by Joy Johnson
Lokhem gave me a very small lick on my cheek before ripping free of his binds in one small, but violent jerk. The snapping sound that the tree and binds made awoke the others then, and all hell broke loose.
July 21, 3078
We are on the move. Aleena was scouting to the West and saw a green flash in the distance. Within an hour the three of them had the camp collected and were ready to depart with or without Lokhem and I. We follow them at a distance now. The three of them are very cross with me and are distrusting of Lokhem to say the least.
The night Lokhem broke free of his binds, Ephram called me a traitor, and Aleena, after the boys were able to catch up to her, said that she never wanted to speak to me again. Garhet has not said a word either way to me, but his eyes watch me closely with Lokhem. I believe he may come around to befriending Lokhem given time.
The ground has leveled off where we have stopped for the night. Lokhem tells me that he has seen the remains of an old human city to the North West of us. He has told me that I would be safe to travel into the city's limits with him if I wanted to explore. When I asked him why he thought it would be safe, he said that he would protect me.
The memory of the night my mother left me outside the big city surfaced before I could stop it. The look in her dark eyes as I fell asleep, and the pounding of her heart against my cheek were hard for me to lock back into the darkness of my mind. Lokhem hesitated before asking me the question I knew the memory would bring forward. The one I had been dreading.
“What do you think happened to her?” He asked, his voice gentle in my mind. I watched the others some distance away warming their hands over a small fire. Before I could even shiver, Lokhem's wing gently wrapped around me. I contemplated the answer to his question as I snuggled against the warmth of his fur.
“I imagine she vanished,” I said finally after a long moment. I lightly traced a vein in his wing with my forefinger.
“Vanished?” Lokhem prodded.
“Yes, like my Father,” I replied, not wanting to discuss the one topic both of us had been avoiding.
“I see…” Lokhem said almost to himself. A number of thoughts ran through his head, but the words were in a strange language I couldn't understand.
“Lokhem?” I asked, wondering why he didn't want me to know what he was thinking.
“Yes, Mal,” Lokhem replied distractedly.
“You once asked me why I thought your kind was hurting my kind… Well, I need to ask you; are they?” I swallowed hard. My heart pounded in my chest. Lokhem did not meet my eyes when he answered.
“No,” He said after a moment, then added, “Yes… In a way both, little Mal.” My teeth clenched and I could barely breathe.
“Why? How?” I replied trying to stay calm. Despite my attempts to remain in control, tears began to fill my eyes and roll down my cheeks. Worries about all the people I had known that vanished filled me. Lokhem listened to them all, and watched the vision of each face as the person that vanished crossed my mind. Lokhem sighed sadly and crossed his paws in front of himself after my mind quieted.
“All questions find their answers in time. Patience little creature; tomorrow I will answer all your questions and more, but for now, rest,” Lokhem whispered to me in my mind. He rested his head over mine and I felt his worry over something he would not let me know.
July 22, 3078
The air was brisk in the morning when I awoke. The sun had not yet graced us with its presence, but the sky was already full with bird song worshiping its near arrival. Lokhem stretched his wings about him as we stood up. This had become our custom as well; when one of us stirred in the night, the other did as well. It has been a comfort, his constant companionship, and I do not feel as alone with him around.
The fire was almost completely snuffed out when Lokhem made a strange request. He told me that his wings needed some exercise and asked if I would join him in the sky. He gave me the image of us flying together; I on his back, soaring through the clouds as he envisioned it would be like. I smiled, remembering the memories he had shared with me of flying in his home world. Although he added that this would not be exactly the same, I would not be in his mind this time but experiencing the real thing, I didn't hesitate to accept his offer.
Aleena and Ephram said they didn't care where I went or how when I told them that Lokhem and I were going flying. There was just the faintest hint of jealously in Ephram's eyes, but it quickly vanished when Aleena glared at him. Garhet objected to the idea and tried to persuade me not to go. However, in the end, Garhet gave up and simply asked where I thought we were going. Lokhem then suggested that we visit the city nearby. I translated this to Garhet and climbed up onto Lokhem's back. Garhet grasped my leg and told me that Ephram and Aleena wanted to head west. He begged me to try and hurry back, then let go.
I nodded assuring him that we could find them from the sky when we came back, and Lokhem took off at a gentle lope. His wings tucked as we navigated our way through the trees. I knew by our link that he was headed for an open strip of meadow not two hundred yards off. My eyes caught sight of Garhet just before we rounded the end of a small hill. He was running after us with all his might. A look of worry was written upon his face, and suddenly I wished that we had made amends long ago. For some reason, as I watched him fade away, I felt like we may never get the chance.
When Lokhem saw the edge of the meadow his muscles shifted beneath me into a more even run and his wings tensed. I could feel his excitement as my own. As his paws found the ground faster, then faster yet, my heart found a rhythm that was even more rapid. The trees passed us at a dizzying rate. The wind rushed against our bodies. The smell of jasmine and lavender saturated our minds as our feet skirted the wild grasses of the meadow.
