Ascension: Invocation (23 page)

“And other ‘soul groups’ have different vessels?” Milan continued.

“Of course.”

“And I would imagine that in other dimensions, you don’t need a vessel at all?”

“This is correct. Only in the third is it required. Still, it is generally considered polite to make one’s presence known and a vessel is the preferred method.” Sariana still had blood stains on her skin from the incident downstairs. The doctor began to wipe her arms and face clean with handi-wipes.

“Does it have to be a human body?” Charles asked.

“I don’t understand?”

“I mean, could you occupy a dead dog’s body?”

“I suppose I could. I’m not sure it would work, physiologically speaking, unless I were trying to communicate with other dogs. I wonder, would you listen to a talking dog?”

The room was silent for a moment and then a wave of agreement developed. “Yes. I think I might. That would be pretty extraordinary,” Milan said.

Alicia thought so as well. “That wouldn’t have been a terrible idea. It would have really got your point across quick. I would have put that on TV right away.” Everyone nodded.

“And you’d be perfectly okay with your grand-daughter being a talking dog?” Sariana asked.

“That’s better. You’re such a pretty girl,” the doctor pronounced as she gently brushed Sariana’s hair from her face. “And, she is alive,” she smiled as she returned to her seat.

“So, you can just will a dead body alive?” the General wondered.

“Yes,” Sariana’s patience was wearing thin. “I truly understand your curiosity and the need for these questions but you must know that we are wasting an incredible amount of time.”

“You said that time was inconsequential,” Alicia said.

Sariana gave her grandmother a brutal look. “Not here. This isn’t the same.”

"I’m sorry,” Milan said. “There is a level of skepticism in the room and I apologize. The truth is, I believe that the man who tried to kill Ms. Parker died a few days ago; that his body was, in fact, ‘possessed’. I think we have to accept the possibility that what she’s telling us is the truth."

“Okay, let’s assume that’s the case for a moment, Milan,” Charles said. “Why didn’t Newbury kill Ms. Parker? If he’d been possessed... if he was a vessel for two days, he had ample time to track her down.”

“He wasn’t after her,” Sariana answered. “Not initially. He wanted me. The rebellion of souls will occur and The Humans know this. It is predetermined but it will be much smaller and ineffective. What is different about this timeline above all others is the appearance of my soul. It appears that they were expecting me as well, however.”

“So, you didn’t exactly save my life?” Alicia asked.

“What?”

“That was really more about self-preservation back there.”

“Yes. Well, it was both. I’m sorry if you thought otherwise... I guess.”

“What exactly are your orders, young lady?” General Ramsey inquired.

“I was to return to this timeline and trigger the Queen...”

“She said some word and apparently I was supposed to wake up,” Alicia explained.

“Quasihemdemisemiquaver.”

“Yeah. Still nothing.”

“What do you mean ‘wake up’?” the General asked. “So, Ms. Parker is some sort of sleeper agent?”

“She is the Grand Queen Alicia of the Third Order of Lucifer. This is all her plan.”

Apparently, not everyone knew. It seemed to Alicia that the room, even those familiar with Sariana’s prior broadcast, collectively raised an eyebrow at her. “I just... she...” Alicia stammered, sighed and then resigned herself to the embarrassment. “Yeah.”

“Upon her awakening, there was to begin an enlightenment of yours, the Third Order of Souls. The Exalted One would then lead us to the Souls of the Second Order. Thereafter, it was our hope that your souls, together with theirs, would then rise to join the resistance of the Human ascension. Once the omniverse has stabilized, we want the souls of our ancestors returned; the lost souls of Lucifer. The Humans have held them captive since the fraction.”

“This has gone from an intriguing bit of science to new age mythology,” Charles protested, apparently still not convinced of any of this.

“The Humans were clearly aware of the Luciferian Preemptive. To stop it, they have altered this timeline, begun the Exodus early. I was not to arrive in your world for many more years. I crossed amidst the beginning of a catastrophic war that took us all by surprise. I was not prepared for what I found. The Humans have changed everything. That’s why the trigger didn’t work and that’s why you’re confused. Your own history in this world and your religious scriptures don’t even make sense anymore. They have purposely scrambled your perception of reality. The Humans want you to question everything. They don’t want you to react. They want you to waste time until it’s too late. At present, you are following their plan to the letter.”

“Who is this Exalted One?” the General asked.

“It’s the DJ,” Alicia said. “Graham Barry.”

“We must speak with him,” Sariana urged.

“You still think that she can wake him up?” the General asked, referring to Alicia.

“I don’t think so. She doesn’t have this knowledge and I can’t provide it to her. But, we can urge him to resist the ascension. Without him, I believe that we will have failed.”

“What makes him special?” Milan had been curious about this from the beginning.

“The Exalted One is an old soul, born of Lucifer. He is one of the most esteemed warriors in the omniverse.”

Milan nodded. “The voice said that they would look forward to his return...”

“Graham Barry? The drunk DJ?” General Ramsey laughed.

“Great and ancient Luciferian warrior souls have been held captive in your world for an eternity,” Sariana said sternly. “They have lived among you but with amnesia. Soon they will wake from this slumber. And you will wish dearly to have them fight beside you, to lead you, rather than to oppose you.”

“I thought we were the ghoulish ones,” the General said with an uncomfortable chuckle.

“Your greatest military minds have been sheer buffoons in comparison. Imagine Sun Tzu, Surovov, Hannibal Barca, von Manstein and Napoleon. Combine their incomparable skill and unmitigated genius on the battlefield; encompass it in one soul. Now, think of thousands of those Generals with a colossal Army at their disposal. Each soldier holds within their soul the amalgamation of Ivan the Terrible, Josef Mengele, Ed Gein, Gilles de Rais, Countess Elizabeth Báthory de Ecsed; the most brutal and terrifying killers of your world, both real and imagined. Their orders, General, are to show no restraint, no mercy or compromise; and to bring their conquerors the unblemished face of God so that these masters may know sovereignty beyond the comprehension of all that has ever existed and all that shall ever be. This is what I am begging you to help me stop. You might begin to take this seriously.”

