Apotheosis: Book Three of the Elohim Trilogy

By Louis Corsair

In the Abstract Realm, the dead private investigator, Raymond Adams, is with the original Jenn Adams, trying to find a way to stop the Executor. That is, until the Executor asks Adams to do a job for him: Find a blackmailer named Janos Sandoval.

Janos has stolen the Ima pendant. It is a mystical artifact attached to a necklace that, when worn by the right host, summons one of the Elder Sisters called the Mother--the mother of Elohim. And unless the Executor and the Committee meet Janos' demands, he will give the pendant and necklace to Virginia Dare, so she can summon the Mother.

His demands? Janos wants the Committee to elevate humanity, help them transcend the petty state they are stuck in. That way, humanity can create the utopia promised by Elohim.

Adams is uniquely familiar with the Ima pendant and accepts the job. As a reward, the Executor will reincarnate him, so he can reunite with his reincarnated wife, Karen Adams. But the whole case doesn't seem right to Detective Adams.

Wouldn't it be a good thing to elevate humanity?

Regardless, he agrees to find Janos in Hollywood. The Executor quickly brings Adams back to life for 24 hours. But the rules of this case are different.

Detective Adams is forbidden from contacting the Jenn Adams who is still alive, and also Harry the Shadow Monger. Instead, he teams up with Prince Desmond and a famous Hollywood movie star, Elizabeth Benson.

The odd blackmail case has multiple twists and turns. It soon becomes a quest to solve the mystery of the elusive Elohim. Just how powerful did Elohim become? And where is Elohim now?

With Elizabeth's help, everything seems to be going well...really well. It's going so well that Adams starts to have feelings for her. So, why does he think that Elizabeth has her own agenda? And why does falling in love with her seem so right, like a road they have already traveled together?

In the final chapter of the Elohim Trilogy, the Executor will hold nothing back to win. The Wizards are no more. The others who could stand up to the villain are scattered and embittered by the losses they have suffered. And even if Raymond Adams can gather their strength to fight, the Executor still has one last secret that will crush the dead detective.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Louis Corsair
• Release date: May 19, 2022
• ISBN: 9781005552275

Louis Corsair

Louis Corsair is an eight year veteran of the United States Army. Currently, he lives in Los Angeles, CA. In the year 2020 he hopes to publish several more works.

Book preview

By

Louis Corsair

BOOK THREE OF THE ELOHIM TRILOGY

COPYRIGHT

Copyright 2022 Louis Corsair

All rights reserved

Smashwords Edition

Thank you for downloading this ebook. This book remains the copyrighted property of the author, and may not be redistributed to others for commercial or non-commercial purposes. If you enjoyed this book, please encourage your friends to purchase their own copy from their favorite authorized retailer. Thank you for your support.

