Phantasy of the Gods

By Vincent-Michael K. Ampadu

In an epic clash of the higher beings marshaled by the power-drunk alpha archangel, Vincelas with the Anthros led by eighteen year old Iula and the half-breed Karina, destiny unfolds in an intricate collage of passion, pride, greed, jealousy, blood and betrayal.On one of her regular evening walks through the enthralling forests of Amazonia, Athena, the beautiful queen of the Amazons, accompanied by her maidservants is lured by a magical and colorful vanishing creature into the presence of an old hag who prophesies about the destiny of the child she conceived that fateful night in which she broke the most sacred of Amazonian customs. Eighteen years afterwards, Iula, the son of the legendary Archeropian King, during the final rite of passage to warriorhood is captured by the Amazons amongst whom is Karina, the prophesied daughter of Athena and taken to Ambrosia, the land of the fairies. As he is brutally questioned to reveal the location of their sister fairies that had been systematically kidnapped for over a decade by his clan, a group of Archeropian warriors led by his father charge into Ambrosia and precipitate an intense and bloody battle during which his father, Leon is killed and Iula moved to Amazonia as a prisoner of war. Meanwhile, Vincelas, the alpha-archangel has built a massive army composed of the higher beings; archangels and elementals and has succeeded in uniting them behind the sole aim of decimating the Anthro population for recondite reasons which will not until the very end be revealed, but especially to hunt down and kill a then unknown half-breed who is also the daughter of his general, Juno. Juno manages to slip to Amazonia to warn Athena and bids her to follow his lead to a special place where she should be safe from the upcoming destruction but she refuses, choosing to stay with her clans people and instead attempts to forge an alliance with the Archeropians in order to organize an effective counter-offensive to the attack by the higher beings. Exasperated, Juno unsuccessfully attempts an anonymous coup to strike at Vincelas coalition from the heart.Kazan, Iulas uncle is very much against the unification of the two clans as he is aware that his own ambitions for power will be thwarted with their union and cunningly draws up an elaborate manipulative scheme to keep this from happening. After his clan reconciles with the Amazons, Iula and Karina lead an integration campaign as they adventure all over the world to enchanted lands inhabited by mystical creatures and the various Anthro races to recruit their own warriors in joining the largest army ever assembled in the history of the world. Intense drama ensues on their exciting but dangerous journey even as they struggle with the dynamics of their own growing attraction toward each other. Finally, in an epic clash of the Anthros with the higher beings, notwithstanding the loss of several valiant lives, the Anthro race emerges victorious and Vincelas is magically turned into a halfarchangel, half-anthro creature; the perfect cure for his hubris. Kazan, in a final desperate attempt at claiming the throne over the newly unified Anthro race attempts to poison Iula but is outsmarted by Iulas mother and ends up drinking the poison himself.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Feb 16, 2017
• ISBN: 9781514421772

Vincent-Michael K. Ampadu

This work is the creation of the author Eliphas, a thirty-year-old man who grew up in Ghana, West Africa. He grew up in an intensely academic environment nurtured by his father, an engineering professor, and his mother who is a high school English teacher. He has an avid interest in philosophy, psychology, metaphysics, religion, mysticism, mythology, and the cultures of primitive tribes. In his own words, “Embarking on my very first adult novel has been an exciting and rewarding experience for me because it enabled me to bring my love for writing to speak a creative language that intertwined with all these different themes I also had a passion for. Born out of this comes Phantasy of the Gods, and it is my dearest wish that it is as much an adventure for you as it has been for me writing it.”

Book preview

Prologue

At the very beginning of time, when Deus, the Universal Spirit of Life, created Anthros—the last and most dearly loved of all His creatures—he charged the higher beings, archangels and elementals, with the sacred injunction to Provide unto them guidance into maturity. Because this was their unique role in the great work of spiritual evolution, this injunction was engraved in their native language in each of their palms from their time of birth till they crossed this plane. Deus, after creation, split the race of Anthros into six groups, each with very unique characteristics and abilities and placed them on different continents, widely spread apart. The groups in order of their creation were the Fairies, Druids, Paranormals, Sairs, Ninyans and the Mongols. As the years went from decades to centuries and then millennia, the Anthros increased in the knowledge of all the natural and spiritual laws that Deus had kept encrypted from the beginning of time.

