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Author Topic: Words Can Never Hurt Me (Elizabeth Hastings Prolog)  (Read 30586 times)

BerkaZerka

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Re: Words Can Never Hurt Me (Elizabeth Hastings Prolog)
« Reply #50 on: July 29, 2016, 04:16:13 pm »

As they continued their drive, the conversation drifted between other topics - Elizabeth and Dr. Toht chatting some about the Codex Benedictus and Lorsch Gospels that the university had acquired; and then onto a comparison of their formal schooling.

It turned out, that Dr, Toht was actually a doctor of philosophy in both anthropology and linguistics, having received his PhD's from Columbia University in New York.

By the time the conversation rolled past that, they were almost at their destination, driving on a gravel road in a heavily wooded area.

---

Mr. Pique was in his office, finally getting to his lunch break, when he flipped the television on for the local news and weather.

A picture or Doctor Ernst Toht was on the screen and the banner across the bottom scrolled by - 'Mental Patient Escapes; Still at Large; Considered Armed and Dangerous...'

Mr. Pique's tea sprayed from his mouth in shock.

Fumbling with the remote, he quickly raised the volume, to hear the anchor say, "... are advising residents to be on the lookout for this man, Doctor Ernst Toht."

"The former Director of Bakersfield Estate and Holdings - purveyors of rare antiquities, arts, and collectables - Doctor Toht was institutionalized two months ago, after suffering a sever episode of schizophrenia - attacking members of his staff with a 17th century Turkish kilij - a type of curved saber."

"He is believed to be traveling in a white new model Lexus GS F Sedan, stolen from the facility - License plate number 'ALG-3177'. I am being told that the vehicle belonged to the late Doctor Charles M. Maxwell, Chief of Psychology - who was injured in, and subsequently died as a result, of Doctor Toht's escape."

"If you have seen this man, or have any information regarding his whereabouts, please contact your local authorities immediately. You are advised not to approach, as he may be armed with a .45 caliber handgun, and is considered highly unstable."

"Holy shit! Elizabeth!" Mr. Pique gasped in horror.

Grabbing his phone, he hit speed-dial for her number.

---

Elizabeth's phone made half an attempt to ring. Looking at it, she could see a dropped call from Mr. Pique, but the signal was bouncing between zero and one bars. Crap, no reception out here!

Doctor Toht pulled up to an old sawmill in a small clearing by a wide pleasant looking stream. "Ah, we are here," he said to Elizabeth with a friendly smile, opening the door to get out and stretch.
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Sethaniel

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Re: Words Can Never Hurt Me (Elizabeth Hastings Prolog)
« Reply #51 on: July 30, 2016, 02:09:50 pm »

Elizabeth can't remember the last time she had this much fun talking to a real life person.  She gets out of the car.
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BerkaZerka

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Re: Words Can Never Hurt Me (Elizabeth Hastings Prolog)
« Reply #52 on: August 01, 2016, 11:48:25 am »

"You mentioned in your Dream," Dr. Toht remarked, "that you hadn't yet gleaned the knowledge of how to call forth this Djinn."

"I myself, am on the very verge of unlocking that portion of the codex."

As he spoke, Dr. Toht walked to the heavy hanging door that entered into the mill and rolled it open. From where she stood by the car, Elizabeth could see that it was dark and dusty inside.

"And perhaps it was serendipity," Dr. Toht continued, "that the codex accidently fell into your hands last night."

"Don't you see? It chose you Elizabeth!"

"And with your help, the codex will finally spill all of its secrets, haha!"

Dr. Toht then reached into his coat pocket to pull out what Elizabeth had thought was going to be the codex. Instead, he produced a .45 caliber handgun and pointed at her guts.

Still smiling pleasantly, he explained - "Don't worry Elizabeth, I won't kill you. The summoning wont work, if you die."

"Now be a good girl and come inside. No trouble. I really don't want to have to shoot - and risk you bleeding out."
« Last Edit: August 01, 2016, 11:50:25 am by BerkaZerka »
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Sethaniel

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Re: Words Can Never Hurt Me (Elizabeth Hastings Prolog)
« Reply #53 on: August 01, 2016, 05:04:14 pm »

"Hey! You've got a gun," Elizabeth helpfulkt pointed out to the good doctor.  "Why do you have a gun?"

