by T M Caruana
“You’re back.”
Her unsteady voice choked on the few words she managed to say. Even when we could understand each other without words, there were no other words I would rather hear. I was back. All the ailments that I had ever had were gone: the tingling fingers, the marble balls bouncing around in my stomach and the high-pitched noise in my ears, it was all gone.
The tickling sensation on my back where I could hide my wings, the knowledge of everything living and the ability to control the Universe, were back. I recognised myself, I wasn’t even close to being who I had become. I was a different person; patient, humble and focused on my task in the Universe. I could master every worlds’ powers and read everyone’s emotions. I could clearly feel Kora’s feelings. The only things I didn’t know were people’s thoughts and choices, which could change the course of an event, even though I could make extensive calculations to find out the most probable outcomes. But the memories and feelings that I had so long desired to experience again hadn’t disappointed though. I had the knowledge of all that existed, for it was I who had created everything, I along with Kora who always watched over me by my side.
I tightened my embrace when I realised how wrong I had been about her. She hadn’t let me down with what I had assumed was betrayal when she kissed Noah. She wanted to lead me on the right path, the path she knew I wanted to take. She knew how much I loved Tarus. Now I really never had to speak again, because I already knew it all, but it was important for Kora to receive confirmation of all this.
“It’s good to be back, I have missed you,” I said honestly.
She looked at me and I knew that I had never been able to fool her and how much my previous hatred must have hurt her. I knew that she felt my guilt and I felt hers. Her guilt of kissing Noah had stung in her, not just because she had hurt me, but also because it had pained him. She had direct access to Noah’s sorrow from hurting me, but this had been her sacrifice to me. She had known about my wavering mind where my brain had wanted to reconcile with Noah, but my heart love Tarus. She admired our love far too much to have me give it up for diplomacy.
I allowed my emotions to confirm my love for Tarus. They were strong and my whole body sparked a boost of energy. I saw Kora’s body shiver and she closed her eyes, breathing deeply as if the air was filled with love. The emotions had been inevitable even when I had my memory loss. That was how deep they were rooted.
It was nice to remember who were my friends and who were my enemies without having to speculate. All six of those who had come to my rescue were my friends. Even if they had other motives when they had first started, they had formed friendships over time. It meant that I had stronger ties with my old friends Hunter, Kora and Tarus than I had with my newfound acquaintances Leo, Michael and Samuel. They were all good people, or had at least tried to be good. A nagging thought made me see the loopholes in my omnipotence. I wasn’t actually aware of who the seventh member of the Order was. Whoever he or she was, they had all risked their lives to journey to Teli to save me and they had done a good job. I also understood that my duty to preserve the worlds was more serious than I ever could have imagined. I had a tough job in front of me.
Kora looked at me with her head tilted. She could feel my anxiety. I still couldn’t see the future. I mean, I know I would have seen it, and I knew how I used to see it, but my senses obviously weren’t working. Someone or something had or would have manipulated the future and blocked it so that I couldn’t see it from a certain point onwards. It was still restricted as it had been the night I had seen the kiss with Nicholas on Bomi. It was also still difficult to distinguish between memories and future visions.
Now though there were too many emotions that crawled into my body out of inspiration, to sit here and speculate. In unison we released our embrace because we both knew that it was time. Kora was moving as fast as my shadow and she confirmed my feelings seconds after I felt them. I looked between the pillars toward the clear blue sky.
“You have been imprisoned far too long, go, hurry. I will be waiting in the kitchen with the others,” she told me.
It was evident that she knew what I desired, but anyone in this case would probably have known it. I wanted to fly with the birds, swim with the mackerel and see what people in other places saw through their own eyes. It would be nice to see the others, to see them again for the first time with all the connecting memories and emotions. But first, I wanted to run with the unicorns.
“Where’s Lance?”
It was strange that my unicorn hadn’t come to me the second I landed on Angi. He would normally be ecstatic about seeing me and would follow me around wherever I went, and I mean everywhere I went, since he was the only one who ran faster than me.
“I haven’t seen him since you left.”
She wanted to protect him since she had come back, but couldn’t find him. She was worried, not for my sake, but because he was the last unicorn. Unicorns were unable to multiply without the energy from the power stones and she hoped it wouldn’t be too late. But she had another concern as well, another concern about security. I wished I could have read her thoughts as well as her feelings.
“What is it?”
My question was irrelevant to the former one, but I was sure that she understood what I meant.
“The other worlds Susy…they are in a bad shape now. The energy within their atmosphere is low and people are weakening. Noah spoke about Medi when you had departed to Vati.”
Her words stumbled over Noah’s name. She was really informed about everything already and, even though the kiss with Noah had been to protect me, she had enjoyed it. After Akrim had left her, which I had found out was because of Eutychia’s nasty game, Noah had been her solace. We both had felt agony together when I was spending my life with him without sincere love and Kora coveted him. But there was nothing we could do about it. Noah didn’t reciprocate Kora’s feelings in the same way. He had only one soulmate and it was me.
