"God Has Placed Obvious Limits on Man's Knowledge, but none whatsoever on his stupidity!"
By James Carmody.
Disclaimer: I refute any financial gain for this, the stories I'm drawing it from I do not own the copyright, one (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) is the property of a Mr. Whedon, Joss, and the other (Genesis), is clearly in the public domain by now, some several thousand years after it was penned! I also am drawing on Dante's Divine Comedy to some degree in this.
Characters: Various Original Characters drawn from "Tales of the Slayer Vol 1.", the story specifically is "White Doe" that I'm citing here, so the setting is approximately 1590 Anno Domini, the year of Our Lord, 1590, or thereabouts, and set in North Carolina settlements nearby Roanoke Island, the Lost Colony. One is Virginia Dare/White Doe, some others are guys from her tribe, and one in particular is the First- presumed to be the head fallen angel/evil spirit.
Warnings: Bad Spirituality, Love Potions (Date Rape Drugs!), and general envy and covetousness. But no more serious than a usual fairy tale- which that's essentially what this is. A Fairy-Tale set in the New World.
Rating: PG/Teen, thereabouts.
Chapter 1.): "Ignorance: a gateway for evil spirits to influence someone, but foolishness is the most profound thereof!"
"If only young Virginia Dare could've been educated in Christendom she'd be safer than she is now." bemoaned her guardian spirit; for he knew well the hazards to her immortal soul that'd be out to get her, she knew well the behaviors of the hazards to her adopted family, an aristocratic household in the Croatoan village nearest to her birth home of Roanoke Island colony… a settlement unbeknownst to the virgin teen girl as intended to be a raiding post for English pirates to hit, and loot, the Spanish treasure fleets- for that was the political intent of the settlement, one of many. The main goal of this dispossessed teen gal was survival, of her own and that of her adoptive family.
There was a strange mark on her forehead, she'd learned of it being what it was from the town wise man, a fellow she knew as Ceremonial Fox, and another fellow she knew by the name of Manteo had taught her a strange dialect and language, among them bizarre sound symbols, in the intent to enlighten her of some of her birth heritage, as well as what that bizarre two intersecting lines at right angles of oneanother meant. Ceremonial Fox said it was a sacred symbol to her birth people, a holy mark, he'd learned that from Manteo, he said when she petitioned for information on it, but they didn't know exactly what it meant, only that it drove away the Night Walkers, beings whom she'd learned were basically "ex-humans", twisted perversions of the humans they were, who'd typically feed on the lifeblood of their closest relatives… inwardly she wondered, though never guessed or voiced this terrifying thought, whether or nor her own relatives had been so twisted, or why she would be so marked in this manner, It was too horrible to voice, however, for what people would mutilate their own offspring?
Hence, though she'd grown up dealing with hazards to her life of the animal kind, as well as hostile tribes who might raid her village from time to time, for whatever reason, and had grown into a formidable warrior-woman, she knew next to nothing of the hazards nor tactics of humanity's most ancient adversary, a being her own people had referred to as "the adversary" from time to time, and regularly, practically yearly, recalled in their religious services, both of the old religion, and the "post protestant rebellion" one, remembered how that thing had lost its strongest hold on humanity, as well as how that fallen seraphim, an evil spirit known originally as "Lucifer" corrupted human nature, and has never ceased attacking the human race… so her horrible judgement that was upcoming was in fact very clear when you boil it down.
About noonday, as the village wiseman was preparing and blessing paints to carry out an intent, White Doe opened the doorway to his workshop, and happened to ask him for a love potion, to use to get the heart of the man she wanted, whom she said seemed to see her as a sister, so she feared he'd never want her the way she wanted him. She wanted to marry him, he seemed to want her as a buddy, nothing more. Ceremonial Fox replied that she needed not that, that no man could resist her beauty, so she headed off to try and bag this guy she had her heart set on, Seal of the Ocean.
