All characters are 18 years old or older. This chapter delves a bit into the Osirian culture. Someone asked where I drew my inspiration for them. The main portion is drawn directly from the Egyptian pantheon. The rest was taken from a very old episode of Dr. Who. There is a Tom Baker story called the Pyramids of Mars. The villain is an Osirian named Sutek. He is an alien as well a powerful psychic with monstrously strong abilities. He is in every way that matters a god, a dark god. Some readers noted a bit of confusion regarding the time hiccup. This involves the freeing of Tai Gon Tai aka Thorn. She alters the memories and nudges time and events to benefit Thomas. That is how the DC versus Marvel contest comes to be.
Please remember to vote, comment, and if you have suggestions I am eager to hear them.
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I held the remains of my smart watch. I examined it and frowned. The once gleaming casing was melted and twisted. There was clear evidence of carbon scoring where flames erupted from within and wrecked the guts. I set it down on the end table that was equally charred in a near perfect circle where the watch had been located when Talon had been freed. The table might be able to be repaired but the watch was fucked.
Scarlett rolled over onto her side and let out a soft purr. I stood next to my bed and watched her sleep. I grinned when Gal Gadot spooned behind the lovely redhead and pressed her body close. They had just met yesterday and here they were snuggling in my bed, life is good. I left them to sleep as a thought refused to be reconciled in my mind.
I walked down and checked in on the others. The Sisters Three were piled into Mom's bed and I paused seeing how happy they appeared. Victoria lay in the middle with Eleanor on one side and Keisha on the other. It felt so strange since I discovered that the woman I had called mom all these years was in fact my aunt. It was equally uncomfortable that the woman I had seen as a villain for so long ended up being my biological parent along with an Osirian.
"Osirian." I whispered.
They were the images found on the walls of Egyptian tombs that were home to pharaohs and the honored dead. They possessed the bodies that the Greeks called ideal with the heads of animals. Some of them even manifested their power in a divine solar disk. I carried the blood of Osiris in my veins and had shown to be child of Bennu, the Phoenix Goddess. The question I had fought to forget popped into my head again. I let them sleep and counted heads. Everyone was accounted for except Indigo and Lily. Were they playing or simply sleepless tonight? I slipped down the stairs to the front hall and stopped on the landing. The paintings had changed again. Eleanor had lost her preeminent position to my mother. I had yet to have a portrait commissioned and I was in no hurry to. My vanity was healthy enough without it.
"Master?" One of my cousins greeted me.
"Sylvia, isn't it?"
"OH YES Sir," she beamed as I called her by name. "Would you care for a drink? I was about to fix another pot of coffee. I have been given the honor of the night shift."
"A cup of coffee would be lovely."
"They are in the solarium sir," she said as she turned.
"Who is in the solarium?"
"Lady Lily and Indigo," she replied with a wink.
I thanked her and headed towards the back of the house. I came upon an interesting sight. Indigo was seated with a sketch pad while a nude Lily faced away with a violin balanced just above her lovely round ass. How she managed to keep it from crashing to the floor was a mystery to me. The instrument mirrored the shape of her body and made for a lovely symmetry.
"Evening Master Thomas," Indigo said in greeting.
"Impressive," I said as I peeked at her sketch.
"The drawing or her ass?" Indigo replied with a hint of innuendo.
"I do hope it is my ass." Lily purred. "I work so hard to stay in shape for you."
"Of course, it is," I said, and I saw her spine flush with color. "That is odd... how did you do that?"
"Do what?"
"It wasn't her. That was all you Master Thomas," Indigo explained as if she had seen through my eyes. "Your senses are far more attuned than they once were. If I might suggest, you should let the odd and unusual become normal."
"Thank you, Indigo I think I will." I said savoring one last glimpse of Lily's gorgeous bottom. "If anyone is looking for me, I will be in my study."
"Very good Master, I will tell them."
I left them and headed for my office. Strange how quickly I had adapted to my position as head of the family. Odd how fast I acclimated to the title of Master. I opened the door to the study and I noticed instantly the tall metallic gun safe behind my desk. When the hell was that brought in? A soft cough and I turned to see Sylvia behind me holding a silver tray with a pot of coffee and two cups.
"May I join you Master?"
"Please," I reply. "Do you know about the safe?"
"Oh yes, Lady Victoria had it installed. It belongs to you. The key is in the belly drawer."
"Do you know what is inside?" I asked as I took the key from the desk.
