The Nephelium

by Nathan Parks

  She stepped into the outdoors and took a deep breath. The air rushed into her lungs, dragging in no impurities, smog, and dirt, just exhilarating freshness with almost a hint of mint that touched the back of her throat. The light here did not come from a sun, but just was. The sky was filled with the richest of blue, but no ball of fire. The light was just there, and it didn’t hurt the eyes or make one squint. It was like someone had, with purpose, set the lighting just right so that each color was vibrantly brought out of everything it touched. There were continual sounds that captivated the senses and caused the observer to want to smile, laugh, be silent, and rest all at the same time. One could close their eyes and get lost. Even though she hated coming before the Arch Council, she never grew tired of leaving the drabness of Earth behind, even if but for a short moment. Leah did miss this.

  She walked down several different stone walkways past Eternals of all ranks and headed toward another domed building, the Council Seat. White, massive columns in seven rows of seven were at the top of a series of 49 steps. At the top of each column there were carved four seraphim with wings stretched upward. There was a walkway of black onyx that led up the middle of the collection of columns, stopping at a large, open doorway. Past the open doors were two large halls.

  The first large hall was simplistic. There were no ornate statues or pictures and no carvings or anything that would render this room awe-inspiring. In fact, it only had three items within it. To the right was a large candlestick with seven wicks coming out of it. Each one of them was lit, and seemed to give off a glow similar to that as from a star. To the left of the doorway was a large, leather-bound book upon a pedestal. The only visible uniqueness about this was that there was a large Eternal standing guard beside it. The third item seemed to be the oddest and basic of all of them. It was a large ram’s horn, polished and encased in a glass box. Even though rudimentary, it was important, for this was Michael’s horn. Of course, Leah didn’t stop to see these items, though, but walked quickly past them and headed toward the hallway that would take her to the second and last hall. This would be where she would meet with the Arch Council.

  “Leah?”

  She heard her name spoken from behind her as she was reaching for the handle to open the door to the Council’s Hall. She turned and saw Metatron, one of the members of the Arch Council, coming up behind her. Metatron was tall and striking. Many believed him to be stronger and more powerful than any on the Council, but Metatron never allowed pride to dwell within him and always stood in unison with the Council. He held strong to his position and even stronger to keeping the will of Jah flowing.

  “Sir, it is good to see you,” she spoke with her head slightly bowed out of respect.

  She may disagree with the Council at times and have a few personal issues with a couple of them, but overall she truly had respect for them and their position.

  “I take it that we will get started shortly?” Leah posed.

  Metatron laughed inwardly as he noticed the black belt peeking out from beneath Leah’s white hoodie.

  “We will, and may I suggest that you don’t allow Michael or Gabriel to notice your one hint of rebellion?”

  She looked down, and if she was the swearing type, she might have let escape an expletive as she noticed that her belt was visible.

  “I just . . .”

  “Leah, you have always danced on the line. It is what makes you good at your job. I do have to say that there are times I worry about you. Flirting so close to the edge of rebellion can mean that one day you may get too close. You know, once that virus has taken hold within your heart, there is no turning.”

  “I know. Trust me, I know. Michael has given me the speech many times.”

  They walked together into the hall.

  “I know you and Michael don’t see eye to eye,” Metatron continued, “but he also reminds you many times because we cannot afford to lose a valuable leader as yourself.”

  “Hmm . . . somehow I have to believe you may be the only one that holds to that sentiment, Metatron.”

  He walked around to the opposite side of a large stone table that was sitting in the middle of the room. There were five chairs that sat in a straight line across the backside of the table, and no chairs upon the side where Leah stood.

  This hall was smaller, but housed more items than the first hall. Besides the table, there were seven pedestals that stood along the wall. Each pedestal held a clay pot, and everyone knew that each of the pots could be considered deceptive. They looked simple, but the inside of each was bottomless. The outside looked like a small earthen jar, but inside they held things that could not be described and no one even discussed.

