The Glooming (Wrath of the Old Gods Book 1) (31 page)

Since he had been the only child, Solomon and his team of lawyers maneuvered and manipulated the law to make sure that his mother was kept out of what was left of his father’s fortune. His mother was soon shipped off to a cheap nursing home, where she died penniless and forgotten a few years later. Using the proceeds of his inheritance, Solomon embarked on a worldwide scholarly research for all things esoteric and arcane, to find the secrets of mastering death. Solomon had tried them all. As a teenager, he had met Crowley, who had once been called the Great Beast, as the old English occultist was already dying from the complications of his heroin addiction. Solomon had been able to receive basic instructions on Thelema just before the old prophet finally succumbed to the ravages of time. Later on, he even dabbled in LaVeyan Satanism for a few years, until he realized that it was nothing more than a sham designed to get its practitioners laid more than anything else. Solomon had also a few spent months with Castaneda, learning all he could about the Tensegrity movement, before ultimately dismissing it as made up nonsense. His most promising experience however, was with a group of shadowy occultists of the Temple while he was in Germany. Through them he was able to piece together clues which had led him to the find of an immensely powerful artifact. Soon, he was able to discern the location of the seal of King Solomon, a purported magical ring that was worn by his namesake.

As he continued to stare into the misty emptiness of the alcove, Solomon subconsciously rubbed the brass ring on his right hand and remembered the people that he had to kill in order to get it. He was an old man now, and he knew there wasn’t much time left. But the being had already come once before, just a few weeks ago, and had warned him of the coming tide of destruction that humanity was to face. It was a very short conversation, but it had proven to him that there was indeed another world out there, a place where the spirits and demons that had been thought as nothing more than superstitious nonsense, were all indeed real. All of his sacrifices, all of his efforts, all had been vindicated in the end, and the thought of it gave him renewed energy. Now he needed to take the next step and commune with the being once more, in order to finally unlock the secrets of life and death. He was so close now, a lifetime of exertion was now focused on this one goal, and not even the monsters waiting outside of the door would stop him.

It had been hours since he had gotten up to take a drink of water. Solomon had already lost feeling in both of his legs, but he kept at it, silently chanting the incantations over and over to evoke the being that had revealed itself to him but a few days ago. He had not slept for several days now, but his will kept his eyes open like slits as he continued to stare into the misty alcove. His lips moved silently while he rocked back and forth in order to put some circulation in his deadened legs and feet. His black robes had already been soiled when he could no longer hold his bladder, but he needed to keep up with the ritual as he kept telling himself to chant just one more time, just one more incantation, and the being will come again, it had to come.

For an unknown length of time, Solomon continued his silent invocation until the pain of keeping his eyes open finally made him blink several times, until he ultimately kept them closed and he soon began to drift into a restful slumber.

“Solomon.”

Almost immediately, he opened his eyes. It was the voice. The voice of the being. He remembered the tone and the accent. It was like listening to a million chattering insects all at once. A small, mist-like figure began to form in the alcove.

“Solomon.”

Solomon licked his dry lips. His voice was a croak. “Yes. I am here. I have been chanting for weeks now and I am weak. Very weak.”

“I had other tasks that needed to be done before conversing with you again.”

Solomon felt his body revitalized with renewed energy. “I have questions. I need answers, and I need them right now.”

The misty figure in the alcove began to coalesce. “Of questions that you have, of answers I cannot promise.”

Solomon shifted his hands so that the ring was prominently seen. “I must know! Can you give me renewed life? I am an old man, near death, and I must have more life!”

The being now had the features of an ordinary man as he stood over Solomon. He looked very average in his dark suit, like a Wall Street banker on his way to work. “Of these things, all have a price.”

“Name the price then,” Solomon said. “You want my soul or something?”

The being laughed. “We already have that.”

“What then?”

“More souls, more essences.”

“I have given you five souls over my lifetime,” Solomon said. “Isn’t that enough for five lives?”

