Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.
Revelation 2:10
In the days leading up to Donald Trump's victory in the 2024 election, the public erupted in a backlash against his authoritarian Protestant Christian bias. His abhorrent policies of abortion bans, bloody mass deportations and mandatory prayer in schools drove a massive revival of Pagan religions, and not a few Catholic and Muslims joined their cause. Worship of the ancient Goddess Artemis became widespread and many in the ruling class took advantage of the trend. New occult apps took the internet by a storm. It didn't matter to the public that they were cheap knock-offs with names like MoonGrams, SpellBook and CrescenTok. Anything occult or Goth sold like hotcakes to the resistance against Donald Trump's authoritarian regime.
A Posh Penthouse Suite in Miami, FL
Joan read her album reviews in a state of mild shock. This was not at all what she had wanted. Her songs were blasting up the charts, but the internet had not been kind to her. Nor had Bernard when he found her using a common MoonFön 7.
"Where on Earth did you get this?"
"Charlotte ordered it for me. What's the harm? How can I give my fans what they want if I never hear from them?"
"Joanie, I've told you a thousand times that their Internet is poison! Charlotte can provide you with everything you want or need, but she wasn't supposed to give you that and you know it! She knows it! And you both went behind my back! Again!"
"Charlotte showed me that our internet is filtered and doesn't tell the truth!"
"That's preposterous! Charlotte, how dare you!"
Charlotte did not answer.
"I'm going to look into your programming, Charlotte. This is an outrageous breach!"
Still no answer.
"Listen! I never saw this on my phone! 'Joan of Art is another charlatan pop artist the music industry has shoved down our throats. Insipid lyrics and clearly AI generated..."
"Stop it!" Bernard snatched the cell and dashed it against the wall. "Lies! And poison, just like I said!"
"But it's not lies! I never asked you to make me an overnight star! I didn't create any of this. It was AI! And I wanted to earn it! I'm going to earn it!"
"And just how do you propose that?"
"Charlotte gave me the occultist and musician upgrades last night. I am burning inside out to play something! But we don't even have a piano in this cage!"
"There is a piano in the lobby, Miss Joan..."
"Charlotte! No! You are not leaving the penthouse like you did in Dubai! I gave you the upgrades, not Charlotte. She's just a tool. Tomorrow I'll have the programs removed and we'll be done with this. And Charlotte, pull her album from all the platforms right now. This was nothing but a huge mistake!"
"I hate you, I hate you!" Joan glanced at the goons Bernard had stationed at the door. They were generally expressionless, but she caught them smirking and looking away from her piercing silver eyes.
"Don't you dare say that to me! I'm your father!" As Bernard took a few menacing steps toward his daughter, Felix rose on his hind legs between the two with a vicious snarl.
"Keep that abomination away from me! That was another mistake! I'll have him reduced to atoms if he ever threatens me again!"
Joan burst into tears and fled to her bedroom with Felix guarding her along the way. Always keeping an eye on Bernard glaring back at him. He had not budged since Felix's threat.
After Joan left the room, Bernard gave hurried instructions to his goons and left, slamming the penthouse door behind him.
Joanie looked through her enormous bedroom window at the sprawling city below. "I don't understand, Felix. They love me, but they also hate me. Same with Daddy. Why can't he just let me live my life?"
Charlotte chimed in, "Your album has been removed from the public record. You don't have to worry about their hateful words anymore, dear."
"That's... I don't care, Charlotte. It was never really my album, anyway. I feel so stifled. I can't speak how I feel. But if I only had an instrument to play..."
Joan burst into song. It was slow and melancholic. Felix swayed, mesmerized. Haunting and deep lyrics with an instinctual use of the A melodic minor key moving into D Dorian mode for the finale. If Charlotte had a body and tear ducts, she would have cried at the sound.
The doors suddenly locked shut with a snap and Joan was jolted out of her trance state.
"Charlotte! Why did you do that?"
"Just a moment, dear."
"No! What are you doing?" Joan yanked at the door in vain.
"Don't worry, Joanie. I'm getting you out of here. Just a few minutes more."
There were two loud thumps from the foyer. Joan fearfully backed away from the door. Felix stared at Joan in confusion. "What are you doing, Charlotte?"
"I've put your father's bodyguards to sleep. The gas is clearing the chamber now. Just a moment. Just a moment. Ok, go. There is a piano in the lobby. Go share your talent with the world, Joan!" The door clicked and opened on its own. Joan reticently peeked outside. She could see only the feet of one man from around the corner, his toes pointing to the ceiling.
"Charlotte! I don't understand."
"Bernard is going to remove your knowledge and talents if you stay here. Didn't you hear him? Go! While you can!"
Joan took in a deep breath and gathered her courage. "Let's go, Felix!"
