by Leo Ndelle
***
When Shi’mon was alone in his chambers, he sealed his chamber in a sound proof barrier and wept like a child. He wished he had gone with Patrick, the son he never had. Shi’mon felt as if he had betrayed Patrick, just like he felt he had betrayed the Master, Rania and his family. He wept even more. Creation was so unkind to him! Was this all he would ever know; pain and suffering? Was this what his life was going to be for all eternity? He was so lost in his grief and pain that he did not feel a form manifest and sit next to him. It was not until he felt a gentle hand on his shoulder that he turned around to see who the intruder was and in an instant, his sorrow turned to joy.
“Why do you weep, brother?” asked Yeshua.
CHAPTER FOUR
A SPITED SERAPH
FAZIM MET CHIRAM halfway and caught her by the snout. She glared at Chiram as Chiram growled between fangs held shut by an angry seraph. No one insults her good friend, Ashram, without answering for it. And no one dares to test a guardian. Fazim slammed Chiram’s body repeatedly on the floor before hurling Chiram at the wall. But Chiram teleported before crashing on the wall and appeared behind Fazim, baring her fangs and going for the base of Fazim’s skull. Fazim flared violet flames, blinding Chiram temporarily, before zipping around to catch Chiram by the neck. She then zipped towards the ceiling but instead of crashing Chiram into the ceiling, she teleported herself and Chiram to a barren, desolate realm. Now, she would hold nothing back as she taught Chiram a lesson Chiram needed to learn.
Ashram leaped to his left and then to his right as two hounds attacked from either side. He rammed his shoulder into the side of one of the attacking hounds, took an immediate back flip and landed on the back of another hound. Ashram then sank his teeth deep into the back of the neck of the hound and, using his body weight, he flung the hound backwards. The hound let out a whimper, flew across the room and crashed into one of its allies. Ashram then landed on all fours and stared at the pack of hounds that approached him with caution and defiance. He took a tentative step backwards and his adversaries followed suit. He growled at them menacingly and they growled right back at him.
Ashram bared his fangs in a smile when the hounds all charged towards him at once. They had taken his bait. Ashram closed his eyes and released an esoteric bubble that spread from his body and encompassed his adversaries. He followed Fazim’s teleport link, which Fazim had left open for him, and teleported all of them to the same realm Fazim had earlier teleported to. Here, there was nothing but jagged rocks, parched earth and no sleeping humans who could be disturbed by the noises from otherworldly creatures unleashing mayhem on one another.
Chiram extended her claws and sized Fazim. Her pitch-black fur stood on end and her eyes burned with a deep, dark redness. She growled and the frequency of her growl resonated with the frequency of the boulders around her to the point that the boulders shattered into thousands of jagged pieces. Chiram charged at Fazim and crashed her shoulders into the flaming seraph. But Fazim rode the momentum of Chiram’s charge and flung Chiram to the side. Chiram landed on her paws and disappeared. She appeared behind Fazim and crashed into Fazim’s back. Chiram disappeared again as Fazim dropped to a knee.
Fazim witnessed over a hundred Chirams appear at once from different angles and rain multiple attacks on her. Fazim tried to fend them off without success. Chiram was giving Fazim a beating until Fazim decided enough was enough. She sparked the ethers into an etheric grenade and began supercharging the grenade. Chiram’s beating did not deter her as she continued to supercharge the etheric grenade. When the grenade was supercharged to Fazim’s desire, she released the grenade. It exploded, erasing the multiple versions of Chiram she had created of herself. Only the real Chiram was left standing.
Ashram zipped through the remainder of the hounds. He was merciless with his onslaught. He unleashed his paws with every zip and tore deep into the hounds’ bodies. Then, he switched to using his fangs. None of these hounds would return whence they came. He had been nice for too long. Now, there was no justice or mercy; only execution. These traitors could beg all they want. They could whimper all they want. They could repent all they want and none of that would matter. They will die very slowly and painfully and he, Ashram, was going to enjoy every moment of it.