With one grand leap near the very end of the meadow, Lokhem spread his wings. A great wind yielded us to the sky, and as we circled the meadow gaining height and speed, my mind cleared. A blissful peace filled me as I watched the wilds of the world pass away beneath us. I felt in my spirit that this was somehow wright; somehow a part of me that had been missing, but then I wondered how that could be.
As we cleared the treetops, Lokhem glided along a sideways vein of wind that rounded us into a Western direction. Powerful strokes of his wings worked with the fast moving air to bring us up into the clouds. Once we were high enough to satisfy Lokhem's longing to be free of the ground, he broke away from the stream of air that had been carrying us. We glided far beyond any land I had ever seen.
My eyes were shocked to see the vision that came to them when I looked down. Beneath us lay a barren wasteland. The earth bore grand crevices with blackened shadows at their centers. There was no green, only dust and waste. Water of any kind could not be found by my eyes, and no movement of any living thing could be seen. Even when Lokhem wielded down slowly out of the sky, the way that I have seen hawks hunt prey, there was not a single stirring among the dry rocks. The Earth looked dead; devoid of all life. My heart sank at the sight of it.
When the sun began to lead a trail for the west, Lokhem finally took me to the great city that was North West of where we began the day. As his paws touched the ground in the heart of the city, a gust of gray dust rose up to welcome us into the heart of its silent realm.
My feet had but touched the ground before I realized what the gray dust was… Ashes.
July 30, 3078
I have spent the last eight days in total and complete shock. I have not been able to write about the events of the past few days' horrors as they happened, so I will try my best to explain why I must now leave Earth…
We spent the night roaming through the remains of the city on the 22nd. Lokhem pointed out great hunks of partially shiny metal that he said the humans called, Cars. We walked through the remains of many tall and grand structures that Lokhem told me the humans had once called, Sky Scrapers. Massive parts of these buildings were missing. They looked the way a piece of paper does when burned by a fire.
In
some places the remains of human life could be found spread across the floors and walls. What was left of them, were only the parts that animals could not conceive of consuming. Most were but mere skeletal remains. At the end of the night, when I could no longer hold back my questions, Lokhem flew me into the most damaged, broken part of the city.
“Why do you know so much about the human race? You know things that I don't even know,” I began to think as Lokhem walked slowly to the edge of a building and nudged it with a paw. When it didn't move, he stared up at the sky for a while before he spoke.
“Tell me of the myth your human father recited to you,” Lokhem replied aloud. I was shocked to hear him speak in my language. He had never before spoken aloud, but then again, he had spent a number of weeks inside my head. I felt stupid for not realizing that he would learn my tongue quickly.
“What do you mean?” I asked aloud when I had gotten over my surprise.
“Tell me the myth,” Lokhem repeated gently, then turned to me. He began to slowly pace around me, the ashes rising in small clouds around his paws.
“Well, it was really more of a fairy tale,” I mumbled.
“No. Fairy tales do not teach. Myths do; tell me the myth,” Lokhem insisted, his voice taking on a serious tone. I frowned but decided to tell him the story.
“There once was a man named, Immanuel. He was born beneath the brilliance of a star that shined down from the heavens. Angels said unto the people on the day of his birth, 'Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day, in the city of David, a Savior which is, Christ the Lord.' There were a great many people who brought him gifts and called him a King then; they shouted his name, they worshiped him as he performed great feats of love and healing while he grew into a man.
However, there were some who grew jealous of the love people gave him. They, who were called, Pharisees, conspired to make others believe that Immanuel was not the son of the great Guardian that he claimed. They tried to make him into a liar, or a cheat. They tried to make him a hypocrite.
'And the Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst, they said unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act. The law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what say thou? This they said, tempting him that they might have to accuse him.'
Confounding them, though, Immanuel said, 'He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.' The Pharisees then searched among the crowd for one who would claim to not possess sin. When they found none willing, they felt anger as they watched Immanuel bid the woman well. For many years they tried without success to persuade his followers not to believe in him. They wept at their lack of accomplishment until one day, they finally gained the ear of one who would betray Immanuel.
'And Judas that betrayed him had given the Pharisees a token, saying, Whomsoever I shall kiss, that same is he; take him, and lead him away safely. And as soon as Judas came unto Immanuel, he went straightway to him, and saith, Master, Master; and kissed him.'
Immanuel was then taken before a king named, Pilate, whom the Pharisees knew to be a politician. There, they put him on trial before the people. They twisted facts, and put fear into the hearts of men. It was through that fear that they accused Immanuel, and it was through that fear that they killed him…”
“There is more to the myth, little Mal,” Lokhem said, after I hesitated for a moment.
“Yes, but it becomes a bit hard to believe after this. I think my father was simply fond of storytelling,” I said with a bit of embarrassment.
“Do you really believe that, little Mal?” Lokhem replied. He flapped his wings kicking up a large cloud of ash.
