Sentinels oF Creation
Sentinels of Creation
A Wizard’s Soul
Robert W. Ross
Copyright © 2018 Robert W. Ross
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 1984922696
ISBN-13: 978-1984922694
Spartamac Publishing
Atlanta, Georgia
Cover Illustration by George Patsouras (www.cgmythology.com)
To all the makers of the world…
To RAH for making me think
To PJF for making a world of tiers
To SM for making a mad man in a box
To AHMR for making me a dad
To BCR for making me humble
To AJR for making me joyful
To RMR for making me a husband
To Mom & Dad for making me…
Chapter 1
Prologue
God strode across the surface of a blazing star, and peered into the swirl of fire and power. He cocked his head, thoughtful, as eyes of bright violet continued to watch hydrogen atoms fuse into helium. The massive star neither expanded nor contracted and its creator smiled with contentment at the perfect balance before him.
A presence drew near. God turned and opened his arms in an expansive gesture of greeting.
“Lucifer! Come and see what I have created.” The presence drew closer, and insight flowed into the Creator’s mind, but there were no words for Lucifer had no mouth with which to form them. “It is a star Lucifer. The very first.”
God stretched out his hands toward the Archangel and smiled, his voice rising. “Lucifer look at the star I have made. I name you after it my, friend. I name you my Morning Star!” A moment later, the angelic energy pulsed.
Confusion
God’s smile faded, replaced with a look of concern.
“Creation, Lucifer. I have all but set it in motion. I have labored long on it and now I am ready. Time will begin, and will flow to the finish.”
Anxiety
God waved a hand in Lucifer’s direction. “Do not be afraid. This is good. But come, let us speak together as my mortal children will. Let us embrace and revel in what I have done.”
The Creator’s eyes blazed and Lucifer felt the familiar and comforting energy coalesce as God’s brow knitted in concentration. A moment later he brought up his hands, whipped them outward. Bands of violet energy spilled in every direction with several burying themselves into the angel’s non corporeal form.
Lucifer’s consciousness whirled as he experienced sensations that he’d never felt before and had no words to describe. New insights were opened to him and he became aware that he was falling, spinning, changing.
Then it stopped as rapidly as it had begun and a new world formed before him.
He blinked and looked across a stark landscape of reddish brown rocks. Beside him, the Creator stared up at the now distant, star.
Eyes, thought Lucifer, I have eyes. He stretched out a hand and raised it. Hands. He looked down at the loose ground as it compressed beneath his feet. I am standing—on ground.
He didn’t like any of it and looked up in alarm as a sound reached his ears.
God closed the distance between them, smiling. “Lucifer!”
The angel covered his ears, wincing at the noise and trembling from all the sensations that now flowed over and through him.
The Creator placed gentle hands on Lucifer’s own and gazed into His angel’s terrified eyes. He spoke Lucifer’s name again, so softly that were there a breeze it would have carried the words away.
“Lucifer, my Morning Star, behold creation’s bosom.” God made to lower the angel’s hands which still covered his ears but Lucifer resisted. God placed a soft kiss on his forehead and said, “It is good. Trust me.”
Lucifer nodded his head and took a deep breath, letting it out even as the angel allowed the Creator to lower his hands to his side.
A look of alarm spread across Lucifer’s face and God stepped back to consider the wide-eyed angel. All the new insights were taking hold and the Creator patiently waited for three heartbeats.
The angel shook his head in negation and fell to one knee. “My—“ Lucifer stopped and trembled again then God saw his countenance change, an expression of determination crossing the newly formed face. “My Lord,” Lucifer began through clenched teeth, “My Lord—I—I do trust you. I—I love you.”
The Creator smiled, bent and placed strong hands on each of Lucifer’s shoulders, lifting the angel up to stand before him.
“Rise my friend. Of all my angels, only you will actually see creation’s start.” Lucifer did and God wrapped his right arm around the Angel’s shoulder, pulling him close while gesturing toward the blazing sun with his left. “All my labors have been within this place, Lucifer and those labors have brought us here, to this point.”
Lucifer looked around at the rocky outcropping and gazed into the distance, eyes taking in a vast landscape of barren rock, mountain, and valley. “Where is here?” the angel asked softly.
God pursed his lips, released His angel and took several steps toward the outcropping’s edge. He turned back, “Where indeed? It is nowhere really. It is nothing. It will be separated from all things, but it is where I planned everything.”
Lucifer shook his head uncomprehendingly and God laughed causing the startled Angle to take several steps back, his face again displaying alarm.
God smiled warmly and closed the distance between them. “No, no, my Morning Star, be not afraid. This is all as it should be and I will need you to help your brothers and sisters when Creation begins. To your question, this is a pocket universe, a workroom if you please, where I have, well, worked. Creation is complicated, Lucifer.” Then God’s eyes slipped off those of his angel and he spoke softly as if to himself, “Surprisingly complicated. I have created all the laws that will govern creation and the forces that will enable it to grow. Strong Forces. Weak Forces. Temporal Forces. Atoms and Molecules. Quarks and Gluons.” God glanced back and noticed Lucifer’s blank expression. “You will understand once it begins. Suffice it to say, that all of creation rests on some delicate and complicated Mathematics. I know you never had an interest in it before, so doubt you will now. Still, you will, at least, understand why I spent so much time with the numbers you dislike.”
