Tablet of Destinies (42 page)

We'll be seeing you, Dragon,
said Ninharsag quietly and Enki smiled.

‘Phase one, complete.'

 

It was a howling wind that met them as they entered the world above, but the deeper they moved into the forest the more hospitable the conditions became. Incus, the hunter, led their party, as he knew a route to the eastern mountain ranges and the valley where their transport awaited.

When they arrived, Marduk's presence was an unexpected surprise.

‘Come to wish me farewell?' Adama queried his Nefilim brother, but, judging from the dark look on Marduk's face, Adama doubted that very much.

‘In a fashion,' the Lord replied, as six Nefilim guards filed out of the awaiting craft to stand behind him. ‘Who's the smart one now, Adama?'

‘No!' Kya backed up in fear, but Geebo grabbed her close to whisper: ‘I will kill us both before they touch you again.' He showed her a device he had attached to his wrist and Kya actually smiled.

‘Where do you think you are going with my women?' Marduk queried smugly. ‘At least, Kya and Eve belong to me, and the others I shall make mine.'

Adama nearly died where he stood and Eve's head had dropped low. ‘You were the other sister? Eve?'

‘I was hoping you would never have to know … but of course, my Lord knew that.' Eve raised her head to look Marduk in the eye. ‘Our misadventure is not the reason you are here —'

‘Misadventure? I cared for you!' Marduk roared.

‘There was no care in what took place between us,' Eve stated bitterly. ‘If you want to know what love truly feels like,' she moved towards him and held out her hand, ‘I dare you to take hold.'

Marduk was reluctant to take up her challenge, but seeing that she was keen, he'd just rape her before he killed her.

‘No, Eve … what are you doing?' Adama moved to retrieve her, only to find himself held at bay by Marduk's will.

‘Teach me, Eve.' Marduk pulled her close, his eyes revelling in his brother's agitation.

Eve stood, uncaring of the Nefilim Lord's groping of her body. Her eyes were closed in silent repose.

Adama couldn't watch, but could not turn away either. Behind Marduk his guards raised their hands, ready to will a gruesome death upon his brothers and sisters.

‘Stop thinking about him!' Marduk unexpectedly threw Eve to the ground. ‘I know what you're trying to do.' Tears of fury sprang from the Lord's eyes. ‘And it won't work. I
will
kill you. Finish them all.' He gave his guards leave to go to the slaughter. He held his own right hand out towards Eve's chest to extract her heart.

From behind Adama came the aggravated growl of Samson approaching ramming speed. The warrior went charging past him, with his arms spread wide for maximum impact.

Marduk waved a hand in Samson's direction, and was stunned when the warrior just kept coming, sending him and several of his subordinates crashing to the ground. The next thing Marduk knew he was being headbutted repeatedly.

Adama and his brothers followed the example set by Samson and charged the few guards still standing, wailing as they went. Geebo pulled a handheld device from one of the many pockets of his robe and quickly went about prodding the downed Nefilim with it.

As Kya followed Geebo, watching the Nefilim guards suddenly freeze still, she chuckled with delight. ‘Can I do Marduk?' she pleaded, and Geebo passed the item to her.

As Kya took care of the remaining opposition, Samson arose from his headbutting fit, a little dazed but still coherent. ‘What a handy item,' he commented, relieved.

‘Nefilim use it for stunning the larger beasts they have created,' Geebo informed. ‘It has a very temporary effect on the Nefilim, I'm afraid.'

‘Best hit them all again then, just in case.' Kya gleefully took off with the device to zap all the Nefilim again.

Adama helped Eve to her feet. ‘Are you hurt?'

‘Not any more,' she replied, calmly. ‘You?'

‘I don't know the meaning of the word,' Adama assured her with a kiss.

‘You make me sick.' Marduk squeezed out the words, struggling to free himself from the effects of the stun gun.

‘I think just the opposite is true.' Eve crouched beside him. ‘I think we make you feel better and that is detrimental to your current lifestyle.'

‘What happened to all the good in you, Marduk?' Adama crouched beside him also.

