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‘Dammit, Alex.  It’s just what I feared,
you know it is.’

‘But, Professor...’

‘Don’t...just, don’t.’

‘But, you don’t know.’

‘Don’t I?  You heard as well as I did. 
Rabbi Tashlich’s dead, so’s his wife, and Shmueli’s gone missing.  Give me
another explanation.’

‘An intruder, a burglar.’

‘Oh, come on.  They weren’t just killed,
they were torn apart by a maniac.  Your En Sof is responsible and Shmueli’s its
tool.  When you kept him in a trance you opened his mind to that monstrosity. 
You know it, I know it.  The question is; how do we stop it?’

Lapski did not reply.  For the first time
that Ben could recall he seemed subdued, not so certain of himself.  As much as
he was pleased to see the change in his former student now was not the time to
gloat.  Lapski had used his various contacts to find out the truth of what had
happened to Rabbi Tashlich and Ben was quite certain that his own
interpretation was the correct one.

The En Sof had tricked them.  It was using
Shmueli to destroy anyone who might prove an obstacle to its plans. 
Presumably, he was also a target.

‘And you really thought that you could
control it.’

‘I can.’

‘Can you?  Then stop it before it strikes
again.’

‘All right, I will.’

Ben snorted.  This time it had gone too
far.  It would take more than a simple ceremony to recall the beast but there
would be no harm in trying.

‘Thank you.  Then I suggest that we start
right away.’

……………………………………

The room was organised as before and the
invocations chanted.  It was no surprise to Ben that nothing happened.

‘You see.’

‘All right.  You’re right, Professor.  What
can we do?’

‘I don’t know but if you permit me my
freedom I will begin research immediately.’

Lapski nodded.

‘And...another thing.’

‘Yes?’

‘Give me the six stones in your
possession.’

‘No!’

‘Listen, Alex.  Those stones are a source
of great power.  It is only with their help that I will be able to control your
creature.  If I fail, do you imagine for one minute that it will let you live? 
It’s over.  Your dream of power is ended.  There is only one chance and that is
to return everything to the status quo.  Cast the En Sof into the limbo from
which it escaped and scatter the stones throughout space and time as they were
before Cordozo interfered.

‘Or do you have a better idea?’

Lapski shook his head.

‘Well then.’

…………………………………………

At first all Ben did was to pore through
Lapski’s books, directing his former student to find various passages that
might provide a clue.  At the end of two days, however, he was no further
forward.

There was only one thing of which he was
certain.  The En Sof now had two human tools, Mitch Mitchell and Shmueli
Isaacson.  To defeat the creature it would be necessary to remove it from their
minds and prevent it returning.  Then, fully incorporeal again, it could be
thrown back to the void.  That meant that both victims would have to be
together.  If they only exorcised one the En Sof would be forewarned and not so
easily taken the second time.

Logically, Shmueli would be the easiest to
locate.  He was in the world of Heled, after all.

Maybe, that was where they should start.

‘Alex.  I have an idea.’

‘Yes.’

‘I think we should try to find Shmueli. 
He can’t be too far away.’

‘What do you think I’ve been trying?  My
people have been looking for him since we heard about Tashlich.’

‘You’ve checked his parents’?’

‘Of course.  I’m not stupid.’

Ben snorted.  Lapski was well aware of his
views on that.

‘Then we must assume that he’s gone to
ground.

‘All right.  Keep looking for him.

‘Jacob and the others have been away for a
few days now.  It is probable that they experience time in a different way to
us.  They could well be into Yabbashah by now or even Ha’aravah.  Both of us
have managed to reach into the other worlds to take crystals.  I think that it
may be possible to open a portal, or at least a window, through which we may be
able to see what is happening.  If so, we may be able to find them.’

‘You think so?’

Ben did not bother replying to the inane
question.

‘I’m going to try.  If that fails.  I
suggest we go to the Moccatta library at University College, London.  They may
well have some books that we are missing.  If I contact the Hebrew University I
am sure that they can make any necessary arrangements.’

‘All right, Professor.  I’ll do whatever
you say.’

‘Good.  Then we had better begin.  There’s
no point in delaying.’

Ben gathered up his books and the six
crystals and followed the other down the stairs.  For the moment he had the
upper hand but for how long?  Alex was devious.  If they succeeded in regaining
control of the En Sof that would be when he would try something and Ben would have
to be completely on his guard.

So they stood on either side of the
Sefirotic Tree and Ben placed the crystals on the floor between them.

The red
Odem
, the crystal for the
tribe of Reuben, was placed at the topmost node upon the circle that
represented
Keter Elyon
, the Crown of God Most High.