She raised her hands to the classic 'please-don't-shoot-me' position and walked toward Dr toht and the entrance to the mill.

"I thought you were a really nice guy," she said, pausing as she reached the dr.  "Why is it every time I like a guy, he ends up trying to kill me?  It's always 'oh it's not you, it's me,' or 'Shub-Niggurath demands a virgin' or--"

Quickly, she attempted to kick the dr in the privates & wrestle the gun away from him.
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BerkaZerka

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Re: Words Can Never Hurt Me (Elizabeth Hastings Prolog)
« Reply #54 on: August 02, 2016, 11:52:39 am »

At first, it didn't seem like Dr. Toht was concerned about Elizabeth approaching him. After all, he was standing right next to the door that she had to go in through.

Just when she was within kicking range however, he moved back suddenly - right before Elizabeth swung her leg up like a football-star trying for a field goal! Instinctively twisted sideways, Dr. Toht's empty hand deflected Elizabeth's foot to the side - causing it to glance ineffectively up his thigh.

A terribly loud shot then rang out - As Dr. Toht pulled the trigger of the .45!

It felt as though Elizabeth had just been kicked by a horse! The blast punching through her midsection, and sitting her right down on her ass, as her legs buckled from the shock!

Dr. Toht's eyes widened with concern, as blood began pouring out of Elizabeth at an alarming rate!

"Dummkopf!!!" He yelled angrily, "You shouldn't have made me do that! You cannot die on me now! Not now! Not when we are so close!!!"

He then stepped a little farther back, and pointed the gun with both hands at Elizabeth's head, taking careful aim, as if to finish her off...

"Shit!" he hesitated, lowering the weapon a little, but still on Elizabeth.

"Maybe you can still walk, ya? Get up then, inside now. Enough games!"
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Sethaniel

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Re: Words Can Never Hurt Me (Elizabeth Hastings Prolog)
« Reply #55 on: August 03, 2016, 09:05:01 am »

"Oh.  Shit.  Oh."  Elizabeth stared at the blood soaking through her clothing, then gazed up at the doctor in bewilderment.
 "You shot me." 

Left arm clamped over the hole in her side, she grasped the doorframe to pull herself upright. 
"You shot me."

Numb with shock and confusion, she staggered slowly into the darkness of the mill.
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BerkaZerka

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Re: Words Can Never Hurt Me (Elizabeth Hastings Prolog)
« Reply #56 on: August 03, 2016, 12:21:07 pm »

"We've got to get that bleeding stopped!" Dr. Toht fretted, walking in behind Elizabeth with the gun at her back.

"The bullet has gone straight through, I'm afraid."

Come to think of it, there was some discomfort in the small of Elizabeth's back too - but largely eclipsed by the flaring pain in her abdomen. Absentmindedly, Elizabeth reached around to feel her back, and was shocked to find her clothing soaked in blood there as well.

'Now it's two holes...' she though to herself, beginning to disassociate from the situation slightly, due to the shock of it all.

Inside, Dr. Toht directed Elizabeth to a heavy wooden table, and then had her get on it, to lie down on her side. In the darkness of the sawmill, Elizabeth though she could see a small tray of surgical equipment near the table. There was even rolls of gauze and bandage wraps.

'That's convenient,' Elizabeth found herself thinking sarcastically, as she complied with Dr. Toht's directions.

Then Dr. Toht abruptly handcuffed Elizabeth's right hand to an iron rail that ran down the side of the table.

'Wait, what?' Elizabeth began to panic - 'What's he doing?!?'

Struggling, Elizabeth tried to fight the doctor off again, but in her weakened state and handcuffed, he managed to strap her completely down - over the arms, hips, and legs - with some cargo straps.

Held fast, all Elizabeth could do was scream.

Dr, Toht then walked over to a cabinet and retrieved an old kerosene lantern. Lighting the wick, he set it were the light would illuminate the area around Elizabeth.

With the light, Elizabeth could see that she was actually strapped down on one side of the old mill's saw-table - it being two halves, which lumber would run down, to be bisected by the huge blade about three feet further up the table from her head.

"Don't worry Elizabeth," Dr. Toht assured, "the mill hasn't been working for ages now."

Then, arranging his tools - those on the tray beside the table - Dr. Toht pulled Elizabeth's blouse up to get look at her wound.