“I suppose not. But the rest of the story is strange,” I said tapping my fingers against the hilt of my machete.
“More strange than a giant winged cat flying you around the ruins of a city?” Lokhem laughed raising an eyebrow. I laughed a little too, then continued on with the story.
“Three days after the death of Immanuel, Christ our Lord, raised from the dead. His hands and feet were pierced as they were in his human death, but yet he arose and walked among the living. May his words before the clouds claimed him from the Earth, be forever remembered as, 'let not your heart be troubled: ye who believe in God, our Guardian, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.' Amen.”
Lokhem nodded solemnly and faced me. Then he said with a commanding voice, “In my Father's house, there are many mansions.” A vision bloomed before my mind's eye. Lokhem was recalling the memory of us flying over the jewel like structures jutting out of the ground in his home world.
“I go to prepare a place for you,” Lokhem said, then projected another image into my mind. It was the memory of the High Realm of Megorim Habayit.
“And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also,” Lokhem added, then a vision of the Souls of the Guardian came into my mind. I gasped and screamed when I saw their glowing faces in the memory slowly turn into that of humans'. Suddenly, it all made sense, and I couldn't draw a breath. Everything my father had told me; everything my mother had told me, it all washed through me like fire across dry grass.
The last thing I remember before passing out, was Lokhem's voice saying quietly, “That's why I know so much about the human race, little Mal. My kind has been here a very long time.”
When I awoke in the afternoon that same day, clouds were high in the sky above me. Strange brown specks were floating around the clouds. I squinted my eyes up at them from my place on the ground, but couldn't tell what they were.
The ground felt cool against my back. I had almost forgotten Lokhem's words when I heard it. A noise that sounded oddly out of place. When I turned my head slowly to see it, Lokhem's words came rushing back, and terror filled my being. There, all around me, were strange creatures that I had no name to call them by.
They looked like humans but they possessed great white, feathered wings that sprouted from their backs. Heavy looking battle swords were strapped to each of their waists by a thick brown belt. None that I could see had hair that was shorter than their lower back, nor any other color beyond black. Each wore a white dress that fell to their ankles, and not a single one of them had shoes. They clung to the disintegrating buildings all around me like spiders; they poked their heads out of the openings in walls, gathered in a tight ring some fifteen feet around me, and would not shut up! Their chatter was what I had heard; their strange language that was familiar, but yet foreign. It hung in the air all around me.
A brilliant green flash ripped free from the ground just a few yards from my head then, and suddenly a member of Lokhem's Cherubim family emerged from within the fiery doorway. A winged, white dressed creature was perched upon its back as it walked out into the open. Cursing under my breath, I watched as the human looking creature gracefully dropped to the ground and gave the Cherubim a pat. My heart pounded in my chest as I watched the big cat take flight. It quickly blended in with the other brown specks floating around the clouds, and then I realized what they all were.
There were more of the white winged creatures around me than I had numbers to count. Their black eyes were glued to me. They studied my every curve and movement. There was no way that I was going to get away. A sinking feeling hit me then, and I knew that I was a dead girl.
“Why are you just lying there?” Came Lokhem's voice in my head.
“I'm contemplating how I'm going to face my immanent death,” I retorted aloud. All the chatter around me silenced very quickly. There was no point in putting it off. They were going to do what they were here to do anyway. Why wait? I had thought.
“What death?�
� Lokhem inquired as he walked up to me and leaned down to stare into my eyes.
“You were supposed to be my friend,” I hissed, my hand tapping the hilt of my machete.
“I am, and always will be, young Mal,” Lokhem responded gently and backed away from me. My feet slowly found purchase upon the ground. I stood in the center of the large circle of them ready to fight for my last breath. Their eyes showed no fear of me, and so I tried not to let them see any in mine.
“What's the meaning of this? You said that you would protect me if I went into the city with you,” I growled angrily in my mind to Lokhem. I felt betrayed and trapped.
“You must know who you are. You cannot continue to roam the wilds with humans, thinking that you are one of them,” he replied.
“What are you talking about? I know exactly who I am,” I snapped at him loudly. Several of the white dressed creatures backed away from the front of the circle. A few of them began to twitch in strange ways; some of them began to compulsively twirl their hair, others began fidgeting with their wings… and some played at the hilt of their swords. This caught my eye. It was a strange little detail, but there it was. I glanced down at my own hand; my fingers were tapping the hilt of my machete as they always did when I was nervous or stressed.
“Yes,” Lokhem said in my mind. My knife made a distinct ring as it left its scabbard. My eyes found his slowly.
“No,” I stated flatly.
“Yes,” Lokhem replied calmly again. My hands shook. I wanted to run, but there was no way out, they had me surrounded. I was trapped like a fat rabbit in a snare.
“I am not like you! I am not a killer!” I accused them all angrily.
“No, you are not like me,” Lokhem whispered. My eyes found his once more and then he added, “You are like them, the Mal'akh-mashhit.” Confusion swept through me enough to fade my anger a bit.