The Awakener (The Watchers of Men)

by Amanda Strong

  “It’s Arabic for faith,” Trent stated, peering at Caitlyn.

  All eyes turned to Caitlyn. “What? I don’t know how to open it,” she replied.

  “But do you believe you can open it?” Willow asked, giving Caitlyn an encouraging smile.

  Caitlyn’s hazel eyes shifted from Willow to Micah. “I don’t know.”

  “Give her a minute,” Micah said, stepping away from the group. Damon and Trent followed after.

  “It’s ok, Caitlyn. This is new to all of us,” Eden said.

  “I don’t know what I’m supposed to do. Do I just think ‘open up’?”

  “Can’t hurt to try,” Eden laughed back.

  Willow leaned over. “It’s ok if you have doubts, even with your gift of faith. Listen to your gut, not your head.”

  Caitlyn glanced at Andrew, who had remained next to her. He bumped into her with his arm and shoulder. “You can do it, Yoda.”

  Caitlyn sighed and closed her eyes. Nothing happened at first, but then the ground moved under their feet, not violently, more like an elevator coming to a stop. The marking cracked in half as two stone tabs opened like shutters, revealing a square opening to below. A cool gust of air came out, smelling like a spice cabinet.

  “Excellent, Caitlyn.” Micah squeezed her arm as he passed. Then glancing over his shoulder, he called, “Gabriel, Damon, we’ll follow you in this time.”

  Surprised, Eden watched Gabriel defer to Damon to lead out.

  “Interesting,” Willow mumbled. Eden glanced at her and she grinned. “There’s so much to take in! It’s been like a feast, hasn’t it?”

  Feast? Not exactly the word I would’ve chosen, Eden thought as she became aware of her grumbling stomach. How long have we been down here?

  She scurried after Gabriel, descending the white stairs. The echo of pounding footsteps reverberated behind her. Entering the final vault, she gasped at the size of the massive room made completely of marble. Elaborate carvings and engravings covered the nine marble pillars spanning the room. She glanced up to see the ceiling was an actual mural, no longer just symbols of the sun, moon, and stars. It was an ancient fresco, depicting planets and galaxies.

  She spun around, trying to take it all in, when she discovered a tall altar in the corner with another golden delta on top. The triangle reached to the ceiling, its sharp point touching a yellow, swirling planet in the mural. Trent was standing in front of the altar, gazing up at the enormous delta. Micah and Damon were next to Trent, examining stacked stones on another altar. Noticing Caitlyn and Willow perusing the marble shelves lining the walls, Eden decided to join them.

  “Look at this one.” Willow pointed to an emerald the size of a baseball.

  “Wow.” Caitlyn leaned in. “Wonder how much its worth.”

  The shelves were packed with artifacts ranging from pottery, vases, knives, beads, pieces of metal, gold, rare stones, and crystals. Admiring the spread of jewels, it dawned on Eden they were sparkling. Not one piece in this collection was dusty. In fact, as she peered around the room, everything appeared clean. How can that be?

  Moving down the wall, the shelves no longer contained beads or gems, but were stuffed as high as the ceiling with rolled parchment. Trent’s going to love this, she thought, just as Trent’s face appeared next to her.

  “Looks like papyrus. And they thought the Dead Sea Scrolls were a find. Check this out!”

  “The dead what?” she asked, glancing at him.

  But Trent’s attention was redirected to Micah, who was approaching.

  “Just one scroll. Just a peek,” Trent begged, clasping his hands together as if praying.

  “This isn’t what we came for. We got what we need,” Micah replied, giving Trent’s shoulder a friendly slap.

  “You did?” Eden asked as Trent grumbled. She was shocked it’d happened so fast.

  “Yeah, we did.”

  She glanced at the two altars, where everyone else was gathered. “Is it the big, gold triangle?”

  “Well, sort of. Come on, I have to finish telling the story,” Micah replied, taking her arm. Feeling his warm body, she realized how chilled her damp clothes had made her.

  She peered at what everyone was gawking at. On the alter sat stone tablets, rectangular in shape, perhaps an inch or two thick each, stacked to form three columns about two feet high. One stack was wrapped in a gold band.