Amongst all the wonders, their knowledge and imagination had managed to arrest from nature the most consequential, so far as their social structure was concerned, the invention of naval exploration. By this means, they had managed to spread the earth over, encountering each other as they did. The physical and cultural differences amongst them, however, especially the multiplicity of languages, caused them to misunderstand and then become suspicious of each other, and with time, they turned one group against the other. Suddenly, ugly emotions that had never before reared their heads began to consume the peoples and with this, every vice made its way into the world, for all evil is originated in fear and ignorance. The Anthros had been slowly degenerating from the state of harmony and peace that had characterized their earlier years. This had created a major conflict between themselves and the higher beings who could simply not comprehend why spiritual evolution should be allowed to deteriorate with time.

Over the last two centuries however, things had been spinning out of control; all that was good and beautiful was giving way to corruption and destruction. Vincelas, the lord of the archangels in that era, after several unsuccessful attempts at gaining the attention of the Anthros in every one of the subtle ways that were allowed by the laws of evolution, had decided they were irredeemable and had concluded their end would be certain destruction at his hands. He had never understood why his predecessors had seemingly stood by and allowed for things to degenerate to such an extent, but more so why Deus had not intervened much earlier when it was completely evident his purpose had been thwarted for so long. Vincelas himself had time and again petitioned Deus to interrupt this pattern of devolution but had always met with nothing but silence.

Besides the fact that he, as lord of the higher beings, felt responsible for fulfilling the mandate that had been passed on to him from earlier generations, there was as yet another reason he was so passionately concerned about this radical turn of events, a reason that was intimately connected to the very nature of creation itself. Deus had created the entire universe from the very same etheric substance. All things ranging from the heavenly bodies, animals, plants, minerals, the elements, Anthros and higher beings were at their core, this one substance and the very life force that permeated each of them was of one sole origin. The energy that animated the higher beings and Anthros was, however, qualitatively different and superior to the energy that animated all other beings, for their very thoughts and desires, their very soul condition, could affect these lower forms and be faithfully mirrored by this segment of creation. This meant that the canker of degeneration that had been occurring in the mind of the Anthros had been reproducing a corresponding disharmonious effect in the world of external nature. This had manifested itself in famines, earthquakes, hurricanes, floods, diseases, infirmity and such. Although the higher beings could dwell on several planes the anthros did not even know existed, they preferred the material plane. It was here that they were provided ample active opportunity to exercise their spiritual endowments and so had a vested interest in keeping it from ultimate destruction; a consequence which now seemed inevitable given the state of affairs.

As the years passed, Vincelas grew more and more determined to carry out his pernicious plan and had been sowing this seed within the collective consciousness of the archangel race, garnering their support. Word had reached the elementals of his diabolical plan but, unlike the archangels, they collectively objected to it and insisted that Vincelas abort his intentions. Vincelas, however, had repeatedly made it clear he had no intention of doing so. As a result, in an attempt to thwart it, Vincelas was lured into an ambush and killed by the elementals; seven stab wounds to his throat by the jawbone of a special bird-like creature called the Yin. This was the only way an alpha archangel could be killed. Before his death, however, the archangels under the influence of Vincelas had supplanted the recognition of Deus as master creator to whom they owed allegiance with the veneration of other entities that had, according to legend, long been the foes of Deus. The curious thing about these entities, however, was that unlike Deus, whenever invoked in any of the elaborate rituals attributed to them, they would never fail to respond to the desires of the invoker. This had confirmed Vincelas and his race more and more in their belief that Deus was perhaps an invention of antiquity and that these gods were the real deal. Following his death, therefore, the archangels clung to the worship of these entities.

A thousand years before all this had happened, there were a race called the Ninyans and theirs was the land now occupied by the Archers. They had lived in relative peace and tranquility until a terrible drought had forced them to make a crucial decision. After the elders of the people had thoroughly discussed the issue, it was decided that in order to ensure the entire clan would not perish, half the people would migrate and seek survival in another land, whereas the other half would stay and, somehow, find a way to survive.

