Monsters & Fairytales

by Rebecca Suzanne

  “Exactly!” The Minakai stood up with his right hand in the air.

  Puzzling looks spread across our faces. It was almost like he was a detective that had just solved the case. Realizing we had been sitting there for a few moments in complete statue form, I broke hold and leaned towards him.

  “What?” I asked.

  I waited for someone to say something.

  “You are the only human. The only one on Earth worth saving.” The Minakai said.

  “The only human.” Joe confirmed.

  “Please, can you just stay like Carlyle? It’s bad enough either way, but less so when you’re him.” I begged.

  “Sorry.”

  Fur folded over the fleshy human skin. It made a weird sound, almost like a zipper but almost like Velcro. When his body was black again, I felt my own body relax.

  “Do you understand?” Loki broke the silence.

  “No, no I don’t understand anything. You guys keep throwing around these words about fate of the humans, me being the savior, and honestly I have no more understanding than I did when I got here. How am I the only one? How is that possible? I can’t do this alone. I can’t even get through the day alone!”

  I needed to walk away. I needed to breathe. I was so overwhelmed. I rushed past Sebastian and Carlyle and paced behind the couch. I wanted to cry, for some reason. My emotions were on overload. Then I remembered I had already cried so much today. I had cried so much in this week, and month. This whole year. I was a mess. How could I be what’s left?

  “That is the point, Mirabelle. You are the only human, but you are not alone. When my son pulled himself from his destiny, he shifted everything. It granted you this option nobody before you has ever had. You can keep your life. You can be whatever you choose.” Loki said.

  “You guys keep talking about all these options but not one of you has gone past the one where my body gets torn into hundreds of pieces by the Zahn. So, please, for the love of God, can someone explain them to me?” I whimpered.

  “Mira, if you stay on Earth, then the Zahn won’t extinguish you. You will watch all the life around you vanish until you are the only one. That’s when you can rebuild and start life over. If you stay here, the Zahn has to claim you. It will transform you into what you need to be to make humans understand their purpose.

  “Now, with Sebastian, the Zahn may choose to keep you here. You have already started to turn into one of us, which is why I believe that is the choice the Zahn will choose for you. If you do this, you will be given a life here for all of eternity. Life on Earth would restart in its own natural way, but there is no certainty. We do not understand why God would choose this path, since what happened the first time, but He knows what He is doing.” Loki ended it all with a smile.

  “Oh my.”

  I felt faint again. He was lying. I had been here before. The Minakai had been sitting across from me. He had told me about the tribes, and about Sebastian and Carlyle.

  “You wouldn’t let me leave. You were hoping for the Zahn to get me.” I whispered.

  “Not necessarily.” The Minakai responded.

  He didn’t have to be a mind reader to know that I was talking to him.

  “Yes! You kept pushing for me to stay. And those doors, you covered your mess up nicely.” I looked to Carlyle. “You were right. Every single one of you knew that I was going to have to face this. You knew that Sebastian was my true love; you knew that Carlyle was Joe, and you knew, well you don’t count, Loki. But the rest of you!”

  I glared at them. How dare they treat me like an idiot and drag me through all this knowing all along what I would be faced with.

  “It’s not like that.” Sebastian mumbled across from me.

  “Didn’t you hear your father?! The only way to save the humans is to die myself.”

  “If you think they are worth it, of course. Why would you want to sacrifice yourself for people that don’t matter?” Sebastian asked.

  “Because they all matter. They all have lives and a family, who am I to say their life isn’t worth it? Who are you to say that I am?”

  “Because you are, they aren’t. You have to stay focused. Do not lose sight out of guilt.” Loki pleaded.

  “What do you know?! You want me here with your son so his betrayal on you is justified. All of you are selfish and want this for your own gratification. And you call yourselves the superior race? You’re supposed to be the ones keeping us pure when you are not even pure yourself? I’m the only one who is seeing this for everyone. You are not true creatures of God!” I yelled.

  I was furious. My heartbeat was pounding in my ears. I could feel the adrenaline coursing through me and I wanted to rip something apart. I was ready to do whatever it took to defend my beliefs, so much so that I was glaring at them with a grin on my face.

  I dared any of them to step up to me. I wanted them to see how serious I was. Hell, I didn’t care if they took it as far as fearing me. It was ridiculous for creatures of their size to fear me off of looks alone, but I had more than proven my emotions were tenfold to theirs. They couldn’t break me. I was better than that.

  I looked at all of them taking in their emotions. They were watching me very cautiously, waiting for my next move. Invisible waves battled my stance. Was the Minakai testing me? I closed my eyes to focus. I could run away. They would never find me in this world now that my feelings weren’t pure anymore. I was safe. The Zahn would never catch me and humanity-

  “Mirabelle.” Sebastian pleaded, interrupting me.

  “How dare you! I keep telling you, you are not ready, but you prove yourself like this? You know nothing about what’s ahead of you.” The Minakai roared.

  He had been waiting for someone to speak. My feelings, my emotions were holding him at bay. How was that possible? As soon as Sebastian spoke and broke my concentration, it allowed him to sear through.

  “And you do?” I asked.