Cover design by Yulia Muchynska@MiblArt

Interior art design by Louis Corsair

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Title Page

Copyright

The Tree of Life

Prologue

Part I: The Abstract Realm

Adams: Visions and Dreams

Adams: And We’re Back…

Adams: The Case

Adams: A Return

Part II: The Veil

Adams: 6:00 AM

Adams: 7:00 AM

Adams: 8:00 AM

Adams: 9:00 AM

Harry / Mutt: 9:35 AM

Adams: 10:00 AM

Harry / Mutt: 10:25 AM

Virginia: 10:45 AM

Adams: 11:33 AM

Harry / Mutt: 12:00 PM

Virginia: 12:35 PM

Adams: 1:00 PM

Harry / Mutt: 1:45 PM

Virginia: 2:00 PM

Adams: 2:25 PM

Harry / Mutt: 2:35 PM

Virginia: 3:00 PM

Adams: 3:25 PM

Harry / Mutt: 3:55 PM

Virginia: 4:45 PM

Adams: 5:10 PM

Part III: The Abyss

Adams: Aftermath

Adams: Redux

Adams: 7:00 PM

Harry / Mutt: 8:00 PM

Virginia: 8:30 PM

Adams: 9:00 PM

Harry: 9:30 PM

Virginia: 10:00 PM

Adams: 10:30 PM

Harry: 10:45 PM

Virginia: 11:00 PM

Adams: 11:30 PM

Harry: 12:00 AM

Virginia: 12:45 AM

Adams: 1:00 AM

Harry: 1:30 AM

Virginia: 2:00 AM

Adams: 2:45 AM

Harry: 3:00 AM

Virginia: 3:05 AM

Adams: 4:00 AM

Harry: 4:30 AM

Part IV: The Adam Kadmon

Virginia: 4:45 AM

Adams: 5:00 AM

Harry: 5:15 AM

Virginia: 5:35 AM

Adams: 5:50 AM

Virginia: 6:15 AM

Part V: The End of the Beginning

Adams: The Mother of All Beatings

Harry: Prelude to Nocturne

Virginia: The Apotheosis of the Croatoan

Epilogue

Afterwords

THE TREE OF LIFE

PROLOGUE:

1942

~***~

I met the woman who would become my wife and bear my only child in the spring of 1942. The details are as vivid now as when I first lived through them.

It was warm at that hour, giving Los Angelenos a preview of the coming summer. I was on a job in Downey, near the Vultee aircraft factory, when I saw a group of dames finishing their shift for the day. My future wife was among them, wearing overalls, boots and a thick denim shirt. But what really stood out were the red locks of hair that burst from her bandana like the blare from an air-raid siren. And her eyes...and her smile.

She dropped her goggles and I rushed in to save them.

But the funniest thing happened--what we were going to say to our grandchildren: We both went down to get the goggles at the same time and we both stopped, expecting the other to reach them first. And then, we both stared at the goggles, unsure of what to do. She put her hands on her hips, waiting. I snapped out of the trance and picked them up. I wiped sweat from my forehead as I offered them to her.

Bout time, she said and looked me over as she put away the goggles.

My apologies, miss, I said and tipped my hat to her. I watched her watch me. Those green eyes sure have a way with a fellah.

It was a dumb thing to say, but she laughed at it. Laughter was a good sign; it was an invitation to continue. So, I put in a cigarette and offered her one. She took it and held it for me to light. We each took a drag.

Ray Adams, I said and offered her my hand.

Cairenn Flanagan, said the redhead.

Cai-renn? I said. The name threw me off at first, but I knew it was Irish. Don’t hear that all the time.

She said it a few times before I settled on ‘Karen,’ which angered her. But I played it off with a smile and a charming joke and she was sold. And after the first five minutes, it was clear that she was ready to go and I was holding her up.

How about a cup of coffee? I said, and quickly added, on your day off...so you can clean up...

She laughed, a very robust laugh. You mean, so I become more of a, what do they call them in the pictures? A dame. Yeah, she said. Her eyes were full of glee. You wouldn’t have a cup of coffee with me now?

I said, Yes.

And we had a cup of coffee together. We sat at some diner. I smoked while she watched and we delved into our souls.

Her father had died in Pearl Harbor.

Her older brother had joined the U.S. Army to get revenge and was now overseas.

Karen, her two younger sisters and her mother were left at home to fend for themselves. Karen was the only bread-winner in her household, but she also managed to find time to take classes.

She wanted to become a teacher and a writer and a screenwriter and a--you get the picture. She had dreams. Wild dreams. For a moment, I had the urge to laugh. A woman who wanted to become all those things amused me. Oh, don’t be mad. It wasn’t that I didn’t think her capable.

It was the cruelty of it all. The world was against her and her dreams. Though there were men overseas dying by the dozens, she had no hope of truly taking part in the running of the world. Not in 1942. Forget it.

And you? she said.

I snapped out of it. What’s that? I said.

You know, you mumble to yourself, she said, wearing a smirk. It’s like you’re narrating your own novel. Or movie.