"Yes, I think I may have something for this," he said, taking out the ancient codex and setting it on the table in the pool of blood beginning to form under Elizabeth.

Looking at the tray, Elizabeth could see that it wasn't covered in surgical tools at all. Her eyes widened in horrible realization - No! Those were implements of torture!

Tin-snips, plyers, an icepick, a steel rasp, a rusty saw, an assortment of kitchen cutlery, and a ballpeen hammer.

There actually was gauze and bandaging too, but how could Elizabeth really believe that Dr. Toht wasn't going to brutally murder her - here alone and helpless in the old sawmill.

"Well, let's see what we can do," Dr. Toht sighed - taking a wad of gauze and shoving it with two fingers, deeply into the bullet hole's entry point.

'My god that hurts!!!'
« Last Edit: August 03, 2016, 12:41:55 pm by BerkaZerka »
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Sethaniel

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Re: Words Can Never Hurt Me (Elizabeth Hastings Prolog)
« Reply #57 on: August 05, 2016, 09:24:34 am »

Elizabeth screamed.

"Wait a minute, waitwaitwaitwaitwait," she pleaded.  "Why are you doing this and what are you doing and why is it what are you wait just wait a minute wait I---"
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BerkaZerka

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Re: Words Can Never Hurt Me (Elizabeth Hastings Prolog)
« Reply #58 on: August 06, 2016, 12:18:27 am »

“Don’t worry Elizabeth,” Dr. Toht assured, “The Djinn promised wishes – but he demands suffering, proportional to the gifts that he will bestow. The more you suffer, the more powerful the wishes!”

“I know this will hurt now, but when he is summoned, I’ll use one of the wishes to fix you right up! Then two wishes left – one for me and one for you!”

“Isn’t that wonderful?”

Elizabeth couldn’t help but feel that ‘no… no, this was not “wonderful”.’

Dr. Toht then shoved a wad of gauze into the exit wound of the bullet hole in Elizabeth’s back – twisting it back and forth as he drove it in.

It was excruciating!!!

“Oh my, this is fun!” he remarked with a chuckle, genuinely excited to be doing this – oblivious to Elizabeth’s suffering cries of pain. The man was clearly mad! And he was going to kill Elizabeth for some delusional fantasy!

“What to start with first?” He asked, letting his hand hover over the implements of torture.

“The ice pick?”

“No… I think you’ve lost too much blood already for that.”

“Kind of rules out the tin-snips, cutlery, and saw too, I guess… A pity – I was really looking forward to the saw.”

Dr. Toht’s hand then came down on the steel rasp.

“Yes, this will do I think.”

He then spent the next five minutes rasping skin off Elizabeth’s arms and legs with the metal sharpening tool. With each scream he encouraged her with “Good good! Louder louder! Yes yes!”

Elizabeth was reduced to sobbing tears of agony, when he finally put the bloodied thing back down on the tray.

He then retrieved a can of turpentine from under the saw table. Opening it, he spent another five minutes slowly pouring it out onto the rasp tracks in her flesh. The intensity of the pain exploded beyond anything that she had ever experienced – clouding her mind with shock!

At this point Elizabeth wished that she could pass out – but that wasn’t happening – and she was forced to endure it still. Her voice was starting to weaken; and she realized that begging the doctor to stop was not going to help. Elizabeth could tell from the sound of her own involuntary cries and her now ragged breathing, that she was literally on death’s door.

“Not too much longer dear,” Dr. Toht said, caressing Elizabeth’s hair – before yanking it hard with a laugh. A handful of it tore out from her scalp.

The sick bastard was enjoying this. He was enjoying Elizabeth’s suffering and distress.

Dr. Toht then picked up the ballpeen hammer.

Grabbing Elizabeth’s elbow to steady her arm – fingernails digging into her skin – he brought the hammer down with a mighty blow – right onto her hand below the cuffs!

White light burst in Elizabeth’s vision – as the hammer smashed the bones in her once lovely appendage – mangling it almost beyond recognition.

The loud crashing/crunching sound reverberated in Elizabeth’s head; and she could now feel herself beginning to let go – her consciousness dancing along the edge of oblivion.

Soon. Soon it would all be over.

“We are almost there!” Dr. Toht cried exuberantly, grabbing Elizabeth’ broken hand and twisting the fingers to send ugly jolts of nerve pain slamming up her arm like waves of hot lightning! It had the most unwanted effect of bringing Elizabeth right back to full consciousness.

