Eye of the Gods: A Mindlord Novel by Igor Swann

“This book is dedicated to Lu-Ann, my inspiration for Ricci, who
showed me that love in the hands of a master, did not invariably
produce a stiletto through the heart; it remained equally suited to
inflict blunt force trauma to the brain.”

i

PROLOGUE
The imperial cruiser floated gracefully through the vast black
underbelly of the universe. Now and again, it would bounce a
luckless asteroid into a planet or star, but for the most part, it did
not disturb the gentle constitution of the universe.
Truthfully, the universe had hardly stirred from its everlasting
slumber long enough to scratch the itch on its well-rounded
expanse before lulling back into eternal sleep.
The universe dreamed.
It dreamed of new beginnings and of timeless endings. It has
been here for an eternity and it was quite tired of it, eternity
seemed to be taking forever.
It used to fear the end; fear the day it too would reach critical
mass and, well, another big bang would follow. Only this time it
would be his internal galaxies plastered all over the canvass.
Of course, other universes would take his place.
There were always a few ready to experience singularity and
explode into being.
It did not begrudge them this desire since he himself was one of
them a few billion years ago. It smiled at the thought of how
many universes would be able to find a point for themselves in
the plasma soup he would leave behind.
Clusters were of course the new buzzword, since many
universes were vying for a little bit of the canvass; but this specific
universe still enjoyed space.
It felt that even the tiniest star should have enough room to
grow and spread its light.

ii

Of course, this was old school. Nowadays the number of stars it
contained measured a universe’s success and clusters were the
only way to increase the number. Some planets were orbiting as
many as ten stars, if you could call it orbiting. A more accurate
description would be a downhill slalom designed by a demented
herd of monkeys. The planets would be more like ping pong balls
than a cradle to induce the creation of life, preposterous!

The old universe thought about their lack of imagination with
disdain. It would seem all cluster designs came from the same
building plans, bought from the pedlar on the left upper corner of
the canvass. Little wonder the life forms on these planets
discovered television before they discovered fire.
The biggest diversity in planetary creation among the more
creative young universes would be if they changed the colour of
rocks from the standard grey brown.
Some of the freethinking universes even went as far as to create
passion pink rocks, but unfortunately, when the primordial life
forms reached the prebiotic beaches, this seemed to incite a state
of uncontrolled vomiting and subsequent death. After years of
universal enquiries on premature extinction, the courts ruled that
the rocks were responsible. An injunction made them illegal on all
planets whose new life forms did not sport blond hair, said like a
lot and came with the standard Shih-Tzu accessory option.
This universe had an even bigger problem with these new
universes’ attitude to expansion.
They had very little pride in their creations, using substandard
materials in planetary development, which were sure to last only
a couple of millennia. Unstable tectonic plates, inadequate

iii

meteor protection, earthquakes, flooding, volcanoes, global
warming… somewhat similar to its own failed attempt very early
in its existence, commonly occurred on these planets. He
however, might find absolution for these little mistakes, since he
had to use trial and error. He did not have blueprints or mentors.
Alas, nobody seemed the care anymore.
Most of the life forms did not even reach the evolutionary point
of discovering bungee jumping, bad hairstyles, and flower power
or sexy lingerie, the two being mutually exclusive. Even the early
discovery of divorce lawyers and fast food restaurants were
unlikely, before they woke up one morning with one final OH
SHI…
Through some good fortune and the female of the specie
discovering their vocal cords early in the evolutionary
development, some prehistoric life shortly after discovering fire
initiated an emergency space exploration program. However,
considering a parallel study on the ability to reproduce asexually
would have been a very important point for deliberation had they
had enough time… and silence, to think about this.
Through careful analysis of the cave paintings several centuries
later, scholars have affirmed that a very accurate translation for
the thoughts leading up to this event had been.
‘We have to get away man, we have to leave before she find
us… hey dude, don’t forget to pack the beer.’
Of course, the reproduction conundrum would never become
an issue, since they all gave up and died out in any event when
the beer ran out… about T+42 minutes after liftoff.
The ancient thoughts of the universe returned to the end. It has
seen its share of beginnings and now longed for closure, and

iv

maybe a gold watch. It did not fear the end anymore, although it
wondered if there was a heaven for universes.
The end would be welcome relief from trying to keep thousands
of galaxies together.
The universe sighed in its slumber and thought about its itch.
The end would also be welcome relief from them…

v

EYE OF THE GODS
A Mindlord Novel

IGOR SWANN

vi

Eye of the Gods

CHAPTER 1
A tense atmosphere prevailed with six anxious figures staring at
the blue planet slowly coming into view. The reason for their
anxiety would soon become apparent.
‘You said you would have a plan before we got here,’ a female
voice belonging to a girl of around eighteen exclaimed in
exasperation.
‘I know sis, and I am sorry. We will just have to play it by ear.’
The girl’s voice began to tremble.
‘It is mom and dad we are talking about Blade. We need a plan!’
the young girl screamed in anguish.
‘Okay Storm, calm yourself, we will think of something. Just
remember it is not only our parents that are in trouble,’ Blade said
glancing at the other worried faces looking to him for guidance.
Bladin or as he preferred Blade, seemed out of his depth.
S’tormindal unfairly placed the weight of this futile excursion on
his shoulders alone. He was barely older than she was, and in the
greater scheme of things, although he has on numerous occasions
made a strong point of this fact; a few seconds mattered little
now.
#we are entering an orbital pattern around earth# Skibladne
stated.
‘Thanks,’ Blade mumbled before plopping himself down in the
command chair, absentmindedly scanning the blue ball his
parents used to call home.
He squeezed his brain in the hope that an idea would pop out.
Nothing,

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Some fizzing did occur, but alas no pop.
He had to settle for a rerun of the events of the last few
months.

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Eye of the Gods

CHAPTER 0.01
A thunderous laughter rolled through the usually monastery-
like halls in the palace on Arken. The second sun had already
passed its highest point and was busy racing the first sun for the
horizon. It never won but always seemed to try.
‘He did what?’ Kirom asked with a grin still playing across his
broad dwarven face. His waxed goatee forming a sharp point, and
even his usually bushy eyebrows somehow appeared less bushy,
with most hair pointing in relatively the same direction.
A strange blue creature answered his question. He had a metal-
like sheen to him and seemed to be completely devoid of any
orifices. This would include mouth, nose, ears and other more
private protrusions and gaps.
He was an Aesir, a race born into magic, which to them is as
breathing is to us. It is almost exactly like breathing to them since
they had no way of sustaining their own life without the magic
field that constantly surrounded them. Through this magic field,
they were able to eat, breathe and do many wondrous things.
The blue creature projected his thoughts in an impish tone
directly into the minds of the others.
‘He made Teral’s mindcom produce the voice of a female
seductress in the minds of his crew on the cruiser. All his
commands sounded like this raunchy woman of the night’s pick-
up lines. The problem was that Teral was the only one that could
not hear how his own thoughts were received and of course why
the crew were so cheerful in executing his orders,’ Guival
repeated his earlier recount of events.

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‘Kids,’ Laidin smiled. She did not have many opportunities to
smile anymore, or visit with her friends. Her monarchical duties,
as Queen of the El, better known as elves on earth, took up all her
time. She lived for these moments before the council meetings, of
just sitting around talking nonsense with these two. She and
Kirom had a long history as friends. Together they had survived
many adventures, with relatively insignificant survival ratings.
However, after Guival joined the band, even going to a birthday
party for children had a less than comforting probability of safe
evacuation.
The three of them stared dreamily to where the kids were
playing a game of volleyball. Angel had taught them this strange
low-tech Earth game and the kids loved it.
They watched as Blade and Storm both started pointing at
Feral, obviously upset about something. Feral just shrugged and
seemed to gesture that there were no rules against magic in the
rulebook. It would be hard going for anyone to convince him that
magic is not a talent readily available to sportsmen on earth, but
by the look of things, the twins were going to give it their best
shot.
Throm, Phalin and Shen had taken up seats on the grass
embankment next to the volleyball court. They patiently waited
for this dramatic scene to reach a conclusion, and of course, it was
always amusing the watch the twins gang up on Guival’s son.
Feral seemed to have no objection in affording them every
opportunity to do this. He would readily provide one at every
opportune and inopportune moment.
He believed that rules were merely guidelines of sorts, and
were there to provide stimulus for the more creative mind.

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Eye of the Gods

Therefore, the creation of rules were solely to test the resolve of
the open minded, and give these minds something to keep busy
with, so they do not get bored, and do something stupid. If no one
was going to break rules then what was the use of creating them
in the first place? Nobody created rules for things that surely
needed rules, like do not jump from the palace tower, or strata
surf in a meteor shower. No! Rules were there to protect the
weak minded from having fun, and he would not stand for it.

