Wonder Witch 4 – Part 3

Then, though still kneeling, Marjorie wasn’t in her apartment anymore but in the lair of the creature; a bizarre sort of throne room that seemed to belong to all centuries and none; part stone age cave dwelling; part Romanesque cathedral; part pyramid and part spaceship.

Round about her were more of the creatures minions; human warriors from every century and nation, it seemed and all under the power of some mysterious alien mind control, judging by the glazed expression in their eyes and, infront of her, sat the creature itself, within a crystal goblet shaped throne; its body, like its lair, a chimera of different creatures, mostly human but with the claws of a bear and the head of an Egyptian Ibis.

“I have no name that can be spoken by a human tongue”, said the creature, through telepathy, “but your Ancients called me Thoth and I am a traveller of both space and time and other dimensions. I manipulate the history of alien species, engineer it to serve my own ends and I was happily doing so until you turned up unexpectedly. The president was supposed to die; I did not like certain policies of his but, somehow you seemed to know in advance and you prevented me from achieving my goal. You will pay dearly for your meddling. Once you are locked inside one of my time warp dungeons you will know that hell is real”

Then, suddenly, Wonder Witch felt herself being seized on either side by two of the time travellers minions; one, a Samurai and one a Zulu warrior, and they were about to drag her roughly towards some terrible time-twisting fate when something strange and frightening but quite miraculous happened.

The creatures entire lair shook and then the vice like grips, of the two brutes holding her, slackened as their bodies and their faces began rapidly aging.

“What was that?”, asked Marjorie, stunned by what she had just seen.

“A time quake”, said the creature, “They started happening around the same time that you stopped me killing the president”.

Then, suddenly, all became clear to Marjorie.

“Ofcourse”, she said, her eyes lighting up,
“That’s why I had that premonition. It wasn’t magic at all. It was time. Time calling out for help. Time longing to break free from your control. It doesn’t want to be your slave anymore”.

Thoth laughed.

“Nonsense”, he said, “Time is just a force of nature and Nature has no will of its own. Like human cattle, it is there merely to be controlled and exploited”.

But Marjorie could sense something different now, about the voice that was being psychically projected into her mind. It was fear. Fear that perhaps Marjorie might be right, fear of the power of time enraged and then, suddenly, there was another violent quake and she saw Thoths body and bird like head begin to age quickly as she had seen the guards age earlier and then, in her head, she heard the creatures psychic scream.

“There are things even greater than you, Mighty Thoth”, said Marjorie.

Then, as the ground continued to tremble, all about her, Thoths psychic control over his minions began to weaken and it was as if they were awakening from a century long slumber.

“I should have died upon the battlefield. It was my time to die. I was mortally wounded in combat”, said the aged Samurai who had earlier been restraining her, “But then I saw a bright light above me and, at first, thought it was a gateway to the afterworld opening but it was only Thoth. Thoth healed my wounds and saved my life but he stole my mind and made me his slave”.

And, hearing similar stories from all around her, Marjorie said, “Well you’re not slaves anymore”.

Then she was almost run over by the liberated but angry ex-minions of Thoth as they stampeded, roaring in many different languages, towards him, waving their ancient implements of war.

“I think this would be an excellent time to leave”, said Marjorie and she was about to transform back into Wonder Witch when, suddenly…

“Oh my”, said Marjorie Morris, aka costumed crime fighter Wonder Witch, waking up in bed, one Saturday morning and clutching her head with a worried expression on her face, “What a peculiar, terrifying dream”.

Then her cat leapt onto her bed and licked her face and she laughed, “Thank goodness that none of it really happened”, she said, “Or did it?”.