There was no contact between the two groups for almost a thousand years and each thought the other had perished. In actuality, the group that had taken leave had settled in the swamps in the southern part of the land. Over the years, they were ruthlessly attacked by several Anthro groups desiring to take over the swamps and as such were forced to take up arms and fight back in the attempt to maintain their place. This had taken a terrible toll on the male population. The women were left to take charge of the community when the men were out fighting and over time had developed a formidable system of domestic government. After several such battles, it became clear that the women would have to take up arms side by side with their men as a huge number of the men were slain at war. A few of the warriors began training the women in all the arts of military warfare including both armed and unarmed combat as well as the setting of booby traps in the swamps and forests. Eventually, the women were just as effective at battle. It was not long before the desire of a few callous women to maintain the power they were entrusted with caused them to instigate the others, leading them to mass poison, to their death, the rest of the male warriors during a feast that had been organized in their honor. They left a few men alive, though, to ensure that their population did not die out. But these were the men who were considered unfit to join the real men at war, men of milder disposition. Generations upon generations had come and gone and the women of this clan gained in power. They were sly and cunning and used it in every way to maintain their status. They would forge alliances with other more powerful groups in the area and have the fairest of their race treat these people to sexual favors of one kind or the other. Their army was taught to be ruthless, cold and ultimate killing machines. They also strictly murdered every male child born to them. The only males they permitted to stay alive were those from a particular line of mild-mannered males. This group of female warriors was called the Amazons.

In recent times, the Amazons had realized that they shared the swamps with a small group of magical creatures called the Fairies. These beautiful creatures were feminine, about a tenth the size of a typical Anthro and could fly with the set of six wings attached at their necks and waists. They could speak and understand the language of any creature in the known world. They were also adept at channeling the energies of the earth, herbal preparations for all forms of healing, understanding the cycles of the moon and stars and could even conjure certain spirits in the afterlife. The shrewd Amazons knew it was pointless to take a violent approach to ensuring their place on the land, so Athena, the most beautiful of them all and queen of the Amazons at the time, had cunningly and very diplomatically forged a strong alliance with them. The Amazons had lived in peace with the Fairies ever since, but events in the not too distant future were to change their status forever; their reunification with the Archers, the people they had left behind long, long ago.

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Chapter 1

As Struden stood at the edge of the hoary mound underneath which lay Vincelas, that ancient power-drunk lord of the alpha archangels, he chanted mysterious words invoking the occult powers of the Goat of Mendes to resurrect his once powerful ancestor. A swarm of ravens descended on it; their soot-black wings sparkling with the shimmering moonlight flowing through the trees that surrounded the abandoned graveyard. Next to him stood his longtime foe turned compatriot, Eldel, bearing the ceremonial ash; the residue of the charred remains of twenty-five human tongues, forty-eight eyeballs and the pubic hair of the four virgins destined to be sacrificed to the goddess Ashadu. Slowly, as the chant progressed, he tilted the sacred skull bearing these ingredients and emptied it onto the mound. For a moment all was still … then came a sickening howl from the pit of the mound as frightful as the groans of the damned in the pit of hell itself. The ground shook furiously underneath and a great whirlwind descended from the heavens upon the mound, dispelling the ravens. A skeleton’s arm pierced through the rubble and tore at the soil above, followed by two giant horns. Apparently, twenty decades of decay had left the horns untouched; these same horns that as legend would have it, emerged from the ocean after a famed sorcerer, when challenged by his notorious rival, conjured them.

Vincelas had fully emerged, and as they watched, his skeletal frame was clothed in flesh, his monstrous wings spread behind him, his deadly fangs grew out his skull and his eyelids fluttered open revealing those piercing, fiendish, yellowish-green eyes. Struden stepped forward and exclaimed, Great Vincelas! We your faithful descendants have summoned thee to ask that you lead us in battle against the Archers. Struden went on to tell of how Bastion, the one-time ruler of the elementals who was usurped by his half-brother Prallu, had accepted to team up with the Archers as vengeance against his own kind. The elementals were, indeed, now the allies of the archangels. The elementals were gifted by the creator to be capable of time manipulation. They could see way into the future and tip events in their favor with their precognitive abilities. They could also halt time along with every being that existed within time. Apart from this, however, they were a sickly clan, often dying before their twenty-fifth years. Bastion alone of all the elementals had the added gift of multiplying himself at will. It was clear that with Bastion fighting against them and lending his abilities to the Archers, the archangel-elemental alliance would encounter a rather stiff opposition to their agenda.

