Saturday Super Stories - Mythology 109 Part 1

My name is Mercedes Whitman and I'm a hero on a foreign world. I am the daughter of two heroes, and was trapped on this Earth during an Event that sealed the way back home forever. They call me Black Sapphire when I’m out patrolling, and these are my Blogs.

Sapphire and Wynn tumbled through the abyss of time and space and fell for a long time, she was sure she was screaming but no sound escaped her lips.  But before she could register the change she was out and slamming into the ground from a great height and Wynn followed her by landing on her ass.

“Sorry,” he mumbled as he pulled himself free.  She pushed up from the ground and brushed herself as she began to take in her surroundings.  They were in a vast cavern surrounded by short buildings, none higher than two stories, and none of them had any windows.  Wynn pointed above them and there were more on the walls and ceiling.  Sapphire frowned and attempted to get the scope of this city and found her mind couldn't comprehend it, so she narrowed her field of vision to what was directly in front of her.

“There has to be someone here that has answers.”  She pointed to a random road and began walking.

* * * * *

Walters knelt down until her upside down face was equal to his.  “So you were telling me about this place?”  Sapphire shook her head a moment confused.

“How did I get here?”  She asked.

“That’s always a good question.”  The line holding her dropped a few inches closer to the vast of chemicals brewing underneath her.  “Now continue with your story.”

* * * * *

Sapphire stumbled one step and she grabbed a wall for support, it was warm to the touch.  “Are you okay?”  Wynn asked from behind her.  She shook her head, and took a few deep breathes before pushing back off of the wall.

“Something is messing with my head,” she looked around to make sure she was still within the odd city.  “I thought I was somewhere else for a minute.  Let’s go it must be side effects of the trip to get here or something.”  Together they moved through the empty streets looking for some kind of life or clue as to where they had ended up.  There answers came in the form of a small building with smoke pluming from its chimney.

“Well there

* * * * *

we go, finally… what?”  Walters landed a solid punch on the bridge of her nose and knocked her down.

“Pay attention kid or this training isn't going to help you any.”  He whipped his leg around and she managed to block it at the last second and he continued to spin and landed a foot into her midsection, she grunted and he headbutted her completely to the floor.

She shook her head, “Something

* * * * *

isn't right here…balls…”  Wynn looked back at her a look of concern of his face.  “It’s getting worse.”  Sapphire collapsed in a heap on the road, Wynn rushed to her side as the door to the shack opened and the occupant exited.

“Welcome to the Hollow City Wynn Hunter, please pick up Mercedes and bring her along.  We have much to discuss.”

Mythology 109 - Part 1 “Odyssey”

“I travel from place to place fighting evil where I can find it.  But in truth I am searching for my family, we have been displaced all around the world over the years.”  Damien Lockheart spoke to the tape recorder sitting in front of him.  He looked the young journalist in the eye as he spoke.   She smiled at him and nodded for him to continue.  “I didn't start out in life as much, and had no aspirations to be anything greater than the lush I had become over the long years of hanging out with my degenerate friends.  I had hit ‘rock bottom’ as they say and it took the loss of a dear friend of my brothers and then my brother for me to wake up and try and get my life back together.  But in truth the disease was always there just waiting to wake up again and it took me being buried alive to finally break free of its curse and on that day I was reborn and Damien Lockheart occult detective walked into the world.”  He smiled inwardly as his personal joke.  He wasn't lying to the reporter, just skewing the facts into something she could print.

“So you are a recovering alcoholic and a master of occult knowledge who works with the police and local government bodies to try and gain leads on the whereabouts of your brother, mother and your brothers’ best friend?”  She prodded.

He nodded back at her.  “That is the truth of it.”

“So how did I come about this?”  She reached under the desk and pulled out a journal, his journal that had been lost several years ago in the wastes of Africa.

“I lost it a long time ago when I was in Africa dealing with a zombie outbreak, not disease zombies mind you, but the good old fashioned demons infesting the bodies of the recently deceased zombies, much harder to kill, and some of the fresher ones can run, devilishly a pain in the ass in you don’t mind my French.”

