“Ebba was the first and only woman Koneh raped. He was so disgusted with himself afterwards, he went to a cliff to end his own life.”
“Really?”
“Yes, and do you want to know what happened?”
Alexandra nodded.
“Koneh’s father, you know him as Adam, came to him and told him that what he did wasn’t a sin. Elah didn’t hold these native humans in the same regard as His children of Eden. And Koneh was a fool for feeling guilt over his crimes against what Elah considered to be an animal.”
“That’s horrible!”
“Koneh rose up against Adam and said that these humans were not animals, that they were just like him. Aboh came to his father’s defense and Koneh slew his brother. When Elah came to speak with Koneh to question him about Aboh, Koneh rose against Elah Himself.”
“Koneh took a swing at God?”
Erzulie smiled. “He was quite the undisciplined youth.”
Alexandra furrowed her brow in an attempt to focus on what she was hearing. “No kidding,” she said.
“Elah was taken aback. He cursed Koneh to walk the Earth, with these animal humans, until the time of judgment.”
“None of that is in Genesis,” Alexandra said.
Erzulie shook her head. “I view Koneh much as I do the human race as a whole. Through the millennia, humans have grown more self-aware. Some things that were once commonplace, like slavery, are now crimes abhorred as much as murder. Since Koneh uniquely lived through the entirety of civilized humanity, I see the changes reflected in his soul. Ever since his father came to him on that cliff, Koneh has been searching for something.”
“What is he looking for?”
“Peace. All he wanted was a chance for a life of happiness. His guilt over his own transgressions weighs heavy upon his shoulders. He knows he suffers in a prison of his own making.”
“Yeah, maybe he deserves to suffer for his crimes.”
“For thousands of years? I have watched Koneh bear unimaginable physical and emotional pain throughout the millennia. A lesser man would have cried for mercy after the first hundred or several hundred years. Koneh only once asked for release from his sentence. Besides that one moment of weakness, he has carried the guilt of his original crimes with him through the ages.”
“What moment of weakness?”
“When Elah sent His first son to forgive the sins of men, Koneh tracked Him down.”
“Jesus?”
“Yes, that is the name you know. You see, Koneh’s curse can only be broken by divine forgiveness. He cornered and threatened Jesus in an effort to obtain that forgiveness.”
“What would happen if Koneh was forgiven?”
“He would finally be allowed to die.”
Alexandra wiped some tears from her face. “Oh.”
“However, Jesus saw through Koneh’s bluff. He didn’t intend to follow through with his threat. In the end, Koneh walked with Jesus for a time and the two became friends.”
“That’s a lot of information to process,” Alexandra said.
“What does your law call the leniency it gives to criminals who also act on behalf of others?”
Alexandra smiled. “Mitigating circumstances.”
“That’s it! I’m often amazed at how human law oftentimes unravels the very secrets that science cannot define. A soul is dampened by a murder, but if that murder is in defense of a loved one, the soul isn’t diminished quite as much as if that murder was over a sum of money.”
“We’re not talking about an affirmative defense murder,” Alexandra said. “We’re talking about a calculated rape.”
“Your judicial system is cumbersome but enlightened. You also have provisions in place to release dangerous criminals from your prisons if they demonstrate good behavior and a genuine feeling of remorse.”
“True. But if Koneh is capable of such an awful crime-”
“I’m not here to convince you of anything,” Erzulie said. “You just needed to know the truth. Koneh didn’t kill his brother over an offering to Elah, like in your Bible. Nor is Koneh the same man who raped the object of his obsession all those years ago. Think on these things.”
Alexandra closed her eyes to digest the new information. Could she forgive him? Probably not. Was Koneh just angling for forgiveness? Was that all he wanted from her? Maybe, but Alexandra thought she felt something from him during their kiss. Did he feel the same towards her? Was there something left of him to love? Or was he just another monster in the night?
“Is he really dying?” Alexandra asked.
“We’re not sure what’s happening, but Elah’s curse seems to be weakening ever since the earthquake.”
So, it was true then. Koneh would be taken from her too. Now that she knew the truth about him, did it matter?
“I don’t know what to think or how to feel,” Alexandra said.
“You look exhausted,” Erzulie said, cupping her cheek with her slender hand.
Alexandra smiled. “Well, we did fight our way out of a city today.”
Erzulie kissed her forehead and said, “You were very brave.”
The pair embraced and Alexandra said, “This is almost too much. I’m wondering who I am more and more each day.”
“Shhh, quiet now.”
“Listen, I just want to sleep out here tonight. Can you bring me my bedroll and something to eat? And can you watch over me?”
Erzulie smiled. “Of course.”
As Alexandra slept under the vigilant eye of her angelic protector, her thoughts returned to Koneh time and again. The same questions revolved in her head like a carousel. After much tossing and twisting, she finally fell asleep.
A cold, barren plain stretched out in front of her. Koneh walked ahead of her. Where were they going?
Another dream.
They came to some ruined buildings and Koneh entered. Alexandra followed. People huddled inside, frightened. Koneh raised his sword and Alexandra discovered she couldn’t cry out to tell him to stop. He butchered every last person and then turned to face her, sword in hand.
