Chapter Six
Out of the Abyss
Had anyone remained near to where Moira had entered the black abyss, they would have been shocked to see first one hand and then a second hand appear from out of the blackness and grab hold of the rim of the small raised wall that encompassed the abyss. Then a head appeared followed by the body of a young woman, finally they would have seen her legs as she hauled herself out of the abyss and sank exhausted down against the wall, only the energy that she had stolen from Lucifer had given her the necessary strength to escape from the abyss. Her red hair and green eyes were jet black now, matching the colour of the abyss, the evil of the abyss being matched by that found within her heart and mind. Finally she stood up; she now knew where her father was, for she had snatched this information from Lord Lucifer while she had grappled with him. Having rested for but a moment she immediately walked off to find her father.
Hurrying by many terrible sights that now did not bother her, she finally came to the chamber where her father, amongst many others, was being punished for his past sins; however the greatest one according to Lucifer was the failure to win against the righteous. A large green demon torturer who resembled the devil of the cartoons was currently chief torturer there; he was standing next to a waterfall of cool clear water which cascaded down a high cliff to run away through a hole in the floor. The water passed the ever open mouth of Ulysses Bourbon by just one inch, but try as he may he could never quite reach it, the spikes on the chain around his neck cutting into his neck each time he strained forward. The thirst of her father would never be quenched by the water, however the demon was berating him for wasting the water, and when he was not talking the demon was poking her father with a sharp stiletto dagger that brought a cry of pain each time it entered her father`s dark soul.
Moira walked forward and put her hands on the demon`s head who immediately screamed out in pain as the Satanist drained his life-force from him.
“How do you like that devil man, I bet it is not quite so much fun when you are on the receiving end?” Moira said laughing when his body crumbled and fell to the floor in a dry sack of skin and bones.
A loud cackling sort of laughter came from her father as he had watched his torturer being killed, but when it was over and his torturer was no more he now became afraid, afraid that he too was about to meet this unpleasant end.
Seeing the fear upon the face of her father Moira frowned and gently placed her hands on her father`s head, but she was not feeding, she was looking deep into her father`s mind, what she found out was that her father was completely insane and that there was only one thing she could do for him. With tears streaming down her face she sucked all of his life-force from him and watched his dark soul die, and just as he was about to finally fade away his face cleared and he smiled at his daughter and then he was no more.
The pure grief that she felt after the death of her father turned her hair back to its normal colour, red and her eyes were now green, she was back to her normal self, a very dangerous woman who possessed a hell of a lot of satanic power. With nothing more to keep her in Tartarus, for Moira bore Lucifer no ill will and certainly did not want to fight him for his kingdom, it being a very unpleasant place, she returned first to her study within the Netherworld. She had no need of the Key of Tartarus now, for while she had been draining Lucifer of some of his life-force she had also connected to his mind, where she had learned many things, one of them was how to travel between dimensions without the need of a Key or a tame Satanist. She knew that some time she would have to make it up with Lord Lucifer, but after she had returned to the world of the mortals, for now she needed to sleep.
It was while she slept that Lord Asbaritch found her, and to say that he was absolutely amazed to find her still alive was the understatement of the universe, for Lucifer himself had told him of her death. He had taken the news without showing any emotion, but emotion he had felt when he had heard the terrible news, but he had suspected that Moira would meet her death if she did not stop her quest to find her father. Moira suddenly awoke, it was as if she could feel his eyes looking down upon her, and the first thing she saw was a tear of pure joy rolling down her lord`s surprised face.
“You are alive my love, but how, I was told by Lord Lucifer himself of your death?” Lord Asbaritch asked with so much joy covering his face.
“It takes a lot to kill me My Lord; you should know that better than most.” Moira replied with a smile.
“We should celebrate our good fortune; you for living through what must have been a terrible ordeal and I for getting you back when all hope had been extinguished.” Lord Asbaritch declared joyfully.
They did celebrate, for two whole days and nights, although the nights of the Netherworld were still lit by its sun and were almost as light as the days. Then when they were sated and completely exhausted they fell asleep.
The next morning Moira spent by herself, first at her ablutions and later in the Netherworld having fun with nightmares, however that evening when the sun dimmed just a trifle to denote the change in the day, Lord Asbaritch returned and he had news for her.
“Lord Lucifer knows that you are alive, he found out when your father`s torturer was found to be missing. One of your father`s neighbours, one who is a new inmate of Tartarus and so not insane yet, told Lucifer everything.” Lord Asbaritch said. “He has allowed you to live only as a favour to me, however he stressed that you will only be safe while you are within my domain, should you leave it then your life will be at risk, for Lucifer is still very angry with you for attacking him.”