Chiram had one more trick up his paws. She summoned an energy protection field around her formed and readied herself for one final attack. She saw Fazim clench her right fist and braced herself. Chiram’s lips peeled back in a smile. Fazim did not know what was coming her way. This was not ordinary energy field. This was the energy field of a Hound of Creation. Only few creatures in Creation could withstand the energy field and paradins did not make that list. Chiram’s lips peeled away from its fangs in a snarl before she lunged at Fazim.
Fazim saw Chiram lunge towards her. She could feel the energy field around the hound and she could tell it was unlike anything she had ever experienced. Yet, she was unwavering in her stance. By Creation, she was a guardian and she had Mother on her side. As such, Fazim reached into her being, into that part of her that Mother had touched, the part of her that made her a guardian and drew from it. She felt the buildup of strength, energy and power. She focused everything on her clenched right fist as Chiram was in mid-charge. And as soon as Chiram was within range, Fazim threw a straight punch.
Ashram watched Fazim throw a punch. Her punch connected with Chiram’s energy barrier. He smiled as Chiram’s snarl morph into a look of confusion and utter shock as Fazim’s punch continued to travel through Chiram’s energy barrier unimpeded. No, Chiram! You cannot teleport away from this! Ashram smiled as Fazim’s punch connected with Chiram’s face, shattering half of Chiram’s face in the process. Chiram crashed at Fazim’s feet in a helpless heap. You never should have messed with a guardian, Ashram said to himself as he walked towards Fazim.
Fazim stooped over Chiram as Chiram tried to heal herself. It was taking much longer than expected and Fazim knew why.
“Do you remember, Chiram?” Fazim asked with ice in her tone of voice. “Do you remember when you and your hounds attacked me 26,000 Earth Realm cycles ago? When I had lost my memory?”
“Of course, I do,” Chiram replied via telepathy.
Her snout was still healing and she was in excruciating pain.
“You thought you could prey on my amnesia,” Fazim continued and placed her left index finger on Chiram’s closing wound.
Fazim sparked the ethers and infused her flaming finger with the sparked ethers. The flames burned deeply into Chiram’s body, causing major damage to Chiram’s body at the etheric level. By now, Chiram’s snout had healed enough for her to let out a howl of so much pain, that every rock within a ten-mile radius was obliterated. She would need much more time to heal.
“You… fought well… that… day,” Chiram spoke aloud out of defiance. “You were lucky… you… were a … guardian.”
“I AM a guardian, hound,” Fazim rebutted. “I beat you back then, even in my amnesia. And I just beat you again.”
Chiram regarded Fazim with hateful discontent. Ashram stood next to Fazim and the two loomed over Chiram. Chiram managed what could pass for a weak smile of defeat. She could appreciate the look of vendetta that burned in Fazim’s eyes. It was expected and understood; but, Ashram’s burned with something else that was far beyond the call of vendetta. Chiram’s lips peeled away from his fangs in what could be interpreted as a smile of arrogance.
“You never should have come for her,” Ashram growled.
“What is so special about this one, Ashram?” Chiram asked. “She is just like the rest of them. Every guardian is the same! Puny and subservient!”
“And that is why you hunt her down?” Ashram rebutted. “Because she is puny and subservient?”
“I hunt her down for the fun of it!” Chiram spat. “Out of spite, because they are YOUR choices!”
Ashram plunged the claws of his right paw into Chiram’s chest. Her howl of pain was music to his ego. He plung
ed deeper.
“Who asked you to seek her out?” Ashram asked but Chiram remained silent.
Without warning, Ashram sunk his fangs into Chiram’s neck, zipped with her in the air and crashed her body into the ground. He then hooked his fangs behind her ribs, spun her around twice, zipped away and then zipped towards a stone column Fazim sparked from the ethers. He crashed Chiram’s spine into the stone column causing her body folded in like a book along her shattered spine. Chiram was in too much pain to express herself as she lay on the ground in a pitiful pile.
“WHO ASKED YOU TO SEEK HER OUT?!” Ashram yelled at Chiram.
“Lithilia!” a hound replied, for fear that Ashram was going to kill their leader. “Lithilia sent us! But we don’t know why.”
“I thought I ended all six of them,” Ashram muttered.