Was this the end? Was Koneh’s betrayal finally at hand? Was this a glimpse into the future?
Then, Koneh pulled back his hood. Instead of the scarred-smooth skin and black eyes, Alexandra saw her own face. She killed those people…
Chapter 30
Unsettled by Koneh’s confessions and her dreams from the night before, Alexandra rode in the bed of the pickup. Koneh gave her the space she needed for the next few days. They only spoke to discuss their supplies, the growing cold and their route.
Then, the highway ended.
Erzulie landed, folded her dark wings against her back and approached. “We are not far from where the road divides. The part that heads west is intact several miles in that direction. However, the section we need is unusable.”
“Seems like a good place to camp then,” Koneh said. “In the morning, we’ll see if the truck can make it across the broken ground. Erzulie, take a look farther to the southeast and let me know what you think.”
The angel nodded and shot into the dark sky.
After Koneh started the fire, Alexandra decided it was time to talk to him again.
“May I sit?”
He nodded.
“Listen, I’ve been thinking.”
He touched her arm and said, “May I go first? I have been thinking as well.”
“Of course,” she said.
“You are right to hate me.”
“I don’t-”
“Please, let me finish.”
Alexandra’s heart ached as she looked into his eyes. Though she knew the truth about him now, she felt safe and right when she was with him.
“I have done terrible things,” Koneh said. “I do not ask for forgiveness, nor your understanding. The fact that you remained with me, on this journey, even after you learned the truth… Well, it means everything to me. However, I’m also torn with the desire to turn around, leave you safe in the ci
ty of your choosing and never see you again.”
“What?”
“When I started this journey, I didn’t know you. Elah set me on my course and I viewed my quest as a chance for final redemption. A chance to prove that my time was finally here. I was going to show everyone that Koneh stood the test of time and still had the strength to lead the Mih’darl to Eden, thus saving humanity. My reasons were selfish.”
“I… I didn’t know,” Alexandra said.
“Please… Don’t speak. I might not be able to finish if I hear your voice again. You don’t know what your voice means to me.”
She bit her lower lip and nodded.
“After speaking with Elah, I set out to find you. It wasn’t easy. Other forces were looking for you. Well, they were looking for your mother. You see, all of Hell believed you would be born on the day Heaven fell. That is why the demons are searching for an infant. However, Elah gave me a headstart. He told me you were born on the millennium and that you were not a man.
“The demons I raced against had a headstart as well. Somehow, they gleaned the location of the Mother – your mother! With Erzulie’s help, I arrived in time to save your mother from a fate of torture and suffering, but regrettably, I couldn’t save her life.”
Alexandra covered her mouth with her hands and gasped. Could this be real?
“Of course, it was easy to find you after that. I watched you from the shadows for a few weeks. In that time, I plotted this journey and how I would manipulate you to be a willing partner in restoring my soul. I mislead you into thinking I saved you from that mob when we first met. The truth is, I could have pulled you from the bus long before the mob arrived. We could have been safe and with Father Callahan before you were chased down that street. However, I needed to save you so you would stay with me long enough to trust me.
“Then, it happened. The beauty of who you really are shone through the dust of the old world. Your true sense of what’s right in this world hasn’t faltered since we first met. You were right to want to leave me in the beginning. I was manipulating you from the start.
“This journey is my final battle, the last great act of the mighty Koneh. The Church, the remnants of Hell, the humans of the Earth and the survivors from Heaven would look upon my accomplishment and recognize my sacrifice. In my dreams of how the end would transpire, you would forgive me and my name would live on in the timeless pages of the new holy books. At last, I would have the perfect peace, one in which I was remembered quite differently than in the Old Testament.”
Koneh lowered his eyes.
“Alejandra, my lie ends here and now. You deserve better than to be a pawn in this cosmic game of chess between Elah, Iblis, the Church and myself. Elah set your DNA in motion eons ago to accomplish this task, in case you were needed. Iblis chases you down so he can have Eden for himself. The Church would use you for their own agenda if they knew who you were. And I, I betrayed your trust so I could have my last moment of glory and a chance at redemption.
“I have killed many men, including my own brother. I abandoned an angel when she showed me compassion. However no sin weighs as heavy on my soul as my betrayal to you. You, Richard and the others could have been quite happy in Brasilia or wherever. I should have let you live in ignorance of your divine heritage. Instead, I led you down a path you would never have chosen.
“I don’t ask for your forgiveness. All I ask is you follow your heart and tell me how I can best serve you. My quest is now to bring you wherever you want to go. I will protect you until my bones crumble to dust. Or you can leave me in the wasteland. My life is in your hands. Do with me what you will.”
Koneh bowed his head and fell silent. For several minutes, the wind was the only sound between them. Alexandra couldn’t remember what she planned to say to him. His speech left her searching her heart for answers.
Then, she decided to bare a part of herself as well.
“I never had any dreams,” Alexandra said quietly. “There were things I wanted – my apartment overlooking the Riverwalk, my large investment portfolio, a judgeship... However, those weren’t dreams, not like other people have dreams of raising a family, finding love, helping others. Am I wrong to not dream of these things?”
