by R. Twine
‘But I don’t want to go with you, Satanail,’ I countered. ‘I belong to Heaven. I want to go back where I came from.’
‘Miriam, if you go with me now, you’ll be able to be closer to Karl. My Kingdom borders on the earthly world, but if you leave for the heavenly abode you’ll stay too far away from your son and your connection with him will be severed. You won’t be able to help him when he may need you the most.’
I started crying. I was very reluctant to leave without having enjoyed the full measure of maternal happiness. Alas…
‘Miriam, go along with him! Just do it, and we’ll always be together…’ said Michael, cropping up beside Satanail.
‘Michael?!’ I exclaimed in astonishment.
He was dressed in a formal black suit which looked like something usually worn during a funeral ceremony. His hair was neatly combed backwards; his eyes sparkled – just like the eyes of Satanail who was standing nearby.
‘Come along!’ he asked me once more.
‘No, Michael. I will not follow you. What is going to happen to the Book of Shadows when I’m gone?’ I enquired.
‘It’ll return to the Kingdom of Darkness.’ He went silent. Michael and Satanail looked puzzled. ‘I don’t need it anymore,’ Michael said.
‘You don’t need it, but not because you didn’t want to have anything to do with the dark world,’ I said in a sad voice. ‘You don’t need it because you yourself are the incarnation of the dark world! The Prince of Darkness knew everything all along. This Book is meant for us, living beings, and for demons, too. But you definitely possess a kind of knowledge even the Book doesn’t have.’
Michael and Satanail nodded in agreement.
‘Miriam, you’ve got very little time left therefore you have to make a choice,’ the Black Angel said. ‘I’m offering you the opportunity to be near Karl. But if you reject my offer, living in Heaven may turn out badly for you. Your life will become unending suffering, and you’ll regret having missed the opportunity!’
‘I’ve done what you asked me to, therefore you cannot offer me what we haven’t agreed upon!’
I returned mentally to the past: to the moment when I, having descended to the Kingdom of Darkness, offered Satanail a deal.
‘I want to know the real names of those who murdered my parents, Natalie and the others whose lives have been taken deliberately. I also need the original of the Book of Shadows which you own. Let the Book leave the Kingdom of Darkness and give it to me,’ I said.
Impatient, I got up from the throne and started pacing the flagstone flooring.
‘What you’re asking for will be fulfilled, but on one condition. Besides, you’ll have to give me something in exchange.’
‘I’m listening.’
‘You have something that belongs to me… The vial… But there’s one more thing, Miriam. You’ll have to leave Michael forever.’ The Prince of Darkness smiled meaningfully. His demand sent cold shivers down my spine; I grew suspicious, but tried not to show any of the signs of confusion that came over me.
‘You may give your body to him for the last time, in the way of farewell,’ Satanail said, as if doing me a big favor. ‘But… this time will be the last.’
‘What are you going to do with Michael?’ I asked, holding my breath.
‘You’ve offered me a deal, Miriam. I’ve agreed to it without asking you a single question. I’ve accepted your terms. If you’re comfortable with mine, let’s consider our deal done.’
If I took hold of the Book, I would be able to reprogram Michael’s fate and my own by turning back time.
‘Miriam, I’m offering you to make a choice. Come along with me. The parallel world doesn’t always keep its promises!’ His voice brought me back to reality.
‘You mean to say it’s you who doesn’t always keep his promises, don’t you, Satanail? I won’t come with you!’
‘Please, don’t abandon our son, Miriam. Go with him!’ Michael said imploringly.
‘No way, Michael,’ I said firmly.
Michael put out his hands, turning the palms upwards: they were blood-stained.
‘This blood is yours, Miriam!’ he said. ‘This blood is the symbol of our union.’