I tried to force my thoughts back to her message. I thought back to Medi. It was true; the world was much greyer and weaker than it should be. It was something I hadn’t noticed before; when it impressed me after everything I had seen on Teli. My long stay on Teli had almost wiped out my entire creation; it was clear now that I knew what all the worlds had once looked like.
“We must journey to Pixi immediately to retrieve the other stones.”
I felt clear-headed, focused; more focused than ever before.
“Leo has them all. It felt safer that way. When Noah…you know…”
The grief in her eyes was just as hurtful as her feelings when she, as always, broke our eye contact to protect me. She had known about his death because she had felt my sorrow just the same way that I had been able to feel Tarus’s feelings before I knew how and why. I closed my eyes and searched for him. But my powers hadn’t been restored to that extent and not even the strong bond of love could find him to lead his feelings back to me. Was he safe? Had his heart filled with rage as a result of being unable to handle his concern for me? I returned to my thoughts about the worlds.
“When I returned to Pixi, having buried my father, Noah explained that you had gone to Vati to find the blue stone. To heal completely, you needed Lance and hence I assumed that a visit to Angi was inevitable and brought the stones here to wait for you. Lance is the only one who can heal your mental strength,” Kora stated and was too ashamed of her people’s actions to explain it any further, but the message was loud and clear to me.
If they had left Lance on Sabi, as the Oracle had warned from her predictions, I would have been able at an earlier stage to sit on his back to regain my memories. This could have helped us to save the worlds. Kora had already figured out the problem when we were on Sabi, but she didn’t realise how much damage she had caused and that she could now be the reason for the worlds’ end. Now I had two reasons to rush out of bed.
“Susy, you’re not quite ready yet. It takes one day for the chakra to work to its b
est ability. There are seventeen hours left.”
Seventeen hours, I can’t wait seventeen hours to recharge the worlds’ energy; it could die before then and the people not long thereafter. How could it have taken so long? I mean, they should have forced me to find the power stones earlier. Kora gave me a ‘you have no one else to blame for your own actions other than yourself’ look without daring to say it out loud. She was right. I had put love ahead of my duty to the worlds; it was my own fault.
“Come, we’ll hover down to the others.”
The words were magic to my ears: hover, I knew how to hover. Kora was almost at the door when I remembered what it was I had wanted to ask her just before I had fallen asleep seven hours ago.
“Kora?”
She turned around before I mentioned her name.
“Yes?”
I couldn’t explain it, but her voice sounded friendly, not as unfamiliar and bitter as previously. I pondered for a while whether I wanted to ask the question. Vic was the only thing that I had had for myself, something that in my time of distress had been my only consolation. His existence on Teli stood on the side of knowing the six realms. The only thing I had which was private without the influence of others. If it should prove that Kora had had a relationship with him I didn’t know how I would react.
I looked at Kora, but received no vibration in which she could locate what my feelings meant. My curiosity hadn’t changed; it was my own as always. This meant that I finally decided that knowledge, however hurtful it was, is better than ignorance.
“How did you know Vic’s poem?”
“You repeated it over and over in your sleep when we were in Malaga. I thought it was a beautiful poem and it seemed to make you calm. Who is Vic?” she asked calmly.
No one could hide anything from me anymore, she honestly didn’t know who he was.
“Forget it,” I said and smiled, which made her shrug and then drop the subject, just as she knew I wanted.
In the grandiose marble kitchen, where I had been plenty of times before, hung the same colourful paintings of angels on the walls that seemed to be fascinating the others to the point that they almost didn’t notice my appearance. Myra’s wet hair felt cold against my arms as she embraced. Of course, they had to make sure to wet their fins every twelfth hour. Michael wasn’t far behind, not as happy as usual, but was keeping his spirits up for everyone else’s sake. His heart was really in pieces. Reading his emotions was like feeling every piece of his steel heart crumble and rattle around, sharp as razor blades inside his chest.
Leo had risen to fall down on one knee just as he had done the first time I had met him in Gibraltar on Teli. It was hard to read what he felt when his feelings of guilt for the death of Pallas, Katrona and Noah overshadowed all his other emotions. His presence had, over the years, made him a familiar acquaintance, but I had never really been close to knowing him. When I visited Myra, he had been a polite gentleman, but he had never opened up for chats. This signified that I still hadn’t got to grips with his future plans, which made me a little nervous and I noticed that I pushed my feet back and forth on the floor as Hunter normally did. Hunter, my brother, the humble feelings for a close family member made me calm and it would be no wonder if I had taken on a few of his stressful movements. We had lived together in the same castle.
Leo waited until the others had taken a step backwards from their greetings before he stood up and walked towards me. Even his movements were full of respect. As I couldn’t interpret his emotions, I was soon uncomfortable. What did this mean? He would definitely not hug me, not Leo, he was too respectful of my status. What was his motive for coming so close to me, too close? Would he kill me too? No, that wasn’t fair. His hands approached my chin until they split apart and his arms were next to each other behind my neck. My eyes closed tight and my breath stopped, waiting to see if he would hurt me. Not that his magic was stronger than mine, but my instincts prevented me from acting in self-defence.