A familiar smoke trail from a ship’s ion engines appeared in the
sky overhead. A very special ship called Skibladne. She was a one
of a kind wonder, with an inexhaustible fuel supply and capable of
ridiculous speeds. However, the most remarkable feature of this
ship is that it parked in another dimension. Similar to an earth
vehicle’s immobilizer, Skibladne would shift into an uninhabited
parallel dimension with the press of a button.
This button appeared on a gauntlet on the arm of the UGE lord,
the ruler of all the UGE planets, and an earthling. The UGE lords,
in their infancy, were abducted from earth and mind transformed,
which gave them not only super human strength and speed, but
also changed their minds into arguably the most intelligent in the
universe.
The current UGE lord was an exception to this rule, as his
abduction occurred when he had been a full-grown man, after his
predecessor met with an unfortunate murder. Nevertheless, this
reluctant soul, luckily without too many side effects, managed to
become the next UGE lord.
One side effect is worth mentioning though. LOBE, the alter ego
his mind created when it could not accept the transformation

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process. This part of the brain took on its own personality, and it
hosted all the new and special functions unlocked by the mind
transformation process. The UGE lord affectionately referred to
LOBE as his migraine for which he could find no obvious cure, with
the exception of maybe a jackhammer or power drill.
Angel discarded these options since he had grown somewhat
attached to his brain.
Even though in his early fifties, on Arken that would translate to
about his late thirties since an earthling aged slowly here. He
showed slight greying areas around the temples but this just serve
to make him look more regal. He stood almost six foot four in his
boots, and appeared well built thanks to the transformation
process. His dark hair, and grey blue eyes that had a constant
naughty glint to them along with his well-chiselled face and broad
shoulders made him a very attractive man indeed. Even the scar
running from the corner of his right eye about a centimetre down
his temple, just made him more handsome, in a rugged kind of
way.
His features, and the fact that he was mostly unaware of how
attractive he was, made his wife quite protective over him.
Especially when they visited the Valk’r, whom for obvious reasons
consists of only female warriors. The fact that she instilled the
fear of the gods in them seemed of little comfort to her.
He had a very amicable personality and was friendly to
everyone he met, which his wife referred to as flirting and cause
him to sleep on the couch in snoring earshot of her on many
occasions. She just could not accept that she was the love of his
life, and no other woman on earth or otherwise, would ever peak
his interest in any way, form or means. He was hers, mind, body

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Eye of the Gods

and soul. She just wished she could tell him how much she adored
him, but the circumstances always seemed inappropriate.
Angel reluctantly became the leader of the free universe. This
did not mean he could not lead, or that he was not a great leader,
he just preferred not to. Unfortunately, the Arks made this choice
on his behalf and he now occupied the position of ruler of the
United Galactic Empire. A modest title, one he wore with suitable
contempt.

The smoke trail gently curved towards the palace’s hangar bays.
Both twins turned as one and started running towards it.
Laidin sighed.
‘I suppose we should follow and welcome the UGE lord back
from his vacation,’ she mentioned while pushing herself out of the
deck chair.
Kirom nodded ‘I actually missed them.’
‘So did I,’ Guival agreed, ‘I need new material for my comedy
act and your cousin is always ready to oblige.’
He levelled this remark at Laidin to which she pulled a sour face.
The cousin Guival referred to was Ricci, a former Valk’r warrior
that stole Angel’s heart.
Ricci, even though mostly of human origin also shared an
ancestry with the El, Dwar and Aesir. Through a series of
circumstances that you could describe as the universe actually
having a sense of humour, the DNA of the most influential leaders
of the three races had become a part of her genetics.
She was a distant descendant of the dwarf Grand Master Thor,
Sif queen of the Elves and Odin of the Aesir. These leaders of

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course had lived millennia ago, but the DNA traces were
unmistakable.
This made her the perfect candidate for First Princess of the
UGE since she embodied all of the most powerful of the member
races, and what an embodiment it was.
Slim and graceful with green eyes that one could easily drown
in and long flowing locks that seemed to be weaved from gold. It
took every ounce of self-control from her dwarven friends to
abstain from mining this.
Her courteous royal outward appearance seemed a perfect
cover for her less than highborn tongue. A tongue adorned with
razors, which could slice even the most hardened egomaniac into
suitably humble pie pieces.
Everyone respected her, that was their story and they were
sticking to it. On a live intergalactic poll that streamed to
thousands of worlds, a brave presenter posed the question.
‘Would anyone rather face the princess’s tongue or her blade,’
the reaction had been an overwhelming no. The station inundated
with exactly one response, which had been a wrong number and
the person begged the station not to let her find out he had called
in.
Realizing what they did, the presenter and producer fled to
another galaxy. They are rumoured to have become monks in the
church of the seven-day advertisers. This has become a very
popular belief, since it required you to be drunk constantly and
pay penance when caught sober.

The kids reached the hanger bay quite some time before the
rest of the entourage.

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Eye of the Gods

‘Mom, dad, you are back,’ Storm yelped and jumped into
Angel’s open arms.
‘No, it’s just a mirage, we are actually still on Tigus Prime,’ Ricci
quipped before adding, ‘now give me a hug before we disappear.’
Blade felt he was too old for hugs and should follow the more
mature approach in greeting his parents.
‘Welcome back mother, father, hope you had a pleasant
journey.’
Angel grabbed him in a headlock and ruffled his hair.
‘Dad, don’t mess with the do,’ Blade exclaimed blushing.
‘My lord, welcome back to Arken,’ Laidin remarked as she
joined the family reunion.
‘I hope you had an uneventful return trip.’
‘Yep, we even took Jormo-alley back, but without finding even
an ion trail of a pirate ship,’ Angel replied as Ricci pulled a sour
face.
There had been peace in UGE space for more than 19 years
now, with of course, the occasional skirmish or feud erupting, but
these never lasted long.
A consortium might wish to flex its muscles and show who is in
control of a sector. However, when the UGE showed their bulge in
turn, the companies usually looked positively anorexic.
Yet they still tried and since the UGE was in a word huge,
sometimes they might even get away with it. On one such
occasion, the only UGE ship in the problematic sector happened
to be Skibladne.
She stood nose to nose with the mining magnate’s cruiser. This
might not seem fair since the cruiser is to Skibladne as a dog is to
a tick. Unfortunately, for the dog, this tick ate rhinos for breakfast.

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Behind the magnate, a fleet of corvettes, freighters and fighters
cluttered space and made it look seriously untidy.
They were on their way to decolonize a planet, which had an
unprecedented amount of Zellion. This precious metal was almost
indestructible and very expensive. Some of the most expensive
ships’ hulls had a thin plating of Zellion on their most critical
sections. Skibladne construction however, consisted of this
precious metal in its entirety.
The inhabitants of the planet were low-tech miners. They were
making a decent enough living from the little Zellion they
managed to excavate. Although they did not have the knowhow
to mine the rich deposits quickly or in significant quantities, they
were aware that they could sustain their way of life for a very long
time.
They did not intend to sell their means of generating an income,
and the mining magnate did not intend to pay anything near a fair
price for the planet in any event.
The magnate decided that they would simply decolonize the
planet. A cheap and easy solution and after all, who would know.
It was not as if anyone would miss a few hundred colonists on a
forgotten planet, among the hundreds of UGE controlled systems.
Fortunately, not everyone in the magnate’s employment felt
the solution was that simple and informed the UGE of the plans.
Time was however, a problem and the only ship in the UGE fast
enough to reach the planet in time was the UGE lord’s.
This was the reason why Skibladne stood alone and nose to
nose with the cruiser.
‘And where do you think you are going?’ Angel asked.

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Eye of the Gods

‘None of your business,’ the curt answer slammed into Angel’s
ears.
‘Oh, but I am making it my business. Shall I repeat the
question?’
‘Move out of my way UGE lord, or I’ll blast you into tomorrow.’
Angel smiled.
‘Battle mode,’ he said under his breath to Skibladne.
#Battle mode engaged# Skibladne acknowledged in her
synthesized metallic female voice. A touch Angel’s predecessors
enjoyed even though it was possible to create a perfectly
replicated human voice if they so wished.
Skibladne instantly transformed into what you could describe as
a porcupine having a bad hair day. Turrets sprang up all over the
place. Some of the weaponry the lady deployed was not even
recognizable as anything that could exist in the current day and
age. Others were arguable if they should exist in the now, and yet
others might never exist, and those who saw these swore they
were a figment of their battle stressed minds.
Angel heard a gruff laugh over the mindcom.
‘Should I be scared? Maybe I should just make an example of
you,’ the ignorant voice expressed.
‘You and what army exactly,’ Angel remarked while an innocent
smile played across his face.
‘Are you blind UGE lord? This ar…’ The mining magnate had the
foresight to turn his scanners towards his fleet before continuing.
‘I think it would be best for all if I just go now and we forget this
unfortunate incident, huh?’ he relayed his apologies in a fearful
voice.

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Apparently, Skibladne’s legend had even reached this remote
part of the universe, and it might have increased in size in the few
minutes it had a standoff with the magnate’s cruiser. The
magnate’s entire fleet had turned and ran following Skibladne’s
transformation into a very angry ball of weaponry, and it
appeared painfully obvious that she knew how to use it.
‘That might be a one of your best ideas yet, and if I ever hear
your name again, I will personally come and wipe you from the
face of the universe. Oh and from now on I will expect you to pay
triple the asking price for the Zellion from this planet. And you will
buy their entire supply,’ Angel ended the conversation.
Angel gave Skibladne a mental command to fire a small salvo at
the cruiser’s forward array, which completely obliterated the
shields on the vessel.
‘Oops, sorry about that, wrong button,’ Angel laughed.
The cruiser left in a hurry.

The group walked towards the palace. A race called the Arks
hosted the UGE lord’s dwelling. They were what earthlings fondly
referred to as anal probing aliens.
They discovered the mind transform technology. They were also
responsible for abducting the infants from earth, who possessed
the gene that made mind transformation possible. They looked
exactly like the pictures of aliens on earth would suggest, with the
long faces, thin bodies and huge almond eyes. They spoke like the
Aesir using telepathy since they had no vocal cords.
Qren assumed the role of leader of the Arks. He was a
benevolent creature, and close friend of the group now slowly
making their way to the palace kitchen.

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Eye of the Gods

His daughter, Shen, due to the lack of a better description,
appeared among the party that now happily strolled towards the
palace grounds.
The reason for this hesitant reference to child was that the Arks
had long since lost the ability to procreate. The Ark engineers
developed a process whereby any Ark who wished to have
children would submit their DNA. Through some technological
magic, a child artificially grew from this living DNA.
There was however, a huge backlog since they had only one
scientist. Qren had ordered Shen more than 50 years ago, but she
was currently aged only 19.
The Arks distinguished themselves as a race of engineers, but
unfortunately lacked the facility for creative, out of the box
thinking. They could re-engineer anything from existing
knowledge. Their single scientist had been a complete anomaly
and widely speculated that his parents were a little promiscuous
and introduced some alien DNA into his triple helix.
This lack of creative thinking though led to the abduction of
earthlings, since earthlings were the only creatures with a neuron
structure suitable for the mind transformation process. The
thought of abducting earthlings was widely accepted as the most
creative thing the Arks had ever done.
The Arks proceeded to convince the council, that with the
superior intellect the human abductees possessed after the mind
transformation process, they would make the perfect rulers. Thus,
the UGE was born and the UGE lord established as an earthling.
The Arks now had a perfectly good creative genius at their
disposal and they thrived.