  “Yes! I am the leader. I have met the others. I have witnessed it all.” He said.

  “Others?”

  “Did you think this was the first time God has been disappointed in you creatures?”

  “I just-”

  “You were being selfish.”

  He finished my sentence for me with a heart stopping glare. I went silent. I didn’t know what to do. They all seemed to ease off me, at least.

  “What did they choose?” I asked, quietly.

  The Minakai sighed. He was thinking about something. He did that a lot.

  “Before you was just a man. He could hear God, but they could not. He felt so much sorrow for the humans and their lost hope, that he sacrificed himself in front of all of them. That created a wave of a second chance. This is the chance that you are still living in today.

  “Before him was a family. God wasn’t so lost to humans back then and they listened to him directly. They were the only ones who saw the signs and prepared to stay on Earth. Their ways did not affect the others, and the Zahn wiped out the rest of mankind.

  “And the first pure humans of the world were a couple. They were so innocent, a voice from God was unheard of to them. We had to directly speak with them. When we brought them here, they knew they had to stay. They saw humanity was lost beyond their help. The Zahn claimed them and they set life in a new direction.” The Minakai answered.

  “You’re talking of Jesus, Noah’s Ark, and the story of Adam and Eve, right?”

  “You are aware of the Bible?” The Minakai asked. He was wide eyed.

  “Um, no. I’m Jewish. But everyone knows those stories. I even told them to Carlyle and Sebastian.” I said, trailing off at the last part.

  “Jewish? The ways of Jesus himself?” The Minakai smiled. I didn’t understand.

  “What?”

  “Well, why wouldn’t you have said that before? Jesus was the most successful at restoring faith to humans; he was the only one whose direct influence brought them back to God. Of course, he later became their greatest downfall. But with you be
ing Jewish, you have convinced me of your place here.”

  “How do you figure he was their biggest success and failure?”

  “Humans eventually saw the power he had and took advantage of it. Today, the church is nothing but a way to ploy money and power from innocent lives. And all those who trust in Jesus as God, they are blind. They should have listened to him and seen his ways, rather than worship him as supreme. He never meant that.

  “You, you have it right. You are worshipping Him as who He is.”

  “So, everyone worshipping Jesus and the Bible has it wrong?”

  “The Bible was intended as a book of guidelines, nothing else.”

  “Stories, yes.”

  “This is His faith. Jesus did not write that book. His sacrifice influenced mankind to tell a tale to forewarn everyone of what could happen. They were warned of the past and the first time it happened, and they were warned of the future. Men did not listen, and Noah chose to save his family, because he did.”

  “Then how could Noah be in the bible?” I asked. I was certain that story was in there

  “Were you alive before Noah?” The Minakai raised his eyebrow at me as his words slipped off his lips.

  “No.”

  “Then you should have listened when I said it was all a book written by man. Each time it was rewritten, it changed from the last. Each time someone added their stories of triumph and Gods power.”

  “Does this mean that we were all actually from Noah’s family? Humanity really is inbred? Well, I guess we’d be inbred from Adam and Eve, but still. Ew.”

  I shivered the more I thought about it.

  “In a sense, yes.” The Minakai said.

  “What about all these other religions, they’re all wrong?”

  “Not necessarily. In Christianity, Jesus existed, and he did a great thing for you humans. Those innocent souls, God will see the good in that. And all the other, ‘Religions’, as you called them, they abide by a supremacy of some sort. They hope for purity of the soul and happiness of the heart. They, too, will get their justice by God.”

  “Clearly not, if I am all that was found.”

  “Have you not been listening? Just because they believe, does not mean that they are worthy. They chose their place in Heaven with Jesus or whomever’s reign they are under. They did not choose to live for God on his Earth as you did.”

  “But, I never went to the synagogue like I should have. And I only took it up with Rida. When she adopted me, she told me I was entitled to it, since she was Jewish. So I looked into it and celebrated it with her.”

  I was panicking. Everything was making sense now; I just didn’t want it to. It was sort of how you only hear of stigmata’s in the non-believers. I was terrified.

  “Mirabelle, can we take a walk together?” Sebastian asked.

  He stood up and held his hand out for me.

  “Now?”

  “Yes. There is one thing you are forgetting, and I feel like I need to be the one to tell you.” He said calmly.

  Great, I thought that I had understood it all. What was I forgetting? I looked at everyone, they didn’t seem to object.

  “Okay.” I said, so low even I barely heard it.

  He held out his hand and I cautiously took it. It felt good being there. I missed him. This wasn’t his fault. I needed to stop blaming everyone else and own up to my own responsibilities and my own destiny. Everything was happening for a reason; everything had happened for a reason. He wanted what was best for me. I needed to remember that.

  We walked out of the dark quiet castle and into the bright open day. It didn’t even hurt my eyes to make the transition. Everything was so perfect in Aegyssus. I took a seat at the top of a hill and laid back on my elbows. The clouds were moving with no breeze to take claim. Creatures were twirling and zooming around, dancing to their own song. Lucy walked past me and munched on the top of a tree. Was there nothing wrong with this place? Even the bugs were beautiful and peaceful. I couldn’t be the only hope for humanity. What did I know? I was just a kid.

