We did not create so wisely in the dark universe, I conceded.
That was your induction to cause and effect, he granted, transforming back into his more human appearance. And although the cause was rather drastic, it encouraged you to question your belief system and spurred you to push boundaries you never would have had your brothers not been in such peril.
Are you saying I might not have attempted breaching the Gate, had I only been acting on my own behalf? I considered this and found it more than likely I might have given up; in truth, without the aid of my brothers I would have succumbed to a mind-eater or been lost in Lux.
In the lower universes of the scheme, it would be difficult to learn compassion if there was no other being to empathise with, he concluded. Hence individualisation! But this principle has an additional polarising aspect in this universe and the one beyond, of which the mere glimpse inspired your epiphany to break loose from the Satan’s regime.
The paragon! The mere thought of that vision excited my entire being.
The polarising principle of man … woman, he outlined, as we came to a large set of doors that, akin to the light-filled walls, were opaque with sparkling mist. But you shall learn about her presently. Go right on through.
Who has summoned me here? I queried the purpose of this.
An old friend, he replied.
A watcher? I assumed.
The Watcher, so far as this evolution is concerned.
From this response, I could safely assume I was meeting someone of great importance to the scheme.
We are all important, my guide corrected. We are all one. Separateness is an illusion, therefore hierarchy, status and authority are nothing more than another point of view.
I struggled with that premise, as I did with his earlier comment that my brothers were one in spirit with me now, but I feared trying my host’s patience with my ignorance. Well, I thank you — then realised I had not asked, By what name do you go now?
In this guise … I am most simply known as DK. He bowed his head in greeting and motioned me to the glowing barrier, and again I hesitated.
So why did you choose another path to your Grigori brothers?
Well, we couldn’t allow the Fallen Elohim to incarnate into this universe without any emotional understanding or supervision, so I volunteered to lend my essence to their soul-group in order to aid their evolution, and by way of that contribution I also became embroiled in human evolution. He referred to the body he was wearing, and he sensed how perplexed I was by this. Fear not, I will rejoin the Grigori in the next universe, and we will have many associations in this one. In a parallel perspective of this instance it is you who volunteered to join with the Fallen, for we are all one.
My mind full of confusion and questions, I merely nodded to confirm that I trusted his word. Until next we meet then.
Be at peace, he granted with a smile, so I returned the gesture and found that he had been correct; it was an enjoyable end to our exchange.
I moved through the hazy barrier into a much larger chamber with rounded walls that undulated with light bubbles containing images, constantly bursting forth and then vanishing again. The room was not silent, but had a constant sonic vibration that was very peaceful until you focused on the consciousness bubbles on the wall. Shifting my awareness between these it became obvious that these were appeals for help from all the beings within this scheme. The emotional force that accompanied their stories of heartbreak or appeals for help and guidance were overwhelming to my sensibilities, and so I ceased to focus on the wall.
There were beings that appeared to be of the Grigori–Elohim species patrolling the walls, taking in the information being fed to them. In the centre of the room sat one of us, seated with legs crossed, hands pressing together and his eyes closed. This splendid being seemed both blissfully oblivious and completely connected to everything going on around him, for there were energy streams linking him with all the Watchers in the chamber. Even in this brilliant place of light and vivid colour, this being glowed brighter than anything in his presence, just as the human who’d changed the course of my life had a luminescence that was not indicative of any other being in the dark universe.
Your instincts serve you well, Azazèl. His form appeared as solid as mine, but from this form a spirit being emerged to talk with me, leaving his solid body to engage with the Watchers.
You are the human that I beheaded? I dropped to my knees to beg forgiveness.
As I told you at the time, it was my time to be liberated, and your time to liberate me, he said kindly. I remember being where you are now, on the precipice of the unknown, excited and yet uncertain of the path I had chosen for myself and my brothers.
Yes. I empathised with his words completely.
But in truth, every one of your brothers faces me now thinking he is the only one deciding the course of the fate of the Grigori, do you see? he asked.
Not as fully as you. But I nodded as I grasped the idea.
I hope it brings you comfort to know that one day you will be me, greeting you, and you will understand, as I do, that you have achieved all you were meant to, in order to advance consciousness beyond these frequencies to those higher.
It was overwhelming to observe this magnificent manifestation that I was to be, and I boggled at the work that would be required to bridge the gaping chasm of knowledge, experience and awareness between us. We are to decide the course and fate of the Grigori now.
He nodded, and made a rising gesture with his hand, whereupon I found myself standing once more, through no effort of my own. The Grigori have been blessed with the ability to maintain their memories between one universe and the next, he stated. Some of you will prove more talented in that respect than others. But due to the nature of free will, none of you will remember far past this point of our conversation.
But if we cannot remember the plan, how can we be sure it will be carried out? I appealed, wanting to serve the Logos to the best of my ability.
There is no danger of that. For even if free will were to take you off course, circumstances would repeat until you eventually realise your true path. Myself and my Watchers, he motioned to his assistants around the periphery of the room, will see to that.
But there appears to be so much going on, how do you keep track of everything? I didn’t wish to sound doubtful but the fact was hard to fathom.
