by Carol Robi
"So, is he your boyfriend now?" He asks me as he sits down on the bed too.
"Yes, he is dad," I say with an embarrassed smile.
"Good. He is stronger than the other boy, Magnus, and is more interesting to talk to." We all laugh at what he says, and I thank the heavens for giving me such a cool dad.
"So that means you’ll keep helping out with the renovations? Great!" We all laugh lightly at this.
"It will be my pleasure, Torben."
"Alright, I'll get out of your hairs," dad says as he pulls out a clean t-shirt from the top drawer, and a clean pair of socks.
"Breakfast is almost ready. I'll tell your grandma that there is one more at our breakfast table.
"Thanks dad," I call as he walks out, closing the door quietly behind him.
"So, boyfriend, breakfast?"
"Sounds fantastic!”
My grandparents act pretty cool at the table. This family would be great for when I do finally get a real boyfriend, I think to myself as I nibble on my morning bread.
"So, what is the plan today?" Dad asks as he puts an ample layer of butter on his piece of bread.
"Well, I told you my friend has a birthday party. But I thought since you’ll be in Sønderbirk anyway, we could help out with picking out the plumbing fixtures and then you could leave us there."
"Sounds like a plan! But we are living soon after we clear out the breakfast table, so hurry up with your makeup and stuff."
"Dad! You know I never put makeup on!"
"Well, I also thought this guy wasn't your boyfriend, but lookie here!" Ok, I guess he is not as ok with it as he lets on, but who can blame him. Isn't that a father's duty?
A couple hours later we are in a big building supermarket, picking out sinks, taps, showerheads, thermostats, electrical plugs, bulbs, sockets, terminals, paint cans, basically everything technical when it comes to finishes. We also pick out some boards that dad and grandpa would use later to make kitchen cabinets, some screws, hinges, knobs and accessories for the cabinets. We pick out two linoleum plates of 200x60mm that we’ll use to make into the kitchen counter, and a handful of interiors doors and long cords of wires that I don't know what he wants them for.
"Looks like we are moving out soon, princess," dad says from across the table as we sit by a small diner after the shopping trip.
"Dad be nice. Don't make grandpa cry," I joke, laughing as my grandfather feigns a grimace.
"Of course I’ll miss you two, but damn it will be nice to be able to unroll again on my sofa in silence!" We all laugh good-humoredly.
"When does this party start?"
"In an hour," Penuel says looking at his wrist watch.
"How long are you planning to stay there?"
"I'm not sure dad. Do you want me to be home by any specific time?"
"No, it is alright. Just send me a text though, when you find out what time you plan on coming home."
"I will," I say, sending him a million kroner smile.
Chapter 29
"Caroline! Just tell me how you two met," Anne-Marie calls, her voice a little more raised than usual due to the loud music, and her tipsy state.
"In Rundskov Park. How many times do I have to tell you?" I giggle.
"He is so cute. Does he have a friend or brother that is just as hot?"
"Actually yes," I giggle, and my answer sends my friend into a fit of excited squeals.
Then I hear it, or feel it- I am not sure. Like a thunderous earthquake, rumbling deep in the earth, sending waves of tremors through the solid ground and right into my body. Shockwaves that rock the very center of my being.
I immediately take off, running towards the core of the warm swirling heat. I do not have to take more than a couple of steps before I bump right into the dark-haired angel. Panic soars through me and my hand twitches nervously as I try to get the words out.
"Penuel! Did... Did you feel it?"
"Sh... Calm down, Caroline. Yes, yes I felt it. It’s begun. We need to leave now, and run for the shelter of the shield." As he says this, he pulls me with him to the garden outside.
"Caroline, where are you going?" I hear someone call me from somewhere, but the two of us just keep walking towards the darkest part of the garden. The second we arrive, Penuel soars into the air, with me held tightly against his chest.
Another jolt soars through us, dislodging me from his arms, and he just manages to catch me before I land on the ground.
