Page 8 of The Secret of Secrets (Robert Langdon #6)

The Ether had passed, and The Golěm lay naked on the hemp mat.

His journey had climaxed, as it always did, with waves of euphoria and an overwhelming sense of spiritual connection to all things. To receive the Ether was a nonsexual orgasm—a cresting wave of mystical bliss that unlocked a gateway through which to glimpse Reality as it really was.

Mystical journeys like these were often disparaged as delusional fantasy, but those who saw the Truth had no need for small minds.

The Golěm knew from experience that the universe was far more complex and beautiful than most could comprehend.

The Moderns still could not accept the Truth that the Ancients understood intuitively…

The human body was nothing but a temporary vessel in which to experience this earthly realm.

He removed the perforated ball gag from his mouth and stood up, alone in the darkness of his svatyně. In the absence of light, he moved to the far wall and knelt on the cushion before the shrine he had created there.

Groping in blackness, he found the box of matches and struck one, lighting the three votive candles he had arranged on the table in a bed of dried flowers.

As the flickering candlelight grew, the photo on the wall before him came into view.

He smiled lovingly up at her face.

You don’t know me, but I am here to deliver you from evil.

The forces of darkness that threatened her were potent and had exceptional reach. She was more vulnerable now than ever before, especially because she was distracted.

She has found love.

Or so she believes…

The Golěm felt sickened to know she was giving her body to someone so unworthy.

He does not understand you as I do.

Nobody does.

Sometimes, when she lay in bed, intertwined with her new lover here in Prague, The Golěm permitted himself to watch…a visitor in her mind, looking on in silence, wanting desperately to shout into her ear: “He is not who he seems!”

But The Golěm remained silent…a thought in the shadows.

She must never know I am here.