“So, there…back to its rightful place,” he spoke calmly.
It was somewhat challenging being with dangerous men who made me frustrated, not as frustrated as with Tarus, but still noticeable. I looked down at my pale chest as he turned the jewellery slightly with his thumb and finger until it was in its proper place.
“The key and all the power stones!” I exclaimed loudly and happily.
They were all there. The seven power stones were placed in the triangles of the pentagram handle of the silver key with the purple stone in the centre, of the pentagon, and the red stone a bit below the handle. The key was hanging with its long chain around my neck that Vic had given me. I had never had the idea of placing the stones in a piece of jewellery. Now that the stones were near me they started charging me with their energies.
Michael was the one who broke the sentimentality.
“Kora, have you slept well?”
His question wasn’t out of genuine concern, but only an attempt to break the intense atmosphere. Kora looked at him puzzled and then at me.
“Michael, Angels don’t sleep,” I explained and was pleased that I, for once, was the one who could teach instead of merely being taught.
“Never sleep? Is there anything else we should know about angels?” he murmured with raised eyebrows.
Since I ought to wait for seventeen hours, even though in reality, I probably would only wait half of that, I sat down at the sturdy wooden table to tell everyone more about angels. The others sat down after my affirmative nod and began to pick at the many fruits that were presented on a large oval wooden platter in the middle of the table, whilst they listened to my story.
“The worlds were created when I was created, all but Teli which is my own creation.”
“It’s the only story you’ve never told me,” Kora interrupted. “You never told me why you created Teli. Is it the reason it’s different to the others since it has a moon?”
The question was natural as Teli in comparison was very different from the other worlds. But this time it was me who wanted to keep a secret. The ‘secret heart’, I thought to myself. Now I remembered why the moon affected Teli the way it did. I remembered that the people on Teli weren’t their own kind, but a mixture of people from other worlds who had lost their powers after living on Teli for several generations. That’s why their eyes were different colours. Yet the reason why the world was created as such was a secret that I didn’t want to share with anyone. Last time I told half of the story it had led to my kidnapping. Weapons of mass destruction weren’t the only reason Isaac had kidnaped me. Along with Eutychia they had tried to create more worlds and had already managed to find the Higgs particle, the particle that gave mass to an object. Now they only needed to use the spell on the map with all the ingredients to be able to control the worlds and the life circle.
“Everything turns out as it should in the end,” I quoted my motto mysteriously even when this time I actually didn’t have the knowledge to see the future and so I went back to my story about angels. “The angels’ mission was to defend and keep me safe while I created life on the worlds. In the beginning there was only one type of angel, ‘Angels’, but as creation took its course, I made use of angels in more areas. Now there are a total of three hierarchies. The three hierarchies of angels who are made up of three classes that we can see in the three buildings.”
My index finger pointed towards the teaching materials, to the amphitheatres and the four blue towers that appeared in the west behind them.
“The second hierarchy lives in the amphitheatre – the Dominions Angels, the Virtues Angels and the Power Angels. Behind the amphitheatre the third hierarchy live – Principalities Angels, Archangels and Angels. Here in the palace is the highest hierarchy of them all – Seraphim, Cherubim and Thrones, with their new chief Kora. Kora came from the first bloodline of my first angel and originally belonged to ‘Angels’, but I granted her wishes to move to higher hierarchies because she was my personal guardian angel and has always be
en a loyal friend.
All angels have assigned duties. In the first group are the Seraphim Angels, who are by my side to help me create the worlds’ creatures and life. The four-winged Cherubim Angels, who are wisdom and truth angels and watch over the stars, temples, churches and Garden of Eden.”
The moment I mentioned the Garden of Eden and therefore the night Noah was referring to earlier, my heart almost stopped. The realisation of the importance that Noah had had to me, although I wasn’t in love with him, was thrown like an unexpected snowball full of ice and gravel in my face. The memory of that night was as clear as if it had been yesterday. His silky hands had wandered their way passionately down my body. As our son had been created there, we always called the place the Garden of Lust. The Garden of Eden wasn’t far away from here. I wondered if I should visit the place, even when it was forbidden and then I decided that it would probably be too sad. Kora looked at me, her eyes filled with pity, whilst the rest of them watched in anticipation.
“The Thrones Angels oversee the planets, endangered species and prevent natural disasters. In the second hierarchy, Dominion Angels were the first class of angels and their role was as judges to make sure things got done right. They protect the planets from colliding or being struck by asteroids. I’m still not happy with their decision to create the deluge that forced Noah to clean up after them.”
My authority had changed overnight. I was no longer the annoying, little girl who needed protection. My authority had almost no limits and they showed their respect more than before. When I mentioned Noah’s name they stopped chewing the fruit and all looked down at the table in silence.
“Virtues Angels were created to oversee the natural phenomena like the weather, soil, air and water whilst Power Angels work as a kind of police force and deter wrongdoing. Principality Angels, in the third hierarchy, organise gatherings of people to ensure that the distribution of resources is equitable. They are also responsible for discrimination issues and teaching. These angels are characterised by their long, large wings and the bright halo over their heads.”