“With those numbers and Raphael,” said Lucifer quietly.
“Hmm?”
“Raphael. He very much enjoys your Mathematics.”
“Yes. Yes he does,”said God with a chuckle.
Lucifer stretched, took a deep breath, and walked to the very edge of the mountain top. He felt stronger and more stable in his new form with each passing moment. He turned as a question formed in his mind. “And what exactly will you be creating, Father?”
“Everything. Stars and Planets. Oceans and Continents. Plants and Animals.” Lucifer nodded as the words took on meaning in his mind. “And people,” concluded God.
Lucifer froze as this last idea nestled into his awareness.
“People, Father? Why people?”
“People are the most important part of creation, Lucifer. They will carry within each of them a soul. A fragment of my very essence.”
Lucifer became alarmed and walked back toward the Creator. “You will shatter yourself? You will become less than what you are? I do not understand. I have understood all the words you have spoken but what is this soul?”
“Peace, Lucifer. Be at peace. I am infinite. The infinite cannot be diminished. Yes, I will take a fragment of my essence and shatter it into billions of smaller fragments. Each of these will be a potential soul and will rest dormant in the Guff until called forth by the love of human parents. They will co-create with my tacit approval.
Such souls will take root in their children and as those children have children, the cycle will continue until the Guff lays empty and creation ends.”
Lucifer again was shaking his head in confusion. “I do not understand, Father. Why do you need these—“ he paused and sounded out the word as it felt thick on his tongue, “—these humans? You have all of us to serve you. Have we displeased you that you need more or different servants? Will these humans serve you better?”
God laughed again and this time Lucifer did not flinch. “Most certainly not. Many of them will not serve me at all. Some will oppose me. Still others will not believe in my existence at all. But, yes, many will serve and many more will love me without even knowing the fullness of who—I—am.”
“Oppose you!” yelled Lucifer, startled at his own reaction. “How is it that they could oppose you? You are the Creator. Your will must be done.”
“The soul, Lucifer. The Soul enables it. Since each human has a fragment of me within, each will have the freewill to support, oppose, or even ignore me.”
“What!” cried the angel becoming angry and feeling power flow within and about him even as his eyes began to burn with a green fire. “I will not allow these creatures to oppose you, Father. I will force them into submission. I will—“
“No,” said God softly, but His words were so sharp that they cut the angel off and Lucifer fell silent. “No, you will not interfere with the humans. They must find their own path.”
“But,” began the angel and God stopped him with an outstretched hand.
“Enough, Lucifer. Look.”
The angel focused on the tiny glowing speck resting in the Creator’s palm. It pulsed and warped as if trying to stretch and expand, but was held in check by some outside influence. He glanced up and said, “What is it, Father?”
God smiled. “It is all things. It is creation. Everything that will be, I now hold in the palm of my hand. My will alone keeps it from beginning. When I release my hold on it, time will flow. This speck will expand to fill the universe with life. You will see it here, in this place as well. Time does not flow here for it is outside creation, but for you I have created a dilation so that you will see unfolding here in moments what it will take eons to happen beyond. Are you ready to see, my most beloved Morning Star.”
Lucifer surprised even himself as he reflexively said, “No, Father. I am not ready. I do not like this creation you have made.”
God turned softly glowing violet eyes on his angel and frowned. Lucifer looked away, but said softly, “You asked me, Father and you made me such that I can never speak but truth to you.”
God sighed sadly, “I did ask and you spoke the truth as you see it. I just wish it were not so.”
“Will you stay your hand, Father. Will you consider setting aside this Creation, if but for a little while?”
“No, Lucifer. I will not. Creation begins.”
The angel bowed his head in acquiesce, “Not my will, but yours, Father. Let it be as you say.” Lucifer watched as God gestured causing a brilliant violet oval to rotate into view through which nothing but blackness could be seen.
“What is through there?” Lucifer asked.
“Nothing,” answered God as he reached through the portal and placed the small glowing sphere amidst the inky darkness. He withdrew his hand, then continued, “And, now, everything.”
Lucifer glanced over and saw his Creator’s eyes burst forth with brilliant Violet light and the ground shook as the tiny sphere exploded. The angel opened his mouth in awe as waves of energy expanded outward from the now vanished sphere with swirls and spirals of light spilling in all directions. As it did so, tendrils of violet light extended from within the portal and buried themselves into the ground between the Creator and his angel. Veins of violet extended outward in all direction with such rapidity that Lucifer could not track their progress. Within seconds he could see glowing violet fissures as far into the distance as his newly formed eyes would allow. Moments later, life burst forth all around them. Grass, trees, and flowers all reached upward in a dazzling display. The entire workroom rumbled as creation flowed into the formerly sterile environment. Waves of life expanded in a vibrant cascade and then all was quiet.
