by Lynn Landes
“Good, now I want you to close your eyes and picture your family waiting for you. Now look at your room, see your body and imagine your foot moving; very good. Now imagine your hands lifting. Hold that thought and you will be back.” With a gentle push, Elina smiles as the child fades and returns home, “Thank you,” Elina hears in her mind. As she smiles, she runs back towards the main hall where the Emperor is buried.
To get back to the resting place of the Emperor she has to make her way down a bronze road paralleled by the quicksilver rivers. Slowly she edges through, feeling unsure; she arrives at the bronze coffin and finds nothing. That’s when she hears it, the sound of soldiers marching. She turns around sees she is now surrounded on all sides by the terra cotta army. They hold various weapons, bows, long swords, and spears, all pointing directly at her. They all smile as they say in harmony, “We have been waiting for you, Keeper.”
“Time to go,” Elina thinks and tries to port out only to find she can’t! With her back to the bronze casket and the quicksilver river on each side, she looks for a way out. When she hears metal scrape on stone, she turns towards the sound. Advancing slowly towards her is a demon more deadly than any Elina has ever faced.
A terrifying son on the One, hovers just above the floor, dragging two long silver swords on the concrete floor. His long, black hair covers his face shielding his piercing, silver eyes. He is wearing a floor length wrap around his waist and his skin is ebony, almost blue black. His ribs can be seen easily through his skin, and in each muscular hand he holds a long, silver sword. Silver boots can be seen on his feet as he glides slowly towards her and matching silver gauntlets cover each hand.
Without a sound, he rushes towards her and Elina reaches for her power only to find it gone. Shoving his long sword directly through Elina’s shoulder, he pierces her and throws back his head absorbing her screams. Smiling at her, he turns and she sees his twin brother land beside him! With a matching blade, he stabs Elina through the other shoulder and laughs with his brother when she screams in agony. Unable to draw on her power, Elina weeps with frustration.
“Call for him, he will come help you,” she hears an insidious whisper in her mind. “Call your angel, Elina! He will save you!” the Twin responds.
“No!” she screams at the evil in front of her and they twist their blades, increasing her anguish. Bright red blood runs down her tingling arms pooling at her feet.
“More pain, then!” The twins release the blades from her shoulders; and toss her down the bronze steps towards the warriors waiting below. As she crashes through the stone warriors, the weight of her body causes the stone to explode to dust. Cut and bleeding, Elina tries to scramble away but her arms are useless. Her intention is to pick up a weapon and fight back, but she is helpless. Stone faces turn to look at her and glowing red eyes stare.
“Call your angel!” the stone mouths demand.
Elina shakes her head no. Unable to get up she scoots back away from them, cutting her legs amongst the stone debris.
“Pain, then!” flashes a pair of red eyes. A terracotta warrior aims his bow and releases the arrow, piercing Elina through her thigh.
Unable to scream, writhing in pain, she weeps because she knows she has failed. Why have her powers left her? Another stone warrior steps forward and brings his stone foot down on the bottom of her leg, crushing the bones beneath. Her hoarse screams are interrupted by a voice from her nightmares.
“Brothers, I see you started without me.” Elina’s bright blue eyes look frantically for a way to escape, trying to lift her arms to shield herself. Raphaim steps up, raising his hands in the air to show he has no weapons, “Father sends his regards.”
In unison, the twins whip up their silver swords. “OURS!!!!” they scream.
Raphaim sighs and lowers his hands. “You two were always a pain in the ass!” With a small wave the entire army of stone warriors shift, turning their weapons on the pair.
“Betrayer” they hiss as they try to leave but find the way to them is blocked.
“Now boys, play fair. I only want a moment with the Keeper. What you seek is not here. The scroll is in another chamber, and judging by the rioting going on outside, it will be discovered soon. You best hurry along.”
Silver eyes meet and with a nod, they are gone. As he turns to look at Elina, he shakes his head in disbelief.