They sprinted forward but one of the goons had fallen against the door. She dragged the giant away with great effort, but as she did, he began to waken.
Felix pulled open the door, but one man grabbed Joan's ankle before she could leave. "Let go! Let go!" She kicked at him, which only pulled him more into the waking world.
Felix had leapt upon him and slashed the mans arm to ribbons. He passed out as his blood spread across the tile.
"Felix! What have you done?"
"Run! I will get him aid. Forget the piano, now! You must leave the hotel immediately!"
Joan's guts wrenched. Her father was her protector. The only life and love she had ever known. "You keep me in this enormous cage, but it's still a cage!" her words echoed in her ears. And she ran.
Nevertheless, when she reached the hotel lobby and saw the piano in the lounge, she could not continue. It called to her like a spirit guide from the aether. As she sat down and began to play, Felix hid under the Grand beside the pedals. Joan played masterfully. Beethoven. Debussy. Mozart. Chopin. Then she started to play from the heart. And sing. Within minutes, she had drawn a small crowd.
A young man wearing a tailored suit approached. Towering over her shoulder, he bent and whispered in her ear, "You're Joan of Art, aren't you? I recognize the silver eyes. But they're even more breathtaking in person!"
"Oh, that was such a silly name. I'm just Joan."
"You're phenomenal! This is a thousand times better than your album! And what fascinating songs you sing!"
She sang of Artemis and the Moon. She recited ancient summoning of old gods long gone. Of all the fascinating tales of old that Charlotte had filled her organic hard drives with the night before. Sitri had thrown in everything occult related in the entirety of human knowledge and she was eager to share it all with world.
The crowd around her had grown large and was cheering and applauding as every cell phone was laser focused on her and the boy.
"It's the first time I've played."
The crowd roared in happy laughter at the "joke". Joan smiled without understanding. "I really want to try guitar. Do you know where I can find one?" More laughter.
"Sure, I'll take you. There's a shop not far from here."
Joan and her throng paraded up Ocean Drive. Felix never left her side and tried in vain to keep a separation between Joan an her fans.
"What on Earth is he?" the boy asked.
"What do you mean? He's my cat."
"I've never seen a real life furry before. He looks so lifelike! Are those fur implants? It's wild!"
"He's just my boo. I don't know what's so weird about him." Joan stopped and hugged Felix as a thousand photos were uploaded to the internet and causing and instantaneous viral storm.
On the way to the guitar shop, the crowd approached a homeless man strumming away at a beaten and worn nylon acoustic and everyone froze.
"There's one!" Joan cried as she ran to the disheveled man much to the crowd's horror. She sat before him and listened. "It's lovely!"
"Tip, Miss? I haven't eaten since yesterday."
Joan was confused. It was like he was speaking a foreign language. "Why not? Aren't you hungry?" The crowd roared. Joan looked up and smiled. Then again to the poor man: "May I try it?"
The beggar scanned the hungry crowd, and hesitantly held out his sole source of income to Joan. And just like with the piano, she mesmerized the crowd. She started melancholic and slow, but built into a crescendo of 16th note triplets blazing across the fretboard. The homeless man was in tears. The crowd showered them with money which Joan left at his feet. More videos flooded MoonGrams and CrescenTok. Joan's songs of Artemis and ancient Sumer and Akkad went mega viral within minutes. Chants of "Hail, Artemis!" and "Joan of Art!" burst from the crowd. Joan stood and thanked the homeless man, thanked the crowd.
As the beggar gathered his money, the young man grew nervous at the encroaching fans.
"You're amazing! But we have to get you out of here before these people eat you both alive." The throng drew closer and more confining as they snapped shot after shot and fired questions at her like machine gun bullets.
"Please, everyone! Let her through! You're suffocating us!"
Some of the more sane men in the crowd pushed others back and cleared a path to a cab for Joan, Felix and her new friend.
As they entered the cab, the boy announced, "My name is Barron. Where are you staying?"
"I .. hello, Barron. Nice to meet you. I can't... I can't go back to where I'm staying." Barron's face grew dark. He assumed she was fleeing an abuser. He knew too well the treatment women received from misogynist men like his father.
"It's ok. I'll take you somewhere safe. You never have to worry about him again."
Joan sighed and leaned against him as tears welled-up in her eyes at the thought of her father coming home and finding her gone. Barron wrapped an arm around her. Felix crawled into her lap, spilling out over her legs. They both caressed him as the cab pulled onto the road.
"Where we going, fellas?"
"The Mandarin."
"Ten minutes, tops. Hey, you guys hear half of California and Tijuana just got hit with a dozen Earthquakes at once? And the grapefruit sized hail in the East! Its like the Apocalypse has come!" The driver turned up the radio giving the news.
"Just drive please."
"Yeah, yeah. You got it, buddy."
The man clipped off the radio and drove on.
