Baphomet: There are many definitions and depictions of the Baphomet. The most known depiction is the one by Eliphas Levy, which shows Baphomet in the form of a winged humanoid goat with a pair of breasts and a torch on his head between his horns. This is not the image I am using in my story. The Baphomet of my story is Aleister Crowley's Baphomet, the Lion-Serpent "that destroys the destroyer", the dialectic union of opposites that conquers death.
Aleister Crowley (1875-1947) was an occultist and mystic. I'm not one of his followers - I'm just very curious about him. He was a polemical thinker. If you Google for his name, you will find a lot of sites about him. The Book of the Law is a revealed book - Crowley claimed to have written the words dictated to him by Aiwass (or Aiwaz "the minister of Hoor-paar-kraat," or Horus, the god of force and fire).
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Crowley was also an artist, and he designed a beautiful Thoth Tarot deck (you can see some of the cards here).
This card, the Tower, has a special meaning for us, because it shows the lion-serpent (at the right top, below the Eye of Horus).
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This chapter is not the first in which Aleister Crowley or the Baphomet are mentioned. Crowley had been already mentioned in the 8th chapter of "Baphomet I", and the Baphomet had already appeared in the 12th chapter of "Baphomet I". As for Crowley's thoughts, their influence is seen throughout the story.
And here is the Baphomet again, in a different depiction, in the Lust card (or "The Force" card), also designed by Aleister Crowley.