by RAVENC JAMES
“It’s the gods’ language.” Gabriel’s reply was soft, more like a whisper.
A shadow darkened Jophiel's eyes. He gazed at Michael and asked, “What does it mean?”
“This means that our water channel picked up a presence of something godlike.”
“Are you sure it was not picking our signatures?” Uriel asked. Among the archangels, Uriel was the one who was quick to doubt almost everything.
Michael’s gaze shifted to him. “You recognize our signatures, and they are certainly not archangels’.”
Gabriel's nose wrinkled as he gazed at Michael. “Are we missing something here because we know all the gods are dead, right?” Then Gabriel's eyes narrowed. "Is it still true? I've been on Earth for long, so who knows what other important talks I have missed."
When Michael’s blue eyes were fixed on him, Damien thought his heart stopped.
“Damien, what did Archibard tell you?”
Damien stared at Michael with his mouth hanging open.
“Damien?” the chief called him again.
The archangels gave him an amused look. Someone patted his back that evened out his breathing. He took another gulp and then another. This time his wit returned.
“He told me about his latest findings." He internally applauded himself for keeping his voice from shaking.
“Do you remember it?”
“Yes, I do.” Then he said:
“The brilliance is stronger in the morn but shrouded in the eternal fantasy of descending not from its amber throne and burst in deep ruby.”
“Do you know what it means?” Michael asked him.
“I’m still in the middle of interpreting it.”
“Good. Ariel, could you see him out? Thank you, Damien.”
Damien’s eyes widened at this dismissal. Ariel rose from his seat and came to his side.
“Let’s go.”
Damien was left to follow him out of the chamber, the chamber that could have given him the answer to crack his case about the missing angels and the mist.
"I have to know whether he understood Archibard's riddle," Michael asked. "I found this riddle in one of the books in the academy. And before anyone could read it, I took it from the shelves. I am not ready for the angels to learn the truth about themselves. And earlier, before coming here, I found out that the mist took Archibard."
“The truth being the mortality of all angels?” Jophiel said. “So Archibard must have discovered his impending death and had wanted to write one last book. This time, it was about his death.”
Although the message in his words may have sounded blunt and harsh, Jophiel's face revealed that somehow the death of an angel still distressed him.
“I believe we should focus on discussing this godlike entity that sneaked into Ether without our knowledge,” Uriel said.
“Is there anyone here capable of reading an ancient language? It might give us the location of this creature,” Raphael said.
“I can,” Michael answered. His archangels sighed relief.
“So, what did it say?” Uriel asked with excitement.
Michael shifted in his chair. “All the ruby stones recorded the impressions that were happening in the academy.”
A varying degree of shock and confusion was reflected on each archangel’s face.
“I don’t understand,” Gabriel said. A pink hand suddenly hovered in front of Gabriel's face and put its forefinger inside Gabriel’s open mouth. "Hey,” Gabriel said, surprised. The hand disappeared. He glanced toward Jophiel, who merely smirked at him.
“This is not making any sense,” Raphael said.
“It doesn’t matter,” Uriel answered. “At least it tells us where to look.”
“This brings me to believe that it must be responsible for what is happening in the academy,” Sapphire said. “Many fledglings who the Great Riddle took are yet to be returned.”
“The Great Riddle is designed to take five angels for each upper house every time it appears,” Michael answered. “Sapphire and Emerald, you went there to count them. So, what’s wrong?”
“The Great Riddle took angels from the lower houses,” Sapphire said. “And those who were taken by the Great Riddle were not in the tenth house. We searched for them. They were not there.”
“Why does it matter when those five are not supposed to be real? The academy is designed to create illusions deemed necessary for the fledglings’ maturity,” Raphael explained. “This includes creating angels who would become their companions, only for the Great Riddle to take them to the final house for the Great Ordeals.”
“We all know that. But do we have a way to determine which angel is real and which one an illusion?” Gabriel asked.
“Even us archangels can be deceived by its appearance. But if we look into their minds, we will see the illusion,” Michael answered.
“But what mind is left to examine if it was already gone?” Ariel said. “If the Great Riddle is taking fledglings from the lower houses against its design, then that in itself indicates it is malfunctioning. So how would we know that it is not abducting real angels?”
“If the Great Riddle is malfunctioning, then I can say the same thing with the mist,” Emerald said.
All the attention in the room shifted to Emerald.
“What does your investigation show, Emerald?” Michael said.
Emerald breathed a heavy sigh. “There has been an increase of mist abduction in Ether.”
“Allow me to interrupt this depressing conversation for a short moment,” Gabriel said. “I just want to clarify one thing first because I felt like I am missing the point here. But isn’t it the purpose of the mist is to claim the dying angels and to keep the rest of the angels from learning about their mortality?”
“Yes, Gabriel. Now tell us what you have in mind,” Michael answered.
“I’m just thinking because Earth has also experienced a great number of people dying.”
Ariel gave Gabriel a pointed look. “Is their death intentional or natural?”
