The Hypnotist: The White Lotus
Part Three Chapters 2 & 3
Previously on The Hypnotist:
Deep within the mountain, a reptilian member of the ancient Council of Raa awakens. The threat—the one they’ve slept eons to confront—has finally arrived, and now the slumbering ancients must rise.
Meanwhile, above, Bastion, Vlad, Juno, and the soldiers stand stranded on a platform surrounded by absolute darkness. The world they knew has vanished. No mountain. No moon. No hum. Just the rune, the ritual… and the void.
Then, chaos.
A vortex explodes open, unleashing a black, swirling sun—the Star of Memory—a cosmic force so cursed that simply looking into it causes madness. Vlad feels its power rush through him like divine agony. Bastion grins. The ritual is beginning.
And the ancients?
They’re here.
And they remember everything.
Chapter 2
He walked with a hurried step, urgency surging through his bones. Private Gumble was his name, he was certain of it, although he was having difficulty remembering if that was true.
Private Gumble had a mission to accomplish. His eternal soul was on the line. His mind was devoid of thought, except one.
Release The Pride.
He locked in on the soldier standing guard outside the door where he knew the children were.
“I have orders from Dr. Blum to escort the children to the platform,” said Gumble. His voice was monotone, robotic. He gnashed his teeth, his jaw tight. Tightness between his temples with a dull headache about to bloom.
“No one may enter,” said the guard. “I have specific instructions.”
But Gumble had expected the reaction. He stabbed the guard in the throat with the one-inch blade he had hidden in his hand. The blood was substantial, raining down the soldier’s neck and saturating his tactical gear. His hands went to his throat. His heart seized as he garbled on his own blood, dropping dead at Gumble’s feet. He then took the keycard from the soldier’s pocket and opened the door.
The Pride was waiting for him. He gazed over at the children, his breath labored, attempting to understand what was happening. Did he just kill one of his comrades? He believed so, but he shouldn’t have tried to stop his mission. Didn’t he know Gumble’s eternal soul is on the line? He stood in the doorway, looking from one child to the next.
They didn’t move. Didn’t say a word, but their eyes told stories that lasted lifetimes, filled with suffering and anguish. He could feel their eyes on him, roaming across his skin, moving inside his brain. In his heart, too, understanding his true nature.
They weren’t just kids. They were something else.
He adjusted his rifle over his shoulder. Breathing heavy, he went to each child and removed their halos, feeling better about himself with every child set free. They climbed to their feet, standing tall and eyeballing Gumble as if he were their next meal.
Their eyes seemed like they were burning, cracked and bloodshot, but with a red iris that projected suffering to the recipient of their stares.
“You’ve done well,” said the boy when he licked his lips, dragging his tongue across his bottom lip.
“You will be rewarded for your service,” said the red-headed girl.
Gumble looked from one to the other. “Task one accomplished,” he said, as if he were reporting his update to some phantom leader. “Task two is forthcoming.”
“Yes,” said the blonde as she stepped forward. “Bastion needs our help.”
Now the boy stepped forward when all the members of The Pride said, “We’ll come with you.”
Chapter 3
We arrived inside darkness. At first, we weren’t certain where here was. It could have been anywhere. I looked around at the team, seeing the whites of their eyes in the darkness.
“Are we here?” asked Carter.
“Definitely,” Raven answered. “Or, at least, I think we are. This is clearly a mountain.” I could hear him inspecting the rocky mountain walls around us.
Jo said, “Come over here.” Her voice was just out of reach, but we all followed. “Use your night vision goggles.”
I fitted the goggles over my eyes, and yes, we are inside a mountain. I can only hope it’s the same mountain. We are in some sort of cave with a large oval opening that leads further inside. I can see Jo outside the opening, looking up when she turns to me.
“You did it.” She nods, returning her gaze up. “We have successfully entered where the Mods live. Can you smell it?”
The odor was unmistakable. It smelled of rot and fear. Like the metallic scent of blood, and when the wind drifted across our noses, the faintest trace of dead roses existed beneath the fold.
“I do.”
Amber said, “It smells like suffering.”
“The Mods.” Carter swallowed his breath.
I was looking for an access point. A place where we can traverse the rest of the mountain. From what I could see, we’re standing in what is best described as a hallway that spills into a large open area roughly the size of a thirty-by-thirty opening. The breeze is coming from the same area.
Jo is already on her way there when I follow her into the room and immediately look up. There’s no ceiling. In fact, it climbs all the way to the top where there must be an opening or door that’s open because that’s where the wind is coming from. Also, in the center of the room is a wind tunnel. It’s like forced air flowing upward.
Jo reached her hand over it, and her arm was immediately tossed over her head.
“What is it?” Amber asked.
“It’s a transport.” She investigates the wind. “It pushes whatever is in it to the top floor.”
“Why?” Carter chimes in. “What purpose would that serve?”
“The Mods,” I say and look up. “It’s because they can’t go all the way up.” I turned to the wind tunnel. “Maybe they use it to send things to the top?”
“Like what?” Carter again.
I shook my head. “Honestly, I don’t know.” I kept searching, assessing the area. Again, there’s no other way out of here and I notice that every few feet above our heads there’s a ring around the opening, continuing like that all the way to the top. “Those must be the floors.” I craned my head and could see a staircase. Although I lost sight of it in the distance, I assume the staircase traverses all the way up the mountain. “Look around. There should be a door or an opening to the stairs.”
We can always take a chance and take a ride on the wind, although I’m uncertain how that would work.
“Here,” said Carter. There was an opening directly behind him.
We all turned to it, and that’s when a door hummed down the opening, sealing us in. The wind tunnel died at the same moment.
A second later, we saw people standing on the second platform above us. Thirteen of them.
We were now in the presence of the Mods.
And they did not look happy.