  “What is going on?” Leah asked Metatron flatly. “Why does it seem that I am being left in the dark? Why does it seem that once I turned down the seat here with you, you’ve tried your best to keep me in small, non-happening areas? Now it seems that you all might have been caught off guard with things that are taking place; and if I had to guess, you are trying to figure out how to keep me out of it, but not insult me.”

  “Wow! Always has everything figured out, doesn’t she, Metatron?” Metatron stood up as Michael walked in and put down some paperwork and books in front of his seat and then looked at Leah.

  “Get the chip off your shoulder, Leah,” Michael said as he looked up at Leah. “Contrary to what you may think, I don’t have it out for you, and, also, everything doesn’t revolve around you. I have forces upon forces scattered throughout time that I have to be concerned about, and you think that all I do is sit here wondering how I can make your life worse? Don’t flatter yourself.”

  “Greetings to you too, Michael,” she replied back to him with teeth clenched.

  Gabriel and Nemamiah soon joined them. Once all were assembled, the Council took their seats as Leah stood before them. She could feel her chest pounding, and she wondered what she was going to learn. Gabriel started the meeting off.

  “We are all here because Leah, a Guardian, Member of the Host, and an Alliance leader, has requested to speak to us. We also were ready to hold a meeting with her, but according to protocol we first must address the issues brought to us by the individual that requested the meeting. So, Leah, what is it that you want to bring to our attention?”

  She was on. She took a deep breath.

  “I want to know what is going on. I want to know what you all have known and when. I want to know why, all of a sudden, it seems that we are sitting in the middle of a bubbling volcano; and no one really understands how we got here, what we are to do, and when we are to do it. I guess I just want someone to explain what is taking place and whether you all are confident in me as a leader to handle this.”

  She had more, but she thought she might need to stop and let them talk. She didn’t realize so much had stayed built up inside of her, but now, as she spoke, she could feel it all coming out and starting to flow.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Nemamiah was the first to speak. “Leah, before anyone else speaks, let me say something. This is on my behalf and not for the whole Council. You and I go way back. We have worked probably closer than any of the other members of the Council because of your passion for justice and for those who cannot defend themselves. I have no doubt in your ability to do whatever it takes to complete a task or to perform the will of Jah.

  “I do believe, though, that you have come to doubt yourself. You have allowed things to cloud your judgment and to make you feel inadequate. You are becoming your own enemy, Leah.”

  Gabriel, the second female on the Council, extended Nemamiah’s advice. “Leah, I have to agree with her. Before we share anything more with you, let me encourage you. You must no longer allow your past choices to affect what you are about to do. We need you now more than ever, and it is vital that you are not shackled by anything. If you allow it to hold you back, then yes, you could end up repeating the mistakes you’ve made in the past.”

  Leah was glad that her hood was s
till covering her face. She was not expecting such a rally of support for her or, at the same time, an attempt for encouragement. She felt her tears breaking through the surface of her eyes and begin traveling down her cheek. No one said anything more for a moment.

  Suddenly, Michael spoke up, but his voice was not harsh or condescending. “Leah, it is no secret that you and I have had our tiffs and, at times, have had some thick walls between us. I am sorry, but they are right. What happened with Joan was not your fault. Yes, she was vital; and yes, we thought she would be a key to turning the tide of the Fallen’s insurgency and victories. What you have not seen is that she was a key. Through her death, she brought about a victory that still resounds to this day. We need you to see what you have not seen yet: it was not a loss.”

  “Not a loss!” Leah threw her hood back; her tear-streaked face was visible now. “Not a loss? You weren’t the one, day after day, fighting beside her, Michael! You weren’t the one, day after day, who heard her, even as a young woman, lie down at night and worry about her mother. A child worrying for her mother--is not the mother to be worrying for her child? You weren’t the one whose instinct said that her Watcher had been infected with the virus and was turning to the Fallen but didn’t do anything about it.”