Michael’s shell merged into Satanail and he appeared before me as if he were alive, looking very much like the Michael I’d known before. I stepped forward and put out my hand…
Satanail-Michael disappeared. I watched the black roses lying under my feet…. Suddenly somebody grabbed me by the neck, threw me down onto the floor and tried to strangulate me. I fought back as hard as I could; the Threads of Light stirred inside me, giving me the strength I needed. I didn’t see the attacker’s face; I only heard him breathe heavily.
However hard he tried, he couldn’t possibly squeeze my throat: it became hard as steel. I gathered all my strength and, with one abrupt movement, wriggled myself out of his powerful hands.
‘Samuel…’ was all I had time to say.
No sooner had I uttered his name than a hard blow sent my mind reeling. My vision blurred, my body became rubbery, and I went slowly down to the floor, hands on my head.
Samuel dashed downstairs, to the strong box. He knew this was the place I kept my relics and he knew the code.
I reached out for the telephone and dialed the number of an emergency service.
‘Miriam!’ Samuel yelled a minute later, his desperate yell merging with somebody else’s terrifying scream.
‘There’s no Book here! It’s disappeared!’ His yell shook not only the walls, but the entire house.
I realized that Samuel had met there with the furious she-devil – Agella-Tilda.
‘Where is the Book? Where have you hidden it?’ Samuel shouted. ‘I’ll find it all the same!’
Though my vision was blurred, I saw Samuel dashed towards the stairway, holding my letter in his hand.
‘Where’s Karl? Where have you hidden him?’ he kept on yelling when already upstairs.
‘He’s mine!’ Agella bellowed. ‘I will find him!’
‘I’ll take my revenge on you, Samuel!’ she promised.
Samuel never succeeded in carrying out the decision which had been clearly very hard for him to make: to get rid of me, the woman he loved.
I had a splitting headache and tried desperately to hold on to my escaping consciousness, but it dissolved itself in the succession of the last days’ events whose shreds flashed before my eyes…
I’m holding Karl in my arms and through the teardrops falling onto his tiny pajamas I watch his face, so dear to me, trying to memorize its priceless features forever. Without taking his eyes off me, my son pierces my soul with his serious eyes, so atypical for little babies, while squeezing my finger with his tiny hand…
Here comes Elian. She sits her son and Karl down in baby chairs. She’s waving her hand to me, smiling. I know she’ll do everything the way it should be done. Several seconds later the car disappears behind the corner, and my eyes well up with tears… The Book of Shadows will help Karl by making him temporarily inaccessible to the Kingdom of darkness.
The Book of Shadows shows me the secret bunker where the duplicate of the Book is being kept, along with the treasures.
Here I am in Paris: all alone in my house. I adjust the camera and pour myself some coffee. Then I sit down by the table and start waiting…
A very bright light blinded me, and I closed my eyes, exhausted. Somebody’s powerful hand scooped me up and started lifting me up to the skies.
We flew through the silvery passageway on both sides of which there were those whom I’d met during all of my lives and incarnations: some of them generated love and emotional warmth, some just added salt to the wounds of my soul that still hurt. These people – no matter whether they were good or bad – had played specific and important roles in my life, and now they were standing along the passageway waving me farewell, parting from me forever. Their waving me goodbye was a sign of gratitude. They were grateful to me because it was tha
nks to me, the first-ever woman that they came to existence and lived their earthly lives. The passageway seemed to be endless…
The police and doctors broke into the house. They saw blood on the floor and a furious Samuel who was running about the house in search of the baby.
‘Where’s your wife? Why did she leave?’ they kept asking him. ‘Where’s your son? We’ve found the camera, and its footage clearly shows how you tried to strangulate your wife and then hit her on the head with a huge vase. Where’s her body?’
‘It vanished in the haze along with the baby-boy!’ Samuel shouted out frantically and guffawed horribly like a madman.
He laughed and cried; he flew into a tantrum, hitting his head against the floor; he made faces at the policemen and spat in every direction.
