Evil - Chapter 20
To say I had a fitful night’s sleep was an understatement.
Are you obsessed with mythology?
Are you gaga for monsters?
Do you love exploring new fictional worlds?
Then welcome to the Cosmic Weave.
The Cosmic Weave is a multiverse of mythic proportions, threads of story that span time, space, gods, demons, fae, and every cosmic horror in between.
Eternity is the explosive final book of The Godsverse Chronicles, which began with Magic, and the final installment in the Obsidian Spindle Saga, which redefined what fairytale retellings could be.
The Godsverse is noblebright portal fantasy, with mythological and action thriller tendencies. It is fast-paced, full of plot twists, and will keep you on the edge of your seat...when you aren't falling off of it laughing.
This campaign is for fans of mythpunk, cosmic fantasy, and fierce, complicated heroines who don't wait for destiny, they punch it in the face.
This is a portal fantasy series with mythological roots and action-adventure tendencies. You can search through all my work on my website.
It's not easy being the Antichrist.
Anjelica’s mother never told her that she was a demon. Now, all she wants is her old life back, but that’s not possible for her. Not after what she’s seen.
Anjelica used to be a popular cheerleader with an awesome life, but that was before an evil cult of demons tried to use her blood to open a portal to Hell and start the Apocalypse.
She was rescued from that fate, barely, and because of the imminent threat to her life, her saviors ripped her from Los Angeles and brought her to a safe house in the middle of nowhere.
They said it was for her own good, but she would rather be dead than stuck in boring, old Bronard, Missouri. She was from the big city, so a sleepy, rural life wasn’t for her.
She longed for excitement.
So, when she met a young witch with a mysterious past who promised to show her everything she knew about opening portals and traveling between distant lands, they bonded immediately
I mean, what’s the worst that could happen, right?
It’s not like they would open an intergalactic gateway to another planet and get thrown into a brand, new world with no way to get back to Earth, right?
Join Anjelica in her own solo adventure and find out what happened to her immediately after the events in Magic.
Even though after my interrogation, they moved me into better quarters that reminded me of a quaint bed and breakfast, filled with doilies, lace trim, and a gigantic bed. The king, apparently, insisted that people be well-rested before they were executed, and well-fed before they were presented to him for judgment. I was asked what kind of food I liked, but since I had no idea what kind of food they had, I simply asked for one of everything and was quite surprised when they accommodated me.
Much of the food I recognized, though I didn’t know its name in this strange new place. I ate lobster, shrimp, shawarma, and some sushi, along with three types of cheesecake and a souffle before I was stuffed. I’d barely made a dent in what they’d brought. It amazed me that even in this brand-new place, so much was the same. On some level, it made sense that people would need maps and newspapers and guns, but that we could evolve in parallel tracks and still end up in roughly the same place was mind-boggling.
I could have ended up anywhere. Everyone could have been squid monsters, or frog people, or giant insects, but instead, they were humans who spoke a similar form of English. What were the odds?
Probably as slim as me lasting through the next twenty-four hours. It seemed that everyone who passed through my bed chambers had already decided I would be hanged, and I had a feeling that everyone who made it into the lace-frilled, luxury room as I had wasn’t long for this world. Still, I refused to ask to confirm my suspicions, figuring that in this instance, ignorance truly was bliss.
I had little choice but to hope for some sort of miracle, but nobody knew I was here, except for Margaret, who was in some hospital somewhere, recovering…had somebody told her she was a princess yet? I wondered if anyone would tell her I died when I was gone. The only other person with any hope of helping me was Kimberly, but I hadn’t seen her when I entered this strange land and, in all likelihood, she was still on Earth—our version of it.
When the sun shone through the bars onto my bed, the door to my room opened, and a large woman wearing a bright, multicolored dress and powdered purple wig sashayed in.
“Good morning, good morning, good morning.” She looked at me and frowned. “Oh, no, no, no, no, no, this simply won’t do.” She lifted me onto my feet and dragged me toward a vanity on the side of the room.
I hadn’t bothered to look in a mirror since I came to this place. The heavy bags under my eyes made me look ten years older than I was, and my frazzled hair stood up on end, leaving me looking like quite a horrific sight.
“When was the last time you showered, girl?” she asked.
“I don’t—Who are you?”
She stood up straight. “I’m Madam Fantasmo, here to make you presentable to the king. You can’t possibly be seen in court looking like—like you look right now.” She shook her head fervently. “This is going to take some work. Yes, yes, yes.”
She shuffled toward a door inset in the wall. When she opened it, a curtain rack shot out, lined with dozens of dresses and accessories as fine as any I had ever seen.
“Why do I need to look good to see the king? Isn’t he just going to order my execution?”
“Well, with an attitude like that, yes, he will.” Madam Fantasmo looked over at me. “You look like an—yes, here is one.” She pulled out a shiny green dress with a ruffled collar. “My job is to make sure you don’t die today, and I am very good at my job.”
“Like a defense attorney?”
“God, no. Nothing as untoward as that. I am a royal stylist. The absolute best in the realm.” She hung her finger in the air. “If you look the part of a noble, and you can speak like one, then you can be saved, yes you can. Tell me, dear, how is your diction?”
“Ummm…fine…I guess?”
