An Archangel's Ache
Page 14
Celestia is my home! I am on a mission! I am The One!
Celestia is my home! I am on a mission! I am The One!
Celestia is my home! I am on a mission! I am The One!
Celestia is my home! I am on a mission! I am The One!
Eliel now understood what Uriel meant when she talked about a loss of identity during a fall. His wings, a distinguishing feature of his kind, were gone; burned away in the fires of the fall. He was no longer an angel and a deep sadness overwhelmed him. He looked at his hands and arms and saw how much denser they looked. It was not an illusion! He really was falling! Eliel revved himself back to the moment. He could not spare another moment in the distractions of his changing form. He could not let his metamorphosis get the better of him. The fall was happening here and now. There was no turning back!
Celestia is my home! I am on a mission! I am The One!
Celestia is my home! I am on a mission! I am The One!
Celestia is my home! I am on a mission! I am The One!
Celestia is my home! I am on a mission! I am The One!
Eliel screamed louder than the first time as more excruciating pain ravaged every iota of his constitution. He scratched and clawed at his face and body as if to rid himself of the pain. A pointless gesture! Eliel’s garments burst into flames and his body became denser. He knew why. He was falling through another dimension of a much lower vibrational frequency, and his body was resonating to this lower frequency. But in a few moments, as the resonation was nearing completion, the pain in his body subsided until it was gone.
Eliel fell through a realm that was completely deserted, except for what looked like the dead remains of countless creatures scattered all over. Maybe the deaths were the result of a cataclysmic disaster, or not. Either way, the tremendous loss of life was a pity!
Celestia is my home! I am on a mission! I am The One!
Celestia is my home! I am on a mission! I am The One!
Celestia is my home! I am on a mission! I am The One!
Celestia is my-
Eliel grabbed his temples as his head threatened to implode with pain. Flashes of light blazed in his vision repeatedly and rhythmically. He opened his mouth to scream, but he was in too much pain to even let out a sound. Instead, he gritted his teeth till they felt as if they would shatter. But even that did not drown the pounding in his head. And did he just swallow?! His mouth was watery! What was happening to him? Angels did not have watery mouths! Angels did not swallow! Angels… Ang… What! Oh no! The amnesia was here already! Eliel became frantic. He recited his mantra with renewed vigor.
Celestia is my home! I am on a mission! I am The One!
Celestia is my home! I am on a mission! I am The One!
Celes-
Eliel could not remember the word. He tried again without success. A tear of sadness and hopelessness rolled down the sides of his eyes. Tears… They felt strange to him. Eliel had lost his identity, and now, he was losing his mind and memory. He could not even remember a word that seemed to be so important anymore. But at least, he could remember his name; and so, he came up with a new mantra.
My name is Eliel, and I am a fallen angel
My name is Eliel, and I am a fallen angel
My name is Eliel, and I am a fallen angel
My name is Eliel and I am a fallen angel
There! Angel! That was the word he could not remember earlier. Yes! He was an angel! Eliel decided he would maintain this new mantra. At least, he just had to remember his name and the fact that he was an angel. Eliel’s form became denser as he fell through another dimension of even lower vibrational frequency. The physical pain was not as bad this time. Eliel fell through another realm and ignored the realms nearby. He was saving his mental strength to hold on to the last vestiges of whatever memory he had left.
My name is Eliel, and I am a fallen angel
My name is Eliel, and I am a fallen angel
My name is Eliel, and I am a fallen angel
My name is Eliel, and I am a fallen angel
Eliel wondered why he even said, ‘I am a fallen angel’ instead of saying ‘I am a falling angel.’ Was that his surrender? Had his psyche and will already accepted his current situation? He was wingless, his body was denser, his memory was fading, and he had lost his identity. He was no longer an angel. He did not feel like an angel. He could not even feel the new vibrational frequency of this lower dimension and he could not feel his… essence.
