… my thoughts, mere words-they simply do no justice.
Situated atop this Texas-sized floating structure were copper-tinted domes-thousands of them-each roof ten times the girth of the old New Orleans Superdome, yet all interconnecting, like the bottom of a carton of eggs.
As we watched, a section of one of the domes retracted, allowing our drone to enter. Inside was a city, the scope of which could only be conceived in fantasy.
Imagine Manhattan, only one hundred thousand years in the future, the entire island raised in the sky and encapsulated. Imagine majestic silicon dwellings-so tall they would have dwarfed Chicago’s Sears Tower. Imagine interconnecting walkways and levitating pavilions-all woven into the dazzling skyline like latticework, and lush, tropical gardens and azure lagoons. There were rivers and twisting brooks, and cascading waterfalls, and farther along the outskirts, what appeared to be floating agricultural pods.
It was Shangri-La and Eden rolled into one, a beehive of intellect that, on an evolutionary scale, dwarfed us on a scale that we dwarfed the Neanderthals.
The technology required to build this domain was simply too overwhelming to conceive, and yet… it was deserted, not a single sign of life.
Who had built this magnificent floating habitat? Why had they abandoned it? Were they beings like us? Would they return?
We must have felt like the first Spanish explorers who happened upon Chichen Itza after the Mayans deserted the city.
With us, however, these questions were quickly forgotten after the drone’s atmospheric readings detected air within the domed city. Higher in oxygen content than Earth’s, void of all our chemical pollutants, it was nevertheless quite breathable.
To our dying community, we had discovered an oasis, delivered by God Himself, and we were determined to occupy it.
First, of course, we had to get there.
The structure’s closest border was 422 miles southeast of our crash site. Since the existence of the planet’s nocturnal insects made traveling by foot out of the question, our only hope was to repair as many of our damaged spaceships for a limited flight before our air and water supplies ran out.
Hope. How long had it been since any of us dared utter the word?
It took us ninety-six days to make three of our twelve shuttles operable enough for a vertical takeoff and restricted flight plan. During that time, we continued sending drones into the city, establishing maps, identifying key landmarks, puzzling over a myriad of dwellings.
Never did we come across a life-form.
The day of our departure finally arrived. Tossing out all personal luggage and nonessential items, we crammed our 572 survivors on board the three ships and flew to the Promised Land.
For twenty minutes, our vessel pitched wildly in the dense atmosphere, bringing nausea to all but our most seasoned astronauts. And then we passed over the copper domes and entered the alien domain.
What an astounding site.
As Bill Raby-I felt reborn… invigorated, excited to be alive.
If only I had known what lay ahead…
18
Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned…
For fourteen years Lilith Robinson had been a victim, her life a constant struggle to maintain a degree of sanity in an insane environment. Jacob had been her rudder, her strength in a stormy sea.
And now he had abandoned her.
When the Reverend Morehead accused his granddaughter of being a Succubus, he unwittingly supplied Lilith with a new compass-a persona her schizophrenia could mold like clay.
The Succubus was not a victim. The Succubus was powerful.
For the first time in her life, Lilith’s miserable existence was beginning to make sense. While God and His followers had shunned her, Lucifer had reached out to protect her. Lucifer had plans for her future, and although she had no idea what those plans were, she felt confident that her new companion, Don Rafelo, would guide her down the dark path to her destiny.
Lilith enters her uncle’s hotel room, tossing her book bag on the floor.
Don Rafelo is lying on one of the double beds, naked beneath a silk robe.
‘Everyone at school is talking about the missing boys.’
‘Have they questioned you?’
‘The police asked me if I’d seen them. I told them I kicked the basketball into the bushes and ran home.’
‘Good.’
‘When do we leave for Mexico?’
‘Soon. Are you familiar with the Dia de los Muertos, the Day of the Dead?’
‘I read something about it in school once.’
‘ La Muerte -Death-is a fixture in Mexican society. During the first days of each November, the spirits of the dead pay a holiday visit home. Death has always held a special place in our ancient rituals. Among the Aztecs, it was considered a blessing to die in childbirth, in battle, or in human sacrifice, all of which assured the victim a desirable destination in the afterlife. Are you afraid to die, Lilith?’
‘There are worse things than death. I want to know more about the Succubus.’
‘The Succubus is your alter ego. You are the reincarnation of Lilith, the Demon Queen-Queen of the Succubi. You were originally created by God to be a subservient wife to Adam. Born from filth but independent of will, you refused to be anything but equal. When Adam became aroused you refused his sexual advances and fled Eden on the wind to pursue erotica with God’s fallen angels. By the Red Sea you spawned a family of demons called the Lilim. Three of God’s angels attempted to force you to return to Eden, but you refused. As punishment, the angels butchered your children.’
‘What did I do?’
‘You swore revenge. Yahweh’s angels were able to protect the mothers and their children from you, but not the men. And so you seduced them while they slept, precipitating nocturnal emissions. The Talmud warned men not to sleep in a house as the sole occupant for fear of your presence. When you are reborn, you will possess the ability to control the will of men and deplete their life force.’
‘How shall I be reborn?’
‘Not far from the village of Bolonchen is a cavern, part of an underground network of passages known as Grutas de Xtacumbilxunaan, the Caves of the Hidden Woman.’
‘I read about this place in your papers. What’s inside the cave?’
‘Immense power… a power that will ignite your bloodline and give you the gift of sight. But be warned: If you are not strong, the energy will cause you to go insane.’
Lilith stares hard at the old man. ‘Quenton tells me my mother was insane.’
‘Or perhaps he drove her to insanity? It matters not. You are stronger than she ever was, and your master, Lucifer, will protect you.’
‘Quenton preached that God would protect me if I accepted Him into my life.’
‘Who can accept such a vengeful God into their heart? A God who coexists with death camps, who infects our species with disease, who is worshiped as being all-powerful yet somehow remains indifferent throughout our suffering? Did God help you when Quenton was abusing you?’
‘No.’
‘We of the left-hand path refuse to grovel before deities of crosses in hopes of gaining favor with such a God. Instead, we choose to rise above the ignorant fray and stare into His eyes. We revel in our humanity and take full responsibility for our actions. We seek out Lucifer, not to worship him, but to work side by side with him and his demons. God may have given us our sexual organs, but it was Lucifer who made us aware of them. He allowed us to see, to explore, to indulge our most carnal instincts so that we could flourish.’
‘And what of good and evil?’
‘A useless concept, taught by self-serving priests-hypocrites-like your Quenton, who seek to gain earthly pleasures by invoking God’s name to create fear. If to do good is to serve God, then it is a waste of time. Evil is the path to power. We of the left-hand path refuse to live in fear. We feel love and compassion because we are human, but we follow a dark path, one that harbors a hidden force in nature, leading us into a world most men refuse to understand.’