Unfortunately, somebody else was listening to that conversation, and this entity was far more terrifying than any Night Walker, their term for vampire, this evil spirit mused in its wicked mind "So… this dame wants to make *certain* he falls in love with her, eh? Well, what can be done to facilitate that?" the entity contemplated in its own Perdition Dimension; this monster considered his options, making humans act up was a very favorite pastime of its… and it was quite good at that art, even with this thing's excessive ego saying so!
Moving by mere thought, a teleportation really, this perverted mind glommed onto the idea that she wanted to use a drug, perhaps a mystical drug, to get the heart of the man she desired… this was going to be too good of an opportunity to miss, according to the First that is! As the ancient serpent took on a form it had to pervert this gal's original ancestors, Adam and Eve, all those millions of untold years ago back in the Middle East, and hid under a tree, it thought a bit- this'd require more subtlety than it had been able to use to trick Eve, course the will is there, and that's always a possibility: to corrupt someone by way of their desires, and Virginia, as she was Christened, already was insecure about her beauty, now to prepare the poison to strike, but how to do it? That's what the First wondered…
It lay in ambush against this foolish girl, considering its options, eager to strike when the opportunity arose, but the best way to strike a young lady is to acquire her as a co-worker in the venture, to gain her trust… and here the ego of the devil came into play, it slithered up a nearby tree, coiling around it in the serpent form, and hid in the branches, waiting for the right moment to ensnare White Doe in its gang as a full member.
"I'll help you get Seal of the Ocean's heart and his love, if you want." a voice suggested to her in her mind.
White Doe, as she was known by her adoptive family, was baffled "Who said that?" asked the teen woman, confused by the suggestion; it sounded like someone wanted to be her friend; but who in the world could it be?
"Greetings." This being said, it had the face and upper body of a man, a handsome man at that, but with what appeared to be short goat's horns on the top of his head, he had a muscular chest and arms, and the lower half of his body was serpentine in appearance; he looked very weird, but his eyes seemed to be disarmingly… fascinating. "Sometimes my abilities get ahead of me. You can call me Nagai, also I'm chief of the Mantoac." it said, claiming to be the head god of her new people "And I'm here to help you."
*That* very much baffled, confused, and surprised her; why in the world would one of her gods, not to mention the *chief* of them be interested in *her* of all people, a lowly young warrior-maiden?!
It seemed to sense her confusion, and smiling beguilingly, it said "take those, now some of those, now five of those, now this now that…" it went on and on, giving out instructions of how to make this love potion… there was only one odd thing going on in these encounters, nobody else seemed to see this entity Virginia was talking to, so she began to be thought of as having a broken mind, a mind touched by the gods. Only her stepdad, Takes from Eagle, aka Manteo, her adoptive stepdad, as the pale-faces term is, was alarmed, but ironically not enough to be able to do much but ask her from time to time whom she was talking to, and what came out seemed to be gibberish, words that made no sense. She identified a being not known to her people. Some wondered if White Doe was a prophetess- being contacted by the Heavens, or by Heaven itself, as some would say, specifically the Spanish themselves- they'd be the ones keenest to deal with this metaphysical mystery, but shipments were rare from beyond the big water. They knew men lived across this vast expense of water, that was the region White Doe had come from, but she knew not of that area, nor the nations that populated it in any way, nor of the conflicts men engaged in in that area., nor of the chiefs of that area's nations or of their weapons that relied on a special kind of dirt-like material to produce a "death-bang" that was capable of killing a man with a single flash of light and fire!
What the council was able to deduce was that White Doe was apparently meant for something quite different; she seemed to have been contacted by some spirit, some god, but whom it was exactly they had no idea… meanwhile, White Doe worked steadily on this love potion recipe this entity was briefing her on, telepathically, only giving her a bit of information at a time, never the full story, never ever the full truth, only lies when asked for information about this thing's origins and whereabouts of beginning, where his "tribe" was, nothing made sense… and this entity she realized, loved, absolutely loved playing mind-games, especially making her wonder if the world as she knew it to be, was in fact remotely real! But beyond that, she really knew nothing of her partner in this venture's real identity, and the result of this entity's contact with her was going to come to fruition soon enough, it knew, she didn't know anything of what was really going on.