The police seated Samuel inside the patrol car and took him to the local police station, but failed to get anything out of him anyway. Samuel driveled all the time; he would talk about angels, demons and devils, he would tell in a conspiratorial whisper about some mysterious books and his wife’s body having being lifted to Heaven. Samuel was put in a psychiatric hospital but after some time he somehow managed to escape.
He was found hanged in Agella’s castle. Karl became the only heir of everything.
...The Book of Shadows kept on revealing mysteries – one by one. Simultaneously, I was in the thick of things and an invisible on-looker. The little angel flew about the house scattering black roses...
...Now I see Samuel appearing behind my back. His pincer-like hands locked together on my throat. I fell on the floor that looked like a carpet of black petals and fought back as hard as I could… Agella watched the fight from her hideout, waiting for the attacker to strangulate me. But I succeeded in wriggling myself out of his grip, and then he took the vase and hit me on the head with it, hard. But suddenly the Archangel appeared and prevented him from finishing me off. Samuel abandons me and rushes to look for the Book….and Karl.
A bright light blinded my eyes…
I was preparing myself for the inevitable: to receive the last blow of fate. My earthly life was coming to its end…
This weird story slipped to the press and became a bombshell. The whole world was abuzz discussing the mysterious disappearance of my child and the tragic fate of the famous actor who seemed to have been possessed by a demon…
Jack received my script by mail and was very much surprised after reading it.
I sat in a clearing flooded with a tender light. Birds were singing in the distance, little streams were whispering in the high grass, sweet-scented flowers were filling the air with their delightful fragrance. Flying high above were beautiful creatures with glistening wings: they were guarding this wonderful island.
My head was still slightly aching in the spot where the vase had hit me, but my earthly life was already a thing of the past.
I kept thinking about Karl. I felt so lonely… Even the angels were unable to do anything about it.
Desperate, I raised my hands to the skies and screamed. ‘Father, can it possibly be that I will always remain all alone? Look, there are a lot of angel here, and they are not bored like I am. Why was I destined to be in solitude? I want to see my son! Eden has turned into a real hell for me!’
An angel appeared by my side: he was giving off a golden shimmering light, his head was protected by a golden helmet decorated with a huge diamond surrounded with jewels; hanging on his right side was a giant sword with a beautiful emerald on the tip of its handle. The angel said. ‘I’m Michael the Archangel, a devoted servant of the One Who reestablished the Threads of Light in your body. I’m the one who saved you from a physical death on Earth.’
I felt grateful to the Archangel for having saved my life. A moment surfaced from the depths of my memory: the one when I asked him for his support there, in the transparent bulb. ‘I need your help…’
The Archangel turned to face me.
‘I’ve made a deal with the Black Angel. Please, see to it that my life doesn’t end before its time…’
‘I’ll do what you ask me to.’
‘Miriam, you’ve come back for good to the place you had been expelled from,’ he went on. ‘And you’ll have to make a lot of effort in order to learn to live here anew. I understand your desire but there’s one thing you have to be aware of: you’ll never be able to return to Earth again! You’ll have the opportunity of seeing your loved ones from afar so that your pain can be alleviated. Now have a look…’
The Book of Lives appeared in front of me: the secret annals began to shine and then opened up, emanating a haze which displayed events like a screen.
‘‘The Book… Yet again…’’ I thought. The haze gradually enveloped me…
I saw the face of a grown-up Karl in it. Standing beside him was another beautiful boy; some distance away from them I saw Natalie acting as an invisible guardian, protecting these children until the time comes.
‘I’ll do my best to conquer the gene of destruction within me and to lay the foundation for a new civilization, one that will get rid of the Black Angel’s influence,’ he said staring straight ahead.
‘This is my son!’ I exclaimed, tears streaming down my cheeks.
