by S. B. Niccum
“So where’s this food you are speaking of?” Dorian asks Russell.
“I don’t know. I just know that Heaven would not be Heaven without food. I’ve said so a hundred times,” Russell says logically as he wipes some dirt from his chest.
“Just because you’ve said so it doesn’t mean it’s so.” Valerie corrects.
“Well, we can’t kill the animals,” Katie cries in a whiny tone.
“I agree with Russell,” my aunt, Amor, echoes as she steps forward. “I don’t know what I’ll do with my time if I can’t cook something. Can you imagine?” she turns dreamily to her sisters. “We can finally eat all the pastries and cake we want to now, and we won’t get fat!”
This comment prompts a furor of positive comments on the side of food and all the things that people wanted to eat now that we had our bodies back.
“Could we just think up food, like we used to think up things while we were spirits?” I suggest.
“I’m thinking of…bacon.” Russell says, shutting his eyes tight, then opening them wide again. We all look around trying to find evidence of bacon anywhere, but find none.
“As always, I may have the solution!” Henry says sagely, as he strides in with a gorgeous looking Eugenia at his side. “We were just in another part of our new Earth, a part that is cleared for developing. We’ll have to start all over, of course,” he mumbles under his breath.
“What are you talking about?” Russell asks, exasperated already by Henry’s roundaboutness.
“What he’s trying to say is that there are Cherubs teaching people about our new diet,” Eugenia chimes in. “There are tons of things that grow naturally that are good to eat. Nothing is poisonous any more, and a lot of the things that used to be inedible in mortality actually taste a lot like meat now. Like a substitute,” Eugenia clarifies.
“So does cactus taste like bacon now?” Russell says with a sneer, and several people laugh.
“Do things need to be cooked?” My aunt Amor asks, suddenly worried that she’ll have nothing to do for the rest of eternity.
“They said that we are free to experiment with plants, seeds, roots, nuts, fungi, herbs, fruits, algae, and anything that the Earth provides naturally for us, but animals are no longer food,” Eugenia declares, as if she were laying down the law.
“Well that sucks!” Russell complains and folds his arms across his chest like a petulant child.
“It doesn’t matter as long as it tastes like meat used to taste, right? If it tastes good, it tastes good!” Nancy looks around the group for support.
“We’ll find you bacon, Dad, don’t worry,” Valerie says, with a roll of her eyes.
“Oh, look, Jase. Ostriches!” Katie says, and she’s off again, chasing after them with glee. Jase smiles and with a glint of sheer joy in his eyes, takes off again after her. This might be a pattern for these two. The rest of us exchange glances, wondering what they could possibly find so interesting about a bunch of ostriches.
“Well…this is as good a time as any,” Dorian states, stepping forward formally. “Luz and I are getting married.” A hubbub of congratulatory comments rises from all of us. Alex and Dane pat him on the shoulder. Celeste, Valerie, and I take turns hugging Luz, and I throw my self into Dorian’s arms, feeling a sudden surge of emotion come over me. My little, big brother! He’s been bigger than me in size for a long time. Memories of him and me holding each other, just like this, on our bedroom floor—promising each other to be a real family, and not just foster siblings—come to mind.
“We don’t want to steal Luz and Dorian’s thunder, but we are renewing our vows and remarrying as well.” Celeste says.
“What a great idea!” Valerie agrees, and turns to Dane with an expectant look.
“There’s a long line of people who are doing this, now that we are back in our bodies,” Celeste explains. “The ones that haven’t been married go first, then those who want to renew their vows second. But the neat thing is who is officiating at all of these.”
“The First One,” Max finishes for her with great anticipation. “We can all be married or remarried by Him!”
Alex turns and winks at me. Then he comes to my side and entwines his fingers in mine. “How about it? Would you marry me—again?” he asks in a whisper, leaning into my ear. “This time, we could have a big wedding.”
