Astaroth

I walked this realm for well over fifty years, accompanied by my patron goddess, Tiamat, and her trusted aid Pandora Les Fleurs Précieueses; it had been a long and grueling half century, however the time for action is upon us. My origins are a bit odd, and some may say it is controversial; however, I am essentially made of two parts. The first being my physical body, that of a human male, while the second part of my being is what one may consider the soul.

Lady Tiamat being the Creator of All Things, possessed an ability to control and warp reality, this was called a Signature, and her signature was called ‘The Aspect of Reality”. The signature is composed of seven unique and infinite concepts that will always remain: Love, Sleep, Death, Life, Chaos, Space, and finally Time. 

M’Lady found herself and Pandora trapped in this realm eons ago and had been aimlessly wandering around waiting for the birth of someone special, that person was someone that dedicated their livelihood to being acknowledged by her, however didn’t live long enough to actually meet her in the physical realm.

Instead, M’Lady graced the young man, whom we’ll refer to as The First Hierophant, in a spiritual realm of her own creation. She advised him that the role he will play in the distant future will be an integral one in order to break an eternal and generational curse.

After accepting his part, she sent his soul to the future, where he would have the opportunity and environment to thrive and achieve his destiny, only leaving his physical body. M’Lady’s mental state at this point was already damaged beyond repair, and the only remedy was for the seven individual Sub-Signatures to gain an ego and possess physical bodies, in order to ease the tension.

However, this process is easier said than done, as not any physical body can do. The body itself must be chosen ahead of time by the respective sub-signature; for example, before the Aspect of Time developed an ego, it had subconsciously willed The First Hierophant into existence. After passing and the deceased coming in contact with Lady Tiamat, the conditions will have been met for the respective sub-signature to possess the physical body, thus giving life and form to what M’Lady calls an “Artificial Asura”.

Being of a near identical race as M’Lady, having DNA of Dragons, Demons, Fairies, and Slime monsters, I have an innate desire to resolve matters with a more civilized and academic approach. However, the humans of this realm will mindlessly resort to violence if it means they can get what they want; the idea of it all disgusts me.

“Astaroth, be careful out there, there have been news reports of a hurricane coming in this evening. M’Lady is worried that you’ll miss your window of opportunity,” a voice rang through my thoughts, it was Lady Pandora using ‘Thought Communication’. “You do only have one chance to pull this mission off, so don’t get cocky,” she almost had the voice of a mother.

“The conditions for the possession are met, the only thing there’s left to do is wait. Wait until the Sycophant takes control of the young woman’s father,” I responded.

“This may only be your first mission, but it can easily be your last if you act carelessly,” there was a sense of doubt in her voice.

“Give M’Lady my regards and inform her I’ll return with Lady Beelzebub as asked,” I disconnected the line as I spread my wings to take off. The Memphis air was thick with both humidity from the rainclouds and Mississippi River and the toxic fumes from the industrial plants. It made it a bit hard to navigate, however I was able to find a building close by Jamisha’s residence, it was a tall banking building that had an overhead view of her neighborhood.

The air quality and dense storm clouds made it difficult to tune into the conversation frequency, I’m going to have to get in closer, I thought.

As I hovered over her home, I caught an interesting sight, it was Jamisha’s father, and like clockwork, he was being controlled by an Angel Sycophant. These creatures had a terrifying appearance, they wore white robes with gold trimming, eyes covering their arms, mouths where their eyes should be and a plethora of feathered wings. These hideous monstrosities feed their victims lies in order to commit atrocities all in the name of their evil demiurge.

The drunk man and the Sycophant made their way into the tool shed behind the house and grabbed a double barrel shotgun, cocked it, and drunkly stumbled in the house.

Jamisha Pockets

The shot echoed and my father and brother stared at each other before Jalen’s body fell over.

“I’ll bring them back, it’s fine, they promised I’ll see them again if I got rid of you,” he grunted as he lifted himself up from the floor.