Meanwhile, the Archers, expert craftsmen and warriors, had been summoned by their King Leon to the Great Plains overshadowed by Eagle Peak Mountain. Leon was an imposing figure. Ballads upon ballads had been sung about his prowess in wars gone by. Notable amongst these were the wars with the Paranormals, the Mongols and especially the monstrous and horrendous Leviathans, in which, it was claimed, he slew the most fearsome of them, Kraken, by faking his demise as it swallowed him whole and then tearing at its guts with his lance. Leon was now well past mid-age and for the past few years had been training his son Iula to take up the crown. Iula was just as fearless as his father and was dearly cherished by his peers as well as the aging warrior generation of his father. He was widely regarded as the next greatest legend after his father but, as always, no amount of skill or ability could compensate for the lack of experience youth was cursed with. Not understanding this truth, he had often clashed with his father. His cardinal flaw was pridefulness, and although this was a trait every legend possessed, he had a lot to learn.

On one of her regular evening walks along with two of her most trusted ladies-in-waiting, Laila and Manila, Athena had laid eyes on a remarkable creature barely concealed amidst the foliage upon which their feet rested. The creature had a frog-like dark and squiggly appearance and began to emit an ever-changing cycle of colored lights; a sight ever delightful to the curious eye. She instructed Laila to pick up the creature and bring it to her possession, but as she did so, it vanished into thin air. At this Manila exclaimed, It is bewitched!! I pray your mistress to leave this place for I have heard in tales of old how a creature such as this is portentous of horrid omens!

At this, Athena giggled and said to her, I had no knowledge you were of the gullible kind, laying faith in old wives’ tales!

Hardly had the words dropped from her lips than they heard Laila screaming excitedly, There it is! The creature had reappeared a few steps away from their feet, this time sitting on the bough of a nearby tree. Despite the protests of Manila, curiosity had gripped the two and they were presently moving in the direction of the creature. Again it vanished and almost immediately reappeared at the edge of a swamp a few steps away from the tree. So they followed as the creature led them on. Why? It is a hidden treasure the creature beckons us to. Is it not? Athena muttered. Finally the creature vanished one last time and when it reappeared, it did so in the open palms of a figure clad in black, sitting underneath a tree with white leaves.

Nothing short of enchanted could describe the tree. It seemed to be home to hundreds of the creatures of the sort they had seen making the tree appear as the very abode to dancing colors. Cautiously, they approached this mysterious figure clad in black and when they got close enough, clearly recognized an old hag with eyes fixed on the ground. Athena opened her mouth to speak but even before the words escaped her lips, the old hag laid out at her feet a set of wooden carved mythical creatures.

In a creaky tone, she commanded, Choose your destiny! At this, thousands of thoughts streamed through her mind as Laila slowly began to unsheathe her sword. Athena, however, held her sword, signaling her to put it back as she reached toward the wooden dolls and made her selection. She felt almost as though she were possessed.

The hag then spread the remaining set upon the ground and laid out six dolls away fromF the rest. Athena had heard before of this divination technique referred to as the pack of wooden oracles, but until now, she had never partaken in them. She was a skeptic of the worst kind and labeled anything that breathed even to the slightest of superstition as tales for the foolish. There was something different about these dolls, however. She somehow felt she had done this before; like she had relived this experience perhaps in former lives.