Right then, what sounds like a stampede cuts through the center of our little gathering. Jase and Katie are riding on the backs of those ostriches they saw. They’re laughing hysterically, and the ostriches look just as happy and amused by this arrangement as they are. They rush by us in what looks to be a race. Behind them trail some other ostriches, which as they pass by us, are mounted by Dorian and Luz. Without question, Alex joins them as well, and it looks so fun that I do the same.
“May I please?” I ask the creature, who understands me perfectly. If a tree is aware of my presence, then an ostrich should be too.
The animal quickly bends down to let me get on, and as soon as I’m perched on its back, it takes off running after its mates.
Rediscovering Earth is fun and full of pleasant surprises, but the fun and games do not last long. Clarions are once again calling us to gather for the final Judgment. By now I’ve gotten all my memories back, from the beginning of my formation as an un-embodied spirit, to my entering into my mortal body, to my death, to after death, all the way to my present state as a resurrected being. Looking back, the journey looks a lot shorter than it seemed to me at the time.
For those of us who have dealt with all our issues and have Opened, the Judgment should be easier. In essence, we’ve dealt with all the glaring problems. We’ve asked for forgiveness and the First One has taken the stains away for us. We are clean. This gives us confidence and peace of mind. We have nothing to hide, nothing to be ashamed of. However, those who have not yet Opened look nervous and fidgety, and I feel badly for them.
A host of un-Opened spirits from Spirit Prison have been escorted to the place where the Judgment is going to take place. We’re all outdoors on a pleasant meadow overlooking a large lake. It looks, in fact, like the place where I saw Him right before I Opened. I have this strange sense of déjà vu, and I feel like I just entered a time warp. Was that my judgment day? Or is this? Was I alone with him on that meadow, or were there others looking on, like now? I simply can’t remember. I look at Alex, and he too has that same puzzled look, like he’s been taken back in time.
The Eternals come in their full glory and oversee all those gathered with pleasant smiles. They look over the host and even though we’re as numerous as the sands of the sea, they seem to look at each of us in the eye, and acknowledge everyone personally. Some shy away from their piercing eyes, but others gaze back joyously and confidently. The First One is with Them, He is one of Them. I’ve always envisioned that there would be some sort of courtroom that we’d have to enter. I envisioned a bar, and a mallet, or something that resembled an earthly court, but it’s not like that at all. The Eternals simply hover in mid-air and survey us, pleased with what they see. And there’s no delaying. Once the clarions stop, one of the High Councilors begins the proceedings and a gong is heard.
Reubium, the smallest Cherub ever, keeper of all records, glides ceremoniously in. He looks as if he enjoys this part of his job immensely. He carries a huge white leather bound book, a long white plume, and several thick scrolls. He hands the large white book to the First One, bowing his head reverently as he does so.
The First One opens the book and starts reading. This is the book of Earth Life, where the deeds of Earthlings are judged as a whole. Now and then He asks Reubium to recite from the scrolls he’s holding. The scrolls contain the writings of the prophets, the warnings given, the laws, and the admonitions prophesied. These prophecies are judged against the general reception of them, and the outcome is shameful. It seems that every admonition from the prophets was met with a negative outcome. Time after time we had either killed the messengers, or treated t
hem with disrespect and contempt. The prognosis doesn’t look good, but somehow we still came together in the end and managed just barely to get things right.
Once we were judged as a whole, the individual judgment begins. Reubium brings out a scroll for each individual, containing our personal life as recorded by Angelic Scribes. My own short stint as one of those angels before the world was comes to mind, and now I hope I took good notes for that person’s sake.
This public affair is only intimidating and shameful if you haven’t Opened. As each individual steps forward, an image, like from a drive-in movie theatre shows up in front of that person. It’s like a gigantic Probe—the Tattler—as I called it while Opening with Drymus. The well-edited version of each person’s life, with all the reprehensible or evil deeds erased from the record and remembered no more, is displayed on the big screen, for everyone to see. The only mention or allusion to our less-than-perfect existence is when the First One has to vouch for us before the Eternals, saying that He knows us, and has paid the price for us to enter into Their rest.
