by Leo Ndelle
Uriel remained silent.
“Do not make me repeat myself, Uriel!” Michael warned.
“It was about the prophecies,” Uriel cowered.
“What about the prophecies?!” Michael demanded.
Uriel remained silent and Michael took a step closer to her. She backed away from him, summoned her wings and flapped them nervously.
“The prophecies were not from The Logos,” Uriel confessed.
Her shoulders slumped as her wings folded inwards before she dismissed them. There was no point in either lying or keeping it a secret anymore. She felt like she had betrayed Michael, though that was not the case. The moment had come for Michael to know the whole truth.
“They came from Lunok, all three of them,” she added. “I know this because I was a part of it.”
To her surprise, Michael was neither angry nor shocked. He stared at her with the most emotionless eyes she had ever seen. And then, an emotion slowly crept into those lifeless eyes and Uriel’s core was rent in twain: disappointment. Uriel tried to say something but her words died in her throat. She took a tentative step towards Michael and reached for him. Michael backed away from her as if she was made of Hell Realm’s filth.
“I started having my doubts about the prophecies after the rebellion,” Michael said as he summoned a seat and sank into it.
“I pondered on them a lot,” Michael absentmindedly traced his left, index finger on the table. “I knew I had seen the mark behind my neck somewhere, but I couldn’t recall where. Later, though, I remembered! It was on almost everything the Shemsus brought with them while they were still working among us. I noticed the mark while I was undergoing special training.”
Michael traced some glyphs of light in the air with his fingers at the mention of ‘special training’. The glyphs of light slowly disappeared as he spoke. He spoke so softly he could have been speaking to himself. He then stood up and faced Uriel. A deep sadness enveloped him.
“Why?” he asked.
It was a loaded question and Uriel felt it in her core. How could he do that? she asked herself. How could he communicate so much so deeply? Maybe he was becoming more Shemsu than angel. Or maybe it was something else entirely.
“What was the purpose of it all?” Michael continued. “I want the complete truth. Total disclosure. I want to know everything during these final moments.”
His words stung and hurt her deeply. They were neither a demand nor a plea. But they were heavy with so much emotion that Uriel’s core resonated with it. And what did Michael mean by ‘these final moments’? Was there something Michael was trying to tell her? Uriel summoned her wings, flapped them twice before dismissing them. They were about to go to war. Nothing else mattered and yes, this may be their final moments, literally.
“Lunok realized that Emok’s essence had become tainted,” Uriel began. “By ‘tainted’, he meant polarized. Mind you, polarization was an alien concept to the Shemsus. I’m not sure if that has changed now or if it’s still the same. Surprising, I know; especially since they’re supposed to be much more evolved than we are. But polarization was not a problem for us in Celestia. However, when Lunok and his team observed Emok’s behavior, especially how Emok almost wiped out our entire dimension, he became very concerned that either you, Luciel or the two of you could end up doing the same.”
“Because we carry a part of Emok’s tainted essence,” Michael interjected.
Uriel nodded
“To understand polarization,” Uriel continued. “Lunok had what he thought was a brilliant idea. But he would not put anyone at risk to test his idea. As such, Lunok did the one thing that no one in Creation had ever done.”
“He fell,” Michael interjected.
Uriel did not miss the respect she heard in Michael’s tone of voice.
“Yes,” Uriel concurred and marveled even more.
“Luciel and I were drawn to each other by something beyond love,” Michael continued and the sadness in his eyes deepened even more. “We still are. It’s not just Emok’s essence that binds the two of us. It’s the taint, a very dark force, in that essence that binds us both. It’s very strong and it now makes sense the more I talk about it. Luciel and I never really loved each other. We were merely reacting to that dark force that we both carry within us.”
Michael paused and heaved his shoulders as Uriel stepped closer towards him.
“I see why Lunok chose to work with you over anyone else in Celestia,” Michael said as he let Uriel take his hand in hers. “You don’t carry Emok’s essence and you are the wisest of us all.”
