Gul asks, “Then could this be from the other players you told me about? The ones the angles must contend with?”
“Well, if it is, now they’re crossing over into my world. I’ll need to deal with them also.”
“Of course…but, my friend, you will be losing your abilities.”
“Yeah, that stinks doesn’t it?” Grinning, L’girra adds, “Maybe I should start making my weapons now, huh?”
Gul smiles, “Ok, then I would like to order a big, big bang-bang-shoot-them-up for me, yes? I will fight bravely with you.”
As they chuckle, L’girra says, “I know you will. I can always count on you.”
Then, afterwards, Gul looks at L’girra and says confidently and reassuringly, “But first, we have to ask God for guidance.”
L’girra replies, “I’m with ya there, Smiley, my friend. I already did.” As they begin to walk again, L’girra adds, “And there’s also this small vial we might need to look for, Smiley.”
“A vial? What is it for? What is in it?”
“Well, Gemini believed it contains something powerful. But other than that, I don’t know,” L’girra answers. “I wrote notes about it during World War II and left them with Jean Luc. I’ve read them and it seems like they’re either incomplete or some pages have gotten lost. We might need to find that vial before anyone else does, and before my abilities fade away. On the other hand, if Gemini couldn’t find it, maybe it’s in a safe place.”
Then, from behind, L’girra hears a familiar voice calling, “Hey, stranger!” He turns around.
Paige is smiling, as she quickens her pace towards him. Isaac trots behind her, holding her hand.
L’girra turns to Gul and asks, “Could you give us a sec?”
“Of course, I will meet you inside,” Gul replies.
Happy to see him, Paige grabs his arm. “Hi, I was hoping to see you!”
“Yeah? Me too,” he says smiling warmly.
“Really?”
“Well, I heard that you needed to see me about something.”
“Yeah,” Paige looks up into his eyes. “Yeah, I did.” She pauses then says softly, “I wanted to thank you.”
Pretending to not know why, L’girra asks, “Really, for what?”
“Well, first this…” Paige quickly reaches for him and gives him a long hug.
She catches L’girra off guard.
As Paige lets him go, she says, “Well, I don’t know how to say this, so I’m just gonna say it…because the things I saw are just difficult to believe.” Paige stops for a moment, preparing herself, and then continues. In a soft voice she says, “…but I saw you.” Her eyes show both wonder and gladness. “When I was in the water, I saw you up there, in the air…fighting that guy. And I knew you were trying to save me.”
Even with the many scenarios that L’girra ran in his mind, in order to prepare for what to say to Paige, upon hearing her now, he doesn’t know how to respond.
Paige reaches for his hand. Looking deep into L’girra’s eyes, she asks with a quiet voice, “What was happening there? How could you do those things?” Then, she adds with a soft smile, “Who are you?”
L’girra closely watches her face and listens to her voice, and now, Paige’s direct but gentle questions again take him off balance. He tightly grasps her hand, and then shuts his eyes.
L’girra needs to decide something.
In his mind he asks himself, “Should I just do it now? Just rewrite her memories, have her forget, have her forget I was there, have her forget everything? Just do it now?”
As he opens his eyes, he avoids looking into hers. Slowly shaking his head, he says, “I’m sorry, Paige. I’m so sorry.” Finally, his eyes go back to hers, as he lets go of her hand.
Looking at him, Paige becomes puzzled, and she doesn’t know what to think. She doesn’t know what he means. She wants to tell him that if he needs her to keep a secret, he can trust her to keep anything. But instead, she finds herself quietly asking, “Sorry for what?”
L’girra shakes his head, unwilling to say anything more. He turns his gaze up.
People walk by, as they file into the church, and he watches them.
He looks into the sky, and then back at the people.
For a seemingly long moment, L’girra says nothing.
Finally, he turns his eyes back to Paige. “I’m really sorry,” he says once more.
Breathing in deep, he prepares.
But then, as he looks around once again, somehow, something changes his mind.
Turning his eyes back to Paige, a warm smile begins to form on his face. He tells her, “I guess I’ve got some things to explain.”