As we watch, sometimes there’s laughter, sometimes tears. Now we can relate to each other more fully; we see the sacrifices, the hardships, and the obstacles that each of us had to undergo. One thing becomes wholly evident as we watch—struggles made us stronger—leisure did not. As painful as it is for some, the Judgment is a great sociology lesson.
Those who are Open and have been vouched for by the First One as “His,” stand at the right side of the Eternals. Those who He claimed to never know, to the left, and those who rejected Him entirely, even though they knew Him, are promptly cast out. These are those who in spite of many opportunities remain resolutely unmoving and unbending. They even come up to the invisible bar defiantly showing all their misdeeds, boastful, and prideful. This cocky attitude does not last long, though, because it’s a façade. Their arrogance quickly melts before the Eternals and their all-knowing eyes.
Agatha is among these, and as her name is called, she straightens her head, relishing a deep breath with her brand new body—a gift that she takes for granted—and walks forward, head held high, pretending not to be scared to face the music.
“I don’t know her,” are His words, void of anger but short, cutting, and final. Agatha flinches at the sound of those words. Then her life starts to play before her and everyone else. It’s an unedited version, complete with all her thoughts and secret deeds. She looks at her existence, from the time she was an intelligence, and tortured me and other, lesser intelligences just for fun. Then, as she was in spirit form, how she befriended the Second One, and obediently followed his lead. Her memories reveal her stint with the Fallen angels, and how she was responsible for delaying certain spirits their preparations for mortality. Eugenia’s face is blurred from this replay. Only those of us who knew her then remember, but no longer care. Eugenia has changed, but Agatha hasn’t.
In life, Agatha had not made many choices that were different from those she made in pre-mortal times. Over and over again, whenever she had a choice, she chose the wrong side. Then in death, her memories revealed how she managed to open a rift in Spirit Prison and unleash the most wicked spirits into the mortal realm. Here, too, my own face is blurred from that episode, so to those watching, it’s clear to see that she coerced someone, and that someone has since repented—yet Agatha had not. Finally, it showed how she unified the escaped Prison spirits, and formed the great monstrosity called ROWE.
“How do you plead?” a High Councilor asks with great solemnity.
She looks at the Councilor with sheer hate. She doesn’t want to condemn herself, but she has no choice. Repentance is now out of the question; it’s finally too late. Panic starts to spread through her now, as she lets her response hover unsaid in mid-air.
“How do you plead?” he asks again.
The words seem to choke her, and stick in her throat. Then terror starts to set in, as she feels the cold, hard realities of her actions work their way through her. “No.” she whispers in a futile attempt at denial. “No!” She presses one hand to the base of her forehead, as if trying to keep a migraine at bay.
“You must answer, Agatha. How do you plead?” The Councilor is void of any ill feeling as he repeats his question.
“Guilty!” she shouts in a deranged manner. “Guilty, okay! I plead guilty! There! Is that what you all want to hear?” she says in an accusatory manner, as if any of this was our fault. “I did it.” Her voice sounds belligerent. “I brought about the end of the world! I! I! I!” Agatha shouts with ire, then her voice cracks. Right then, a distant, faint, disturbed laugh is heard, giving me the creeps. Two large Cherubs come to either side of her, and take her away, kicking, screeching, and practically foaming at the mouth.
“Where do you think they’re taking her?” Eugenia leans over and asks.
“I’m not sure,” I admit, hugging my torso and rubbing my goose bumps.
“There’s a planet assigned for these souls. They won’t interact with any other beings other than those who inherit that same world. They won’t be allowed to leave that world either. They’re stuck there from here on out.” Dorian says wisely.
She wasn’t the only one who was taken out kicking and screaming. There were several others, not a lot, but enough.
“I wonder what it will be like?” Eugenia mumbles.
“Much like Earth, I suppose, not at its best of course. I’ve heard that it will be an environment not unlike the environment that they helped create in life,” Max pipes in. “Those who inhabit that planet will always be who they are and will never change. There will not be peace, because they never created peace while they could. There will be lying, cheating, stealing, all those things that they’ve always done and never repented of.”