Moira nodded her head and thanked her lord for keeping her alive, and for the next month she spent her time following her lord`s earlier instructions and nothing more. However, as the days went by she began to grow restless, to think of her future, for as the most powerful Satanist in the world she could do many things, such as travelling between dimensions without the need of a tame Satanist. It was then that she heard about the Circle of Circes, an ancient device of the Greek goddess Circe, and it was Lord Asbaritch who foolishly told her of it while they were whiling away a few hours after dining within the Netherworld. The device, he told her, cast a circle of light to a distance of one Greek plethron, about thirty one metres. Whoever passes through this silver circle of light activates a powerful spell which makes them slaves to the present owner of the device, and this is whether the victims stay within the circle or leaves it to accomplish a task set by the victim`s new master or mistress. On hearing of this device Moira laughed out loud, for what better way to revenge her father than to enslave Rob Hinds and all those who he cares for, and when she grew bored she would despatch him to Tartarus so that he could experience first-hand all that her father had endured.
“Where is this wondrous device My Lord, and who possesses it now?” Moira asked of her dark lord.
“I have no idea my love, it may not even exist anymore, Circe I suppose will either have it or at least know of its location, and the last time that I saw Circe was many thousands of years ago, it was around the time of the Trojan war, at least I think it was. She was on a small Greek island in the Ionian Sea, Paxos I believe it is called. She spent most of her time in and around a cave for some reason, but then she always was a little weird, but then all of the witches that I have known have all been weird, even the powerful ones like Circe who is also a goddess.” Lord Asbaritch replied lazily.
Moira smiled, for she too could be termed a witch, but then she thought, maybe I too am a little weird, for I am having an affair with a powerful demon and have chosen to anger Lucifer, the most dangerous demon of them all.
It was not until late in the morning of the next Netherworld day that Moira thought again of the Circe device and whether she could discover its location. With this in mind she forgot the advice of her dark lord and travelled away from the Netherworld to her family chateau in France. The staff at the chateau knew nothing of her death and had kept the chateau clean and ready for when she or her
father returned, their wages being paid by a local solicitor. She went there to look through the part of her father`s library that the SIS had not confiscated, and using her powers she soon found a book that contained a mention of Circe and told her what potion to use to call to her.
Moira now went down to her secret satanic temple in the cellar of the chateau, and the first thing that she did was to turn on the large air conditioning device to warm up the cellar and the temple. Then she drove to the family crypt, as always it felt cold and damp, stopping by her father`s coffin she spoke.
“Father, I know that you probably cannot hear me, for I destroyed your soul to save you any more torment, but if you can then hear this, I promise to avenge you father. Rob Hinds will wish that he had never tangled with our family by the time that I have done with him and his family.”
Moira now returned to the chateau and her satanic temple, for she wanted to speak to the goddess Circe, assuming that is, that she would appear to someone who had killed another goddess, one named Hekate, after returning from Tartarus the first time when she had stolen the golden Ark of Ba’al Berith from the old Greek gods.
After consulting the book that she had found, the one that mentioned Circe, she gathered all of the items that she required to make the potion that she would need to summon the goddess; luckily, she had all of the items in her laboratory. Then she mixed them together in a large glass bowl, when they were ready she set alight to them. A red smoke began to rise from the bowl and Moira now called out to Circe.
“Wondrous Goddess, mighty witch, I call to you across the dimensions of space, appear to me, Moira Bourbon, the most powerful Satanist of all time and consort to the Dark Lord Asbaritch, ruler of the Netherworld, I beseech you to aid me in my quest for revenge against our common enemy.”
Nothing appeared to happen within the satanic temple, although Moira did notice a small drop in the temperature. Then after patiently waiting for two minutes to see if Circe would appear before her, she was finally rewarded when a plume of purple smoke began to form in the middle of the temple, then within the plume the form of a woman appeared and Circe finally emerged from the smoke to greet the young Satanist.
“I have heard must talk about you Satanist, of your travels, your daring and your deeds. I am glad to see that you do not have the golden Ark of Ba’al Berith with you this time, for I would not have appeared before you had you the temerity to have it near to hand. Tell me, what can I, Circe, do for so powerful a Satanist as you?”
“Wondrous goddess, I need the Circle of Circe so that I can commit the most perfect act of revenge on the mortal who makes war on witches and gods and who killed my father.” Moira replied.
“I heard that it was you yourself who finally killed your father, when you were last in Tartarus.” Circe replied tartly.
