HAGEN: 1. Revelations

by Jadhe HAMILTON

“When I'm ready?” replied Tara resentfully. “And when will that be? And even if I'm ready one day, are you really going to let me leave this place?”

  “When you're ready,” answered Hugo solemnly, “you’ll no longer be taking orders from us. You’ll be giving the orders, and you’ll be free to go wherever you want.”

  Not believing him, Tara dried her tears and said in a demanding tone:

  “I want to leave.”

  On these words, John placed his hands on her bed. Nothing seemed to lessen his joy:

  “We’ve been searching for you for centuries Tara... We’re members of your legion and you left us without a leader for two hundred years! You must understand that we need to make up for lost time, we can’t afford to lose you again... And now that you’ve had your Revelation, it’s dangerous for you to leave the house alone.”

  “Fortunately,” Hugo continued, “the Decision-Makers already know that we've found you. They’ll send guards to watch over you when you sleep. You'll always be safe.”

  “We'll never let anything happen to you!” promised Emily happily, as she entered the room.

  She looked at the chocolate yoghurt that hadn’t been touched.

  “Well then my dear, just because you’ve learned that you're a seraph doesn't mean you don’t need to eat anymore! You must keep your body alive, and to accomplish that, you have to feed it! I'm not going to lecture you again!”

  Acting on her words, Emily plunged the spoon into the chocolate yoghurt and approached Tara.

  “I’m sure she'll manage to eat by herself,” said Hugo amused.

  “You're right! Excuse me Tara,” Emily agreed, putting the yoghurt back on the bedside table. “Did they explain your next mission to you?”

  Tara turned abruptly towards Hugo, horrified. How could she be ready to go on a mission? It was all happening far too fast. Four days ago, her only concern was to take her cat to Victor's apartment. Besides, she didn’t even have supernatural powers. How could she work with angels? She knew that in their eyes she was blind. So going with them would only put her in danger.

  “We haven't had time to tell her yet,” replied Hugo with a smile.

  He turned to Tara:

  “You'll see, it's just a small mission, nothing too bad. We’re just hoping that coming with us will make your memory come back faster.”

  “We're going to let you get ready,” continued Emily, pushing the boys towards the door. “You'll find something to wear in the closet on the right. See you later!”

  Emily closed the door behind them, leaving Tara alone in the room. Her whole world had just collapsed and there was no time for her to recover. In just a few short days, her life had turned upside down and there was nothing she could do to stop it.

  Still weak, she slowly got out of bed. She opened the cupboard and found her clothes. They had been washed and ironed and neatly folded. She quickly changed and stood in front of the mirror. Finally alone, she stared at herself for a long moment. An obvious sorrow could be seen on her face, but she couldn’t deny that something had changed. Her complexion was pure and radiant. She realized she wasn’t a simple woman like most; she was so much more than that. Some human beings spoke of the soul as being a vague entity that animated the body, while she now understood that hers was the soul of a powerful warrior angel.

  The truth that had been dumped on her like a fatality tormented her. Who was this Diane that resided within her? As she contemplated herself in the mirror, she felt deep sorrow as she thought about the life she was leaving behind. The angels had said it themselves: she was a seraph, their leader. She was aware that she didn’t know the half of it yet, but she understood that she carried the weight of great responsibility on her shoulders, and that she would have to live up to their expectations. These people had been searching for her for centuries without ever losing hope. If they were telling the truth, she owed them at least that.

  Trembling, she closed her eyes and attempted to control her breathing. She had felt Diane’s presence when the old man stabbed her. If she concentrated enough, perhaps she would see the angel living inside her?

  She took a deep breath and tried to regain her calm. After several seconds of concentration, she felt two very big and heavy wings emerging from between her shoulder blades. The feeling was furtive and came to her like a flash.

  She reopened her eyes; her heart was beating wildly. The sensation of her wings frightened her; she hardly dared to believe it. By their weight alone, she guessed that they were massive. She couldn’t deny it any longer.

