The Black Madonna (The Mystique Trilogy)

by Traci Harding

  My journey sped up as I was drawn inside the smallest particle of the causal world and into liquid-light fields of pre-matter—a vast, breathtaking dance of colour and brilliance. My consciousness expanded to such a state that I felt myself part of this entire realm known as Aramatena. Here I was one with my avatar self, and I saw all of creation laid before me, from its highest potential to its lowest and densest state.

  I felt a trembling within me and my exaltation grew as I rushed towards the vibration in the very depths of my being. Here, resonating in all its purity, was the alpha and omega of all life, the divine heart of my Sovereign Integral being, pumping out the wave frequencies into primal sound fields of my creation. The wave frequency was the carrier of cosmic light, and light was the carrier of the blueprints of my creation, which every molecule in the five harmonic universes knew how to read and interpret. But in some of the lowest parts of my creation, my divine plan had gone awry—it had been lost in translation and fallen into shadow, so I was compelled to send forth a note of revision.

  I was expelled from my Sovereign Integral, where a wave of inspiration caught me up and I plunged back into the sea of liquid light to ride the slipstream of my divine intent down through my existence on Gaia and Tara.

  Back in the realm of gross matter, the divine spark of inspiration that I had carried forth with me from the primal sound fields entered my body through the light particles being emitted from the light centre of my heart. The sonic ascended to my throat centre, where it burst into the world via my larynx, in the form of one long, continuous, perfect note.

  Although my eyes remained closed, through my third eye I saw my spiritual father drawing into himself the colours of the spectrum from our circle, which he then redirected down into the Earth below him and the sky directly above him.

  There was a great clash of force some distance above and below us, which dissipated before it reached our vicinity.

  The Earth ceased its shaking and the Rainbow Choir fell silent.

  A blissful moment followed as the peace of the divine energy settled over our gathering, filling us all with a sense of deep love, purpose and well-being.

  ‘It is done,’ En Ki announced, still glistening with the Kundaray energy.

  A sound like a crack of thunder shattered the silence.

  ‘An aftershock,’ En Ki warned, then vanished in a huge blast of blue-white light.

  Blinded by the force, I was engulfed by a wave of liquid blackness so violent that I was torn from the strong grip of my teammates and sucked into underwater darkness.

  CHAPTER 32

  DEFEATING FATE

  TAMAR DEVERE—KALI

  When I became conscious again, the metal bonds that had restrained me were broken, but I was still trapped within the holding cell in the Amenti complex. For an age I called to be freed—I pleaded, begged, demanded, then screamed for someone to hear me, but no response was forthcoming.

  I was beginning to doubt that I would ever see another person again. I felt in my being that there was something seriously amiss. My fellow Amenti staff members, although not overly disposed towards my kind, would not leave me in limbo like this for so long when there was still so much work for me to do.

  Now that I had recovered my rational, conscious mind, I had serious doubts about Killian Labontè. Yes, the visions I’d had of him during my psychosis had stirred deep sensual desires in me. But why did Ill want me to find Killian so attractive and not my prince? One thing that had been made painfully obvious to me was that Killian and Ill were in some way connected.

  ‘I think something bad has happened.’ Emmett’s voice came through the intercom.

  At last: another presence. I stood. ‘Define bad.’

  ‘The entire staff of Amenti are missing and I don’t know what to do.’

  ‘The first thing you should do is let me out of here,’ I said pleadingly.

  ‘But I was told not to, under any circumstances.’

  I threw my hands up in frustration, then drew a deep breath to calm down. ‘How long have they been missing?’

  ‘About twenty-four Earth hours.’

  ‘Shit!’ I paced as I asked the next vital question. ‘Did Killian have anything to do with their disappearance?’

  There was silence.

  ‘You don’t know or you won’t say?’

  ‘He was with them at the time—’

  ‘I knew it!’ Why didn’t anyone ever listen to me?

  ‘But I don’t know if he had anything to do with their—’

  ‘Oh, he did,’ I assured him. ‘Whose side are you on anyway? You’ve always despised Killian.’