She rolled her eyes.  “My cousins and I were in the region at the same time as you and managed to seal away the Black Idol of Calabash'zt, the source of the demonic incursion.  We had actually been wondering who had cleared most of the infestation before we managed to seal it.  I found the journal in some ruins that were filled with bodies.”

“Ah the siege zone, I was held up there for almost two whole days.  That’s the problem with zombies day or night they just don’t stop trying to kill you.”  Damien took a sip of the tea she had bought him, and then ate a handful of the fries next to the last few bites of an overcooked burger.  “So you’re the younger cousin of Barnabus Alexander?”  She nodded.

“Jasmine Bethany Caulders, the information and research member of the Adventurers of the Undiscovered.  Barnabus leads us into such strange and wonderful places, just last year we found an Amazonian colony hidden in the depths of…wait I shouldn't tell you that.  Wonderful woman, deadly fighters, strange gods though, Barnabus has taken to worshiping a rabbit or hare god now.  Happy that he found religion, but weird-ed out slightly by the amount of brown hares he has bought for around the house.”  Damien shook his head.

“So if there’s anything else?”  He inquired.  She shook her head back at him and passed the journal back over.  He held up a hand, “Keep it, maybe it will make a great book someday.”  She smiled and tucked the book back into her satchel.

“There was one final thing I wanted to mention though, off the record,” she clicked the recorder off, “Through our travels we've come across several different mentions in various cultures of the Hollow City and an immortal that lives there.  Other than that we have nothing but I felt that information might be of use to you somehow, since in your journal you reference immortality several times as potential leads for your family.”

“The Hollow City eh…”

TBC in Mythology 109 Part 2

Demonology 107 - Part 4

My name is Mercedes Whitman and I'm a hero on a foreign world. I am the daughter of two heroes, and was trapped on this Earth during an Event that sealed the way back home forever. They call me Black Sapphire when I’m out patrolling, and these are my Blogs.

In unison the three people in the throne turned as one and spoke.  “Why have you come to Carcass?”

Sapphire responded after a moment.  “We came looking for a man, and a prophetic vision brought us to the…city?”  Wynn nudged her from behind.  “I’m sorry I don’t mean to be rude, but the Mystic City of Sham’bala is an actual city.  The Dark City seems to lack an actual city.”

They pointed the floor and she noticed a pentagram begin to glow, the fountain at its center, and the top of the star pointed north.  The glow spread to encompass the stone at their feet and she began to make out the carvings set into the walls of the pit below them.  Outcroppings that looked like buildings cut into the bedrock.  “Huh, how about that a city built into the stone.”  Sapphire mumbled.  She spoke up, “We do not know why we were guided to this location.”

“You came seeking one man, but did not find him but perhaps you did?”  The female spoke alone.

“They did not come for him sister.”  The brothers spoke in unison.

“We came looking for Damien Lockheart, this man’s father,” Sapphire gestured to Wynn behind her.

“He was here once, many years ago,” once again in unison.

Demonology 107 Part 4 - “Bled Chaos, Raw Power”

Damien stared up through the blood pouring from the wound over his eye and grinned through the blood, a tooth dropping from his maw.  He chuckled at the man attacking him.  “So an artificial immortal thinks he can kill one of the High Blood?”  He cocked an eyebrow.  “WELL BOY!!  YOU THINK THAT YOU CAN KILL ME!!”  The shadows in the temple darkened and the man shifted his fighting stance.  The three others stood back and watched.

“We are the Four Woes and we protect this place from those who would take the power and use it for themselves.  I am bound as one of the first to kill you to prevent its release.  My name is Chang and I am your doom!”  His fists lanced out and a flurry of attacks came at Damien, but each one was swallowed just before impact and landed on the wielder of those fists.  His flurry stopped almost as fast as it had begun.  “I…what?”  He shook his head to clear the clouds that had overcome him suddenly.

“I came to this place looking for an immortal and I find four, guarding a cursed well, my time has been wasted and you will pay for attacking me with your life.”  He stood to his full height and straightened out his coat and held a hand out to his side, a weapon of solid darkness forming in his palm as his fingers closed around the handle.

