Beyond the Garden

by S. Y. Thompson

  After that, Lil concentrated on holding the little girl against her chest as they stumbled through the dark. The snow fell softly but the wind died down, giving them a break from the stinging cold. Lil’s strong arms never tired and she felt the moment when Sumi began to shiver once again. Lil tried to project the same internal heat she had shared earlier, but couldn’t seem to call it forth. The thought occurred to her that the phenomena might be an anomaly and she found the idea disturbing. She liked the idea of transferring abilities through a simple touch.

  “There,” Haruko spoke. “I see lights through the trees.”

  Lil glanced over her shoulder and spotted the wavering beams of flashlights headed in their direction. Soon after, she heard voices calling out from a distance away. She and Haruko picked up the pace.

  “Sumi! Doko ni imasu ka?”

  Shortly thereafter, Lil could hear the crash of underbrush as searchers pushed their way through. Lil’s heart pounded in relief when she heard voices calling out for Sumi. Her primary concern was to get the girl to shelter and ensure she was all right. For once, she wasn’t focused on achieving her goal of passing on her abilities, though that had occurred through an unintentional avenue.

  “Here,” Lil called out in Japanese. “We’ve found her.”

  Soon, Lil and Haruko met up with a search and rescue team made up of both men and women. Sumi’s parents were among the group and Lil was happy to witness their tearful relief. Sumi finally awakened and looked around with confusion in her dark brown eyes. The group invited Haruko and Lil to go with them and enjoy a hot beverage as a way of saying thanks, but Lil demurred. She had promised Dana she would return as quickly as possible.

  Haruko kept her peace, but Lil could tell by her expression that she was mystified. As soon as they were alone, Lil attempted to cut her off. “Thank you again, Haruko. I don’t know about you, but I’m ready to get out of this forest.”

  “Of course. I’m sure you seek the heat of a fire.”

  “You know me so well,” Lil agreed, feeling a twinge of guilt for taking such an easy way out. She didn’t know why she hid her relationship with Dana and allowed Haruko to think she only wanted to sit in front of a fireplace.

  “I should. We were together for many decades, Lilith. That is why I can see that you are being untruthful.”

  “Excuse me?”

  Haruko smiled. “It is no matter, keep your secrets. You’ve changed, Lil. There’s a light inside you that I haven’t seen for quite some time.”

  Shamed, Lil bowed her head. Of course Haruko would see right through her. Lil couldn’t think of a single good reason to hide anything from her oldest friend. “I once believed my heart filled with only sorrow, but that’s no longer true.”

  Haruko clasped Lil’s hands together and raised them to her chest. Her intelligent eyes assessed Lil before she spoke. “Yet for all your joy, I sense a sadness.”

  “You always could read me.”

  “I have known you for a very long while. What is it, what troubles you so?”

  “I’m closing in on my objective,” Lil admitted, “and I find myself suddenly ambivalent. The end is all I’ve ever sought, but now I’m simply not sure if it’s the right thing to do.”

  “Wanting to live is as natural as the urge to breathe, Lilith. Especially when we find love.”

  “Am I so obvious?”

  Haruko nodded and squeezed Lil’s hands once again before releasing her. “You are to me.”

  “And what of you, Haruko? If my life ends, so will your immortality. I don’t know if you will age suddenly and die, or continue to live out the rest of your days in a normal fashion.”

  “I am one hundred thirty years old. I’ve had a full life and I grow weary for a change. Nothing lives forever, Lil. Or at least, nothing should.”

  Lil stood alone in the forest after Haruko left. Confusion warred with wonder as she contemplated the recent turn of events. Haruko had surprised her with the observation that she had changed. Lil hadn’t seen it, couldn’t see it until confronted with the truth directly. Now she couldn’t deny it. Yet despite any assumptions Haruko harbored about how she’d accomplished this feat, Lil couldn’t accept credit. She had to admit that Dana had managed this seemingly miraculous transformation on Lil’s behalf.

