Goetic Justice 2

"And in doing so the beast itself may be drawn out," the Cherubim mused. "Thou art wise to bring this matter before me, Architects. Though I can promise nothing, I shall convey thy request to the Seraphim. If they should deem it necessary, I have no doubt that they shall come to thy aid."

"There's one more thing, worshipful Cherubim" a second Architect added. "We have foreseen a convergence of timelines approaching, a cataclysm, the exact nature of which is being clouded by powers greater than our own. Is this something that you too have prophesied? Should we take any measures to prepare?"

He seemed taken off guard by that question, hesitating for a moment before replying.

"Such things are beyond my domain, but I will inquire on thy behalf."

"Thank you, that is all we ask."

"Then I shall take my leave," the Cherubim said, his warm smile returning. There was another blinding flash of light, and when Carlisle looked up again, the entity was gone, the powerful feelings of love and tranquility along with him. The four men stood, recovering from their experience. The Grand Master's mind felt fuzzy and dull, almost like he was drunk, the sensation abating as the glow from the Ark faded and they were once again plunged into darkness.

The door behind them opened, and they stepped out into the corridor, the two guards flanking them again as they began to make their way back towards the cargo lift. Carlisle sidled up beside the Architect who had told him the story about Azazel, leaning down and lowering his voice as he spoke.

"Does it always feel like...that?"

"That's the love of God that you feel," he replied. "Don't worry, it's a perfectly normal reaction to be filled with joy and adoration in the presence of such a holy being. Cherish it, you are now among a tiny minority of people who have seen an Angel with their own eyes. Not only of the living, but of all who have ever lived."

As they left the vault far behind them Carlisle's head cleared, leaving him once again sharp and alert, now able to go over the details of the short exchange.

The Cherubim was going to take the matter before the Seraphim, beings of equal power to the rogue Watcher. They would be able to dissipate the magickal barrier that was keeping the Masonic forces out of the grove. There was a strike force camped nearby waiting for the order to attack, but they couldn't do much more than twiddle their thumbs until that shield came down. Haures too was on standby, ready to manifest and join the assault the moment that there was an opening.

Would Azazel return to defend his Nephilim, or indeed his champion? The beast had done so once before, and it had been made abundantly clear that Haures was no match for it. If the Watcher made an appearance, would one of the Seraphim appear to challenge it? For the first time in five thousand years, would the forces of good and evil cross blades?

All they could do now was wait and see, it was beyond their control.

CHAPTER 6: A FLEETING MOMENT

Ryan leaned back against Nahash, looking up at the stars as colorful butterflies flitted about her head. The sun was just beginning to set, painting the sky in beautiful hues of red, pink and orange. He had slept through most of the day, and the salve had done its job admirably, the scratches on his chest and the bruises on his hips now all but vanished. He felt refreshed, but he was apprehensive about the next summoning.

"Are you hungry?" Nahash asked, shifting her weight as he sat between her legs. Her heavy breasts were cascading over his shoulders and cushioning his head, his hands resting on her thighs like she was a living armchair.

"Sure," he replied, "can you spare the energy?"

"You have kept us well fed," she chuckled, bringing her fist up and opening her fingers to reveal a bunch of red grapes. He plucked one from her hand, popping it into his mouth. As expected it was ripe and succulent, bursting to flood his mouth with delicious juice. He watched her sisters as he ate, the Seirim going about their daily business now that the first summoning had concluded.

They frolicked and played, reminding him of oversized cats, some sleeping on piles of lavish cushions when they tired of their antics. They danced around the roaring bonfire, played mournful music on instruments that they conjured from thin air, indulging in food and drink that was similarly a product of their magick. They were earthly creatures, concerned only with the pleasures of the flesh, reveling in the joys of the material world. Not only were they that way by design, but they had been imprisoned in the immaterial demonic realm for so long, deprived of corporeal bodies. Now every sense was an adventure to them, sight and sound, smell and touch. Merely feeling the grass beneath their cloven hooves or tasting the fresh air on their tongues filled them with a kind of simple joy that made Ryan almost jealous of them.