“We cannot die,” one of the others spoke.  “We are cursed to remain for all eternity.  We must stand watch and prevent the rising.  You must finish the combat.”  Chang nodded and the battle resumed.

When the dust settled the temple was missing part of two of its walls and several of the stained glass windows.  Chang of the four Woes was missing, lost in the ether of the Chasm of Never-ending Darkness deep in the Abyss of Lost Souls.

Damien turned and walked through the wreckage as the three remaining Woes sat in their thrones to watch over the fountain.  He paused next to one of the stained glass images and puzzled at the spelling of dark with two k’s.  He shook his head and left the Darkk City of Carcass behind him.

Epilogue

Sapphire slide into the alley and continued running after him, he had been leading her through these back alleys for several minutes, always remaining just out of her line of sight, she could swear that the shadows were hiding him.  “I just want to talk!!”  She cried out.

“They always say that.”  His voice echoed back to her.

“You may be the only hope I have in saving my…a man I care about.”  Her speed jumped up and she cut the next turn a smidgen faster then he counted on and she grabbed his speed and he stumbled. 

“Please leave me be.  I’m not the man you’ve been looking for anymore.  Damien Lockheart died years ago.  I’ve put him behind me and I have bigger problems than you do.  Any skills I had back when I was him are gone now.” She stared at the man before him, and the shadows were actually swallowing him.

She collapsed to her knees.  “I need to save him.  He’s the only thing that I have that’s even close to my old world.  I hate this place.  My family and friends are lost to me and they only people from my old life that survived the Cascade closing seem to be enemies.  I found a tenuous link to that life and he is infected by a cosmic evil that I wish to purge from him to restore his soul.  Magick was my only hope.”

“There are plenty of other actual magicians out there in the world that are more powerful than I was.  You should find one of them to try whatever it is that you want to try.”

“I did try them but no one wants to attempt to displease the Entity, he has ignored the Earth since the Event and a few of them said that Spectacular made a truce with him to leave us alone.  So I tried to think outside of the box and hunted you down as my only chance.”  She stared with pleading eyes as the shadows grew so dark that she couldn’t even make out a shape anymore.

“Perhaps you aren’t thinking enough outside of the box at all.  Magick is a solution but ultimately always has a price, you might end up curing him and the curse might end up attaching itself to another, probably someone you care about.  I would go deeper.”  The shadows snapped back into place as they resumed their normal density and the man who was Damien Lockheart was gone.  Sapphire knew she would never find him again.

She wiped the tears from her eyes and blinked at the wall of the alley before her, amongst the graffiti was a huge yellow number three; it caught the light of a nearby doorways overhead lamp just right.  She stood and walked to the lamp and pulled the bulb from its socket and looked it over.  “I think it’s a black light?”  She mumbled to herself.  “Why would someone use a black light to light an alley?”

TBC in Stand Alone 9

Demonology 107 - Part 3

My name is Mercedes Whitman and I'm a hero on a foreign world. I am the daughter of two heroes, and was trapped on this Earth during an Event that sealed the way back home forever. They call me Black Sapphire when I’m out patrolling, and these are my Blogs.

Sapphire moved quickly and quietly across the chain links towards the temple, occasionally glancing backward once in a while to watch Wynn pick and chose his steps carefully. She sighed and continued toward the temple and the fountain, watching the shadows for any sign of movement. The cloud cover broke as she stepped onto the ‘floating’ island, the sun igniting the stained glass windows that could be seen within and on the wall before her.

She looked it over quickly, but couldn't make sense of the images without being within and having the sun lighting the way for her. She turned and waited for Wynn to finish trekking across the links and assisted him down to the ground, motioning for him to be quiet and to follow her to the doors.

They swung open silently and motes of dust swirled in the air, catching the sunlight and further obscuring the windows. Each wall would have held two massive frescoes, but whatever had caused the partial destruction of the northwest wall had knocked at least three of them down. As soon as the dust settled, Sapphire gasped and stared at the north corner, on which was a slanted wall and the largest of the stained glass visions: Pandemonium in all her glory. To her left hand was Discord, in another glass window. Only Jerusalem Walker seemed to be missing from the trinity.