  In the face of such staggering reality, Lil took in the lonely beauty of the wooded terrain on which she currently stood. Mount Fuji’s peak thrust upward into the night sky, shrouded by a gentle cloak of snow. Absent birdcalls or predatory growls, Lil could easily believe herself the only human on an alien world. At one time, Lil would have welcomed such a happenstance, perhaps craved it. Now all she wanted was to return to Dana. Lil desired nothing more than to take Dana into her arms and feel the warmth of her skin, hear her heartbeat and taste the promise of her kiss. Unwilling to let another moment go by without Dana at her side, Lil turned and vanished from the clearing.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Lil appeared in the sitting area of the hotel room. A quick glance around informed her she was alone. More time had passed than she’d initially intended when she left and the sun was on its way past the horizon. Since Haruko had informed Lil it was past two in the morning in Japan, she estimated the time at just after eight in the evening in Iraq. It wasn’t all that late and she couldn’t imagine where Dana might be.

  After poking her head into the bedroom, she discovered Dana lying on her stomach on the mattress with her feet up in the air. She studied the screen on her laptop rather intently, allowing Lil the opportunity to study her. A smile graced Lil’s lips as she allowed her eyes to slide over Dana’s relaxed posture. Lil took comfort from simply knowing they were in the same room.

  “Are you hungry?” Dana asked, though her eyes never left the screen.

  “How did you know that I’m here?”

  “Reflection. I can see you hovering behind me.” Dana turned to regard her with a playful expression. “Come over here. I’ve had an idea.”

  Lil sat close to Dana, their thighs touching gently as she waited to hear what Dana had to say.

  “First off, you didn’t answer my question. Are you hungry?”

  “No, not really. I had enough to eat earlier. What have you found?”

  Dana propped her chin on her hand. “I think we’ve been going about this search of yours all wrong.”

  “How so?”

  “Lil, I know you have an almost photographic memory, but I think there’s a chance we’re looking in the wrong place.”

  “I can understand your point,” Lil conceded. “Human memory is a faulty thing. People can be convinced of anything if they hear something often enough.”

  “Exactly. Even eyewitnesses to a crime are notoriously unreliable.”

  “All right, so what makes you think we’re searching in the wrong place?”

  “This does.”

  Dana tapped her computer screen. She opened another tab and Lil spotted the gold letters announcing “Holy Bible.” It was no secret, even to Lil, that the Bible was available now on the Internet to anyone anywhere in the world.

  “You’ve been doing research.”

  “I decided to go straight to the source.”

  “The Bible? What could you learn from a book written hundreds of years after the fact that you couldn’t discern from someone who was actually there?”

  “Funny you should ask.”

  Dana scrolled down the page searching for something specific while Lil waited. Lil didn’t necessarily believe the words contained within, nor did she completely disbelieve. She knew without question that many of those events had in fact occurred. Lil just didn’t necessarily agree with the slant often adopted by the exclusively male authors.

  “Here, it says, ‘And a river went out of Eden to water the garden and from thence it was parted and became into four heads.’”

  Dana continued to read, naming the four rivers that had broken off from Eden’s life-giving waters. The ancient names of the Pishon and Gihon
were familiar, but Lil recalled that they had long since dried up. Dana interrupted Lil’s internal musings when she suddenly grew excited.

  “This is what caught my attention. The third river is one that goes east of Assyria and the fourth is the Euphrates. Of all of these, the Euphrates is the only one that either still exists or retains the original name.”

  Her passion proved contagious, drawing Lil into the debate. “That’s right. The Tigris is the modern name of the third river. That gives us two points of reference.”

  “I pulled up satellite images of the area.”

  Dana reached for her laptop and settled it onto her knees. She positioned it in a way that Lil could see the screen. Lil studied the spot Dana pointed out, easily noting the point where the Tigris and Euphrates converged. A single line led from that spot and eventually annotated where the joined rivers poured into the Persian Gulf. At one time the entire area was labeled the Cradle of Life.

  “What about the Gihon and Pishon?”

  Dana began typing on the keyboard. “There are some images that show two dried up riverbeds that converge with these two. I had to go through the Defense Mapping Agency database to find a bathymetric and topographic chart. Here.”

