The Ancient One thought he would have a night's rest, but the creatures of Darkness launched such a vicious attack against The Kingdom Of God's Forces that he had to rally more support and join Esther and David in the battle. It went on all night, the creatures of Darkness screaming over and over again that this city was theirs and God would never take it back, they ruled it with lust and greed. But no matter how much they tried to break through The Kingdom Of God's lines they were driven back.
Finally they separated and withdrew. The Ancient One came to David and Esther with two of his other companions. "This," The Ancient One introduced, "is The Axe Man, and this is The Axe Lady. The Axe Man is a son of Odin and has been fighting with me boosting my powers with those of his people's. The Axe Lady is a Wiccan, a worshipper of The Lord and The Lady. She has recently joined us. I am going to have them join you each night as you go out, combining their powers with yours. That way we will have four of the world's powers represented; Judaism, Islam, The Norse, and, The Wiccans. It will fortify your forces and give you much more ability."
"But I thought these religions were dead," Esther put in, "that Christianity destroyed them!"
The Ancient One laughed. "The priests," he finally managed, "far over estimate their power. They have not destroyed these faiths, they have only driven them underground. They still function in many places. On the surface the people profess a belief in Catholicism, but they have only added Catholicism to their own beliefs."
"But I thought The Wiccans supported homosexuality," David inquired. "You are violently against it."
The Axe Lady slammed the butt of her axe on the ground and the discharge got everyone's attention. "A lie," she snapped, "that the homosexuals have put into The Old Teachings! Never was this so! We worship The Lord and The Lady, we worship fertility, the life given by the Earth. We always join in male and female pairs. We are more against the joining of male and male and the joining of female and female than the Christians are! We are against anything that interferes with fertility, that interferes with reproduction, that disrupts the natural flow of life. Any who practiced these things were put out among us, exiled from our villages. And any that still tried to lure away young boys or young girls were put to death! We never accepted this sickness! And those who are truly of The Way never would. As in every religion there are those that pervert our teachings for their lust. But they are not of us, and never will be of us! The men of The Lord and The Lady cling to their women and the women to their men, and they do nothing else! I respectfully ask you not to speak such blasphemy of our teachings again!"
David politely bowed. "I thank you," he remarked, "for correcting the misinformation I have been given. I will never speak those untruths again. I now understand the way of The Wiccans, the true way!"
The Axe Lady returned his bow and backed off.
"Well!" The Ancient One sighed, "I guess that takes care of the introductions! Why don't you four go and see what you can find in the area? Ought to be some hunting tonight with all this going on!"
Esther shook her head. "I still can't believe that people think all these things happening are just accidents, coincidence! Doesn't the thought ever occur to any of them that there's far too much of it? Don't they ever wonder what's going on?"
The Ancient One laughed. "Why do you think there's so many conspiracy theories?" he remarked. "Every little success creates hundreds of them! Of course there are those that suspect the truth, there are those that know the truth, but there are others that are just as determined to keep it buried, to keep the ordinary people from knowing what is going on, to keep there from being absolute proof. But as long as we have the tabloids there will always be those putting forth their theories. It keeps things lively!"
Everybody laughed.
"I've got one last question," David put in. "Do you ever wish that you were ordinary, that you didn't have your abilities, that you were just living an ordinary life just doing ordinary things?"
"A hundred times a day!" The Ancient One answered. "I have no conception of what it would be like not to be able to see The Afterlife, to function in two realities at the same time. I can't imagine what it is like to be what we call ordinary! I do not have the capability of perceiving it! I am what I am, and that's all that I can ever be. I constantly wonder what it would be like to be someone else, to just dream ordinary dreams and not be aware of the duality of this world, only living one existence. I often wonder about it, but I could never have any conception what it would be like. It has been so long since I was like that that the memories are completely gone. That part of me has faded away."

( Continued Next Page )