Here was the problem it had: if she's ignorant, the sin she commits by essentially date-raping the guy she wants, becomes diminished greatly by her ignorance of what's going on, to commit a mortal sin, which is exactly what her new "friend" wanted, friend in air quotes- literally air quotes, for this entity was quite literally speaking with a forked tongue and she didn't know it, yet; here- she'd have to know the gravity of the offense against the dignity owed to her neighbor, and knowing all that keenly, still choose, knowing all the while that there's a better way- a safer way too-, to give in and go with the "gangster spirit's" suggestion, and that's hard to do to say the least. Not to mention the benevolent Spirit's protection from doing something so incredibly dumb- he'd have to make her reject her Heavenly Stepdad, a being the Jews refer to by the name of "Yahweh", and knowingly do so knowing all the while what that entails. That alone would be the most difficult thing in the world, the next world that is… downright nearly impossible really; then and only then would he be free to abuse her at will!
Since cruelty against this what's essentially "lady knight" was almost impossible, but the typical tendency of her sex to go for love was already in play; that's what Perdition's Red Tsar went for, playing on her insecurities and her love of this young man, whom she'd had to eliminate the deceased father of in an incidental combat and hunting expedition she'd been on- essentially she'd rescued him in that regard, for what man would be likely to reject the pleas of his kinsmen to get sanctuary, there nor in the Middle East, family was of massive value and rejecting family was an act tantamount to treason, even against one's Maker, a most heinous act indeed! Same with her and her mom, be it her stepmom: Manteo's wife, or her birth mom: Eleonor Dare; so the evil entity pretending to be a god, a false god at that, who appeared to favor her indeed, went for aiding her in seducing her boyfriend!
Soon the love potion was brewed, and as she made certain it mixed right, "Nagai" gave her the final instructions on using this chemical mixture to gain the heart of her true love.
"Feed hm this concoction of liquid, make sure he drinks the whole thing, and he shall not reject you, nor fail to notice you for the rest of his life." the entity said, it knew well that he'd want to, well aware that this's literally true, but completely horrible, as for the rest of his life, he'd be trying to kill her for violating him and shaming him, and she'd be suicidal to the core, as would he too, once the vile deed is done that is "And he should have it with a meal, best a big dinner, as well as some fermented maize juice; you know how to get it.", and it gave her instructions on how to do that too, it said, with an avuncular grin on its face- that alone was all too freaky to her… something inside her told her "this thing is not, I repeat *NOT*, your friend!" but she was entirely too fixated on getting herself the guy she desired.
That night the horrible act happened, he ate and drank with her, and then fell into a deep slumber, and literally couldn't resist her. She acted up with him, and the results were, as the monster spirit absolutely knew they would be, catastrophic to the dignity of the both of them! They rapidly grew to hate oneanother deeply and personally to the very cores of their beings- he wanted nothing to do with her, and she was furious with him for letting her shame herself in this perverted way- as if he had a choice! This monster had indeed said something quite correct: he wouldn't be able to resist her, and he wasn't! What she'd done made her an outcast in the tribe's social structure; she now had the personal name of a rapist, or the equivalent in Croatoan society, a monster-woman!
Despair began to set in, in both her and him, he and she both wanted to drive the other out of their heads, and she, almost giving up hope of redemption of her good name- which she'd ruined, as well as Seal of the Ocean's good name too, knew she was effectively expelled from her dad's home, she'd shamed him and her family, and was now an outcast. In her grief over her criminal act, she considered doing the ultimate sin, suicide, or second to ultimate sin that is… "It wouldn't be so bad, you merely take your knife, your flint one in the sheath you have attached to that leather strap you wear, and cut yourself by plunging it into yourself, as deep as it'll go, to the hilt, but make sure it's to the core of your body to do the job right…" the suggestions kept on coming.
Her supposed "friend" Nagai, or whoever/whatever he was/is, had set her up to this disgrace, and now, most astonishingly, she felt kicks, in her belly area at her womb, as she sat on her heels in a field of grass in the sunlight of the morning, in a clearing.
