by A Y Beltran
Instead of answering my question, Jasper flew across the room to get a pitcher from the countertop where a mini-garden was. He poured the green colored liquid into the cup and drank it.
“Juice?”
At my nod, two cups floated one went toward me and the other to Traquus who found a corner to lurk. The liquid followed and flew inside the cups.
I drank the juice and its sweet taste of kalaskig burst on my tongue reinvigorated all my senses. When I emptied my cup, I smiled and sighed in contentment.
“You made a juice out of the kalaskig fruit?”
“There have been many angels who were able to make this kind of concoction.”
“Thank you. It tastes good,” Traquus said from behind me.
“And you have your own emerald trees too?” I said, eyeing the small garden on the counter.
Jasper chuckled. “You have a very refreshing presence. You take everything with wonders.”
I sneaked a glance at Traquus. And there it was, the jealousy, searing in those blue pools, so enchanting to behold. I was grinning from ear to ear.
“You might be right,” Jasper said. The seriousness in his voice roped my attention back to him. “This project might require my whole life force to breathe. So I’m thinking I might need to change my project.”
“Absolutely not!” Traquus said.
“Well, it’s not your project,” I answered him.
Traquus started pacing. His wings were glowing in such intensity that I thought I was witnessing a supernova. I sensed Jasper’ nervousness as he stood beside me, vibrating off his skin.
“Why are you upset?” I asked Traquus.
“You want to create a person, another you. That in itself is admirable. Godly,” Traquus answered.
“But he is going to kill himself in the process.”
That stopped Traquus from pacing. He turned to us, his eyes full of regrets mixed with understanding as though it just dawned on him. This act was ambitious, but what good was your creation when you’re not there to see it?
“You’re right,” Traquus said, his eyes gleamed like stars on Earth’s sky. “It’s a folly to create beings only to leave them orphans. When you collapsed and you were in my arms, it never occurred to me that the only way for you to succeed is to give your own life to it, to your own creation.”
The little tears that welled up in the corners of his eyes clenched my angelic heart. And as though his sadness was contagious, I too felt the wetness sprouting from my own eyes. If the mood wouldn’t improve soon, I would surely burst into a sob.
“Why don’t you just create a dog?” I said randomly. I saw this one in one of those Earth images that the water in the well at the third house showed.
After the initial shock, Jasper studied the image of a dog floating above us, an image I provided using the kalaskig juice. Jasper liked the idea and started planning how to approach it. He hadn’t had a name of it yet so we temporarily called it semi-canine.
I walked back to my room with an idea of a creature to make. It would be simple. Easy. And soon I would be out of here. Then a thought crossed my mind. This was the last house before the trial, yet there was no answer to my questions and Venir was still in the fourth house.
I gathered the materials I needed. I used heaven’s soil, which was much softer than the soil on Earth. I mixed it with water so that the skin would be watery. It took me a while to create the flesh.
“So you finally know what to create,” Traquus said at the door.
“Yes. Finally.” When Traquus did not make any comment, I asked. “So you’re going to his room?”
“I already went.” His enigmatic smile came back. I raised my brow. “Say hi to the first ever known Ego.”
I followed where his gaze went. And there on his feet was a creature with a heart-shaped face, cotton-like fur, tail of a poodle, and wings and feet of a dragon. I knelt down and studied it closely. The tiny creature was so cute I immediately scooped it to my arms.
“Alright, I need to return this lovely creature to its master.”
Traquus took it back from my arms with no regard at all on how I felt about it. With a smirk, he left.
With no Ego to play with, I returned my attention to my work. Traquus came back later chuckling after he saw the form of my creature.
“Seriously a plant?”
Ignoring him, I closed my eyes. Then gathered the white energy. There was none that came. Frustrated, I changed course. Instead of the Hwit, I summoned the Sylfur and then broke it into pieces to get whatever little Hwit it had. I used it to pump my creature to life.
Feeling proud of myself, I turned to face Traquus.
“So what are you going to call it?”
“This new species of plant will be called Ven.”
A flower shot up from Ven’s stalk. Its veins elongated and curled around Traquus wrist.
“Alright, I see what it can do. Does it respond to your command alone?”
“I think so,” I said. “Ven, back to your spot.”
Ven untangled its veins off Traquus and crawled toward the spot where it was born.
“I was expecting a more grandiose creation from you, but that will do,” Traquus said. “So you’re ready for the Great Ordeals.” There was a hint of admiration in his voice.
