Eternity

by Heather Terrell

  When I thought I couldn’t bear another moment without the wind and the sky and the stars, the tunnel ended. The rough earth floor gave way to familiar linoleum, and ceramic tiles now lined the walls. The close, dank air dissipated, and a recognizable scent—chemical, though not unpleasant—filled the space. A soft, hazy light appeared. I heard the muffled sounds of cheering.

  The floor, the walls, the smell, the sound. Suddenly, I knew where I was. The basement of Tillinghast High School.

  I stood at the end of a long hallway. Illumination leaked from the outline of a closed door to my left. Instinct told me that my poor wounded Michael, maybe bleeding, maybe near death, was behind that door. Samyaza along with him.

  I couldn’t wait to punish Samyaza for all the problems he’d caused between me and Michael and for all his grand designs to break the seventh seal. I was sick of the fallen and their apocalyptic games. For the first time, instead of fear at the confrontation I undoubtedly faced, I felt exhilaration.

  I couldn’t wait to kill Samyaza.

  Chapter Forty-five

  I shoved open the door and was met by black hair, bright blue eyes, and an eager smile. There, in the shadows of a subterranean den of my nightmares, awaited Samyaza, the last of the Dark Fallen.

  His arms opened and reached out to embrace me. “Ellspeth, my darling. I have long envisioned our reunion.” His voice was warm, almost loving.

  Our “reunion?” What was he talking about? I’d gotten accustomed to fallen angels extolling their long years of pining to meet me, but a reunion? We needed to have a first meeting before he could long for a second. The only time I’d ever encountered Samyaza was near the football field—during a game or at practice—and then, he only had eyes for his star player, Michael. I’d hardly categorize this as a long-awaited “reunion.”

  My confusion was clearly written on my face, and Samyaza spoke again. “You wouldn’t remember the first time we met, Ellspeth. You were only hours old. Even then, you were beautiful,” he said, tears of happiness welling in his eyes. Tears that seemed real.

  What was going on? Why would Hananel and Daniel let Samyaza near me when I was a helpless, newborn baby? It didn’t make any sense. Unless it wasn’t my adoptive mom and dad who let Samyaza near me. Unless he was already with me when they arrived to take me away, because he’d been at my actual birth.

  “I’ve been looking for you ever since. And not because you are the Elect One.”

  I knew what Samyaza was going to say next before he even said it. “Because you are my daughter, Ellspeth.”

  I needed only to look at him, with his jet-black hair and the pale blue eyes so like my own, to know that it was true. Samyaza—leader of the fallen since the beginning of time and the holder of the seventh seal—was my father.

  I was so confused. Standing before me was the father I’d envisioned since I learned who I really was. I had so many questions for him. I wanted to know about my mother, about their relationship, about what had happened to me. I felt my carefully constructed veneer of strength eroding and my will to fight sapping away.

  I couldn’t let that happen. No matter who Samyaza was, my mission was clear. I had to save Michael, and stop the seventh seal.

  “Where is he? Where is Michael?” I asked. I willed my voice to sound strong and unflinching, even though I certainly didn’t feel that way.

  “He is here, Ellspeth. And he is well.”

  “Why should I believe you?”

  Samyaza actually looked offended. “I would never, ever hurt him. Just as I would never, ever harm you. I know how much Michael means to you, and I would never cause you the pain of his loss.”

  His voice sounded sincere. But I couldn’t trust him. Other fallen had tried to hurt me before.

  “Is that why you ordered that last play, knowing that it would injure him? Tell me where he is,” I said.

  “Ellspeth, I ordered that play because it was the only way to orchestrate this meeting in the time we had left,” Samyaza said quietly. And then he smiled. He looked like an indulgent parent patiently sitting out his child’s tantrum, while waiting for the perfect teaching moment.

  Michael stepped out from the shadows.

  “I’m here, Ellie. Samyaza is right. I’m fine.”

  Michael drew closer to me, as if to prove his well-being. I saw no sign of the injuries from the field. I was about to link arms with him in preparation for slaying the last fallen, when a troubling thought entered my consciousness. Michael had called him Samyaza.