I do not, I said, annoyed. A lot goes through my head, sweetheart.

Well, your whole manner of speaking, she said and looked at me, amused. She didn’t finish the thought, but I got it.

It was a sour punchline.

I asked, she said, slowly, are you planning on enlisting?

Oh, I said. It was an awkward topic. I’m, uh, not fit for service. I tried.

They don’t like gumshoes in the military? she said.

I have a bit of a mouth, I said and put out my cigarette. Insubordination and all of that...

Ah, she said.

What I didn’t tell her was that I was prone to fits of anxiety and nervousness, heart palpitations, and shortness of breath--asthma. I wasn’t a weakling, but all those problems had started in 1929, immediately after the stock market collapse. It was a head problem, see. But there were times when I was unable to perform, when my body went nuts, breathing faster, too fast, etc.

How about dinner? I said. And then dinner the day after? And the day after?

She shook her head. I don’t think it’s a good idea that I see a man who spends his days photographing the adulterous, she said. It might give you ideas, fellah.

I smiled. I respectfully insist... I said. It’s a good idea and you know it.

Her eyes brightened.

She leaned closer to me and said, You look into my eyes and tell me, tell me that you’re right and it’s a good idea that we date...

And I did look into her eyes. Those vivid greens. From then on, she would recite that same line, issue the dare, look into my eyes, over and over again during our relationship. Look into my eyes and tell me that you’re right, Ray.

Not since then had I been able to hold strong. But I held strong that day. I was her man. Raymond Adams, partner of Karen Flanagan.

She didn’t go out with me though. But I kept ‘accidentally’ bumping into her after her shifts at the factory. Offering her cigarettes. Sitting with her for coffee. Nights by the beach. Sharing ourselves. It was an unusual courtship.

I never let up. Never, never. Believe it or not, we didn’t have our first date until almost a full year later! Karen had given birth to Samantha a month earlier and we needed some grownup time alone. Oh, and we were getting married in weeks, so we figured we’d better start dating--we went to see one of Bogey’s pictures, Casablanca.

I still laugh at that. And at how angry her mother had been. But that was our romance story. And she became Mrs. Raymond Adams. And the rest, as they say, was history.

What I never told her (and maybe I should have) was that it made me feel so small meeting her under those circumstances. There she was, a looker with eyes to die for, and no ring on her finger and no man to put food on her plate. She was there on her own, finding her way in the world, following her destiny. And I had barged in with my fantasies about being hardboiled.

It was a feeling that bothered me then as it bothers me now. What might she have become if I had not gotten in her way? Her dreams, those frail whispers she spoke to me that day at the diner gave me a hint. Maybe she would have been a business woman or the inventor of some rare technology, a pioneer of her field. Maybe she would have been up there on the big screen with Ingrid and Katherine and Elizabeth Taylor, another celluloid deity.

Or she might have gone all the way to the top, next to Aphrodite and Venus, a goddess in her own right. Who knows? She might have given the world the elements of culture--the Inanna of the West.

But I had met her and we fell in love. In time, my fantasies became harsh realities that got me killed. And then, she murdered the people who had murdered me--getting herself killed in the process. That earned her a first-class ticket to the Pit, where she was tortured every single hour of every single day.

For my sins.

That’s when she proved what might have been. The molds of mother and grieving widow were too small for her. That was her destiny, to break molds. To rise.

And my destiny was to behold her great works.

And worship.

~***~

~***~

Part I

The Abstract Realm

~***~

DETECTIVE ADAMS

Visions and Dreams

~***~

And here I was, in the replica of my bedroom. It was the one I had shared with Karen in life. I think I mentioned that I had ended up in a place where Time moves slower, much slower. And nothing here was real, and yet things mimicked Reality. The Abstract Realm. I said that, right? Blah, blah, blah, in the Abstract Realm? I’m pretty sure I did, chum.

