The Star of Babylon - Lust - Chapter 12

[Nathan Saniti]

The Star of Babylon - Lust - Chapter 12

Nathan, Naomi, Neville, Rasputin, and Kelli all looked on helplessly as the growing membrane encapsulated Magdelline completely. Frantically, Nathan shot a bolt of lightning at the shell, leaving only a scorched section whilst it filled with the pinkish fluid. The collective known as the Harvesters simply stood by, unable to assist the woman who had helped them get this far.

Naomi gazed around the room at the others who had been similarly ensnared. She looked at the Night Man in dismay as he succumbed to the liquid, breathing in his final gasp. The new bellhop had been trapped far before. In spite of the lack of oxygen available, his body seemed to be twitching and lurching, as if actually inhaling the liquid. The most astonishing thing she'd noticed about the bellhop, once a younger man in his early twenties, was that he'd seemed to be aging in reverse, having reentered the middle part of his teen years as the fluid dissolved what little clothing he had adorned.

BEEP!

She tapped Nathan on the shoulder. "Look!" She pointed to the bellhop, watching in awe as he continued his age regression.

Nathan peered about. The theme seemed to be the same with each staff member. The middle aged housekeeper was withering into a pre-teen. The Night Man was reaching toddler age. The lobby clerk had already regressed to a fetus, her arms and legs rapidly disappearing back into her body with each second that passed, finally ending in her becoming a roundish egg approximately the size of a chicken's.

BEEP!

The glow of the Seed of Patience grew as powerful as a lantern in the night as it lay next to the helpless Magdelline. Neville picked it up, grimacing at it with hate in his eyes. "Useless artifact!" He drew back as if to chuck the thing as far and as hard as he physically could.

Nathan shouted to his brother. "Neville! No!"

Angered beyond comprehension over the interloping actions of his identical sibling, he instead tossed it to Nathan, his twitching mouth downturned from hate and sorrow. He returned his attention to his loved one as her body shrank and shrank.

BEEP! BEEP!

The hotel continued to lurch, nearly tossing them all on their own backsides to the softening, fleshy floor. Its many hallways and spacious lobby all appeared to be converging into one increasingly cramped, claustrophobic hallway.

The scene unfolding would, under different circumstances, hold the intrigue of good doctors and bad. But now, it only seemed to be the stuff of lunatics and madmen haunted by nightmares indescribable. What once was a resort that would be a favorite vacation spot of those of all fabulous sexualities, was rapidly devolving into something akin to zombies or voodoo priests.

BEEP! BEEP!

"Wake up, ......!" screamed his brother, his name being drowned out by a moaning from within the building. "I need you to wake up and be with me."

Nathan shook off the entrancing horror surrounding him. He looked at the Seed, and then at the Night Man, who by now had been rendered into a rather large sized, tadpole-like creature. The membrane had dissolved away from the squirming thing. Once freed of its confinement, it began to wriggle backwards towards the opening of the now singular entrance to the hotel.

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

Nathan had a "eureka" moment, as his brother witnessed his love shrivel into an egg herself. He approached the former Magdelline with the psychedelic acorn. As he drew nearer, Magdelline began to glow in the same manner as the first Seed. Nathan's mouth hung open as he knew exactly what needed to be done.

"NATHAN! PLEASE!" pled Neville, his heart heavy. "Please wake up. I need you ...."

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! 

The hotel let out another moan to drown out Neville's pleas.

Nathan began to get light-headed, the world growing cloudy around him. He checked to see if he had succumbed to the entrapment of Hotel California. No. He and his Harvesters seemed unmolested by the trap. He slogged forward towards Neville. "She's being unborn," he thought. "And she's glowing like Patience." His mind pondered as quickly as it could, still coming under some drunken spell as he progressed. "Neville, Magdelline IS the second Seed. Once she's freed of the membrane, collect her and we must escape while we can!"

Neville looked at his brother, nodded and waited for his moment. As with the Night Man, Magdelline regressed into a zygote, the glow within her growing to match the acorn. The dark-haired Saniti gathered his love as soon as he could, pocketing her carefully.

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

Nathan's head continued to swim, yet he directed the Harvesters to turn to the elongating opening and retreat. Tadpoles squirmed backwards, showing them the route, as the ovum remained behind. He wasn't sure why he was feeling quite like this, when his cohorts didn't seem to be as affected.

They blurred. Reality hazed in and out of focus like an amateur at the lens. He struggled to trod through the knee deep floor towards the only exit they knew. The others didn't appear to be having his difficulties. It was exhausting his body. He just wanted to rest. Yes. Sleep would be good right now. It felt right.

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

Naomi and Rasputin reached the opening first, pulling Kelli out, and then Neville. Rasputin and Kelli reached for Nathan, his arm outstretched, but his energy spent.

"WAKE UP!" The panic in their voices was all he heard as darkness finally overcame him.

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

"I think he's waking up now."

I tried to open my eyes, but the light was blinding. I used my arm meekly to cover my sight, the glare painful, even through my eyelids. Commotion was all around me, shadows and blurs clamoring. And that incessant beeping. Try as I might, I couldn't lift my head, and when I did, it throbbed violently in protest.

A moan escaped my lips involuntarily. "Save Magdelline," I muttered. "I have a title to defend at Return to Glory."

An elderly female voice, cracking from emotion, though I couldn't say whether it was laughter, relief, or sadness answered me. "Who's Magdelline?"

Another voice, this one male, yet effeminate parroted the first's line of query. "What title are you talking about, baby? Are you going to wake up and tell us?"

"Gabriel wants..." The effort to speak was draining my already depleted energy as my eyes began to cooperate ever so slightly, revealing the fuzzy outlines of a sanitarily bright hospital room. "Pure Class... North American..."

His silhouette still fuzzy, I could barely make out the male. It was my partner, Dan Fierce. Well, that was his pen name anyways. Like me, he was rapidly approaching his fifties. He was always a stunning picture, even if the picture was about as clear as mud. He wasn't the physical specimen my imagination had made him into, but then again, neither was I.

That didn't matter to me now. As the cobwebs of whatever fictional world I had been trapped in for these long years shook themselves free and reality clarified and cemented itself once again, what did matter to me was the chance I had been given. The pieces of this puzzle would connect themselves soon enough.

For now, I'll just enjoy the sunlight.