He had lived in the physical realm for his whole life and only recently had he started to appreciate what that meant. Proportionally speaking, a mortal spent the majority of its existence either unborn or dead. He had but a tiny fraction of time to enjoy what this world had to offer, and it was much the same for the Seirim. Manifesting like this was not the norm for them, and they could only sustain this state of being as long as they had a source of energy. Seeing them so happy and free only cemented his conviction that he had done the right thing by freeing Azazel.

Even if he ended up dying as a result, at least he had positively impacted the lives of other people...beings. That was worth something.

"So once we summon Gamori and figure out what's going on," Ryan began, chewing on a mouthful of grapes as he spoke. "What then?"

"Until we know who is trying to kill you and why," Nahash replied, "it is hard to say. Perhaps the culprit can be appeased, convinced to call off their minions. If not, we may have to find a way to hide from them, perhaps even kill them before they can do the same to you."

"Would that stop Haures?"

"It may," she said, sounding unconvinced. "There are three ways to prevent a demon from carrying out its contract. The first is to contain the demon. I mean no offense Ryan, but you are not a skilled enough exorcist to attempt such a thing."

"That goes without saying," he chuckled, savoring another fat grape.

"The second is to deprive the demon of energy, massacring their followers for example or razing the city of a patron deity. Not useful in this scenario."

"And the third?" Ryan asked.

"Kill the mortal who took out the contract. If the original summoner dies then the contract is void. There would be no good reason for the demon to continue to expend its energy."

They sat in silence for a while, Ryan mulling over the day's events in his head. Finally, he spoke up, unable to repress his morbid curiosity.

"What would happen to me...if I were to die?"

Nahash looked down at him, her expression concerned.

"Ryan...you should not dwell on such things."

"But what if Haures got me? What happens? Do I go to the afterlife? Does my soul end up in the immaterium, just floating around all aimless and lost?"

"There are some aspects of life and death that even we do not understand," Nahash said as Ryan plucked another grape from her palm. "But in the case that Haures succeeded in his mission and fulfilled his contract? Demons feed on energy, and a soul is a tremendous well of power. The legends of demons stealing the souls of mortals are no fabrication, yours would likely be consumed."

"So I'd just...stop existing?"

"Not exactly. Souls are energy and energy can never be destroyed, it merely changes form. A soul that is devoured by a demon such a Haures would become a part of him, serving as a kind of battery."

"I thought that souls were immortal?"

"Souls are immortal in the sense that they cannot be destroyed through physical means," she explained. "No matter what happens to your physical body, your soul will endure. But as for what would happen to you if your soul was consumed...I cannot say. Demons too are metaphysical beings, but if our stores of energy are depleted, then we disappear. I don't know what would happen to me if I were to vanish. Would my thoughts and memories live on in some form, would I be judged by a greater power, would I simply cease to exist? In many ways, death is as much a mystery to us as it is to you."

"Death is so final from a human perspective," Ryan muttered, "but it sounds like it's just...passing the buck. Exchanging one mystery for another."

"Some believe that we return to God when we cease to exist," she added, "that is what Azazel says at least. He created us, and our energy simply returns to its source."

"Do you believe that?" Ryan asked.

"Well God did create the Watchers, and a Watcher created the Seirim. God claims to have created mortals too, but I cannot say if that is true or not. The entity that we call God predates the oldest of us, so it is very hard to say. There are fallen deities that might know the truth, entities who were roaming the earth even further back in time, but they have since faded from memory and likely existence. There are surely one or two still surviving amongst the legions of greater demons who recall the truth, but they would be nigh impossible to find. Perhaps you could ask Gamori to use her powers of prescience to find the answer, but I would not advise it."

"Why not?"

"You must only ever ask of a demon what you need, not what you merely desire," Nahash warned. "Using them to sate your curiosity may well invite a terrible retribution."

He didn't press the issue. After what had happened with Vapula, terrible retributions weren't very high on his to-do list.

"Heed my advice Ryan," she continued, "it is best not to let your mind dwell on such things. You'll have your answer eventually, one way or another. Live in the moment and enjoy what the world has to offer," she said as she gestured towards her sisters, the Seirim still indulging in their games and revelry.