We safely make it through the shields. I embrace the rich thick air that seeps into my senses, invigorating me, just as another wave rips through us again, sending us scuttling over the moist ground.
Araqiel suddenly lands by my side.
"Thank God you made it. They are attacking the shield. You have to start reinforce it now because they have come with the Divine Army. They are doing some serious damage fast." I nod as I scamper to my feet. Penuel is soon by my side too.
"They are attacking from the South. You need to come with me now, and let us put to practice what we trained," he says quietly but firmly, holding my hand and leading me towards that end of Rundskov Forest at super human speed.
I guess the sweet boyfriend act is done.
Another wave of energy is released, knocking us off our feet and attempting to throw us backwards, if it wasn't for the angels grabbing onto swaying tree trunks while tugging onto my hand.
The moment the wave passes, Araqiel holds me to herself and flies me fast to perch onto one of the tall birch trees, hiding within its foliage. Before me I see a swarm of floating angels, hundreds of them, retreating to a distance and then swooping back fast and hard as a unit to collide against the invisible shields.
"Caroline, now!" Araqiel whispers to me in her quiet but firm way, so that I do not miss the tension in her voice.
I close my eyes and concentrate on what I’ve been taught to search for. To feel.
I feel the different energies around me. Those of the two divine angels beside me, the overwhelming energy of the epitome, and then I feel the strange hundreds of pockets of warm energy from the creatures outside. I hold onto one of those energy pockets, and let it seep into me while I connect to the energy of the epitome, and I let it flow through me to the latter. I then connect with two other energy pockets and do the same.
I am held in a trance as this happens, and have no way to protect myself from the overwhelming flow of energy that knocks the air out of me as the army before us collides again with the shield in synchrony. The great wave of ricocheting energy dislodges me from where I am perched and sends me flying to the ground. I land in a painful heap, my hand twisted at a strange angle, and I feel the blood spilling from a cut on my forehead.
"What is that? Kill it!"An order comes from one of the creatures ahead in their strange language, and almost immediately a double-edged sword is sent flying my way, missing my neck at a hair's breath as Penuel swoops in fast, sweeping me off the ground and heading into another thicket.
"They...” I gasp. "They almost killed me!" I exclaim, fighting for air while my arm sends sharp pangs of pain through me.
"Yes, they can throw anything at us though the shield, but they cannot come in. Yet. You have to keep them out. Araqiel and I will hold onto you so you don't fall again," he says, quietly but resolutely.
Once again, despite my feelings and the pain I am in, the angels give me an impossible task and expect me to carry it out at all costs. When will I learn to stop expecting compassion from them?
"We’ll try shield you from harm as much as we can," Araqiel adds in the same quiet tone. I nod in answer. What other choice do I have?
They quickly fly me to one of the tall trees, and we three squeeze together onto a tight fork between a strong branch and the tree's stem. It is a good position, allowing us to see our enemies, yet concealing us. The tight squeeze on this large tree would protect us from being easily dislodged from it. The angels then wrap their arms around me, being careful not to touch the injured arm, and then
they spread their wings around us, cocooning us.
I close my eyes once again, feeling more confident in the shelter they have provided me, and concentrate on the energies I want to manipulate.
I quickly realise that without the worry of falling off or being discovered, and with my adrenalin as a catalytic factor, I am unstoppable. I turn out all the irrelevant distractions around me, the warm breaths from the angels I want to protect, thoughts of my parents, worry for the imprisoned brotherhood; and instead focus on not letting the enemy in. I don't only feel the energy of the shield around us, I see it at the back of my head. I trace it gently, patiently, finding all its weak points. With each weak point I find, I pull energy from the creatures around us, take it forcefully, as they are now fighting my pull and expend it to the shield.
"They know," I whisper so low that only beings with heightened hearing senses can make out what I am saying. "They know that someone is stealing their Essence.