Paige’s own smile returns.
“But let’s get inside first, huh?” asks L’girra. “I’ve got a friend I want you to meet.”
With Isaac in between them, they make their way in.
L’girra takes Isaac’s hand. “Hey, little dude,” he says to Isaac, “My buddy’s inside. He’s a cool, funny guy. Let’s say hi to him, alright?”
Isaac looks up, smiles, and nods. As he walks, his eyes move down to focus on the inside of L’girra’s left wrist. He sees the fine, distinct lines and edges of a symbol composed of a circle within a circle. Then, he turns and gazes upon his mother’s wrist, and there, the same but less precise, less perfect symbol appears. Within the ink of this symbol mingles Gemini’s blood. It is this blood-scent that Crystal tracks.
And now, Gemini’s mark remains on Paige.
* * * * * * *
Inside the church, the four of them settle into their seats, with Isaac sitting between Paige and L’girra, and Gul sitting at the other side of L’girra.
Preacher Man Jason begins his message.
Later, as Preacher Man explains an idea, Paige starts to feel a peculiar sensation of warmth, at the inside of each wrists. Cautiously, she looks down and turns one wrist up to see what could be causing the feeling.
The circular symbol is there, dark and noticeable. But then, bit-by-bit, the ink of the symbol seems to seep out of its boundaries and extend itself into the veins underneath her skin. Slender black wriggling lines begin to elongate and wrap around her wrist and stretch out across her forearm.
Concerned, Paige turns up her other wrist. Becoming afraid, she witnesses the same phenomenon upon it.
With fear in her eyes, she turns to L’girra. But he does not notice her. As she fearfully glances around, she sees everyone seems to be listening to Preacher Man speak.
She feels the warmth in her wrists transform into dull pain.
Suddenly, a bright light explodes into her vision, causing her to quickly turn away and avert her eyes. Gradually, the light fades and transforms into a dark scene that completely fills the space in front of her.
It is a vision of the future.
In the darkness, she begins to see two human forms standing in front of her. Yet unknown to her, one is Crystal and the other is the pale entity. The air around them is warm and turbulent with energy. Crystal has just fed the pale entity with the blood of the fifth Nephilim, and now, it is fully formed as an adult male. In front of the two, a large, black, empty space, outlined with crackling electricity, is opened. It is the rift in space and time, into the distant realm of wonder and turmoil.
Through the black space, Crystal’s sparkling eyes see flashes of fiery light that appear like a multitude of continuously striking lightning. It is the beast of red agitated light: the Essence. A smile of anticipation forms on Crystal’s lips, as her triumphant voice proclaims, “Now comes the Destroyer! Now comes the Maker!”
Suddenly, the Essence leaps across the rift, unimpeded. Its fiery flashing light consumes and sweeps away the darkness of the entire fifth floor of the condemned building, giving life to the dead black emptiness.
The walls, floor, and ceiling ignite with lightning frenzy.
Crystal turns completely around, as her eyes witness in delight.
Then, the unclothed pale entity steps forw
ard and stretches out its arms, offering itself to the Essence, saying, “Here I am. The one who will give form to your being.” A moment later, the pale entity witnesses the frenzied light move in unison and begin to converge into a large focal point on the ceiling, a few steps in front of it.
From the convergence, the Essence forms itself into a wide steam of dense energetic light. With a sudden burst, like a blast of high-pressured, blood-red water, the Essence explodes toward the entity, and then collides into its chest.
Feeling the power and the pressure upon its body, the pale entity reels back and falls to its knees. But it welcomes the pain.
The air around them is whipped into a tempest.
The Essence fills every vein, bone, and tissue of the pale entity with its potent energy.
Soon, every flash of red light from within the fifth floor is plunging into the chest of the entity. Moments later, every bit of blazing light vanishes into its kneeling body.
Elated, Crystal immediately closes the rift, letting its electric outline devour itself into nothingness.