  “You hacked into the Defense Agency?”

  The lines of the rivers in question meandered over the map and were hard to dispute. Combined with ancient memories, Lil pictured the region in question. Her heart thumped hard against her ribs and the moisture in her mouth vanished. The implications swirled through her head. Despite her elation, Lil felt compelled to argue.

  “I’m sorry to disagree with satellite mapping, but if the Garden truly was located where these points indicate, humankind would have discovered it long ago. The Garden of Eden is not located on the desert surface, visible to all who happen to glance its way.”

  Lil flinched at the sudden hurt in Dana’s stormy green eyes. She would have given anything to rescind the sarcasm in her thoughtless words. It was far too late for that and Lil could only look away in shame. After a short, uncomfortable silence, Dana continued.

  “Of course, you’re right. However, if you keep reading, the passage goes on to say, ‘So he drove out the man and he placed at the east of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword which turned everyway, to keep the way of the Tree of Life.’”

  Lil finally met Dana’s gaze. The hurt had vanished, replaced with a sudden excitement Lil found difficult to interpret. Careful to keep any cynicism from her tone, Lil said, “I thought you didn’t believe in organized religion.”

  “I don’t, but regardless how I feel, this is still a historical record of events during that time. I’m not sure how accurate it is, but I believe this can help us narrow down the search.”

  “All right, then somehow the Garden is concealed.”

  “And to the east of the region of Eden, a flaming sword guards the Tree of Life. Now I don’t really think it’s a sword,” Dana pointed out. “More than likely, it’s some kind of barrier.”

  “A force field or a dome.” The flash of a long-buried memory struck with such force that Lil surged to her feet.

  “What is it?”

  Lil shook her head and closed her eyes, attempting to sift through the minutiae of conscious recollection. “Thousands of years ago, after I was expelled from the Garden, I attempted to return.” Lil raised her hand, miming the actions taken so long ago. “Pain like I’d never felt before or since encompassed my whole body. It felt like thousands of scorpions stinging me without end. I fell to the ground, unable to breathe, unable to see.”

  “Electricity?”

  “Not as such, but the shield definitely delivered some type of shock to my central nervous system. The next thing I knew, Samael was there. I was an innocent and I wasn’t afraid until he withdrew his sword. Azrael is a flaming sword.”

  Lil’s eyes opened when she felt Dana take her hands. “I thought we agreed the tree isn’t really guarded by a sword.”

  “But what if it is? The meaning of Azrael is ‘helped by God.’ Typically, the name is associated with the Angel of Death, which is Samael’s title. What if Samael was charged with preventing people from returning to the Garden? I know he can assume different shapes, why not invisibility? The mere touch of his blade would create excruciating pain.”

  “I thought Sam was your friend?”

  “Please, call him Samael. He’s definitely not a ‘Sam’ kind of being.” Lil shuddered slightly at seeing the archangel’s reaction to a diminutive form of his name. “And he is a friend, or at least he is now, but he still has his tasks to perform. He’s certainly not under any obligation to tell me what they are.”

  “Okay, I can’t even begin to argue with that,” Dana admitted. “I have no idea what angels can or cannot do. All of that doesn’t change the fact that we still have a starting point. Now, I’ve done some research and the terrain has changed over the years. This region was once a fertile rainforest. Wind, sand and erosion have taken their toll, burying entire cities under hundreds of feet of earth. We know two rivers have dried up while the Tigris and Euphrates have continued and cut deeper and deeper channels into the crust. Like you said, if the Garden of Eden still existed above ground, it would have been discovered long ago. Maybe it’s concealed in the water, just not this far down. Maybe it’s submerged beneath the Euphrates.”

  Lil resettled next to Dana, following her train of thought. “True, but the Euphrates River is only about thirty-three feet at the deepest point.”

  “Yeah, I don’t really know what to think about that.”

  Regardless of this sudden roadblock, Lil was touched that Dana had gone so far out of her way to help in her quest. She felt like even more of a heel for lashing out against Dana in her impatience. Seeking a way to ease any lingering injury from her thoughtlessness, Lil rested a hand on Dana’s thigh.