“You just need to beg for death and the Djinn will come!” Dr. Toht shouted in triumph.

His eyes were wild. Elizabeth’s blood speckled his face and hands. He was absolutely raving mad. There was no question that he believed what he was saying.

If only it was true.

“I won’t kill you, but you must scream it with feeling! All this will go away and you will be healed – if you just cry out for sweet release!”

“Do it! Do It now!!!”
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Sethaniel

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Re: Words Can Never Hurt Me (Elizabeth Hastings Prolog)
« Reply #59 on: August 08, 2016, 07:54:18 am »

Elizabeth made a sound.  The same sound she'd been making for a while now.  She was crying, but by this point she was so dehydrated that no tears remained. Just a ragged, rasping vocalization of the intake of breath.   

What she said was "Ah-hhh, ah-hhh, ah-hhh."

What she meant was "I can't do this anymore.  I can't do this anymore." 
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BerkaZerka

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Re: Words Can Never Hurt Me (Elizabeth Hastings Prolog)
« Reply #60 on: August 08, 2016, 09:30:28 pm »

“What is that?” Dr. Toht replied, a bit confused, “I don’t understand… You are giving up, right?”

He then threw his hands down with a huff of frustration.

“I really don’t know if it works like that!” he mulled, raising his voice – “I THINK YOU HAVE TO BE A LITTLE MORE CLEAR HERE!”

Elizabeth’s mumblings were still not cutting it for him.

“For heaven’s sake girl! Must I do everything?” he asked, grabbing Elizabeth by the hair again.

She fully expected him to rip more of it out, but instead, Dr. Toht leaned in and whispered – “Elizabeth, do you wish for death?”

Not waiting for an answer, he gently nodded Elizabeth’s head in the affirmative for her. “Yes, yes you do,” he hissed – then began to laugh manically “Ahh haa haa haa haa haa!”

When he had regained control of himself, Dr. Toht reached down and pulled Elizabeth’s fingers over backwards – snapping two of them and bellowing loudly – “BY THIS ANGUISH, I NOW INVOKE THE DJINN OF THE LEAD CODEX! SHOW YOURSELF!!!”

The pain blurred Elizabeth’s vision. She was fading in and out of consciousness. She thought that she could see that little black and red wasp from her doorstep. It crawled across the cover of the lead codex for a second, and then flew away into the darkness.

Then a buzzing – louder than anything Elizabeth could imagine – droned up in her head. Something flittered around in her stomach. Dark motes began pushing up from under her fingernails.

Next, horror unspeakable.

With a great retching – Elizabeth heaved up a cloud of huge black hornets! Thousands of them screamed from her mouth agape – each nearly three inches long with sickly green venom leaking from the stingers at the ends of their bodies!

More chewed their way out from under Elizabeth’s fingernails – while others came through her nose and even a few wriggling to freedom from behind her eyes! It felt as though Elizabeth’s very wrath at what the doctor had done to her, was taking physical form and flying out of her for vengeance.

The swarm went straight for Dr. Toht, who shrieked in surprised confusion as they dove in on him, stinging and pumping him full of venom – until after a minute of it, only an unrecognizable bloated mass of blistered flesh remained.

Near delirious from undergoing the bizarre purge, Elizabeth then saw a warm light begin to slowly overshadow her; and heard a calm female voice speak to the swarm, saying “Be gone. You have had your fill of sadistic torment and wrath this day.”

At the unseen woman’s words, the swarm flew upward from the deceased remains of Dr. Toht – vanishing into thin-air as they went.

The buzzing in Elizabeth’s head died down with their departure and was gone.

“It’s all right, I’ve got you,” the woman’s voice said, as Elizabeth could feel someone removing the bindings that held her down.

‘Oh god, it’s finally over,’ Elizabeth thought, finally able to slip across the sweet sweet threshold of unconsciousness.
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BerkaZerka

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Re: Words Can Never Hurt Me (Elizabeth Hastings Prolog)
« Reply #61 on: August 08, 2016, 09:30:38 pm »

The woman’s voice continued to speak to Elizabeth, as she floated sleepily through sightless dreams on a soft bed of light.

“It will be alright. I am with you. I will keep you safe while you rest. Nothing can harm you.”