“The five requires one more, I like even numerologies.”

Solomon thought about it for a second. “Very well, I shall give you a sixth life.”

“Then with the sixth life paid, you shall be lent six more years,” the spirit said.

“Fine,” Solomon said. “Now I will also need protection, I need to get out of here.”

“You ask an additional bargain.”

“Yes, of course!” Solomon hissed. “What is the point of giving me six more years if the creatures out there will end up destroying me anyway? I need you to protect me from those things.”

“An additional bargain requires an additional payment.”

“What more do you want, another soul?”

“The ones outside require a service of a different kind, for they are of a different pantheon.”

Solomon arched his silver eyebrows. “Those creatures outside, they are not with you?”

“There are many factions in this war. If you want my protection, then I must bargain with them not to harm you.”

Solomon pursed his lips. “From what I heard on the radio, the creatures out there are of the Aztec pantheon then? Are they minions of Xipe Totec, the Flayed God?”

The spirit simply smiled. “Tricksters take many forms.”

“What does that mean?”

“I shall say no more,” the man said. “Lest I anger him, and the Hidden One makes war upon me.”

Solomon narrowed his eyes. There was more to this than he was being led to believe. “Very well then, what is the price for the other bargain?”

“There is … a relic that you must retrieve and bring to the sacred place.”

“What kind of relic?”

“The god inside the tree.”

“What?”

The being began to fidget. “Go to the ancient collection and retrieve the god inside the tree. Bring it to the sacrifice, and commit it to the altar. Once that is done, the Hidden One will grant you safe passage out of the city.”

Solomon took mental notes of what the being said. “Very well, I shall do this. Once the task is done and I give you the sixth life, I would like to make another bargain, this time for power. I want to rule a part of this world as a king.”

The figure began to fade into the hazy mist. “One bargain is agreed upon by me and another agreed upon the Hidden One. Fulfill these bargains firstly and then we shall see….”

Solomon held out a restraining hand. “Wait, I still have more questions!”

“Remember … both bargains.” With that, the being faded into nothingness as the alcove stood empty once more.

Solomon slumped onto the floor. He was exhausted, weak, and hungry, but his mind was racing. He needed to solve the riddles spoken by the demon and he needed to do it now. There was no time for rest. After spending a few minutes catching his breath, Solomon willed himself to stand up and barely succeeded, his knees were wobbling and nearly buckled as he leaned on the side of the wall for support. Limping into the bathroom, he threw off his soiled robes and began to wash himself using the pail of tepid water that had been left there by his manservant since the water mains had stopped working days ago.

A few minutes later, there was a shout that came from the anteroom. “Elliot, get in here!”

Elliot had actually been listening by the door when he heard the master begin to shout, but he wondered who he was talking to since Solomon was obviously all alone in his inner chambers. Quickly getting up from his chair by the door, Elliot immediately straightened his tie to make sure he was presentable, and then he gently turned the lock and peered in.

The master was dressed in a black suit. Although it was clear he was emaciated, Solomon sat down and began to swallow mouthfuls of the cold soup that was sitting on the table. He was hungry and needed fuel. “Move the dresser out of the way from the front door, we’re going out,” he said.

“Yes, master,” Elliot said as he turned around and walked up to the dresser and started to pull it backwards.

“Get me some more food first, I’m famished,” Solomon shouted from the anteroom. “And clean my bathroom before we go out, it’s filthy!”