  She stopped and held herself back from breaking down. She was shaking now. “You weren’t the one--any of you--who was there when she was burned at the stake--for what? A victory? How can you say it was no loss?”

  The Council sat in silence, none of them even making a sound. They sat there, each looking at this strong, but broken, warrior before them. They were going to need her strong, confident, and assured, but at this moment they knew she needed to break. She had to let it all out; or it could later become a weakness that the Fallen, if discovered, could exploit.

  “What is going on?” she said almost in a whisper. “Who is Eve?”

  “Leah, we need you to understand something, and then we will tell you what we know,” Michael stated.

  Leah nodded.

  “We do have confidence in you. We know that you are one of the best. Yes, I did not vote for you to be a member of the Council; that is no secret. I did not because I felt we needed you out there more than we needed you here. There is not a single member here that holds anything against you. In fact, you are right. We didn’t know that what we are going to share with you was going to happen, but we are all relieved that you are the one in command in the area of activity.”

  Leah nodded again. “Thank you, Michael, and I am sorry, also, for the way I have acted toward you. I know that I could have still taken the seat on the Council because the others overruled you, but I didn’t want to be here if it wasn’t a one hundred percent vote; and, honestly, I can’t imagine not being out there. You all also know that I have been looking for something to reassure myself that I can forgive myself for Joan. Is that what Eve is?”

  “No,” Metatron stated matter-of-factly. “Leah, you have got to set Joan aside right now and listen to us.”

  “Ok,” she said. She was listening.

  Michael opened up some of the books he had in front of him. “Leah, as much as we can tell, Eve is the surviving daughter of the last of the Jerusalem Breed, but that you have already figured out.”

  “Yes, I have put two and two together,” Leah responded, “but what I want to know is how she was lost through the cracks and why you never told me that I was guarding a Jerusalem Breed again?”

  “We don’t know how she was lost. We thought that all of them had been killed. As you know, they were not part of the Alliance. They had chosen to set themselves apart from what they thought would bring harm to their daughter. We didn’t know what they had been doing and didn’t know they had put her in an orphanage. When we received word that the Fallen had attacked the Jerusalem Breed, we rushed to try to save them. When we got to where they were attacked, there was nothing really left. For all we knew, it was a total loss.”

  “Ok, so where are we now? It really doesn’t matter, I guess, where she has been or what she knows or doesn’t know. What matters is what in the world is going on? I have Fallen crawling all over the place. I have word that Marduk has escaped from the abyss, and there is a chance he is in my area of operation. I have sources that are telling me that Arioch could be planning something. What?”

  “This is what we know,” Michael stated, leaning back in his chair as if he was about to launch into a long dialogue. “It seems that the Fallen did not know that Eve was alive, either. They also thought the Jerusalem Breed was extinct. This set up the Adremalech Clan to be able to stay strong within the Family and also keep Marduk at bay. The other Nephelium have been used as Outcasts and ‘for hire’ hit men for the clan over the ages. Now, with the emergence of Eve, there is a Nephelium Assassin by the name of Kadar who believes the Clan of Marduk can rise again in power and, also, that with the joining of the complete clan, including the Jerusalem Breed, they could bring about Legion.”

  “The Anti-Christ?”

  “Yes.”

  Leah stood there in disbelief. “So all of this is true? We could be on the verge of the Clan Wars that are prophesied?”

  “We could, but there is one key element and one key choice that could keep it all from starting or setting it all off.”

  “Eve?” she asked as the whole picture started becoming clearer to her.

  “Yes,” Gabriel said. “If she keeps true to following the ways of the Jerusalem Breed, then she will not join her clan, and that could be enough to keep Adremalech in power and keep the clans from warring. However, if Kadar can convince Eve to bring the Jerusalem Breed back into the fold of the Marduk Clan, then there will be a power struggle.”

  “And the Clan Wars could start?” she asked.