Then he placed the
Nophech
, a
deeper red crystal, like arterial blood, for the tribe of Judah, at the bottom
of the tree that represented
Malchut
, the Kingdom of God.  This was the
node that was in tune with the
Shechinah
itself, the Divine Light, the
true Spirit of the Lord and ruler of the House of Israel.

The third stone, the electric blue
Sapir
of Issachar, was placed in the centre of the tree in the circle marked for
Rahamin
,
the compassion of God. 
Rahamin
was the Almighty’s most beautiful aspect
and therefore was sometimes swapped for the name
Tiferet
, the Hebrew
word for beauty.  Ben took pride in the fact that the name was his own.

Above
Rahamin
were the positions
for
Chesed
, God’s love, and
Gevurah
, the power of God to judge
and punish.  No stones were placed at these nodes for
Rahamin
could
mediate between them.

Two more crystals were placed on
Binah
,
God’s intelligence and knowledge, and
Hochmah
, His wisdom, respectively,
which positions were immediately between the
Keter Elyon
and the
Chesed
and
Gevurah
.

The final crystal, the opal
Yaspeh
of the tribe of Benjamin, he put immediately above the
Malchut
in the
node for
Yesod
, the foundation of God’s force.

And so all was ready.  Ben asked the
others to leave so that he was alone with Lapski and then he began to chant.

He called upon each of God’s aspects in
turn;
Malchut
,
Yesod
,
Hod
,
Netzah
,
Rahamin
,
Chesed
,
Gevurah
,
Binah
,
Hochmah
and finally,
Keter
Elyon
. 
He called on His thirteen attributes of mercy as did Moses when the Lord showed
him the Light of the Divine and then he waited.

There was silence; silence, so clear, so
thorough; silence as total as could be felt amid a vacuum; and then there came
the Voice, the Still Small Voice that Hashem had used to speak to Elijah, His
prophet.

The sapphire of
Rahamin
, mercy,
began to glow.  Steady and strong, its turquoise power grew and spread its rays
across the Tree and, as the light touched an adjoining stone it too shone in
its own colour and emitted its beams.

Soon the whole diagram was alight with
rays in every hue imaginable as they crossed and mixed in patterns of ever
increasing complexity.  Blues, reds, yellows flowed together in a dazzling
display to surpass even the greatest of laser shows as they danced and wove
their way across the Tree until it became impossible to distinguish one line
from the next.  And then finally the colours mixed to become a ball of white
light that spun above the floor.

Again Ben called upon God Most High and
watched as the wondrous orb became first translucent and then completely clear
like a gigantic ball of purest crystal.

‘There,’ he told his student, ‘It is
done.  Now we can see what we want.  Show me the Tevel.’

The sphere clouded over and tendrils of
smoke began to dance their way in what appeared to be random patterns and then
an image began to appear.  The azure of a clear sky, the emerald green of
verdant land.  This indeed was the world of Tevel.  Now to see if Jake and the
others were to be found.

Ben gave instructions and scried his way
across the countryside.  He saw villages of the strange two-headed people of
that world.  He saw beasts that belonged in legend; chimeras; horses with
wings, unicorns, things that had no name he knew but were an obvious amalgam of
different species of our world.

But of Jake there was no sign.

‘Maybe he’s already passed into
Yabbashah,’ commented Lapski.

‘It is possible but I don’t know.  There
should be some sign unless he has learnt how to shield himself.  He does
control a crystal.’

‘You may be right.  Shall we try and
locate Mitch and the girl.  If we pull Mitch into our world we may be able to
contact the En Sof.’

‘All right.  I’ll see what I can do.’

Again, he muttered his invocation and
found the vision passing through quite different vistas.  No more the lushness
of vegetation; here was a country ravaged by storms, where the land had been
churned into marshes and bogs by the driving rain.  It became so difficult to
see.  In frustration Ben tried to alter the focus.

There was a noise behind him and the
crystal ball collapsed.

It felt as if a current had been
disconnected so great was the jarring force of the shock.

Angrily, both men turned around to see one
of Lapski’s bruisers standing there, white faced and open mouthed in a comical
expression.  Despite everything the man knew somehow he still found evidence of
the supernatural shocking.

‘I told you not to disturb us!’ shouted
Lapski.

The man remained silent.

‘Fool, idiot.  Now that you’re here what
do you want?’

‘I’m sorry.’

‘All right, what?’

‘There’s news...’

‘News of what?’

‘I-Isaacson.’

‘Shmueli?  What about him?’

‘He’s gone back to his parents.’