Ryan finished the last of the grapes and watched as a monarch butterfly landed on Nahash's knee, flapping its wings, the beautiful markings flashing in the light of the setting sun.

"It'll be night soon," he grumbled, "we'd best get moving."

"Do you feel up to it?"

"It's not like I have much of a choice."

He knew that she must sense his fear and his apprehension, but she held her tongue, perhaps not wanting to embarrass him. There was a time to pry, and there was a time to just let him deal with it. As he rose to his feet, he felt her arms around his waist, and he fell backwards into her embrace. She pulled him tight against her voluptuous body, the meat of her breasts molding around his head like melting plastic, her thighs trapping him as she closed her legs around him. Her warm breath blew in his hair as she nuzzled, Ryan feeling a familiar dulling of his senses begin to come over him.

"Nahash," he grumbled, "what are you doing? We should prepare for the ritual, the sun has almost set."

"We have a few minutes yet," she whispered, stroking his reddening cheek with her fingers. "Relax, quieten your thoughts for a time. It will do no good to bring this tension into the summoning circle with you. Meditate a while, won't you?"

"If you insist..."

He let the waves of relaxation wash over him, Nahash's manipulative magick working all the better when he just submitted to it. The knot of tension in his gut began to untwist itself, his furrowed brow smoothing out and his breathing becoming deep and regular. She wasn't putting him to sleep, it didn't make him feel tired, but she made him feel as if all of the worry and apprehension was melting out of his body like sweat through his pores.

He knew that it wasn't real, that this feeling wouldn't last, but he resolved to enjoy it for as long as he could all the same. Nahash was right, after all. He needed to be of sound mind to perform a summoning, confident and collected. Hesitation and doubt might be exploited by a demon to nefarious ends.

The subtle paunch of her belly cushioned him as he lay back against her, feeling her claw-like nails comb his hair, the Seirim scratching his scalp in the way that she knew he liked. Pleasant shivers traveled down his spine as colorful butterflies orbited around them, their wings flashing in shades of blue and orange as they caught the dwindling glow of the sunset. From the grass sprouted plants, drawn to her magick, or perhaps a byproduct of it. Green stalks rose from the earth to sprout colorful flowers, some of the insects landing atop them to sample their nectar, beetles with iridescent shells emerging from the undergrowth as if answering some kind of summons. It was as though the very forest itself was coming alive around her, reaching out to touch her.

"Be calm," she whispered, her voice musical and hypnotic. "We have but a solitary moment, savor it. It is a microcosm of life, fleeting and temporary, but you can enjoy its beauty all the same."

She was right, it really was beautiful. The sky looked like a painter's canvas. What few fluffy clouds still lingered were stained in shades of pink and orange, the brightest stars just becoming visible. The moon almost didn't look real, partially obscured by the atmosphere as if it was overlaid on top of it.

The wildflowers that had sprouted around her waved gently in the breeze, purple foxgloves and yellow daisies breaking up the green sea, along with blood red flowers that he couldn't name. There were white ones too, blue ones, most of them crawling with honeybees and monarch butterflies. It was oddly entertaining to watch the bugs flit about, hopping from flower to flower.

It surprised him in some ways that Nahash could appreciate such things. He would have expected a creature that had been alive for so many thousands of years to experience time very differently. Days must seem like seconds to them, months would turn to minutes, and they would grow bored of such mundanities. But that was not the case at all.

She was an avatar of nature, of fertility and reproduction, her great longevity only seeming to grow her fondness for the life that spawned around her. Although her existence had spanned more than five millennia, she was still able to live in the moment, able to appreciate each and every second as if it existed in a perfect vacuum. It was a wisdom that he hoped to learn, one that seemed increasingly relevant the more his life was put in jeopardy.

He wondered idly how such a kind and gentle creature could be considered a demon. She was born of Azazel, a great and terrible beast, but she certainly didn't take after her father. Who had her mother been? She had been human, he knew that much, as procreation between Watchers and mortals had been one of the reasons for the rebellion against God. At least that's what was written in the book of Enoch.

