Chapter 46

'The Temple of Set?' A deep frown pulled its way across Covo's face. 'That's impossible; how the hell did I get here? I mean, it's about as far away from Kama Traydon as you can get, whilst still being in Sil. This is just... impossible.'

The large structure which stood before him was a combination of the Odraian Temple which had stood on Earth and the smaller Silkoneon counterpart which had been created on Sil. All of the Temples which now existed were a combination of the two cultures efforts and had come about as part of the Disconnection. Covo wasn't exactly sure why Lillyannu had felt the need to make something like this happen when she was hiding the two symbiotic civilisations, but he did know most of those who'd gone through the reawakening appreciated it.

There were eight temples which had ended up with this combined treatment, even though there were more than eight temples or buildings of religious significance on both Earth and Sil. But it was only the temples dedicated to the eight gods which needed to be combined in this manner. The reason for this being that the Odraians only worshipped eight gods, whereas the Silkoneons also paid homage to the Higher Beings. This social difference was probably the biggest sticking point between the Odraians and the Silkoneons, just because of the universally acknowledge belief that collectively worshipping something made it a god. For the Odraians though the Tenth Order only had room for eight true gods; everything else, regardless of its importance, was little more than a Higher Being and that included the Mistresses themselves, something Covo had always found baffling.

Having said that the Mistresses were given more of an acknowledgement by the Odraians than any other important Higher Beings. They even had their own chamber in the Temple of Set for those Odraians with an inclination to pay homage to them to visit. The Silkoneons had their own Temple dedicated to the Mistresses and the Odraians had a single room. It spoke volumes about the differences between the two cultures, although Covo was more than grateful of the fact it was a minor sticking point and not a major point of conflict.

'Why do I feel like I need their help right now?' Covo stared questioningly at the doors of the Temple as his mind circled thoughts of the Mistresses. 'Because of course I need their help,' there were traces of sour sarcasm in his voice. 'The Pure is powerless, the sisters are mortalised and I've practically been living with the First for the last four months, why shouldn't I need their help?'

He gave a heavy sigh and made his way inside. The Temple was lit by electric lamps and was much less gloomy than any of the other Temples would have been this time of day. Set was the God who controlled Elta, the Lightning Elemental. The Odraians who lived here were all Elta users, so it made sense for them to modernise the Temple as quickly as possible. Once they had they began to help the others bring their old world into the new one. Slowly and surely the two cultures were modernising their history, it was a welcome inevitability in so many ways and yet at the same time seeing this much modern technology in such an old structure made Covo feel more than a little sad.

Some instinct inside him began to pull him forward, down through the strange, unfamiliar network of passageways towards a room hidden somewhere at the back of the Temple. No one needed to tell him he was being led towards the Mistresses' Chamber, he already knew it instinctively. He didn't know how or why he knew he was being led there, but then again he didn't really care. For whatever reason it was where he needed to be and that was something he wasn't going to argue with.

It didn't take him long to spot the unimportant looking door with the combined symbol of the Three Mistresses' carved into the old wooden panel. It was hard to imagine an entire civilisation thinking beings as important as the Three Mistresses deserved something so plain and ordinary it could almost be overlooked, but that was just the Odraians for you. As he moved closer and closer to the door he could feel his heart start to pound in his chest and the familiar sound of voices reached his ears. It was at this point he knew he hadn't ended up at the Temple of Set by chance. He might have thought he was running blindly with fear, but he wasn't, someone had been guiding him. Someone with more power and intelligence than the Three Mistresses combined.

Covo's hand was shaking as he reached for the solid iron hoop which acted as a door handle. He might have only been able to hear three distinct voices, but there was no doubt in his mind there were four people in the little room which lay beyond. And the fourth person needed him. So what else could Covo do but try and get him back?

Re had his back pressed against the lettering below the symbol which represented the Face of Friendship. He was bored and irritated and just wishing something would happen to make things a little more interesting. That was when he burst into the room; all wide-eyed and trembling in fear.

'Covo,' Gan gave an amused half laugh, 'well this is a surprise; I thought you were out for the count.'

'Give me Crovell, Ahna,' Covo's voice was tight, 'you can do whatever you like, but please don't involve him in your plans. He's just a baby.'

'If that's what you think, then you're clearly more stupid than you look.'

'Ahna please don't do this, he's your son.'

'You right. He is my son. But haven't you worked it out yet?' A cruel smirk spread across her face. 'I'm not your precious Ahna.'

'You're Gan, aren't you?' Covo swallowed hard.

'Ah, so you do have a brain in that head after all. I did wonder.'

'But I thought Ahna was free of you.'

'That was her folly, not mine. But then, the naive will believe what they are told to believe.'

'I believe in the Light...'

'Just how stupid are you?' Re cut him off. 'The Light... the Mistresses, they're nothing compared to us. Just look at how easily I've been able to control the Passive Mistress; I have her crushed into complete and utter submission. It doesn't matter how powerful a person is, weak minds have no resistance. And the three of us like nothing more than to take advantage of weak minds,' he stalked his way towards Covo. 'I can tell from here you have a weak mind.'

'I'm stronger than you think I am,' Covo's voice had a surprising amount of strength in it considering the look of fear in his eyes.

'Nobody is stronger than I think they are,' Re shook his head, 'everyone is weak and pathetic in comparison to me. That's why it's so easy for me to get inside others heads. And once I'm in there... oh you wouldn't believe the fun I can have, even with the Mistresses.'

'But you can't control the Mistresses for very long,' Covo continued to hold his ground, 'none of you can, Ahna told me so.'

'We don't need to control them indefinitely,' Gan rolled her eyes, 'we just need to control them for long enough. Long enough for us to take everything they have away from them that is.'

'It'll be fun to watch them kneel before us,' Re laughed. 'You've no idea how long I've waited to see the Mistresses become subservient to us.'

'You mean... you mean you don't want to kill them?' Covo sounded surprised.

'What fun would that be? No matter how slow and agonising it is, death ends everything. I want them to suffer for as long as possible. I want them to know how it feels to be considered insignificant, to be patronised and degraded by beings who should be their equals. I want them to know how they made us feel. But I want more than that. I want them to worship us.'

'You're insane if you think the Mistresses would ever worship you.'

'Thank you Covo,' Gan laughed and shot a fakely sweet smile at him, 'and all this time I thought you didn't like us.'

'I don't like you,' Covo gritted his teeth, 'and I will be taking Crovell away from you now. I won't let you get that innocent child involved in your hateful plans.'

'Oh Covo, don't you know, this innocent child is ours. We created him.'

'Created him?'

'Please Covo; I thought you were the one who was supposed to understand things. Don't you get it; it was us who made sure this child was conceived. It was us who gave him the most powerful parentage available. We designed him. His power. His intelligence. It's all down to us. And what's more, he is Chaos,' her voice was as cruel as the smile on her face. 'It's a pity Crovell Lutoni is such a drab name for him; it's really not what he should be called at all.'

'Then... then what should he be called?'

'Veron yia Chaosa,' Gan's voice was light and simple, 'Vengeance is Chaos.'