  Taking one step nearer me, Michael placed his palms on my cheeks. “Ellie, it’s time.”

  Time for what? I was confused and irritated at this mention of time. Yet, after all the troubles that had passed between us—jealousies and arguments and Rafe and even football—his loving touch felt so wonderful, so reassuring. I almost gave up my inquisitiveness and my fight. Almost. Shades of Ezekiel passed through my mind. Had Michael become an automaton to Samyaza, as he had with Ezekiel? And was he trying to loop me in?

  “No, Michael.” I withdrew in horror. “You promised me. You promised that this would never happen again.”

  “Look at me, Ellie. I am not the creature I became with Ezekiel.”

  I thoroughly examined him. Michael was right. He wasn’t in some glassy-eyed, trancelike state as he’d been with Ezekiel. In fact, he positively glowed with alert healthiness. Still, he was different. Indescribably so.

  “What have you done to him?” I turned to Samyaza.

  “Ellspeth, my darling, I have not done anything to Michael. I have explained to Michael who he is, that’s all.”

  Again, this sounded uncannily like our exchange with Ezekiel. “We know who we are. We are the Nephilim, here to destroy the fallen,” I answered, and then added, “which includes you.”

  “My darling, darling child. You are so much more than mere Nephilim. You and Michael are—” Samyaza said.

  “Ellie, there is a reason that two Nephilim are mentioned in the prophecy,” Michael interjected. Although all this reeked of our last moments with Ezekiel, Michael’s commanding tone told me that he was no puppet of Samyaza’s. What the hell was going on? “We each have a special role to play.”

  “My darling Ellspeth,” Samyaza continued for him, “you are the Elect One, as you know. You will judge every earthly creature when the last seal is broken. After you do so—when you fairly judge all earthbound beings in the manner I pray you will—Michael will lead the earth’s new order.”

  Bells were ringing in my mind. The seventh sign. The emergence of a leader after the apocalypse, an anti-Messiah, according to some accounts.

  Samyaza meant Michael to be that seventh sign.

  Chapter Forty-six

  No, no. Not my Michael. He couldn’t mean Michael.

  “Don’t you see, my darling Ellspeth? You are the Elect One, and Michael is the seventh sign. Together we will rule the new world, and together we will make it a wondrous place.”

  I saw, all right. I saw that, since we had returned from Boston, Samyaza had preyed upon the very flaw that would transform Michael. The very flaw that plagued the original angels sent by God. The very flaw that Samyaza had in droves. Pride.

  Glancing at Michael, I saw precisely what was different about him. He was practically alight with pride at the promise of leading the world. And not just serving as the “knight” to the Elect One.

  I said nothing. I was trying to process it all and still maintain some semblance of myself. Who was this being who called himself my father?

  Samyaza walked toward me. His bright, pale blue eyes brimmed with pity and gentleness. The empathy and understanding was so intense I couldn’t break his gaze. “My darling child, I know this is difficult and perplexing. You’ve been led to believe that I am the enemy. I am not who you think I am, and the new world order I’ve dreamed about need not be the hellacious universe rife with corruption and greed and violence you’ve seen in the flashes from my fellow fallen. I am not like the other fa
llen, and the earth we create will be different from the one fashioned by the other fallen in the years since we tumbled from grace. It will be good.”

  I saw that Samyaza believed the words he said. He was different from the other fallen I’d encountered. But what was this universe he envisioned? What was his conception of good?

  My face must have revealed my bewilderment, because Samyaza chose that moment to reach out and touch me. He conveyed startling, breathtaking images to me. I saw a time and place, so unknown and unknowable that it could only be the beginning. I saw Samyaza’s exquisite face, staring into the adoring eyes of a young woman. I saw that Samyaza delighted in her innocence and relished the wonder in her eyes when he taught her the secrets of the earth and sky. I saw the moment when the fallen fell, the moment when my parents became one, the moment of my birth.