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‘I wonder where your dad is hiding. It is not like him to miss a
chance of a welcoming ceremony.’ Angel directed this question at
Shen to which she shrugged.
‘I do not know my lord. He is aware that you were returning
today. He mentioned this at breakfast this morning,’ she replied.
‘Oh well, I am glad that it is just our family and close friends this
time. He does seem to go over the top whenever we return from
a trip,’ Ricci grinned.
Shen seemed uncomfortable, which Angel noticed.
‘But we do appreciate all the trouble Qren goes to, and it does
make us feel welcome here on your beautiful planet,’ he sincerely
added to his wife’s comment.
Angel looked up at the palace in front of them. It remained an
awesome sight, with huge spirals and turrets made from shining
metal. Enormous glass windows adorned most of the palace’s
battlements and steeples, shining brightly as they reflected the
setting suns.
The party noisily made their way through the palace’s gardens
and into the endless corridors that ran through the entire palace
complex.
Dinner preparation completed well in advance of their arrival
and the dishes stood waiting on the central table of the great
dining hall.
‘Good, I am famished,’ Ricci exclaimed with glee.

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CHAPTER 0.02
Qren anxiously examined the long-range scanner console in
front of him, with the image of a tiny ship clearly visible on the
scanner.
‘How long ago did you say it appeared?’ he asked the
commander standing next to him.
‘Almost 10 minutes ago, sir.’
‘And there has been no attempt at communication from the
vessel yet?’ Qren inquired.
‘No sir, we have repeatedly tried to hail the ship but have so far
been met with silence. We have dispatched a cruiser to intercept
and lend assistance,’ the commander promptly replied.
‘Thank you commander, please keep me informed of any
further developments,’ Qren dismissed his commander.
He knew the type of ship on the scanner well. The ship
belonged to the Valk’r, human female warriors sworn to protect
earth. They reside on earth in a fortress known as New Valhalla.
The Valk’r warriors were instrumental in the defeat of the Taur,
when they tried to invade earth nearly a quarter of a century ago.
What would one of them be doing coming to Arken? He
wondered, surely they would not send one lone ship on this
arduous journey, and what reason could there be for this surprise
visit?
It was customary for the UGE to send a cruiser whenever the
Valk’r needed to visit Arken. This was simply because the journey
takes weeks and the Valk’r fighters are single seater spacecraft.
They were therefore not suitable for such a voyage.

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Igor Swann

Qren hurriedly left the office.
Angel should be back by now, and I am sure Ricci would want
this information, he thought to himself as he hurriedly walked
down the corridor.
He stopped a guard to ask for the whereabouts of the royal
party, and unsurprisingly learned that they were currently in the
dining hall. Qren picked up his pace.

‘Qren, I am so glad to see you,’ Angel beamed as he spotted
Qren enter the hall.
‘My lord, welcome back,’ Qren answered.
Angel noticed the concerned undertone in Qren’s thoughts.
‘What is wrong my friend?’ he projected.
‘My lord, my lady,’ he said in turn facing Angel and then Ricci.
‘We have picked up a Valk’r fighter on our long range scanners.
She seems to be alone and do not respond to our attempts at
communication.’
‘What?’ Ricci exclaimed anxiously.
Ricci, once a Valk’r commander herself, still carried them close
to her heart. This news was worrying, and she needed to act.
‘My lady, we have dispatched a cruiser to intercept the fighter,
and we are awaiting news of the rescue as we speak.’
His words still hovered in the party’s mind while a streak of gold
disappeared through the mess hall doors, obviously heading in
the direction of the landing bay.
‘We should probably follow her,’ Angel remarked.
He did not enjoy situations that would upset his wife, mostly
because he loved her dearly, but also because he would surely
become the target of her extensive arsenal of verbal munitions.

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They reached Ricci where she impatiently waited for the shuttle
from the cruiser.
‘Where are they,’ she mused, tapping her foot.
‘My lady, they are still a way off, but we could go to the
communication room and see if there is any news,’ Qren
suggested.
‘Well, what are we waiting for?’ Ricci exclaimed and set off
again at terrifying speed.
Angel shrugged and set off after his wife.
‘My lord, may I suggest the hover platforms,’ Qren noted. His
frail anatomy now quite exhausted after the first pursuit of the
princess.
‘Great idea Qren,’ Angel remarked as he dashed for one of the
three platforms silently floating in the corner of the hangar.
The crowd piled onto the hover platforms and raced after Ricci.
She anxiously spoke with the lieutenant in charge of the
communication array by the time they arrived.
‘Apparently the girl is unconscious,’ Ricci explained when Angel
and the rest entered the room.
‘She is safe at least, thank god.’

At least twenty minutes passed before the cruiser entered an
orbit around Arken. The Ark medical team rushed the young
Valk’r to the medical quarters, and gave her a full examination.
‘She is stable for now,’ One of the Ark healers gave his
prognosis. ‘She is covered in serious wounds that seem to have
been made by animal claws and fangs. She lost a lot of blood.
There is also a toxin in her system, which seemed to have induced
this coma. It is a miracle she is still alive. Whatever message she

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brought must have been very important for her to fight death for
so long.’
‘Can you save her?’ Ricci asked in barely a whisper.
‘We will do what we can, but she might remain in this condition
for a while still. We are working on an antidote for the poison,’
the doctor answered her.
Ricci sat in brooding silence. Angel softly walked up to her and
put his arm around his wife, not knowing exactly what to say to
comfort her.
The twins looked at each other while they sat on the staircase,
the worry clearly visible on their faces. The silence made
everybody uncomfortable.
After what seemed to be a lifetime, Ricci suddenly broke the
silence.
‘We need to know why she came,’ she exclaimed through
pursed lips.
‘But how princess, she is unconscious, she cannot speak and her
thoughts are not readable,’ Kirom explained the obvious.
‘I know,’ Ricci said gritting her teeth.
‘There is a way,’ Laidin softly helped with her customary regal
confidence.
The party stared at her.
‘There is a way,’ she repeated her statement, ‘my lord,
remember when you had your dreams of the Taur invasion of
earth?’ she asked.
‘Of course,’ Angel exclaimed, ‘Noone’s dream scanner.’
Noone was an alien, even to these aliens. He was old, very old,
nobody knew how old exactly but he knew the great, great

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grandparents of Laidin of the El. Since Elves got impossibly old,
some even as old as a thousand years, Noone had to be ancient.
He was from an extremely advanced alien race that unwittingly
forgot him on Arken on their travels many millennia ago. 1
‘So what are we waiting for?’ Ricci shouted, ‘bring Noone here.’
Angel turned towards the guard and quietly gave him a few
instructions after which the guard rushed off to find the ancient
being.
When Noone eventually entered, he found Ricci impatiently
stomping around the waiting room.
‘About time you got here!’ she growled when she saw his small,
almost dwarf-like form and, as always, completely covered with
the dark robe. Nobody had any idea what Noone looked like
except maybe for Qren. Their friendship was unshakable,
especially after the ordeal with the evil elf princess’s betrayal of
the UGE.
Noone did not respond and glided past her towards the patient.
He did not care much for her uneducated tongue even though he
remained quite fond of the hotheaded princess.
‘May we move her?’ he solemnly asked the healer, while
standing next to the badly battered body of the young girl.
‘I am sorry, but the answer is no,’ the healer projected. ‘If she is
moved it would surely kill her.’
‘Then I will need to bring my equipment here,’ Noone observed,
‘I promise to cause her as little trauma as possible,’ he added for
the healer’s convenience.

1
See Mindlord novel: Waking the Angel.

19

Igor Swann

CHAPTER 0.03
A dark figure determinedly strode through the passages
beneath what was left of the great New Valhalla. This used to be
the home of the Valk’r, and it disgusted every bit of the sleek form
now confidently strolling through its hallways.
The once great halls lay in ruin. Irreplaceable contemporary art
gathered through many centuries, littered the floor, in a display of
the artistic faculty of a suitably sick-minded individual.
The glorious dome that used to extend beyond the mountain,
now remained as a tangled mass of shattered glass and steel.
The corpses of both Valk’r warriors and unholy abominations
covered the marble floors. These horrors could not have been the
work of evolution, since not even evolution could be that cruel.
The ruins that were left of the Valk’r base usually took hundreds
of years for Mother Nature, Father Time and Brother... Bear to
accomplish. It took mere minutes for this evil being and its
accomplices.
New Valhalla was no more.

The ominous figure stood tall, radiating power and an
unmistakable deadly demeanour.
It smiled as it surveyed the dead.
Another less impressive contour joined its victory march
through the once, as in about 10 minutes ago, extraordinary
structure.

20

Eye of the Gods

‘We have not been able to locate the few Valk’r that escaped
through the tunnels master,’ the second shape hissed with a
female undertone to its voice.
The words came from a deformed humanoid shape.
Even though most of its parts were in the same position as a
human’s, that is where the resemblance ended.
She and her kind lived in sewers, caves or tombs and
worshipped Lamia, an ancient princess from Greek mythology.
Lamia had been the secret lover of Zeus, but when Zeus’s wife
Hera found out about the affair, she killed all Lamia’s children
except for Scylla.
Lamia took revenge by destroying the children of others, and
drinking their blood. Her deeds were so cruel and terrible that
Zeus turned her into a monster, with the head of an enchantress
and the body of a snake.
Her descendants, the Lamies, lived cursed as monsters and
sustained their life through the drinking of blood.
The stories of the Lamies gave rise to the legend of vampires.
However, the tales that evolved, of beautiful creatures of the
night biting the necks of virgins, were a complete fallacy. All
Lamies were female and horribly deformed creatures, who
hunted during the night because it was easier to do so. They did
however have fangs and claws, and preferred biting their victims
in the neck since the jugular provided the greatest flow of blood.
This particular Lamie was at present cringing away from the
dark figure, with whom she was desperately trying to keep pace.
The terrible figure paused and turned towards her.
She stood framed squarely in the gaze that emanated from
behind the frightening mask that adorned her master.

