‘This is where it gets interesting. Not only was Benedict Jones brought to answer for his religious unorthodoxy and heretical preaching, it turns out that evidence was provided accusing him of murder. You see, he believed that the serpent who tempted Eve, thus helping bring about the Fall, before God cast it to slither for all time on its stomach, existed in human form alongside Adam and Eve. Descendents of that first serpent, whom he named Serpentiles, evil creatures that he believed still roamed the earth, had to be sought out and destroyed otherwise any New Eden would be in danger of being corrupted for a second time.
‘The trial documents reveal the case of a man killed by Benedict and his followers. He had been ritually dismembered, every limb removed, including the head. This was, they testified, to prevent the evil soul from rising — it’s a belief that persisted into the Eighteenth Century when criminals could be hung, drawn and quartered. The soul cannot pass on if the corporeal body is in many parts. The man he employed to do the dirty work was someone he named Camael, so called after God’s avenging angel who would be sent to earth to punish those who transgressed God’s holy laws. They both freely admitted to the crime, and as a result were guaranteed an early death. But they did not die. Judgement was never passed because Benedict and Camael disappeared from their cells before it could ever be made. Helped out? Who knows?’
‘So who is Doradus?’
‘Change of name. When exactly the leader of the Church of Everlasting Bliss became known as Doradus we don’t know — obviously the name came into use after the invention of the telescope and its use in studying the stars three hundred years later, but it’s interesting they chose this name for their leader. Doradus is a star in the large Magellanic Cloud, one of the brightest stars known in the Milky Way. The brightest star in heaven, you might say.’
‘Like on the symbol,’ said Gareth thoughtfully. ‘At the centre of the cross there was a star.’
‘That’s our Doradus alright,’ she said. ‘Take the symboclass="underline" symbolically the star sits with Christ on the centre of the Holy Cross. The circle is in the shape of a snake eating its own tail; this represents the creature than tempted Eve with the old Cox’s Pippin. On the symbol, both physically and representational, it sits outside the cross, outside purity, outside Eden. As you can imagine, for the time such a belief was heretical to say the least.’
‘The woman murdered in Manchester in the same manner…’ he said. ‘Are you telling me this Church of Everlasting Bliss is still around? Still murdering people? After all this time? Jesus, are you asking me to believe those guys back at Godstone mines were really from a medieval sect?’
‘You got it. The position of good old Camael still going strong. How’s that for a job for life? See, unlike a lot of mediaeval sects and sub-sects that came and went — take Lollardy, for instance — this one sticks around. In fact it grows in numbers and grows in strength. It’s still an underground movement, naturally, but it gains followers amongst the medieval elite — particularly the nobles who already pay through the nose in indulgencies to the church in order to secure prayers for their souls in purgatory. Well, they also like to hedge their bets, and Benedict Jones’ radical new vision offers them another route in, so to speak. And given that the Church of Everlasting Bliss backs anything that kills off large numbers of people in order to fulfill God’s Great Plan, it suits those nobles who are thinking of financing the odd-war or two to further their own earthly ambitions. Killing two birds with one financial stone, so to speak. They can now secure an eternal place in the New Eden without feeling guilty about their bloody terrestial gains. So this new and dangerous religious belief feeds off both men’s fear of death and lust for power.
‘And it’s still with us. Same old promise — if it’s working don’t mess with it. Over the ensuing centuries the Church of Everlasting Bliss has been involved in many wars, acts of terrorism and genocide, in many countries, across continents. Death, to them, is simply an act of cleansing, preparing the way for the ultimate fulfillment of God’s Great Plan: to wipe everyone out and create a New Eden. It’s like the Masons but without the silly aprons, and of course a whole lot meaner.’
Gareth shook his head disbelievingly. ‘Come on, Caroline, how come nobody knows about them?’
She looked at him patiently. ‘Some of us know, Gareth, obviously. And anyhow, that’s the point of a secret sect; they don’t want anyone to know. Not yet at least. The modern Church of Everlasting Bliss has a foothold in all aspects of society, particularly in positions of financial power, a long tradition that goes back to Benedict Jones and its medieval origins.’
‘You seriously expect me to believe all that?’
She shrugged. ‘Suit yourself. You asked, I’m telling. You’d do well to believe me.’ She looked to the ceiling. ‘Yeah, I know, it sounds like baloney, but it isn’t. They’ve been central to stirring virtually every conflict across the world for hundreds of years. Take one big example. Who do you think was instrumental in orchestrating the assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo in 1914, an act that was to be the catalyst for the First World War? A bunch of inept thugs, a nineteen year old kid called Gavrilo Princip? The Black Hand? The Church not only was a part of the plot to assassinate the Archduke, it also managed to get to the Serbian ambassador to Vienna, a guy called Jovanovic, so that he was unable to deliver the warning that there was a threat of assassination to Austria-Hungary. Not satisfied with that it even had a hand in drafting the Habsburg Ultimatum that hung the Kingdonm of Serbia out to dry, forcing them into war. War was going to happen, whetever it took, and they played everyone against each other to achieve those ends. That’s only one instance, there are many more. Who, for instance, was an unseen financial force behind the emergence of fascism across Europe in the ‘Thirties, secretly funding the Nazi’s rise to power, and that of Mussolini in Italy? Who is currently behind a great deal of the radicalisation of young British people who then go on the perform acts of terrorism? Who do you think is involved in recent events in Syria threatening to drag us all into God knows what? They have their twisted fingers in virtually every nasty pie across the globe in some way, shape or form. Hell, all they’ve ever had to do was give us a little shove and we do their dirty work for them, quite happily murdering each other by the million, year in, year out. It’s what we humans do best, kill each other. I’ve seen it up close and personal. The more people that die the closer Doradus and his Church feel closer to achieving God’s Divine Intention. Best of all there’s not a lot we can do about it; the rot has set in for far too long and is too far reaching for it to be cured.’
‘Are you saying they go right to the heart of our political system too? Is that why we can’t go to the police?’
She laughed coldly. ‘That’s the trouble with all these conspiracy theories — every novel or movie that’s ever had one has the Prime Minister or President of the US ultimately responsible. In truth you don’t have to have anyone in government involved — those morons couldn’t organise a piss-up in a brewery. Don’t worry; Margaret Thatcher wasn’t Doradian, though many would probably argue otherwise. For the most part politicians are as ignorant as your average man on the street. Anyhow, political systems change too often. You need long-term stability, which means more can be done from elsewhere in the societal strata, particularly the financial sector. That’s where Doradus and his Church cut its teeth hundreds of years ago and has been a part of it ever since. That’s the more powerful force at play. Need an example? Take another look at major banks found to be processing billions worth of dollars in South America to finance God knows what mayhem through accounts that don’t exist? That’s just one dirty example. I have many more where that came from.’