For a long, long time, I had spent my days in the Abstract Realm with Harry the Shadow Monger. There hadn’t been much to do, except talk about the Divine and the supernatural.

And then Harry and I went back to the world of the living and solved a murder. He backstabbed me. I saved the universe. And later, I went back again to the world of the living to find a missing girl. Harry was part of that job too. We found the girl and beat Death--if you can believe it. And we saved the universe. Again. A wizard helped us, though, so I can’t take all the credit.

Yeah. That story. I told it to you already, right? Good.

I don’t need a recap, Ray, said Jenn, my great-granddaughter. She laughed like the afterlife belonged to her. You still mumbling observations?

My great-granddaughter was a dark-haired, dark-eyed beauty. She wore cowboy boots and a short, short skirt--her shirt was skin-tight and left little to the imagination. And that said all you had to know about her carefree nature. Even dead, she was still Jenn.

Sorry, kid, I said and smoked an illusory cigarette. Old habits...

Okay, so here’s the story, she said and put out her illusory cigarette. I had these weird dreams. And in them, I could see the end of the world. A big catastrophe. The world in ruins. I saw a last stand of celestials against demons. Jesus coming back. You get the picture...

Celestials? I said. You mean, the Divine?

Right, she said. "You don’t remember calling them ‘celestials’?

I shook my head. I also don’t remember solving the murder of Giovanni Dixon more than once, kid, I said.

Anyway, she said. The Enforcers, the celestial army, the Pit Lords, everyone, fought them. But they were too powerful. They were unstoppable.

Was the Executor involved? I said. And who are the bad guys?

Stop interrupting, she said and cleared her throat. I told you who they were: Demons. It was biblical, Ray. She scratched her head. I talked to this lady I met on the Mountain trail. She laughed when I told her about my dream.

Why did she laugh? I said.

It’s just like the vision some Saint got, said Jenn. There’s a book in the bible about it. Revelations. The apocalypse.

That meant something like the biblical apocalypse was about to take place. The stakes were high alright. Higher than they had ever been.

Jenn started laughing.

Okay, she said through laughs. First of all, you’re still saying stuff out loud! Second, what I saw in my dream isn’t going to happen any time soon. It was bogus.

Why do you think that? I said.

Cause, Ray, she said. The other Jenns told me their dreams weren’t the same.

That was interesting. There had been more than a dozen Jenn Adams in the Abstract Realm at one point. Supposedly, I had met and solved the first case with each of them. I’m not going to tell you why there were so many Jenns, chum. Call them the consequences of Time Travel. It was a long story and I might have told it to you already. Blah, blah, blah, in the Abstract Realm.

The Jenn Adams I was talking to right now was unique. She was the original Jenn Adams, the first version of my great-granddaughter I had met in 2011.

When all those other Jenns had been dumped in the Abstract Realm, the original one had taken charge. She had helped the others through the Mountain--the last stage of the Abstract Realm, before you went into the Collective Whole. The Collective Whole was a final reward. The original Jenn Adams, like me, had refused that final reward. Instead, she had returned and looked for me.

And here we were.

I urged her with my hands to continue. She smiled.

The different Jenns had different dreams, some totally different or with small tweaks, she said. Some of them saw Death personified, and an Indian girl releasing a gigantic monster that was about to annihilate everything! Others saw a goddess from a fairytale land where humans have wings. Like, bug wings! Weird shit. She shook her head. The really important thing was what the last Jenn told me. Well, not the last. I think she’s the one right before the last Jenn...the one still alive.

The one I solved the Ashima Gonzales case with, I added.

Yes! said Jenn. Well, forget the last Jenn Adams. The second-to-last Jenn--

I don’t remember her, I said, wistfully, cutting off Jenn.

How cruel to not remember someone who meant that much to you. It was similar to the way I had known my wife was missing from my memories all those years ago.