"Are they fighting you?"
"Yes, but I am still winning."
"You are. They are not attacking anymore,"
"No, they are strategizing."
"Can you hear them?"
"Yes, can't you?"
"No, we can't. They are talking too low."
"I hear them very clearly."
"You must be still tapped into one of their Essence. What are they saying?"
"They are talking about how their Essence is slipping from them, making them weaker." I start, before pausing to listen some more. "They think the Heavenly Host have changed the makeup of the Epitome, granting it the ability to absorb the energy of those denied entrance."
"The fallen will not attempt to attack themselves," Penuel says thoughtfully, sounding more disappointed than I expect. Shouldn't that be good news? And then I hear something that raises the hairs on the back of my neck.
"I cannot hear them anymore, the connection must be broken. But before it broke, I heard one of them say something about sending the army in first. Can they do that?"
"Yes," Araqiel confirms quietly. Her forehead furrowing in deep thought. "Abaddon has decided to call us bluff, and he’ll win the hand in this case."
"What do you mean," I cry in a whisper, fear gripping my heart. "Couldn't we just keep reinforcing the shield like before?"
"Not if the fallen angels stay back," she says in her tranquil voice, "and let the Divine Army march in by itself. He will take the risk that there is no Archangel in here and release the Divine Army, or a part of it, off his command and they can then come in through the shield. If he is right that there is no Archangel in here, which we know he is, he will shout his orders to them from outside. With no one in here to challenge his decision, the Divine Army will carry out his orders."
"What orders?"
"I would guess, to kill whoever is inside, definitely, and capture any angels, being that we are immortal." My heart stops at the words uttered. I guess this time I’ll not be coming back, now that someone has captured my beloved angel of death.
"And to find out why the shield keeps getting stronger."
"We should run!" I declare, but neither of the two budges. "Now!" I cry desperately in as low a tone as I can manage, given the rollercoaster of emotions I am going through.
"We have nowhere to run. They’ll hunt us down. We cannot defeat them. All we can do is not let them get the Portal." His words sink in slowly as dread sips like venom into my heart.
I know what those words mean very well, even without listening further. But he doesn't say anything anymore, and I lift my eyes to watch the two bright pairs of eyes looking at me solemnly.
"I have to die?" I ask pensively, and they both nod almost apologetically. "But this time I’ll die forever." Another nod.
"Samael, a fallen angel of death, is most probably with them. So you have to die before the shield gives way completely, and the fallen angels come in."
"So you have to kill me?" Araqiel looks at me with the saddest green eyes I have ever seen, and the thought that she would probably moan my death reassures me.
"We cannot harm humans, princess," she uses my dad's cajoling nickname in a loving tone, making me hold her tighter to myself as she envelops me in a hug.
"You have to kill yourself, or let the Divine Army kill you."
"Will they kill me quickly?" I ask, because I cannot imagine having to take my own life. She nods in answer.
"Yes, just appear fickle, like a meagre son of man on their path, and they will dispose of you very quickly." She sees the questioning look on my face and then proceeds. "Stand in front of me when they come in, they will kill you without hesitation, in their need to capture us...”
"They are coming!" Penuel whispers sharply before dropping to the soft ground in the park far away from the tree we had perched on with me in his arms. It still surprises me how fast they can move.
Araqiel and Penuel immediately find a spot behind me, their bodies placed in stance communicating that they are ready to go down with a fight.
I do not know if I pity them, or admire their conviction. An army of a hundred or so is coming to fight them, probably to the inch of death. But unlike me, they will not die. They are immortal, and if captured, will have to go through years and years of torture, probably for eternity until that infamous judgment day dawns. I, as a human, will be spared that fate by a quick death. Thank the heavens.
I hear them, before I see them. They aren't any different in appearance from the other angels, except for the fact that they all look alike. Dressed in some dark suit, with wide night-black wings soaring above them, and blank faces.