Weakened, the pale entity’s arms fall, and then, slowly, it looks up to focus upon Crystal. Its eyes glimmer a deep, red glow.
Crystal’s toil has reached finality.
The Essence is now within its vessel.
Abruptly, Paige’s senses return from the vision. Confused, she realizes her forearms are up, in front of her, as if shielding her from a blinding light. Slowly, she glances down and sees Isaac looking up at her, puzzled. Her eyes move to the side, and she sees L’girra’s look of concern. Then, she starts to hear the sound of Preacher Man Jason’s voice gradually seeping into her ears.
L’girra mouths the words, “You ok?”
Taking a moment to react, Paige finally lowers her arms. As she looks around, she’s not quite certain what has just happened. Perplexed, she asks herself, Who and what did I just see?! Did anyone else see it? Her eyes quickly glance around, but no one else seems to have noticed anything. Then, her thoughts say, That was just too real…like it was happening all around me, as if I was in the center of it. Now, trying to ease her puzzled look, she faces L’girra, gives an uncertain nod, and says hesitantly and quietly, “…yeah.”
A bit worried, L’girra cannot turn his eyes from her.
Quickly, Paige averts her eyes. It’s just too real, she thinks, and then, becoming concerned, she adds, Is something going to happen? Or is something wrong with me, and I’m just seeing things? Nervously, she glances at her wrists. The circular symbols are there, dark and noticeable, but they are back to the form they initially were, unchanged. However, within her wrists, the dull ache remains, centered upon the symbols.
There is power in Gemini’s blood, and it begins to affect her, in ways unimaginable.
* * * * * * *
After the service, they stand outside the church, about to make their way to the parking lot.
L’girra asks Paige, “Hey, are you ok? What happened in there?”
As she tries to answer, Paige finds it difficult to focus her mind. “I don’t know. I don’t know. Nothing I guess. I’ll be fine.”
“I’m just a little worried about you, Paige. You’ve been through some tough things lately. I just wanna make sure you’re ok.”
Attempting to gain her composure, she responds, “Thank you. But I’ll be fine, yeah.” Then, she adds, trying to smile, “Can we meet and talk later on instead? I just feel a little out of sorts, I guess, and need some time to rest, maybe.” Paige is resilient, but she feels that events happening to her - one harrowing and now one perplexing - may just overwhelm her if she doesn’t take the time to understand them and understand the effects on her. Later, L’girra will help by explaining the first one. With the other, even though she wants to tell L’girra, she feels a bit odd about it, and she isn’t sure what she should do. Moreover, as she thinks again and again about the vision, she starts questioning whether or not it was just a production of her weary mind, because of the stress from the trials she has been under.
Noticing something at Paige’s wrists, L’girra glances down at them. When he raises his eyes once again, he finds that Paige is staring directly at him.
Paige’s expression is as though she wants to tell him something, but it’s too strange to speak it; and she questions whether she should. With her eyes showing her struggle, she says, while having difficulty with her words, “Blaze…your name is Dragonblaze.”
Gul is surprised to hear the name, and it triggers something in his memory.
L’girra asks, in a perplexed hush, “What did you say?”
“You were once called that,” she replies, amazed, and in disbelief that she is actually saying these things. Suddenly, she catches herself, shakes her head, and looks away. Flustered, she says, “I don’t know where that came from. I’m sorry. I guess I’m just a little out of it right now.” Then, becoming embarrassed, because of her peculiar behavior, she abruptly states, “I’m so sorry. Isaac and I better go.”
Although still puzzled, L’girra quickly assures her, “Ok. Sure, get some rest. Take all the time you need, and we can talk anytime later.”
They hurriedly part, and L’girra watches them walk away. Then, he turns back to Gul and intently asks, “Dragonblaze? What’s that about? Do you know?”