‘I grew up. I got serious,' he advised, forcing one arm free as Kya came racing over to hit the Lord again.

‘No, don't.' Adama put her off. ‘We may as well be done with this now.'

‘What?' Kya stressed.

‘He'll only follow us —' Adama was clutched around the neck so tight he couldn't breathe. Immediately, he looked to Eve and allowed the tenderness and warmth he felt for her to flood his senses. It wasn't long before Adama's air began flowing once more as Marduk cast his brother to the ground.

‘Goddamn it, go! Get away from me,' Marduk snarled, as he was again forced to wipe tears from his own eyes. ‘I'll tell Enlil I blew up your ship.'

Eve urged Adama to rise before Marduk changed his mind.

‘Enlil will want to see wreckage,' Adama pointed out, for how could he know that Marduk hadn't planted an explosive device on their vessel?

The question aggravated the young Lord. ‘So … I shall have to
arrange
some,' he stated, as if Adama was rubbing salt into his wound. ‘Are you trying to change my mind?
Go
, and good riddance to you both!'

Eve had begun dragging Adama towards the ship, and he was left with no choice but to trust that destiny had opened Marduk's heart to their cause. ‘Do you think we might have heightened my brother's awareness of emotion?'

Eve guessed her lover's concern, for she had been entertaining the notion herself and had no desire to be blown up. ‘There is only one way we shall ever know,' she replied. And with a brave smile of encouragement, Eve accompanied Adama onto their transport.

 

The vision of the past was consumed by a sensation of being submerged in a loving, cleansing fire where the individual soul-mind mingled with the perfect oneness of all creation. This all-consuming state spoke with a choral voice of Otherworldly beings, more beautiful and harmonious to the spirit than the song of the Tylwyth Teg.

Is there one or many lights burning around you?
the primordial host asked.

I sense infinite lights threaded together inside one glorious flame,
replied the soul, who aspired to an enlightened state.

A truthful insight,
granted the celestial fire.
Fohat, the vital motivating force of creation, flows freely through you now. Look within to the light that burns within your being. Do you find it different to the light that burns inside any manifested body?

Difference has no meaning,
the aspirant realised.
It is only karma that deludes the uninitiated into believing soul and desire is an individual experience. The divine spark inside each living molecule is but a jewel strung loosely on the thread of Fohat, which binds all into the cosmic web of the universal heart. To serve the illusion of individual ego is to deny Fohat's influence. Only through aiding others can we strengthen our ties with our higher self to whom Fohat endeavours to keep us bound.

You understand that the link with Fohat can be broken… for braving the lower realms of existence to aid with the creation of a perfect emotional being, some less developed mental beings have paid the ultimate price.

The warm cleansing sensation withdrew as darkness and cold consumed the initiate. Not even thought had movement here, just a waking, dense nothingness prevailed. The dreaded fires of Hell would have been a welcome relief from this perpetual night, which inspired a horrid paranoid terror to pour from the core of the soul-mind from whence love and warmth once radiated.

Could any enlightened being wish this upon itself?

Thought being the pilot of the vehicle of Fohat, the soul-mind was once more embraced by the euphoric joy of enlightened existence.

Praise be to the Universe!
The aspirant revelled in the light and love flowing into its being via the channel provided by Fohat.
I know what must be done to save us.

 

The image inside the Tablet of Destinies faded out and Maelgwn was released from his trance state.

The Tablet shrank in size and re-formed into a small pyramid pendant, which Sacha retrieved from mid-air and re-attached to the chain about his neck.
Now you are ready to settle the karmic debt with the Nefilim,
the male Deva smiled. He could tell by the light glowing from Maelgwn's eyes that the Dragon had been touched by the divine inspiration of Fohat.

Maelgwn rubbed his eyes and took a few deep breaths. The past-life regression had been very enlightening, but the explosion of energies that had followed far surpassed any otherworldly experience he'd ever had. ‘How long until we reach Nibiru?' Maelgwn was more eager than ever to find his missing wife and evacuate the planet that was under threat of annihilation. His delving into the past had also revealed that without Tory, and the love that bound them together, Maelgwn could eventually cease to exist himself.