One incarnation at a time, he advised. For they are all different aspects of me, and therefore you.
It was mystifying to consider, and my frown betrayed my difficulty in comprehending.
Separately … The being motioned around him, whereupon all the appeals coming through the walls of the chamber merged into a crescendo of noise, which he then silenced with a wave of his hand … chaos, he concluded. But that pleasing sonic you hear reverberating through this chamber?
Yes, I confirmed that I had noted it.
That is the goal. He referred to his body meditating in the middle of the room. It is the sound of the perfect unity of you-in-verse.
All the Grigori emerged from their trance state at once and looked about to get their bearings.
‘All systems are functioning normally.’ Sammael’s first concern was for our vessel. ‘And we do not appear to have lost power in transit.’
‘Is everyone unscathed?’ Armaros’ concern lay with his brothers, and they confirmed one by one that this was the case.
‘In fact, I feel better now than I did before we entered the gate.’ Sammael noted that his vitality and reflexes had returned.
‘Oddly, I do too,’ Armaros related, having been sucked dry of energy prior to entering the Eternity Gate also.
It was at this point I realised that I was no longer feeling the deep chill my body was experiencing, and although this was a relief, it was also a concern — had I died in cryogenics?
‘Does anyone have memories of events transpiring within our passage?’ Armaros queried his brothers.
‘I recall speaking with Araqiel,�
� Penemue recalled. ‘Only he was part human?’
‘Aye,’ many others confirmed what I too remembered; the claim of the Logos — that all my brothers were one with me during our transit — was correct.
‘Holy shit!’ Sammael noted that his monitor was displaying images of what was in front of our craft, then instructed the front shield screens to open, so that everyone could see what he was looking at. Forced to shield their eyes at first, the Grigori activated their helmets and eye shades, to perceive a huge armada of spacecraft confronting them at a distance. But in wondrous contrast to the ominous force was the nebula of brightly coloured gases, and billions of various specks of light, that extended beyond the beautiful amorphous formation around them.
‘It’s fantastic …’ Armaros expressed the wonderment everyone felt as he retracted his eye-shade and helmet to discover he could see through the glare. ‘It’s all right, your eyes will adjust,’ he advised his brothers, who retracted their eye protection also — all except Bezaliel.
‘It’s all right! Have you lost your mind? We need to get the hell out of here!’ Bezaliel did not sound optimistic about the large greeting party.
‘Is the commander still with us, do you think?’ Sammael looked to Armaros who shrugged — having no idea I was standing right beside him.
‘We need Sariel,’ we both decided at once.
‘He is still down in cryogenics, most likely,’ Armaros added.
The door to the control deck opened, and Sariel entered with another throng of our brothers and, although our telepath appeared much recovered, his expression was disturbing. ‘Samyaza and his minions have vanished!’
‘What!’ Everyone objected to the report at once.
‘The only person still in cryogenics is the commander,’ he clarified.
‘I am here, Sariel,’ I advised him, and his eyes widened in recognition of my words. ‘Are you quite certain the Fallen have gone?’
‘They cannot have just vanished!’ Sacha objected at the same time.
‘If you don’t believe us,’ he motioned to the many Grigori who had entered with him, ‘feel free to check for yourselves.’
‘He speaks the truth,’ Gadriel confirmed, ‘we checked every module in cryo!’
‘Are the chambers that they occupied still activated?’ Armaros sought to assess the escape probability.
‘Every one of them is still locked and activated,’ Sariel told us. ‘The metal plates of summons and constraint are still in place.’
That was a worry — no one in this universe must see those seals, they had to be destroyed.
‘They cannot have escaped on their own,’ I quietly advised Sariel. ‘In such a state, they could not even respond to a summons.’
‘Never mind about the Fallen, what do we do about this lot?’ Sammael motioned out the front screen windows.
‘Hush a moment,’ Sariel requested. ‘The commander is here and considering the situation.’
The news was met with a great sigh of relief from all, and although I was warmed to be so appreciated, I was no more qualified to deal with this situation than they were.
‘Sammael,’ Sariel responded to my advice and moved to relay my instructions to him. ‘Get down to cryogenics and ensure every one of those seals is destroyed.’
‘What shall I do with them?’ he queried. ‘I can’t just make them vanish, I have to send them somewhere, and I don’t know of anywhere in the universe to send them.’
‘Then send them back whence they came,’ Sariel relayed. ‘And if that doesn’t work, melt them beyond recognition.’
‘As you say, Commander.’ Sammael vanished to see it done, and Sariel took his place in the control seat to activate our communication receivers, instructing the ship to search all frequencies for transmissions.
‘Does the commander think they are friendly?’ Armaros queried Sariel’s actions.
‘The commander believes that we are here by the grace of the Logos, whom we met within the gate.’ Sariel replied on my behalf. ‘If we are here, there is a good reason … best find out what that is.’ He brought up the screen of our radar tracking system to check the distance between us and the armada before us. ‘Oh, damn!’ He raised his sights to the ceiling. ‘There is something very large directly above us.’
The larger craft cast a shadow as we were drawn inside it.
