“And He tried to kill all the native humans by shifting the poles,” Koneh said, finishing Erzulie’s account.
“Elah tried to kill everyone?”
“Not exactly,” Koneh said. “Even after Eden was lost, He still felt His creations to be superior. So He attempted to rid the world of the other line of humans, the naturally evolved ones. However, that attempt failed and the rest is, well… History.”
“Elah failed?”
“Through the bravery of one man,” Erzulie said. “Koneh.”
“I must apologize for my cheering section,” he said. “It didn’t quite happen that way.”
Alexandra raised her eyebrows. “What did happen?”
“Elah warned His chosen messenger about the coming destruction. You know him as Noah,” Koneh said. “More than one boat was indeed built and a handful of survivors did indeed set sail from the former shores of Eden. Some of them landed in Mesopotamia and founded the earliest permanent human settlements. Others were scattered across the globe. However, all of them were direct descendants of Adam and Eve. Save one.”
“One?”
“Koneh managed to defy Elah, again,” Erzulie said. “He rescued a young native girl and stowed her on one of the ships. She was in love with a man from Noah’s tribe and would later be responsible for keeping the human race mixed.”
“How many boats? What was the flood like? I have so many questions!”
“Unfortunately,” Erzulie said, “Koneh was seen as the enemy and Noah’s tribe was able to keep him from the boats when they set sail.”
“So how did you survive?”
“I think it was at the time of the Great Flood that I finally believed Elah’s words when He told me I would wander the Earth forever an outcast,” Koneh said. “Though I managed to stow the girl on a boat, I was stranded on the shore when the Earth trembled and the waves came. I don’t remember much of those years beneath the water, but I awoke when the land of Eden was at the bottom of the world. I made my way to what is now South America, a reverse of almost the same route we are taking today.”
“This is unbelievable.”
“If only-” Koneh said.
“I can understand why you’d want a little peace,” Alexandra said. “Seventy five thousand years-”
“Well,” Koneh said, “this isn’t about me. It should never have been.”
“Do you think we’ll make it?” Alexandra said. “I know we’ve come quite a ways, but Lilev said Derechi is marching towards Eden as well. Can we beat him there?”
“My dear,” Erzulie said, “when Koneh acts, even Elah pauses.”
Koneh sighed. “Erzul-”
“Elah has passed to many worlds throughout the eons,” Erzulie said. “Though I didn’t have access to His archives, other angels have noted that Koneh is the only mortal to ever stand against Elah. This is why Elah chose Koneh for this important task. We will reach Eden.”
“But Elah has abandoned us!” Alexandra said.
“Do you know that for a fact?” Koneh asked.
“Well, no.”
“We don’t really know what happened,” he said.
Alexandra’s mind and body ached. “I think I’m just a little overwhelmed,” she said.
“Of course you are,” Erzulie said. “This is quite a burden for one so young.”
Alexandra forced a smile. “Compared to you two, I’m not even on the calendar.”
After a few days of fighting the unforgiving terrain, the truck bent an axel and could travel no further. Koneh, Alexandra and Erzulie packed the most necessary supplies and continued their journey on foot.
“Just like we started,” Alexandra said.
“In many ways,” Koneh said as he struggled with the weight of the water containers.
Alexandra glanced over her shoulder at the lifeless pickup and said, “Do we have enough to make it back?”
“Once Eden is restored,” Erzulie said, “we won’t have to.”
The white-haired crone’s words echoed in Alexandra’s memory: “Eden must be destroyed.”
Why would Alexandra destroy Eden? No, her goal was now clear. She would restore Eden and the people of the Earth would have a place to go. A place of peace.
At camp that night, Alexandra noticed something.
“Koneh,” she said as a shiver penetrated her two coats, fatigues and tank top. “You haven’t eaten in days.”
Though Koneh didn’t eat as much as the others when they were all together, he shared the occasional MRE ration.