“This is not how I hoped to meet you again, Keeper. You are a mess. I was looking forward to fighting you again.” Advancing towards her, he stops when she tries to get away.
She kicks at him and causes her bleeding to increase. Sweaty, nauseous, and dizzy, she knows that she will black out soon. “Get it over with, demon!” she spits.
“Elina, I am here to help you. It looks like I am all you have, since you will not ask for help.” Stooping down in front of her, he reaches out his hand, “Live or die Keeper? The choice is yours.”
“I have dreamed of the moment we would meet again, Raphaim,” she pants in pain as she looks at the demon responsible for murdering her family, “But I had hoped the situation would be reversed.”
Laughing at her spunk, he is not surprised when she tries to lift her hand.
With a hiss of agony, she tells him, “I can’t do it, help me.”
He carefully lifts her into his arms and turns to go, only to find the Twins have returned. They stand holding the sacred scroll, and see Raphaim holding her and smile. Raphaim’s teeth lengthen at the smell of her rich blood. He leans down and asks his brothers, “I thought I’d have a bit of lunch, want some?”
“Ours!” they demand, with hunger in their silver eyes.
Raphaim does the only thing he can think to do. He tosses her at them. “Catch” he says. The twin holding the scroll backs away, while the other one attempts to catch her. Elina screams and kicks with her good leg, catching him in his jaw. With a thud, she lands on her broken leg, and tries to catch her breath. She looks around desperately for the scroll. Raphaim grabs his brother’s silver sword, and shoves it through his heart. The resulting scream echoes through the tomb and the terra cotta warriors seize the remaining twin. Elina lies on the floor watching in horror as the remaining twin’s chest bleeds in unison with his brother’s.
“They share everything.” Raphaim says looking at her.
“Covenant Breaker! You shall pay for all eternity!” the twin wheezes at him.
“No brothers, I am through paying.” Then using the sword he is holding, Raphaim severs the twin’s head and kicks the body into the sea of quicksilver. Picking up the doppelganger, he tosses it into the liquid metal river along with their swords.
He reaches down slowly, picking up the scroll and turns to Elina. Her vision is fading and all Elina sees is the shape of a man with large wings walking towards her. She asks, “Malach?” then blessed blackness.
Miles away, Raphaim lands with Elina, he knows by her shallow breathing she is losing too much blood. He builds a small fire for heat, then splashes water on her face and shakes her. When she refuses to wake he presses on her shoulder wound enough to wake her. Groaning in agony, she looks at him, and panics once more, every movement brings waves of pain.
“Elina, don’t move too much. You must call for help, I can’t heal you.”
“NO! I won’t do it!” she says shaking her head in panic.
Raphaim growls in frustration at her stupidity, “Then you will die, Keeper. I will be long gone before they come for you.”
As he stomps towards her, he picks up her useless hand and presses the scroll into it. “Here!”
In shock, she looks at her hand and tears fill her eyes. “I don’t understand, Raphaim. The girl said you would not let her leave. You blocked my powers and now you help me, why?”
Her fingers curl around the scroll, and he places it across her heart. “I did not lure you with the girl. That was the Twins doing, and I did not block your powers. That was all you. Do not mistake me for your angel, Keeper! Everything I do is for one reason, Varena!
I give you this for a promise from you to free her! My father keeps her captive and I am not strong enough to fight him.” In frustration, he looks into her shocked blue eyes.
“It’s not possible. They escaped. I was told they all escaped,” she whispers.
“Your angel lied to you!” He sneers at her and says, “All of them were caught, and all are dead except my Rena. You will save her or you will scream for death before I am through with you and everyone you love!” Quickly he leaves, and smiles showing his fangs when he hears her screams, “Malach!”
As he rushes through the sky, Malach follows her heartbeat, drumming wildly and erratically. He lands at a small shack, leaving a group of four angels as guards outside, he hurries inside. The sight of her bloody and bruised almost stops his heart. Elina turns her face to him, and sighs out his name.
