Attack on an Evil God
by Ásgrímur Hartmannsson
Maggi, a university student, accepts an offer to join the Lookout Beaver Club for something to do in his spare time. The club is dedicated to thaumaturgical research, which Maggi views with skepticism. He soon finds himself threatened by supernatural creatures, magical robots, and malicious goons working for a high government official who has ties to other entities not of this universe.
Chapter 5: Soul Meets Body
On a mountainous path in the Himalayas, four robed figures led a goat carrying firewood toward their destination. It was a cave in a valley deep in the mountains, behind a small temple, the Temple of Storms.
It was not a path much travelled, being somewhat far from the popular Mt. Everest and other such interesting destinations. But it looked about the same: rocks, as far as the eye could see. Blasted and lifeless desert. In winter, there would be avalanches. At this time, there were occasional landslides. The four men could hear some over the wind noise.
The temple wasn’t much to see. The men made reverent gestures toward it, then passed it. When they reached the cave, they could see a figure inside, a large figure, watching them, waiting. The men approached the creature, making more reverent gestures, and the creature gestured back at them.
The men took firewood off the goat, built a bonfire, and the insides of the cave became visible. The awesome yeti stared into the fire, it warmed its hands, dropped its cloak. The men constructed a little altar from bits they had brought with them.
One of them placed a bundle on the altar, and the yeti unwrapped it, to find there a stillborn baby. The men explained how they had received this body from a grieving mother with the understanding that they would bury it. And they had made the signs of entrapment on the body to keep the soul from escaping. The yeti nodded.
They led the goat near, made signs on it with charred sticks, and cut it with knives so it bled. They handed the yeti the bloody knives, and the yeti made signs with the blood on the naked body of the dead infant.
And they all chanted. And the yeti took the goat and the body and combined them, and wrapped them in cloth and handed the new life to the monks. They gave their thanks and left.
And they brought the body back with them and put it in a wooden box. They took it to the post office to have it shipped to a buyer overseas.
Proceed to Chapter 6...
Copyright © 2017 by Ásgrímur Hartmannsson