  “You may not believe in God or religion, but I believe in you. If there is a way for us to continue our search, I’m sure you will find it.”

  “Thanks, but short of divine inspiration, I’m just not sure where we go from here.”

  Divine inspiration? Surely it couldn’t be that easy. “How would you like to meet an archangel?” Lil suddenly asked.

  “I beg your pardon.”

  “We need more information. Since Samael is a friend, maybe I can get him to tell me something.”

  Dana raised her eyebrows in skepticism. “If he’s the one who’s supposed to keep you out, why would he tell you anything?”

  “He wouldn’t,” Lil said with a smile. “At least not intentionally.”

  “I’m confused.”

  “You won’t be.” Lil took Dana’s hand and encouraged her to stand. “Just stand behind the door and no matter what you see or hear, stay quiet and stay out of sight.”

  Lil bore little hope that Samael wouldn’t actually know of Dana’s presence. On the bright side, he wasn’t above his own quirky brand of mischief. Perhaps that would be enough for him to play along with her, assuming he even bothered to respond.

  Leaving Dana behind the doorframe into the bedroom, Lil strode into the sitting area. She stood directly center the small clearing and attempted to project an air of calm confidence. Despite her confident demeanor, she acknowledged the importance of showing respect to a being that had been likened to a demon in times past.

  “Samael, I require your assistance. Please show yourself.”

  Nothing happened. Samael didn’t appear, angels didn’t sing and there were no supernatural lights to indicate a celestial presence. Lil rolled her eyes in annoyance. Couldn’t she just get a break? Ever since she’d begun this adventure it had been one constant struggle. The only good that had come of this was meeting Dana. Briefly, Lil recalled her ambivalence upon the mountaintop. She tried to hang on to the lure Dana’s love presented. On the heels of that moment, Lil flashed to all the lonely years since awakening naked and cold in a deep forest.

  Haruko along with countless others had helped ease
that loneliness, but it never lasted. Eventually, the infatuation always faded. Thinking of Dana and experiencing the first blush of love, Lil wanted to believe things had changed. She wanted to presume that Dana would prove to be her true soul mate, but the weight of ages was difficult to refute. Anger and frustration ultimately won out.

  “Show yourself you myopic, cloven-hooved poor excuse for a seraph.”

  Lil shouted the words toward the ceiling, eschewing any pretense of respect. The result was immediate. The ground shook beneath Lil’s feet and lightning split the sky outside the window. Lil’s ears rang from the sudden intense air displacement.

  “Enough!”

  The single word reverberated through her head, driving Lil to her knees. She slapped both hands over her ears and cringed as she waited for the flash fire that would incinerate her bones. Too bad she would reconstitute and carry on as usual. Lil felt as though her brain would liquefy and stream out through her ears, but eventually the pain lessened and she slowly regained her feet.

  Samael had decided to appear under his more benevolent guise as a blond-haired, blue-eyed cherub, the very image of a celestial being. Despite his choice of physical presence, fury radiated from his sparkling gaze. Samael held Azrael aloft in his left hand, one foot extended toward Lil as though already in motion to sever her head. Blue flame licked along Azrael’s blade, promising an exquisitely painful end.

  “You tread upon dangerous ground, Lilith. Present to me a single reason why I should not cleave your soul from your useless form.”

  Lil recognized that Samael hadn’t spoken aloud, but hoped to coax him into a more auditory form of communication for Dana’s benefit, assuming she hadn’t fainted from shock. “Because your master forbids it.” Her voice trembled slightly, but not from fear. She was still human and the sudden appearance of a supernatural creature had the adrenaline coursing through her veins, just as it always did when she encountered Samael.

  “What do you want?” Samael’s tone was less than inviting.

  “I need more information to find the Garden.”

  Samael threw his head back and laughed, the first sound he’d created since arriving in the small room. The laugh held little amusement, causing the fine hairs along Lil’s spine to stand on end. The sound reminded Lil of the screams of the tortured.