by Lumi Laura
CHAPTER 2 In the beginning...
A Testimonial
I, Catalin of the City of God and Counselor of many Caretakers of Earth's Spiritual Realm, was walking amongst the trees of the Garden when God evicted Adam and Eve for eating fruit from the Tree of Knowledge. He realized that they could no longer be trusted and had taken positive measures to keep them from eating fruit from the Tree of Life, which would have made them immortal. God sought to protect mankind from becoming eternal on Earth. By dying, the soul is released and allowed to go to Heaven. Many saw the eviction as a punishment, and certainly that was Adam and Eve's opinion, but it was actually a blessing because, by dying, mankind gained eternal life in the Divine World where they could live among divine beings.
Divine beings such as myself are among the ancient Watchers, who provide guidance to spirits of the natural world. We observe but do not generally interfere in the affairs of God's Earth. We do, however, take an interest in all beings that occupy our realm.
Seth, Adam and Eve's third son, had the Archangel Michael fetch a branch of the Tree of Life from the Garden of Eden and plant it on his father's grave. It grew into a gigantic tree. Much later, Solomon cut down the tree for use in his temple, but found the wood unsuitable. He discarded it. The Romans then used that wood for Christ's cross when they crucified him.
As a divine being, I was amongst those present at the Crucifixion. Although I was there only to observe, I quickly became interested in another of the witnesses, one Alucius of Kardacia, a mortal, or at least I initially thought he was mortal. Although no longer in existence, Kardacia was then a small village in the Carpathian Mountains of Romania. Alucius had traveled all the way from there by foot. He had sometime before received what he perceived as a great gift from the minor immortal called Prometheus. Prometheus had negotiated the gift with the Centaur Cheiron. Centaurs were a race of earthly beings that, because of their violent and uncivilized behavior, came to be viewed as a mistake of Creation and were allowed to dwindle into nonexistence. All except Cheiron.
Cheiron, presumptuous and self-aggrandizing, had committed the same transgression as had Adam and Eve, but instead of just tasting fruit from the Tree of Knowledge, Cheiron had in fact gorged himself on it. Cheiron became the wisest of all beings, earthly that is. But Cheiron had done Adam and Eve one better. He'd also eaten fruit from the Tree of Life and had in fact become immortal. Because of this, God expelled Cheiron from the Garden, as he had Adam and Eve, and shouted a disparaging epithet after him. However, Cheiron's immortality was not for the Divine World, but for the "real" world here on Earth. Cheiron valued his immortality immensely until one day he was accidentally injured by Heracles and suffered a wound that would not heal. Thus stuck with his immortality, he was destined for eternal agony. At which point, Prometheus entered the picture.
Prometheus wanted Cheiron's immortality but not for himself. Prometheus offered it to Alucius, and he readily accepted because he loved life on Earth and thought the promise of life after death in the Divine World a risky proposition, particularly if one's actions were to be judged prior to being allowed entry into Heaven. No one really wanted to talk about what happened if you didn't make it. Alucius took on Cheiron's immortality by sharing blood with the Centaur, not realizing that Cheiron's pain came with it. He also appreciated the extra kick his intelligence received because he'd never been accused of being the sharpest arrow in the quiver. Alucius felt no pain for periods of time while still under the influence of fresh blood, but once the effect wore off, it had to be renewed, and renewed again and again. Only human blood would satisfactorily suppress the affliction. Good thing violence and uncivilized behavior were a part of the Centaur's gift package, thought Alucius.
When Alucius had just been turned into a vampire, although a shudder had been sent through the Divine World, we initially suspected only minimal damage to the Divine Plan. After all, he was just one man. We didn't understand the pain that Alucius would suffer and that he would discover a way to alleviate the pain, and that it would cause his immortality on Earth to spread. Even then few in the Divine World thought that any human being would covet such a disgusting affliction.
Alucius valued immortality but soon grew tired of the trouble to obtain human blood. He'd also developed a profound adverse reaction to sunlight and was forced to spend his active hours during the dark of night. The gift that just keeps giving, he thought. Having soured on earthly immortality, he became interested in Christ's promise of a better life in the Divine World, and attended the Crucifixion to see what he offered. He didn't hear the Sermon on the Mount because that was during the day. But he did hear of it, and wrote down the words so as to better understand this young man's meaning. "Blessed are the meek, blessed are the pure in heart," well he'd find ways around all that.
Alucius was a servant at the Last Supper. He heard Christ's words for himself, his promise of eternal life, and was taken in by his soft-spoken manner and congeniality. He thought about the bread being Christ's body and the wine being his blood, but was particularly interested in the sharing of such. He didn't attend Christ's trial, but knew that he would be convicted, for he was far too good a man to let live. Yet, nothing prepared him for the way Christ died.
Alucius was there at the Crucifixion and saw, from his hideaway out of sunlight, Christ carry his own cross. Later on that evening, Alucius had the opportunity to witness the Crucifixion up close. Alucius already knew that blood could alleviate the vampire's pain, so the carnage at Golgotha exhilarated rather than repulsed him. And he made the mistake of tasting Christ's blood while Christ was on the cross because he, Alucius, thought that Christ's blood might cure all his ills. After all, Christ was a healer.
Now, Cheiron's pain had come from a poisoned arrow that Heracles dropped on the Centaur's hoof. Not a major injury, but painful beyond all telling because the venom was from the gall of the Hydra. By tasting Christ's blood, Alucius not only hadn't rid himself of the Centaur's pain but had in fact acquired the pain from all Christ's wounds as well: the whip lashes, crown of thorns, spikes through the palms and feet. A sword in the side. Plus, he felt the debilitating, profound fatigue Christ experienced climbing Golgotha while carrying his own cross. Not only had Alucius inherited Cheiron's pain, but now he had absorbed an entire catalogue of new agonies, Christ's Stigmata. He, and all those turned since, experience the Stigmata and fatigue when only, simply, viewing a cross.
Vampire women cannot conceive. Therefore, vampires must always add to their species by turning humans. Alucius also came to realize that vampires could be killed. The ways were rather specialized and gory — beheading, excessive sunlight, or a wood stake through the heart — all would do the job. Then life was over. Completely over. No Afterlife awaits a vampire. Or at least, so we of the Divine World thought.