“There is a similar temple in Sham’bala. No stained glass, but there are frescoes on the walls and they are prominently of Jerusalem Walker,” Wynn said from her side.

“Then that implies a third temple, if this one is for Pandemonium and the Sham’balan one is for Walker. Discord is the third, and has no temple.”

“That we know of. But if she was to have a temple or city of her own... where would it be? Sham’bala and Carcass sit on the intersections of the eight major lei lines of Earth and the galactic ninth that runs through them both, linking good and evil like two halves of a coin, as it were,” Wynn replied.

“Pandemonium wasn't evil; she died a hero when she sealed the Cascade.” 

Wynn shook his head before responding, “She was the darkest one of the trinity. Jerusalem Walker embodied what was good in the universe and Discord the neutrality. Each was a representative of Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory, and when they came to this barren universe they created the balance of the three.”

“How do you know this stuff?” Sapphire asked.

“They taught us many things in Sham’bala. Jerusalem Walker left behind many teachings. He loved to write, and there are hundreds of volumes of text in which he revealed the creation of the universe... and the world from before. He was the real hero of the trinity, and if it had been up to him he would have sacrificed himself to seal away the Cascade.”

“Always with the teaching, aren't you?” Sapphire knelt down and thought back to those last moments…

"But...why does it have to be you?" Tears flowed freely down her cheeks.

"Because of what I represent. When I am gone, the world will be a better place." She turned away and leaped across the void. The Cascade shuddered and snapped back in on itself and ripped and tore at the Universe. The Armada was lost, and the Cascade was gone.

…Sapphire stood and nodded at Wynn. “You’re right. I was with her just before the Cascade was sealed and something she had said hadn’t made any sense to me at the time. But it does now. She was the darkness in the hearts of man, and when she died, that shadow left the human soul, making the world a brighter place. It was why we have had so much peace since that day. It also makes me wonder why the Shrulk broke that peace all those months ago. Why did it come forward when it did?”

“I have no idea, but just to let you know, we aren’t alone in here.” Wynn pointed at four thrones which were facing the fountain, one was shattered and empty, but the other three each held a person watching the fountain, two men and a woman. They stared straight ahead and did not move.

“This can’t be good…”

Demonology 107 - Part 3: “When Walks the Dead”

My name is Damien Lockheart and this is my journal. If found, please mail it to the Raven Estate in New York.

Joanna paged through the book, reading entries that seemed interesting to her, but ignored most of them. The journal had belonged to an occult detective, and he seemed to be searching for his brother, mother and a close friend who were all lost to him some time ago. She frowned at the whorish nature of some of his cases, and smiled when he shared some insights on who he was before he came to this Earth. She was certain he was an alien, and that his real name wasn't Damien, but beyond those facts she was lost.

She had found the book a few outings before she had started to read its contents. It was found during one of the adventures with her cousins, and she had held onto it, fully intending to mail it to the Raven Estate when she had arrived back stateside... but she could not seem to let it go. She needed to meet this mysterious man, and perhaps go on an ‘investigation’ with him, but his cases always seemed to center around clues that he tried to use to find his family.

“Hey, cousin, if you’re done reading that damn book again we need to move out. We got word of a herd of Yetis rampaging through Oregon and Washington,” Barnabus called down to her.

“If they are in the U.S. then they are Sasquatches,” she returned.

“Nope. Yetis. Trust me. It’s going to be awesome.” 

She sighed and closed the book. She was going to find this "Damien" someday, and it was going to be one hell of a story.

TBC in Demonology 107 - Part 4

Demonology 107 - Part 2

My name is Mercedes Whitman and I'm a hero on a foreign world. I am the daughter of two heroes, and was trapped on this Earth during an Event that sealed the way back home forever. They call me Black Sapphire when I’m out patrolling, and these are my Blogs.

Sapphire whistled low.  Wynn came up to a stop next to her.  “We find this shithole yet?”  His breath came in heavy and sweat poured from his face.  She nodded and motioned with her head down the ridge.  Wynn turned and looked for the Dark City of Carcass and only saw the already decomposing vegetation they had been trudging more than a day through slowly.  “I don’t see anything.”