‘Thank God.  Maybe we can bring an end to
this slaughter.  Alex, I suggest we drive over there at once.  There’s no time
to lose.’

‘All right.  I agree.  But what about
this?’

‘It can wait.  Now that I’ve established
the connection it should be simple to do it again.  Let’s collect the
crystals.  I don’t want them lying about.’

………………………………………………….

It was not long before they were in a car
driving towards the Isaacson’s home.  If Shmueli was possessed by the En Sof
they would soon know and then they could take the appropriate steps to exorcise
the vile spirit from its human host.  At least it would only have Mitch as a
tool and Mitch was safely away in Tevel for the moment.

Lapski’s mobile phone rang and Ben
listened to the excited conversation.

‘Damn.  They’ve all gone out.  My guy’s
following.

‘You’d better stop,’ he told the driver,
‘Let’s see where they’re going.’

They waited until the telephone rang
again.  Ben anxiously watched as Lapski answered the call.  He could not help
feeling that something was going to go wrong.

‘What?  You idiot, you imbecile.  We’ll
join you when we can.’

‘Well?’

‘They’ve got away.  Probably took the M1
but we’ve lost them.  We’ll interrogate my man and see what he can tell us but
I don’t imagine for one second it’ll be any use.  They could’ve gone anywhere. 
What do you think they’re up to?

Ben shook his head.  The En Sof was
clever, too clever.  It knew just how to stay ahead of them.  If they were to
find Shmueli then they would need to employ means beyond the natural.  Ben knew
that he would have to see what he could do.

Lapski, of course, was right.  The fellow
knew nothing that could provide assistance.  So, with heavy heads, they
returned to Jake’s house.  Now all they could do was to concentrate their
efforts in locating Mitch and contact the En Sof through him.

The power of that creature was growing. 
Soon it would be impossible to stop.

Vast and magnificent was the sheer rock face before them. 
It seemed to stretch hundreds of feet into the sky.  There was no way forward
without crossing this awesome edifice to the power of nature but crossing it
seemed completely impossible.

Its form was that of polished marble; an obsidian cliff
with not a single hand-hold in its smooth surface; and Jake could see no way
whatever of scaling it.  This was where his lifetime’s learning with the Haham
should supply an answer.  He had to think.

‘Is this the end, then?’

‘No, Faivish,’ he laughed, ‘The end?  No, not by a long
way.  The gate is here, I promise you.  We just have to find it.’

‘But there’s nothing.  We’ve walked along this wall in
both directions and there’s no way through.  Surely there is a sign..,
something?’

‘There is.  We’re just not seeing it.  Now relax and let
me concentrate.’

Jake again looked at the immense obstacle.  This was a
puzzle that he had to solve.  The solution when he found it would be something
so obvious that he would want to kick himself when he discovered it.

Come on.  This was ridiculous.

‘There’s a Magen David here somewhere.  It marks the
spot.  Have a look around.  See if you can spot one.  It’s possible it might
only be visible from a distance.’

‘A Shield of David, how big?’

‘I don’t know, my friend.  Please, go.  Maybe that’s the
answer.’

He watched as Faivish walked away from the cliff towards
the path they had journeyed along.  It would not do any good, he knew that, but
it would keep him from being pestered by the fellow.

Again he looked at the rock-face.  He recalled the brief
vision he had experienced during his life as Adam and tried to compare it with
the reality before him.  Everything was identical; everything, save for one
small fact.  The doorway, so clear in the vision, was nowhere to be found.  It
was as if the thing was being deliberately hidden.

Of course.  Could that be it?

Maybe the doorway really was there but was being
camouflaged.  Who would do such a thing?

The enemy, the creature, the one that possessed Mitch.  It
would know how to hide the gate.  It was a master at creating illusion.  It had
to be the culprit.

Well, if illusion was the magic, he would have to employ
an even more potent sorcery.  Yes, he would use the power of the
Aleph Bet.
 
The Hebrew alphabet created by God for the sole purpose of writing His Torah
and again later revealed to the Prophet Daniel and then to the scribes of
Israel.  The letters themselves contained the force of the Divine and for
Jake’s purposes there was none better than the fourth letter; the letter ‘
ד
’.  This letter called
Dalet
was the
Kabbalistic symbol for the doorway between Earth and Heaven.

He would call upon its power.

First though, to bring back Faivish.  He had been gone a
fair while.

‘Faivish.’

But there was no reply.  Where had the fellow gone to? 
Jake had only sent him to look at the wall from a distance.

‘Faivish.’

