Five-Pointed

Hell to Pay, Chapter 1

Teivel was marked.  His marking was not like the others.  Let’s begin long ago.  Even as a child, he knew he was different, but he didn’t know why.  “You’re special, dear,”  His mother used to say.  Her words comforted him when he came home, dejected that none of the other children would want to play with him.  He had no obvious affliction, yet people were innately hesitant to approach him.

This stigma grew more and more until he reached adolescence.  It was clear that he was not the same as his peers.  He had once been found out back in the school yard; holding down a stray cat by its neck.  Scratches ran up Teivel’s arm.  “It had tried to bite me,” he said.  A teacher was called, and they had him release it, and watch it run off into the bushes.  

‘Katzenwürger’, the kids taunted him.  Cat strangler.  Somewhere in his mind, he conceded that the other students were not people to associate with.  His free time was spent marking up any piece of parchment or other hard surface with lead or charcoal, making markings that seemed to flow out of his imagination alone.

At that point, his outbursts in class caused the candles to flicker and many of the other students to cower in fear.  His parents withdrew him from public schooling for homeschooling, as well as continuous trips to the synagogue.

The rabbi introduced him to the Star of David, which captured Teivel’s interest.  A six pointed star.  The rabbi described how it evolved from the tale of the ‘Seal of Solomon,’ a ring that was given to Solomon from God, giving him the power to command demons.  Such a thing seemed too great for Teivel to be true.

Among the vast amount of books at the synagogues library, Teivel slowly taught himself the various languages of the temple and learned about the multitude of topics contained in the tomes.  Similar to the Star of David, the pentagram, in more western tradition, drew  Tievel’s attention.   De Occulta Philosophia libri III, or ‘The Three Books of Occult Philosophy’ was among the library’s collection.  Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa, the author, included a drawing of the human body drawn against the pentagram, with the head, arms, and legs representing the five points.  Also included was a macabre sounding description, a saying that a pentagram drawn in reverse would negate the positive effects of the shape, bringing upon a disruption in the natural order.

Patterns started to emerge in his drawings.  A mixture of the six pointed and five pointed stars appeared.  He combined elements of Arabic, Hebrew, and Latin alphabets.  There was no resonance in the completed works of demented artistry he produced.  More studying was required.

 

This is something of a flushing out of the short I wrote before, Hell to Pay.  I will continue this tomorrow when I am less drunk and tired.