Sapphire sighed.  “Look dingleberry,” she pointed down at the ridge, Wynn turned to look and spotted what she was pointing at, a huge chain link, easily as big as a full sized refrigerator and it wasn’t alone.  “That tribe was right about the location, and the place feels like its eating my soul.”

“It probably is eating your soul.  This place is the counter point to Sham’bala which is a source for life; this place must be death’s house.  The rot is worse as we get closer and I would bet money that if my abilities were stronger I would be puking by now.”  Wynn whispered.

“Alright let’s get a closer look and see what we can see,” she slide over the rotting log in front of her and gradually made her way closer to the chain link.  She whistled again as she saw thirteen identical links reaching to an island suspended over a vast pit.  Three other lines held the island in place and the remains of a fifth hung from the island and the cliff face.

The island held a crumbling temple and even at this distance she could see through one of the fallen walls the fountain that had drawn hundreds of people to this place with the promise of eternal youth.  “I don’t see any remains.  There should be bodies somewhere right?”

“I doubt it; I would think that the rot would consume them quickly.  The rate of decay is amazing and its even eating away at the stone, the only things unaffected seem to be this chains and the island the fountain is resting on.”  He straightened up and began to scan the area around them.  “There should be a village or something here; I know that they teach dark magicks here just like Sham’bala teaches the good.”

“Maybe it’s in the temple?”

Demonology 107 Part 2 - “The Once and Future Queen”

Damien slide to a stop and smiled back at the horde of Orcs.  “Seriously fella’s it was only your queen and it wasn’t all that good or sexy.”

They roared and continued to chase after him.  He laughed and sprinted onwards.

A few hours ago at the Drunken Mule in the Village of Everdale

“So you want me to find this evil queen and kill her and her minions and free some sword from her control so that the kingdom may live in peace once again?”  Damien asked the noblewoman who sat across from him, two pints of mead sat untouched in front of each of them.

“That is correct Sir Lockheart.  Tales of your bravery have reached us even here in the outlands.  The Empress is wicked and drives at the hearts of our people, driving men insane and leaving the women barren.  Her army surrounds her in her tower deep in the Blackmire forest.  We want you to go there and take care of her.”  Damien shrugged.

“Why would I do this?  I’m not exactly an adventurer, I came here looking for someone and thus far haven’t located any sign of them.”  His finger ran across the edge of the mug and he fought the urge to drink, being this close to something that strong was taking a massive amount of willpower but he had been dry for more than a year now, and he was strong.

“You said someone, and then said them which imply more than one.”  The noblewoman responded.

“I am looking for my brother, a friend, and my mother.  We are a long lived people and when I heard rumors of someone that has lived for decades without aging a day I assumed that perhaps one of them had arrived here.”

She frowned, “I do not know of anyone that fits that description.  They say that the Empress is a demon of the highest magnitude and perhaps she has lived here for that long.  But I do not think so.”

He nodded.  “Okay I will take up this quest and see what I can see, but I do not make any promises for murder.  I will attempt to negotiate surrender or an exile, but I will not kill.”

“Agreed.”

Sometime later in the heart of the queen’s chambers

“So that is what the people want.  Do you agree to these terms?”  Damien asked the Queen.  Her skin was ivory, and twin horns spun around the side of her head.  She smiled her teeth perfect beneath her crimson lips.

“I cannot concede to any negotiation Immortal, I am here at the behest of my masters and I need to accomplish my goals before I can move on from this plane.  It is not my concern if my very presence causes mankind ill, I do not make war on them unless they come to me, then I defend myself.”

“Why are you here?  What do you want with this place?”  Damien asked.

“I am here to perform the ritual once the chosen come.  They will be guided to this place and perform the tasks needed to free the masters, they cannot be coerced and must do so willingly.”

“I see.  Is there nothing I can do to get you to leave?”  He said with a sly smirk on his face as the shadows around him seemed to brighten.  She returned his grin and stood from the bed and went to him.

Now

“Seriously guys it was great sex, but Demon’s just aren’t my thing!!”  He screamed over his shoulder and leapt through the portal that had brought him to this place.