"No. The only thing she ever said was that it was the next part of your legacy."
I unlocked the safe and gripped the handle. I gave it a twist and pulled. The door moved outward and the interior was undisturbed despite the safe being jostled and moved from its previous location. The reason was because of Victoria's precautions. She had taken pieces of cardboard and taped them into place to keep the books, scrolls, and small boxes from moving. I peeled the tape from the lip of the third shelf. There were several journals stamped with the year of their creation on the spine. They spanned decades from the middle to late nineteenth century.
"I think these belonged to my predecessors." I said as I took one and opened it. "No one has read this since it was first penned. The spine is in perfect condition. These are the memoirs of Thomas Alvin Blackstone. It is my duty to record my experiments and my crimes so that future generations will know the cost for siring the golden child."
"What is a golden child?" Sylvia asked.
"Well, that is a good question. Have you ever seen a movie with Hercules in it?" I asked, and she nodded. "Hercules would be considered a golden child."
"So, they wanted to make a demigod."
"Well... yeah, I guess you would call it that." I stammered as her words struck home. "Did he think I was...?"
Sylvia stood, and I saw that she was carrying Sorcerer Cat in her arms. When had he entered the room? She scratched him behind his ears as she talked to him. I guess he was hungry. I refilled my cup and read the journal I had taken from the safe. There were weeks if not months of reading material here. Somewhere in there I might find my answer.
"Why? Why did my ancestors want to birth a demigod?"
I settled into my chair and lost myself in words penned centuries ago. I stopped and examined Alvin's handwriting. You can tell a lot about someone by their penmanship. His letters were crisp, but there were subtle breaks when he formed his Q's, G's, and P's. Is this when he formed or reformed his thoughts? It was often during the creation of those capital letters that the subject altered a bit or changed altogether. It appeared that Alvin was not just a wizard, but a full-fledged necromancer. He was trying to restore to life his dead wife and his unborn son. He loved her very much, but he wanted his son to survive even more. If he could restore them the task would be fulfilled. This was the first time the word task was used. I looked for it but the only thing that came anywhere near to it was his redundant use of the word work. The work was everything. The work was all consuming. The work was his life.
"Was the golden child the work he meant?"
I had started in the middle. It was still hours until dawn, so I would finish this journal and when Victoria was awake I would ask her which was the first diary I should read. Hidden within the journal entries were spells that dealt with necromancy. I needed something to test the spell on. I went to the conservatory and took three healthy plants. I left a note for whoever was maintaining the indoor garden. I hoped they wouldn't mind what happened to them once I was done. I returned to my study and closed the door. I didn't want anyone seeing what I was about to do. I jotted down notes from the journal onto a sheet of letter head kept in the desk. I deciphered the runes and what the entries hinted they were capable of.
"Alrighty then, let's see what happens." I whispered as I brought the images of the runes to mind and sang them softly.
The nearest plant withered and a felt a mild rush of energy. The implications were clear. I could steal life energy to heal myself or restore lost energy from potent spells. I knew instinctively as well hints from my ancestor's journal that it could be used on higher forms of life, such as people. This was the most primitive of daemon magic. I wrote out the second spell mentioned in a later passage. I deciphered the second series of runes and brought a healthy plant next to the first.
"I hope this works. Otherwise the gardener is going to be pissed."
I sang the rune and a light fog formed around the healthy plant and drifted over to the dead one. The second plant browned a bit around the edges of its leaves while the first recovered a little. So it was mostly dead now. It was time to decipher the third and last spell. This was by far the most complicated of the runes I learned. I placed all three plants in a triangle and sang the spell. The same fog I had seen in the previous spell but this time it formed around all three plants. The fog thickened to the point where all three plants were obscured. I sang until I felt that it was no longer draining me. The fog dissipated and instead of a mostly dead plant and two healthy ones there were three fairly healthy plants.
"Oh, how cool," I exclaimed. "It allows for all three to share a life force pool. It looks like it splits it evenly among all of them."
Eager to learn more I returned to the diary. I finished the journal long before dawn. I returned it to its place and locked the safe. I sat back down and closed my eyes. There was so much to process in just that one diary and I had a safe full to read and comprehend. Images inspired by the journal entries flashed into existence in my mind. I let them form and then collapse. A new series would come to mind, but then things changed. There were snatches of something new, something different. It was ice. I wasn't above ground but in a frozen cave. What had started out as broken and stuttered frames soon became me standing in an ice cave. I could feel the cold and even see my breath.