Realizing she was pregnant, and now a mommy, happened to save her life as well as her immortal soul, for it gave her something to live for. Her daddy had been living with the Pale-faces, her own people, and had told her of her calling when she was identified as this kind of a preternatural warrior-woman, now she also knew she had to care for this child within her, her own baby, and that gave Virginia Dare/White Doe reason to live and to take care to do things right. Before, once she'd realized the gravity of her horrible offense against natural law and basic justice, she'd thought and felt that she had nothing to live for, because of her using her strength and skill to get what she wanted/who she wanted, by effectively a mechanism that bordered slavery, but now, with responsibility came the will to live again! Promptly, White Doe got up, and walked swiftly and with purpose back to her daddy's home- yes, she had misbehaved, gravely, and become a tribal disgrace, but this child within her was totally innocent, and deserved the best odds of living!
And to boot, her calling prohibited her from harming an innocent, a class of beings she was spiritually "programmed" to protect, not abuse. Biting her lower lip in shame, Virginia Dare was almost in tears as she headed home, indeed, a tear had already fallen from her left eye before the baby started to kick, it was as if the baby within her womb knew if her child didn't act, and soon, the child would die of starvation once the mommy's body died, and her baby was reminding her that he was there. She'd said once she realized she'd conceived "Well, kiddo, it's the two of us now.", but she couldn't bring herself to cause the death of her baby yet to be born- absolutely not!
Her terror was confirmed when, upon knocking on his door in a double-rapping with her right fist, a code for "May I come in?" between the two of them- he knew she wasn't a Night-Walker, it was bright daylight outside, and she was very strong indeed, so it was unlikely that some monster had taken her… but he adamantly refused to acknowledge her to begin with; his reply was "Go away, you've shamed me enough… my daughter's dead to me." It was only when she explained to him that she was with child that he headed out to check on his little girl- both his joy and his disgrace at the same time now.
Sure enough, he was a grandfather, and while the child was conceived in the grossest of ways imaginable that'd work, an act of violation via a form of magical rape, he knew this baby was totally innocent, and wouldn't be harmed or rejected at all by anyone with any sense of honor!
The legalistic matter in their tribe was that she'd done this horrible deed at her wedding night with Seal of the Ocean, so her husband wanted nothing to do with her after she'd deprived him of his free will and rendered him or treated him as a plaything, specifically his feelings as a plaything… it'd been the dumbest thing she could do, short of murder, and wowie did she end up regretting it. It was the shame of her family, she realized, that had helped to bring her around, and she never again wanted anything to do with "Nagai", remembering her adoptive people's adage very clearly, an adage that may well have come down from her first parents- the original humans "Speaks with forked tongue" means "Liar!"- and remembered to tell people for a long time since that "anything with the upper body of a man and the lower body of a serpent is NOT a friend!"
For the rest of her life, White Doe tried persistently to end the contract between her and "Nagai" or whoever/whatever he was- she never did find out what the name of that dark spirit was, or what it really was, but the terror was deep in her heart. It was when she was thirty that a pale-faced man with a beard walked into the village she lived in, and was raising her little child in, and some form of recognition between her and he passed, it was her birthday, ironically that that happened on, and that man turned out to be her grandfather- her biological one, he was now operating as a missionary, and word got to her finally of what that entity might be. This discovery filled her with terror, for it was apparently a fallen spirit, and that discovery was quite upsetting but worthwhile, for her dreams had been terrifying since her young adulthood, for approximately some thirteen years her life was filled with terror when she slept, for she dreamed of a place of unimaginable violence and interpersonal abuse to the core… she wondered if this be Hell that haunted her dreams, but a place doesn't haunt, it was rather something else, or some*one* else, a being she dared to dream of never meeting again!