21

Igor Swann

The dark figure seemed to be thinking, which only increased the
Lamie’s anxiety.
Master is thinking of the cruellest way to remove Bruxa’s head,
she thought to herself while fingering her neck.
The evil gaze shifted and the figure seemed to shrug.
‘No matter, it is quite inconsequential in the greater scheme of
things. They have served their purpose by dying quite amusing
deaths. Call back the search parties. We need to prepare for the
next phase of my plan,’ a hollow grating voice commanded the
Lamie.
The voice sent chills down even this Lamie’s spine. She would
never get use to this voice with such pure evil and hatred
embedded in it.
‘Immediately master,’ She hissed a reply, and hurriedly left.
She rubbed her, neck relieved in the knowledge that it
remained attached.

22

Eye of the Gods

CHAPTER 0.04
Noone addressed the council with deep concern clearly audible.
The Arks had hurriedly assembled the council, after Noone
finished the dream scan on the unconscious Valk’r.
He had refused to tell the group what he found. Even after Ricci
threatened to do unmentionable surgery to some of his private
anatomy, and promised to have the orbs, shining from inside his
hood, mounted on her bedpost before nightfall.
Noone wished for the entire council to be present before he
relayed the images he found lurking in the Valk’r’s mind.
The senate consisted of the leaders of all the member races of
the UGE, which now included the Taur. After their surrender in
the battle for earth, and the overthrow of the bloodthirsty
dictator who instigated the whole mess, Angel allowed the Taur to
join the UGE.
The Taur currently prospered under the leadership of Tri’st, a
benevolent Emperor of the Sa’t, a Taur sub species.
The other pure blood races on the senate included the El, the
Dwar, the Aesir, the Ark and of course humans. The rest were
mostly mixed races or minority species that enjoyed the United
Galactic Empire’s protection.
Angel and Ricci sat at the head of the senate flanked by Laidin
of the El and Kirom of the Dwar. Guival of the Aesir and Qren of
the Ark sat on either side of them to form the top part of the dais.
The only two empty chairs were those of Noone who was
addressing the senate and that of the Valk’r who represented
humanity.

23

Igor Swann

Noone cleared his throat.
‘Friends, I stand before you with a heavy heart as the bearer of
most disturbing news,’ he started, but was cut short by Ricci.
‘Noone, you get on with it right now, or I swear I’ll…’ Ricci
started but broodingly stopped short when Noone raised his hand
and begged for silence.
‘The earth has been overrun by strange creatures that I have
not seen before. I have extensively documented all creatures on
earth with the help of the Valk’r, but these do not appear in any
records,’ Noone explained.
‘How do these creatures look and what have they done?’
Angel’s concerned voice interrupted him.
Noone paused to gather the image of the creatures in his mind.
‘They are huge beasts with nine heads that look like what you
call snakes. From what I could gather from the images in the
Valk’r mind, they have been fighting them for a while. The
creatures seem to be attracted to technological hot spots and
they destroy and kill everything in their path. They appear to be
mindless monsters bent on destruction, but there seems to be
something guiding their madness. I gather from the images that
the Valk’r have tried to find this source.’
‘There are no creatures on earth with nine heads!’ Ricci
reproached Noone quite forcibly, ‘quite a number with two, but
only one allegedly has a brain, and usually they think with the
other one.’
The senate snickered.
Obviously, the species, even though removed by light-years,
were not that dissimilar, however, they soon quietened down
when they saw the look on her face.

24

Eye of the Gods

‘Maybe they were genetically engineered,’ Guival proposed.
‘Maybe,’ Noone acknowledged before adding, ‘since the images
are placed directly into my mind, I cannot show you the animals
as they really are, but I have created a holo reconstruction of how
I remember them.’
Noone activated a three dimensional hollow image on the small
device in front of him.
The senate stared at the creature quite perplexed, everybody
except for Tri’st.
Tri’st tried to lock on to a distant memory buried deep within
the recesses of his mind, as he absentmindedly examined the
image.
His eyes came into focus and he reached for his personal
information centre, linked to the Taur Centre of Knowledge.
He made a couple of intricate movements with his hands before
staring at the console in front of him in disbelief.
Tri’st raised his hand to be granted a turn to speak.
Angel nodded.
‘My lord,’ he began, ‘our legends from forgotten times speak of
creatures such as these.’
Angel turned his focus from the strange creature to Tri’st.
‘Excuse me?’ he said.
‘Yes my lord, I have found reference to them in our knowledge
centre.’
‘I should have known these creatures were your doing! Did not
do enough damage the first time round huh?’ Ricci screamed.
Tri’st appeared taken aback, and shocked at such allegations.
‘My lady?’ he asked.

25

Igor Swann

‘Maybe they were left and forgotten there during the war,’
Kirom suggested.
‘More than two decades ago?’ Ricci spat.
‘They could have been hibernating or getting their forces
together?’ Kirom unconvincingly offered.
‘My friends, you misunderstood me. These creatures are from
legends countless millennia ago from our home world. These are
creatures of myths, created to frighten Taur children. No one
believes that they actually existed, but then again very few,
except for aging scholars, remember that Evergal’t is not where
our species originally came from. Our home world and its
location, is lost in the mist of time,’ Tri’st explained.
‘I don’t care if they are lost in the fumes of Taur shit, they are
your legends!’ Ricci spat.
‘Actually dear, that is not entirely true,’ Angel paused and took
a deep breath before continuing.
‘They are from our legends too. Those are Hydras as they are
mentioned in Greek mythology.’
The whole senate turned to stare at Angel. They were just
about to declare war on the Taur again, but now they were not
entirely convinced anymore.
‘Tri’st just reminded me when he mentioned legends and
myths,’ Angel confessed.
‘You called them Hydras?’ Tri’st asked.
‘Yes. That is how they are called in Greek mythology,’ Angel
confirmed.
‘Well my lord, we call them H’dros, which seems too close to be
a coincidence,’ Tri’st suggested.

26

Eye of the Gods

‘You mean our races, separated by galaxies share a common
creature of legend?’ Angel asked.
‘Seems so my lord,’ Tri’st shrugged.
The rest of the senate were still speechlessly trying to follow
the conversation.
‘Actually…’ Angel started and then took a moment to think
things through, ‘there was something bothering me from the
start. You see everything I have found here comes from Norse
Mythology. The Norse gods like Thor, Sif, Loki and Odin. The El
and Dwar, all the weapons, even the Valk’r, everything is from
Norse Mythology.’
He paused.
‘The only part that did not fit on these worlds was the Taur
races. You see, Centaurs, Minotaur and Satyrs are all part of Greek
mythology and not Norse mythology. Norse mythology never
mentions the Taur, but I never got the time to question why the
Taur were here. Later on it never seemed to matter.’
He glanced at the confused faces in the senate.
‘Sorry,’ Angel apologized, ‘I forgot, you do not know our
mythology. Earth mythology does mention the Cen’t, Sa’t and
Mino’t, but it comes from a different set of beliefs to the one,
which mentions the rest of the UGE races. I was puzzled by this
since the two beliefs had very little in common.’
‘Okay so what?’ Ricci was in no mood for drawn out
explanations.
‘Because my darling, Hydras are from Greek mythology as well.’
‘Okay still not following you,’ Ricci said.

27

Igor Swann

‘You know how Norse mythology was born through the mind
link between Freyr who was here on Arken and his twin sister on
earth,’ Angel tried to explain again.
‘Yes, yes,’ Ricci rolled her eyes.
‘Well, I don’t think the idea of the Taur and Hydras were born
through a mind link. I think the Taur were actually physically on
earth at some point, or they visited earth a long time ago. I think
the Hydras were on earth as well.’
‘So you are saying they found a way back,’ Laidin spoke up for
the first time.
‘Or they were sent back,’ Angel theorized.
‘That is a viable theory,’ Noone confirmed.
‘So then we go to earth and kick their slimy behinds back to
where they came from.’
The green fires burned brightly in Ricci’s eyes now; she felt
dangerous.
A cheer went up around the senate chambers.
‘It is not that simple,’ Noone interjected when the crowd
quietened down.
‘The Valk’r already tried that and failed. The creatures seem to
multiply exponentially.’
‘Then we find the source, cut of its head and burn the wound
close,’ Ricci sneered, she was not about to be denied a fight now.
‘There is more…’ Noone softly continued.
Everyone caught the subtle undertone in Noone’s voice.
Something worse was about to come.
‘The Valk’r might well all be deceased,’ he breathed solemnly.
‘What!’ Ricci screamed in anguish.

28

Eye of the Gods

‘The Valk’r warrior in the recovery ward may well be the last
survivor. I could not get a clear vision from her regarding the last
part of her experiences while on earth, but there had been a
surprise attack on the Valk’r, by intelligent creatures with a clear
purpose. I could not get a description of them, as they seem to
hide and attack from the shadows. All I know is that they are
bloodthirsty and deadly. This girl escaped by good fortune alone.’
‘Yes and fortunate for us too,’ Angel grimaced at the tortured
visions that were now clouding his thoughts.
Ricci sat in stunned silence.
‘You could not have mentioned this before,’ she said through
clenched teeth.
Noone said nothing.
She advanced dangerously.
‘You could not have mentioned before that my friends and
family have been wiped out?’ Ricci snarled.
No one was stupid enough to get between Ricci and her prey.
Angel needed to act.
‘Order, the council will come to order,’ he demanded with
authority, saying the only thing that came to mind at such short
notice.
Ricci hesitated.
‘Friends, we need to prepare to leave for Earth, right now,’ he
commanded and gestured to Ricci that they would be leaving
straight away.