Time had no meaning here – wherever here was – and Elizabeth had no way of knowing how long she drifted in the peaceful calm.

Was she dying then? Was this some river of light to heaven?

Another woman’s voice then joined the other.

“Thank you Rebecca,” it said to the first.

“My pleasure Sarapheen,” the first replied. “I can see why you chose her. Such an inner strength and a mind given to drink knowledge in like a sponge. She will make a good Disciple. Were I in need of another for my own Ministry, I would not be so quick to share, haha.”

“I may be new to all of this Angel stuff,” Sarapheen answered, “But I’m pretty sure that keeping all the good ones for yourself might be a tad ‘greedy’.”

“Oh fa,” Rebecca retorted lightly, “You know I am joking.”

“Yes,” Sarapheen replied, “of course; as am I.”

Sarapheen then asked, “have you healed her then?”

“I have healed her body,” Rebecca confirmed, “but her mind will have to learn to cope on its own.”

“I have faith in her,” Sarapheen replied.
« Last Edit: August 09, 2016, 04:08:05 pm by BerkaZerka »
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BerkaZerka

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Re: Words Can Never Hurt Me (Elizabeth Hastings Prolog)
« Reply #62 on: August 08, 2016, 09:31:14 pm »

The next thing Elizabeth knew, she was waking up in her own bed.

She was under the sheets in an old pair of pajamas and smelled like she had just gotten out of the shower.

Looking at her hand, she saw that it was normal. Uninjured. She slipped it down to check her belly – no bullet hole.

No rasp marks. None of the wounds that Dr. Toht had inflicted on her. ‘Had any of that been real?’

Dr. Toht… what had happened to him? Those voices she had heard talking, what of them?

What did it all mean?

“I imagine you have quite a few questions,” a woman standing at the foot of Elizabeth’s bed asked.

‘Ack! How long has she been there?!?’

Looking, Elizabeth saw a woman dressed in celestial robes with a red sash over one shoulder and what looked like a sling wrapped around her waist.

She was comely, but not overly so, a brunette, and spoke with a calm voice.

“Elizabeth, I am the Angel Sarapheen,” she said, “I am here to help you understand things. And in so doing, to extend to you a new calling from on high.”

As she spoke, golden wings of light and a fiery burning halo became visible briefly, as if to confirm her angelic claim, then slowly vanished away again.
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Sethaniel

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Re: Words Can Never Hurt Me (Elizabeth Hastings Prolog)
« Reply #63 on: August 10, 2016, 09:02:20 am »

A thousand questions fluttered through Elizabeth's mind.  What came out of her mouth was, "What do you mean, you're new to all this Angel stuff?"
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BerkaZerka

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Re: Words Can Never Hurt Me (Elizabeth Hastings Prolog)
« Reply #64 on: August 10, 2016, 01:42:35 pm »

A blush of embarrassment momentarily flashed on the angel's cheeks, before she composed herself and answered, "It wasn't too long ago, in the grand scheme of things, that I was much like you Elizabeth - a mortal girl on the threshold of something new; and adventure most grand!"

"The Angel Benjamin, appeared to me in the year 1896, at my home in Harmony Pennsylvania. I was a young farmwife then, and my entire family had just been lost to a house fire. The fire had been caused by an angry mob, who was convinced that my husband Cole, was blighting their crops with unholy curses."

"It turns out, that they were right; but I had no idea at the time."

"The Angel Benjamin offered me a new life, as his Disciple, and taught me the reality of this fallen world. He opened the eyes of my understanding - and for the first time, I saw the world as it truly is - the veil of man's ignorance forever cast from mine eyes."

"I received power from on high, to fulfill my calling, and did so faithfully - until recently Ascending from mortality - to become the Angel that stands before you now."

"I am here Elizabeth, because I would that you become my Disciple. That you would accept this calling, as I once did over a century ago."

"Help me purge the world of demonic influences, such as what you experienced first hand, in the sawmill today. Help me to continue that battle in places that I cannot go."