She sighed and pointed to a door behind her. “Go. Shower and wash your hair. We have very little time and much to do.”
I slowly walked around Madam Fantasmo and into the bathroom behind her. The moment I stepped into the shower, my desire to live increased ten-fold. The water was delightful on my bare back, and I let out a sigh of relief that seemed to rinse the weight of the last weeks away.
By the time I was done, three more women had joined Madam Fantasmo’s entourage, each more glamourous than the last. They shepherded me from the shower over to the vanity and wrapped my hair with curlers. Once they were done, they covered my hair with a plastic hair cover and began to work on my make-up.
“Is this necessary?” I asked. “I’m not much of a make-up person.”
“Of course it is, dear!” Madam Fantasmo bellowed. “This isn’t about you, it’s about the king, and he insists on perfection. My job is to deliver it to him so that he pities your pathetic plight and takes mercy on you.”
The women worked on my face, plucking my eyebrows, curling my lashes, reddening my lips, and powdering my cheeks. When they were done, I looked like a right clown. If this were the day I died, I would be dreadfully embarrassed to lose my head looking like a circus performer. However, the lot of them looked pleased, and they knew more about this world than I did, so I allowed them to do their work, hoping it would help me survive this absurdity. I had put my life in weirder hands before, after all.
With the make-up completed, they loosened my hair, and relaxed curls fell from them onto my shoulders. The women spent a good half hour teasing my hair until it was as thick and luxurious as they could make it—which wasn’t much in the end—and Madam Fantasmo slipped a corset over my midsection.
“This is going to hurt, honey,” she said. “But all good things do.”
She pulled tight, and the corset squeezed against my ribs, knocking the air out of my lungs with its tight grip. When she was done lacing it up, two of her helpers walked me to the green dress they had picked out for me.
“Yes, yes,” Madam Fantasmo said when she was done. “You look almost passable, child. Truly one of my best works.” She clapped for herself, and the three others joined in. “A masterpiece.”
I slipped into a pair of sparkly green high heels—walking in them was a skill I never mastered—and my ankles buckled with every step.
“No, that won’t work,” Madam Fantasmo said. “You look like a silly goose, and that will not do at all.” She pulled the shoes off my feet and slipped on a pair of green slippers instead. “Well, you don’t look as regal, but you can move in those, so they’ll have to do. Luckily, your dress is low enough to cover your feet.” She pulled open the door to my room. “Now, come.”
She stepped out into the hallway before me, and when I walked out, she nearly choked. “No, no. That is not how we walk. When we walk, we glide across the room, like you’re floating on air.”
I tried a couple more steps, much to Madam Fantasmo’s chagrin. “I don’t know how to do that. I only know how to walk like a human.”
“And look where that got you.” She pursed her lips. “It’s all in the hips, girl. You have to roll them forward and take short, fast steps to make it seem like you are an ethereal angel from the great beyond.” She moved behind me and grabbed me by the puffiness of my dress. “Move.”
As I did, she pressed her hands and moved my hips to do what she wanted. “Like this?”
“Exactly, my dear.” She stood upright. “Now, just master that in the next five minutes before we get to court.”
I tried, I really did, to walk like she told me, but every time I shifted, her grimace deepened. Still, I wasn’t giving up. If this was the way to win the king’s heart, then I would do it, no matter how stupid it made me look.
At the end of the hallway was a long, enclosed walking bridge that led far off across a busy highway into the distance. Windows looked out onto the city below us every few feet, and the red carpet on the bridge was plush, plumped perfection. Fantasmo waved her hand over the black wall, and it lit with a green arrow. The floor began to move beneath my feet, and that was when Madam Fantasmo turned to me.
“King Ulthar is a demanding king, but he is the greatest we have ever known. Under his reign, we have conquered half the known world and even some of the unknown one. He has brought riches to us that were unimaginable even a generation ago. It might not seem it now but look out on the city below you.” It looked like a city to me, every bit New York or London, neither of which I had been to, but both of which I had seen pictures of in books. A large building in the distance consumed a whole city block, dwarfing everything around as it rose high into the air.
“All of this came about because of King Ulthar’s vision and guidance. Because of his leadership, we have become the envy of the world.” She turned to me. “The king is the loveliest man to those he likes, and the harshest man alive to his enemies, and that’s what this—” she gestured to my dress— “is all about. Proving you are a friend to the great king, so he bestows his mercy on you instead of his vengeance.”
“According to the detective I spoke to last night, I’m accused of kidnapping his daughter. I don’t think there’s much coming back from that.”
“Nonsense!” Madam Fantasmo said. “The way I see it, you have traveled across the cosmos to bring her home. You are a hero and should be rewarded as such.” She took a step closer to me. “I have my choice of cases, you know, and I personally requested to be on this one because I think you are a winner, my love. Do you think every accused gets such treatment?”
“I—yes?”
“Absolutely not. Yes, they are all treated well the night before they are to be brought before the king, as per the law, but these frivolities? They are because I have taken a special interest in your case, girl from beyond the stars.”
“So, you don’t think I’m a murderous witch.”
She smirked at me. “No, but if you were…I would like to be on your good side.” We arrived at a black door on the other end of the long corridor. “Now, make me proud.”
This is a portal fantasy series with mythological roots and action-adventure tendencies. You can search through all my work on my website.