  ‘I misunderstood him.’

  I had to laugh. ‘I think you might have been one of the few people on Earth whose initial instinct about him was correct! Has Arcturus changed his tune about him too?’

  ‘Um…no.’

  I nodded, not surprised. ‘Smart man, my father.’

  I looked up into the lens of the surveillance mechanism. ‘If you won’t trust my instincts, then won’t you trust his? I have to speak with Killian yesterday! You’re a smart lad, Emmett, but you’re way out of your depth. You need help. Please, let me out.’

  There was another long silence and I feared he had left.

  ‘Emmett?’

  The doors to the cell opened to expose the exit into the corridor I had been dreaming about. I hurried through the security doors to find Emmett awaiting me.

  ‘Please don’t kill me,’ he said, cowering.

  I grabbed hold of his arm on my way past. ‘I’m not going to kill you…at least, not until you’ve filled me in on all I’ve missed.’

  He didn’t look any less frightened by my claim. ‘I learned all I know from the Hall of Records.’

  I stopped dead in my tracks and turned to face him. ‘How do you know about the Hall of Records?’

  He shrugged defensively. ‘I heard your teammates talk of it, and when no one returned, I went in search of it. I thought it might be able to fill me in on what happened.’

  ‘Well, it was a brilliant thought, but people have been lost forever trying to get through this labyrinth,’ I lectured him. ‘Not to mention the fact that you need a certain quality of DNA to operate the sacred tool. You should be dead!’

  ‘Really?’ He grimaced. ‘You know me. I’m a curious guy when it comes to alien technology.’

  I had greater concerns right now and I resumed dragging him through the Thoth complex. ‘Be more careful in future—you have no idea what you are dealing with.’

  On the way to the Hall of Records we passed the chamber known as the Hall of Consciousness. As its title suggested, it housed the arcane equipment used for monitoring Earth’s consciousness via the Earth grid. Inside a large crystal ball on a round pedestal in the centre of the chamber stood the scales of consciousness. On one side of the scale was a sphere of darkness and on the other was a sphere of light, and for the first time ever the scales were tipped to the side of the righteous.

  ‘Damn it!’ I said.

  ‘What’s the matter?’ Emmett asked. ‘Doesn’t this mean the world is now ready to host the Sphere of Amenti?’

  ‘That’s exactly what it means,’ I said. ‘But without the Black Madonna to form the Staff of Power from the ring and the rod, I can’t bring down the sphere.’

  ‘And there’s the small matter of your prince,’ Emmett ventured.

  I took a deep breath as I thought about Mathu. ‘I’m a bit confused about him at present,’ I confessed. ‘I have mixed memories of finding him, but I’m not sure if any of them are real. He may still be trapped in Irkalla, or maybe he was never there at all.’

  ‘So you accept that the Nefilim have altered your memories?’ Emmett said.

  ‘I do.’

  ‘Then how do you know you’re right about Killian being in league with Ill?’

  I fobbed off the possibility that I could be wrong about Killian. ‘Call it instinct. And considering what’s happened, I’
d say I’m more likely right than wrong, wouldn’t you?’

  A large liquid-light screen took up one wall of the room. It depicted a simulation of the SAC alignment taking place up through the harmonic universes, which was on the latter end of its alignment. I glanced up at it.

  ‘There’s only one way to find out the truth about Killian. And time is running out.’

  ‘You do know it was Killian who led the Amenti staff into Irkalla to rescue us?’ Emmett said.

  ‘And it was also Killian who led us into Irkalla in the first place!’ I retorted. Us. I dwelt on the sudden realisation that Emmett had entered Irkalla with me.

  ‘True,’ he conceded. ‘But he could have been under duress.’

  My eyes opened wide as I recalled Emmett transforming into Mathu. ‘Deceiver!’ I accused him, backing away.

  ‘No,’ he said.

  ‘Then why are you still masquerading as Emmett Rich?’

  ‘Because Ill implanted false memories of me in you and I didn’t want to aggravate the situation.’