Have no fear,
Sacha assured.
Nergal is close at hand.
He pointed out the front shield to the bright aquamarine planet beyond.

‘Why are we approaching Kila?' Maelgwn stood, inspired by the sight of his home planet.

‘Because that's where Nergal is,' Sacha advised. ‘Attempting to flush your resistance out of hiding.'

‘Not for long.' Maelgwn was unfazed when he spied the Pantheon fleet parked just beyond Kila's
atmosphere. ‘It's judgement day for the Nefilim … may Anu be with them and have mercy on their darkening souls.'

 

The Creation Station shut down. The Sensor-sphere data ceased to flow from the mound and the outer sphere dispelled. Noah's body descended to a standing position on the floor, before the inner light cylinder withdrew into the small charichalum dome overhead. The formation around Noah lowered its arms to lay flat in the mosaic on the floor, leaving the scholar unwavering in his stance.

That had been the last of the twelve stations the Sensor-sphere had to offer. No more information would ever be required.

Noah raised his eyes to see his wife and Gywn ap Nudd gazing at him with bated breath.

Rebecca gasped as she noticed the whites of her husband's eyes; they now shone with the radiance of an enlightened being.

‘The Lord Enki was not the prophet whose scripture we seek,' Noah informed. ‘His soothsaying was hearsay, quoted in the main from the works of Adapa, a collection of my first soul-mind's foresight.'

At the time in question, the Lord had no choice but to claim the prophecy as his own.
Gwyn defended the ascended Lord.
For if Enlil had ever suspected that Adapa was capable of such knowledge, the God would have defied Anu to kill the Sage and his consort.

Rebecca, having yet to take the last lesson, couldn't follow their mumbling and didn't care to. She had greater concerns. ‘You went all the way back then, to Edin?'

Noah nodded surely. ‘And then some.'

‘And do you now know the entire prophecy of Lahmu?' Rebecca pushed for information, as this particular prophecy had been one of the main reasons behind their quest.

‘I certainly should.' He raised his eyebrows to stress his claim: ‘I wrote it.'

N
oah had come full circle from Edin, to this, his Chosen incarnation; to a place where he'd developed and grown to such a state of being that he could remember and comprehend, in a waking state, all that his higher self endured to reach this moment of human enlightenment.

Noah smiled as he dwelt on his verse, for it sounded remarkably similar to the text of many an ancient prophet; text that had once read like a complete mystery to the historian before now. The ascended High Merlin of ancient Briton, Taliesin, had written one such verse after his own accidental spiritual advancement in the labs of Keridwen, or Ninharsag, as she was formerly known.

The connection Noah had established with the Logoi had not dissipated with the Sensor-sphere transmission either. Every adversity unfolding in the material world suddenly seemed beneficial and made perfect sense. Noah truly understood what it was to be a Master of reality.

From the Otherworldly fortress in which the Sensorsphere had been erected by the Lord Enki to store the ancient knowledge from the dangers of the physical realm, Noah projected his thoughts back into the macrocosm to advise his kindred of the prophecy he'd rediscovered.

‘Noah,' uttered Brian, upon hearing the scholar's words in his mind, and gazing around his council table it seemed that Cadwell, Neriada and Taylnn were picking up the telepathic communication too.

‘Did I miss something?' Rhun queried his people about their sudden vagueness and disinterest in the defence strategy for Nugia.

‘Shh!' they all barked at the Vice-Governor at once.

Those Chosen who had remained in the hidden underground base to defend Kila were about to launch a major defensive, to prevent tankers full of toxic waste being emptied into the pristine oceans of their planet.

Enlil had had the tankers flown in from the usual dumping ground in deep space, especially for the purpose of luring Lahmu out of hiding.

Everyone in the underground control centre, more commonly known as ‘the pit', began to panic when their commander and Governess, Candace Alexander, their communications technology guru, Floyd and the now acting Head of Defence and long-time munitions development supervisor, Ethan, went into a trance.