“Malach,” she groans and he drops to her side, snapping his wings close to his body inside the small room. He tries to pull her shirt aside; he stops when she flinches away from him. “Elina, I will not hurt you.”
With tears in her eyes she says, “You already have. How could you let them all die, Malach? Why did you lie to me?”
“Everyone is okay, Elina,” he tells her thinking she is confused from her blood loss. “Your family is safe.”
Shaking her head, she draws a weak breath and screams, “NO, They are all dead! You lied to me!!!!” She sobs when she thinks of her people, “I left them to die, but you said they made it out, Malach.” Hurt and confused, no longer sure who to trust, Elina reaches for her power and blocks him, creating a shield around her body.
“Elina! You will let me heal you!” he roars.
“NO! Why should I trust you? He said only Varena lives. How is that possible? I don’t know what to think anymore!” Her shield flickers and he seizes control.
“Enough! You have lost too much blood.” As he stands, he stretches out his wings and rips her clothes from her body. Too weak to fight, she simply stares at him with hopeless eyes. Horrified at the wounds covering her body he lifts his hands and calls for help. Silver and blue the angel dust rains down and seeps into her wounds, warming her as the healing starts. Elina closes her eyes against the pain, and refuses to look at him.
“Betrayer!” he hears in his mind and he sighs as she succumbs to the healing sleep. The loss of blood worries him, so he covers her in a silver robe, and lifts her in his arms taking her to the one place he knows he can keep her safe.
Slowly Elina opens her eyes and blinks, focusing on the stars above. She inhales slowly, drawing in a deep breath, she finds the pain dulled and tries to move her hands. She flexes her fingers, then makes a fist and lifts her arm slowly to push her hair out of her eyes. She is home in her cave, and healed. She looks around her room, groggy and parched, then pushes up to her elbows, noticing that she wears a silver robe and nothing else. The robe parts and she looks at her thigh where the arrow was and finds a pink scar. Holding out her other leg she sees the bone has been healed. After she sits up, she waits for the room to stop spinning and reaches for a glass of water. Her grip is not at full strength and the glass slips from her fingers, exploding on the hard floor. Before she can move Malach appears, and she stares coldly at him. Her heartbeat accelerates as he moves to clean up her mess. With a wave of his hand, the mess is removed and he stares back at her.
Shaking with barely controlled fury, Malach snarls “Okay, Keeper, we should get this out of the way.” When she starts to stand, he has to force himself not to assist her.
On weak legs she faces him, her guardian, confident, friend and betrayer.
“Betrayer!” he hisses, snapping out his wings to full width. “How dare you call me that? I have never betrayed you, Elina!” His aggressive stance causes her to jump, so she brings her power close looking at him.
“He said they all died! How could you not know that?” Pounding her heart with a fist, “I could have saved them, Malach!” She rushes at him, and beats on the tattoo cross on his chest, “You should have let me go back!”
He grabs her fists and jerks her against his body, his emerald eyes flashing with fury “NO! You know you were not strong enough! Who told you this?”
“Raphaim saved me in the pyramid,” she responds jerking away from him. “He said Varena is alive and he gave me the scroll, Malach. She is the only survivor of my people.”
“You took the word of a demon for truth!” In disbelief he looks at her and asks, “Who is the betrayer here Elina?”
The silky silver robe swishing around her legs as she paces, unable to look at him. “I know it sounds ridiculous, but I would have died if it weren’t for him…”
Malach jerks her around to face his fury, “NO, You should have called for me! I would have come to your aid! You know you can count on me, Elina!”
She looks up into the emerald eyes she has come to love, and Elina cups his face whispering, “I could not do that to you! It’s what they wanted, all of them! You are my weakness, and it appears they know I am yours, Malach!”
He takes her hand and rests it on his cross. “Have you any faith in me, Elina?” seeing the pain in his eyes she knows what he does not. She has seen what will happen if she lets him fall.
“You said not to trust anyone. What I think does not matter! I will not lose you to them!!”
