameh removed a jewel-handled athame made of lead from its sheath. Holding the athame tightly in his hands, Abraham gingerly peeled back a thin layer of bark from the tree. Sap, the color of spun gold began to flow freely onto the athame’s blade. As the blade began to glow, Abraham bowed and kissed the tree.
Nashiema met her husband in a clearing at the heart of the forest, with a worried look on her face.
Abraham rested his hand on his wife’s shoulder. “Take comfort, Nashiema, we have been obedient to Saturn’s laws. The Chief Elder will come this afternoon and take us to the temple. Father Saturn’s magick will not allow Lilith and Sarah to die,” he said.
Nashiema gave her husband a forced smile. They joined hands, creating an electrical charge so powerful, it caused them to vanish.
* * *
Later that day. Granada, Spain-Palacio del Oro (Palace of Gold).
A knock at the palace door whipped Abraham into a fury of emotions. Heart racing, Abraham anxiously opened the door and greeted a man dressed in a black hooded robe. The man’s hood was oversized, enabling Abraham to catch only glimpses of his pale, tattooed face. Abraham noticed that the visitor wore a gold six-pointed amulet, similar to his own.
Abraham gave the hooded man a wide smile and bowed respectfully.
“Lotah, akinelrashani,” (Greetings, brother) he said.
The man gave Abraham a quick bow. “I am Obadiah, Father Saturn’s Chief Elder. “Sa’hal, oeii nacasee.” (Come, it is time.)
Abraham called to his wife while he collected the magickal items from the Mystical Forest, and placed them in a leather satchel. He strapped the bag securely around his waist and moved quickly up the stairs.
Abraham paused for a moment in the doorway, watching as Nashiema wrapped their frail daughters in blankets, preparing them for the long journey to the Temple of Saturn.
“Nashiema?” Abraham saw the tears in his wife’s eyes as she tended to their ailing girls.
“Abraham, are we making the right decision? We have never been to the temple. We do not have any idea what the Daughters of Saturn are going to do to Lilith and Sarah. What if they cannot be healed? I couldn’t bear it if...”
Abraham wrapped one arm around his distraught wife, lifting her face. With his free hand, he wiped her tears away with the back of his forefinger.
“Nashiema, there’s nothing to be afraid of, Lilith and Sarah will be fine. We have been obedient. Saturn will save them. Everything is going to be all right. You’ll see,” he said.
Sarah barely opened her eyes, when, as one, her parents knelt down and together kissed her on her sweat-drenched forehead. Abraham felt the same rush of protective love that he had since Sarah’s birth. She had been a sickly child, which now only served to heighted her mother’s fears. Abraham glanced at their older daughter. She too was weak, but Lilith was a fighter.
Abraham fell into a silent prayer, watching helplessly as Lilith’s body began to contort and twitch. Her eyes rolled back into her head and foam oozed from her mouth as she violently thrashed about the bed. Abraham pinned the dark-haired girl down on the bed, trying his best to calm her. She took one gasp for air and fell unconscious.
Next to her, his youngest daughter’s half-slit eyes glazed over, unaware of all the commotion. Sarah’s breaths were faint, difficult to hear over the rattling in her chest. Gingerly, Abraham lifted Lilith off the bed and placed her into his arms. A manservant rushed into the room and lifted Sarah off the bed, taking her downstairs to the awaiting carriage in the courtyard.
Abraham and Nashiema followed, carefully carrying Lilith, hurrying as fast as they dare to the carriage that waited.
* * *
The Chief Elder sat patiently, mounted on his black stallion, as the distraught parents settled their daughters in the carriage. Obadiah had come from a long line of chief elders and was a direct descendant of Elijah. Seeing Abraham and Nashiema’s anguished faces weighed down with worry, made him think of his own son, Ely, his first-born. Accordi
ng to Saturn’s law, all chief elders must sacrifice their first-born sons once they reach the age of six—Elijah had done this same act thousands of years ago.
From the moment Ely was born, Obadiah and his wife, Carmen was certain there was something special about their son. He was born with the caul covering his eyes, which was a good omen. It meant he had the gift of prophesy and was destined for greatness. Obadiah knew he had to protect his son, so when the Daughters of Saturn inquired about the infant, Obadiah lied. He told the sisters, his son was stillborn.