“I’m not going to the tenth house until Venir comes out of the fourth.”
And so I waited in the ninth house and hung out with Jasper and Ego. I didn’t really know the reasoning behind the name, but Ego proved to be entertaining.
But the day had soon come and it happened. I was playing with Ego when all of sudden I heard his voice.
“Hey, Ori. I’m back.” Venir’s voice coming through my bracelet made me scream in utter joy.
“About time! Are you in the fifth house now? Hang on, I’ll fly back there.”
“Hurry, I may need some help stitching my wounds. I have one… a really huge one right on my stomach.”
I was so glad to hear his voice that I failed to even think about what state he would be in coming out of the trial house.
“I’ll be there,” I said with a voice shaking both in fear and excitement. My heart thundered as I swiftly flew toward the door. Descending from the ninth house, I passed by many houses: the eight house, the seventh house.
I was passing the sixth house when the temperature around me decreased. Farther down I flew and descended right on the tread of the fifth house. But when I entered through the door, my stomach rolled and my heart surged with fear, for it happened again.
The light disappeared.
And the darkness returned.
CHAPTER 17
“Venir,” I whispered in open comm link and cried when what I heard on the other end was dead silence.
The singing voice came, but it did not deter me from what I was planning to do. I lit up my mind just like what I did in the fourth house. The energy inside me surged through my entire body and I began to light up from the inside. I flew like a torch floating in the hall, lighting the area my radiance could reach. I saw some angels floating while asleep, but I did not bother to wake them up as I was only searching for one particular angel. Venir.
“Venir!” My voice echoed while the voice was still singing in the background. And then out of desperation, I started talking directly at the darkness. “Why don’t you face me, the Great Riddle? I’m not scared of you.”
The singing stopped. The light returned. And I resumed my search for Venir. He must be here closer to the door because I told him I was coming.
One by one the angels woke up, and I was yet to find him. I was on the verge of panic when I remembered how it was for me when I first woke up. I was in the room with Traquus. So I extended my search, room for room.
“Orieumber!”
I knew that voice. I spun around and found her hovering across from me.
“Naia,” I moved closer to her. “Have you seen him? Have you seen Venir?”
“Yes, I did,” she said in
a small voice. “But when the light returned, he—”
I did not let her finish. I didn’t want to hear what she was about to say.
“Where did he go?”
“Orieumber, he was just right in there!” She pointed at the room to our right. “Come, I’ll show you.”
We went inside the room and I saw blood on the bed.
“He’s lying right here, for he was hurt. He’s reading this book…” Naia picked up the book from the ground. “Yes, this one. He asked me which book to read to stitch the wound, so I gave this one to him. He was reading it when the Great Riddle came and then I woke up floating. And he’s—”
“No no no, stop!” I said. “He’s not,” I screamed at her with my eyes blurry with tears.
She pressed her lips together as though she was trying to stop herself from talking. Feeling remorseful for screaming at her, I apologized.
“I understand,” she replied. She was poised to return the book to the shelves when something caught her eyes. She looked down to read the cover of the book.
“I think you need to read this,” she gave it to me. Her eyes were huge with fear.
I took the book and read the cover myself. It said: The Great Riddle.
“That’s not the title of the book I gave him.”
With my heart hammering in my throat, I tapped the cover with my finger, it flipped to the first page. And right there, the words appeared, coming from the Great Riddle himself.
‘You dare to challenge me?
How old do you think you are?
Do you know who I am?
I am the Great Riddle,
I am the Mist.
I am the Darkness.
I’ve been in existence long before your birth.
Come to my House and face the truth.
And I promise you, it will hurt.’
With my eyes still wet with tears, I flew upward, passing one house after another, and used my wrath to speed up my flight. The phrase it will hurt was stuck in my mind. Whatever this Great Riddle was, he better not. He better not. I was so focused on reaching the top that I did not notice another presence flying beside me.
“Orieumber, take a deep breath.”
Although his voice startled me, I did not slow down my speed.
“I don’t have time for this,” I told him without looking his way. I could not, for my eyes were once again filled with tears.
“You have to remember, this is an academy. It is a learning place. You’re safe here. Everyone is safe here.” His voice was calm and soothing, but it failed to appease the burning feeling in my chest.
“He took Venir. That darkness took him!”
“All you have to do is learn the lesson.”