29

Igor Swann

CHAPTER 0.05
The throne carved from solid stone stood in the middle of the
huge chamber. The walls were granite and covered in hieroglyphs
of kings and gods. A huge mirror covered the wall in front of the
throne in its entirety.
On the throne, an exceptionally irritated masked figure tapped
its fingers on the armrests.
Bruxa had often hid in the shadows and just marvelled at this
being.
It wore a long hooded dark green cape, so dark it appeared
almost black, and in the dim light would easily be mistaken for
black. Bruxa had to consent that this strange green hid the wearer
more effectively in darkness than simple black would.
She wondered why this being would ever want to hide. She
could not imagine anything on earth powerful enough to face it in
battle.
Its clothes and boots were of the same dark green cloth, with
many bits of metal intricately weaved and moulded around the
cloth. The larger metal pieces included gauntlets, and the
terrifying mask. Bruxa noted relieved that the hood mostly hid the
mask from sight. The metal appeared to be strange dark platinum
colour unlike anything Bruxa had ever seen.
Strangely the metal bits seemed to enhance the movement of
the creature instead of impede it.
Bruxa desired so much to touch the strange metal, but the fear
for this malevolent creature kept her from ever giving way to her
desire.

30

Eye of the Gods

‘What is taking so long?’ The Lamie master rasped the rhetorical
question. It knew no one could answer the question, but the
question still made its blood boil.
The figure flung itself from the throne, and swiftly strode
towards the exit.
‘Have we any more Valk’r left for my training?’ it shot at the
Lamie guard.
‘No master, you killed the last one this morning,’ the guard
fearfully answered.
The dark figure left without a further word, irritation clearly
visible in its long determined strides. It had been using the
captured Valk’r for its death ring matches with bladed weapons,
but unfortunately, they never even came close to scratching it.
Even when it fought unarmed, the fight only slightly alleviated the
boredom of the darklord.
The portentous figure walked through a labyrinth of endless
narrow passages before coming to another chamber. This
chamber resembled the throne room in that, pictograms and
hieroglyphs covered the walls. In the middle of the chamber a
detailed and obviously ancient sarcophagus stood.
I suppose I have you to thank for my good fortune, the figure
smirked at the sarcophagus.
If not for your descendants, I would never have known about
the gate, which finally gave me the opportunity to annihilate my
enemy. The thought made it smile; a smile that would cause
weeds to wilt uncontrollably.
The masked being’s thoughts drifted back to where it all began.

31

Igor Swann

The memory started in a dark alley on a desperate night. Calmly
leaning against an old graffiti ridden wall, the dark clad figure
cleaned its nails with a long bladed dagger, made from a strange
metal. The foul smell emanating from the dumpsters did not seem
to bother the figure in the least. It appeared relaxed and alert as it
waited patiently.
It expected to meet an informant, someone who claimed to
have information on an item it sought.
The flicker of a shadow caught its eye.
Wrong scent, wrong shape, interesting, it thought.
It sneered beneath the mask but gave no outward sign that it
knew about the stalker.
Another unobtrusive movement caught its attention, this time
from a different direction.
This is getting better and better, the evil figure thought to itself.
Something leaped.
The masked figure did not appear to move but a head rolling
into the street suggested its dagger probably did move.
The second assailant had less luck, since it now had the masked
figure’s fingers firmly attached to her neck.
She slowly felt the life leave her body as the iron grip around
her neck tightened. Her feet remained suspended almost a foot
above the ground.
The confused creature slowly lost her hold on life.
The grip seemed to slip a bit and it felt like the masked figure
was inspecting her.
She tried desperately to break free, but the figure did not seem
to notice.

32

Eye of the Gods

How can this be, she thought, we are much stronger than
humans are?
Hunted for centuries they were only alive because of their
inhuman strength and agility.
How could a human be this strong, and why does it not just kill
me? She pondered her seemingly final thoughts.
It took a couple of minutes before the figure with the dark
hooded cloak started to speak.
‘What are you?’ it rasped inquisitively.
‘I… I am Bruxa, a… a Lamie,’ she stammered, not wanting to lie
and provoke the wrath of this frightening apparition, calmly
choking the life out of her.
She felt the grip tighten again.
‘Again, what are you, and I do not like repeating myself?’ the
grating voice calmly came from behind the mask.
A dagger appeared from nowhere in the evil figure’s hand.
It nonchalantly started to flick pieces of Bruxa’s flesh from her
body.
She experienced intense pain, overshadowed only by her fear of
this fearsome figure.
‘We are Lamies my lord,’ she said, and quickly added as she saw
the blade aiming for her eye, ‘cursed creatures of the night,
descendants of Princess Lamia. We drink the blood of humans to
sustain our life.’
‘Hmmm, interesting… and what pray tell gave you the
impression that I was human.’
‘My lord…?’ The confused Lamie surrendered. Why would this
masked figure not be human?
‘Are you human?’ the dark figure asked.

33

Igor Swann

Bruxa felt relief that the demonic being had stopped deboning
her. She knew however, that one answer not given to its
satisfaction would cause the torture to begin anew. She carefully
chose her words.
‘Bruxa is half-human my lord… the ancient mother was a
princess but she had an affair with a god. The god’s wife found
out and cursed our mistress to be a monster that never sleeps.’
‘Hmmm,’ the tall figure replied again.
‘Mistress took revenge by murdering and destroying all the
babies she found and drinking their blood,’ she added this
because she sensed her captor would enjoy this bit of
information.
Was it smiling? Bruxa wondered.
‘And what can you offer me that would let me spare your
miserable life?’ the evil one asked.
The Lamie thought long and hard. She had nothing, nothing of
value at least.
I am going to die tonight she thought. Her mind flashed back to
the miserable life she had lived, but even now, the survival
instinct was strong within her. She was not ready to die.
‘Maybe… maybe I can help the master with something,’ she
offered.
‘How could you possibly help me?’ the grating voice asked.
‘What does master desire?’ She desperately inquired.
‘To kill everyone and destroy the earth,’ it said as a simple
matter of fact, annoyed that her informant never showed.
It would deal with him later.
Bruxa tried to laugh but her throat was still clamped shut.
‘Master is not serious,’ the Lamie returned in a fearful voice.

34

Eye of the Gods

She felt her body lift up until she stared into the complete
darkness behind the eyeholes, her face hovering a few millimetres
from the evil being’s mask.
She had never been more frightened in her life. What manner
of demon is this, she wondered?
‘I obviously have no use for you,’ it announced as the grip
tightened again, this time with a definite finality to it.
‘Master… Bruxa has a secret,’ Bruxa managed to squeeze out
with her second last gasp.
The grip relaxed.
‘A secret of the gods,’ she said in a barely audible whisper,
gulping down a welcome mouthful of air.

35

Igor Swann

CHAPTER 0.06
Gemmi did not attempt to hide the irritation clearly visible in
the bright sunlight that filtered through the huge windows in her
office. Her office space resided at the top of the incredible dome
that marked the only outwardly visible area of Valk’r base.
The Valk’r built the base inside of a mountain, which was a
maze of tunnels and secret passages.
The home of the Valk’r named New Valhalla.
The lavishly decorated caverns inside the mountain were from
riches hoarded by this once secret organization. The Valk’r use to
be more secret than the Illuminati, to such an extent that no one
on earth knew about their existence until roughly two decades
ago.
Stories of the Valk’r told only in Norse mythology, described
them as beautiful maidens who took fallen warriors to Odin’s
banquet in the sky. These stories were born from the fact that the
Valk’r warriors have been the sworn protectors of earth and in
ancient times would find battles where they would take the
injured and dying from the battlefield. The Valk’r would fly the
injured warriors in their fighters to Valk’r medical treatment
centres, which in ancient times, became misconstrued as taken to
heaven.
The attack on earth by the Taur forced the Valk’r out of the
shadows, and into a war, they had trained centuries to fight. Even
so, they were ill equipped to battle such an armada. Only with the
intervention of the UGE lord and his fleet had the Taur been
defeated.

36

Eye of the Gods

Now, two decades later a new enemy threatened earth’s
existence. Reports have been coming in all morning about more
and more of these nine-headed creatures attacking population
centres.
They seem to seek out technology, but they had no problem
killing everything they encountered to get to that technology.
The Valk’r has been trying to exterminate this plague for the
past week. Their successes however, seemed severely limited
with more and more reports of these creatures’ worldwide
infestation.
What made things worse was wherever they kill one of these
beasts it left a toxic spill, since their blood was like acid.
Brave people fighting these beasts had been left horribly
deformed and scarred when the creatures ruptured.
Gemmi stood up from her chair and walked around the desk,
her long shapely legs and slim figure accentuated even more by
the determined strides she took as she paced the length of the
office.
A small blue monkey-like creature peacefully slept on the
couch, unaware of the turmoil raging in its best friend’s mind.
It wore the same style of white tunic as Gemmi did. Perhaps
because it was her best friend and she liked to play dress up. On
the other hand, perhaps because this little creature would wait
every morning to see what Gemmi wore that day, before finding a
matching outfit of his own. Her tailor knew that every outfit
Gemmi requested, he needed to make in two sizes. Even the
evening gowns, which Gemmi could never convince her most loyal
companion, was for girls only.

37

Igor Swann

The tailor did not welcome a visit from the little creature if it did
not have a matching outfit. Mostly because when angered the
adorable little blue monkey would increase in size to a less
adorable 18 foot guerrilla like creature that would use King Kong
for a chew toy.
The tailor knew by now, to have several replacement sets
ready, since the creature would often get angry with someone
telling him how cute he looks, and then pat him on the head.
Nobody felt the urge to pat a 5-ton juggernaut on the head.
Gemmi’s golden blond hair shone as the sun rays played on it.
She stopped pacing and smiled down at Loser, the little blue
creature.
‘It’s been almost 24 years we have been together now, my little
friend,’ she whispered. ‘Together we have had some amazing
adventures in that time,’ her face grew grim again, ‘but this time
my friend I think we are in a lot of trouble.’
One of her lieutenant arrived, interrupting her thoughts.
Carra was a beautiful red headed girl, with a seductive voice
and, a bewitching presence.
‘I hope you have good news Carra.’
‘Afraid not your ladyship,’ she muttered, ‘it’s getting worse
daily.’
‘We still have no idea where they come from?’ Gemmi asked.
‘No my lady, however, we have narrowed the most probable
location down to Central Europe, possibly Romania,’ Carra replied.
‘Well then, send everybody we can spare to Central Europe. We
must find the source,’ Gemmi Commanded.