  Fear quickly gave way to wonder. She closed her eyes and concentrated once more, attempting to move them. They were so heavy that it would take immense power just to unfold them a little bit.

  Faced with the challenge of putting her angelic body into motion, Tara began to realize how powerful Diane really was. But despite her difficulty, she refused to give up. Standing in front of the mirror, her eyes closed, she tried to feel her wings entirely, from top to bottom, not forgetting a single feather. She sensed her body storing more and more energy with every breath she took. After a few moments of intense focus, she tried once again to open her wings.

  To her surprise, her efforts paid off when they moved, ever so slightly. But the hardest part was done; she now understood how to use them. Then, with an extraordinary burst of energy, she pushed the tips of her wings upwards and spread them out fully. She sensed that they were gigantic, stretching far beyond the confines of her physical body.

  Alone in her room, she couldn't hold back a giggle of satisfaction as she savored her victory with delight. She had succeeded! She had mastered the wings that had been dormant for many years.

  Suddenly, she thought back to the first mission that the others were expecting her to pull off. Proud of what she had just accomplished, she left the room to join them. As she looked down the long dark corridor in front of her, she instinctively turned her head towards the light that emanated from the large living room. Without hesitation, she left her room and walked towards the light.

  When she entered the living room with her wings spread wide open, everyone understood. Their faces changed. Solemnly, the old man with the holes in the middle of his face approached her. This time, Tara could feel how the power of her soul transcended her small fragile body.

  “Welcome home Diane.”

  The angel and the man were now one, as they bowed before her and kissed her hand: a kiss that symbolized respect and obedience. Tara was both flattered and embarrassed, but she allowed him to do it anyway.

  Mark, the tall blond man who had carried her to the torture chamber, stood up. Although he dominated her physically in the mortal world, it was Tara who now had the upper hand among her fellow angels.

  “Glad to have you back with us again,” he said. “We missed you.”

  Leaning on the piano with his chin resting in his palm, John’s eyes shone with admiration as he contemplated her. And from the cream-colored sofa, his arms folded against his chest, Hugo smiled proudly. Next, it was Emily’s turn to approach her. Moved, she was about to hug Tara when Nina stopped her in her tracks, her voice full of contempt:

  “Bravo! She opened her wings. So what? May I remind you that Diane still isn’t with us. It’s not this fool with wings that’s going to help us accomplish our mission.”

  “Nina!” exclaimed Emily, outraged. “I won't allow you to disrespect her.”

  Nina’s spiteful remark brought Tara back down to Earth where she immediately forgot about her achievement.

  “Don't worry Tara,” reassured Hugo as he got up, “you'll be perfect today. Everything will be fine.”

  “When are we leaving?” she asked, trying to hide the pain that Nina had just caused her.

  “We're already late. Time is rarely on a missionaries' side,” replied Hugo, grabbing her arm and pulling her towards the door.

  Tara could have been overwhelmed by the panic or excitement for her first mission, but instead, Nina's words had upset he
r too much for her to feel any emotion. Wounded as she was, she allowed herself to be pulled out on to the landing by Hugo, without resistance.

  When they were gone, Emily turned to Nina who collapsed into the couch in protest.

  “What's the matter with you?” asked Van der Worthen dryly. “Do you really think hurting her will make things better? Get up and go help them.”

  “What's the matter with me? Are you kidding me Emily? You know very well what's going to happen. You're all acting as if Diane’s return is a good thing...”

  “It is a good thing!” shouted Emily, who was now red with anger.

  “You know very well what this means,” replied Nina in a grave voice. “We're leading her to her demise. I told you to leave her alone and never bring her back to us again.”

  Emily was outraged:

  “Go with them,” she ordered, trying to control her temper. “You must keep her safe.”

  “They'll be fine on their own,” replied Nina, who refused to follow the order.