Candace was conscious of her people awaiting her word, but the prophetic verse of the historian resounding through her brain had such vivid images accompanying it that even the impending disaster could not snatch her
attention away from the soothsaying. For she felt her own primordial memory and inner power being quickened by the telepathic transference.

‘Shit!' Rhiannon cursed. Inside the KEPA base in the Shutura Crevice, three of her key staff turned into zombies. ‘I've lost Bo, Jen and Robin, here,' she advised her husband via her headset-link to HQ, where Cadwallon, the Chief Justice, had assumed control.

‘That's your communications officer and both heads of marine defence, Rhiannon.' He attempted to reason with his wife, knowing that she would fight this battle alone, if need be, to save her beloved planet. ‘I don't see how we can proceed without them … we'll just have to trust they'll snap out of it,
soon
.'

‘The timing is too perfect,' Rhiannon argued. ‘What if this trance is some new Nefilim form of warfare?'

‘No, Rhiannon,' Robin managed to mumble, ‘it's Noah. We're okay.'

‘But Robin —'

‘Shh!' All three of her subordinates hushed her to silence.

This made Rhiannon furious, but, as she'd been taught from birth to trust the universe in such situations, she took a deep breath to do just that. ‘Alright, we'll wait,' she confirmed to Cadwallon, and wondered why
the hell she hadn't been made privy to the historian's message, when she was one of the undisputed masters of telepathic communication among her kin.

‘Swan?' Hawk was concerned for Tory, as she suddenly clammed up mid-sentence and became entranced by her own thoughts. Nobody else at the royal banquet had noticed.

‘I recognise that voice,' she uttered under her breath, her eyes closing with the deep relief she felt.
Adapa
, she called in her mind across time to the Sage who had stayed behind in Edin to record the secrets of the ages. The memory of her life in ancient times came flooding back to her with perfect clarity — if only she could have remembered her current life as clearly.

 

Maelgwn's vessel had requested and been granted permission to land on Kila. As his ship touched down on the landing pad, the vision being projected into Maelgwn's mind came to match the vision on the screen before him. The screen showed the external world outside the spaceship.

Many of Nergal's army of Falcon guards were formed along both sides of a path that led from the Dragon's vessel and all the way across the three island rings that surrounded the central island of Chailida.

Maelgwn's eyes opened wide as he emerged from his trance. ‘Message received loud and clear,' he smiled, realising Noah had found the Creation Station and been made privy to the lost knowledge of the Sage of Eridu.

The exit hatchway opened, and Maelgwn descended the ramp onto the thoroughfare that had been arranged to lead him straight to Nergal. The two Devas floated along behind the Dragon, and their presence mystified the guards that lined the way to Nergal.

 

Tory gasped, her eyes wide open although she saw nothing of the banquet hall in which she sat. ‘I know where he is.'

‘Who, Swan?' Hawk lowered his voice as Ningal was starting to take an interest in Tory's odd behaviour.

‘The Dragon,' she replied, tears streaming down her face as the image of Maelgwn bravely striding down the pathway lined with armed guards, faded. ‘I should be there with him.' She felt it in her bones and she buried her face in her hands to hide her tears of shame and guilt.

Why should you be there?
Ningal queried the white Falcon woman.
Odd?
Ningal commented to Hawk, when there came no answer from Tory.
Those of the Falcon kind aren't usually psychic.

Hawk wanted to curse the fact that he had no comeback. Now that the truth was known, he would surely be excluded from the ex-Governess' company before long.

Tory could not have cared less that her cover was blown. ‘Would you help me find this place I see?' Tory raised her teary eyes to Hawk, fearing she was asking too much of him.

But Hawk only gazed at her, speechless a moment. ‘The whites of your eyes are … glowing!'

Show me.
Ningal directed her sobbing guest to look her way and when the Goddess saw that Hawk spoke the truth, she was taken aback, but relieved. Ningal leant closer to her husband, whose interest had been struck and uttered aside to him.
The Sage has opened the channel … it won't be long now.

‘Channel?' Tory was immediately intrigued. ‘What channel? It won't be long until what?'