TBC in Demonology Part 3

Demonology 107 - Part 1

My name is Mercedes Whitman and I'm a hero on a foreign world. I am the daughter of two heroes, and was trapped on this Earth during an Event that sealed the way back home forever. They call me Black Sapphire when I’m out patrolling, and these are my Blogs.

“So, tell me about your father,” Sapphire leaned across the counter to stare right into the face of  ex-teacher for the Raven Institute for the Academically Gifted, Mr. Wynn Hunter Lockheart.

Wynn set his sandwich down and looked up at her. “Umm,” he spoke with a mouthful of food, “There’s not much to tell. I haven’t seen him in years, since I was a little kid, really.”

Sapphire frowned. “So you have no idea where I can find him, then?”

Wynn shook his head. “I don’t even know if he managed to stay on this side after the Cascade was sealed. He was always working cases when I was just born, and he didn't really spend that much time with me. Enough that I spent a few years in Shambala perfecting the gifts I inherited from him, but we didn't exactly have a great relationship.” 

Sapphire nodded. “What kind of gifts are we talking about here?” She asked.

“When I’m agitated or profoundly lost, spiritually I sort of "bleed" my tattoos.” Wynn stood up and removed his coat and vest and unbuttoned his white shirt. Beneath the shirt his skin was pale and there were traces of a tribal tattoo on his right shoulder. “In a way, I am a precognitive.” His eyes widened and his hands slapped down on the table and he began grunting, his breath catching as he fought the urge to scream. He slammed back into his seat and his chest was exposed, an image defined.

“Well fuck me sideways, it looks like we’re going to South America.” She smirked at him.

Demonology 107 Part 1 - “Demon Days of Summer”

He pulled the candle closer to his face and smiled at the possessed one. “I have a serious response to your ‘who are you?’ question. One hell, pardon the pun, of an origin story, if you ask me, and you sort of did,” the possessed thrashed at its bonds and snarled at him.

“It all started centuries ago on another world, in another universe, after one of my brother and I’s friends vanished. We came searching for him, and we in turn were also lost. We seemed to be spit out of the cascade randomly, and in different eras, which makes finding each other hard.”

“So anyways let me back up, slightly, to earlier tonight…”

Earlier that night

“The name’s Damien Lockheart. Someone called for an occult detective?” Damien smiled at the officers outside of the apartment building and showed his ID. The shadows seemed to hug him on the gloomy night and the two policemen were having a hard time ID'ing him from the card and his actual face. The lead officer handed his identification back to him and waved him into the building, calling up that he was on his way with a visitor in tow.

“So what can you tell me about the situation?” Damien asked the officer as they walked up the flights of stairs.

“Not much to tell. The perp, one Juan Gonzales, seems to be high on drugs and attacked his family. His father came home as he was carving symbols into the walls and floor and using blood to perform some kind of... ritual.” They continued to climb.

“Then who called me in?” Damien asked.

“The father saw some of your cases in the papers from a few months back and decided that his son would never attack anyone or do any of this, so he assumes that it must be the Devil.” 

Damien snorted in derision. “It’s never the Devil. He has better things to do. Possibly a lesser demon?” He said to himself as they ascended to the correct floor, what would have been level 13 if building had allowed it. “14th floor, ladies lingerie, music and housewares.” He said glibly. The officer smirked.

Introductions were made and Damien was left alone at the scene and the suspect.

Now

“So that brings us up to date. Sort of, anyways. There was an earthquake a while back and I got trapped in a way that really wouldn't allow me to slip out quickly, plus I was really, really drunk. Anyways I waited it out and sobered up, let me tell you though I had this friend back home that made a brew like you wouldn't believe. Turns out it took months to sweat it out of of my system. When I finally managed to get myself free, I found that I was kind of pissed off at my life. Lost a close friend and my brother and finally my mother,” he looked at the possessed reaction to that and quickly added, “Not lost as in dead, lost as in can’t find. It’s why I’m on this backwater world.”

“Why are you telling me all of this?” It asked calmly.

“Because when I send you back to Hell I want you to have one hell of a story to tell,” he rested the candle back into its position and started the incantation that would exorcise the demon and smiled as it began to wail.

TBC in Demonology Part 2