The Return of the Watchers (Armageddon Rising Book 1) (37 page)

                                                                                                                                            In another dimension, where the five Satans had just passed through the temporal portal, there sat a council of elders around their leader, Satan’el.                                                                                                                 “My children return alone. It seems we have our answer, my friends,” Satan’el said with a look of assurance, as if he had fully expected the outcome. He casually gestured with his hand as he sat with his arm resting on his throne. “It is just as well, for we are not fully prepared to do proper battle with the host of Heaven as I would see fit. When the necessary events align themselves we shall free Asa'el and his followers and they will consider us an ally. Despite their failure, there is still use for them. For now they will have to serve their penance. Why, therefore, should I be the only one who ever challenged Elohim and pay wages for that transgression?” he asked, the sarcasm in his voice matching a look of impudence on his face.                                                                                                    “When shall that day come, father, when we rise up?” Gadreel asked, bitterness in his voice over the routing the Watchers had received at the hands of the Archangels.                                                                                                   “There is much to do before that day comes, my son. I have set a plan in motion that will require great patience for all, the fruition of which will take many millennia. Yet what is time for immortals, ones such as us? My design can be likened to a delicate tapestry, woven carefully and without error, lest a thread be untimely pulled and all is undone. Do not fret, be of good spirits; there is hope for our cause. What Rapha’el and his brothers will have to contend with will be unlike any foe they have ever faced or ever will; of that I can assure you. What you witnessed with Asa'el was an ill-prepared, sloppy troop of Angels that displayed poor understanding of the nature of warfare,” he said, stopping with eyes aflame.                                                                                                                               The atmosphere inside suddenly became very cold. An unsettling vibration permeated their bodies as the light slowly receded and thunder rumbled.  Satan'el narrowed his eyes and focused on one of his subjects.               “Have a care, Luri’el- you need be reminded that I know your thoughts? All of you? My battle was fought with far less preparation time, yet producing far greater effect than Asa’el’s could ever hope to achieve, shaking the very foundations of Heaven itself!” he boomed. “The outcome will be quite different upon my return, I assure you. Who is it that sits before you and who rots in a prison? Who is it that gives council to Elohim on the affairs of the mortals? Who is it that rules this realm?” he asked to all before him with a burning anger in his voice.                                            “Forgive my impertinence, my Lord. I should not have compared your greatness to Asa’el’s failure,” Luri’el replied, putting his head down in shame.                                                                                                                 Satan’el looked away towards his five sons. “Come, I have need of you to complete a task for me now that you have returned,” he said, getting up from his throne.

Nineteen

“I am not exaggerating, Zeracon. I know what I felt. His Shi was off the charts and this was not an isolated incident. I was told by a friend who witnessed his awakening that he almost killed everyone in the room. That has never happened as far as I am aware,” Lykoi said, standing in an interview room at the Sanctum of Atonement, Anidon’s police force.              “He hasn’t done anything wrong. I cannot simply interrogate the son of a founder of Anidon without just cause, Lykoi. What do you want me to do? Without proof of wrongdoing, what is there to be concerned about? Perhaps he is simply a prodigy. After all, Urieth is the oldest among us and he is very powerful,” Zeracon said.                                                         “Yes, Urieth is quite powerful, but what I felt was an order of magnitude far greater than Urieth or anyone in Anidon, including the Angels, and he wasn’t even in his first spirit form. What if he accidentally kills someone in training? What then? Who is going to be responsible?” she asked, pressing him into action. Zeracon stood for a moment letting her words sink in for some time, then sighed loudly.                                                        “Fine. I’ll talk to Dregan and see what he suggests. For now just keep this between us until I get back to you. Are we in agreement?” he asked, with a anguished look on his face.                                                                       “It will be as you say. In the meantime, I will monitor his training closely and keep him away from the others as much as possible.”                             She held his hands in hers and kissed his cheek. “Thank you husband.”

Elsewhere, in Anidon:                                                                                     “This is pretty good. What do you call it?” Dorian asked.                            “That particular one we call the Ale of Antiquity. It has a sweet creaminess to it and it uses a four thousand year old yeast from the ancient world, still kept alive. It's quite popular. You don't want to touch that one over there; that's poison,” Yelnisha said, pointing to a blue milky colored drink. The two of them were seated in “The Stout Trout”, an unusual watering hole containing drinks from the various ages and regions of Anidon and other worlds.                                                                                                   “So what do you do? I mean, what is your job here? You do have a job here, right?” he asked.                                                                                                  She laughed a bit, almost spitting her drink in his face.                             “Yes, I do have a job here. The first time we met you saw me working, which mainly involves doing surveillance on various people and places on Earth. Sometimes I do field work for the Avavago.”                            “The who?” Dorian queried.             

“They're a part of our Offensive and Defensive Operations Division. Think of it as a military and intelligence gathering department; you know, like the CIA or MI6. A matter of fact, we happen to have operatives in both of those agencies,” she said with a snicker. “Mind you, what we do is mostly voluntary; we hardly get paid. Not that we really need to be paid here anyway. Here, try this one,” she said with a smirk, handing him a glass of glowing yellow liquid.                                                        He took a sip then quickly drank it down. “Hmm, that was good.  Uh.... what's going on... here? What in the? I think I'm having an allergic reaction Yelnisha!” he said with panic in his voice as he watched his hands and face balloon up to cartoonish proportions.