“Maybe. I can only guess,” Gul says, as he searches his memory. “From the scrolls that Malik and I found that spoke of you and your brother, there were two other names. When we read them, we thought they referred to two other beings because their personalities seemed so different from Meslamta-ea and Lugalgirra.” Gul glances away, as he recalls. Then, turning back to L’girra, he says, “We read something that spoke of a returning blaze: the return of One With the Blaze of a Dragon. Perhaps Dragonblaze is the suitable name to make of it. If what Paige is saying is correct - but I do not understand how she could even know - then Lugalgirra and this Dragonblaze are the same being.”
With piqued curiosity, L’girra asks, “Well, what do you know about him then? What did the scrolls say?”
Gul smiles, “My friend. If you are this Dragonblaze, then I am not sure how long our friendship would last. Because he is arrogant and brash. He is a fiery being, unpredictable, consumed only with himself, and sometimes brutally savage. And to make matters worse, he is so very powerful.”
“Whoa,” L’girra blurts, and then sarcastically says, “He sounds like my kind of pal.”
As they walk back to the Mustang, Gul says, “There is one more thing. If it is true, then you are most certainly not of this world. And you come from a mysterious place of wonder, where there are both very good and very evil beings. It is a place in constant struggle and constant war.” Almost unbelieving, Gul shakes his head and smiles. “My friend, you and your brother are much more mysterious creatures then what Malik and I first believed you to be.”
L’girra informs Gul, “Well, if that is my name, then something does makes sense. When God completed the symbol on my wrist, He created a gigantic, fiery dragon to crash into me and cover me in flames. When it happened, I got the strange feeling that beast was somehow a part of me. So, maybe what Paige said is true.” After pausing, he assures Gul, “Don’t worry, Smiley, there’s no chance of me turning into this Dragonblaze guy.” Grinning slyly, he jokes, “…but no guarantees.”
Gul shakes L’girra’s shoulder and adds his own lightheartedness, “I will not worry. I already have plans to again live in a cave far, far away, with my very huge military TV.”
The Mustang’s top is already down, as L’girra and Gul enter it.
After starting the car, L’girra says to Gul, “Well, back to Paige, I’m more than a little concerned about her. While we were talking to her, I noticed that there were bits of Gemini’s energy signature - the stuff that’s opposite from mine - coming off of the tatts on her wrists.”
Gul listens closely.
“That can only mean that there’s something in those tattoos that’s from Gemini,” L’girra explains,
“and I’m guessing it’s his blood. So unfortunately, even if I wanted to get rid of those tatts for Paige, I don’t think I’d be able to. And with whatever it was that happened to Paige in church, and the name she just told me, I can only point to Gemini’s blood as the cause. So, let’s just keep an eye on her, alright? Just for a little while, to make sure she’ll be fine.”
Nodding, Gul replies, “Of course.”
L’girra holds his phone against the stereo, and the two devices begin to blend into one. From the newly created stereo system, a song starts to play.
With the San Diego autumn sun warm, they head out and hit the 56 Freeway, driving west. Both men are silent, beginning to enjoy the wind and the sunshine.
From the stereo, the tune stops, and then transitions to a new one.
L’girra knows what the next song should be, but that particular one does not start to play. Instead, someone selects a different one for him to hear, in order to impart to him a message.
God speaks to him in the way he listens best.
With a long, ominous chord reverberating from a piano, the song begins. Then, another similarly dark chord follows.
L’girra knows what it is. He glances at Gul, and then back at the road. He whispers to himself the band and the name of the song, “Sisters of Mercy. Black Planet.”
Gul does not notice him.
As the foreboding gothic song plays, L’girra listens intently to it.
Then, the portentous lyrics start. From the very first verse, it tells him to look to the skies of the west for his God’s - his Father’s - coming kingdom.
He hears the message clearly.
Almost incredulous, he says in his thoughts, After all these centuries, after all the waiting - will it really happen? It’s now going to happen?
A quick moment later, he thinks, But I guess I shouldn’t let this catch me off guard…because Gemini and I are called for times like these. But how is it going to happen? Considering possibilities, he asks himself, The sixth explosion, is it part of this? The vial? Remembering Dancy, he questions, Her father…his blood? And the other players?
RB 01 Through Flesh & Bone Page 74