  He transformed into his true self. I had waited aeons to stand before my love again, but I felt none of the rejoicing in my heart that I had imagined would accompany this defining moment. I doubted his motives and continued to back away from him.

  ‘How do I know it’s not you that the Nefilim have reprogrammed? Why would my prince trust Killian Labontè’s word over mine?’

  ‘Please, dear goddess, hear me out.’ He fell to his knees before me.

  I shook my head. ‘You’re trying to distract me. I must hurry.’ And I ran from the room and made haste to the Hall of Records and locked myself in, so I couldn’t be swayed by his pleas. It made perfect sense to me that Ill would send the person I cared for most to distract me from addressing the peril of my fellow team members.

  But why would an enemy let you out of solitary confinement? I found myself asking as I approached the telekinetic control platform. I stopped dead in my tracks, for I had no answer.

  Awful images of Mathu with other women flooded through my mind, sickening and confusing me. Part of me knew they were lies, but the images were so vivid that they cut into my heart like daggers. I could not bring myself even to look upon Mathu at present and resolved that I would be more effective handling Killian alone.

  I stepped up onto the plate and viewed the tail end of the incident in Central Park, where Killian and the Amenti team’s Rainbow Round Table had averted a huge earthquake. In the wake of the event there was an unusual aftershock, which had left Killian unconscious and caused all those channelling the RRT to vanish.

  I asked the Hall of Records to track the whereabouts of the Amenti staff at present, but it informed me that they were no longer within its sphere of detection.

  They must be in Irkalla, I thought. Where else could they possibly be if the Hall of Records was unable to detect them? Time to visit my old friend Killian and get some answers.

  I stepped down from the control platform and entered the green porthole at one end of the hall, heading for Polaris’s station in Nova Scotia. From there it was only a short trip to my desired destination.

  The door to Killian’s hotel room was opened by none other than the Queen of the Underworld herself. She was disguised as a human, but I could see her true form behind the façade. ‘Ereshkigal…why am I not surprised to find you here?’ I said.

  ‘Kali!’ She was shocked to see me, and stood stunned for a moment, unsure of what she should do next.

  ‘I wish to speak with Killian, or is he Ill right now?’ I forced a grin.

  ‘You’ve got it all wrong,’ she said and moved to close the door on me, but I prevented it.

  ‘I am going to see him,’ I assured her, and she gave up the struggle and stepped aside to allow me to enter.

  ‘He’s in there.’ She motioned to the bedroom.

  ‘I must say, I expected more of a fight from you, Ereshkigal.’ I paused to look her over, and saw that although her auric body had some muddy patches, she was one of the Nefilim no longer; she had returned to the ranks of the Anu.

  ‘I have no fight left in me,’ she said, her tone defeated and her expression bitter.

  ‘Why are you here?’ I asked flatly.

  ‘I believe I have been exposed to the Nefilim for the Anu spy I am,’ she said. ‘I have been psychologically damaged by our brethren and have become a threat to everyone. Killian has been hiding me, so I have some time to sort my head out.’

  ‘You should have gone straight to Lamhfada,’ I lectured.

  ‘But I was programmed to come here,’ she snapped, ‘and murder Killian. Praise the goddess that Meridan was present to stop me.’

  ‘What?’ This made no sense to me. ‘Why would Ill want his future embodiment dead?’

  ‘Because Killian is too much of a threat now. They can’t control him any more and he is causing their plan real trouble. Please,’ she appealed to me, ‘you must trust him.’

  ‘Why should I?’ I was insulted by the plea.

  ‘Because he is the channel of the Sanat Kumara.’

  I was shocked to my core by her claim, but it was delivered with such heartfelt devotion that she obviously believed it.

  ‘Who else but the Lord of the World would have the compassion to hide someone who had intended to murder him?’ She began to weep, something the Anu so rarely did, and sank to her knees to implore me. ‘Please, please, great queen, do not harm him.’

  It was quite clear to me that she felt more than a devotee’s love for the man, and I took mercy on her for all she had apparently been through in the name of my cause. I placed a healing hand upon her head to calm her.