  Andrew’s blue-green eyes spied her arm laced through Micah’s. When a frown tugged at his lips, she stepped apart from Micah, saying, “Why don’t you finish the story?”

  Not missing a beat, Micah began, “Where did I leave off? Oh yeah, the Holies. So, the Holies hear the cries of the mortals, as I said, and they go to God for a solution. God gives four of the seven Holies specific jobs to do. Uriel was to tell Noah about the flood coming and instruct him. I guess we can assume he was showing him how to build the ark.” He paused, raising an eyebrow at Gabriel.

  Gabriel nodded and Micah continued, “Two of the Holies, Raphael and Michael, were given the task of rounding up the Watchers and burying them in the earth. Azazel, the one who taught the art of war, was bound and thrown deep into the desert, where rocks covered him. Semjaza and all the others were thrown into the valleys of the earth. And Gabriel had to destroy the giants.”

  “How’d you do it?” Andrew asked, staring at Gabriel with wide eyes. Eden was pretty sure her mouth was hanging open.

  “The flood,” Gabriel said simply.

  “That makes sense,” Willow commented. “While the ark floated safely on top of the water, the giants drowned.” There were a few murmurs of agreement.

  “So back to Enoch, before the Watchers were thrown into the dark pits, they pleaded with Enoch to intervene for them. They called him the Scribe, since he could write. Since they were fallen angels, and not allowed in God’s presence, they wanted Enoch to write a petition, asking God for forgiveness. Enoch wrote it and had a vision of where God dwells. He describes it on this golden delta. Enoch used the deltas as a symbol of God, sort of like Moses and the burning bush.”

  “What does it say?” Andrew asked, pointing to the hieroglyphics etched into the gold.

  Trent tapped his thumb against his lips as he read. “Looks like Enoch’s words. It says, ‘I looked and saw therein a lofty throne: its appearance was as crystal, and the wheels thereof as the shining sun, and there was the vision of Cherubim. And from underneath the throne came streams of flaming fire so that I could not look thereon. And the Great Glory sat thereon, and His raiment shone more brightly than the sun and was whiter than any snow. None of the angels could enter and could behold His face by reason of the magnificence and glory and no flesh could behold Him. The flaming fire was round about Him.’”

  Trent paused. “Should I keep going?”

  Micah glanced at Gabriel and Sage, who both nodded.

  “Let’s see here. So, Enoch approaches God’s throne and basically falls on his face, trembling. Ok, here we are… ‘And the Lord called me with His own mouth and said to me, ‘Come hither, Enoch, and hear my word.’ And one of the Holy ones came to me and waked me, and he made me rise up and approach the door: and I bowed my face downwards … and I heard His voice: ‘Fear not, Enoch, thou righteous man and scribe of righteousness: approach hither and hear my voice. And go, say to the Watchers of heaven, who have sent thee to intercede for them: ‘You should intercede for men, and not men for you.’”

  Trent stopped. “You know, that’s a great line. Angels should plead for mortals, not mortals for angels.”

  “So what happens next?” Willow asked.

  Trent squinted at the delta. “There’s a name written here—”

  “No!” Micah blurted. “Not that!”

  Trent stared back at Micah.

  “Why? Whose name is it?” Andrew asked.

  “It’s God’s true name, one of the many things buried in here to keep it hidden from the world.” Micah pointed at the delta. “It’s written on this.”

&nbs
p; “Trent knows it. What about him?” Andrew asked.

  Micah peered at Trent. “Unfortunately, that’s going to be your burden to carry. You can’t help what you can see as Interpreter, even if it’s not meant to be seen.”

  Trent threw his hands on his hips.

  Micah soothed, “Just remember not to reveal it to anyone or say it out loud, and you won’t have to face something far worse than I did today.”

  Trent harrumphed. “Next time, a little warning would be nice! Don’t let me be reading things guaranteed to shorten my life span!”

  “You’ll be fine, Trent.”

  “I’ll have you know, I have plans for my future, Micah, and they involve Eden’s redheaded friend back home.”

  Oh good, Trent does like Jessie after all.

  “Ok, I’ll warn you next time, happy?” Micah asked.