Obadiah knew Saturn, the god of karma and judgment, would one day punish him for his blatant disobedience. The next morning when he awoke, he found his wife lying next to him dead. In the middle of the night, Saturn had claimed her. Obadiah remained steadfast in keeping Ely safe. He managed to slip away, taking his infant son to live with distant relatives in Madrid.
Except for a small portrait that Ely had sent some years ago, Obadiah had not seen his son since the night he took him to Madrid. Ely had his mother’s jade green eyes and red hair… Lost in his own thoughts, the Chief Elder did not see Abraham signaling him. He acknowledged Abraham with a nod and trotted his black stallion out of the courtyard.
The couple followed the Chief Elder for half a day to a vast mountainous area. It was dusk before they reached the Sierra Nevada Mountains at the foot of Mulhacén. Abraham looked up at the sky. The sun that had brightly lit their path earlier that day had given way to a brilliant sunset.
Obadiah dismounted and tied the stallion to a large olive tree. He unhooked a small lantern and a walking staff from his saddle. The cane was made of pure lead and its handle was shaped like the horns of a ram. The eyes were two hexagon-shaped, green onyx stones.
He motioned to Abraham, who climbed down from the driver seat and opened the carriage door. Between them, the parents lifted Sarah up out of the carriage. Her eyes had rolled back into her head, her breathing even more labored than before. Obadiah couldn’t help but notice the worried look on the mother’s face as he helped strap the girl to her. He wrapped the ailing girl’s arms around her mother’s neck. Abraham gingerly lifted the older girl out of the carriage and carried her in his arms.
Obadiah lit the lantern, and then headed up the narrow, overgrown trail. He looked over his shoulder at the couple and gave them a sympathetic look. Obadiah’s hand gripped the ram-shaped handle tightly as he climbed up the path.
* * *
Abraham and Nashiema stared up at the icy, cloud-covered mountain. Bitterly cold winds whipped all around them as the couple followed the cloaked elder up the steep path. Nightfall soon gave way to a moonlit sky. The sea of blackness enveloped the distraught parents as they carried their daughters up the mountain. Nashiema and Abraham did their best to keep up with Obadiah, not once wanting to lose sight of his flickering lantern.
The journey was beginning to take its toll on Nashiema, with each step her legs began to wobble and she began to lag behind.
“Abraham—” Nashiema called out in a moment of desperation. But her husband was too far ahead to hear her cries. Exhausted, Nashiema’s foot slipped on a cluster of uneven rocks. As she tried to regain her balance, Nashiema’s eyes wandered off the trail down the side of the mountain. Nashiema’s head began to spin and she let out a scream.
Abraham’s heart quickened as his wife and daughter were slipping off the edge of the mountain. Even the extra weight of carrying Lilith could not slow Abraham down as he raced to Nashiema, catching the crook of her arm, just in time.
Nashiema’s panicked eyes fixed on the falling rocks beneath her feet as they crashed loudly down the side of the mountain.
“Don’t look down. Nashiema, look at me.”
Heart pounding in her chest, unable able to speak, Nashiema’s eyes shifted to Sarah. Although her daughter’s arms were still firmly coiled around her neck, Sarah’s body had swung itself out of the leather harness and was resting on her left hip. Nashiema repositioned her daughter to the center of her back and adjusted the leather straps of the harness.
“Nashiema, are you all right?” Abraham asked.
She took a deep breath and nodded her head.
Abraham breathed a sigh of relief. He looked vigilantly at Lilith and clutched her tightly against his chest.
* * *
Lilith glanced up at her father with half-slit eyes. Although weak, she managed to hold onto a heart-shaped gold locket. She raised her head slightly to gaze at the picture of her betrothed. She thought back to the day the necklace was given to her.
It was her sixth birthday. She could not wait to see what was inside, eagerly she pressed the latch. There was a portrait of a boy the same age as she. Lilith was immediately drawn to the boy’s large soulful brown eyes. Lilith burned with curiosity. She had to know the identity of the boy in the locket, so she turned to her father and asked.
“The boy’s name is Felipe Esteban de Hayos Montoya. He’s the son of a powerful statesman who lives in Toledo. He is your betrothed.”
Abraham fastened the necklace around Lilith’s neck and from that moment, Lilith was in love.