"The choice is yours alone to make. I cannot compel you to accept the calling. But if you do, and endure it faithfully, you will be given the power and knowledge to surpass the mortal world and one day Ascend above it all, as I have."
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Sethaniel

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Re: Words Can Never Hurt Me (Elizabeth Hastings Prolog)
« Reply #65 on: August 11, 2016, 10:29:52 am »

Once again, Elizabeth said the first thing that came to mind.  "I-- why do I want to Ascend? Wait, people become Angels? This- what about my life?"
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BerkaZerka

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Re: Words Can Never Hurt Me (Elizabeth Hastings Prolog)
« Reply #66 on: August 11, 2016, 02:11:09 pm »

"Life," Sarapheen attempted to explain, "is just a game that mortals play. And they play it mindlessly, without all the pieces, made up rules, and no idea of the true goal."

"Take Dr. Toht for example; He actually believed that he was summoning an all powerful Djinn. Not so, as you witnessed personally."

"Blinded by his own hubris, Dr. Toht self-justified his own sadistic compulsions, and walked right into a trap. One left by ancient worshipers of The Hornet's Nest."

"The Hornet's Nest is a relatively weak demon of wrath," Sarapheen went on, "but it does have the unfortunate disposition of always killing its own summoner. Which is why its worshippers long ago devised the trap of the lead codex."

"With it, they hid the ritual of summoning their own demon, inside a false ritual about the Djiin, to tempt wicked fools into accidently summoning the Nest for them. Worshippers would then wait out of sight, to glory in their false god's wrath, as it poisoned to death the true sacrifice - the very one who had summoned it in the first place."

Sarapheen paused a moment.

"Where was I going with this again?" She asked herself, "Oh, yes, 'life'."

"See Elizabeth, there really are demons in the world. There really are angels too. And like mortals, we are playing our part in an elaborate game (of sorts) against each other, but unlike mortals, we know what we are really doing and what's really at stake."

"Mortals can become Disciples; Disciples can become Angels; Angels can become Archangels; Archangels can become a part of something even greater."

"It can go the other way too. Evil has its own hierarchy."

"Mortals can sell away their soul to become Sorcerers and Witches; Sorcerers and Witches can eventually merge with the demons who bought them, to become Demon Princes; Demon Princes can become Demon Imperators; Demon Imperators can become something even worse."

"What I offer you Elizabeth, is a complete understanding of the true nature of reality. And when you have that Elizabeth, your need (and even desire) to play this boring old game (called 'life'), will become as a woman, who has grown up, and put away her childish things."
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Sethaniel

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Re: Words Can Never Hurt Me (Elizabeth Hastings Prolog)
« Reply #67 on: August 12, 2016, 08:51:15 am »

"'When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness.' C.S. Lewis," Elizabeth said automatically.  Her brain felt like an overclocked computer trying to avoid burning out. She needed to focus her scattered thoughts.  Focus on what was most important.

"Will I still be me?"
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BerkaZerka

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Re: Words Can Never Hurt Me (Elizabeth Hastings Prolog)
« Reply #68 on: August 12, 2016, 11:32:49 am »

"Of course," Sarapheen answered kindly.

"The only thing that will really change about you, is your understanding, and capacity to influence the world around you for good, or for ill."

"You will still be mortal (albeit translated into a higher form of it); and you will still be free to make your own choices, according to your own moral agency."

"I will mentor you of course, and help to direct your efforts in culling the Infernal Influences from the world. I will be your teacher, your guide, and (in a sense) your dispatcher. Sending you out to handle problems as they presented themselves."

"There is so much more that I can explain to you, but... only after you accept the calling."

"In its entirety, the knowledge I bring, is more than the purely mortal mind can receive, and would not only overwhelm you, but make it impossible for you to go back to a normal life afterwards, should you decline to serve as my Disciple."

"But in all this, you would still be you, and you would still be free."

"There are rules of course."

"But again, the moral agency to follow them will still be yours. Perfect obedience will lead to Ascension. Less than that, will lead to varying degrees of success in fulfilling the calling, before you are finally released through death and sent on to your paradisiacal rest."
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Sethaniel

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Re: Words Can Never Hurt Me (Elizabeth Hastings Prolog)
« Reply #69 on: August 20, 2016, 04:17:51 am »

Elizabeth nodded. "Then . . . Yes. 

Or, I do, or whatever I'm supposed to say."
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BerkaZerka

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Re: Words Can Never Hurt Me (Elizabeth Hastings Prolog)
« Reply #70 on: August 20, 2016, 05:29:35 pm »

"Good. I'm glad to hear that Elizabeth," Sarapheen replied, pleased with the choice.