Satisfied with his fire, he stood. “Don’t worry about me. I’ve gone longer than this without food. Wait here. I’m going to see if I can find more scrub for the fire.”
He disappeared into the darkness.
“He’s lying,” Erzulie said. “But, you probably sensed that.”
Alexandra nodded. “Why would he starve himself?”
“To ensure you have enough food for the return trip, if needed,” Erzulie said. “Koneh always has a backup plan.”
“But won’t he..?”
“Die?” Erzulie smiled and touched Alexandra on the cheek. “He won’t die from starvation, but he’s already suffering. He just doesn’t want you to see his pain.”
“That’s just stupid. He should eat!”
Erzulie shook her head. “You won’t convince him. Your life is far more precious to him than anything else right now. He will endure anything for you, if necessary. Even die, if that’s possible.”
“Nobody should be dying for anybody else,” Alexandra said as she settled into her thermal sleeping bag.
“Martyrs are looked upon with the highest regard,” Erzulie said. “To die for love, that’s something even more special.”
Alexandra propped her head on her arm and asked, “Love?”
Erzulie looked into her eyes. “You don’t see it?” the angel said.
“See what?”
Erzulie shook her head. “If your own heart doesn’t recognize love, then I cannot help you.”
“You mean… Koneh?”
“I thought it was obvious,” Erzulie said. “However, I have known him for quite some time.”
Alexandra frowned. “I don’t think Koneh feels-”
“Ask him,” Erzulie said. “Or tell him how you feel. Hiding from a feeling does a great disservice to your soul. You’ll be so much happier if you just talk to him.”
Alexandra allowed her thoughts to wander through the forest of her feelings towards Koneh. Could she forgive him? Love him after all she knew? She wasn’t sure.
“What was it like?” Alexandra asked. “To be the angel of love?”
“How do you mean?”
“Well, you mentioned your duties before, but… I dunno,” Alexandra said. “Why are angels tasked with keeping watch on mankind?”
“I cannot speak for my counterparts in Heaven, but love is the most powerful and wonderful force on this planet. Even Elah marveled at how you humans rally around this one concept time and again. He wanted to study and promote this all-powerful force, so he sent his angels to Earth to discover its secrets.”
“Love’s secrets?” Alexandra said. “If you know them, please don’t hesitate to share.”
“I know this,” Erzulie said. “The purest love is amongst the most precious and unyielding forces in the known universe. To open your heart in this way takes no effort, yet you humans spend your time building barriers to prevent this kind of pure feeling. As you grow from a child to an adult, you lose the ability and willingness to share unconditionally. This is why Eden is so vital. Elah believed humans can learn how to love like children again.”
Love.
Was it really that simple? Did the human race complicate life beyond all previous recognition? The love of a child. Alexandra remembered that love. When her mother was her world and nothing of importance existed outside her home. Then, slowly, life began. School, friends, her career – Alexandra drifted away from that love and away from her bare innocence.
Drifting into sleep, Alexandra explored her feelings but couldn’t capture her own heart. Why was it so elusive?
Every night seemed to hold dreams for Alexandra as she neared Eden. This time, she was in a ruined building with Erzulie. Someone else was there as well – an American man in a nice suit.
“Did you not think I would be prepared for this moment, Lamb?” the man said.
Alexandra drew her sword from her belt and advanced upon the speaker. “I don’t want to kill you, but I will,” she said. There was something dangerous about the man, but she couldn’t place it.
The well-dressed man smiled and said, “Erzulie, I command you to seize the Mih’darl!”
Erzulie turned her sword on Alexandra and then she awoke from her dream.
Reluctant to unzip her sleeping bag and face the harsh wind, Alexandra enjoyed a few more minutes in her warm cocoon. Then, she joined Koneh as he salvaged some wood from the dead fire.
“It’s getting colder,” Koneh said. “Are you all right?”