But where was he falling from? Where was home? Where was he? And what are angels? Strange term! Eliel could not remember! But he knew the word, somehow. And if he knew the word, then the word must hold some meaning to him. And why was he even reciting these lines over and over? So many questions and no answers! The feeling of loss and sorrow grew even deeper with every passing moment!
My name is Eliel, and I am a fallen angel
My name is Eliel, and I am a fallen angel
My name is Eliel, and I am a fallen angel
My name is Eliel, and I am a fallen angel
A thousand memories flashed through his mind at once and disappeared immediately. He saw some faces and remembered some names, Gahel, Michael, JEM, Jemma or something like that. But he could not tell who these creatures were. An image of some creature with a flaming sword and flames spewing out of his eyes and mouth flashed in his mind and disappeared. Who were these people?
“Hang in there, Eliel!” a sweet, feminine voice said. “Remember to hold on to something and trust your instincts. They will never lead you wrong, Eliel! Remember…”
What was this voice trying to say? Hold on to something? What was going on? Was he losing his mind now? And why did it seem like he was falling? Oh no! What was happening? The voice was inside his head, and he wondered how this could be. Why was this happening to him? Eliel panicked even more.
“Listen, Eliel!” a masculine voice said, more like commanded, even though there was no sense of urgency in his voice.
“You are entering the final stages of your fall. Perhaps right now, you do not even know that you’re falling. Let alone, know why you are falling. Rest assured, it is alright; I have been there before, and I know exactly what you are going through. But like Uriel just told you, all you have to do right now is hold on to something and trust your instincts. Remember, you are Eliel, and you are The One!”
Somehow, in the insanity of the situation, Eliel found some peace and serenity. He did not know why nor did he care to know why anymore. He felt his body relax and let go of the tension in his muscles. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Breathing! This was a new feeling for him. As he held his breath, he listened to his heart beating rhythmically. Heartbeat… another alien sensation. It was like music to his soul. Soul… Wow! He let go of the breath and took another deep one. He felt his lungs expand and his heart beat a little faster. He felt his body relax even more as he let out the breath he was holding. He felt his forearms, biceps, triceps, and shoulders becoming even denser. He rubbed his hands along his core; strength, and definition! He wiggled his toes, cracked his fingers and smiled weakly.
My name is Eliel, and I am a fallen angel
My name is Eliel, and I am a fallen angel
My name is Eliel, and I am a fallen angel
My name is Eliel, and I am a fallen angel
And then, following his instinct, he added one more line.
This is not my home! And I am the one!
He broke through the dimension in which lay his destination. There was no pain this time around. There were only total peace and total amnesia. He continued his fall as his body became even denser. He fell towards a new realm; it was a blue one. Another smaller, gray realm floated near the blue one. A yellowish, bigger and brighter realm was visible and very far away from the blue realm. It gave light to one side of the blue realm, causing the other side of the blue realm to be in the dark. Eliel fell past the gray realm, towards the dark side of the blue realm. And then, Eliel closed his eyes and lost consc
iousness.
***
Newman Weinberg was a lowly, fifty-nine-year-old farmer in a small farm town. It was past two a.m. and Armstrong, his bulldog, started barking wildly at the back door. Newman was concerned. He slid out of his bed, a gesture that now reminded him of his wife who passed away two years ago. He retrieved his shotgun from under the bed and quietly made his way, barefoot, towards the kitchen. He peeked into the kitchen. The full moon provided enough illumination, casting a lunar glow on a picture of his children, Paul and Paula, on the wall. His children were all grown up and raising families of their own. When Newman was sure that there was no one in the kitchen, he called out to his dog in a whisper.
“Here boy!” Newman called out. “What’s wrong, big guy?”
Armstrong kept barking and clawing at the door. Newman relaxed, thinking his dog wanted to go take care of business outside. He lowered his gun, walked towards the back door and let Armstrong out. Armstrong dashed through the first available crack in the open door and ran into the backyard. It turned around, looked at Newman and barked at Newman. Newman realized that Armstrong was very excited about something and wanted to show him. So, he walked over to Armstrong, dropped to one knee and scratched his friend behind its ears.