"Now," she then continued, "I want you to choose a place that we can meet over the next few weeks, for regular private discussion and instruction. I have much to teach you Elizabeth; but the lessons are not something we can risk other mortals seeing."

"Believe it or not, the sawmill would work, if you can overcome the background it now has with you. If you have another place in mind, that would work also."

"When you have decided on the place, call my name 'Sarapheen', and I shall know to meet you there."

"I must go now Elizabeth," she then said.

Once again, the angel's wings and halo became visible - and the ceiling above her abruptly rolled opened like a scroll - revealing a pure white portal of mist beyond.

Ascending upwards, Sarapheen disappeared into the portal, and it closed, leaving Elizabeth alone in her room to ponder what she had just seen and heard.
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BerkaZerka

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Re: Words Can Never Hurt Me (Elizabeth Hastings Prolog)
« Reply #71 on: August 20, 2016, 05:32:35 pm »

The next several weeks were spent meeting regularly with Sarapheen, at the place Elizabeth had chosen, and what Sarapheen began to refer to as Elizabeth's 'School of Enlightenment'.

There, she formally taught her the true nature of reality (Cosmology), and the Lingua Intelligentia - or Language of Intelligence.

The premise of Lingua Intelligentia, was that all Matter and Ephemera, at its subatomic level, was made of Pure Intelligence. Using the Lingua Intelligentia, one could speak to the intellect of anything on this level, in order to instruct or direct it.

Sarapheen explained that Matter and Ephemera adamantly obeyed the 'High Laws', acting only as they had been commanded to act by Creation (a rock remained a rock, subject to Natural Laws, no matter what for example) - but using Lingua Intelligentia, and enough of one's will, one could command the rock (overriding the High Law) to become gold, explode violently, or even come to life.

It was this language, and the supernal knowledge that went along with it, that formed the basis of all Angelic Magic. And it was the fundamentals of this magic (Casting Reference) that Sarapheen taught Elizabeth, explaining that it would be integral to her work against the Infernal as a new Disciple.

Sarapheen also went on to explain, that as a new Disciple, Elizabeth was now foreordained to one day surpass mortality and become an Angel himself - called as an Avenging Angle. That wouldn't happen however, unless Elizabeth perfected her current calling of Disciple first - and that wasn't something one could simply do overnight.

To help her better understand her destiny, Elizabeth was introduced to yet a third Angel – the Avenging Angel, Jarome – who instructed her in all the areas that Sarapheen could not.

Apparently, there were five types of Angels, each with its own strengths and Supernal Calling (Disciple Creation Guide).

Sarapheen was a Ministering Angel and also known as a Ward. As such, she watched over a Ministry, encompassing a defined geographical area, and monitored the levels of Infernal Influence therein. When the Infernal Influence in her Ministry overstepped a certain level, she would send her Disciples to 'deal' with it.



Sarapheen's Ministry covered the entire east coast of the United States, known as the North America Region East - everything east of the borders of Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Alabama.

There were four other Ministries that covered the rest of North America.

The Avenging Angel Jarome, was Ward of the North America Region West - everything west of the borders of Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Arizona, and Louisiana.

The Guardian Angel Rebecca (who had rescued Elizabeth from the attentions of The Hornet’s Nest), was Ward of the North America Region Central - everything in between the West and East Regions.

The Spirit Warden Morrow Wind, was Ward of the North America Region North - Everything north of the United States/Canadian border.

The Angel of Death Yoz, was Ward of the North America Region South - everything from Mexico on down through Panama.

Of course, there were Regions like these all over the world, each with its own Angelic Ward and handful of mortal Disciples to keep the machinations of the Infernal at bay. Their work was not to stop evil itself, but to ensure the freedom of mankind to choose between good and evil - of their own agency - which was something one lost when they sold away their souls for the corrupting power of the Infernal.

It was these Witches and Sorcerers, and the occasional Demon itself, that the Wards sought out, and the Disciples went forth to destroy. For they sought to enslave mankind, by employing a corrupted version of Lingua Intelligentia, known among the demonic, as Wormwood.

Finally, Sarapheen explained that she had recently called four other Disciples, in addition to Elizabeth, and that once everyone was well grounded in the practice of Angelic Magic, they would all meet...

End of Prolog
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