If there is a God, protect my family after my death, I allow myself to think as I stand in position and pretend not to see them. I’d forgotten to ask the angel's if these creatures are visible to humans or not, because in the dark it is hard for me to distinguish which dimension they are on.
Why are they not attacking yet? I think to myself, before I steal a quick look skywards.
There are about twenty angels, and they all are staring down at me.
Please kill me, I think as a prayer, for I fear for my fate should I be captured. But the strangest thing so far happens. The angels drop soundlessly to the ground before me in unison, and get down on one knee, one hand folding before their lowly bent heads.
What the..? I think as I turn slowly to the two angels behind me. They too look startled and confused for a second. Araqiel then breaks from her position and glides over to me quickly.
"Tell them something," she says to my puzzled look.
“What?”
"Order them to rise."
"I order you to rise," I say in a shaky voice almost as a question, but the army immediately rises in unison.
"Wow!" I whisper, more to myself really.
"You... You... Archangel?” I think I hear her say, though it’s highly doubtful.
“Who?” I ask, turning to look behind me in case the Archangel is standing behind me, but all I see is darkness, and Penuel’s gleaming eyes.
“How- How can it be?" Araqiel is reduced to fumbling with words. This must be something much unexpected, for her to be this surprised.
"She can order them," Penuel speaks quietly from behind us as he advances, completing the sentiments Araqiel had been unable to enunciate.
"Archangel Gabriel's Essence in you- it must be greater than we thought," he simply explains, moving to place an arm around Araqiel’s tensed shoulders reassuringly, making sure to avoid my gaze.
"Kill all! Capture any divine angels in there, and report back!" I hear a loud voice boom with authority from beyond the forest around the park in the angelic language.
Nothing happens, however. I look up at the army of angels before me, and fight every urge to cry out in relief. I hear the same voice from beyond the shield give out a bellowing cry of anger. He does not sound like one to give up.
"What do we do?" I ask the angels before me in a low tone.
The two take a pause, thinking quietly fo
r a while. I too take the moment to calm my heart, which is fast beating out of rhythm.
"We cannot let them out. Being that you are not an Archangel, but only possess an Archangel's Essence. Abaddon the destroyer would recapture their loyalty in a second."
"Why did he only send twenty of them? There were about a hundred out there!"
"He is not stupid. He needed to assess the situation, find out if there was one here that could challenge him. Seeing that his army hasn't returned yet, he believes an Archangel is in here."
"That is great news! He’ll leave us alone then!" I cry out happily.
"No," The quiet voice squashes my new found hope. When does it end? "He will draw us out."
"How?"
"I am not sure. But if I was him, I’d start by using the rest of the Divine Army to harm the humans. He knows that according to the laws passed by the Heavenly Assembly, no divine Angel should stand by and let the humans be harmed by otherworldly beings. Any angel would be drawn out to challenge them. Especially guardians, whose primary role is to protect mankind."
"Would I also?" I ask, slightly embarrassed because I do not see how I could possibly walk out from a perfectly safe place to go and fight a battle I know I’ll lose in the very first second.
Penuel smiles knowingly before answering.
"That is where his brilliant plan falters, Caroline. I’ve never been gladder for a human than I am for you right this moment. You’ll stay right in here, and he could wait out there for all eternity." I do not miss the but coming my way.
"We however, will be drawn out." The flash of fear must have been evident in my eyes for they both give me a tight hug that very moment.
"But...” I choke. "But how will I hold the shield if your Essence is snuffed like the others’?"
"Caroline, you don't need us to hold the shield. You just need the Essence of any heavenly being stupid enough to come close. Whatever army they send in will become your army. So their hands are tied."
Apprehension clutches at my heart. This feels like a lifelong battle. Am I ready to spend eternity imprisoned in here? At least I’ll get to see my parents as our new house is within the shield. But of course I should never be as silly as to make them a target, should I be discovered as the mysterious Archangel.