In her creaky voice, almost under her breath, the hag whispered, Yemaya, Abassi, Bomazzi, Mobokomu, Xango, Tsetse Bumba. At this, all three maidens began to stare at each other, their awkward glances revealing their total confusion. There is a seed in thy womb of uncommon stock and she is destined to be the Holy Grail upon which Deus Himself shall reunite all of creation! proclaimed the hag, addressing herself to Athena. Laila and Manila were completely dumbfounded at this. There was a law in Amazonian culture, instituted at the very founding of Amazonia, in which the queen could only be touched by male stock once every leap year, when the constellation Pyxis was visible over the Amazonian sky. Laila and Manila were not only the guardians and protectors of the queen, but also her lovers, for at the initiation of each queen, the spirit of the goddess Aphrodite would possess her, to remain with her until her last breath. This spirit not only increased the sexual appetite of the queen tenfold whenever it was stirred up by planetary influences, but also rendered her orientation of a bisexual kind. It had only been two years since Pyxis was last seen and would not be seen again for at least two more years. How then could Athena have been with child?

The hag, as if she could read their minds, lifted her gaze from the floor right to Athena; her icy, penetrating gaze making Athena’s fingers tremble. How does she know? she thought to herself.

It had been close to three months since that fateful night, in which it seemed Vesoz himself, god of rain and lord of the sky, had ripped open the womb of the heavens with his thunderbolt. It poured and poured, destroying thatched roofs and cornfields, drowning livestock. Athena and the entire Amazonian clan had gathered in their temple to pray to the gods to spare their lands. Athena was not only queen but high priestess of the people. As she led, they performed ritual after ritual, chanting prayer after prayer, reading off the theurgic words their ancestors had carved onto the massive sacred stone sitting at the center of the temple.

It was amidst the chatter and fervor of their intonations that a cloaked stranger, drenched to the bone, appeared at the entrance to the temple, imploring to be let in. His plea, however, fell on deaf ears as every member of the clan was immersed in a trance, as they joined their souls in prayer to the gods. It was Athena, who in her deep trance, heard as if like music upon the lyre, the voice of this stranger. It completely engulfed her and without her knowing, led her from the center of the temple toward the emerald door.

The beam across the door that kept them secured in the temple was encrusted with twelve of the most precious rubies in the known world; each representing one of the twelve elements indispensable to the transformation of a neophyte into an adept in the ceremonial magickal arts. Besides, it required ten of the strongest warriors to lift, but in her trance, she effortlessly raised the beam and lay it aside, and before her stood the cloaked stranger. Almost immediately, she came out of her trance and looked upon this figure before her, head bowed with water pouring out of his scarlet garments. Presently, all the others came out of their trances and, upon seeing their queen, unarmed, standing before a completely foreign figure, went into a frenzied panic and picking up their spears, hurled them at him. Just before he was struck, however, he waved his arm and time literally stopped. Everything froze, including the spears and daggers, in midair. Athena alone remained animated, and upon seeing what had happened, instinctively raised her arms to take off the hood that concealed the face of this being who at this moment had convinced her was a demigod. Her lips quivered and remained slightly parted as she beheld the sight before her. Never before had she gazed at a face of such perfect proportion, a chin so perfectly chiseled, eyes so deep and bewitching, the locks of hair upon his head flowed as serpents with the silkiest of skins. She, but for a moment, remained speechless.

The stranger lifted a finger and placed it on her lips as he said with a voice as streams of rushing water, Be not afraid! I am Juno! All I seek is shelter from these rains and behold I shall be on my way tomorrow! Without hesitation, as if possessed, Athena silently took his arm and led him into the temple. They walked upon the huge boulders that lined the temple floors, upon which no man had ever before walked, to the very corner of the temple. It seemed as though they were walking right into the very walls of the temple; at least it did for Juno. Just then, Athena began to mutter strange indistinct words, and in response an opening appeared in the wall, from which a dark tunnel led.

Following behind, Juno looked around the pitch black tunnel as they walked right into its heart. It seemed as though they had been walking forever when suddenly before them stood two giant oak doors. She took out a golden key, placed it in the hands of the stranger and without a word, turned towards the entrance from which they had entered.

Just before she disappeared into the darkness, Juno exclaimed, May thee be blessed bountifully by the gods for thy generosity! I shall be on my way by first light. Also, thy people shall be liberated from my spell immediately.

As he said this, the sound of a dozen spears falling on the giant stones that lined the entrance to the temple was heard echoing through the tunnel along with a clutter of confused shrieks and screams revealing their anguish at the perceived disappearance of their queen. By this time, the ferocity of the rain outside had subsided and all that remained were gentle showers.