“What are you saying? I’m your daughter-“

“Shut up! Shut up, you’re not my daughter, I don’t know what you are!” His screams were drenched in despair. “They said you will help usher in a world of darkness and that you have to die. If I do this, then I get to see my family again. A family I’ve always dreamed of, my loving wife and two beautiful sons.”

What is he saying, I’m his little girl, I don’t understand what is happening. Who is promising him this future?“Dad, what‘s going on-?”

There was a shot and I quickly ducked to the ground.

“They said I can have her back! I just need to give you over to them, or I could kill you. That’s what they said,” he kept shouting. 

I made my way to the staircase out of his field of vision, as I crawled up the stairs, I remembered the sundial, and what Astaroth told me before I passed out.

Use it to draw blood, and time will be on my side, I don’t know what’s going to happen, but if he could do all that crazy stuff in the class, I think he could save me. And so, I grabbed and squeezed the sundial as tight as I could until I saw blood dripping down my hand.

At the foot of the stairs, my father stumbled and his face held a sense shock and fear. “What are you doing? Let go of that-!”

A brilliant golden light emanated from the sundial, the light was so bright and warm that for the first time in four years, I felt safe within my own home. I’m pretty sure time had stopped once the light started to glow. I looked around the room and all the color in everything was gone. It was like I was in an old 1900’s movie.

I looked at my father, he was in fact being controlled by something, but I couldn’t believe what was controlling him. It had a long white robe with gold embroidering along the edges. Large white feathered wings along the sides of its head and back with ring of light on top its head. As jaw dropping as the things appearance was, it was its face that drew out my fear. The creature hand no mouth, rather it had two mouths, where its eyes should be, and its eyes, well, they were running up and down its arms.

What the hell is that thing? Almost as if it could hear my thoughts, every eye on the creature looked at me and the creature began to move towards me. It was slow, but I still ran as fast as I could to my room.

I locked my door and as I backed up, eyes fixated on the door, I bumped into someone. I was fed up with all the surprises that the universe had thrown at me in the past 24 hours and this was the final straw. I was sandwich between my murderous father and an angel demon, and a pervert in my bedroom.

I can’t handle this any more. 

I took the sundial and raised it to my neck, I was fully prepared to end it all right there, but the person behind me, grabbed my wrist before I could even touch my neck. 

The person spun me around and it was him, Astaroth. He stared at me with those illustrious yellow eyes and gave me a worried smile that was accompanied by two streams of tears rolling down his face.

“O my beloved, there is more to your story, and this is merely the beginning. As I told you before, if you use that sundial, then I will be here to aid you,” he pulled me in and embraced me.

How were we moving so freely and everything else was moving incredibly slowly. Better question, can I really trust him?

“If I take care of the angel sycophant outside your door, will you consider trusting me?” Astaroth asked, almost as if he could read my mind.

I looked up at him and gave him a meek yet stern nod, much to his delight. He set me aside and walked towards my bedroom door. The angel on the other side managed to make it up the stairs and started to pound on the door, although it was slow, each bang was louder than the previous.

Astaroth turned and gave me a gentle smile before opening the door. He met the angel sycophant and his movements were almost a blur. He lifted his hands and the walls started to wither away, turning into sand. The sand collected above his hands and with a clap, a stream of pressurized sand pierced the right wing on the sycophant’s head.

The sycophant screamed a blood curdling scream as it rushed towards Astaroth. He leaped out of the way and the many eyes fixed their gaze on me. It soon started to pursue me, and it was at that time I noticed that it was moving faster and faster as the fight continued.

Astaroth dove in feet first and kicked the angel in the head before it could reach me. He dusted himself off and flashed an awkward smile. Is he flirting with me?

The sycophant began to emit a screeching noise and a ton of energy started to accumulate outside of its mouth. “Not good,” Astaroth said. He shielded me from the attack, and as the dust settled he stood up and pat my head. He gave me a smile before forming a katana out of the dust and said, “wait here.”