Uriel’s core was shattered by Michael’s declaration. It was a strange feeling. His comments were supposed to make her happy and proud. Yet, his words made her feel selfish, low and dirty. There was no logic behind her feelings but that was how she felt regardless. She should have trusted him and shared everything from the start. She should not have waited this long. Now, her delay in telling the truth was causing some major damages to her best friend’s psyche.
“You had to preserve the integrity and objectivity of Lunok’s experiment,” Michael added as if reading her mind. “That was why you kept it a secret from me until now.”
“I am so sorry, Michael!” Uriel dropped to her knees in front of him and took his hands in hers. “I am so, so sorry. I never should have lied to you. I never should have kept it a secret from you. I never meant to hurt you, I swear to you!”
“What eludes me the most is the third prophecy,” Michael continued as if Uriel was not even in the domain with him. “Was he also a part of Lunok’s plan?”
“I asked Lunok the same thing,” Uriel replied as she stood up. “He said Eliel wasn’t part of the plan. But his experience in other realms indicated that someone ‘special’ always showed up later within a species; an aberration of sorts. Maybe this was by design. It was on this premise that he formulated the third prophecy.”
“I see,” Michael said calmly. “Whether by design or not, Eliel fulfills the third prophecy. He is special and deserving of the title of archangel supreme. Now that he is here, I am no longer worthy or deserving of that title.”
Uriel wanted to protest. However, when she saw the look in Michael’s eyes, she gasped and took a step back. She had never seen Michael like this before. There was no spark of light or life in those eyes. She saw the emptiness and hollowness that come with one who has lost everything: from purpose, the will to live, and all that come in between. The saddest part of it all was that Uriel saw that Michael, her best friend, had made peace with this, and she felt hopeless and powerless against the situation. She had found the love of her life, only to lose the best friend she had ever had. Life was unfair. Creation was unfair!
Michael summoned his wings and flapped them once.
“We have a war to win,” he said weakly. “And I don’t want to miss it.”
***
“So, when this is all over, where will you retire to?” Patrick asked. “White sand beaches and clear, blue waters?”
Shi’mon laughed a little.
“I am not sure,” Shi’mon replied. “I’ll think about it when that time comes.”
“Do you think the others will retire as well?” Patrick asked. “And what are we going to do without you folks? I mean, the organization needs you, father. WE all need you.”
“No, son, you don’t need us,” Shi’mon replied. “Earth doesn’t need us when they have a guardian. That’s right, son, you becoming a guardian of the realm has made us obsolete and we couldn’t be prouder of you. I couldn’t be prouder of you for what you have become, and I am not just talking about your new status.”
Patrick tried to come up with something to defuse the buildup of emotions but failed. His heart was truly heavy. He did not know what he would do without the man he had grown to love and considered a father. He knew Shi’mon and the team would not remain on the realm. As his minds raced in every direction, Patrick was oblivious to the tears of sadness that rolled down
his cheeks.
“You are the son I never had, Patrick,” Shi’mon said and Patrick sniveled. “When I thought you had died, something in me died as well. I wept when no one was watching and I blamed myself for what had happened to you.”
Shi’mon dabbed at his eyes with his sleeve.
“But then you returned and I was made whole again, son,” Shi’mon continued. “I can now depart in peace, knowing my life’s work is complete. I wish I could stay but my time has come. I have already apprised Antonio about everything. He knows you will be working with the O.R. in a different capacity from now on. He does seem to look forward to it, I believe.”
Both men laughed hard and sniveled some more.
“Before I go,” Shi’mon added, “Know that I love you very much, son.”
Patrick teleported to Shi’mon and hugged Shi’mon tightly from a kneeling position. Shi’mon hugged him back as Patrick told Shi’mon he loved him very much as well and that he was grateful to Shi’mon for being the father Shi’mon had been to him all these years. Suddenly, Patrick pulled away from Shi’mon, startling Shi’mon in the process.
“What’s wrong, son?” Shi’mon asked.
“Someone just broke through the auric barrier,” Patrick replied as he stood up. “Someone far more powerful than the archangel shadowing him.”
“I’ll alert the others immediately,” Shi’mon replied and rose from his seat. “Do you know where they are heading?”