Lilith studied every inch of Felipe’s face. She admired his black hair, which was almost as dark as her own. She loved the way his bangs swept gently over his right eye, slightly covering it. But it was Felipe’s eyes that captivated her the most. Although, the portrait in the heart-shaped, gold locket was old and faded—painted when Felipe was just a little boy—Lilith closed her eyes and could imagined what he must look like now. How tall and handsome he must be.
“I love you, Felipe,” she whispered.
* * *
They reached the top of Mulhacén, which was immersed by a thick fog. Obadiah held up his walking staff to the heavens and spoke.
“Lo karahciram!” (Show thyself!) A bright green light emitted from the pair of hexagon-shaped, onyx eyes of his walking staff. The mist dissipated and the Temple of Saturn came into full view.
Nashiema and Abraham found themselves standing among monolithic pillars leading to the entrance of the great shrine. The couple spun around, awestruck by the colossal, gold statue of Saturn. Its outstretched arms welcomed them. The moonlight captured the brilliant golden hues of the statue, illuminating the entire area with the brightness of daylight.
Abraham stared at the breastplate and curved scythe. Flames shot out of the statue’s gaping mouth. Nashiema took a deep breath. The temple looked more incredible than she ever could have imagined. She reached for Abraham’s hand. A familiar woman approached them, with a smile.
“Abraham and Nashiema, welcome. I knew Brother Obadiah would see you here safely,” Licia said, wrapping her arms around Nashiema.
For years, the couple had worshiped the god Saturn in secrecy, out of fear of persecution from the other Moors, who were mostly Muslim. The worship of Saturn was considered a false religion, and therefore, blasphemous to Allah. But it was through their secret fellowship with other Saturn worshipers, the couple met the twenty-year old Licia.
Nashiema was taken by the young woman’s zeal for Saturn. And it was Licia that Nashiema first turned to when Lilith and Sarah’s illness worsened. Learning of the couple’s desperate fight to save their daughters, Licia persuaded Obadiah to allow Abraham and Nashiema to enter into the mystical forest and gather the magickal ingredients necessary to aid in healing their daughters.
“Licia, it is very good to see you,” Nashiema said, with tears welling up in her eyes.
“Sa’hal!” (Come!) Obadiah said, ushering them all into the shrine.
Once inside, the couple was greeted reverently by fifteen temple elders, a crowd of worshipers, and musicians. Obadiah motioned with his hand for the couple to place their daughters on the altar.
The couple anxiously walked up three, short, flat steps that encircled the hexagon-shaped, black onyx altar. They placed their daughters side by side. Abraham sat the magickal items he and his wife had collected beside the girls. A frigid mist engulfed the temple in a blue haze.
Three hooded figures emerged, floating slowly in and about the shrine, leaving frosty streaks of blue-violet rays around them.
Nashiema and Abraham watched, with growing wonder, as Obadiah drew back his cloak. The quiet man had small, piercing, blue eyes. He was clean shaven and bald, and like all chief elders the couple had studied as they learned about Lord Saturn, Obadiah’s bald head was donned with a hexagon tattoo. In the center of the design was an eye with a scythe for its pupil. The left side of Obadiah’s face also had a tattoo—a bull’s head enclosed in a six-pointed star, and encircled by an inscription written in Solsatihel, followed by ancient symbols.
* * *
The Chief Elder leaned over Lilith, listening carefully to her heart. He looked up at the girl’s parents, who studied his every move, and smiled. He walked over to the other side of the altar and leaned over Sarah. He placed his ear to her heart. He heard the rattling sound of death. This time, Obadiah met the parents’ gaze, sorrow washed over him as their hopeful faces fell, and they hugged each other tight.
* * *
A golden heavenly light shone brightly on Lilith, and Nashiema and Abraham felt the flutter of Isis’ large, white wings as she spun around in midair and looked at them.
“The dark one has found favor with Father Saturn. HE has chosen her. The fair-haired child, she must be sacrificed to honor Saturn,” Isis said.
“Surely she can be saved,” Nashiema said, tearfully. “We brought the sap from the Tree of Life and the sacred waters from the Fountain of Youth as you instructed. Sarah can be saved!”
“It is the will of Saturn, Nashiema,” Abraham said, reaching over to comfort her.
Nashiema shifted her body to the left, intentionally avoiding her husband’s touch.
The Daughters of Saturn flew out of the temple. Obadiah lifted Sarah’s limp body up from the altar and carried the child outside into the courtyard.
Eye of Saturn (The Daughters of Saturn Book 1) Page 3