“His mind was gone, it was an act of mercy not murder that I committed, but it was the mortal Rob Hinds who killed his mortal body.” Moira declared angrily.
“Then you shall have my Circle, Moira, but only because of your brave act of compassion towards your father, not for any other reason.” Circe replied. “However, first you must build a temple to me, and then lay offerings on the altar, only then will I tell you where to find the Circle of Circe.”
With that Circe vanished, no terrible smell had accompanied her, no massive temperature drop, Moira was suitably impressed, she would have to see if she could replicate these feats.
Although she was impressed by certain aspects regarding Circe, Moira was also a little pissed off, for she knew why Circe had asked her to have a temple built, it was to rub her nose in the fact that while Circe was a god, she, the most powerful Satanist in the world was only a lowly demon born out of a human. However, Moira knew that she had no option but to obey, if she was to have a chance of getting her hands on the device. The next morning she had the local builder come by, a man who did not dawdle for although France was a republic, the owners of the chateau had always been held in high regard by the locals. Telling him of her desire for a Greek classical temple and stressing the need for haste, adding that there would be a bonus for a quick job, the builder agreed to start the contract at the beginning of the following week by which time all the necessary marble and other building material would have been delivered to the estate. With the material delivered to her chosen site within the estate, an incline looking over the lake, the builders duly arrived to start, and soon the temple was ready for use, Moira having purchased a statue of the Greek goddess Aphrodite from a local garden centre, but then a statue of one goddess looked much like another Moira mused.
The next morning Moira purchased bread, fruit and wine and set them upon the marble altar at the rear of the temple, the statue on a marble plinth being set behind it. As the sun reached its highest point in the sky Moira began the ceremony.
“Hear me wondrous goddess Circe, I have done all that you asked of me, I have set offerings upon your altar and will do so each month, please bestow upon me your favour so that I might win against those who are my enemies.”
A purple plume of smoke began to form to one side of the statue and Moira knelt down before it as a supplicant, finally Circe was standing before her and looking down upon her.
“You have done well Moira Bourbon, you have done all that I asked of you, and as a favour I now make you my priestess, look after my temple, make offerings to me to show your devotion and in time I might give you the thing that you most desire, my Circle of Circe.” Circe said graciously.
“Thank you my goddess.” Moira said between gritted teeth. “However, could you not show me your great favour now by giving me your wondrous device?”
“No, demon, you must first win such a gift from your goddess by showing your devotion.” Circe replied angrily.
“Well if that is how it is.” Moira said lightly.
She then pointed her right index finger at the ground beneath Circe and said. “Ignite.”
Circe realised that she was in danger just a second too late for she was held tightly in an energy field that flared up around her even as she attempted to attack Moira. Moira walked out of the temple, but she returned seconds later carrying the golden Ark of Baʿal Berith, she placed it on the altar and aimed it directly at Circe.
“It is no use attempting to struggle Circe, you are not going anywhere until the potion that I buried in front of the statue is fully incinerated. Now why do you not tell me where your device is, for otherwise I will open the lid of the Ark and you will then become my dinner, got it, goddess?” Moira said grimly. “Now I am going to allow you to speak, but if you try to say anything other than the location of your device I will introduce you to my own device.” Moira said patting the lid of the golden Ark of Baʿal Berith.
“Speak, Circe or die.” Moira ordered as she gripped both sides of the lid of her Ark.
While Moira spoke Circe had no option but to listen, however she might not have been able to move so much as an eyelid, but she could think, and she did not think that she would be able to say anything that could disable Moira Bourbon, not without certain preparations and certainly not before Moira raised the lid of the Ark.
“The device is beneath the floor of my temple in the city of Troy.” Circe replied feeling extremely humiliated at being treated so discourteously by a mere demon.
Having obtained the information that she needed Moira quickly said. “Stop speaking Circe.”
Circe was once again unable to hurt Moira using whatever powers that the goddess possessed.
“Circe, I would have been quite content to lay offerings at the feet of your statue, but now that is impossible. We both know that the moment that I release you, you will attack me, sooner or later you will kill me, so I am compelled to act first, sorry.” Moira said lightly.
With that, Moira opened the lid of her Ark, and the last thing that the goddess felt was this tremendous pain all over her body, then she was sucked into the Ark, and then the lid slammed firmly shut. The beautiful young Satanist
s laughed so much she almost collapsed onto the floor, but finally she regained her composure, and she looked at the Ark in awe. She touched the two sides of the Ark, and this time the power that shot up her arms and into her body was so much that she almost fainted. She did sink to her knees, her eyes closed in ecstasy, and on her face a look of a woman who had experienced the most terrific orgasm in her entire existence. It took her a full minute to regain control of her mind and her body, she then opened her eyes and smiled, never had she looked so beautiful for a glow emanated from her face, and her eyes sparkled with such energy.