  ‘If the situation is as you say, then you have nothing to fear. Wait here,’ I instructed, and she nodded and raised herself to take a seat by the window. I entered Killian’s room alone.

  ‘Tamar!’ Killian was also surprised to see me, and, although his voice was weak, I could tell that he was unsure if this was a pleasant turn of events or not. ‘If you have come seeking answers about the staff, I have only theories,’ he said, assuming I wasn’t here out of concern for his welfare. ‘If I was somehow to blame for the disappearance…’ He winced at the notion as it clearly pained him. ‘But I can’t tell you what my involvement was.’

  As soon as I set eyes on Killian, the passion that I had been programmed to feel for him ignited in me; however, I had enough control to realise I had to ignore my desires. I had been prepared to storm in here and beat the truth out of him, but my suspicions about him dulled in his presence, for he exuded the most heavenly energy. I felt immediately calm and safe—like coming home to the security of my father’s house.

  I climbed onto the huge, king-sized bed he was resting on and sat facing him. ‘Tell me what you think happened,’ I said.

  ‘I don’t know…the Sanat Kumara was in control of me at the time so I remember nothing.’ He sat up a little straighter against his pillows. ‘However, I can tell you what your mother predicts has happened to them.’

  I was shocked. ‘You’ve spoken to Meridan since the event?’

  ‘No,’ Killian said, confusing me even more.

  ‘My mother foresaw this event then?’

  Killian sounded uncertain. ‘Not exactly. The truth is, I’m loath to tell you how I know what I do. Circumstances may have changed since my source was put to paper…although everything else seems to have come to pass pretty much—’

  ‘Hold on.’ I had to pull him up as he was rambling. ‘You read this somewhere?’

  There was a knock on the hotel room door and my body stiffened with alarm.

  ‘Expecting anyone?’

  Killian shook his head and I immediately retreated to the lounge room to investigate, suspecting that the Nefilim had come for the rest of us. I hid and instructed Ereshkigal to open the door.

  ‘Oh my lord!’ she gasped when she saw the visitors and quickly invited them inside so she could close the door.

  It was Mathu, still in the form of Emmet
t Rich, and Lugh Lamhfada, also wearing a very handsome human male disguise.

  Lugh held a hand to Ereshkigal’s cheek. ‘Greetings and salutations, little one. I hear you have experienced some grief.’

  ‘Where have you been?’ I asked the Otherworldly lord, who turned and bowed deeply to me upon hearing my voice.

  ‘Why, Your Majesty, I have been looking into the disappearance of Amenti’s staff,’ he replied.

  ‘And have you discovered what has become of them?’

  ‘I have not,’ he said sadly, ‘although I do have a theory.’

  ‘Do tell,’ I requested, taking a seat.

  ‘What if the EMP blast that the Amenti staff dispersed with the RRT was more than just your average electromagnetic pulse?’ Mathu cut in, impatient. ‘What if the Nefilim rebuilt their time-travel technology at Montauk and then combined it with their—’

  ‘—electromagnetic field technologies,’ Killian interrupted. He was leaning heavily against the bedroom doorway to keep himself upright.

  ‘My lord, you are not strong enough to be out of bed.’ Ereshkigal rushed to support him and Killian did not object.

  ‘That’s right…’ he said slowly, as if beginning to remember details rather than confirming the statement, ‘…that’s what that aftershock was.’

  ‘It’s a damn shame,’ Lugh interjected. ‘The RRT’s Kundaray cleared far more dis-ease from the grid than even I expected. If the staff of Amenti were still here, it would be game, set and match to us. The only way for the Nefilim to thwart our victory was to take them out of the equation.’

  For the first time since I’d awoken from the spell put on me in Irkalla, I felt as though I was heading down the right track.

  ‘If the Nefilim did intend to get rid of the Amenti team, where would be the best place to send them?’ I asked, then voiced my suspicion: ‘Irkalla!’

  ‘Where you could rescue them before D-day?’ Lugh said. ‘No, we need to think like one of the Nefilim.’ He paused and then went pale when he figured out the answer. ‘They have been sent into the future, beyond the SAC alignment.’