  The images brought so many questions to my mind. I observed the rush of emotion Samyaza felt for me as an infant. How did he ever let me fall out of his control as a baby? Had my birth mother somehow come to know Daniel and Hananel, and Samyaza lost me through that connection? Given the ban on fallen angels procreating, how had Samyaza and my birth mother managed to create me?

  Samyaza released my hand, and asked, “Do you see, my darling Ellspeth?”

  “I do see, Samyaza.” I saw that my father indeed loved my mother in his way, as my parents had told me. And I saw that he loved me too. The images were so powerful, so very personal that I started to cry. Michael reached over to give me a consoling hug, even though he wasn’t privy to the flash I’d experienced.

  Samyaza looked relieved. “You do see, my darling girl, don’t you? You witnessed the love I have for humanity. Do you see that the Maker is wrong? What harm is there in revealing our celestial knowledge to humans? What is so terrible about what the fallen did at the beginning? It isn’t evil to love and celebrate humankind, as we did in the beginning and as I would continue to do. It isn’t wrong to share the secrets of the universe with them. It is good. God’s hubris alone tells us we can only love and honor Him. His hubris alone caused the fallen to fall.”

  He paused, and then said, “Ellspeth, we have a chance at a new beginning. Together, we can create a new world honoring humankind. Father and daughter.”

  Father and daughter. The words sounded so very appealing, so very tempting. I stared at Samyaza, unable to forget the images of his euphoric face as he stared into the eyes of his infant daughter—me. I wanted so much to join him, to link hands with my birth father and surrender the lonely job that I’d been given.

  A job that suddenly seemed riddled with uncertainty, because I didn’t believe that Samyaza was evil. Had I been on the wrong side all along? Maybe the fallen did the right thing in disobeying God. After all, they taught humankind so many good things along with the bad. And why should knowledge and love be a sin?

  Good and evil started to appear not so black-and-white. Without that conviction, how could I kill Samyaza, my father?

  I felt myself being won over by his emotions and his logic. My lips parted, and I almost, almost said yes.

  But I couldn’t ignore the echo of Rafe’s voice in my mind and the certainty I’d felt listening to his words. I couldn’t disregard the evil I had seen in the other fallens’ souls. I couldn’t overlook the fact that Michael was turning into a benign tyrant—a version of Samyaza—right before me. And most of all, I couldn’t close my eyes to certain troubling images I’d seen in Samyaza’s flash, images to which he was blind.

  Samyaza truly believed that he acted out of love for humankind, because he treated them with kindness and respect. In truth, however, he understood little about loving others. He loved himself—his godlike power to create and rule supreme over others—and the reflected love he saw in humans’ eyes. Samyaza served his ego, not humankind and certainly not God. Evil took many forms. That was the nature of Samyaza’s grave sin of pride.

  The beautiful vision Samyaza showed me and described to me was flawed. Although it broke my heart, I knew what I had to do. Rafe had already forewarned me. But I had no idea that it would be this hard.

  Michael was still standing next to me. I clasped his hand.

  “Do you still love me?” I asked him.

  “More than ever.”

  I searched his eyes, and saw that his feelings for me were indeed strong and true. Whether those emotions were tainted by his excitement over the prospect of his new role—and the notion of us ruling the earth together—I couldn’t tell. I had to take a leap of faith that his love for me would trump his pride. Because I couldn’t do what I needed to do unless Michael had my back.

  “Do you believe that I act for good?”

  Even though he arched his eyebrow quizzically at the question, he answered confidently, “Yes, Ellie. I do.”

  “Do you trust me, Michael?”

  “Always, Ellie.”

  “If I promise to follow your lead afterward, will you promise to follow my judgment now?”

  He hesitated for a split second, and then responded, “Yes. I promise.”

  I had to trust him, hesitation or not.

  “Please come with me,” I said.

  Hand in hand, we crossed the short distance to Samyaza. I came within inches of him. Staring up close at his pale blue eyes, jet-black hair, and fair skin, so like mine, I couldn’t speak. I knew that, if I opened my mouth, I might soften. And I could not afford to weaken.

