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Category:
Literary Fiction
Publisher: Seven Hearts Publishing, LLC
ISBN-10: 069289585X
Type: Fiction
Pages: 512
Copyright: August 1, 2016
ISBN-13: 9780692895856
Price: $2.99 (eBook)
A non-conventional fast-paced modern adaptation mythic story based on tormented characters battling against a chaotic end for humanity. Written through a style that takes elements from stage scripts and screenplays, the book references real events, organizations, and locations in Greece, Poland, Egypt, UK, and other parts of the world.
I've been here before... This darkness... A rusty '53 Bel Air frame covered by undergrowth with the German license plate 'W-MM 9615'... Something moved!!! For God's sake! That thing moved!! It's... a woman... Her face looks gaunt... She looks like... a witch... Is she dying? Oh, my God, Is that a wedding dress? It is almost disintegrated by time... I can still see the silk sleeves with the crystal elements. She still has the tiara and veil... She has a dead bouquet, a pearl bracelet, and a turquoise handkerchief in her hands. Is that thing glowing... a wedding ring? I feel the urgency to... touch it...
WHAT THE!!!!!! – [The witch sat down in an unexpected violent movement. He fell and started screaming, trying desperately to run away from that place. The witch was shaking uncontrollably, screaming repeatedly in an unsupportable high pitch...] "VAHN!" "DAH!" "KORA!" "VAHN!" "DAH!" "KORAAA!!”
A powerful German Consortium operating in London... The Interpol conducting a worldwide investigation on plundered archaeological objects. A legend around a ring and four sacred objects that if reunited would trigger devastating events for humanity… The new Professor at Birkbeck never imagined that his recurring nightmare was going to lead him to a fast-paced thriller involving complex characters with supernatural powers fighting against their own demons, as well as against the worst of the human greed.
A powerful German Consortium operating in London... The Interpol conducting a worldwide investigation on plundered archaeological objects. A legend around a ring and four sacred objects that if reunited would trigger devastating events for humanity… The new Professor at Birkbeck never imagined that his recurring nightmare was going to lead him to a fast-paced thriller involving complex characters with supernatural powers fighting against their own demons, as well as against the worst of the human greed.
Excerpt
Excerpt From Chapter 4 of The Ring of The Witch: The Curse of Apollo
Elpis: So, that is the real you… That is what you’ve always thought of me… I am so disillusioned and disappointed, Apollo… How could I never have seen the true prepotent god? I only wanted you to give me the opportunity to live with the intensity I deserved… To feel, Apollo… To be happy… You were never there for me. I was always low in your priorities; always second to whatever you were doing. You were full of contradictions, and I knew I was not going to have a future with you. We don’t need to do this, Apollo… We can still be friends… Let’s stop this madness now…
Apollo: You brought stability to my life, and now everything is gone… You were the cure to my nightmares, and now you have become one of them. I should have foreseen all of this… The way you discarded your lovers simply because they were not good enough for you… Always you, Elpis… Always you… It was always about you… All the occasions in which you dreamed to be in union with a god, so you can be the envy of mortals, and get all the attention… Those mundane dreams of getting pampered without limits… So much selfishness… Who can trust you, Elpis? Your niece? Your sister? If they only knew the things that came out of your mouth… How could it have been possible that I was so blind…
Elpis: Let’s stop this Apollo. No more! [raising her voice] We don’t need to do this! Let’s seal what remains of what we had with a simple hug and thereafter pursue our own destinies separately. There’s nothing more to be done. Nothing more to be said… You were not who I thought you were. We were not meant to be together. Let’s stop this now…
Apollo: So, I was not who you thought I was? And who are you, Elpis? Who do you think you are? Do you think you are better than I? You and I are the same… The only difference is that I don’t negate who I am, and you try to believe your own lie of being the victim of the whole situation… The innocent dove that didn’t know what she was doing, victim of the evil god that cheated her…
Elpis: Stop! I don’t want to hear anything else! I am not like you. You offend me by saying that. You are not worthy of being called a god! You have no honor! You can’t even come close to Gaia! No wonder you killed her son Python to usurp the Delphi!
Apollo: Shut up, mortal! You can’t handle the truth! You can’t handle the truth, Elpis! [escalating the intensity of his tone] Do you really believe that through a last hug of death, you would be able to escape from your own lies? Do you really believe you can hide behind a veil of purity that you preach, but don’t deserve or have? You are right, mortal… You are totally right… [watching her with contempt] Nothing else to be said… Don’t you dare to touch me… Your hug would be full of hypocrisy…
[He continued…]
Apollo: Do you feel you have the right to judge me? You? You don’t have but a ceiling made of the thinnest of glasses! Do you have the courage to look at yourself in the mirror? What do you see? Tell me, Elpis… What do you see? The innocent victim that didn’t know what she was doing? The victim that was blatantly deceived? Tell me… How long have you been with him? What truth have you told him? The truth, or your version of the truth? Poor mortal… He has no idea what he is getting into. Your lies, your shame… Everything will come to light one of these days, and all your masks will fall by themselves. I might not be worthy of the benevolence of Zeus, but neither are you. You get offended when I say that, because deep inside, you want with all your strength to believe your own lies.