Alexandra probed her cracked lips and said, “Yeah, I’m fine.”
Her words were accompanied by visible clouds of breath. She missed the San Antonio warmth. Though she wanted to talk to Koneh about her feelings, she allowed the urgency of their trip to be her excuse. She kept silent.
After a painful and frigid training session, the group broke camp. Alexandra had done some hiking in the Rockies and the Appalachians, but the dried ocean floor was far more unforgiving. The terrain was comprised of steep cliffs full of soft handholds, vertical drops and collapsing shelves. They ascended one incline only to be greeted with a dangerous drop and another upward slope. Ground gave way in some areas and tortured her feet in other spots.
The days and nights blended together for her. Talking was painful as the air invaded her lungs and froze her throat. Training with Koneh was excruciating, but Alexandra persevered. Koneh insisted that she needed to keep her joints loose as in the end they may need to fight their way to Eden.
Some number of nights after her dream about the businessman and Erzulie’s betrayal, Alexandra awoke to Koneh dousing the fire with dirt.
“What’s going on?”
“Erzulie spotted flyers,” he said.
The area fell into total darkness and Alexandra waited for her eyes to adjust before finding her sword and Benjamin’s pistol. She squinted to keep the surrounding terrain in focus as very little light escaped the clouds above. As always, the wind cut through her layers of clothing and chilled her bones. Various items in the camp teetered against the wind and made noise. Alexandra hoped it wasn’t enough to surrender their position.
Then she heard a distant sound. The flapping of wings. For several long minutes, she strained to spot the source of the sound in the sky. However, the sound disappeared and only the wind remained.
Koneh moved close to her and said, “Let’s get moving. Quietly.”
They packed the camp and moved away from the area, all the while keeping a nervous eye overhead. After that, Alexandra relied on her thermal sleeping bag for warmth at night. There were no more fires.
More days passed and her body wore down. Each laborious step brought pain to her bones. She required more time to rest than before and her fingers and toes felt frozen together.
“Tell me a story,” Alexandra said after a brutal day of trudging across the wasteland.
“A story?” Koneh asked.
“Yeah.”
“What about?”
She shook her head. “I don’t care.”
“All right,” he said, eyeing her with a look of concern on his face. “I’ll tell you of the fall of Moloch.”
“The fallen angel Erzulie killed?” Alexandra’s teeth chattered as she spoke.
Koneh smiled. “Yes, that one. Fallen angels aren’t normally able to leave Hell and travel to Earth, however Moloch found a way. Every year, Moloch would steal away and spread disease amongst mankind. At first, Elah believed the disease was just from natural causes. However, after the pattern continued, Elah decided to send one of his angels to Earth to investigate.”
Alexandra scanned the camp for her friend, but didn’t see her. “Erzulie?”
“Yes,” Koneh said. “Erzulie tracked Moloch to his lair on Earth and confronted the plague-bearer. However, she was surprised to find Moloch was not alone. A saint was there with the fallen angel.”
“A saint?”
“From what I understand,” he said, “true saints are granted immortality in Heaven. Somehow, this saint made his way back to Earth to assist Moloch.”
“What was his name?”
“I forget,” Koneh said. “However, this is important because angels are not allowed to harm saints nor fail their missions. In my mind, this was the turning point for Erzulie. Like a human, she weighed her mission against the standing rules of sainthood and she acted.”
“What did she do?”
Koneh smiled. “She killed them both.”
Alexandra gasped. “Really?”
“Through their conversation, Erzulie discovered the saint was working with Moloch to devise and spread disease. Moloch had promised the saint reincarnation and permanent life on Earth. Apparently, Heaven wasn’t good enough for the saint. Erzulie made a very human decision.”
“I see,” Alexandra said. “Was she punished?”
“No, that wasn’t the act that caused her fall,” Koneh said. “Elah praised Erzulie for her actions and promoted her to the ranks of the Seraphim, the highest choir of angels.”