“Right, that one's what we call the 'Fun House'. Don't lose your head, it'll wear off soon. What did you think of the taste- pretty good, huh?” she replied, paying no mind to his panic.

Sure enough within thirty seconds it wore off. “Do me a favor. Next time give me a heads up so I don't freak out like that?” he said, pushing the drink towards her.                                                                                    After downing his twentieth or thirtieth (keeping count was getting difficult at this point), he was becoming quite intoxicated, an experience he had only recently become familiar with.                                                                      “Okay, whas goin’ on now? What did I eat this time? I mean drink. What did I eat this time? Hah-ha, I mean, you know what I mean. What was that las’ one I had? Mine feeling pretty good now,” he said, slurring and stammering his words.                                                                                                   “Ha! Well serves ya right, how many did you drink there, skipper?” Yelnisha teased.  “Quit acting like you’ve never been pissed before. You have been drunk before? Right?” she asked, her eyebrows raised as Dorian looked at her with sleepy, half moon eyes. “Yeah, you’re blootered alright.”                                                                                                                “I can’t get drunk, I mean…Shhhhh,” he said, lowering his voice and looking around. “Shhhhh.” Yelnisha looked at him with great amusement.                                                                                                                               “Mine don’t understand, this has never happening. What is this thinking I’m having?” he asked, holding his head in both hands while trying to get up from the table, which caused him to promptly fall over. Yelnisha slid out of her booth and picked him off the ground, helping him back into his seat. A vacuous look was plastered on his face as he stared out the window. At this point walking, talking, just about anything was too difficult for him.                                                                                                                  “All right now, time to get you to the four post hotel, let’s go. Here we go, ups a daisy,” she said, helping him back out of the booth. With his arm around her shoulder she walked him outside, then carefully placed him on her platform. He slid down and rested on the floor in the fetal position while she flew him back to her flat.                                                                       Ten minutes later they arrived. Her abode was one of the more futuristic types, comprised of three floating obsidian colored rectangles with an aquamarine glow around the edges. It stood about three hundred feet off the ground giving a grand view of the greater Anidon area. The landing platform in front was quite expansive; it had a front yard with very short grass and a small garden area. Stepping onto the platform caused an energy barrier to became active, preventing her inebriated and sober visitors from plummeting to their doom below.                                                         Dorian was now lying in the fetal position on her front yard, unable to get up on his own accord.                                                                                     “I’m poisoned, Yeshlina! I was drugged!” he shouted as he rolled over onto his back, arms flailing about in the air, causing her to laugh out loud.                                                                                                                                              “This is too much, ah. I can’t breathe,” she said, laughing until she started to wheeze. “I have an idea. You stay right here darling, I have just the
thing.” A moment later she returned with a rolling chair and some rope. After spending several minutes attempting to get him to sit on the chair (it would have been easier to drag his carcass in, she thought), she tied him onto it, making sure he wouldn't fall off, then rolled him to the stairs, lifting him and the chair until he was in her house. He was immediately assaulted by her two dogs, Cajun and Curry, a pair of Rhodesian Ridgebacks.                                                                                                   “Thas' a good puppy,” he muffled as their tongues swiped his face from all directions.                                                                                                                  “Get off him, you two!” she yelled, as they were in the middle of giving him a good cleaning, their tails swinging with frenzied fervor.              “Not all of us are as fortunate as you with your laudy-daw digs. Some of us still have to do things the old fashioned way around here. All right, here’s where you’re going to crash,” she said, rolling him into a room with a standard mattress and bed.                                                                       After untying him from the chair she pushed him from behind causing him to fall face first onto the bed. The dogs, seeing their new toy splayed out, seized the opportunity and jumped on top, nuzzling and mopping his hair up.                                                                                                                 “C’mon! Not now, you flippin’manky gits! Trundle your carcasses outta here!” she shouted while swatting at them. That prompted a thunderous and violent departure, with the dog's feet furiously attempting to maintain traction and control on the smooth surface of the floor. Their legs scurried and scuttled, gathering dangerous speed, followed by a loud, crashing noise that came from the living room. She sighed and looked over at Dorian, who was still face planted on the bed sideways.                              “Right, let’s get these off,” she said, removing his sneakers. Grabbing him by his pants at the ankles she slid his whole body onto the bed and straightened him out properly. After flipping him over on his back she gasped, holding her hand over her mouth as she saw that the special contact lens which normally covered his entire eye was stuck to his cheek, revealing the glowing emerald light that emanated through his barely open eye slit. After carefully picking up the lens, she left to wash it off, returning a moment later to the bedroom where Dorian was fast asleep. Propping his eye open with one hand she gingerly placed it back in without a hiccup and covered him with a blanket, closing the door of the room as she left. She walked over to her living room area and sat on the couch, silently contemplating what she witnessed.                                                         “If Urieth is his father, then who was his mother? I'd wager a shekel that she’s one of the Angels. Urieth is one of the Dumuzi, so he must be some kind of hybrid. Well, I suppose that explains a few things. I wonder why they're keeping it a secret here, of all places?” she said to herself while biting her fingernails down to the nub.                                           