  I released Michael’s hand, and extended my right arm. Closing my eyes, I concentrated with the core of my being and envisioned a stream of light emanating from my hand. I felt heat radiating from my fingertips, and then opened my eyes. The sword of fire formed in my hand.

  The blade of fire hovered near Samyaza. My father. The last of the apocalyptic fallen.

  I didn’t know if I could do it, even though I knew I had to. Samyaza didn’t flinch at my advance. Instead, he looked into my eyes. He gazed at me with a deep and abiding love.

  “Whatever you do, Ellspeth, I will accept your decision. I promised your mother on her deathbed that, when this moment came, as we knew it would, I would not resist. Please remember that I will always love you. As I loved your mother. And as I love all humankind.”

  Tears streamed down my face. How could this possibly be the right decision? I saw love on my father’s face, flawed though it might be. My blade flickered and quivered at my vacillation.

  I felt Michael’s fingers close around mine. Quickly glancing at him, I saw no more hesitation. I saw that the light of pride in his eyes was extinguished, only to be replaced by a pure flame of love and faith. For me.

  He whispered, “I love you, Ellie, and I promised to follow you. This is your judgment. Now is the moment. You must do it now. Only you can.”

  Michael kept his vow. Even though that oath forced him to sacrifice the role of leading humankind—and his pride. He did it for humankind and for me. His surrender gave me the final bit of courage and conviction that I so desperately needed.

  I knew that I had no choice. I only needed to lift my sword. I did not even have to taste Samyaza’s blood before I acted. His blood already ran in my veins.

  The sword felt heavy in my hand as I raised it before the final fallen. Samyaza, the father I would never know, did not avert his eyes. With patience and surrender, he awaited my verdict.

  I brought the blade within inches of his neck. Then I begged, “Forgive me, Father.”

  Chapter Forty-seven

  The world went black. The earth shuddered beneath my feet, and then cracked wide open. I plunged into a void. My entire being spiraled into a vortex seemingly without end.

  Yet I felt no fear. Where I was, what fate would befall me, mattered not at all.

  For I had failed. I had no memory of killing my father, Samyaza. No clear recollection of using the sword of fire upon him. The last thing I remembered was the blade hovering over his neck and my uncertainty at delivering the blow.

  I had not destroyed the final fallen before Samyaza unle
ashed the seventh seal—Michael—upon the world. I had not fulfilled the prophecy. I had abandoned my parents, Ruth, and all humankind to a horrific fate.

  The blackness, the shuddering, the void, this had to be the abyss of hell. I deserved it. I shut my eyes and surrendered to the oblivion.

  It was short-lived. Without warning, my feet hit earth. I felt a soft, gritty substance under my shoes. Behind my closed lids, I sensed light. I dared to open my eyes.

  I stood before the most magnificent ocean I had ever seen. The sea was rich indigo, capped by vast, cresting waves. The grainy material beneath my feet was fine, white sand. On the horizon, the sun was beginning its ascent, and soft golden light began to illuminate the shore. I realized that somehow I had landed on a glorious beach beyond my wildest imaginings.

  Except the scene evoked the imaginings of my visions. Almost uncannily so.

  Suddenly, I appreciated that I was not alone. My hand was linked with that of another.

  I turned to see white blond hair; pale green eyes; and a familiar, beautiful face. My Michael. Here, with me. Not side by side with Samyaza, leading their new world order. What had happened? I thought that I had failed. I was certain that I had failed.

  I turned to him hesitantly. “Where are we?”

  “We are at Ransom Beach.”

  As soon as he spoke, the ocean, the shoreline, and the cliff at our back became very recognizable. The cove had initially appeared different only because it looked brighter.

  “Why does it look so different?”

  “Do you remember some of the passages from the Book of Enoch that Ruth read to us? It said that, when the Elect One issues the final judgment, when the Elect One stops the end days desired by the fallen, it will change the face of heaven and the face of earth. Based on Ransom Beach, it looks like your act changed the face of the earth.”