“So it’s not TikTok and YouTube influencers.” Bodie glanced at Cassidy. “Told you so.”
“You may have knocked us off our perch,” Bacchus went on. “And the road back will be long and painful. But we are ready to take it. We are taking it. Once the prophecy is fulfilled, we will all reign in His glory.”
“You keep mentioning the prophecy,” Bodie said. “What is it?”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
“The prophecy is not generally known to outsiders.”
“It’s not like we’re going anywhere,” Bodie said. “Like you said earlier: Nobody knows where we are.”
Bacchus appeared to accept that. Indeed, he was warming to the subject. “It is one of the oldest written texts known to man. Not a prophecy in the broad sense of the word, but a text that prophesizes what will be.”
“Can’t wait to hear it,” Bodie said.
Bacchus sat forward and cleared his throat, but at that moment Adelaide placed a hand on his arm. “Is that wise?” she said. “The prophecy is sacred. The Great Dragon may not—”
“I am Grand Master,” Bacchus snapped. “I will decide what to reveal. Besides, their sacrifice is but hours away.”
This was the first time Bodie had heard of any sacrifice. “What?” he asked. “What did you say?”
“I thought you wanted to hear the prophecy,” Bacchus said with heavy sarcasm. “So here it is:
“Ten sanctums to seek along ancient causeways,
“Five vile and five worthy, their purest life-blood to the crucible,
“To reap the reward of the Ishtari.
“And reign through His glorious power.”
Bodie studied Bacchus’s face as he spoke, seeing idolatry and fanaticism there. Discord, Cronos and Adelaide all looked beguiled. When the Grand Master had finished, all four looked over at Bodie in expectation.
“You believe it, not me,” he said. “I don’t know what it means.”
“It’s an ancient prophecy, passed down through generations of Illuminati. Bequeathed and entrusted through families. Initially the last line was ‘to reap the illumination’ of the Ishtari, which is where our very name came from,” Bacchus said.
“Who are the Ishtari?” Jemma asked.
“An infamous, hunted secret society created close to the dawn of man,” Bacchus said, without irony. “As generations passed, they were pursued so hard that they had to diversify, to change their name many times, until at the time of Adam Weishaupt they became the Illuminati. Even then this respectable professor was seen as a dangerous enemy of the State, the Illuminati believed to threaten the very fabric of society as we know it. But, as we know, the Illuminati endured, and with it the Ishtari.”
“So the Ishtari were the forerunners of the Illuminati,” Bodie said.
“Almost hunted to death.” Bacchus frowned. “Practically extinct, the Ishtari gave all its secrets to the Illuminati. Every hard lesson it had learned through thousands of years was passed on. And because of the riches we accumulated, the power we amassed, we sidelined the ancient prophecy.”
“And now you need it again?” Cassidy asked.
“It would be helpful to pursue,” Bacchus admitted. “Because we already have the crucible to which the lifeblood—the ore—should be brought.”
Bodie blinked. One thing that authenticated a dusty, old prophecy was the material and genuine presence of an item it mentioned. “You have this crucible? That’s fantastic. What is it?”
But Bacchus didn’t bite. “To solve the riddle, we were forced to start searching through every remnant the Ishtari left behind. Through dusty, broken-down strongholds all over Europe we sought, we scrabbled and strove to learn more. Old essays were pursued, manuscripts found. Information pieced together from private collections because, as you know, there are far more ancient and famous relics nestling in secret, unknown collections than there are in public museums around the world. Many artifacts and treasures disappear forever this way. But we made headway. We have persevered and persisted since you assaulted Olympia, practically breaking our organization, and now we are approaching a time in which we may once more flourish.”
“So the ancient Ishtari left something behind,” Bodie summarized, playing for a little more time, “that you ignored until now. I mean... you didn’t need it. Why go searching for something so uncertain and ancient when you had all those relics? I’m not sure why you feel it’s gonna change your fortunes now.”
Bacchus stared at Bodie as if he were stupid. “Because the text tells us so,” he snapped. “Because the Ishtari wrote it. Because it comes directly from the early ancients, the harbingers of our order, and out of the Great Dragon’s mouth. In succeeding, we will please Him, and He will anoint us with the blood of the non-believers. The time has come to step into the light, to shine, to control and dominate, and to teach everyone the hard way. We cannot fail.”
Bodie saw that last statement as more than a declaration, a rant of assertion. It sounded somewhat desperate. As if locating the “ten sanctums to seek” were a final, desperate gamble the Illuminati were being forced to wager.
“It could be the end for you,” he said, hoping to elicit an unguarded reply.
“No,” Bacchus said with a smile. “Our reward will be in Hades.”
Bodie wondered if he meant that literally, or...
“Hades?” Cassidy spoke up. “Is that a real place?”
Bacchus frowned. “Have you not been listening? Where do you think the Great Dragon will bless us? Where the crucible and the ore will lead us? From where His power flows? Of course Hades is a real place.”
It was still foggy but Bodie forced himself to remember that, ultimately, these people were just devil worshippers.
“You deciphered the clues?”
“We know many of the five vile sanctums. And several of the worthy ones. The life-blood cannot be easily extracted