“Well, I would like to believe that it is natural, and so I thought the increased number of deaths among the angels is natural as well. Otherwise, I may be forced to reconsider my early assessment.”
“Let’s not muddle our own problem here with what is happening on Earth,” Uriel said. “If we investigate the mysteries with the preconceived notion that they are connected, then we run the risk of contaminating the evidence.”
“I don’t think we are still in the early stage of the investigation when both Sapphire and Emerald here have given us the details. I believe what is left for us to do is come up with a conclusion,” Ariel countered.
“I have one,” Gabriel answered. “The mist has developed a personality and has been ravenous about claiming angels.”
Michael knew Gabriel was merely joking about it, but the idea had merit.
“Losing angels, or even just one angel, should not be taken lightly,” Jophiel said, glaring at Gabriel.
“Then let’s go back to believing that both mist and the Great Riddle are malfunctioning,” Gabriel said. “Let’s call Metatron then to fix it. Where is he, anyway? He should be in this meeting.”
Raphael sighed and faced Michael.
“We need to consider the fact that most of these unusual phenomena coincided with the presence of this mysterious godlike entity. If we solve this mystery, then it might lead us to the answer of the rising deaths among angels.”
“I’m sorry to disagree with you, Raphael, but Sapphire and I went to see Fide to determine all the angels born in Ether and matched it with the information we gathered from all the academy attendees. We discovered that the abduction has been happening long before this godlike creature appeared in Ether.”
Michael frowned. “What are you saying?”
Emerald glanced in Sapphire’s direction.
Sapphire cleared her throat. “What Emerald is hesitant to say is that there has been a great number of angels who are absent in
Ether. Whether they were taken while in the academy or the city does not matter anymore.”
Michael frowned. “How many?”
“Half of the entire population of angels,” Sapphire answered.
Murmurs of confusion echoed in the room.
"We need to call Metatron," Ariel said. "If there is one archangel here who knows what is going on, it is him.”
Michael’s face mirrored hurt, pain, and betrayal. If this was true, their deaths were on his hands.
CHAPTER 20
Damien found himself outside of his house. He knew that he was being kept in the dark about the real meaning of the ancient language he discovered hidden in the stone and the message Archibard gave him. Twice in a row, he had been privileged to be the bearer of a message whose meaning he was not privileged enough to know. How ironic was that?
But what further upset him was waiting for him in the house. Ali left him a message that the mist took Archibard. He closed his eyes as he imagined the last time he’d seen Archibard. My friend, will I ever see you again?
He massaged his temple and decided to continue his rumination inside his domain with a nice glass of energy juice. As he entered his house, he felt a welcoming warmth flooding his face and every inch of his exposed skin. While summoning a glass of kalaskig juice from his kitchen, he levitated himself with his feet crossed. When the juice arrived, he grabbed it, took a couple of gulps, and then let it float. When his nerves settled down, he resumed his contemplation.
If the mist indeed chose its victim like an entity with intelligence, what would its criteria be? Its patterns? Its motive? Why did he take Archibard? Did it have something to do with his latest findings? The more questions he asked, the more enthused he was in searching for the answers. It seemed to him that the behavior of the mist somehow really resembled that of the Great Riddle. But what came first, the Great Riddle or the mist? According to his record, the mist had already existed long before the Academy was even built.
He called Ali via orb-streaming and told him to meet him at the tenth house of the Academy. He had a bad feeling about this case, but he would face it head-on, the same way he’d met his trials in the Great Ordeals.
The House of the Great Ordeals was a house of illusion. It would read your mind and would design its structure based on what you feared most. To prepare yourself from the onslaught of illusions, you must arm yourself with real memories. Damien put the necklace made of Memor energy around his neck. This way, the house would not be able to trick him. He had learned his lesson and learned it the hard way. Kanya.
Damien had met Kanya at the first house, and she became his companion. He fell in love with her. When the Great Riddle took her to this house, he thought he would save her if he could answer all the riddles correctly. He did answer them correctly and was rewarded with the truth.
He saw Kanya again, but only to say goodbye before she exploded into pieces.
An illusion. The answer was—
“Your friend was a mere illusion,” the voice of the Great Riddle echoed in the hall.
The memory hurt still, but he had learned to live with it. And then something just clicked in his mind, a detail that he had missed before. Why had he forgotten about it? Probably because he’d been so emotionally distraught that he erased it from his memories. But did he? No, he did not. He merely transferred his memories.
He touched his necklace. I could bring the memory out through the Memor energy. He summoned the Memor energy from his necklace and addressed it to show him that one specific event.
It took only a moment before the scene was played in front of him.
“Freeze,” he said. The scene froze to that part where Kanya was about to burst. He stared at it, stunned and enraged. How could he have missed this detail? Right there, Kanya was staring back at him, with her eyes glowing red. Archibard’s verse reverberated in his mind.
“The brilliance is stronger in the morn but shrouded in the eternal fantasy of descending not from its amber throne. Immortality is a fantasy that we create, yet when it is time, we will burst in deep ruby.”