‘Within Karl lurks the spirit of Adam who is destined to accomplish his last mission… It is on him that the life of the future civilization will depend,’ the Archangel explained. ‘After you left, the earth split, taking the lives of many people. There were huge floods that swept away what the earth failed to engulf. Your son and those destined to live survived,’ he said reassuringly. ‘Karl has to lay the foundation for a new civilization and whether Adam will be able to come back here, to you, the first-ever woman, will depend on your son. To come back to the place he came from. The civilization Karl is destined to found will be the last one on Earth: when it comes to its close, the history of mankind will close its last page. But we don’t know what choice will be made and what outcome it will entail. We leave it for the new people to decide. Will the divinity gene take the upper hand or will the gene of destruction win – yet again? We leave it to Karl to make this choice!’
I saw Karl and Gabriel, Elian’s son. They stood next to each other, shoulder to shoulder… There were also three beautiful girls: Michael’s two daughters and Samuel’s daughter.
How I wished I could come back to Earth! I realized that staying here would become a new ordeal for me.
Even if it seems that everything’s over, this is not so, in actual fact. Nothing ever ends. Everything’s constantly on the move. Everything the Creator has preserved in the universe has to be constantly evolving and moving on.
The annals disappeared.
‘Even if everything is predetermined, man, when given a choice, can change the course of history by himself,’ thundered a voice from above, chasing my thoughts away. ‘Your son Karl in whom Adam’s spirit lingers is facing a lofty mission. The Age of Eve is over, but the Age of Adam is just beginning…’ the voice thundered on. ‘The existence of mankind is coming to its tragic end. Your son is your great legacy; his task is to save the planet and free the new civilization from sins. Thus, the original sin will be fully redeemed, and Adam will go back to where he came from: you.’
The sound of the booming voice ceased, and the Archangel turned to me and continued. ‘Karl will have to fight Satanail – by employing Satanail’s force. And if the new civilization proves capable of freeing itself from the Prince of Darkness’s detrimental influence, human beings will be able to start their existence from scratch and thus regain the balance they had lost. I hope, they’ll accomplish their mission and decently finalize the existence of previous mankind. Afterwards, the Universe will turn over the last page to start a new history. As for you, you’ll remain forever the foremother of all the people brought into being by the Creator; you’ll go on living, as you did before, protected by angels.’
‘Shall I have to wait for Adam’s return?!’ I asked.
‘Yes, because you’ve got no o
ther choice,’ he replied.
‘But it may take millions of years, may it not?’ I asked, to clear up the point.
‘This will depend on Karl, and not only on him. We’ll wait and see whether he’ll prove capable of handling the task in front of him.’
‘He will be able to handle it, that’s for sure!’ I said confidently.
‘Your body has become immortal again, Miriam,’ the Archangel said. ‘The Father has forgiven you.’
‘I’ll be waiting for Adam then,’ I said. ‘For as long as required.’
Infinity became my life.
Chapter 52
I opened my eyes and saw a white ceiling above me.
My body felt rubbery, my head felt heavy like lead. What’s happened to me? I thought. It was with great difficulty that I raised my hands and put them… on my chest.
‘She’s coming to! Miriam’s waking up!’ I heard someone calling out.
Two women dressed in whites leaned over me, peering into my face. I wanted to sit up a bit, but all I could do was turn my head slightly and look around: I was in a hospital ward.
‘What’s happened to me? Why have I ended up in a hospital?’
‘Don’t worry, Miriam, have some patience; you’ll find everything out before long,’ a female doctor reassured me, entering the room. ‘Please, don’t make any abrupt movements. The main thing now is to recover your strength.’
I blinked my eyes, signifying my consent.
Am I back on Earth again? But the past incarnation was supposed to be my last one, wasn’t it? Could it be that the Archangel just has brought me back? But why? I thought in bewilderment.
It was dark outside. I lay awake. The door to my ward was ajar. I strained my ears.
‘We’ll be able to let visitors come and see her as soon as the doctor is certain she’s in good psychological condition,’ a female voice said.