“Oh my but that was one bloody good trip.” Moira cried out in pleasure. “I must find another god to introduce to my toy, and soon, but for now I am off to Troy.”
Luckily for Moira she did not need to travel by air, she was a demon with the ability to move across the Earth at will, she simply willed herself to be in the temple of Circe within the ancient city of Troy and she appeared there. Unfortunately, the temple of Circe in the ancient city of Troy only existed in the long distant past, something that Circe knew and she had set a trap for anyone who attempted to steal her device, and Moira now sprung it. As Moira materialised at Troy, and at the exact spot that the temple had existed long ago, she saw the present day Troy appear all around her but then immediately disappear, for the energy that accompanies such materialisations triggered a long hidden spell. Moira`s eyes flew wide open in surprise when she reappeared in Troy, however she was not in the temple of Circe, she was standing in the main street of the ancient city, which was in flames and screams filled the air, for as well as travelling through space, she had also travelled back into the past. The next thing that she saw was a dozen Greek soldiers bearing down upon her and they were led by a giant of a man. Moira immediately attempted to transport herself to somewhere safe, but nothing happened, her powers did not seem to work here and the soldiers were almost upon her. Moira then tried to push them away using her satanic powers, but this also failed to work, was she simply a mortal now, she thought as the forgotten emotion of fear filled her mind?
“Cassandra do not move you are my prisoner.” The giant ordered Moira, who immediately bolted inside of a nearby temple leaving an angry Greek hero fuming outside.
Moira found herself standing within the temple of Athena, and the story of the fall of Troy came flooding back to her, especially the part where Cassandra, princess of Troy, had been raped by the Greek hero Ajax, even though she should have been safe, being within the temple of Athena. Moira did not wait there, it might have been fun to be taken by Ajax, had she still retained all of her powers, but as a mortal she knew that fun would be the last thing that it would be, more like hell. She did not stop at the foot of the statue of Athena, as the real Cassandra had done, no she carried on running through to the rear of the temple where she found the entrance used by the priestesses, she ran through the open doorway but then she stopped, even though she could hear the feet of the pursuing Greek soldiers. She had seen a broken piece of marble at her feet, wedge shaped and ready for use, she closed the door and then she bent down and jammed the wedge under the door. It was now that Ajax tried to open the door, and she turned and ran for her life through the narrow alleyways of Troy, looking for somewhere to hide away.
Moira literally ran into an old woman, knocking her to the floor, but Moira did not apologise, no she dragged the shaken woman to her feet and questioned her.
“Tell me old crone, where is the temple of Circe?” Moira demanded to know.
“She will not help you Cassandra, none of the gods will, now let go of me so that I can flee the Greeks.” The old woman replied contemptuously.
“Old crone either show me the way to the temple or I swear that I will kill you where you stand.” An angry Moira Bourbon threatened the old woman who now realised that this was not the Cassandra that she knew, no this was a very pissed off one.
Realising her immediate danger the old woman led Moira down a dark narrow alley, and there at the end of it stood a small temple, one much smaller than that of Athena.
“Here you are Cassandra, this is the temple of Circe, but why you needed me to bring you here when you visit the temple each week I do not know.” The old woman replied and made to leave.
Moira though was not about to let her go, instead she grabbed her arm and pulled her into the small temple, and once inside she recognised the marble statue, for it was of Circe, unlike the one that she had purchased for the temple on her French estate. She then turned to the old woman.
“You can stay here, for if the Greeks capture you I know that you will betray your princess.” Moira ordered.
It was only now that Moira wondered how she could speak and understand both Trojan and Greek, but whatever the reason it sure made things a lot easier.
“Sit down over there while I think.” Moira ordered the old woman who obeyed with a scowl while muttering something that Moira was sure sounded like an obscene suggestion.
Moira now sat against the altar and began to ponder her situation. On the good side Lord Lucifer would never find her back in the long distant past. On the bad side she appeared to have lost all of her powers and was sitting in a burning city while the Greek soldiers raped and pillaged all around her, so what did it matter that Lucifer could no longer find her. At least this small temple was off the main street and might allow her the time to find a way to evade her pursuers and maybe come up with an answer to her main problem, namely getting back to her own time.