“The Giza Plateau,” Patrick replied with a fury Shi’mon had never seen before.
He turned his attention towards Shi’mon.
“I have only one request,” Patrick said.
“What’s that, son?” Shi’mon asked.
“No matter what happens out there, no matter what you see,” Patrick hissed and a black, misty aura formed around his body, “The Beast is mine!”
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
BATTLEFIELD I
“OKAY BRETHREN, THIS is it!” Palubiel called out to her squadron. “This is the moment we’ve all been training for! We are the first line of Celestia’s defense. Let’s make sure Hell regrets ever thinking about this in the first place.”
There was a loud cheer from Palubiel’s squadron. She had come a long way. She was spawned just before the first rebellion, but her patriotism to Celestia had made her fight with the skills and mindset of archangels spawned and trained many cycles before her. Raphael had seen the embers in her eyes and he had fanned them into a fiery flame. She had become his protégé; a very rare thing for the one and only Raphael to do. Come to think of it, she was the only protégé Raphael had ever had. Now, she was not only in charge of guarding the border but had her own squadron, whom she had trained to fight almost as good as she did, or even better. She could not have been prouder of her squadron.
Palubiel turned around and faced forward. The creatures of Hell were already marching towards them. This war would be different from the last. The last war had been angels versus angels. Now, the battle would be between the angels of Celestia and all the creatures from Hell. The army that marched towards them consisted of angels, demons, and a mix of other creatures from many dimensions. There were those that walked on four legs, eight legs, or some odd number of legs, with features that were alien to those of the angels of Celestia. Some were very beautiful and others, not so much. Regardless, they were the enemy and the enemy was a charging, raging herd, whose numbers dwarfed Palubiel’s squadron by an estimated eighteen-to-one.
“Am I the only one disappointed by this tiny turnout?!” Palubiel called out.
“Wings, no!” her squadron thundered and then immediately started chanting:
PALU’S WINGS! PALU’S WINGS! PALU’S WINGS!
“Waste no blow, waste no moment!” Palubiel called out amidst the cheers.
PALU’S WINGS! PALU’S WINGS!
“Show no fear, show no mercy!”
PALU’S WINGS! PALU’S WINGS!
“‘Take no prisoners! Leave none standing!”
PALU’S WINGS! PALU’S WINGS!
“Leave no outcast! End them all!”
Palubiel summoned her sword as Hell Realm accelerated towards Palubiel’s line of defense. Her squadron cheered even louder and flapped their wings. There was fire in their eyes and a thirst for war. They would fight for pride, for honor, for duty and for vengeance, personal or acquired. A second set of creatures swarmed out from behind Hell Realm’s army to mount an aerial assault and Palubiel’s squadron was instantly outnumbered by an estimated twenty-four-to-one. Palubiel grinned and her eyes flamed up. Now we’re talking! She thought and summoned her archangel battle flame.
“Brothers and sisters!” she called out as Hell’s army drew dangerously closer.
And then, everything seemed to move in slow motion as Palubiel became immersed in a calmness that she had never felt before. She relished the moment and the insane power that came with it. She spoke the one word that everyone in her squadron had been craving to hear from the very moment they passed her vigorous selection process. She said it calmly but it reverberated in the essences of her squadron like a million wings flapping in unison.
“Attack!”
***
“I wonder why we keep getting drawn to this location, guardian,” The Beast said as Patrick appeared in front of him.
“Why not ask your sidekick?” Patrick rebutted and appreciated the fact that Beelzebub’s companion was stuck-up enough to not react to his comment.
“I don’t need his help to end you,” The Beast reminded Patrick with a strong tone of condescension in his voice. “He just helped me break through your shield. Once I am done with you, I will proceed to your precious earthlings and then we will both be gone.”
Wow, that creature broke my auric barrier! Patrick thought. What the hell is he?
“And what makes you think I can’t handle two sissies?” Patrick scoffed.
But when Keerim’s eyes glowed violet, Patrick could not hide his surprise.