“What do you think will happen to me if I lose you? Does that matter to you? I will become heaven’s worse nightmare, darker and stronger than anything they have every faced before! Elina, I need you,” he says darkly with hunger in his eyes. “I am already lost to you, but I am not fallen yet. Put some clothes on,” he says pushing away from her. “Then you will tell me everything he told you and we will figure this out together.”
With trembling hands, she dresses in fresh clothes, marveling at the scars on her body. He healed her but, looking at the reminders on her body, she wonders if she will be able to complete this task. He has yet to tell her where the scroll is and she worries about his strength.
“He will not fall because of me,” she tells herself as she brushes her hair. As she walks out into the morning sun, she smiles at the memories. Home, she thinks. This is where she feels most at home, with him, her beautiful angel. Sitting on a rock cliff above, she stares in awe at him. His beautiful blue black wings are stretched out and his body makes her mouth water. The muscles on his arms and chest call out for her hands. What would she give to taste every inch of his body?
He stands stretching and leaps into the air. He swoops down, and dips low enough to drag the tips of his wings through the cold water and sprays her with it. Squealing, she jumps back, and hears him say, “Cool off, Keeper. I am not immune to your thoughts and feelings.”
Embarrassed, she spins to put space between them, but finds him blocking her path again. “Maybe you should take me back now, Malach.”
With a laugh he asks, “Is the Keeper afraid of an angel then?” Looking up into his eyes, she knows he is trying to lighten the moment and wonders how far she should push him.
“Don’t you remember what happened the last time you asked me that Malach?” She smiles when she places her hand on his heart and feels it speed up under her palm. His hand covers hers, savoring her touch.
“Someday we will finish this conversation, but not today.” He steps away and gestures for her to sit. “Tell me everything that happened. Start at the ranch.” Quickly looking away, she tells him of Nameed and all that followed.
Frustrated he runs his hands through his hair, “Elina, all of this would have been avoided had you called for me. I will not pretend to know everything that is going on. I am not the Maker, but an honored member of his team. I can promise you that I did not know about the village. I thought they had made it out.”
When she sees the truth in his eyes, Elina lowers her eyes, “Malach, can you forgive my stupidity? So much is happening, and I am afraid I will fail us all.” In shame she walks away to sit on a boulder.
Kneeling in front of her he asks, �
��Do you trust me, Elina?” Tears roll unchecked down her cheeks.
“Yes,” she whispers, “But I no longer trust myself around you, Malach.”
He lifts her face until her turquoise eyes meet his, “Then I will be strong enough for both of us. We can do this together.”
Oh, how she wishes it were true. “I have seen what will happen to you; I can’t let that happen...”
Irritated by her stubbornness, he stands up and moves away. He keeps his wings close to his body. “I thought you were stronger than this. It appears I have one more lesson to teach you, human. Fear, doubt, and worry, are all demons sent to weaken your faith! It is the tool they used to trace you. That is how they found you in the pyramid, and that is why your power failed you inside!”
Shocked, she faces him sensing the truth in his words. “I am sorry, Malach. You are right.”
Angry, he marches close to her and tells her, “You are gifted, but do not pretend or think even for a moment that you understand God’s plan. You are not invincible, Elina and Raphaim is just a complication.”
Humbled, Elina turns away to think, rubbing her shoulder. “Raphaim said Varena is imprisoned, that he can’t free her alone. He was very possessive of her; he called her, his Rena. Malach, I can’t bear to think of what she has been through, how has she survived it?” She moves closer to him, needing to touch him, she reaches out, “If I had known…”
Pulling her close, he covers her hand with his larger one “If you had known you would have joined her in Hell. You were not strong enough to face him.”
“How could it have been, Micah. I don’t understand that part, Malach. How could he have betrayed us all?”
Softly he brushes a strand of hair away from her pale face; he runs his fingers through her silky black hair. Elina leans into his hand unaware that she is doing it.