PART 0: THE SPIRIT 12-29-96 DB
WINTER OF ARTIFICE: THE COMING OF THE UNIVERSE DESTROYER
The multiversal Spirit of Destruction is engaged in sweeping cobwebs from the sky in this sector of the Multiverse. She is destroying old, worn-out, chaotic universes.
She is timelss, formless, nameless, but appears in this fantasy as Ishchebelyash. The Lady Strength of Summer, the Mayan Red Old-Moon Goddess of Destruction, the Queen of the Empty Void. (For a Mayan view of her from the Dresden Codex, see Plate 1.)
She is riding Itzpapalotl, the Aztec Goddess of Nightmares and Ultimate Night Evil. Itzpapalotl is called the Black Obsidian Butterfly. She is the one that swallows the universes, thus causing them to be forgotten. (For an Aztec view of Itzpapalotl, see Plate 2.)
Ishchebelyash is looking at the next universe, which she decides to destroy. Being suddenly called to the Great Central Sun, the Creator-Destroyer-Preserver of the Multiverse. Ishchebelyash leaves Thoth Living Forever in charge of the next universe destruction. Here is where our story opens.
ISHCHEBELYASH (to Itzpapalotl): "Aw Shit" (ref. Ausit, the old Egyptian name for Isis). I have got to go back to Great Central Sun. I am going to have to transfer universe destructive power to my son, Thoth Living Forever.
(She does just that, and Thoth Living Forever appears. He takes the form of a man with an Ibex head. For an old Egyptian view of Thoth, see Plate 3)
ISHCHEBELYASH (to her son Thoth): I have got to go back to Great Central Sun. Take my place on Itzpapalotl and destroy the next universe before us. I don't want you to behave like a mad universe artist and try to resurrect what is obviously dead.
THOTH (to Ishchebelyash): Give my regards to Great Central Sun, whom I love very much. I will carry out your orders with respect to all the dead universes in this sector of the Multiverse.
ISHCHEBELYASH (to Thoth): Very good. See that you do just that.
(She disappears leaving Thoth alone on the back of the Black Obsidian Butterfly.)
ITZPAPALOTL (to Thoth): Well, it looks like it's us together again.
THOTH (to Itzpapalotl): Yes, just like old times. We might as well get started on the destruction of this universe.
(Itzpapalotl swells up like the jaws of the Fenris Wolf. Between her jaws wider than the universe is utter blackness, the total blackness of the Great Void. Time Fire erupts from her teeth. The universe starts to disintegrate, disappearing into the blackness of the Great Void between her jaws.)
THOTH (to Itzpapalotl): Stop! This universe still has some life left in it.
ITZPAPALOTL (to Thoth): OH...NO! The last time you stopped me on a direct command from Ishchebelyash, she made me eat you bit by bit ... like a multiversal type of Chinese 7 gates. I love you too much to go through that again.
(The Chinese 7 Gates is the eating of a man by hungry rats. The seven gates are seven movable wooden boards installed at the man's soles, ankles, knees, hips, waist, neck, and crown. These are removed slowly, one by one, starting with the soles as the rats eat upward on the man. At the end, there is only a skeleton scarred with rat bites.)
THOTH (to Itzpapalotl): I was the one being eaten!
ITZPAPALOTL (to Thoth): But I felt everything you felt, and in addition I love you very much. I suffered more.
THOTH (to Itzpapalotl): Be that as it may, why don't you stop under protest. This way my Mother will punish me alone.
ITZPAPALOTL (to Thoth): Good idea. I will then stop under protest.
(She then stops the Time Fire flow from her teeth. The universe stops dissolving.)
THOTH (to Itzpapalotl): I am going to revive this universe.
ITZPAPALOTL (to Thoth): You have got your work cut out for you. I don't see any Cosmocreatrix anywhere in it. She could be dispersed in the entire universe, or nowhere, having completely left.