Alexandra absorbed the story and wondered how many like it Erzulie and Koneh had to tell. The amount of accumulated knowledge and experience between her two companions was staggering. She allowed some hope to wander into her survival equation. She might make it after all.
“What did cause her fall?” Alexandra said. “You guys have hinted at it a few times now.”
“That’s a long story.”
Alexandra shivered and pulled the lip of her sleeping bag against her chest. “I want to hear it.”
“She tells it better than I do,” Koneh said.
“Just… Don’t argue with me. Tell the story.”
“Very well. Let’s see,” Koneh said. “Are you familiar with the Boxer Rebellion?”
Like her muscles, Alexandra’s mind was slow to react to stimulus in the freezing cold. “No, only the date. I rarely forget dates. 1899, right?”
“Roundabouts,” Koneh said. “Though the financial crisis and natural disasters leading to the conflict began a few years prior.”
“I’m sorry, where did this happen again?”
“China.”
“Oh.”
“So,” Koneh said, “the Boxers organized as an anti-Christian and anti-foreign movement with support from the Chinese government. They began by disrupting trade and communications. Then, they started slaughtering missionaries and Chinese Christians. Though I’ve fought many wars in my long years on Earth, something about religious genocide got to me. I became involved by helping Chinese Christians reach safety. Naturally, that brought me in direct conflict with the Boxers and I killed my share of them before the rebellion was over.”
“Somehow that doesn’t surprise me,” Alexandra said. “But I’m shocked by the date. Erzulie hasn’t been a fallen angel for long, has she?”
“Not compared to most, no,” Koneh said. “So, then the foreign countries took interest in their destroyed embassies and murdered missionaries. An Allied force landed on Chinese shores and quelled the rebellion. Of course, I’m leaving out some details, but this next part is important.”
“Okay.”
“The allied forces – including Germany, England and the United States – were terribly brutal in their suppression of the Boxers. I was forced to get involved again.
The Germans called me the Grey Devil, as I harassed them for months after they pillaged and raped their way across the Chinese countryside. They would declare a village to be aligned with the Boxers and then the troops would slaughter everyone. Inexcusable, even in wartime.”
Koneh paused and Alexandra realized she had closed her eyes. “Bored yet?” he asked.
She opened her eyes and said, “No, no. This is interesting. I guess I’m just tired, that’s all.”
“We can finish the story tomorrow.”
“Please, continue.”
“As you wish,” Koneh said. “Well, I fought against the Allied forces and tried to get word to the Chinese government about what was really going on. From what Erzulie tells me, my actions were noticed in Heaven and Elah dispatched one of his warrior angels to go and put an end to my interference.”
“Why did Elah want to stop you?”
Koneh huffed. “I don’t know, but I was supporting the people who killed Christians so perhaps that drew His ire and He sent an angel to stop me.”
“I thought you couldn’t be killed?”
“The angel’s task was to incapacitate me until the conflict was resolved. Apparently, Elah approved of the retribution delivered upon the Boxers, uneven as it was in my eyes.”
“The angel was Erzulie?”
“No,” Koneh said, “the angel was an archangel named Hojn. I didn’t want to kill him, but warrior angels aren’t interested in talking things through. They have their mission and they carry it out. Killing Hojn only angered Elah further and he decided to send Erzulie. In the past, she had stayed my hand and talked me out of certain courses of action. Elah reasoned she could do the same this time.”
“I’d love to hear those stories too,” Alexandra said.
“Not tonight, Alejandra,” he said tenderly.
“Please continue,” she said as she closed her eyes. “I’m listening.”
“Well, Erzulie wasn’t talking me out of anything, not that time. When she realized why I was doing what I was doing, her new order from Elah came in direct conflict with her station as the Seraphim of Love. She returned to Heaven to inform Elah of her failure and Elah discarded her like a broken appliance.”
Eden (Eden Saga) Page 31