  Sebastian was standing behind me against a tree. I wanted him closer. I felt so alone. This wasn’t fair. How did all of them know I was strong enough, but I constantly doubted myself?

  “Because you are only human.” Sebastian said.

  “That doesn’t help.” I mocked my words from earlier.

  “I know it’s a lot to take in right now, but there is a reason. You can feel that.”

  “I told you about all those people, and you just stared at me.”

  “I was not aware humans still knew of them. I did not know how to react.”

  “You and me both. I never thought they were real. The stories seemed just like stories.”

  “How do you mean?”

  “A man crucified on a cross, much like everyone else in his time, but he’s the only one that comes back? Then thousands of years later and we are still obsessed with him? Stories of the first humans, but yet they had belly buttons. And a flood wiping out humans but an old man was capable of building an ark to house two of every animal?”

  “Belly buttons?” Sebastian asked.

  “Yes. In all the drawings they have one, but if they had been the first, then they wouldn’t. See we only have one because it’s where our umbilical cords were from our mothers’ womb. They were supposedly never created in a womb, though.”

  “Good point. We should have thought about that before sending them back, I guess.” He said.

  “You sent them back? You witnessed it all just like the Minakai? How old are you?”

  “Being eternal servants to God leaves a lot to your imagination about my age. I can say that I have seen plenty of existence come and go, but to put a time frame on it is simply impossible.”

  “But there were children? And you said your mother was dying?” I asked. My heart rate started going up. Were there really more lies?

  “There were young, yes, and she did technically die. Just because we are given eternity doesn’t mean the bodies handed to us can withstand it.”

  “You are constantly reborn?”

  “Yes.”

  “So why was it so imperative that Carlyle be there for your mothers passing?”

  “Each body gives us a new role. Just because she was my mother before does not mean she will be my mother again. I will miss her.”

  “I guess that helps to keep things from getting boring.” I sighed.

  I couldn’t imagine eternity, but if they got to relive a new life each time, while remembering the old one, I could handle that. Well, now that I did know that, I wasn’t sure how I felt.

  Another rock fell victim to my toes. It rolled into the perfect pond at the bottom of the hill. I watched the ripples spread out to the other end and cast rainbows against the sky. Life’s a giant pool and the rock was the Zahn.

  “That’s what I needed to talk to you about. Did you ever wonder how you could rebuild your race if you are all alone on Earth?” Sebastian asked.

  “I guess it didn’t occur to me.”

  “Do you want to know?”

  “Does it matter?”

  “You wouldn’t be alone.”

  He took my hand.

  “That’s impossible. You are one of them. How could that work?”

  “Just like you, I could give this up.”

  “How is that even possible?”

  I stumbled down the hill and sat at the edge of the lake. There were tons of perfect stones around its edge. I picked up a few and tried skipping them across the top. I needed to just turn my mind off for a few moments. I couldn’t let him give up this for me. I wasn’t even sure what I wanted. I wasn’t even sure if I thought it was worth it.

  “It wouldn’t be up to you. Well, not in that sense. If you love me, I have the choice. God is very kind. Together we could be the start of a new race.”

  “Would they even be the same? You are not human. I don’t even like you in human form.”

  “I could be whoever you wan
t me to be.”

  “That’s not fair. I can’t ask that of you.”

  “Mirabelle, you think I want to give you up for the rest of eternity? It’s hard enough to look at you now and know what I did to you.”

  “Don’t say that.” I interrupted him.

  “That’s the point. What I did was so awful, but it had a purpose. There was a reason I tried to dissuade my brother, there was a reason I tried to keep you here with me. It was all so I could see that even I was meant for bigger things than this. We belong together.”

  He grabbed me and forced me to face him. I wanted to deny it. I wanted to be alone. It was easier that way. But he was right. He kissed me, and I knew he was right. I shouldn’t go through it alone. I didn’t have to, anymore.

  “If I stay here, they will all be lost.”

  “You really want that?”

  “It’s the only way you will be you.” I admitted.

  “But you wouldn’t be who you are.” He grinned, rubbing my cheek.

  “It’s not up to you to decide that. And like you said, I was meant for bigger things than this. Maybe I always had a place here.”

  “If that is your choice, I will not stand in the way.”

  “You want me to choose you over the world, still?” I questioned his morals once more.

  As much as I knew he thought I was testing him, I wasn’t. I had to get it all out. Questioning him was the only way for me to get to the bottom of my reality. I needed the grounding.

  “You are not choosing me over the world. The world has already been lost. It is our turn to make it right.”

  I was satisfied with that. I knew that in his heart of hearts, everything was for us. Everything was for me to be happy. There was one thing he could never protect me from though.

  “The Zahn will still claim me no matter what I decide. Have you been through it?”

  “A long time ago, yes.” Sebastian answered.

  “What was it like for you?”

  “It was terrifying.” He smiled.

  “Oh, well, that’s comforting.” I laughed. I needed that.

  “It’s different for everyone. Do not be afraid. Your faith is strong.”

  “What’s the option where I might not have to face it?” I asked, just out of curiosity.