38

Eye of the Gods

Gemmi felt like a crocodile with braces and she had a lot of food
stuck in them with no little plover to clean her teeth. It was
starting to smell rotten to the core.
Someone is behind this, she thought to herself, they did not
appear by accident and their movement seemed too organized.
Gemmi was sure the answers lay at the source of the
infestation.

39

Igor Swann

CHAPTER 0.07
‘Stop wasting time! We’ve got to go!’ Ricci yelled.
‘Yes darling, but we still need to organize the kids,’ Angel
explained, trying not to sound too irritable.
‘They can sort themselves out. They are old and ugly enough!’
Ricci’s patience was wearing wafer thin, only a few civilized
threads now separated her from going primal on her husband.

Just a short while ago Angel was left with the duty of informing
his kids that they were not going along.
‘But Dad…’ Blade begun, but was immediately cut short.
‘No buts, no arguments, no nothing. We do not have time for
this, and you will stay here,’ Angel sternly replied.
‘But dad…’ Storm began. She stood exactly as her mother
would, her hands on her hips and lips pursed tight. In outward
appearance, she resembled him, dark hair, grey blue eyes, but
personality wise she was becoming her mother, more with each
passing day.
Blade on the other hand had his mother’s golden hair and
piercing green eyes, but definitely Angel’s temperament. He was a
born leader, compassionate and fair, but without his father’s
reluctance to lead.
Storm gave her dad one of those stares, that coming from her
mother, would have had Angel wishing that he could change into
a hat stand made from titanium and hope she would not notice
him. However, this was his daughter; he could deal with her. She

40

Eye of the Gods

might now, after years of training under her mother, wield a semi-
automatic rifle but he had the support of the original
intercontinental ballistic missile with a 2000-kiloton yield, and he
was not afraid to use it. All he had to do was press the big red
button.
‘Darling,’ Angel called out to someone in the next room. He
smiled at the twins, ‘would you mind coming here for a second.
The kids are refusing to stay.’
The twins heard a growl from the room next door and decided
that for the sake of their health and the position of their heads, it
might be better to pull a David Copperfield on themselves. They
scampered off without another word.

Angel tapped the mindcom on his chest; it was in the form of a
pendant shaped like Skibladne.
‘Please ensure Skibladne is ready for departure,’ he informed
his engineers.
‘Sir?’ a very confused thought entered his mind.
‘We need to depart soon, please ensure Skibladne is ready,’
Angel tried again, thinking the chief engineer might have
misunderstood his previous request.
‘But sir, you instructed us to start disassembling the jump drive
as soon as you returned from holiday, so we may install the
modifications you proposed,’ the perplexed thoughts of his
engineer returned.
‘The jump drive is currently in a million pieces.’
‘Damn,’ Angel thought, ‘I forgot about that.’
‘Ricci, darling, it seems we need to find alternate
transportation, Skibladne is not going anywhere.’

41

Igor Swann

He explained to her what happened.
‘What? Did you have an extra bowl of stupid this morning, why
didn’t you just have them shoot down the Valk’r while you’re at
it…’ she gave him a dangerous look, ‘aargghhh,’ she roared before
sweeping around to go and find the others.
She bumped into Laidin in the hallway.
‘Laidin,’ Ricci’s exasperated voice reached the El Queen’s
pointed ears, ‘Skibladne is broken. Have you got a tub we can
use?’ she asked not immediately realizing how forceful her
demand sounded.
‘Yes princess, the Royal El Cruiser is in orbit right now. I also
have 2000 El Fighters on manoeuvres testing our new
experimental ships in this sector. I will recall them immediately,’
Laidin calmly answered.
Ricci’s eyes softened, ‘I’m sorry cousin. Thank you,’ she said
before rushing off to go and finish packing.
Ricci felt relieved. She did not even think on the fact that they
would need support once they reached earth. The band of heroes
was a formidable force, but not enough to conquer the evil she
imagined would be waiting for them.
Thanks again cousin, I owe you big time; she thought to herself
and smiled a wry smile.

It was only about an hour later that the cruiser departed at full
burn from Arken with destination earth.
The kids watched with heavy hearts as the light generated by
the ship’s engines faded away when it left orbit.
‘This is so incredibly unfair,’ Storm announced exasperated.

42

Eye of the Gods

‘We all agree,’ Phalin added, ‘but this was the wish of our
parents, and we must abide by their rule. They are after all the
leaders of the civilized galaxies.’
‘Says who?’ Feral sneered.
‘You question our parents’ rule?’ Throm innocently asked.
‘No you halfwit, the abiding by their rules part,’ Feral scoffed.
A fire flashed in Throm’s eyes. Feral called him a halfwit on
purpose, seeing he was almost half the size of the others. This
Aesir needs to learn when to hold his tongue, he angrily thought,
its time someone taught him a lesson.
‘Apologize apprentice mage,’ Throm exclaimed through
clenched teeth. The short dwarven fuse burned brightly.
‘Or what,’ Feral telepathically asked with a glint in his metallic
like eyes.
Throm’s hammer started to crackle as small lightning bolts shot
from its head. ‘Or we shall see if the Aesir head is truly harder
than a tremal crystal1.’
‘Gentlemen, this is not the time and place to initiate a petty
feud,’ Phalin interjected and turned to Feral, ‘Feral, apologize
immediately.’
Phalin although the youngest of the group at only sixteen;
already showed the bearing of an El Princess. She spoke with
authority, and seemed to be the most mature of the kids.

1
Tremal crystal is the hardest morphologic element known in the universe.
Only a few Dwar were skilled enough to process it. It took a large vocabulary of
swear words to do the job properly.

43

Igor Swann

The Elven princess made no threats; she did not need to. Feral
knew that if he continued with this game, he was going to be
seriously outnumbered.
‘Okay, okay, I apologize for calling you a halfwit Throm,’ he said
quite reluctantly, ‘that’s the long and the short of it, but I am sure
you only caught the half of that,’ he laughed and bounced away.

Shen quietly stood watching the events unfold.
She rarely if ever got involved in the others’ arguments. Unlike
the rest of her species, she had the ability to dream.
She had the same long slender limbs as the rest of her species
with the huge almond eyes, and thin face, but in a strange way,
she appeared quite attractive.
Her thoughts turned to her most precious possessions, namely
the blasters securely strapped to her hip. These were a gift from
her friends a year ago.
These additions departed noticeable from her species usual
peace loving ways, as they did not regard anal probing as
aggressive behaviour.

The twins had made a bet on who could design and build the
best blaster weapon, with their friends eagerly joining in.
They had just finished a semester on advance hand held
weapons, and they were eager to test its practical applications.
This would be the girls against the boys, the gender battle, and
everybody knew who would win.
The only three rules were that Shen, deemed adjudicator, must
be able to fire it without being seriously injured; this rule changed
from killed at her request. That they had two months to build it

44

Eye of the Gods

and that it must still resemble an ordinary blaster for the most
part, able to fit a hip holster.
Feral sulked at this last bit of news. He had already envisioned
attaching one of those ion cannons to the weapon. Who cares if
Shen would not be able to lift it, or carry it around, it would make
a big bang.
Even though Shen formed part of the girls’ team, the friends all
knew her legendary skill with blaster weapons, and they knew
that she is probably the most honest person in existence. She
would be unbiased, even towards her team when judging the
weapons.
The twins worked feverously for weeks, with the rest of the
friends providing support, and usually some of the more exotic
parts the twins required.
Storm even scavenged some of the ancient technology used in
Skibladne, after she convinced the ship that they were both
female and should stick together.
The two months passed quickly and one bright morning the six
friends met at the firing range.
The weapons looked incredible.
The boys’ team had a weapon, black as midnight, and
resembled a slightly enlarged desert eagle handgun with scope
modifications. It had dials on the side for selecting firing tempo
and type of ammo.
The girls’ weapon sporting the same dark platinum colour of
Skibladne showed a lot more style and refinement than the boys’
did. It had a sizable view screen built into the back of the gun.
Blade picked up the girls’ weapon and examined it.

45

Igor Swann

‘And where did you get this much Zellion from?’ he asked
accusingly.
Storm gave him a devilish grin, ‘oh scrounged a bit here, dug up
a bit there…’ She refrained from mentioning that Skibladne now
missed some hull plating.
‘Gumph,’ Blade snorted.
‘So let the testing begin,’ Feral declared, eagerly awaiting the
impressive bang that was sure to follow.
‘Ladies first,’ Throm suggested giving a flamboyant bow.
Shen picked up the ladies’ weapon while Storm explained.
‘We decided to build a long range sniper weapon, with pin point
accuracy. The ion beam has an endless supply of recyclable energy
and we have modified the intensity to penetrate even Zellion
alloy.’
‘The blaster’s screen,’ she said while pointing to the back of the
weapon, ‘is modified to show hidden enemy up to 5 miles away,
with infrared, x-ray and even faint electrical emission like that
from an organic life form’s skin as targeting options. The zoom
option can perfectly target an eye at this range. There is zero
recoil when fired, and beam intensity and widening options for
unforeseen circumstances, like opening doors or being attacked
by more than one enemy,’ Storm proudly concluded her little
presentation.
‘May I direct your attention to the screen?’ Storm said pointing
to a monitor next to her.
‘This target has been set up at a distance of 5 miles, so you will
probably not be able to see it with the naked eye,’ Storm
explained, ‘Shen if you will.’

