The Immolation

I’m Scott Richards. The idea for this entirely fictional story sparked when my daughter asked if the gods of the ancient mythos where real. She often asks questions about religion, god and what’s true or not. I started asking what if. One of those questions was “What if God created the ancient gods in myth to help oversee his children in the various regions of the world?” and “What if they still existed today?”

Would they hold a grudge for losing their status after the commandment; “thou shall not worship another god but me?” And the spark flamed into a fire.

This feature film pits mortals against those ancient, powerful gods in the modern world, set mostly around New Orleans. Not all the old gods are happy with living under the edict that they are not allowed to use their powers and a few plan a rebellion to challenge the one God and burn creation itself.
Comps: Immortals (2011) and Gods of Egypt (2016) as a modern day crime story.

The story follows two humans, Jessica Colt and Paul Dern.
Jessica is an FBI agent. She’s an atheist with a cynical nature, born of a rough emotional past that produces conflict throughout the story.
Paul is a university professor with expert knowledge in the occult.
Together Paul and Jessica share an unpleasant past. They met when Jessica investigated the death of Paul’s mother in a bloody occult ritual. The murder was never solved, but Jessica and Paul grew close and started a relationship that ended badly.
This story forces them to relive their grief and regret-filled past.

The world isn’t what we think when ritual murder steals the soul of the victim.

Unknown suspects ritually murder the CEO of a federally contracted company during a Mardi Gras party. Paul discovers the body and calls the police. The FBI sends Jessica to investigate. She coerces Paul’s help due to his expertise on the occult. Their reconnection causes a storm of emotional conflict.

The autopsy reveals that the victim’s entire insides had been reduced to cinders, leaving the external skin untouched. Perplexed, Paul takes Jessica to Mother Cobo, an eccentric voodoo woman for answers. Mother Cobo tells them that only magic could cause the internal immolation done to the body. Jessica scoffs at the suggestion that magic is real, but Paul embraces the idea sparking further conflict between them.

They uncover more bizarre clues as they research the objects used in the ritual homicide left at the scene. The discovery of a cult with motive and reputed capabilities to carry out the murder tests Jessica’s survival skills and Paul’s resolve. They escape just at the real killers four ancient gods test out their new powers and use the sun to incinerate Mercury.
Mother Cobo tells them that all the old Mythos and the gods within them really did exist, and they still live, hiding among humans today. To believe this, one must believe in God. Jessica does not. Mother Cobo goes on to tell them that God had made the lesser gods to rule over different parts of his creation as he watched but became dissatisfied and angry with the way they were conducting themselves. So, he banished them around the time he sent the commandments to Moses.

Paul presumes, to Jessica’s skepticism, that there is a conspiracy of old gods responsible for the events. This is confirmed after a second ritual sacrifice. The four antagonists know they need more power if they are to achieve their ultimate goal of destroying God himself.

One by one, Paul finds out that some of his friends are ancient gods. He and Jessica must come up with a plan to find the gods committing the murders and survive long enough to do something about them. If they are gods, can they simply be arrested? As they struggle to find their way, a third murder occurs.
As Jessica strives to come to terms with whether God even exists, Jace, a.k.a. Dionysus, makes her an offer. He will bring Jessica’s long-dead best friend back to life if she lets them continue untroubled. Jessica agrees, but when the truth of their power is revealed, and Patrick is there before her, she must choose between her old friend and Paul. Paul discovers that the only way they can defeat the ancient gods is for Jessica to believe in God.

The murders solved and the powerful ancient gods either dead or willing to be imprisoned, Jessica and Paul enter a new relationship. They promise that the general public does not know of the existence of the old gods and they never will.

To summarize, A bizarre murder pits an atheist FBI Agent and an occult expert against ancient gods bent on destroying creation itself.
The title is THE IMMOLATION.

The major themes in this story are the power of belief, and Revenge is destructive even for those seeking it.

Thank you