Just then the voice of Athena was heard echoing through the temple, Peace! I am well. The stranger is long gone; chased away by our resolve not to entertain his presence. Laila and Manila had by this time rushed to the side of their queen, feverishly examining her body to ensure all was well with her. She then sent all her clan’s people to their homes exclaiming that Vesoz had heard their petitions and had spared their village. Soon all who remained with her were her maidservants, Laila and Manila.

Athena then exclaimed, Now let us retire, for the day has long expired! The two bowed and began to follow their queen as she retreated into the hallway, when Athena turned and said to them, Tonight, I desire to remain pure! A sacrifice to the gods for their kindness in allaying disaster upon our village. The two had already opened their mouths to protest when the dark glare of Athena caused them to bow before her and hurriedly leave the temple.

Athena watched them leave, sighed, retreated into the tunnel, and then to the balcony right beside the two oak doors where she had left Juno. She tiptoed to his door and placed her ear upon it. It was silent. She assumed he was asleep, so retired to the room right next to his. After struggling for what seemed like an eternity to fall sleep, she finally did. What was it that threatened to rob her of her sleep? Indeed it was the thought of the face she had gazed upon moments earlier, the bewitching eyes, that voice!

No sooner had she fallen asleep than the strangest dream came to her. In it, she dreamt Juno had come to her door and she had arisen to open it. When she did, what followed made her breath pour out in torrents of gasps. She awoke with a start and sat on her bed. As if seized by a spirit, she rose from her bed, reached for her door and unlocked it. She found herself face to face with the door that led to Juno’s room, her heart racing within her as she moved to unlock it, feeling as though she had completely lost her mind. When the door finally opened, she found herself face to face with Juno, cross-legged and literally stripped of all cloth.

Just as she closed the door behind her, Juno arose and walked toward her. She gasped as she witnessed the most glorious male physique before her, perfect in proportion, cut and build. She found herself rooted to the spot and unable to move a finger as he reached out at the sash on her robe and loosened it and her garment fell completely to the ground revealing her own goddess-like frame.

The next thing she remembered was being awoken with a gentle caress, at first light. She took the hand of Juno and led him to the entrance to the temple. For the first time in her life, Athena experienced an unfamiliar emotion, a lump welling inside her very throat. As Juno turned to leave, he held her hand and placed something within her palm; a very precious and rare stone, Amethyst. Remember I am but a breath away from thy desire! he said, and with this, walked into the darkness.

It was a night to be buried in the sands of time, never to be mentioned, for she had transgressed the most sacred of their customs with her actions. As the events of that night flooded her imagination as the hag prophesied to her, she began to feel a sickly emotion within her soul. The penalty for breaking the laws of the land was certain death of the most egregious kind. The transgressor would, upon being bound hand and foot in her nakedness, be seated through her anal passage on a sharpened stick and left the day through in unfathomable agony to die slowly, the stake gradually impaling her body, puncturing every organ, every muscle until it punctured her skull and came out her head. The hag, as if reading her thoughts, responded through thought transference: Do not worry, my child, for I shall protect thee! At this, the hag and her tree vanished into thin air and the trio found themselves at the edge of their village. Athena turned to her maidservants, Laila and Manila, and warned them sternly never to reveal the events of that night.

Chapter 2

Meanwhile, as Struden and Eldel beseeched Vincelas for his leadership in the coming war, the events that had led to his deception and slaughter by the elementals two centuries earlier made their way into his thoughts and he began to tremble violently. At his death, a massive schism had developed between the archangels and the elementals and had been so for nearly a century and a half afterward, until a very peculiar set of events changed everything. Vincelas, upon hearing that the archangels were now the allies of the elementals, grabbed Struden by the neck and raised him, literally squeezing the breath from his lungs. He screamed, How dare you disrupt my sleep to ask my assistance for a people I loathe!

When Deus was laying the foundation for the earth and creating the laws to regulate life within this particular universe amongst his system of multi-verses, he set up a magnificent system of birth and rebirth to guide the evolution of both physical and spiritual life. Indeed, depending upon how one would live in any particular incarnation, he would be reborn at a time and place within the multi-verse suited to the