“I do not know.”
“I think I’m wrong to not have those dreams. In a way, we have both been selfish. Perhaps we can learn from our mistakes?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, if Eden really can be the place you say it is, how can we turn our backs on it? You have the strength and knowledge to lead me there. Somewhere in my soul, I have the key to open the gates for all of humanity. Eden sounds like a proper enough dream for me. We can open it. Not for your reasons, and not for mine. Instead, we can open it for everyone else in this world, everyone who had dreams of living their lives before Elah selfishly left us in ruin.”
Confused, Koneh asked, “Elah? He has left us? How could you know this?”
“You didn’t want to hear about my dreams before. Do you want to now?”
“No,” he said. “I trust that you know the truth.”
“Very well,” Alexandra said. “Let’s stop worrying about who was wrong and who was right. Instead, let’s just act with what strength we have left and get to Eden.”
Koneh looked into her eyes. “You are an amazing woman, Alejandra Contreras.”
“Then you’ll help me?”
“Until my last breath.”
Chapter 31
Koneh maneuvered the pickup through the scarred land. Progress towards their destination crawled in comparison to the distance they covered on the superhighways of South America. However, Alexandra was content to be moving forward.
After her talk with Koneh, she felt more comfortable around him. His age seemed impossible. However, like the red-black sky and absence of the ocean, Koneh stood before her every day as a constant reminder that the impossible was not beyond her reach.
The bitter cold stung her lungs and penetrated her skin. She covered her head with a wool hat and wore a parka over her leather bomber jacket. At camp the next night, she put all her strength into her training session with Koneh, but she still couldn’t break his defenses. She learned that Erzulie had retrieved Koneh’s sword from Brasilia and Alexandra felt safer knowing his favorite weapon was at his side.
As she enjoyed the last MRE ration, Alexandra pointed to Koneh’s sword. “How do you swing that heavy thing so fast?”
Before he returned the blade to its resting place under his rags, Koneh turned the weapon over. Firelight reflected off patches of silver under the sections of rust, dents and notches.
“A good friend made this for me when I was on the island nation you know as Sri Lanka. Back then, we didn’t call it that and the forges used to produce this type of steel are gone forever.”
“Back when?” Alexandra asked.
“By the calendar you know,” Koneh said, “probably about four hundred B.C., give or take a few decades.”
“Okay, you have my full attention.”
He grinned. “Have you ever heard of Damascus Steel?”
She searched her memory, but couldn’t find any reference. “No.”
Erzulie perched on the pickup truck and joined the conversation. “All is quiet as far as I can see.”
“Good,” Alexandra said. “Stick around. Koneh is going to tell me about Sri Lanka and Damascus steel.”
The angel nodded.
“So,” Koneh said, “Damascus steel was first encountered by Westerners around the time of the Crusades. European knights returned home with remarkable, almost legendary swords. These weapons could cut through rock and still retain their edge. Many a knight fell because his sword shattered under the assault of a Damascus blade.”
“Wow. I must have missed that History Channel special,” Alexandra said.
“Indeed. Even today’s scientists cannot duplicate Damascus steel.”
“How’s that possible?”
He shook his h
ead. “I don’t know all the secrets, but it’s probable the material used to forge Damascus weapons was used up by these early smiths. I do remember the forges though. Hundreds of them lined a mountainside. When the monsoon winds came, the forges would flare hotter than anything possible elsewhere in the world. It was in one of these forges that my friend crafted me this sword as thanks for protecting his son during a war in India.”
“It survived all these years?” Alexandra ran her hand along the rough surface and wondered how many men, women and demons died at the end of Koneh’s weapon.
He huffed. “Erzulie believes a part of Elah’s curse upon me has kept the sword intact for the past two and a half millennia, but I’m skeptical.”
“The steel would have long since lost its strength,” Erzulie said. “Much like the human body, the molecular structure of these crude metals breaks down over time. It’s simple science, as you call it.”
“Why do you call what was done to you a curse?” Alexandra said. “I think you’ve used that word several times.”
“Seems fitting,” Koneh said.
“What was it like? In those first years, I mean. What was the world like? What were the people like? I can’t even wrap my mind around the large amount of time you’ve… Well, it’s just a lot of time.”
“To tell you the truth,” he said, “I cannot recall too many specific details as the years accumulate. I do remember my parents hating their new world. It was a place where they were forced to work for their food and comfort. After my act of defiance, I roamed the wilds. Everyone was just trying to survive.”
“Erzulie told me that there were people on earth? Before Adam and Eve?”
“Yes,” Koneh said. “We have mixed to the point where there is no bloodline that extends solely back to Eden or one that is purely evolutional. I think it’s safe to say we’re all one race now, despite Elah’s efforts.”
“Despite His efforts?” Alexandra asked. “What do you mean by that?”
This time, Erzulie answered. “Elah created His new vision of the human race to be superior in form and function. However, once He realized that the humans He created carried the same flaws as the native humans of the Earth, He closed Eden to everyone.”
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