Wondering what to do with the newfound information, she decided to visit Matthias to see what he knew. Dorian was sound asleep, as evidenced by his snoring, so she quietly left and made her way over to her flying platform and set the destination for New Anubus, a spirit center for development and growth.                                                                                                   Several minutes later she arrived at a large pyramid constructed from a solid surface resembling volcanic rock. The exterior had no visible seams, an engineering marvel in and of itself. Inside the facility were rows and rows of chairs that held bodies in place while they were connected to the djed pillars, a spiritual medium device used in ancient Egypt for the same purpose.                                                                                                                 Although Matthias lived and worked in Anidon, his spirit often roamed throughout various dimensional regions assisting and teaching others to learn, grow, and develop. Because he was known throughout Anidon as a humanitarian and scholar, many people sought out his wisdom and instruction. Yelnisha looked to him as a mentor and friend, one she could trust and rely upon.                 
                                                                     After finding an unoccupied seat and getting comfortable she called Matthias on her communicating device and the two agreed to meet on Verdes Beth, Yelnisha's private sanctuary. She found him waiting on the pessipone when she arrived.                                                                                     “Yelnisha, it is good to see you. You sounded troubled in our short exchange a moment back. I will need to make our discussion brief as I have matters to attend, I hope you understand. What is it you wished to speak with me about?” he asked as she approached.                                                         “Thanks for seeing me on such short notice. Let's go inside so we can talk,” she said. They walked the pathway to the only structure within her sanctuary, a moderately sized wooden house surrounded by a small forest with a stream flowing off to the edge of the property. The grass surrounding it was green, the sun was shining and the air was crisp. It was reminiscent of a childhood vacation home which held fond memories of her family.                                                                                                                               The two went inside and sat down. She sighed and began to recount the events that took place earlier through telepathy.                                          “Okay, I'm just going to come out and tell you like it is, see? Dorian is definitely not like one of us,” she said, trying to find the right words.                                                                                                                                            “Oh, what do you mean by that?” he asked, acting surprised.              “Well, I went out drinking with him you know, and uh, he had a wee bit more than he should have. So I set him up to crash and sleep it off, nothing out of the ordinary, right? Only thing is when he fell on the bed he must have hit his face the wrong way because he had this lens stuck to his face. Like an eye covering.”                                                                                                  “Eye covering?” Matthias asked.                                                                      “Eye covering. That's what I'm calling it. Some kinda lens that covered his whole eye. Well, I looked down and saw that what was behind it was glowin' bright green, kinda the way the Angel eyes do. I didn't check his other eye, should'a done that. I'm pretty sure it's the same. I got to thinking about when we turned on his Shi, remember that? Well, I would say the math is adding up and giving me a strange answer. What do you think?”                                                                                                                               “I see. Who else did you speak to this about?”                                           “You're the first. I didn't want to go to Urieth with it, who knows how he would react,” she said.                                                                      Matthias look relieved. “Yes well, that is strange indeed. Perhaps it is best to put it behind you and let it go. It would be advisable not to mention anything to Urieth, or to anyone else for that matter, as I'm sure it's being kept secret for a reason. There's a reason to be concerned about how the others in Anidon may react to that information.                                           “I am sure you are aware that Urieth has several detractors on the council who would ta
ke pleasure in seeing him expelled, in addition to the others who have taken issue with him over the years. I suspect their weak fears may surface and lead to unwarranted action.”                                                        She narrowed her eyes a bit. “Did you know about this?”                              Matthias looked uncomfortable in his chair. It wasn't in his nature to be deceitful, as he was quite unaccustomed with anything other than the truth. In the interest of keeping Dorian's secret intact as much as he possibly could, he decided it was best to give her a partial view of the picture.                                                                                                                              “I was made aware that his origins were different from the rest of us, yes. It is a private matter between Urieth, Dorian and myself. Out of respect for Urieth I ask that you do not think upon this fact nor act on it,” he replied, knowing Yelnisha was not one to let things go.                                          “So how am I supposed to handle his training? He could end up hurting someone you know- if he is what I think he is,” she said.                            “Perhaps it would be prudent for you to closely monitor him and avoid intensive training with the others in the group until he has a solid grasp of his abilities and how to control them. I will wait and think upon it further before mentioning anything to Urieth. Are we in agreement?”               She gave him a long stare and sighed. “Yeah, that'll do for now. Should you decide to confide in me, you know where to find me.”                            “Tch, come now, Yelnisha, I think you know me better than that,” he said with a chuckle. “What you seek to know I am not at liberty to discuss, as I was requested not to. I hope you can understand this. Farewell, my friend,” he replied as he departed.                                                         She sat for a few moments, brooding over the fact that Matthias was holding something back from her. There was no doubt she was well liked by others, but it was no secret that she was an incorrigible blabbermouth. For the time being she decided she would prod the information out of Dorian himself.