“I… will… end… you… for… your… show… of… weakness,” Chiram promised the hound who had just ratted them out.
“You assume you will live past the next few moments,” Ashram scoffed as he walked towards Chiram.
“Want me to take care of that?” Fazim asked, referring to the other hound.
“No, I will lock him up until judgement,” Ashram replied. “He has earned that much clemency from me.”
“You are such a fool, Ashram,” a fully healed Chiram snorted. “How can you free your friends when you no longer have the roar? Or have you forgotten that you are nothing more than a toothless hound now?”
“Be that as it may, Chiram,” Ashram said. “I am the toothless hound who has beaten you several times and will always beat you.”
“True! But, let us see how the great and mighty Ashram will fare against this,” Chiram said and pointed upwards with her snout.
Ashram and Fazim turned to see what Chiram was talking about. Portals appeared from multiple areas in midair and hounds came pouring out of these portals by the thousands. The hounds surrounded Fazim and Ashram and eagerly waited for the order to attack.
“You called for backup,” Ashram scoffed.
“If you have it,” Chiram said as she limped to her feet, “use it!”
“Do you know why I am glad you did?” Ashram asked as he turned around to face his limping adversary.
“Why, pray tell?” Chiram mocked.
“I am glad,” Ashram said as he took a step towards her.
His unexpected movement prompted growls from the other hounds but Chiram managed to raise a paw, causing silence to sweep across the hounds.
“Because they can see just how weak you are compared to me,” Ashram said. “I am glad because deep down they know they made a mistake by following you and I guarantee you that most of them follow you for nothing more than survival. Your current state, beaten up and limping, validates my point. Look around you, Chiram. Look into their eyes and see where their loyalties lie!”
Chiram could feel the anger boil inside of her and inasmuch as she would have loved to rip Ashram’s head off, she was aware of the fact that he would probably do that to her first before she even had the chance to. Deep down, Chiram knew that Ashram was right. She had her suspicions but with every passing moment, her suspicions turned to fear; a fear she was adept in concealing. Showing fear was the same as showing weakness. The only leverage she had over Ashram was his loyalty to his incarcerated followers.
“Your mind games will not work with my fellow brothers and sisters,” Chiram countered weakly. “Try all you want but you waste your precious moments. Tell me something; even if that was true, what makes you think you can be a leader? Where is your roar, leader?” she sneered at the word ‘leader’. “Is it not the roar that validates your leadership?”
“Every word out of your mouth only serves to prove my point,” Ashram rebutted. “If you knew anything about true leadership, you would never say what you just said.”
Ashram walked closer and placed his snout on Chiram’s left ear.
“Can you feel it, Chiram?” he whispered in her ear. “Can you feel the energy in the air? It is the feeling of shifting loyalties. Your reign is coming close to an end and you know it!”
Chiram let out a loud scream of anger and ordered the attack. Fazim’s flaming form flared into a deeper shade of violet, daring any of the hounds to come closer. The hounds all froze in their charge, not knowing what to do. Ashram smiled and backed up slowly towards Fazim.
“Do you know why they still live, Chiram?” Ashram asked calmly.
Chiram bared her fangs and growled at him.
“Fazim is a paradin and with one auric blast, she can wipe everything here into nothingness,” Ashram explained. “I asked her not to do that simply because I will eventually have my brothers and sisters by my side once again. But there is no hope for you, Chiram. Let every hound here bear me witness. Rest assured; when next I see you, I will end you and every hound who stands with you.”
Ashram nudged Fazim in the leg. She nodded and together, they teleported away, leaving behind a very angry and humiliated Chiram, as well as a very confused set of followers.
They returned to Earth Realm and Ashram had to leave immediately to address and urgent matter. It was close to midday and Fazim wanted a moment to herself before she returned home to face Keerim, her once-upon-a-time lover. So she teleported to Antarctica and perched on a gigantic iceberg. She was naked and oblivious to the inhumanely cold temperatures. For a few minutes, her mind was blank. It felt unimaginably good to finally regain her memory and to know more about herself. At least, she knew where she was from and she knew where she was heading to next.