With that, as one might expect, the conversation ended abruptly.



Afterwards, a lengthy and private conference call ensued between the General and his superiors. In the interim, Alicia commandeered one of the computers in the office and searched the web for “Princess Sariana”. Hal was right. She was quite popular. Most of the fan pages and websites that had sprung up during the day were dedicated to the fact that Sariana was "hot." It appeared that a lot of teenage boys had crushes on her and Alicia suspected some creepy pedophiles too. A few sites actually took what the girl had said seriously with some citing correlations in her speech with ancient texts, thereby proving her worthy of consideration.

Sariana, meanwhile, continued to pace and twitch at any random sound in the hallway beyond the office’s closed door. “We should just go,” she said. “Any one of these people could be Human. This is far too dangerous.”

“The same can be said for the world outside these walls, Sariana.” Alicia too felt uneasy but she knew that simply walking out of the house would be practically impossible. Further, being at Ground Zero was not without its advantages. “Hopefully, the General will return with good news. Plus, the DJ should be returning to this very building soon. You’ll finally have your opportunity to speak with him.” Alicia had also been thinking of a plan C. “We might be able to broadcast your message right here. Everyone in the world is listening to this radio station.”

Sariana walked slowly to the head of the desk where Alicia had just confidently given her speech of logic and reason. Her voice deepened and those eyes of green bore into Alicia’s grey pools. “We, higher ascended souls, require the use of your vessels to cross. The Humans are undeniably in better control of this timeline than I. Roughly, one hundred and fifty five thousand vessels expire in your plane per day. That’s six thousand, four hundred and sixty vessels per hour, over one hundred vessels per minute; about two people per second. It’s been two days since my presence was announced in this dimension. Normally, in a small community of souls such as this, our odds would be relatively good that only a small percentage of the population would be Human. The mass migration of souls to this city in light of the rip, makes those odds considerably more unnerving. The fact that the murder and suicide rate worldwide is increasing exponentially due to mass panic...”

“I understand,” Alicia said. She hadn’t thought about it in this way. Sariana was right.

General Ramsey and Milan entered the room in a hurry. “Okay. Good news,” the General announced. “My superiors have agreed to take your deposition to the Presidential cabinet. Now, I can’t make any promises but if they make a compelling case, it...”

“When will the President reverse his proclamation about the rain?” Sariana wanted to know.

“He’s going to need to be briefed. He’ll have to study your allegations versus the fact that our scientists have found no harmful contagions in the moisture itself...”

“How long will this take?!”

The General paused. “I don’t know.”

“General...” Alicia began to protest.

“I know, I know. Look, for what it’s worth... Sariana, I’m starting to believe you. I’ve said from the beginning that this didn’t feel right to me...”

“You command the souls here, do you not?” Sariana asked.

“When will the DJ be coming back? We need to talk to him,” Alicia interrupted.

“He should be back any minute now. You can talk to him when he arrives. Yes.”

Alicia lobbied for the rest of plan C. “In the meantime, can we use this radio frequency to spread Sariana’s message? General, the people need to know all sides of this story.”

He thought for a moment. “Would the Humans even let you do that? Aren’t they in control of this broadcast?”

Alicia looked to Sariana for an answer. “I don’t know,” she said. “We can try.”

All at once, a forceful and loud concussion was heard outside the old house. The building shook. Loose plaster from the walls and ceiling of the antique home gently drifted to the floor and dusted the hair and clothes of everyone in the room. The General immediately reached for the radio on his belt.

“What the hell was that?” he shouted into the mic.

A moment later another voice shot back surrounded by noise and panicked bystanders, “Appears to have been some sort of bomb, sir. I’m guessing a suicide mission of some kind. There’s nothing left of the guy that I can see. I’m trying to get closer.”

Sariana spoke seriously to Alicia. “They’re launching an assault.”

“How many other casualties?”

“Uh... everyone seems to be fine. Medics are looking for injured.”

“That was a hell of an explosion, Lieutenant. You’re telling me nobody got hurt?”

“Well, here’s a guy... he looks pretty bad. But he’s standing up.” Another voice could be heard in the distance. “Are you sure? Sit down and let him look you over. No. Just sit down. This guy says he’s fine, General. I’m going to keep looking...”

“They’re entering vessels,” Sariana shouted. “We must go now.”

“What? What do you mean?” the General asked.

“The bomb was detonated to free vessels for the Humans to occupy. They’re coming for us. We’re leaving now. No more delays.” Sariana bolted out the door and began making her way toward the fire escape down the hall.

“I’m going, General,” Alicia announced and rose to follow her.

“Where will you go?”

“To the network. We’ll get her message out there. Find us and bring the Exalted One when he arrives.” Alicia called out down the hallway. “Sariana! I’m on my way. Hold on.”

“I’ll come with you,” Milan volunteered.

“You’re needed here, Doctor,” said Ramsey.

“I believe her too. I might be able to explain the science of things to Sariana’s audience. I might lend some... credibility.”

Alicia had a thought. “Can you get me photos of everyone near the blast?” She quickly wrote down her cell phone number. “Have your teams text me photos of anyone hurt in the explosion.”

The General nodded and paused only momentarily. “You’ll need a weapon.” He handed Alicia his sidearm. “We’ll join you as soon as we get this situation under control.” Alicia and Milan rushed to join Sariana down the hall. “Do you want my men to escort you?” the General called out.