  Trent shrugged. “It’s all good.”

  I think mentioning Jessie just lifted his mood, or at least distracted him, Eden mused.

  “So to answer your earlier question, Willow,” Micah replied, “after Enoch saw God, he was told to tell the Watchers their petition wouldn’t be granted at that time. They have to remain buried until judgment day.”

  “Wait a minute. Are you saying they’re actually in the earth still?” Andrew blurted.

  “Yeah,” Micah hesitated, “although somehow their influence is still felt. Semjaza, the leader, is the one sending the demons after Eden and me. We can probably assume he’ll want all of you too.”

  There were several gasps.

  “Your guardians don’t rest; they watch over you night and day. You don’t need to worry,” Micah added. His eyes met Eden’s.

  “The demon in my bedroom,” she mumbled. “All those demons at prom.” Andrew stiffened. “Semjaza sent those after me?”

  Micah hesitated and then said, “Yes.”

  Gabriel moved closer to Eden. “Semjaza is still bound; he’s not free.”

  Eden nodded but it still terrified her to know an ancient fallen angel had a personal vendetta to kill her.

  Micah placed a hand on the top of the stack of stones. “This is what we came to get today. The angel Uriel gave these tablets to Enoch.”

  Trent hefted the first stone off the stack, holding it up for everyone to see. It was the first thing allowed to be touched, let alone picked up. Eden immediately recognized the oval symbol on it, with writing underneath.

  “It says City of Enoch,” Trent announced. “These stones are the blueprints for Enoch’s city.”

  “Andrew, you asked about the fire earlier. Well, I kept having visions of a fire.” Micah explained to them all about the fire and the city he saw, finishing with, “We have to build these cities, and these plans will help us do it.”

  “Us? Last I checked none of us are architects or builders,” Andrew cut in.

  “We don’t need to be,” Micah answered.

  “What does the oval mean?” Eden blurted. “I keep seeing it everywhere. On the well, the stone wall, the chambers of the temple, and now on these tablets.”

  “It was Enoch’s favorite symbol—it means Eternal. Everything has a way of coming back around again. Take for example what we’re about to do now. Enoch lived over five thousand years ago, and he used these plans to build a city, saving people from the flood. And now we’ll use these same plans to save people from the fire.” Micah stared at Damon and Gabriel. “There are other ways things are coming full circle.”

  Willow glanced at Damon and nodded.

  “Ok, we got what we came for. It’s time to leave the temple,” Micah said. The room brightened as all the guardians became present again.

  Trent handed out stacks of stone tablets to everyone one by one. As Eden stepped up for her share, Micah smiled, saying, “I can get the last part, don’t worry about it.”

  “But what about those?” she asked, pointing at the remaining stack.

  “The ones with the gold wrapper stay,” Micah explained. “They’re the sealed portion, not for us, yet.”

  “Oh,” she replied, not sure what sealed portion meant, and painfully aware she was the only one not carrying anything. Does he think I’m that big of a klutz?

  She wondered how they’d ever scale the well wall back up while carrying heavy stones, when she saw Damon walk to the wall with a gigantic sun motif on it. He carefully set his tablets down on a nearby shelf, running his hands along the wall.

  He spoke, and the rays surrounding the perfect circle cracked like the stone was being pushed through a cookie cutter. The entire sun sank back behind the wall, revealing a five-foot opening.

  “Nice,” Trent said as he followed Damon.

  Micah explained, “Enoch built another way out.”

  As each of them passed through, their guardians walked directly behind them. Before Eden exited, she glanced back to make sure Gabriel was with her. She was surprised to see him lagging, staring at the room.

  “Gabriel?”

  He faced her.

  “What’s wrong?” There was definite pain in his eyes.

  He glanced around again. “This used to be a familiar place to me many years ago. Now, it is just memories from another time.”

  She was touched by his openness but, as quickly as it came, it was gone. He turned her around and pushed her forward. “Got to keep up, Eden. Don’t want to miss anything, do you?”