Had Azazel done it for love, to protect his wife and children from unjust retribution, or had he set out from the beginning to pervert and to sow disarray? The creature was impossible to get a read on, who knew what its motivations were or what it wanted. In either case, a creature that was so often described as being the very embodiment of sin and evil had raised daughters that were innocent and loving, at one with nature.

They sat in silence for a short while, Ryan taking her advice and just letting her empathic magic do its work, enjoying the natural beauty along with the feminine wiles of his companion.

The last rays of the setting sun dipped beneath the horizon, twilight descending over the grove, and he knew that it was time. The peaceful vibes left him, his dull mind beginning to sharpen as Nahash's magick waned and Ryan once again felt apprehension knotting his guts. His companion released him from her grasp, and he stood, feeling like he was leaving the confines of his warm bed to start a day of taxing work.

"I guess we should get this over with," he grumbled, brushing himself off. "Is the circle still good to go?"

"I'll have my sisters check it again, but I don't think that it has been disturbed," she replied. She stood, towering over Ryan due to her eight-foot stature, the insects that had taken refuge in her gnarled horns scattering as she disturbed them. She had a determined expression on her face.

"Let's put a little more thought into the contract this time," Ryan suggested as he turned to look up at her. "I have paper and a pen in my bag, we should write it all down and make sure that it's ironclad. I don't want to be subjected to another loophole."

She nodded, then waved her hand, the beeswax candles that they had prepared for the first summoning springing to life. The flames crackled in the darkness as they ringed the circle, casting long, dancing shadows across the grass.

Ryan was afraid that the makeshift nature of the summoning might once again anger the entity that they were about to invoke, but there was nothing for it. They had no choice, this was the best that they could do with the materials that were available to them. If only he could take a shower, if only he could draw the protective triangles on something other than tree bark...

He dispelled the doubts from his mind. He had to put on a stoic front right now, he had to be in control. So many of these demons were wild creatures, untamed, like wolves. He had to show dominance, he had to maintain control over them.

The choice was simple. Die a fiery death at the claws of Haures, or brave the circle and wrest back control of the situation.

CHAPTER 7: ARABIAN NIGHT

It took them maybe an hour, but together they were able to come up with a contract that looked pretty solid. At least on paper. There were clauses to account for every eventuality that they could think of, from doing any form of physical harm or inflicting any level of pain or discomfort, to employing psychological tactics to terrorize him. It remained to be seen if the demon would be able to find any loopholes in the document that it could exploit.

Ryan moved over to where his rucksack was lying on the ground, a few books and sundries strewn about nearby, and knelt to collect his equipment. He donned all of the necessary wards and seals, picking up the large, leather-bound copy of the Lesser Key so that he could read the incantations from it. As he made his way back over to the salt summoning circle, he was careful not to disturb the pieces of bark that made up the protective triangle, stepping gingerly into its confines. If even one of those chalk lines was slightly out of place, it might expose him to demonic attack. His armor of wards had to be flawless, as it was the only thing standing between him and hostile entities that could make a meal out of his soul. After his encounter with Vapula, he had learned firsthand that not all demons were as benevolent towards their summoner as Orobas had been.

He looked around, ensuring that the Seirim had all retreated to the border of the forest, out of the line of fire. Ryan couldn't be sure if one demon would attack another as they would an unprotected mortal, but it was best to take precautions. The last thing he wanted was for something to happen to one of Nahash's sisters, she would be distraught.

His companion was standing a little closer to the circle, ready to provide assistance if something should go badly wrong.

He took in a deep breath of the cool night air, steeling himself as he opened the heavy book, the light from the moon and stars bright enough to read by. The candles flickered on the breeze, the chirping of crickets the only sound besides the hammering of his heart. He couldn't stall any longer, it was time to get this shit done.

"Thee I invoke, the Bornless one. Thee that didst create the Earth and the Heavens, thee that didst create the night and the day, thee that didst create the darkness and the light. Thou art Osorronophris, whom no man has seen at any time. Thou art Jäbas, thou art Jäpos, thou hast distinguished between the just and the unjust. Thou didst make the female and the male, thou didst produce the seed and the fruit, thou didst form men to love one another and to hate one another..."