This time, I slowed down a little to face him. “Lesson? Isn’t it enough to read books, acquire knowledge? Isn’t that what it’s all about?”
“You’re not a simple receptacle of knowledge and information. You are a person. This academy is more than its books. And everything is not what it seems.”
“Is there any other lesson deeper than the thought that this academy is my mother?” I scoffed.
“Then trust her,” he said, his eyes started glowing. “A mother wouldn’t hurt her children.”
This knowledge strangely mollified me and my fear lessened a little. Please let his words be true.
My heartbeat started racing again when I reached the top house and descended on its tread. But before going inside, I turned to him.
“Do you give advice to every angel on their way here?”
“No.”
“Why me?”
“Because I don’t want you to fail. You have so much potential,” he said, smiling sadly.
“I know you’re not an ordinary angel, so you might as well tell me. Are you one of the guides in the academy?”
His eyes glowed and a smirk curled his lips. “Something like that.”
I nodded and turned toward the entrance of the House of the Great Ordeals. But I swore, before I was engulfed in complete darkness, I sensed motion behind me and then a huge shadow pass over me.
Did Traquus follow me into the house?
CHAPTER 18
Sitting on a marble chair, Damien examined the document on the table. Down below, the floor was littered with six-inch sized tablets—all made up of yellow sapphire. Nine piles of tablets, each of which was three feet in height, were spread across the floor.
“You must not like what you are reading to have your brows twisted.”
Damien grinned before he shifted his gaze up to meet the owner of the familiar voice.
“Were you finally bored on Earth that you decided to fly back here?” Damien asked, his eyes appraising his friend’s suit and tie ensemble. If not with the pair of wing-like rays, Ali could be mistaken for a human. Ali was an agent of Intelligence Cabinet, a department responsible for securing highly confidential and security-related information inside and outside of Ether.
“I was brought here to help you with your case,” Ali said.
Damien’s eyes narrowed. He watched Ali saunter and sit on the stool across from him.
“So what’s our case?”
“We have lost many angels to the mist,” Damien answered.
Ali shook his head. “The mist has been in existence for quite a while now. It’s been established that it’s a kind of portal and that those who disappeared with it were transported to another dimension.”
“We now have evidence that the mist is intentionally abducting angels against their wills. And we have evidence that links it to the Great Riddle back in the academy.”
“Let me get this straight. Are you saying that the mist is no longer considered a natural phenomenon? And it’s somehow connected to the Great Riddle?”
“Yes. And Yes.”
“But isn’t the Great Riddle just a test in the tenth house?”
“It was, and it still is. However, the mist disguised itself into a Great Riddle to abduct the angels at the academy.”
“You’re talking about it as though it’s a creature with intelligence.”
“Evidence suggests it’s an intelligent creature that chooses its victim well. Thanks to our scribes in the angel-tongue department, those who were taken exhibited red eyes.”
“So that’s why they brought me in the case because they thought the angels were demon-possessed? We all know demons can’t possess an angel.”
“We’re thinking that the mist is either a demon creation or a demon itself.”
Ali’s mouth hung open. “A demon here in Ether? How did it get past our guards?”
“Your guess is as good as mine.”
He knew he was coming the moment he heard the whistle. When you heard it, everyone knew Archibard was nearby. His whistle was distinguishably his. Bard was the chief scribe of the angel-tongue department. He collected and translated ancient stories and books into angel-tongue and delivered them to the academy for study. His department’s main job was to sort out information by level of difficulty while throwing in untranslatable books in the mix.
“Damien, Damien, are you deliberately standing in my way?” he said, walking toward him.
“Do you have a minute, Bard? I just want to speak to you about something.”
“Oh, sure whatever it is, it should be about something.” He laughed, amused by what he just said.
“It’s important. Are you headed home? I’ll walk with you.”
Archibard grinned at this statement.
“I would love that. A walking companion! It’s been a long time since I had one.”
“Bard, don’t go there. This is just a one-time walking companionship.”
“Must be very important.” He smirked.
Heading south, they walked along the garden walled with red flowers.
“Do you have some good stories for me?” Archibard asked, his voice belied genuine excitement.
“Not this time,” Damien answered nonchalantly to Archibard’s disappointment.
Damien knew that Bard was not joking this time. Everyone needed to prove his worth for Archibard’s attention. They resumed walking.
“I just want to know if you have any more information about the angels with red eyes.”