  She sighed and scurried through, stepping into a tunnel made of clay and brick. She knew they’d descended a long ways going into the temple, but after ten minutes of uphill hiking, she was felt there was no end in sight. Being the only one not bearing a heavy load, she caught up to Willow and Caitlyn quickly. Sweat was beading on their foreheads. After insisting, they lightened some of their loads into her arms. A few minutes later, Eden regretted it. Her arms burned.

  She was ready to complain to Gabriel, holy or not, when she realized the tunnel was leveling off a little. A few feet more and she saw a bright opening at the end.

  “Finally,” she grunted. Gabriel chuckled behind her. “By the way, why couldn’t the angels carry these things out?”

  She felt a gentle push from behind, and was surprised by the sudden weightlessness she felt.

  “We’re not allowed to remove anything from the temple. Micah was instructed to remove the tablets.”

  “Oh,” she replied, enjoying how light her body felt, with her feet still on the ground.

  “I may not be able to carry the tablets, but I can help carry you out,” Gabriel said, close to her ear. “Besides, you’re taking forever.”

  “I’d think you’d be much more patient, considering how long you’ve been around.”

  He snorted and then his hands were no longer pushing her, her body growing heavy again. Thankfully, they’d reached the end. She squinted, trying to see anything, but it was too bright.

  Gabriel steered her by the elbow. “Careful Eden, you’re going to drop them!”

  Her eyes rebelled against the brightness. Through tears, she made out her surroundings. They had emerged out on a small, grassy knoll. Seeing the stone hefted to the side, she assumed Damon had cleared the way for them.

  Everyone was together, holding their stones, blinking in the sunlit cornfields. Then, without a word, Willow turned on her heel and disappeared into the cornhusks.

  “Where’s she going?” Damon asked.

  “Why don’t we follow and see?” Micah suggested.

  Can’t we set these down first? Eden scampered behind Caitlyn’s guardian, Alaina, her arms throbbing. So unnerving how much she looks like a regular teenager. Again, they were scaling a hill and sweat began rolling down Eden’s back. Breathing hard, Eden watched the corn give way to the stone wall again. She glanced around. Where did all the dead corn go?

  The archway loomed just ahead of them. Where shriveled vines had been, green ivy draped the opening. Leaves tickled Eden’s face as she passed under.

  She gasped. The once-desert ground was covered in a soft, rolling grass. The
stone wall was now draped with bright green vines and leaves. Kneeling next to the well was Vern, his face buried in his hands.

  Spying the two neat stacks of tablets to the left, Eden was anxious to relieve her arms.

  “Careful, not too fast,” Gabriel warned, as she lay the tablets down.

  After making sure they were secure, she sprinted over, catching Grandpa Vern saying, “I don’t understand. How did you do it? This well’s been dry for over seventy years.”

  Eden peered over the side of the well and was astonished to see there was indeed water in it. No wonder we couldn’t come back the way we’d gone.

  “It’s all done. The land will be fertile again,” Micah answered.

  Willow knelt beside Vern.

  “I’ve always blamed myself,” Vern said quietly. “I thought, because I broke the rules, the well dried up, and the land was cursed. I’ve spent my life hoping I could mend my wrong.”

  “This was never your fault. When you showed my grandfather it, you were just kids. That’s not what caused the curse. The Captain would never hold a child accountable for something like that.”

  Vern peered up at Micah. “Then what happened?”

  “Your father was greedy. He told other farmers about the water from the well, how it guaranteed a huge harvest every year. He hated being a farmer and kept trying to sell the land, but when others believed his wild tales of magical water, he decided to sell the water itself. He came out to pump the well one morning and found it dry. This water is not for sale.”

  Vern’s eyes widened. “That explains his unhappiness for all those years. As a child, I’d always believed he’d blamed me, that maybe he’d figured out what I’d done.”

  Eden’s heart ached for the old man. What kind of burden would that have been like? That’s why he never married or had his own family. He blamed himself.

  Eden felt something stir within her. She knew what she was feeling now. Glancing at Gabriel, who stared back at her expectantly, she held out a hand and said, “I got this one.”

  Gabriel smiled and then nodded.

  Eden dropped down next to Vern. Putting her arm around his bony shoulders, she squeezed gently. Vern glanced up at her and gave her a small smile.