Damn it.  Now he would have to look for him.  Luckily the
soft ground showed Faivish’s tracks with ease and Jake followed the trail. 
They led to a small copse of tall but quite unfamiliar fruit trees.  It was
clear, however, that Faivish had gone no further.

There was only one thing to do.  Jake climbed one of the
trees (it would provide a reasonable vantage point) and went as high as he
dared.

There was no sign of Faivish but, to his surprise, there
was something else.  There in the face of the cliff, glowing, was a Star of
David.  Obviously the angle of view made it visible.  So now he knew what to
do.

Keeping the star within eyesight Jake climbed down the
tree until, as he reached the ground, it vanished.  But that was no problem. 
He had taken a bearing and he could plot a straight line towards the cliff.

But what of Faivish?  He could not leave without his
new-found friend.

So Jake spent a further fruitless half hour searching. 
Faivish had vanished, completely.  There was nothing whatever that Jake could
do.  There was no point in worrying.  If Faivish had deserted that was his
business.  The important thing was to find the gateway.

Again Jake climbed a tree and gauged his trajectory and
then he set off.

It was not long before he was there, standing in the
shadow of the rock-wall, but there was still no doorway.  Grimly, Jake smiled. 
He may not be able to see the portal but it was here and he knew how to reveal
it.

Crooking his ring finger he held the crystal against the
apparent cliff-face and began to carve three Hebrew letters into the granite:

ד
לת

It spelt
Dalet
; the Door.

Nothing happened.

And then there came a gentle rumble, nothing more than the
purr of a kitten at first but then the vibrations intensified.  The ground was
trembling as mighty reverberations passed throughout its strata.  The volcanic
forces themselves were awakening to vent their anger upon the world above.

Jake tried to keep his footing against the violence he had
unleashed.  Lightning flashed, surrounding him in a halo of glory, and he
experienced the power rushing through him.

‘Yes!’ he shouted triumphantly as the rock shimmered and
vanished before him.  There ahead was a tunnel cutting a swathe through the
very mountainside and above its mouth was King David’s shield, glowing like a
beacon through the ever-churning sky.

Jake braced himself and walked into the cave.

Instantly, the violence he had created was behind him. 
All was silent... absolutely.

It was becoming cooler as Jake made his way through the
tunnel.  The light becoming dimmer but that was no problem.  His crystal was
again emitting its amber glow.

And then came the cry he recognised.

‘Help me.’

Faivish!  But how?

It was ahead, some way distant.

‘Faivish?’

‘Help me.  Please...Help...me.’

It sounded so pitiful, so tragic, as if he was in absolute
torment.

‘Poor fellow.’

Jake forged ahead, more determined than ever, the cries of
his friend spurring him on to greater performance.  Faivish was in trouble.  It
had to be down to the same enemy that had hidden the doorway from him.  The
creature.  What did it want?  Surely it needed the crystals as much as did he
and it had to know that Jake was the only one who could use them.  There was no
sense in it trying to impede him now.

He shook his head as he continued through the
mountainside, the pathway going ever deeper into the ground.  And then, ahead,
something rippled.  It seemed to be a liquid, but it was jet-black, alien.

‘Hurry...Please.’

It was coming from the water.

Jake rushed ahead, driven by desperation, and found
himself at the end of the trail.  Before him it was black, totally.  This was a
darkness that was tangible.  It was so black that even his crystal was unable
to light the way but there was no choice.  He could only go forward.

This was the Tohu, the great void that existed before the
creation and remained between the worlds.  In it lived all those demons that
God had expelled from the seven Earths and the seven Heavens; things that had
no place even in the world of Arka, the dwelling of the souls of the damned;
but it was this that he had to cross.

Jake did not flinch as he jumped into the swirling
nothingness.

Down, down, through an endless sea of night, he plunged
through an eternity that contained neither time nor space.

Buffeted by winds that were neither cold nor hot, his body
spun through the infinite void as a miniscule speck of dust in the grip of a
tornado.

It was impossible to think within the maelstrom.  Even his
mind was subject to the force of creation that was the only reality of this
place.

Nothing physical could exist here.

Jake was a usurper.  He was risking destruction by the
mere fact of his presence.

He had to hold himself together.  Only his willpower could
allow him to survive.

‘Help me.’

Faivish, but now he seemed so near.  His voice echoing
through the nothingness.

It provided the focus he needed.

‘Faivish.  I’m coming.  Keep calling for me.  I’ll find
you.’

He had to stop spinning.  He had to become one with this
place, to become part of it rather than the interloper that he truly was.

‘Jake?’