No, dum dum, said Jenn. You think they’re all me... But anyway, if you stop interrupting, what I want to tell you is that Jenn saw you in the dream. And...your wife, Karen Adams.

That perked me up. What? I said.

Your wife is helping a pale monster. They’re putting things in their souls, said Jenn. But they lose. I know how!

How? I said.

You talk to her, said Jenn. It happens at her house. There’s a big fight. But you talk to her and she relents. Then the Magdalene and the Enforcer Prime surprise her and do some magic that takes her away. She wore a big grin. With her off the board, the Executor loses. And that’s how we win, Ray. You have to talk to her.

The Magdalene. You remember her? She was the Divine Lady who had brought me back to life the second time I went to the Realm of the Living. My great-granddaughter knew the labels I had given the Divine--Gabriel, the Magdalene, etc. It helped. Really.

How am I gonna do that from here? I said.

She shrugged. No idea, she said. She lit another illusory, shadow-cigarette. There’s one hiccup, though...

What? I said.

The Jenn that’s still alive, the last Jenn Adams, she said. She must have had a dream too, so...

It follows that if she’s the last one born, she would have the most recent dream, I said.

I probably should have asked Jenn about her dreams, those visions she had of the end of the world. And that’s what bothered both of us: The living Jenn treated them like visions of the end of the world.

We have to contact her, said Jenn.

Fat chance the Divine were going to let us do that. There was no system in place to let a soul in the afterlife contact the living. The living Jenn Adams could speak to the departed, but only if she summoned them; she had not contacted me in a long time. That meant if we wanted to get a message to her, we needed a middle man.

I knew two: The Magdalene and Gabriel. Unfortunately, calling the Magdalene was dangerous. She was currently an outlaw and her name had been Cursed; that meant the Committee and the Executor would know if I summoned her with her true name.

The safer choice was Gabriel, the Enforcer. But I didn’t call him right away. An alarm went off inside of my head. It was a call. Maeve Flanagan, the Wizard of Hollywood, was in the Abstract Realm and she needed help! Jenn and I went to see what the problem was and...well...that’s another story. I’ll let Maeve tell you that one. And it was a hoot. We only had a small part in it.

DETECTIVE ADAMS

And We’re Back...

~***~

When we finished helping Maeve, we returned to the replica of my bedroom. Jenn and I looked at one another. She seemed confused. And I wondered if she had been suckered by the scenario.

Holy fuck... she said and didn’t finish.

What do you mean? I said.

Ray! she said, alarmed. We’ve been gone a long fucking time!

That confused me. The last thing I remembered was helping Maeve get out of the Abstract Realm. I told Jenn that and she stared at me, like I wasn’t really me. She touched my cheek and inspected me.

What is it? I said.

You didn’t feel anything? We helped Maeve and then... she said and shook her head. We were taken out of commission. The Executor! That fucker had a grip on us until now!

I honestly wasn’t sure how much time had passed since we had helped Maeve. The flow of Time in the Abstract Realm was...yeah...I told you that already. Blah, blah, blah, in the Abstract Realm.

Get a grip, kid, I said. We’re here now. Let’s call Gabriel and get to work...

She sighed, but wouldn’t stop looking at me like I had the plague and was about to fall dead, again. Without waiting any longer, I spoke Gabriel’s true name.

And there, in the replica of my bedroom appeared Gabriel, the Enforcer. The ‘Magdalene’ and ‘Gabriel’ were labels I had come up with. The real names of the Divine were used to call them and summon them to you. They were not for socializing. I might have told you that too...

Detective Adams, said Gabriel.

He was a dirty blonde man in a gray suit--a bit taller than me. His face suggested he stayed up all night. Aged. It made me wonder how much time had passed since my last visit to the Realm of the Living.

Hey, pal, I said. Jenn waved at him.

What is the meaning of this? said the Enforcer. He glared at me with his steel-blue eyes. The Enforcers are currently trying to solve a very important mystery!