“That’s right, guardian!” The Beast laughed derisively. “I would love to see you take on a paradin!”
“Do you know the one thing I like about this earthling?” said a bodiless voice from nowhere. “He is more courageous than the two of you combined.”
It was Patrick’s turn to laugh out loud. He could recognize that voice even in death. He saw the look of horror on Beelzebub’s sidekick’s face and laughed some more. Fazim appeared next to him and she was not alone.
“I guess my work here is done, old friend,” Ashram said and shifted his attention towards Patrick. “Good to see you, Patrick.”
“Good to see you both!” Patrick replied and grinned as Ashram disappeared.
Sorry, Keerim! Had to remove your protection, said The Scribe, whom no one could perceive; not even Ashram.
Fazim glared at Keerim and Keerim met her gaze. There was no escaping now. Here, on this arid land, one paradin would rise and the other would fall. Keerim stepped slightly away from Beelzebub as an invitation to Fazim. Fazim smiled, turned and kissed Patrick passionately on the lips for several seconds before she stepped away from him as well. She was pleased to see the look of jealousy that burned in Keerim’s eyes.
Patrick stared back and forth between Fazim and Keerim before he erupted in more laughter. He could not believe his luck; but then, he was forever linked to Fazim, not as a guardian, but as a soulmate. Well, maybe Ashram had a hand in that as well, but who cared! Fazim was there and at the perfect moment.
“Let’s end this quickly and go have some real fun, babe,” Patrick said.
“Don’t gotta tell me twice, baybuh,” Fazim replied. “God, I love you, Patrick!”
“I love you too, honey,” Patrick replied and blew her a kiss before returning his attention towards Beelzebub.
“You are a complete disgrace!” Keerim sneered, unable to contain his jealousy. “How could you, a guardian, stoop so low!”
“I’ll take this ‘low’ over your fugitive, cowardly self anyti
me, any day,” Fazim replied. “How does it feel knowing that you are about to fall by the hands of the one you betrayed?”
“Oh! The council gave you permission to end me, I see,” Keerim retorted. “How noble of them!”
“The council ordered me to bring you back by whatever means necessary,” Fazim said and her eyes flared violet. “Nothing was said about bringing you back alive or not. I’ll just have to use my discretion.”
Marlo suddenly appeared next to Beelzebub, clutching the spear of destiny in his right hand. He looked around and all the faces he saw were alien to him. He wondered if he was in the right place. The Scribe had told him he would have some company and that a part of that company would be his allies. But standing in the middle of what looked like a standoff between four creatures of three different species, it was hard for him to identify whose side he was on. Where was that damn Scribe! Marlo had no intentions of gambling his options. So he stayed rooted where he was but remained on high alert.
“Another sissy sidekick of yours, creature?” Patrick mocked.
“I thought he was one of yours,” The Beast countered.
“No, no, no,” Patrick shook his head. “My team would not bring tooth picks to a fight of any kind. So he is definitely here for you.”
“Very perceptive, Patrick,” The Scribe said as he manifested out of thin air.
He then turned his attention towards Marlo, ignoring the looks of confusion on the faces of Beelzebub, Fazim and Patrick.
“Marlo, meet your allies,” The Scribe said with exaggerated panache. “Keerim and Beelzebub from different realms. You two, meet Marlo.”
“You must be The Anomaly,” Patrick said as he relaxed his shoulders. “I have heard mentions of you before.”
“And we are not to engage him in anyway, Patrick,” Shi’mon said as he and the rest of the team, including Lithilia and Maduk, appeared as well.
The fight suddenly looked so unfair.
“Now who is the weakling?” The Beast scoffed and Patrick glared at him.
“Ladies and gentlemen!” The Scribe called out, drawing all attention towards himself. “I’m sure you’re wondering why you’re gathered right here and now. You see, I have to let you in on a little secret. There is something buried beneath this paw-” he pointed at the giant right paw of the Sphinx “- and now that my team is complete, they will help me obtain it, because my team is the key. I know. So many questions. But don’t you worry; you will find out soon enough what it is. In the meantime, please, by all means, let the fun begin!”