46

Eye of the Gods

Shen levelled the weapon and the settings on the back seemed
to adjust themselves until the target was clearly visible.
‘As you might have noticed the weapon settings is complete
controlled by Shen’s mind,’ Storm stated beaming.
‘I object,’ Feral exclaimed, ‘you had access to Shen and could
map her brainwave patterns.’
The rest of the boys nodded in agreement.
‘Fine,’ Phalin sighed, ‘Shen please disregards this feature in your
final assessment.’
Shen nodded and then expertly fired the blaster, causing a
burning hole to appear in the centre of target on the screen in
front of the friends.
Cheers went up all around her.
‘Wow that was amazing shooting,’ Blade exclaimed.
‘Yes Shen, well done,’ Phalin agreed.
‘Now it’s our turn!’ Feral excitedly announced, not even waiting
for the cheers to die down.
‘Go ahead,’ Storm replied confident in the superiority of their
creation.
Blade cleared his throat.
‘Ehem… well we decided to build something with a little more
kick,’ he said smiling.
‘This is a mini missile launcher with a tachyon cannon option.’
His smile widened.
‘That’s impossible!’ Phalin exclaimed, ‘there is no way a tachyon
cannon can fit into a blaster, and even if it could, which it cannot,
it would destroy the blaster when fired.’
‘Hmmm… and there the little ladies thought they were the only
team who could talk to Skibladne, or steal her hull plating,’ Feral

47

Igor Swann

grinned while ducking to avoid a wild blow from Storm aimed at
his head.
‘So, Skibladne helped you design your weapon?’ Storm asked
accusingly.
‘No more than she helped you,’ Blade flashed back.
‘Fine, fine, you may engage in mortal combat later. You both
cheated, so let us see what this thing can do,’ Phalin said fulfilling
her normal arbitration duty.
Storm just gave her brother a dirty look and reluctantly
relinquished the floor.
‘As I was saying, before I was so rudely interrupted,’ he said
with a wide grin on his face, ‘our weapon fires missiles and
tachyon blasts. It has the capability to lock on to heat signatures
and electrical signals. Once you have identified your target, the
weapon will track it wherever it goes, and display its position in a
radar grid on your wrist console.’
Throm beamed, as this was his idea, ‘Your missile will follow
and destroy any target, currently tracked on your wrist console,’
he repeated just to be sure everyone heard.
‘Miniature missiles that have heat seeking and radar guidance
options,’ Phalin expressed duly impressed.
‘Oh yes,’ Throm could not contain his enthusiasm any longer, ‘it
also has the explosive equivalent of a level 7 Skibladne stinger
missile, which means it can disable everything from fighters to
reapers.’
Blade smiled and looked at his friends.
Feral not about to be left out, added, ‘and of course if you really
feel the reaper or fighter is annoying, just use the tachyon
cannon. The target disappears like magic.’

48

Eye of the Gods

Feral pretended to be deep in thought, ‘hmmm… I wonder if it
can make Storm’s mouth disappear. No. Nothing is that powerful,’
he jested while quickly changing into a Gerbit and dashing for the
nearest tree.
The teams laughed while watching the young mage awkwardly
trying to evade Storm shooting at him with the girls’ new blaster.
‘Stop, please, stop,’ he yelled before dropping out of the tree,
compliments of Storm removing the branch from beneath his
paws.
Shen brought some sanity to the preceding. She was eager to
see what the boys’ weapon could do.
Blade made a few adjustments to the screen, until it showed a
banged up old reaper in the distance.
‘My lady, if you please,’ Blade bowed.
Shen fiddled with the controls until she got the reaper in her
sights. She locked the radar guidance and fired a missile.
Blade continued, ‘unfortunately we could only fit 6 missiles in a
weapons clip, but the tachyon cannon is good for at least 100
shots before it needs to be recharged.’
The group intently watched the screen as the smoke trail
swirled and hit the target.
A gaping hole appeared in the side of the reaper.
‘Bravo,’ Phalin acknowledged.
Even Storm cheered.
‘Now the tachyon, now the tachyon,’ Feral screamed.
‘Yes, yes, we are getting there,’ Blade answered exasperated.
He adjusted the screen again, to show a decommissioned
fighter.

49

Igor Swann

‘Unfortunately the cannon’s range is a lot less than the
missile’s, but it packs a much bigger punch. You need a visual fix
on the target and a range of no more than 200 yards.’
Shen levelled the weapon again, took aim and fired.
The recoil knocked her off her feet, and she went flying
backwards into the wall.
Everybody ran to her side, trying to see if she was alive.
‘Shen speak to me,’ Blade screamed, ‘Sorry, I mean think to
me!’
‘I’m okay,’ a weak response came from the girl.
‘Throm, you dolt, I told you to make sure you balance the
recoil,’ Blade remarked accusingly.
‘Hey I am sorry; I am a Dwar after all. I forgot to factor in that
we have a lower centre of gravity and much firmer footing,’
Throm mumbled.
‘A much lower centre of gravity, at about waist level, and a foot
off the ground,’ Feral quipped.
Throm was too embarrassed to pummel Feral.
They helped Shen to her feet.
‘Hey! Shen still managed to hit the target,’ Feral exclaimed.
It was true. A screen completely devoid of a relic fighter greeted
the friends.
‘Brilliant Shen, absolutely brilliant,’ Storm verbalized what
everyone thought.
‘So who’s the winner Shen?’ Feral asked.
Shen thought hard and long.
‘Come with me,’ she finally projected into her friends’ minds.
The troop followed her to the hangars.

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Eye of the Gods

‘I think the prize for the perfect weapon should go to…’ she
paused for dramatic effect, ‘…Skibladne.’
The teams stared at her in disbelief.
‘Well you both agreed that she designed most of the weapons’
features, and it is her hull plating featuring in both the weapons,
thus I think that she deserves the prize, don’t you?’
The rest reluctantly agreed as her decision sank in, since clearly
there was no cut and dried winner in this contest.
#thank you, I sincerely appreciate the honour# Skibladne
announced in her metallic female voice.
#Wait until LOBE hears about this# she continued.
‘Who is LOBE?’ Blade asked.
#just a friend of your father’s# Skibladne answered.
The kids had never heard of their father’s alter ego. Angel
managed to keep this a secret from the children.
He sometimes wondered how they would feel about their
father talking to a voice in his head, and the voice talked back,
often to other people. He did not care to find out what they
would think.
No, definitely did not want to find out.
Anyway, LOBE mostly just showed up when there was trouble
or something interesting that baffled Angel. He still maintained
that Angel just created the twins to spoil his fun, so he generally
disappears when they showed up. This suited Angel.

‘So what are we going to do with the weapons? Destroy them?’
Feral asked with a sly grin projected into his friends’ minds. He
had already seen how Shen’s eyes gleam when she looks at them.

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Igor Swann

‘I think that would be the right thing to do. They are far too
dangerous,’ he teased, pretending not too notice the horrified
look in Shen’s eyes.
#might I suggest that they be presented to Shen# Skibladne
proposed. She was as always monitoring the vital signs of all her
occupants, and noticed the anxiety in Shen’s bio reading.
The friends cheered the suggestion. Feral looked dejected, he
wanted to drag this out for a while.
#I have taken the liberty to create a belt in her size, with
holsters and spare missile clips. It is in the materialization
chamber#
The kids ran to the cabin and found a beautifully crafted belt
that looked like the ones their parents wore when going on a
mission. It had the Skibladne insignia on the buckle.
Shen became emotional, something that was impossible for the
rest of the Arks.
‘Thank you, thank you all,’ she said and hugged them each in
turn.
The friends beamed back at her.
She gently picked up the belt and carefully fitted it around her
slender waist, while the twins in turn placed the weapons in the
holsters on either side. They both fit like a glove and the weapons
automatically secured themselves in the holsters.
She looked spectacular… and extremely dangerous.
‘I think you better watch your step from now on Feral,’ Phalin
quipped.
‘Er, Shen, just make sure Throm adjusts the recoil on that
blaster before you use the tachyon cannon again, okay?’ Blade
warned.

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Eye of the Gods

‘I won’t forget, but for now these beauties are staying put,’ she
happily remarked with a smile forming in the kids’ minds.

53

Igor Swann

CHAPTER 0.08
The dark green clad figure stood in front of the huge mirror in
the throne room. It stared intently at the shapes that moved
inside the mirror. They were dark and foreboding, which pleased
the darklord immensely. They were creatures after its own black
heart, bent on mindless destruction.
The darklord turned and slowly walked back to the throne
where it made itself comfortable.
Memories invaded its thoughts again…

‘Not far now my lord,’ Bruxa said.
The tunnels smelled musty and dimly lit. This did not sit well
with the masked figure that preferred to be in open air.
‘It better not be!’
The tunnel opened into an equally dim chamber. The darkness
did not bother the evil one much; its eyes pierced every corner of
the room with ease. What it found in every corner made it smile.
‘Very good Bruxa, I did not notice you organize a welcoming
committee for little old me. Shall we ask our guests to join us?’
the voice rasped from behind the mask.
As if with an unspoken command, Lamies pealed like ants from
every corner of the room, completely encircling the dark one.
Their teeth bared, saliva dripping from their oversized canines,
while their eyes glowed like those of rodents. They snarled and
clawed the air, but they did not advance any further.
The group directly in front of the dark one parted and a
seemingly older Lamie walked through the gap. However, since

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Eye of the Gods

their age was indeterminable, it might have been a trick of the
dim light.
‘Why have you brought this human here Bruxa?’ She croaked.
‘Human?’ said the grating voice emanated from behind the
mask, obviously not amused.
‘Not human mistress. He killed Raza and almost killed me
without us laying a claw on him,’ Bruxa cringed.
‘He looks human t…’ the old voice continued, but was cut short
by the dull thud of its voice box and other vocalisation equipment
hitting the floor; the rest of the origins of the voice seemingly
unaware of this aforementioned event.
‘Would anybody else care to question my origins?’ the ominous
words floated in the stale air, while the dark figure wiped its blade
on a section of its robe.
The circle widened and fearful grunts replaced the snarls.
It was not only the speed at which the dark figure executed the
kill that had the Lamies confused, it was the fact that the figure
did not move as much as was required to accomplish this feat.
‘Now disappear! I’ll have Bruxa summon you when I am in need
of your assistance,’ it continued, ‘Bruxa, you stay.’
Nothing happened as the confusion thickened. Who was in
charge now, this demon? Should they listen?
‘Move!’ the demon commanded.
<Blink>
<Swoosh>
‘Now Bruxa, please tell me this little get together was not the
only reason you brought me here!’ the voice attempted to sound
sincere but only managed to convey the feeling of, I am going to

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Igor Swann

enjoy torturing you very, very slowly, and if you die on me early I’ll
have to follow you into hell to finish the job.
‘No master, it’s here, it’s here!’ Bruxa screamed cowering in
fear.
‘The next chamber, master,’ she said beckoning.
The darklord followed seemingly unperturbed by what might
await it.
The next passage opened into a large chamber with the only
fixtures being a throne in the middle, and an enormous mirror
covering the opposite wall. The darklord unsheathed one of its
daggers and proceeded to sharpen it on its metal gauntlets.
Bruxa who had walked with fear her entire life, befriended it,
and used it so effectively to terrorize and horrify her prey, had to
admit that she was in the presence of the being that fear might be
afraid of facing.
‘There master, look!’ she stammered.
‘I am looking Bruxa, and I will be looking at your bloody
intestines decorating this floor, if I do not see something
extraordinary by the time this dagger reaches your throat.’
‘The mirror master, look closely at the images in the mirror,’
Bruxa pointed while covering her throat with her free hand.
The dark figure stared and… the image in the mirror changed. It
did not see its own reflection anymore but another world.
It faded in and out.
‘It’s a gate master, a gate to the home of the gods!’
The black shape slowly moved to the mirror and touched its
surface.
It did not yield.
The mirror remained as solid and impenetrable as ever.