  “Well, that, and there is one more thing.”

  “What?”

  Nemamiah paused and ran her fingers through her thick, dark hair. “Arioch.”

  “What about him? He is nothing big. We can keep him at bay,” Leah answered with confidence.

  “Actually he is a bigger piece to this than you realize, Leah. He is a direct descendant of Legion. Not only could Legion return through the Clan of Adremalech, but it is believed he will come from the house of Arioch.”

  Leah’s face went white. How could she not have known such a key piece to the prophecies was sitting right in her own backyard?

  “Why didn’t you tell me this?”

  “At the time, it didn’t seem important, but now with the impending events, we see that it all could tip the balance,” Nemamiah explained. “If he gets his hands on Eve, he could either kill her to take out the Jerusalem Breed or convince her to align herself to his house and, we believe, to his clan.”

  Leah was puzzled now.

  “His clan?”

  Gabriel spoke up again.

  “Yes, we have word that he is actually trying to break away from the Clan of Adremalech and create his own clan. We believe he has everything almost in place for this coup.”

  Leah’s head was swimming. She never knew, and yet all of this was right in front of her. She had never put all the pieces together. It was like having a puzzle out of the box, but not seeing the picture because none of the pieces have been connected; it doesn’t mean the picture isn’t there, it’s just not together.

  Leah just stood there. She didn’t know what to do. What could she do? Was the Alliance strong enough to actually hold back the chance of a Clan War? Would she be able to hold back an onslaught that would come to mortals if Legion was resurrected, no matter what clan brought him back? All of a sudden it was as if a light bulb went off in her head.

  “You mentioned the chance of Legion’s resurrection,” Leah started.

  “Yes,” Michael nodded.

  “How do we know that he will actually fulfill the prophecies of the Watcher John and become the powerful being that will war for the control of all mortals and immortals alike?”

  At this question, no one leaned forward
to answer. She didn’t know if that meant good news or bad. She was starting to feel antsy. She needed to get back. Her mind was starting to kick into gear now.

  “This goes no further, Leah,” Michael said seriously, “but there is an artifact that was in the keeping of the Watchers since the crucifixion. Several of the Watchers who were present at the crucifixion recorded that some of the blood of the Christ was collected and preserved. As you know, His blood held power greater than any mortal or immortal. The Fallen have done all they can to get their hands on that blood. It is believed by many that if a Fallen ingests it, or takes the blood in, that he or she will become unstoppable, having the strength of Christ Himself.

  “Over the years many secrets have died with the Watchers as the Fallen killed them off or turned them. Many of the artifacts and records they were sworn to keep have also been lost. If the Fallen have discovered where that blood is stored, or even worse--actually have it--then that could be the final key to bringing the prophecy of Legion to pass. We don’t know if they have it or not, so we must go forward believing that they do.”

  Leah was stricken. How was she supposed to respond to that? She stood in front of the four, taking in everything they had just told her. All of a sudden, she realized that this was it. This was real, and she and her group of Eternals and mortals were on the frontline of it all. This could be war!

  “May I leave?”

  “Yes,” Gabriel responded, “but we will need to stay in close contact with you. As we find out information, we will pass it on, and we ask that you do the same. This is not a time for any one individual to try to become a hero. Do you understand, Leah?”

  “Yes, Gabriel, I do.”

  She didn’t waste any more time. She had to get back to the Sanctum. There was work to be done.

  Leah’s eyes readjusted to the dim light of the Patmos. Ki and Troy had already gone, and she needed to stop for a moment and gather her senses. She then walked back into the techie atmosphere of the Sanctum and headed off to find Ki. She needed to get everyone together right away, and they also needed to find Eve. Eve may not listen to her, but she had to at least attempt to have her see the importance of it all. Leah knew that she couldn’t make Eve do anything. It had to be a free choice, but Leah sure hoped that Eve would be reasonable and come to understand what she would lay out in front of her.