A Modern Faustus: The Mistress of Games - Essay Example

The Mistress of Games Naked, Stella bent down near the banyan tree’s trunk and stretched her right arm. Kneeling, she looked up at the dense growth of leaves. Stella was determined to get her father back from the dead. She knew that with the magical powers of a Black Magician whom she had hired, she could bring the devil at her services and make him bring her father back. Her father had left her and her mother and sought to serve God, and thereby gain salvation. Didn’t one’s duty to one’s family come first? The God could take care of himself; but how did her father expect his daughter to take care of herself when she was just a kid? Stella dug with her finger, further beneath the root where the earth was soft and wet, like the moist lips of her mother. Her mother was a good woman who supported her and tried her level best not to make her feel her father’s absence. Did her fingers touch anything warm? Stella knew the worm will emerge, just as the Black Magician had explained it would. She had been performing some rites continuously for the last 40 days. The rituals finished today only and she will now begin to reap its results. The Black Magician would now be praying to his evil forces which will give her the powers as she did things. The huge amount of money she had paid him would make him perform the rites in the right earnest. His efforts would bring the Demon from hell to serve her and obey her orders. Her father had rejected the wealth, power and human relationships he had, and went to serve his God. Thus his God had deprived her of her creator. Now, she would use the same things her father had rejected, to bring him back from the dead. She would make him live one more life so he could understand his responsibilities and stand up to them. For this she would use the powers of the evil forces and her father’s God would just stand by without being able to prevent it. Stella felt something poke against her finger from within the soft folds of soil. A sudden chill flashed through her body and settled in her belly. She shuddered. She hooked her finger, and pulled her hand back. The florescent light from the creature’s body shone on Stella’s polished toes as it began to twist its body. “Eat me, oh, Lady of the Future.” Stella loved the phrase. Yes, she was going to be the world’s future. No; the future of the whole universe… like her heroes had once been; but she’d make sure she didn’t become boring repetitions like them. She was fed up with their heroism, and the manner in which each of them accomplished their missions. She wanted things to happen in a different way; in a manner so unique that even the heroes she created would begin to envy her… the same heroes that earned her billions upon billions. Stella picked up the worm. “Why are you hesitating, oh, Lady of the Future,” the worm spoke as it coiled around her thumb. “Don’t waste any more time. Crush me between your white teeth that emulate the beauty of jasmine buds. Taste me with your rosy tongue. Grant me my salvation.” Stella couldn’t believe such a sweet voice would come from this worm. But the ethereal glow that emitted from its tiny body and illuminated the whole surroundings left her no choice. She raised her hand to her mouth and felt its legs scratch her thumb. It looked as if the worm now wanted to struggle and escape death. She placed it between her molars and felt a wave of shock run through her spine. Squeezing her eyes shut, she grinded her teeth and a burst of honey filled her throat. Stella swallowed the jelly-like body. “Give me my mate, oh, Evil. Give me my hero who would possess all the bad qualities in humans.” Stella laid face down on the earth, palms held together in prayer, her soft breasts flattening against the ground. A ray of light glistened on her posterior as the moon climbed further up in the horizon. A burst of light cracked out of the banyan trunk’s base, and he emerged from the brightness like an eagle sweeping down from a sunlit sky. “Rise to your feet,” he said. “My mate to be...” Stella stood up, staring at the figure before her. Moonlight now shone on their side, clearly showing the blackness of his body. His dark, face looked calm. He had long hair which was curly like spring coils that reached his shoulders. Beads of sweat rolled down his muscular chest. As he raised his arms as if to bless her, Stella’s eyes locked at the hairs in his armpit that glowed like copper threads. A bat fluttered from a banana tree, flapping its wings in anger, and flew towards the moon. It stained the sheer white for a while. Then it reduced in size, becoming a mere point and then merged into the milky glow. “Why did you summon me?” he asked. There was a breeze and it had the fragrance of cardamom. It played with the loose strands of her hair that had fallen on her forehead. “You are my hero. My mate… You are to do my bidding,” she said. “What do you seek of me?” “My father… the man I treated like my god. I want you to bring him back from the dead.” “I know you have caused my appearance. An ordinary human can’t do this. You definitely have access to distinguished magical powers,” he said. “I also understand that I am bound to serve you. But don’t forget that you’re trying to place me against the mighty power of the Almighty.” The anger in the sound of her voice pained. “It is the God Almighty that deprived me of him. Now you, the Demon, would restore what God had deprived me of.” “You see, God has his rules.” “I would defy them.” Stella took a step forward. “You know I’d suffered hell and more to reach this stage of achievement. This is more significant than the empire I built upon the computer games. They helped me earn billions upon billions. They still do. I’ve learned all there is to learn, and now nothing is left to be learned. I’ve even mastered the art of summoning you.” “Why would you waste all you have for something like this? It is your kingdom out there. All over the world! What woman would want to leave an empire and jump into the fire of evil?” “You’ve lived among evil, so you think evil isn’t good. I’ve lived among good. But who determines what is good, your God?” she smiled. “I’ve had a father who abandoned me and my mother, and meditated under this very banyan tree. Did the salvation give him eternal happiness?” “Humans aren’t meant to be immortal,” he said with a sigh. “That’s why I intend to deploy the power of evil to get what I should,” she replied. “I learned science in hope that some day it would find answers for me. But all I could do was to build an empire, creating heroes after stereotyped heroes for kids and adults to play on their computers. Now I want to give myself to a real hero who could fetch me what I want.” He stared at her, knowing he could say nothing that would break her determination. “Are you afraid, my Hero?” “Nothing in the universe can eliminate Evil. I’d never doubt my immortality.” “Oh, your share of the deal, then. That’s what you’re looking for, right?” She smiled, opening her arms wide. “I still happen retain my virginity. That’s my gift for your favor. I know no good men deserve this. That’s why my entire life, I preserved this for consumption by evil.” “No, you shouldn’t do that!” Both of them looked up as an angel descended along the roots that hung like long braids from the banyan branches. The angel had Stella’s mother’s face. “She’s right. Do that and you’ll perish in hell!” The second warning came from another angel that bore resemblance to her father. “Your wisdom couldn’t salvage you, Father. Let’s see whether my knowledge can.” Stella sucked in the moist air and blew it out in a forceful gush. As the flames engulfed the replicas of her parents, Stella turned to the Essential Evil. “Take me.” # She twisted and coiled on the grass as the last shred of her skin peeled off her glistening body. She felt severe pain all over her body. She didn’t know whether other snakes felt in the same manner. But then, unlike her, they didn’t have to shed their skin every day. A shadow fell on her and she moved into the nearest hole. She’d learned the trick by experience. And she knew how to escape from an eagle. On the day she lost he virginity, while resting on the demon’s chest, she had heard a voice shouting, “The wages of sin is death.” She had laughed and suddenly found herself being lifted from earth by an eagle. It was then only that she understood that she had turned into a snake. The demon saved her from the eagle and chased it away. Then he looked at her and said, “I had warned you not to defy God.” He moved away from her. “He cursed you to be a snake. But you will be a snake during the day. During night you will become a demonic lady, the Lamia, who drinks the blood of humans. You will be hated by everyone.” She didn’t know how long it had been since that had happened. Maybe years, decades or even centuries... She didn’t really care. But she considered her damnation as her victory. She loved her Mother Earth and was content in staying inside a hole in the land. Her father who sought God’s favor had perished. On the other hand, she who sought the evil had survived. God’s system of justice was difficult to understand. The End Read More