  “Tara is just starting out in this life,” Emily continued with a threatening voice. “Who knows what might happen? Go and watch over her Nina!”

  “What's the point? She'd be better off dead than among us.”

  Upon these words, Emily lost her self-control and slapped her hard in the face. Nina's expression transformed: she gave Emily a fierce and penetrating look, but she refrained from hitting her back.

  “Diane's life is more important than all of our lives combined,” Emily explained as she tried to calm herself down. “Our mission is to protect her.”

  “By bringing her here,” replied Nina in a murderous voice, “you’ve led her to her death. I refuse to be a part of this. It’s your problem now.”

  The two women looked at each other with contempt. Around them, Mark, John and Stanislas remained silent. Never had Nina rebelled against Van der Worthen before.

  “The future will tell us if I’m wrong,” concluded Emily, who had resolved to calm things down. “In the meantime, as you so well put it, it's too late. Now go and see your mission through to its end. That’s your only job.”

  Nina stared into Emily's eyes. Her hateful expression made it clear how much she resented her. Their silent confrontation lasted several seconds until the coach’s face finally softened. With her head held high, she violently grabbed her coat and disappeared into the stairwell.

  “Where are we going?” asked Tara, as they briskly walked through the alleys.

  “Not very far,” replied Hugo in a detached tone, looking into the distance. “Yesterday, a chemist named Thomas Fernand created a deadly and extremely contagious virus. Selling his services to a secret army cell, he had been trying for years to develop a new biological weapon in the aim of making it rich. Up until now, the Decision-Makers had avoided eliminating him because Thomas Fernand had very little chance of achieving his goal. However, yesterday, by a mysterious twist of fate, the virus he had been trying so hard to bring into the world finally saw the light of day...”

  “There's no such thing as a twist of fate,” interrupted Nina who had joined them, visibly tense. “Several days ago, evil spirits had set out to create conditions that were particularly favorable to the birth of the new virus. Thomas Fernand, despite his determination to destroy a part of humanity, would never have succeeded without their help.”

  “In any case, one thing is certain: this discovery wasn’t foreseen in Thomas' destiny. Now, a new page of history is being written. By tomorrow at the latest, he will contact the secret army cell to propose his virus to them. If we don't intervene before that happens, this bio-weapon will inevitably be used against humanity. It’s now written in the future that millions of humans and animals will die because of this virus. Therefore, the Decision-Makers no longer have a choice: They need us to get rid of all traces of his research before the chemist contacts the army.”

  “What do you mean by ‘evil spirits’?” asked Tara, worried.

  “It's not our job to try and find out who's behind what's happening,” replied Hugo, as he increased his pace. “We’re missionaries, but I guess you could call us cleaners too. The truth is, the biggest part of our mission is to fix the twisted plots prepared by the demons.”

  Tara's blood froze.

  “There are other angels whose mission it is to keep an eye on the evil spirits and to warn us when something abnormal is going on,” continued Hugo. “These angels are called the guards.”

  “Why do you need guards?”

  “Trapped in these bodies of flesh and bone, we missionaries have no way of knowing what’s going on around us. We lose our omniscience when we incarnate. So it's up to the guards to inform us.”

  “Do you communicate a lot with the other angels?”

  “Not really, it's actually pretty rare. Generally speaking, only seraphs like you are in regular contact with the other families of angels. That’s why it’s so important to us that you remember who you are. We need you in order to carry out the missions that are intended for us. Since you disappeared, the Fifth Legion has been somewhat sidelined in the Spheric Army. Only a handful of guards still come to give us assignments every now and then. You can image that it hasn’t been very exciting for us to be your legionaries for the past 200 years!”

  “My legionaries?”