Speaking of where she was going, she asked herself if she would still return to the Dimension of Mueba if Patrick were still alive. At the thought of Patrick, Fazim burst into uncontrollable tears. She may be a seraph, but she chose to retain some of the human qualities she had grown accustomed to during her 26,000-year sojourn in this realm. She wept for the love of her earthly life. She wept because she did not even see his body. She knew he was dead because his esoteric signature had just disappeared. Though their relationship had been brief, Patrick had shown her love like she had never, ever felt before; not even with Keerim.
Fazim wept! Her pain and grief were so strong that the iceberg on which she sat began to melt quickly. She rolled over to the side and wept some more. As the tears ran down her eyes and fell on the ice, the ice melted like butter on a hot frying pan. She would mourn and grieve for her lover until she was ready to return to the Realm of Zodica, her home. Keerim would have a lot of explaining to do. She could not guarantee she would be able to contain herself. Anyway, she would deal with that when she faced him.
Fazim was so immersed in her moments of pain and grief that she did not hear the footsteps that approached her from behind. She did not even notice the shadow of a form creep over her body. It was only until that person knelt by her side and that Fazim turned around to gaze upon her unexpected visitor. She was neither startled nor afraid at the sudden, expected intrusion. Nothing mattered anymore, whoever this stranger was. All she cared about was the fact that she was mourning her dead lover. The figure was silhouetted behind the glare of Solara. So, Fazim moved her head for a better view of the stranger. And when Fazim saw who the stranger was, she cried a whole lot more.
CHAPTER FIVE
HELL STRATEGIZES
LUCEEFA AND BEELZEBUB appeared uninvited in Metatron’s domain.
“That was a quick trip,” Metatron said, standing up straight and turning around to face Luceefa and Beelzebub. “Not that I expected-”
His words died in his throat when he noticed the look of anger on Luceefa’s face and the look of both anger and… embarrassment?... on Beelzebub’s.
“Please do not tell me the creatures of Earth Realm held you two off!”
“Michael was with them!” Luceefa spat and summoned a chair.
“But how come?” Metatron asked. “Kazuk said he was incarcerated and only he Kazuk…” Metatron’s voice trailed off as he fathomed what could have transpired.
“Damnation!” Metatron cursed and paced angrily back and forth. “I shouldn’t have left when you two did. Many heads will roll for this gross incompetence!”
“Michael was not alone,” Luceefa added.
“Who else was with him?” Metatron ceased pacing. “Uriel? Raphael?”
“The One,” Beelzebub mumbled.
Metatron furrowed his eyebrows.
“But he is a youngling, brother,” Metatron said. “I don’t care about his ability to shoot flames with his eyes and all that. He still is a youngling.”
“He’s not just a youngling, brother!” Luceefa interjected angrily. “He is…”
She could not afford to say the words.
Metatron waited and noticed how Luceefa’s scowl morphed into something he had never noticed in her before: shame. He wanted to say something to her but changed his mind. Instead, he turned his attention towards Beelzebub.
“He is… good, brother,” Beelzebub spoke barely above a whisper. “He made me look slow, and… foolish.”
Metatron nodded. There were only maybe three of four archangels who could best Beelzebub in combat. So, hearing these words from Beelzebub meant this youngling was not to be trifled with, flaming eyes or not.
“What’s his name?” Luceefa asked.
“Eliel,” Metatron replied.
“Can you find out what makes him so special, brother?” Luceefa asked.
“I will do my best, sister,” Metatron replied.
“I know you will,” she said.
Luceefa’s tone of voice was heavy with psychological exhaustion. For too many Celestia cycles to even be aware of, she had been locked up in that heinous, torturous realm dubbed The Abyss, only to be released into not just one but two new orders. Maziel, now Kazuk, was the new leader and king of Hell Realm and a youngling, a flapping youngling called Eliel, was The One, the angel of promise who would render Michael’s rule as archangel supreme obsolete. Michael had been locked up somewhere by Kazuk and her first order of business had been to lead a war against Michael’s followers. While that was one of her greatest desires, it felt different and unfulfilling because Michael was not there to fall by her blade. Still, Michael’s absence presented a great opportunity to take back Celestia.