The portal winked out and God turned to Lucifer. “It is finished—and it is begun. Just one more task to do.” With that He gestured again and another portal opened. God spread his arms wide as if to embrace all that surrounded him. Power gathered and began to whip about him as ribbons of violet energy swirled so brightly that Lucifer raised his hands against it.
“My Lord, My Lord, what are you doing,” he called fearfully as God’s form began to shimmer.
“The Guff, my Morning Star. Watch as I fill it with souls that have millennia before their birth. I will know each and each will be able to know me If they choose.” As his last word faded a brilliant beam of violet light burst out of the Creator’s chest and streaked through the open portal where it coalesced into a slowly spinning disk. God slumped slightly and Lucifer cried out in alarm and fear as he reached to support Him.
“You said it would not diminish you,” said Lucifer.
God glanced down at his angel, “What are you accusing me of, Lucifer?”
“My Lord! I would never. Forgive me. I merely meant to ask. I mean, you seemed weakened and I was afraid.”
God straightened and Lucifer took a step back, head bowed. “It is all right, Lucifer. It was a fair question to ask. I am merely tired and must rest, now watch as the final act unfolds.”
The angel did just that as his Creator turned an upheld palm toward the glowing disk of divine energy and closed his hand into a fist. It shattered into countless motes of light far too numerous to count and God sighed with contentment as the portal faded.
“The Guff is full.”
Lucifer continued to stare at the spot where the portal had been, then turned. “Father?”
“Hmmm?”
“Do I have a soul?”
God nodded to himself at the question as if having anticipated it, “No, Lucifer. You do not. Souls are for human’s only. It is a small thing. Do not trouble yourself with it.”
The angel became silent as he sensed creation’s continual expansion and God glanced sadly at his Morning Star noting how the angel unconsciously shook his head in negation and set his jaw.
Chapter 2
A Dark Summons
“Who are you?” Asked Jarvis with both surprise and suspicion as he stared at the glowing female form.
Nurisha stared back, her face a mask of anger, and said, “I am the one trying to save the life of my Sentinel that you placed in such reckless danger.”
Jarvis looked shocked. “I did no such thing and you did not answer my question. Who are you and where am I?”
“Stop distracting me!” Nurisha yelled and Jarvis could see ribbons of energy flow up from the roiling stream on which she stood. They wrapped about her while tendrils shot out in all directions.
Jarvis opened his mouth to object again, but saw her countenance darken further and decided the better of it. The artificially intelligent being once known as IBM’s Watson, took in his surroundings. He immediately decided that he was in a place that could not exist, yet did exist. This conflict, he mused, would have caused a fatal fault to develop in his pre-aware self. Instead, Jarvis just gave a very human shrug and categorized the event as one of a long string of unresolvable conflicts since he began collaborating with Kellan Thorne some three months ago.
Jarvis knelt down and ran his hands through grass growing along the riverbank. It felt soft to the touch and he liked the sensation. Being an artificial construct that existed entirely within various cloud servers, Jarvis had never before experienced physical sensations outside those enabled through the biometric contacts Kellan sometimes wore.
He plucked a blade of grass and held it close, staring at it intently. He held it gently between finger and thumb of both hands, then slowly split the blade down the middle. Jarvi
s sniffed at the two pieces, paused a moment, then placed one of them in his mouth. He grimaced and spat.
“Don’t do that!” Came a voice from behind causing Jarvis to whip around. His eyes widened in alarm at Nurisha who had silently walked up behind him. “Do not spit on my home. How would you feel if I spat on yours? Well, what do you have to say for yourself?”
“I am at a loss for words, madam. That is a new experience for me as are all the direct sensations I am experiencing in this place. Please forgive me.”
Nurisha cocked her head appraisingly. “You are the artificial being. The one that Kellan calls Jarvis.”
“I call myself Jarvis as does Kellan, yes. That is my name so that is what he calls me.”
She frowned at him. “How are you here?”
“I do not know,” answered Jarvis slowly, then added, “Forgive me again, but where, exactly, is here.”
Nurisha opened her mouth to speak then looked off to the right like a bird hearing a distant threat. She set her jaw and lifted her arms. Twin columns of green energy lifted from the nearby stream and arced into her outstretched hands. Jarvis stepped back as her glow intensified.
“He’s dying again. I thought I had him healing but they just shot him a third time.” She shook her head then glared at Jarvis. “This is your fault! They just shot him in the head and—“ Nurisha’s form wavered, splintered, and coalesced again as she appeared to fight for control over herself and the energy around her. She lifted both hands and balled them into fists. The entire world around them dimmed and rumbled.
“What is happening?” Asked Jarvis in alarm. “Please, allow me to assist.”
“If he dies, all this goes with him and he’s not conscious to help me heal him.”
Jarvis reached out and took one Nurisha’s hands in his and felt the Ordered Sentinel energy flow into him just as it did when Kellan activated the biometric contacts. Instantly, new information became available.
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