The voice was clearer.  It was as if he was becoming
subject to the alien physical laws that governed.

‘I’m here, I’m coming.’

‘Jake...’ his voice full of excitement, ‘Jake.’

But where was he?  There was still nothing to see.

Jake closed his eyes and concentrated.

Faivish represented reality, the Tohu was beyond reality. 
If he could only attune his mind to reality then he could latch onto Faivish.

But what was real?

Jake opened his mind and reached back into his past.  He
had crossed into the Tevel from Heled.  Surely for him then Heled was the real
world.  Why could he not remember his life before?  There had to be something
that could act as a hook.

Cherry!

He tried to remember the girl whom he thought he loved in
that almost forgotten life.  Her hair.  What was the colour of her hair?  A
vision of a rich brown, almost rust colour, auburn.  That was it, auburn.  It
had been the first thing that he had noticed about her.

And her eyes.  What colour were her eyes?  Yes, they
matched the hair, but an even deeper shade of brown.

Then, bit by bit, a picture emerged.  A face exuding
warmth, a perfect figure; how could he have possibly forgotten her?  Cherry
Linford, of course.  But, even as the image imprinted itself upon his mind
there was a flash of a quite different picture.  Blond hair, blue eyes,
anger..; who was she?  And, just as suddenly, it was gone.

Jake tried to clear his thoughts.  For one brief instant
the image of Cherry was displaced by another.  Someone also beautiful but
someone who seemed to create such an emotional outburst that he found it
upsetting.

If only he could fit the pieces of his life together.

He concentrated on the image of Cherry and smiled. 
Cherry, so warm, so gentle.  Cherry, in whose arms he wanted to lie.  Cherry,
oh Cherry.

At last there was something he could grasp.

Cherry.

Jake concentrated on the feeling of love that pervaded his
being and drank the strength of that simple emotion.  The power of his desire
flowing through every vein in his body; every artery swollen with his passion,
and he allowed his mind to reach out.

The veils of darkness pulled apart and the blackness of
the Tohu opened to allow his mental gaze to search through the voids for a sign
of his friend.

Faivish.

And there he was; within an impenetrable bubble; floating,
drifting; but there was something holding that bubble; something huge, coloured
like blood; something monstrous; something evil.

A torso so large, so grotesque; a mass of filaments that
folded together like strands of glass fibre with eyes of a thousand facets. 
This was like nothing Jake had ever seen before.  He tried to gain an
impression of its form but it was quite impossible.  There was no reference
mark to give any point of comparison and Jake gave up the effort.

The primordial consciousness; it was here.  The enemy; in
this place that did not truly exist; the wastes between the worlds, a limbo
like the limbo from which it had been released; it had form; it had substance
and Jake knew that here they could confront each other.

‘Release him to me.’

‘Oh, no, mortal Priest.  I have need of your co-operation
and the life of this miserable wretch guarantees that for me.  Only you can
conduct the ceremony that will give me existence and I must know that you will
not fail.

‘Understand me.  If you do anything to interfere with my
desires, this creature will be extinguished.  Not only will his life end but he
will be condemned to join me in the limbo from which I came.’

Jake wanted so much to fight but there was nothing that he
could do.  The monstrosity had his friend captive and it was beyond his power
to do anything about it.

‘All right.  I hear you.  I will do as you say.’

‘Good.  My servant, the man, Mitch, will assist you.  He
is awaiting your coming to the Yabbashah.  Go now.’

‘Wait.’

‘Yes?’

‘Tell me.  Do you have a name?’

‘I do but it will only be mine when I live.  If you want
to give me a title you may do as does my servant, Lapski.  He calls me the En
Sof.’

And, despite the fact that he already knew this from his
studies under the Haham Jake could not help smiling at the bitter irony of that
designation.  The En Sof was one of the aspects of God; literally meaning
“Without End”; or more correctly, the Infinite.  It was sacrilege to give the
same title to something that was almost the antithesis of the Creator.  Yes, it
was a name that creature would love to have for its own.

‘All right, En Sof, I will allow you that name for now and
I will join with Mitch.  Allow me to leave the Tohu.’

‘The way is clear.  Go in peace.’

As Jake opened his eyes again he could feel solidity
beneath his feet.  He was on the pathway; the road between the worlds.  Just a
few more steps and he would be within the Yabbashah.  There was nothing that he
could do for Faivish, but somehow he would find a way.  The En Sof had to
possess a weakness.  He would just have to find it before his quest was ended.

For now he would have to co-operate.  Mitch was waiting
for him and, from what he could recall, Mitch had Cherry prisoner.  At last he
would see her again.