A second katana formed in his left hand and he grew a pair of wings that looked like they belonged to a dragon. Who was this man. What does he want from me? What is that thing and why does my father want to kill me? I wasn’t going to get the answers to any of my questions, but what I did know, was that I could trust this man with my life.

He flew up high in the air above my house. The angel made a ringing noise with its mouth before saying something in a language that sounded like Hebrew, “:תוישאר איה תופידע: הרטמ השדח השכרנ תקדה ילכ ןמזה” And shot in the air after him. The sky was a deep grey, there had been news and weather reports saying that a hurricane was coming our way.

The two floated in the air, before the angel charged another blast and fired it, point blank in Astaroth’s face. The attack managed to burn his suit jacket. “That was my favorite jacket,” he said, he clenched the hilts of his blades and charged at the sycophant. Even though the blades were made of sand, each strike caused sparks to fly.

“I’m growing increasingly agitated, as such, I shall dispatch of you quickly and return to my beloved,” Astaroth closed his eyes and the already colorless world around us grew darker and more ominous. “Aspect of Time: Time Signature: Oracle’s Slash.”

There was a flash of light and what looked like a zip across the sky, followed by inverted colors before time ultimately resumed. What was that? What’s happening to me?

Astaroth floated back down and met me with a smile on his face. The angel that had attacked me had disappeared, “Oh don’t worry about that Angel Sycophant, it’s long gone and can’t hurt you any more.”

“What about my father?”

Astaroth looked down with a face that was too ashamed to say what’s next. “Your father was bonded to that Angel, once its life ends, so does his.”

My eyes widened with disbelief, “What am I going to do now? I don’t have anything left. Not even a home to feel safe in.”

Astaroth grabbed me and held me close to his chest, “My love, you are always safe with me. And I need you to remember from this day forward, that I will always look after you.”

He wiped the tears from my face before kissing my forehead, “I do recall telling you that once you used that sundial that it will come at a great price.”

That’s right, he did say that… ”What kind of price do I have to pay? Do I sell you my soul or something?”

Astaroth erupted in a childish laugh, “Of course not, you are to be the vessel for the Aspect of Space, as well as my Queen.”

This is all happening too fast, I met this dude 24 hours ago and he’s talking about how I need to be the vessel of whatever and to be his wife?

“When you put it like that, it does sound like nonsense,” Astaroth retorted. It was like he was reading my mind.

“Why me? Why was I chosen to be this vessel,” I asked.

“Why not? I only know what m‘Lady tells me and what my Oracle can show me,” Astaroth corrected. “And what I was told to do was to find the vessel for the Aspect of Space and that I will fall in love with the Queen of Space. The face Oracle showed me, was yours.”

“What if I don’t want to,” I interrogated. 

”It’s a little too late for that, you used the sundial, and sat in the realm in which time stands still,” he presented. “The laws of this universe are forcing out your soul because it thinks you’re dead.”

“What? What’re you saying,” my questioning continued.

He sat me down, “I’ll send your soul somewhere safe, you won’t have to worry about being scared or hurt. This isn’t the end for you, merely the beginning.”

I felt a sharp pain in my chest followed by an intense heat and a wave of cold. Astaroth grabbed me and held me close to his chest, “for warmth,” he said. His body heat felt like a cozy house in the winter time. The fire place roaring, sipping a warm up of hot chocolate. I felt like I was in bliss.

“Before I send you off,“ I could barely make out what he was saying, I could only see his lips move. It was clear I was blacking out, but I could make out the very last thing that rolled off his lips, “Minerva”.

I woke up in a room that looked completely unfamiliar to me. The air felt different too, it felt like the air around Astaroth.

Astaroth… He was the last person I remember seeing, he said he was going to send my soul to somewhere safe. But I have no idea where I am, let alone safe.

I tried to look around the room that I was in, but I was having some trouble. My body was heavy, like I couldn’t move. I managed to lift my hand up to scratch my ear and then it hit me. Literally, I hit myself with my own hand. And when I pulled my fist from my face, it wasn’t one of a fully grown woman. No, it was an infant’s fist, I had been reborn as a baby.