The First had what he wanted of her, her identity "codes" and could now steal whatever that being, the Prince of Darkness, wanted from her, so it wasn't likely to return till it wanted something, and like the slave-owner it is, it prepared to exploit her to the hilt, if it got the chance, for now, however, the old dragon was staying back, satisfied, and awaiting her arrival in Perdition, it's "Lwekk" as it were, a place of eternal enslavement, not temporary or lifetime, but one of eternal enslavement. It wasn't in control of everything, no matter what this being claimed to be able to control, it couldn't even control when its slaves die, that was out of its hands, and while it could try to scare them out of repentance, it couldn't stop them from repenting- that was one of the rules it had to live by, and to be honest, it never was, but still, it was satisfying to be able to ensure the most damage from a sin, and it did *NOT* want God to rescue the beings it tempted, nor weaken its hold on them, not in the least! That above all is why it emphasized the idea of "anything but God" as its side's policy.
It did tell her the truth, in a manner of speaking: it is a chief, but not of deities, it is a chief of fallen spirits- alien beings who seek to do humans irreparable harm for all eternity out of sheer hatred for created lifeforms, and the Creator as well, even willing to harm themselves to carry those tasks out., but a half-truth, which is what it told her, is an easier-to-swallow lie, as it's flavored with corruption, and her insecurities about her physical beauty made her an easy mark for its operations, the result was a dysfunctional household at the wedding night and for a while since!
It turned out that her stepdad had a little talk about the situation with her husband- not hostile at all, merely man-to-man about a man's obligations to feed and protect the innocent children in his home and family, no matter how the baby comes into being… Manteo's son-in-law was more than eager to assume the role of a father and lay aside the conflict he had with his wife over what had been done at their wedding night, and he happily took her in, though a great degree of mutual bitterness remained, he refused to let it taint his relationship with his offspring, White Doe recalled to her satisfaction. The fate of their child deeply concerned her… she'd done wrong to get the baby and her guy, but their baby was totally innocent and deserved to live, no matter what.
It was that evening that the Night Walkers attacked from the forests around their settlement, and, ironically, to her surprise, the missionary proved to be a formidable combatant against them, he preferred to use a metal barrel that shot fire and the "death-bangs" that the Amerindians, as they'd come to be known in centuries to come, referred to the sound of the shots as the metal balls drove into the skulls of their opponents, with devastating effect! She grinned at him, noticing his skill, and afterward began to question him about his role and situation, happy to learn of his skills and the reason for them.
It turned out that their village had survivors who'd been taken away and enslaved on the mainland, and there was a larger settlement to the north now, several in fact dotted the continent, and the pale-faces were here to stay, so it behooved her adoptive people to get to know one tribe thereof from another, in order to be safe from harm.
Centuries would pass, and new factions would develop, weapons more terrifying than anything Virginia Dare could imagine. More and more devastating weapons, men began to lose faith in eternity, and eventually the First would strike again, and again, till the Lord cometh and convict him of his immoral ways and imprison that gangster spirit in a prison it'd never escape on the day He would take the judgement seat regarding humanity, and sort everyone out and bestow the reward on the faithful servants He has had, but its power was indeed broken by the Cross some fifteen hundred years prior to her life, never to recover, and would remain so, irrespective of man's unlimited stupidity and limited knowledge and wisdom!
Sometimes, both would coincide in the same man at the same time, for as another great mind would one day say "You can be educated into imbecility", as a warning to his neighbors of the hazards of false education or bad data and not checking what's real and what's not- the arguments of the First always shall come to naught, as they, those manipulated by its influence, rely on emotional shouting matches instead of candid debates, they try to destroy the person who disagrees with them instead of improving themselves to counter opposition; dummies, they're always going to fall to that monster as long as they persist in this idiotic method, it knew, that's why it does that: increase emotions and decrease the intellect, to reduce the availability to access the virtue of Faith and the function of reason as well, so the emotions, it's "Bolshevik mob" can run riot over the intellect and take over the person, and then dumb things happen. Here in this case the First used, it knew, deception and deceit to manipulate White Doe into using a date-rape drug to get the heart of the man she'd wanted, and for the rest of her life she dwelt in terror of this master she'd acquired through that "favor", some favor, she knew!
The End?