New Mexico

They had made it as far as the small, deserted town of Wagon Mound using Interstate-25. That was when Josh Haggard saw the highway underpass had collapsed on itself. The nearby stream had turned into a raging river of mud, which meant that they would have to find an alternate route to get to Kansas. The former Arizona police detective silently cursed as he turned the van eastwards towards the Las Mesas de Conjelon, a small mountain overlooking the town. They headed towards the Kiowa National Grassland, a huge expanse of prairie once protected by the US Government. Josh hated this van since it belonged to Larry Hanley, the ex-convict he killed the night before. But then again, he didn’t really have much choice since his own car had broken down, and he was holding up in the very motel that Larry and this runaway girl had decided to stay at for the night. It was only when the lights came on that Josh had realized that someone else was in the motel. Whoever it was knew how to start up the emergency generator, so he sneaked around and bided his time to find out. By God’s grace he was able to intervene in time to prevent a crime in progress. Larry had wanted to rape this girl he found, but Josh had put a stop to it, then he dispensed his own brand of justice to make sure the perpetrator would never stray from the law again.

Tara Weiss sat at her customary place on the front passenger seat with the little Chihuahua curled up in her lap. She barely slept that night after seeing Josh beat Larry to death. When she asked the former cop if she could just please leave, he said go right ahead, but the dog was his to keep. Since she had grown to love the little animal and she knew its secret, Tara felt a sense of obligation to protect it. So she went ahead and climbed aboard the van after Josh woke her up. He told her she could go with him to Kansas to join up with the Rock of God Church, or just stay behind. The dog seemed to shake its head slightly when she told Josh she might as well tag along. She wasn’t sure whether it was approving her choice or warning her to get away before it was too late. As Tara looked out of the side window of the van and stared at the blunt peak of the mountain they passed by, she realized it was her only choice.

They had spent all afternoon trying to maneuver along the Canadian river, it had once been a small desert stream running across the road through the grassland, but now they saw that it had flooded the small road in front of them. Josh couldn’t tell how deep it was, but if he pushed on, the van would have to go through about forty yards of flooded road before it could get to the dry part of the highway on the other side. The only other alternative was to go off road, north through the prairie, but without any road to guide them, or make another long detour southwards to Santa Rosa and hope that the swollen river ended there. But to go southwards would mean a detour of at least fifty miles, and Josh doubted the van would have any fuel left for it so he bit his lip, turned the steering wheel left and proceeded to go off road through the prairie grasslands.

After a couple of hours, night had fallen. Tara was bouncing up and down on the front seat as the van continued to barrel through the plains. The evening sky was clear and she saw the full moon shining brightly overhead. Josh was going parallel along the river’s edge, hoping he could find a shallow section of the waterway so he could turn the van eastwards and drive through, but so far all he could see was the flooded banks along its side. As her hand grabbed onto the handlebar on top of the side window to keep herself steady, Tara noticed an orange glint to the west, turning that way she noticed that it looked like somebody had made a small bonfire a few hundred yards away from them.

“Look, there’s some people over there,” Tara said as she thrust out her left arm and pointed.

“Huh?” Josh said as he turned and looked to his left as he kept his foot on the accelerator.

At that moment the van’s right front wheel hit a small depression that was hidden in the tall grass of the prairie. The sudden bump and Josh’s overcompensation of the steering wheel instantly tipped the van over on its side, as its forward momentum made it slide down into the edges of the muddy riverbank. Josh let out a curse while Tara screamed as everything in the cabin tilted ninety degrees to the right. By the time it was over, the driver’s side door had opened where the vehicle roof was supposed to be and Josh climbed out. Tara called for help, but he ignored her as he jumped down into the ground and took a look around.

Tara unbuckled her seatbelt and saw the dog running around the side of the van that was now the bottom. She scooped it up with one arm and then climbed out through the driver’s side. “You could have helped me, you know,” she said to Josh as she got down beside him.

His one-handed backslap to her face sent her reeling into the ground. The dog started barking at him but soon quieted down when Josh half turned and placed his hand on the holstered pistol on the side of his belt.

Tara let out a few tears as she wiped the blood from her lower lip with her right wrist, but she stayed down. “What’d you do that for?”

“That’s for distracting me while I was driving. See what you made me do? Now the van’s tipped over.”

Tara tried to blink the tears away. “I-I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to.”

“Just shut up and let me think,” Josh said as he walked away.