‘Looks like we are going to find out sooner than expected,’ Armaros speculated.
A large beam of light erupted in the vacant area between the flight deck and the shield window, and then a being took form inside the tube of light. For a moment the curvy shape of the manifestation led me to believe it was my paragon materialising, but when the light-tube retracted, it was clearly not the same entity I had seen in my vision and quite possibly not human either.
This being’s shapely form was much more elongated than DK’s human form, and it had larger almond-shaped eyes that were a vibrant shade of blue. The other features of its face were petite, although its tiny mouth had lips that were large and luscious. Its skin was milky white, and its hair of ash brown fell in long loose locks about its poised shapely form that was slender at the waist, and equal to the Grigori in height. But the greatest disparity between its form and our own was the abnormal size of its chest. Its attire was also flimsy of texture, similar to the attire worn in the Council of the Watchers, and not warlike, as ours must have appeared.
‘Welcome, travellers through the Gate of Ummu-Huber.’ It stood boldly before us, alone and fearless. ‘I am Nanshe, grandchild of the great Anu, who has been expecting you.’
It was stunning to hear the telepathic missive so clearly, but not so surprising that the Grigori understood it; clearly our talent for interpreting dialects and languages extended beyond those developed in the dark universe. In fact, the dialect was rather reminiscent of the Fallen Elohim; I deeply hoped that was just a cosmic coincidence.
‘You knew we were coming?’ I requested Sariel to ask, but the being responded, having heard my query.
‘Of course the great mother is aware of who passes through her gate. Although you are the first physical manifestations to enter our universe thus in living memory.’ The being looked about, no doubt wondering which one of us she was addressing — she may have been telepathic but she did not have celestial vision.
At that moment, Sammael reappeared and, spotting our visitor, he retracted his eye-shades to take a better look. ‘Hello.’ He grinned, liking the look of her, just as every Grigori present seemed to.
‘Hello,’ she replied, swaying her body to and fro in a welcoming manner. ‘Who, might I ask, is your leader?’
‘Um,’ he was naturally a little vague about it.
With myself and Araqiel absent, all eyes shifted to Armaros, who swallowed hard and looked to Sariel — as he was my telepathic link.
Yes, I bethought Sariel; Armaros was a good choice.
When Sariel nodded, Armaros looked to our guest and held up a finger to volunteer himself. ‘I am in charge.’
‘Then Anu asks that you accompany me to him,’ she requested, politely.
‘As you wish, but I would like my second-in-command to accompany us also.’ He motioned to Sariel who stood and bowed in introduction.
‘Sariel, and Armaros,’ he motioned to himself and his brother in turn, ‘at your service, Nanshe.’
‘Splendid!’ She smiled. ‘I can transfer you to our craft, or if you can make your own way,’ her eyes glanced back to Sammael, who had just materialised out of nowhere, ‘you may follow me of your own accord.’
‘Lead the way, Nanshe,’ Sariel prompted.
‘We are not a patient people,’ she advised.
‘We shall be right behind you,’ Armaros assured. ‘The rest of my brothers will remain here and wait for my word.’
‘That would be advisable.’ She vanished from our midst.
‘Did you see the chest on that thing?’ Sammael was stunned. ‘I would have thought it very strong, but for those ti
ny little arms! What is with that?’
His brothers were equally perplexed.
‘Hey, maybe I should come with you?’ Sammael proffered, for no other reason than he was curious.
‘A very bad idea,’ I commented to Sariel. Sammael was anything but diplomatic.
‘You shall stay put as we promised,’ Sariel passed on my command. ‘We shall return presently.’
‘And if you don’t return?’ Sammael queried.
‘Then ask Penemue what to do, as he’s in charge.’ Sariel passed on my instruction.
Penemue appeared both flattered and put out by the appointment, as I followed Sariel and Armaros to their rendezvous.
Along with Sariel and Armaros, I projected myself after our guide and came to a standstill in a large metal chamber in time to see the teleportation beam retract from around our chaperone. It made me wonder whether this being could teleport on its own. Or perhaps the beam was a means for teleporting somewhere unknown to the traveller? This chamber contained several archways around it, some of which had doors within them. Others appeared to be mirrors at first glance — until one began rippling like water and glowing.
‘Liquid light,’ our guide explained as she moved towards the illumined passageway. ‘It is very conductive.’
‘Anu is not on board?’
‘Anu is not on board?’ Sariel repeated the question on my behalf.
‘No, grandfather hates space travel.’ She frowned curiously. ‘Odd that the voice in your head sounds so very different to your own and that you rehearse every word before you verbalise it.’
‘A bad habit,’ I responded on Sariel’s behalf.
‘Sorry,’ he said out loud.
Our guide smiled, seemingly not entirely satisfied with our response. ‘Shall we go, or would you like to debate the issue with your inner voice?’
‘We are good,’ we replied at once and our comely escort rolled her eyes and walked straight into an undulating light barrier.
Armaros looked at Sariel, tempted to roll his eyes also. ‘Could you two be any more suspicious? If all our hosts are telepathic they are going to think you are possessed!’
‘Tell him I’ll shut up.’
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