Elpis: Enough! Stop! It’s enough!
Apollo: Enough? Oh yes… I forget I’m dealing with just a mere mundane mortal… Just give me back what you are not worthy of, and never dare to talk or be near me again! The medallion represented my protection! The music box meant to be healing and had the power to soften the toughest heart! The letters were our dreams… Our now broken dreams… And the compilation… the book, Elpis… The book symbolized my purest feelings… You don’t deserve any of that. I am not asking you to return them… I demand taking back what should have never been yours. You are not worthy!
Elpis: Stop, Apollo. Don’t do this… You will regret this… Look at yourself… That’s not you… Don’t let Erebus take control of your mind and mouth. This needs to stop! This needs to stop!
Apollo: Regret? Listen to me Elpis… Listen to me very carefully… [Apollo, with his face fully disfigured…] I curse the symbol of your bond of union, which will become the demise of everything that exists. Your destiny will be marked by relationships that sooner or later will fail again and again, because I declare so as written in the books of the Olympus. Yes… You will achieve everything you want… You’ll have the warmth of a home. You’ll have plenty of gold and expensive jewelry. You’ll be the envy of the maidens… But you will see how little by little, as time passes, everything will crumble to ashes, as all was built on half-truths that are nothing more than vile lies. Each time you look at the symbol of your union, you’ll remember my words and the prophecy I declare today, which will stay written in the house of Hades and Persephone forever, haunting you for lives and generations. The statues in your honor will always be represented with tears and suffering. I have foreseen your fate… I’ve dreamed about it, and it has been confirmed by Pythia. Sick… Alone… Dying, victim of a long-lasting plague. I can only feel sorry for you… You will have everything, but always with an empty soul… Knowing that at the end, you’ll die alone and with nothing…
[Apollo rises even more his voice…]
Apollo: Just give me what I demand! I demand the medallion! I demand the music box of Orpheus! I demand my letters and the book you didn’t deserve! I am not asking you for a favor, Elpis! I command you to return what you are not worthy of!
[Elpis starts her way out of the Temple.]
Apollo: [shouting] Leave, Elpis! Leave! Leave! You can’t argue against the truth! Leaving the Delphi for you would have been the biggest mistake of my eternity! Leave!!!
[Elpis is gone. Apollo anxiously starts walking around the Temple. Pythia enters and tries to calm him. He ignores her and continues walking around. His face is extremely tense, and his eyes look unfocused and confused. He starts having an anxiety attack. He finally makes eye contact with Pythia…]
Apollo: Pythia! Pythia! [screaming] What have I done! Who am I? WHAT am I? I am a monster! A monster one thousand times worse than Typhon! So much darkness in me! So despicable… Detestable, abominable, heinous… I was born to hurt… I was born to destroy everything that comes close to me… Zeus, please send the Charybdis and the Scylla to destroy me… To end this mistaken creation of yours. Bring this agony to an end… Bring ME to an end, as I don’t deserve living among gods… Arrrrggghhhhhhhhhhh [Apollo screaming, hurting himself…]
Pythia: Apollo! Stop! Don’t do that! You need to calm down!
Apollo: You have seen this! I know! I saw it myself! I resisted to believe what was destined to be! How could it be possible that it ended this way! So badly! So unfair! I feel like I’m burning! I AM BURNING!!! Each part of my body is burning in the worst agony! I can’t! I can’t!! [hitting the floor repeatedly with both hands until blood starts to come out of his fists.] Erebus! I know you can hear me! This is the opportunity you have been waiting for! Bring me to your darkness! Let me feel the obscurity of the no-return! Arrrrrrrrrrrggggggghhhhhhhhhh!!
[A female entered the room in total disbelief of what she was seeing…]
Female: WHAT IS GOING ON? WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?? The gods went crazy! Thunder is everywhere! What is all this chaos! What happened here! Pythia!! What’s going on here!!
Pythia: I can’t control him! He went insane! I can’t control him!!
[The woman threw herself on top of Apollo. In a fast move, he took her by the neck with his left hand, and violently turned her, hitting her head on the floor. Apollo started asphyxiating her. She couldn’t scream, and tried unsuccessfully to escape from Apollo’s powerful grip.]
Apollo: How dare you! How dare you interrupt the fury of a god! Who are you! Who do you think you are! How dare you touch and challenge the fury of a god!
Pythia: Apollo!! Stop! Leave her alone! You are killing her! Apollo, stop! You need to stop! You need to stop!
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