Where is the Dragon?
Ningal inquired, ignoring Tory's pleas for information.
Was he on Kila?

Tory hesitated, not knowing if she could trust the alien woman — she was completely unaware they had aided each other to victory once before.

Answer me woman. It is most important,
the dark-haired Goddess insisted.

‘Important to whom?' Tory thought to ask.

To all creation,
Ningal replied seriously, before falling quiet to receive her answer.

‘It was an island city, encompassed by several ringed islands and canals —'

Kila,
Ningal concluded, looking to Narnar.
He's delivering the ultimatum to Nergal.

Nergal will not accept the terms,
Narnar feared.
This war has a way to go yet.

‘I must get to him.' Tory resumed her true form, as everyone seemed to be ignoring her, and thus managed to secure the attention of her hosts and that of the entire assembly.

All you need do is think of your husband and you can will yourself to his side,
Ningal advised.

‘No, Grandmother!' Asher came charging forth. He now had a young dark-haired lass with him, who was roughly the same age. Unbeknownst to Tory this was her daughter's daughter, Ragan.

‘Not even we Chosen can project ourselves beyond the radius of any given star system and Kila is light-years away from here,' Ragan advised, eyeing the Nefilim Goddess with contempt and suspicion.

And who taught you Chosen this?
Ningal challenged the girl.
We Nefilim. True, most of the Chosen cannot employ such skill, but then most of your kind don't have a
direct link with your soul-source. That light exuding from your grandmother's eyes is the life force of the cosmos saturating her subtle bodies, filling them with the vital essence of creation.

‘Through right action, thought and deed, the universe supports our every …' Tory mumbled, recalling the claim of the prophet.

You know the truth,
Ningal surmised.
The question is not how much you trust me, but how much you trust the Sage?

Tory looked at Hawk. She had never seen him so bewildered. Still, as he was the one being she did trust, she needed to know his view on all this.

‘I know nothing of cosmology.' Hawk was finding it hard to speak with the great emotional lump that was forming in his throat. ‘However …' He had to think about whether he wanted to give an encouraging response, as he wasn't ready to let his Goddess go yet. ‘Being that you were born in an asteroid field, a bit of space curvature certainly shouldn't pose too much of a threat.' He attempted humour and then shrugged. ‘For what it's worth, I believe that you are capable of achieving anything you put your mind to, Tory Alexander.'

Tory knew how hard it was for Hawk to be positive, in this instance, and she wished she could drag him off to a quiet corner somewhere to talk out their dilemma, or at least say goodbye. ‘I cannot simply plead ignorance of my responsibilities any more.' She took a stab at an explanation. ‘And, as much as I desire to, I cannot keep running from myself.'

Hawk nodded, for he could not verbalise his feelings without making his hurt plain to all.

‘No fear,' said the dark-haired girl. ‘That's what you always say, Grandmother. Fear is the killer of will, and will is the tool with which we carve our dreams on the face of reality.'

Tory stared at the girl a second, amazed at the insight into her own self. ‘Thank you for the reminder …' Tory fished for a name.

‘Ragan,' advised the girl. ‘Don't you remember?'

‘No,' said Tory regretfully, ‘but I intend to.'

 

‘Maelgwn is here,' Candace, still mesmerised by Noah, informed Cadwallon, who immediately got his people scanning their hidden surveillance cameras to get a visual.

‘He has landed,' Cadwallon announced. ‘What on earth is he doing? Surely, he's not planning to confront Nergal and half the Pantheon alone!'

‘He's not alone,' Candace advised. ‘The Devas are with him.'

‘Forget about my father,' Rhiannon demanded on the com-link soft-light screen. ‘What about those bloody tankers? We have to ambush them
before
they land!'

‘They're not going to land,' Candace reported, feeling the Dragon's intent as if it were her own. ‘The Dragon has come to claim back Kila.'

‘How could he possibly?' Cadwallon frowned, thinking the fact unlikely without a substantial show of force. ‘And how could you know his intention, any more than I could? We have had no communication from the ex-Governor.'