  Upon hearing her words, Nina scoffed in desperation and Hugo attempted to hide his concern:

  “Yes, your legionaries. Nina and I are your legionaries. Hierarchy within the army of angels is very important. Our supreme Leaders are the Decision-Makers; They convene in the Congregation. Then, there are different categories of angels and each category has its own leaders. We all belong to the Missionary category, which is divided into twelve legions of six hundred legionaries each. These legions are led by the Seraphim, and you’re one of them. Thus, each legion is headed by one seraph who alone, commands six archangels. Each archangel leads a regiment of one hundred legionaries.”

  “Okay...” Tara said, lost. “So, you mean to say that Diane leads six hundred angels?”

  “At least,” continued Hugo with a smile, still looking at the horizon, “she led them in the past, and rather well I might add! The Fifth Legion was the finest of them all, thanks to her. But ever since she left, we’ve more or less lost our reason for being.”

  Tara nodded without saying a word. She detected bitterness and resentment in Hugo's words.

  “Emily, for example,” continued Hugo in a more detached tone, “is one of your six archangels”.

  “That's why she has such big wings,” Tara guessed, thinking back to the angels she had seen when Stanislas had stabbed her.

  “That's right. Just like Nina's angel, whose power is equal to that of the Seraphim.”

  “Your angel is stronger than Emily's?” Tara wondered, as she turned to the coach.

  Nina rolled her eyes back, refusing to answer. Offended, Tara insisted.

  “Yes!” exclaimed Nina, annoyed. “I was born that way! There was an error in the creation process. They gave me too much energy.”

  “So,” continued Tara, wanting to understand, “you're as powerful as Diane?”

  “Yes, I'm as powerful as Diane.”

  “In that case,” Tara continued, “why aren't you a seraph?”

  Nina looked away, annoyed, while Hugo smiled. It was he who spoke first:

  “When the Decision-Makers choose you as a legionary, you remain a legionary. There was no room for a thirteenth seraph when Nina's angel was created. It wasn’t the destiny the Congregation had reserved for her, and so there was no way she could change that.”

  Tara lifted her chin, surprised. She now followed them mechanically, trying to imagine what an army of six hundred armed and winged legionaries could look like. How could it be possible that she was the leader of an army of such extraordinary beings?

  As Hugo turned right on Des Ecoles Street, Tara went back to the object of their mission:

  “What are we going to do to prevent
the virus from being given to the army?”

  “Thomas is the only one who knows that the virus exists right now,” Hugo began. “So, we’re going to eliminate him, and get rid of all traces of his research.”

  Tara stopped dead in her tracks:

  “Excuse me? I think I misunderstood...”

  “Don't stop,” Nina ordered. “When you start a mission, you can't stop, or you’ll risk being destroyed by your enemies.”

  “You're not really going to kill this man, are you?” continued Tara, ignoring the coach's remark.

  “What else do you want us to do? We have to preserve the biosphere. Those are our orders,” answered Hugo, as he resumed his hurried steps.

  Tara ran to catch up with him, outraged:

  “I thought we were angels! That our role was to watch over human beings!”

  “Listen, this isn’t the right time for you to make a scene,” said Nina dryly. “We'll talk about it later when we’re back at the apartment.”

  This was all too much for Tara. She had been kidnapped and stabbed by these people without any explanations. She refused to go any further without knowing what she was getting herself into:

  “I'm not going any further until you tell me what you're up to. I refuse to be an accomplice in the murder of a human being, even if it costs me my life.”

  Nina suddenly stopped and came dangerously close to her. What Tara saw froze her to the bone: the coach's eyes had changed. They were black and yellow, like two giant owl eyes.

  She was so terrified that she could no longer move, unable to even scream. Nina approached her, glaring at her with her threatening, monstrous eyes. From there, everything went very quickly. She tried to take a step back but stumbled on Hugo's foot, falling backwards. At that moment, the only thought that crossed her mind was how vulnerable she would be if she was lying on the ground facing the wrath of the monster Nina had become.

  Suddenly, she felt a strong pressure on her lower back that prevented her from falling completely: Hugo had latched on to her with one hand, while he held Nina at a distance with the other.