Meanwhile, Tania awoke after having fallen asleep. The goddess felt ashamed that she had been unable to stay awake, even though she was supposed to be watching Loki. However, when she turned toward the chair where the dark god had been, she saw no one there.
That damned bastard, I hope he hasn’t escaped, the goddess thought as she rose to her feet. But then she began to hear murmurs that sounded like prayers.
People here? Could they be local inhabitants, like that man told us about? she wondered as she moved to open the door.
No, wait. The room was sanctified by Tul’s exorcism. I mustn’t open the door or Coyote will surely get in, Tania told herself as she realized her mistake.
But then she heard the cries of babies weeping, and the sound of knives, as though flesh were being cut.
Damn it, this has to be a trick to make me open the door, the goddess thought. But she could not even look out the window because of the wind barrier blocking the view.
Yet the moans grew louder, and the sound of the stabbing grew stronger and stronger. The prayers went on and on.
If Coyote gets in, I’ll kill that bastard if he’s murdering infants, the goddess told herself, and she opened the door.
Beyond the wind barrier stood a cult of men dressed entirely in red robes, with a high priest wearing a bull mask. He was the one cutting into babies, not with mortal wounds, but shallow ones, so that the infants would suffer more, while naked women drank the blood spilling from the altar.
“What the hell is this?!” Tania shouted as she watched those women tear the baby apart and begin devouring it like cannibals.
Furious, Tania charged toward the priests of that macabre ritual, but several hooded men seized her and pinned her down.
They’re so strong. What is this? Tania thought as she struggled to break free.
Then the high priest removed his mask, and Tania recognized his face.
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It was Baal Hammon, her former husband from Qart-Lel.
The god, still wearing his orange robe, had eyes the same color as his garments, along with a thick black beard and slightly olive skin. His nose was pronounced in a Mediterranean fashion, and two red horns emerged from his head.
“What are you doing here?” Tania demanded furiously, still struggling to free herself.
“My dear,” the Punic god said. “Did you truly think I would not be able to find you after you escaped Qart-Lel?”
Tania struggled with all her might against the grip of the men holding her, but she could not break free. She had never felt such strength before. They were surely gods from Qart-Lel as well, the ones performing these macabre acts.
“Did you really think your sins would not come back to haunt you?” the former Anunnaki of Carthage continued, toying with the knife he had used for those horrific human sacrifices.
Then the god extended his hand to her.
“And yet, if you join us in this festival, I shall overlook your offense. You will become part of our group again,” the god went on, his face twisting into such a ghastly smile that even Tania felt terror crawling down her spine.
The goddess was so frightened that, deep down, she nearly considered accepting the offer.
But she could not.
The lives within her would never allow this act to continue, would never allow these people to keep breathing. She had to overcome this. She had to destroy them.
“Never! Son of a bitch who got fucked up the ass!” Tania screamed in fury as her body began to blaze with fire, though her attackers seemed unaffected.
Baal Hammon began to laugh quietly. Then he touched Tania’s face gently, though the goddess felt it like sandpaper tearing her cheek.
“I knew that would be your answer,” the god said, and then he made a signal with the hand that was not holding the knife.
The men immediately began stabbing Tania again and again in the chest, until the goddess began to lose her breath. Great spurts of blood poured from her weakened body, while the priests went on torturing the suffering goddess over and over.
In her moments of agony, Baal Hammon stepped close to her again. She was covered in blood, breathing hard.
“Have you heard the story of Abraham and Isaac, my dear?” the god asked.
Then, using his wind powers, invisible cords bound Tania’s legs and arms, tying all four limbs together in a single restraint, the kind used for human sacrifice. The men then dragged her by the hair and hauled her to the altar where Baal Hammon had been cutting the infants, laying her on her back.
“Just as in our old days, we shall delight in sacrificing you and devouring your flesh, my wife,” Baal Hammon said as he raised the knife to strike the final blow into Tania.
This... is a nightmare, like the one I fell into on Mars, the goddess thought to herself, but she knew the wounds were almost certainly real.
I must not... lose consciousness... I swore it, Tania told herself as her vision began to blur, just as the knife drew closer to her chest.