As The Ancient One winged home, he saw that the full moon was well risen and the land over which he flew was under true midnight. He suddenly heard a cry of terror, not from any voice, but from a mind. Far below was a farm, and from its great barn the cry rose again, then faded into silence. The Ancient One descended, landing on the porch to the loft. Forcing its door open he entered, and crept to the edge, looking down into the midst of the barn below. Below him twelve hooded figures stood around a round stone slab on which lay the naked body of a girl perhaps eleven or twelve years old. Her throat, wrists, and ankles had been slashed, and as her blood flowed down the stone, it was caught by a channel cut in it, and flowed to a collection point where one of the hooded figures collected it in cups, passing it around the circle. When he was done, the hooded figure raised his cup.
"Oh, Satan, Lord of Darkness," he said, "we offer up to you the blood of this virgin. Give us, oh Lord, her strength, her vigor and her youth!"
As The Ancient One watched, a Spirit appeared hovering over the stone circle. It looked like a man in a cape, with hoofed feet and horns. Rage rose inside The Ancient One, and a low murmuring growl came from his lips. He backed off and retreated out of the barn, not wishing those inside to detect his presence.
Of all the insane things that humans did, The Ancient One despised this the most; the murdering of children to satisfy their own insane greed; their desire to prolong their lives and their youth. He knew he had time, plenty of time. Those taking part in the ceremony would now dance and chant, then enjoy each-other's pleasures. He had plenty of time to plan. There were cattle in the barn, and the first thing he must do is take them to safety. He went to the door leading to their stalls, and opened it. To his surprise he was met by a group of children in Spirit form.
"We'll shoo out the cows," one of them said. "Now that you've opened the door, we can."
The Ancient One bowed. Walking back around the barn he found the area where the tractors were parked, and as he hoped, there sat there a large tank of their fuel. The Ancient One grabbed up several plastic pails used for feeding the cows, and undid the hose connected to the tank until the gas began to run out. Pail after pail he filled with the volatile liquid, and moving very rapidly he poured it all around the outside of the barn.
When the outer part of the barn was soaked, he flew up into the loft, and carefully poured the gas down the inside of the walls. One more time he soaked the area by both doors. Then, he reconnected the hose to the tank, twisted off the nozzle and let the fuel run through the cellar window into the basement. Picking up the final pail of gas he was ready. Then he thought of something else. He went over to a pile of wood, picked up a long stick, and blessed it and called upon The Power of his Fathers and Mothers, and, using the stick, he drew a circle all around the barn. Where the two ends met, he stuck in the stick. Now he truly was ready.
Rising to the loft he crept to the edge and again looked down inside. The worshippers had split off into pairs and were so deeply involved in their passion they were aware of nothing.
The Spirit who had appeared still hovered over the stone, turning slowly around and around, stopping for a moment as he pointed at each couple. There were candle stands below. With a slashing motion The Ancient One threw the gas into the air, then sped from the loft before it drifted down and hit the open candle's flame. The barn became an instant inferno, and the screams of those within echoed through the night.
The force of the sudden eruption of flame blew open the doors, but there was no chance of those inside escaping. They rose and started for the door, but fell in a pile, before it as the flames consumed them. Their Spirits, however, continued on to the door, but when they reached it, found themselves unable to pass. They beat frantically on the invisible barrier before them, as the flames consumed their flesh. The Spirit they had summoned, however, burst from the barn and ran towards The Ancient One, but when he reached the circle The Ancient One had drawn, he stopped short.
"Release me!" he cried, "Release me! What right have you? Break the circle! Let me out! You cannot destroy me!"
"No," said The Ancient One, stepping inside the circle, "but I can hurt you!"
He began to strike the spirit terrible blows. He knocked it to the ground, again and again.
"No more!" the spirit begged, "No more!"
The Ancient One picked the spirit up and carried it back to the barn door, where its tormented worshipers still clawed at the invisible barrier trying to get free.
"Show them," The Ancient One said, "show them what you really are!"
The spirit looked at him in great anger. "Who makes you judge and jury?" it said, "Who makes you executioner? By what right do you act?"
The Ancient One held out his hand and the spirits of the children who had shooed the cattle from the barn emerged from the flames, as if they were no discomfort to them at all. the wailing of the trapped worshipers grew even worse.
"Here is my right!" screamed The Ancient One. "These innocent ones, who you encouraged those who served you to slay, so you could feed on the last essence of their flesh, THEY are my judge, THEY are my jury. They cry for justice, for punishment. THEY are my evidence. I need no more. I am their avenger, if you choose to say, the one who executes their tormentors for them. Now, do you wish me to let them touch you, to feel the pain they felt, the horror that was theirs? Or, will you do as I command and show your worshipers what you really are?"
As The Ancient One held him, the spirit began to change. He shriveled, twisted, took on the form of an ordinary man scarred and cut, covered with sores. The Ancient One threw him before the barn door. "There is your Prince Of Darkness," he said, "an ordinary spirit of this world, unable to go to The Spirit World and be reborn, who is forced to stay here and feed on the last energies of the dying. This is what you have worshiped, this is what YOU have become."
The Ancient One walked back, pulled the stick from the ground, and erased part of the circle. The twisted figure laying outside the door jumped up and ran through the gap into the darkness, screaming. The Ancient One motioned to the children.
"You can leave now," he said. "They buried you behind the barn where the tractor's marks would hide your graves. They did not know the soil there was actually a thick layer of old manure. It is now burning and the ashes being blown away by the draft from the fire. By morning your bones will be exposed for all to see. You are finally free!"
The children came to him and they all looked back to the now crumbling barn. The spirits still stood at the door, begging and crying. One of the older girls spoke up.
"Lord," she said, "can you not release them, as you did the other one? Let them too, go to that place that awaits them. To leave them there to burn forever, in that barn is not justice. Let them go!"
"You ask mercy for them?" praised The Ancient One, "You would give them pity after what they did to you?"
"Your people have been around the barn," one of the children said, "they taught us. Is not the merciful man the greater man; he who forgives greater than he who hates? Does it displease you that we would have you release them?"
The Ancient One put his hand on her forehead.
"No," he said, "it does not displease me, it fills me with the greatest joy! Extend your hands. Point them to the door, and say, 'For what you have done, I forgive you. Go your way.'"
The children obeyed and those who had been struggling at the barn door stepped out and staggered towards the exit from the circle.
"You had best hurry," said The Ancient One, "before you see each other and are aware of what you have become. As for you, treasures of this world," The Ancient One said to the children after the worshipers had passed into the darkness, "look....here are the ones who love you; your fathers and mothers, your aunts, your grandmothers, your grandfathers. They have waited long for your freedom, now it has come! They will take you to a place of joy where that you have suffered here will soon be forgotten."
"Our only regret," said one of the girls, "is that people will believe that those awful ones were your people. Your people will be blamed for the evil things they did."
"Perhaps," said The Ancient One, "this time that will not be the case. Perhaps this time none will be blamed, save those who FIRST started this insanity. Now go, little ones. People are coming to fight the fire. They will let the barn burn to save the house. The bodies will not even be noticed until the flames are dead. Be gone, before their excitement and confusion disturbs your journey.
The children walked off into a mist that formed around them, and The Ancient One felt good...he felt very good. He rose to the sky and completed his journey home.