“What’s da matter, boy?” he asked. “What ya tryna show me?”
Armstrong turned its head towards the sky and barked. Newman followed his friend’s gaze, and what he saw made his jaw dropped.
Something that looked like a shooting star was blazing through the night sky. But it was a lot bigger and brighter than a shooting star. It did not just travel across the sky and disappear. Instead, this was coming straight towards Newman’s farm at incredible speed. Armstrong barked even louder and more ferociously, and Newman rose to his feet as he gaped at the accelerating ball of fire from the sky. Finally, his adrenaline kicked in and snapped him out of his daze. He scooped Armstrong from the ground and ran for the house. Maybe he would make it, maybe he would not. But he had to try. Tonight, he just might be the night he finally got to join his wife in the afterlife!
There was impact! The night was brighter than a cloudless midday, but there was no explosion or heat. There was only a brightness that lasted no more than three seconds before the darkness of the moonlit night resumed command. Newman froze mid-stride, surprised he was still alive despite what he had just experienced. He felt his body to ensure he was still in one piece, and when Armstrong barked, he had his final confirmation that indeed he was alive. Armstrong kept barking. Newman set him down on the ground, thinking the dog would dash for the kitchen. But instead, it dashed towards the impact zone.
“No boy!” Newman called, but Armstrong ignored him.
Newman chased after his dog. Armstrong was standing at the edge of the impact zone and barking into it. The impact had caused a small crater that was ten feet across and six feet deep. Newman stopped running and walked cautiously towards the small crater. He craned his neck from a distance, but he could not see the bottom of the crater. He swallowed, afraid but curious of the unknown. He placed his shotgun at-the-ready, took a few cautious steps towards the crater and peered in. What he saw made his jaw drop and his arms go limp. The shotgun fell from his hand like deadweight. In the crater lay a fully grown, naked man, curled up in a fetal position. He was motionless, and Newman could not tell if the man was breathing or not.
Newman inched closer to the pit. A million thoughts raced through his mind. He was certain that UFO’s and aliens were real, and believed he had even seen a few when he was a child. But when he had told his grandfather, his grandfather had brushed away his story as a figment of his imagination. But Newman was not entirely sure that this person in the crater was an alien. The man certainly did not arrive in a spaceship, unless he was a special kind of alien who did not travel with a spaceship, or clothes, for that matter.
Suddenly, the naked man in the crater roused. Newman tripped and fell backward as he staggered away from the crater. The man slowly rose to his feet, as if he were in a drunken stupor. He shook his head as if to clear it and looked up. He saw a man looking down at him and holding something in his hand. Next to this person looking down at him was a small creature making loud noises and hopping about. Everything was so strange to the man in the crater!
“Don’t come any closer, alien!” Newman ordered, trembling as he spoke. “I promise you; I will shoot! So, stay where ya are!”
The man in the crater did not understand what this person standing at the edge of the crater was saying. He rubbed his temples and shook his head. Suddenly, he felt a surge of energy course through his body as the last wave of his erased identity was about to leave him.
“My name is Eliel!” he said. “I am a fallen angel! This is not my home! I am The One!”
And with those words, Eliel opened his arms as bright, golden light coalesced from his shoulder blades to form wings. Then the wings of light dissipated into thousands of tiny specks of light and floated away into the darkness of the night. The amnesia was complete, and Eliel collapsed back into the crater.
“Oh… my… God…!” Newman exclaimed
And without thinking, Newman rushed into the crater, towards the man who just identified himself as a fallen angel.
CHAPTER TWELVE
WHO AM I?
NEWMAN WATCHED THE stranger lying on his son’s former bed. Thirty hours later, the man from the crater, who claimed to be a fallen angel, was still asleep. Newman did not want to miss the moment when this wannabe fallen angel woke up from his sleep. But there was only so much adrenaline and caffeine binging could do to keep his aging body from falling over the chair. He was exhausted in every aspect of his being. Against all logic and sanity, Newman had not called the cops and no one else in the neighborhood had noticed the so-called fallen angel’s grand entrance. This baffled Newman beyond comprehension.