After a few minutes pondering on her problems, she realised that the sounds of battle had begun to grow louder, as did the screams of the citizens of Troy. Fearing capture Moira stood up and walked over to the doors, and using two large splinters of wood that lay near to it she jammed them beneath the doors to hold back any searchers that found her hiding place. She then looked across at the old woman to ensure that she was not about to try to leave the temple, the old woman looked back at her, but nervously, obviously wondering why the princess was behaving so strangely.
As she stood there looking down at the woman Moira had a eureka moment, for a thought jumped into her mind, she knew just what had happened to her, an ancient spell had brought her into the past, and if so then she should be able to reverse its actions, if she could find its heart, the part that she had triggered when she had materialised in Troy. Moira now began to search the small temple, looking for the vessel that held the spell, one that had lain hidden for millennia and had still worked when she had materialised at Troy. She started her search at the Altar, then the niches in the wall that held candles and the such-like, but then she stopped, no they would have been consumed when the fire reached the temple, the vessel must lie beneath her feet, or better still in the lower courses of stone blocks that made up the temple walls.
She started at the wall behind the altar and slowly moved around the wall, her fingers getting sore as she felt and probed for a loose block of stone, but she was no closer to finding it by the time that she had finished the entire circuit of the temple. Moira sank down exhausted, her thighs and back aching from all of the bending and squatting; she looked at the old woman and could have sworn that she saw a hastily concealed smirk upon her face. However, Moira ignored her, she had a much more important task to complete, and time was short for the roof of the temple had begun to smoke, something the old now noticed and began to complain about, and although Moira could not believe her ears she heard herself tell the old woman to leave, to try to get away from the barbarians who might already be at the door. The old woman got up and rushed for the doors, however as she opened one of them she turned to Moira.
“Look at the pictures carved upon the front of the altar; I believe it may be what you are searching for my princess.”
With that the old woman rushed out into the narrow lane and disappeared into the night. Moira first reclosed the open door and once again jammed the large splinter of wood beneath it before she returned to the altar, to look closely at the carvings which showed various
animals cavorting together. Running her sore fingers over the carving she was finally rewarded with a soft click and a large secret draw was revealed. Pulling it out she found that it contained a clay jug with a lid that would not come off, no matter how hard she tried to pry it loose. Moira looked at the jug and saw that there was a picture painted upon it, and as she turned the jug to look at the whole of the picture she could hear the sound of a liquid sloshing about, obviously a potion and one that was only necessary when the spell had first been set. Therefore, the potion in the jug was of secondary importance, surely what was painted upon the outside of the jug was of the prime importance?
What Moira saw painted upon the jug was not a picture of some animal or geometrical design but Egyptian hieroglyphs that covered it completely, which was unusual, and to her surprise she found that she could read them and this she thought was the strangest thing of all. What was written upon the jug was the spell that had sent her back in time, and by pouring some of the potion out into an oil lamp and lighting it while reciting the spell, having amended it to send her forward in time, would get her out of this burning city, but first she had to find the Circle of Circe. She closed her eyes and emptied her mind of everything happening outside of the temple, searching for a sign of the Circle of Circe, and finally she felt it, and in doing so she followed the trail left by it to finally stop in the dead centre of the temple. Had she retained her powers she could have sent her mind down through the stone slabs under her feet to the Circle of Circe and then she called for it, but that would have to wait until she returned to her own time.
From outside of the temple the sounds of battle finally sounded very close, and it was now that she heard soldiers banging against the doors. Moira lit the potion using a piece of the roof that had fallen to the floor, one that had flames licking out at the Satanist. Then she recited the spell aloud and as she came to the end of it the noise of battle outside slowly died away, and even as Moira realised this the walls and roof of the temple faded away. She found herself standing in modern Troy, the grand buildings were no more, now only the foundations of their walls were left.
There was one other thing that she noticed, her powers had returned, for she could feeling them coursing through her body almost as if they had missed her. Moira now searched the ground beneath her feet using just her mind until she found the Circle of Circe, then she felt a vibration that grew until Moira thought that an earthquake was about to start, and she was happy when she realised that it was not an earthquake, for rising out of the ground was a bronze chest two feet square in size and decorated with Greek figures. Moving over to the chest checked over every square inch of it looking for information. On the front a circle of light was shown with Circe in its middle touching a device and all around her were supplicants, this picture was also shown on the other three sides and upon the lid, however on the bottom was a picture of just the device and on the side of the device there was a small circle painted there with an even smaller circle at its centre. Moira now took a chance that she would not be killed when she lifted the lid, and lifting it she saw within the chest a strange device, she smiled for she realised that far from destroying her, Circe had only ended up giving her the device of Circe, also known as the circle of Circe.
Dreamscape Page 30