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Eye of the Gods

‘Bruxa, if I wished to watch indiscernible shapes on a big screen
I would have slaughtered a movie theatre, sprayed their blood on
the screen and do my own inkblot test; and done so without
travelling all the way out here.’
‘Bruxa is sorry master, but the master is smart, smarter than
anyone Bruxa has ever met. Bruxa thought the master might
understand how to open the gate.’
The darkness behind the mask’s eyes burned into Bruxa’s skull.
‘Sit master, please,’ Bruxa motioned towards the throne, ‘and
Bruxa will tell master the story of the gate, and what lies beyond.’
Bruxa cleared her throat, and then started to cough as phlegm
hit her windpipe.
‘Sorry,’ she sputtered.
She tried again.
‘In the days of the gods, they used this gate to visit earth and
return to their world. Three terrible creatures called the furies
guarded this gate. They were sisters called Tisiphone, Megaera
and Alecto, the daughters of the night,’ Bruxa explained.
‘They did not only serve as gatekeepers, but had a little side line
business of their own. They were avengers and punished
criminals, murderers, evil doers and abominations without
mercy.’
‘Of course my sisters and I are all those things, so Bruxa and her
kind were the main prey of these horrifying creatures. Princess
Lamia had the foresight to create many of us, and we scattered
into the four winds, hiding and waiting for the prophesied time to
come when Lamia would have her revenge against Zeus, Hera and
all the other gods.’

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Igor Swann

‘Lamia knew about the gate. Zeus had told her of the world he
came from. He told her how he moved between earth and
Olympus. The location of the gate was however kept secret.’
‘Many Lamies died at the hand of the furies trying to discover
the location of the gate. After many years and the sacrifice of
hundreds, the furies made a mistake and led a Lamie to the
entrance of Olympus.’
‘On Olympus a similar battle unfolded between the Olympian
gods and a goddess named Echidna. She became the mother of all
monsters like the Nemean Lion that was killed by Hercules,
Cerberus the three headed dog whom she gave to Hades,
Chimera, Medusa the Gorgon, the Sphinx and the Lernaean Hydra
to mention but a few. She too had the torso and face of a
beautiful woman and the lower body of a snake. She ate the raw
flesh of her victims and she was immortal,’ Bruxa continued.
‘You better get to the point quickly my dear Bruxa, I am getting
impatient,’ the grating voice announced, ‘what makes you think I
care at all for this pathetic planet’s history?’
‘Master, there is a point to all of this, Bruxa swear,’ Bruxa
stammered.
‘Continue,’ the darklord commanded.
‘Echidna came to hear of Lamia and felt an immediate kinship.
Since the gate could only be operated from earth she had to wait
for it to be activated by the furies for one of the Olympian gods,
and managed to slip through before it closed.’
‘Why could it only be operated from earth?’ the terrible voice
came from behind the mask.
‘Selfish little gods, did not want all the other gods to use earth
as their playground. They restricted access to earth through the

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Eye of the Gods

gate, and the furies ensured that it would only open for Zeus and
his friends. Zeus was afraid that if the gate could be opened from
Olympus the other gods could find a way through, but he also
knew that as long as he controlled the furies, the gate would be
safe.’
‘Fine, continue,’ the darklord ordered.
‘Echidna and Lamia met and the sisterhood was formed. They
looked alike, they loved the same food namely flesh and they had
the same goal. Kill the Olympian gods.’
‘This is becoming beyond boring Bruxa. I guarantee you, if you
say one more word I will fall asleep, and my dagger will fall from
my hand; but be assured it will end its fall in your heart,’ the
darklord rasped.
Bruxa pointed at the murky passage, and then stammered ‘I will
go find Drugunxa. She is our entertainer.’
‘I won’t need to come find you, will I Bruxa?’
‘No my lord,’ Bruxa said in a soft voice trailing off as she silently
left.

A colourful yet odd creature walked in. It seemed patched
together from odd bits of clothing, other people’s hair and old
chewing gum.
‘Master,’ she said with a flamboyant bow, ‘I am honoured and
humbled by your majestic and wondrous presence.’
The darklord said nothing. Its mask remained half hidden in the
shadows of the cloak and the gloom, but Drugunxa suddenly
wished that she rather saw nothing.
The evil it emanated terrified every synapse in her system.

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Igor Swann

‘Bruxa told me where in the story she ended, so I am here to tell
the rest,’ she hesitantly tried.
Still the darklord said nothing; it simply started to flip the
dagger repeatedly, catching it neatly after each turn.
‘The story my lord, of Echidna and Lamia's ultimate revenge,’
Drugunxa began.
<Flip>
‘Echidna was married, to a god, a bad ass mother named
Typhon. He scared the living crap out of the other gods, and that
must have been the attraction because he was one ugly mother
father.’
<Flip>
‘This son of a planet, since earth was his mother and hell was
his father, had 100 goddamned ugly heads like snakes, which
coiled together to form one big one. He had too many snake-like
arms and legs to be of actual use to anyone, and if he coughed up
a fur ball, rather hope you are somewhere else since it was made
of molten lava and rock. He also had this poison tear thing going
from his eyes, so yeah, he was a bad, real bad.’
<Flip>
‘Anyway he put the good fear into the gods and those scared
little shits all packed their little halos, shoes with wings and
lightning bolts and went to hide in Egypt. Hoping some other gods
could protect their sorry asses from Typhon; The Man!’
<Flip> <flip>
‘So then the whore Athena cracked a few smart assed remarks
at Zeus and wham bam thank you mam, the sucker fell for it. He
took on Typhon, and got his lightning butt kicked from here to the

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Eye of the Gods

Corycian Cave, where Typhon cut out Zeus’s sinews and stuffed
him in a leather body bag.’
<...>
‘Unfortunately the damn bitch Athena got the other gods riled
up and Pan the pansy-assed-man and Hera, Zeus’s main screw
when he was not seducing innocent princesses like Lamia, went to
look for the wiener. Long story short, they found him and fixed
him up for round two.’
<Flip>
‘Of course his little ego was stomped on and spat on, and he
lost face with the other little gods, so he just had to go back for
more. He got a personal trainer, started taking steroids and his
protein shakes, did the entire clean living thing, no more snorting
coke in the mornings, you know.
Man what a battle, Zeus pulled hair, kicked Typhon in the shins,
biting, the whole nine yards. It was like trying to beat up the
school yard bully that was held back for 23 years and Zeus was 6
years old.’
<Flip> <flip> <flip>
Drugunxa swallowed hard.
‘This time The Man Typhon threw a whole mountain at Zeus,
but the electrical power plant got lucky. He hit the mountain with
a few of his lightning bolts and it fell back on Typhon. And there
he still lies today, buried beneath mount Edna.’
<Flip>
‘Anyway, Echidna wanted her man back and both wanted to
kick Zeus’s monkey butt.’
‘The plan was for Lamia and her brave Lamies to lure Zeus’s
lapdogs, the Furies, away from the gate. Then Echidna could get

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Medusa through the gate, while she, that is Echidna, starts a little
war on Olympus, making sure all the little gods run back home.’
<Flip> <flip> <flip>
SHIT, Drugunxa thought, I am going to die, better end this soon.
‘Medusa1 waits for the Furies to get back, and then casts her
evil eye on them, turning them to stone. Meanwhile Lamia goes
to free the man from beneath the mountain and brings him to the
gate. Then Echidna and Typhon kick the Olympian puke’s asses on
the other side. That was the plan.’
<Flip>
‘So, and the rest is a little fuzzy, but apparently Medusa zapped
the Furies but lost her head somewhere. That’s four gods down.
Lamia could not get the Man out from beneath the mountain, and
since there was no gods left on earth’s side to open the damn
gate, everybody was stuck on their own side of the mirror.’
‘Just say that again,’ the darklord spoke for the first time, the
evil grinding voice sent chills down Drugunxa’s spineless spine.

‘Er… yeah… did Bruxa not tell you?’ Drugunxa seemed confused,
‘we can’t open the gate because we have human genes, only a
god can open it, and the god needs to be on this side.’
‘Bruxa… come here,’ the malevolent voice commanded in a way
a cat would invite a little bird closer before ripping its head off.

1
Medusa was able to turn people into stone just by looking at them. Her blood
is rumoured to be able to heal and kill depending on which side of the body it
came from. She had a gorgeous snakehead hairdo, but struggled to keep the
same hairdresser for long.

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Eye of the Gods

‘Master, it is not like that. You said yourself you are not human;
therefore, I thought that you could open the gate. I am sorry
master. Please won’t you just try, please?’ Bruxa pleaded.

...The memory faded as the darklord returned to the present
with the sound of an anguished scream. The tormented noise
came from the other side of the mirror, and the sound pleased
the darklord immeasurably.

63

Eye of the Gods: A Mindlord Novel by Igor Swann

Eye of the Gods: A Mindlord Novel by Igor Swann

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Eye of the Gods: A Mindlord Novel by Igor Swann