THOTH (to Itzpapalotl): Correct. This must be Her first universe creation. She has botched the universe creation twice. ONCE: She got too much EILM, Substratum Energy, from the Substratum. This would lead to a collapsing universe, unsuitable for the making of her immortal Light Body. TWICE: She tried early on, in the universe's first second, to adjust this by an illegal superlight expansion, but succeeded in undershooting the critical energy density, thus making a universe that would expand forever, also unsuitable for Her purposes.
ITZPAPALOTL (to Thoth): In addition to all that, Her illegal expansion froze matter into her universe, making it smoky and light absorbing. Now it looks like about 400 light particles per matter particle, also unsuitable for Her purposes.
THOTH (to Itzpapalotl): Finally She gave up on the botched job, and vanished for 10E24 Universe Recurrence Times, until the matter would decay into light, thus clearing Her universe for Her Light Body.
ITZPAPALOTL (to Thoth): That looks correct. However, Her absence has made Her universe extremely chaotic. That is what is killing the life forms. NOW...what are you going to do about this botched job that the local Cosmocreatrix has GIVEN UP ON and disappeared. Let's just wipe it out and save Her the trouble of trying to fix it, just like your Mother ordered. We, the Universe Destroyers, are just what this beginning Cosmocreatrix needs.
THOTH (to Itzpapalotl): I have a plan, not only for this universe, but for the rest of the Multiverse as well. I have also got a motto: SAVE THE LOST AT ANY COST. Along with this, I have a multiversal reputation for doing just this.
ITZPAPALOTL (to Thoth): Well...sometimes you DO and sometimes you DON'T. This sure looks like one of the times you DON'T. That plan of yours better be something I have never seen before. Be that as it may...I will lay out an outline and we will sure try our best to revive this universe:
TITLE: CITIES OF THE INTERIOR
The Spirit............Winter of Artifice
The Spaceship............Ladders to Fire
The Planet............Children of the Albatross
The Star............The Four-Chambered Heart
The Galaxy............A Slippery Floor
The Universe............A Spy in the House of Love
The Multiverse............Seduction of the Minotaur
The Substratum............Waste of Timelessness
THOTH (to Itzpapalotl): This is an exceptional program. I accept it. The first thing I want to do is get the Cosmocreatrix back in Her universe.
ITZPAPALOTL (to Thoth): We are going to have to run the universe until you do that. What is your method of getting Her back? She is not in sight anywhere; She could be anywhere, or nowhere.
THOTH (to Itzpapalotl): I think I will send Henry Miller, the celebrated Cosmocreatrix Seducer into this universe. He will entice the Cosmocreatrix into appearing.
ITZPAPALOTL (to Thoth): Now where are you going to find Henry Miller? He could be anywhere in the Multiverse. It seems to me that finding him is harder than finding the Cosmocreatrix!
THOTH (to Itzpapalotl): I am Henry Miller!
ITZPAPALOTL (turning back and looking at Thoth, said after some time): You know, I have suspected that for aeons. Watching Henry Miller seduce various Universal Regents has always reminded me strongly of you. Why do you have such great success in this field?
THOTH (to Itzpapalotl): All of the Universal Regents are lonely. they are lonely because they only see themselves in their universes. When they see me, they lose their loneliness. In addition, they are always looking for their other halves. I, as Henry Miller, appear to them as their other halves, which they are not creating. Hence they fall into my arms, always.
ITZPAPALOTL (to Thoth): All right. Let's go down into this smoky, chaotic mess and establish a base of operations. At the right time, you will release yourself as Henry Miller, and try to bring the Cosmocreatrix back.
THOTH (to ITZPAPALOTL): We will have to maintain a Silver Cord link with the Clear Empty Void, or we will get lost in the space-time of this universe.
ITZPAPALOTL (to Thoth): Of course. I will do that for us.
END: PART 0 of the THE ADVENTURES OF THOTH LIVING FOREVER, entitled THE SPIRIT.