Really? What else is new? I said, disinterested. Listen, I need to ask for a favor.

He laughed and shook his head. And he considered Jenn, like it was the first time. Then, he walked up to me and got in my face.

What makes you think I can do any favors for you? he said.

You owe me, I said.

I do? he said, equal parts amused and angry.

"Chum, la Santa Muerte ain’t spitting out more zombies because of me, I said and pointed a thumb at my chest. Least you can do is listen to the favor before laughing at it..."

Gabriel took a deep breath and calmed down. Very well... he said. What is this ‘favor’?

Can you pass a message to my great-granddaughter? I said.

She’s here, so why not pass the message along yourself? he said.

I shook my head. "Not that Jenn Adams, I said and pointed at the Jenn in the replica of my bedroom. The one in the Realm of the Living."

I didn’t mean that Jenn Adams either, Adams, he said. He came closer. Your great-granddaughter is dead and in the Abstract Realm...

I ate my next words and no, they still didn’t taste very well. Harry. I was angry at him. And then I was angry at myself for getting her mixed up with this...nonsense. And then, I wasn’t angry any longer. Jenn was an adult. Just like the Jenn Adams in front of me.

How? I said.

Gabriel’s face changed. He became a tad more human, sympathetic.

I’m sorry, but the particulars are not known to me, said Gabriel. The Process sent her to the Abstract.

Can you, I said, thinking quickly. Can you steer us? I just want to talk to her.

That is not allowed, said Gabriel, but he went into thought. She’s trying to work through her first scenario. Aren’t you supposed to be doing something similar?

Jenn and I shrugged.

Right, I said. As a favor?

He sighed. The Enigma might not be happy that an Enforcer is interfering with their scenarios, said Gabriel.

Jenn and I looked at each other and laughed.

Oh? I said, in between laughs. "You forget the time when an Enforcer interfered with my scenarios?"

I had him. He stumbled with a reply and then shook his head.

In a flash, he was gone, but so were we. And we re-appeared in front of a house. I knew the house. The last Jenn Adams had lived in it during her last days in the Realm of the Living. So, I led the original Jenn Adams through it. I knew where we would find my other great-granddaughter.

Jenn, the original, chuckled when she saw her other self. I sighed. Jenn, the recently-departed one, was on a bed, still asleep. There was a John there and another dame. They were all in their birthday suits. I kicked the bed until my great-granddaughter opened her eyes.

She gave me a groggy smile.

Ray! she said with a sleepy voice.

Hey, kid, I said, covering my eyes.

She laughed and jumped out of bed. And then she saw the other Jenn Adams and her mouth dropped open.

Ah, fuck, said Jenn, the nude one. How did it happen?

We don’t know, said the original Jenn, chuckling. I don’t remember my tits being so perky. Did you have work done on the twins? And then she slapped the behind of the nude Jenn Adams. Look at that ass!

How lovely, said Jenn, the nude one. I’m checking myself out...

And sarcastic, said the original Jenn. That’s new...

You would be too if you found out... said Jenn, the nude one, and slapped her head. I just...remembered...

Can you put some clothes on? I said.

Both of my great-granddaughters turned to me, smiling. The nude one went away and put some clothes on. And I did notice how much more carefree the original Jenn Adams seemed, compared to the last Jenn Adams.

~***~

We went to a café near the house and sat and drank coffee and smoked. It was a 21st century café, so it was noisier; there were also homeless birds in there. The illusory cigarettes from the Abstract Realm weren’t as satisfying as the shadow cigarettes the original Jenn made. But they helped us forget we were all dead.

The dream, I said to the last Jenn. We were talking about your dream. Can you tell us what you saw?

The last Jenn Adams took a deep breath and then shrugged.

Ray, said the last Jenn, I saw you and Karen...and the dirt-bag who killed me...

Okay, I said.

Did you see Ray talking to Karen? And the Enforcer Prime and the Magdalene? said