Still, Newman wrestled with the thought of alerting the authorities. But what if this man, who was unscathed by the fires of his vessel, was a fallen angel? He saw what he saw. Those were wings of light! WINGS, for God’s sake! Perhaps the Almighty had chosen him, Newman, for a task he was yet to become aware of. The Lord does work in mysterious ways! Nothing made sense and while his logical mind insisted he called the cops, his gut dictated he do the right thing. And the right thing was not to hand over this stranger to the authorities. As such, Newman had then found the strength to pull the man in the crater out of the hole, drag him into the house and up the stairs into his son’s room. It only took him twenty-seven arduous minutes.
Newman’s head was bobbing as his eyelids felt like they had a ship’s anvil strapped to each of them. He was feeling the crash of the adrenaline wearing off and his body was paying for the cardio workout and lack of sleep. He was very out of shape, even for a hardworking farmer. At least, he prided himself with being able to pull the stranger out of the hole and into the house. He may be old, but he was far from obsolete! Newman stood up and paced around his son’s room for the millionth time. And for the millionth time, he asked himself the same set of questions.
First question: was this man really an angel?
The grand entrance, the wings of light, the final words before passing out and the disregard for his nakedness seemed to suggest that this man was an angel. Newman was not sure why that last part even crossed his mind as an argument, but oh well! He shrugged it off. He would have to settle for the stranger’s words. Newman’s Christian upbringing validated the existence of angels and their role as messengers of the Almighty God. Artworks depicted them as creatures with wings and various visions from many folks confirmed this assertion! However, there was something odd about this ‘fallen angel’. Every picture of angels he had seen depicted them as Caucasian. Not that Newman was racist, but when the stranger had said he was an angel, Newman’s first thought was one of doubt, because the man from the crater was very dark-skinned. He knew better now. Newman shook his head. So much for subtle brainwashing!
Second question: wha
t should he do when this angel wakes up?
Calling the authorities was out of the question. What would he say? “Hello! I found a naked man in my backyard who claims to be an angel! Please, send help!” Yeah! Help would come alright; straight jacket and all. And not that Newman was a conspiracy theorist in any way, but if it did turn out that this man was an angel…. His conspiracy-theory mind immediately went to work, invoking thoughts of Area 51, the X-Files, or even something so secret that it has not even been speculated upon yet. Eliel’s situation would make Roswell look like a boring soap opera.
This led to the next question. When this angel starts blending with society, hopefully in his ‘human’ form, what would his back story be?
Newman came up with a quick back story. It was a weak story of course, but if anyone wanted to get nosy, Newman was just going to be rude and ask them to mind their own damn business. There was a lot to learn about this fallen angel though and speaking of fallen angels, he had another question.
Why did Eliel fall?
Newman remembered reading about angels coming down to earth and sleeping with women. This was happening before the deluge in the story of Noah and his ark. The women got pregnant and gave birth to giants called Nephilim. Similar stories permeated various ancient mythologies. The Nephilim were full of wickedness and they ravaged the Earth with their wickedness, or something along those lines. So, if Eliel’s claim was true, did that mean that his mission was to come here and spawn a race of giants, like a new Nephilim race, who would set out to wipe out the Earth? Newman shook his head at his train of thought. Only Hitler and his sympathizers would entertain such thoughts of racial cleansing. And the last time he checked, Hitler hated folks of Eliel’s skin color. Newman was usually a great judge of character and right now, he was not picking up any bad vibes from Eliel.
Regardless, Newman had many questions for Eliel, whenever Eliel awoke. He shook his head for the thousandth time at the thought of housing a fallen angel. It was beyond surreal. But Newman promised himself that he would do his best to help Eliel during Eliel’s stay here on Earth. It felt right. Besides, he knew Donnie, his guardian angel and wife, was watching over him.