“The only difference is that they will have no hope of ever improving now.” Dorian adds grimly. “They are stuck forever as they are, never learning or evolving, and in an imperfect world.”
Chills run up my arms, and I can tell that Eugenia feels the same.
Once the Final Judgment is over, we are free to enjoy our inheritance. We are told to find or build our mansions, according to our wills. “Live as you were always meant to live, in peace. Enjoy all that has been created and formed, and grow, improve, learn,” was the admonition we got from the Eternals, who by the way, come and visit quite often. The First One took His place as ruler of Earth, and anyone can see Him any time they wish. The marriages are about to start, and I anticipate that they’ll go on for a while. Alex and I put our names down on a large scroll that Reubium had started. He grunted a Hello when he saw me; he remembered me from pre-mortal life, when I had to help him with the filing of lives.
Henry is prompt to show us a part of Immortal Earth that has mansions already built, as the Eternals had said. “We can pick and choose whichever one we’d like!” He looks behind him, at a grand looking castle resting on a cliff.
“Oh we don’t want that, Henry.” Eugenia whines. “I told you where I wanted to live.”
Henry shakes his head. “She’s mad! Completely cuckoo.” He circles his index finger around his right temple. “She wants to live in a Hobbit hole!”
“Tolkien lives there!” Eugenia cries with exasperation.
“You want Tolkien as a neighbor, is that it?”
“Yeah!” she says sarcastically, as if Henry was too dim to get it.
“That sounds like fun!” Luz chimes in. “Should we go see them?”
“Oh, we’d love neighbors!” Eugenia claps her hands and bounces up and down enthusiastically.
Dorian readily agrees, and the four of them leave to see about getting a hobbit hole somewhere in New Zealand.
“Alrighty then,” Valerie looks around at the rest of us, turning her back on the departing party. “It’ll take me a while to get used to the Henry-Eugenia thing,” she says with a shake of her head. Russell too looks like he suffers from indigestion every time they are around, but he tries to get over it quickly. His father
and his grandson’s ex-girlfriend are now a couple, and he has to deal with it.
“We have found a castle in Ireland,” Estelle says, as she cuddles up to the guy from the 1800’s. “As soon as we get married, I want all of you to come over for a visit.”
“Nancy and I will go back home, for those that want to find us,” Russell says.
“I know it’s not a mansion, but it’s where we feel most comfortable,” Nancy amends sweetly.
“Would you at least remodel the place, Mom? It needs some serious updating,” Valerie implores.
“Our second home will be a houseboat, we still haven’t decided where—Hawaii maybe,” Russell says speculatively, while rubbing his chin as if deep in thought.
One by one, everyone shares their plans for their future residence. Dane announces that he and Valerie will also be moving back to their old house, if it’s still there. If not, they’ll rebuild. Katie and Jase say that they’ll be going back to the Brazilian jungle to live in a tree house. That sounds like fun actually, now that snakes are no longer poisonous and mosquitoes no longer suck blood nor pester.
Celeste and Max state that they’ll be going back home to Cielo Celeste, and my parents and aunts would live in islands nearby. “There are plenty of islands along that stretch of the river,” Celeste says with a wink. I hesitate and shrug. That sounds like fun, too, but…for some reason it doesn’t quite fit. “Well, you can always visit,” she adds with a pouty look.
“Actually, I have a place in mind for Tess and me, but it’s a surprise,” Alex says mysteriously. We all wait for him to say more, but he shakes his head solemnly. “Not yet. It’s a vow renewal gift. No clues until then.”
Besides everyone’s new place of residence, we take turns discussing what we’ll do for the eternities. Some are going back to school so to speak. Henry and Eugenia have signed up to take classes from the masters at the Eternal’s Academy. Some others have taken jobs as trainers for unborn spirits from other worlds that have yet to be created. Others have volunteered in their field of expertise to help our new society move forward. Alex and I have accepted a job as trainers for the Ixthys planet that Drymus had told me about. The aquatic creatures have captured my imagination, so after our honeymoon, we will take our posts. I will be a Gift of Discernment trainer and Alex a Gift of Wisdom trainer.