His vision went blurry.
Death.
Death was the lesson that the academy was trying to teach. And there it was. He had found the answer.
“Death,” he said to no one. “Death is the answer. So where is my reward now?”
“The truth.”
He turned around to see his friend Ali, or at least what bore the face of his friend. If this were Ali, he would not look at Damien as though he was not a longtime friend. If this were Ali, he would not look at him with malevolence in his eyes. If this were Ali, he would not have the smile that made the hair on Damien’s neck stand up.
Ali's voice echoed in the garden. “Where do angels go when they die?”
His heart beat hard against his chest.
“Where’s Ali?” he asked.
“Ali is now where you believe the missing angels are. And you, Damien, can now claim your prize. I’m giving you the chance to go where Kanya went.”
Damien did not think twice. He flew away from the angel disguised as Ali. The maze walls were so high that flying vertically could render him both visible and vulnerable, so he flew horizontally, turning from corner to corner. He grabbed a few kalaskig fruits he flew by and crushed them in his hand. He summoned the blue energy and turned the kalaskig juice into an invisibility cloak. He then hovered over the side of the wall that had thick shrubs and enshrouded himself with the cloak he created.
The shrubs and trees were quiet, undisturbed. But its stillness was broken when a flicker of light materialized out of nowhere, much like what Damien had seen Gabriel do when the archangel opened a portal. The being disguised as Ali passed through it. Like a predator hunting his prey, the being scanned his surroundings with his palm up, seemingly assessing any discrepancy in energy in the area. Then with a grin, he slowly sauntered directly to the spot where Damien was hiding.
The creature clawed the cloak and cast it aside, revealing Damien to him.
“Hello, Damien.” He then grinned, his teeth sparkling as brilliantly as his eyes.
Damien's eyes widened. His ichor blood drained out of his face. Right here before him came another revelation.
“You’re an archangel,” he whispered.
“I am the archangel of death.”
A sudden force pierced through Damien’s core, and his breathing became labored. He screamed in pain.
“Excuse me?” a voice echoed, providing him a little respite from the agony.
It was temporary at first until the pain completely disappeared.
The archangel of death was gone too.
CHAPTER 21
I made myself a living torch again and scanned my surroundings. There was a bright light ahead of me, so I went to investigate.
“Excuse me?” I said, unsure of what I was witnessing.
A very brilliant angel was holding the other angel captive with his gaze. A red glow was bursting out of the captive angel. The brilliant angel, whose radiance was terrifying yet mesmerizing, shifted his gaze to me. His eyes sparkled like a pair of stars bursting with radiant energy.
“What do you need, fledgling?” his voice thundered.
“I’m looking for the Great Riddle,” I said. I stared at him defiantly.
“Oh, he’s waiting for you. Right. NOW!”
An energy-force gripped me from behind and tossed me up like I was nothing but a rag doll. I was unconscious even before I hit the ground. And when I opened my eyes again, I was in a sphere of mist.
Uncertain as to what this place was, I started walking, leaving a trail of footprints behind. I encountered no mountain, no hill, nor any kind of mound. All were perfectly smooth and even until I stepped on it, making dents the shape of my feet.
Right when I was ready to believe that I must have been in a different kind of Limbo, where I would be walking on endless sand, I stumbled upon a colossal temple as white as a moonstone, floating in the middle of a
glittering lake. Since there was no bridge for me to use, flying was my only way to get there. But before I reached any higher than ten feet, the sand stirred and then swirled like a vortex. I screamed in sheer fear when it transformed into a giant creature with a torso of a human, a handsome face of an angel, and the haunches of a lion. A pair of gigantic eyes stared at me, and out of its mouth, words were spouted out:
“Who is older than creation?
Beauty is its consumption.
It engulfs all to nonexistence,
Where light’s beyond redemption.
Yet it spits out into existence.”
The sand stirred again and transformed into another giant creature. This time, the beast had five fire-breathing dragon heads with a human torso and gigantic human arms. Its haunches were of a horse with winged hooves. Two pairs of giant non-angelic wings sprang out of its back.
It was a terrifying sight, one I preferred never to see, not even in a nightmarish dream. This led me to think—what if I was merely having a nightmare?
I screamed when the creature moved toward me and encircled my entire body with its giant hand.
“Answer!” the beast with haunches of a lion hollered, and the ground trembled. This one seemed to be the speaker, while the other one, whose grip on me was tightening every second, was its lackey.
My mind scrambled for the answer. I analyzed the riddle piece by piece. It consumes beauty, eats all, light is nowhere, but from it comes what? Life? I remembered reading somewhere about a black hole believed to consume everything, and not even light could escape from it. But it also spit out all it consumed. It would be literal if I answered black hole.
One of the dragon heads peered closer, bringing its fiery-red eyes up close. It was breathing hot on my face. Would my skin melt? Then the creature opened its mouth. What is it that consumes all the beauty around? When the hailstorm of flames rained down, I countered it by throwing an energy shield.