Eternity Gate

by Traci Harding

  ‘Slaves,’ Armaros concluded; the Grigori didn’t keep servants like the Fallen had done, but it appeared that in this universe, things hadn’t changed so much.

  ‘When they are so dependent on us to tell them what to do, what else can they be?’ Enki reasoned, and Armaros could not argue. ‘Some of the more beautiful humans are kept as pets, but until humanity sees a rise in intellect, they cannot rise in status.’

  Armaros was taken back when he spied the tiny grey beings with large heads and faces that were nearly all eyes — black as the universe he’d come from — taking samples from creatures and using hand-held machines to analyse data.

  ‘Zeta Reticuli,’ Enki explained. ‘Unlike you or I, when they are close together they form a hive-mind, like the reptilians do, hence their ability to work in perfect synchronicity. Intelligent to a fault, their lack of emotional sensitivity and their thirst for knowledge saw their home planet destroyed. Now the more accommodating of them work for us.’

  Armaros followed Enki past where the Zeta were working, and as soon as he took his eyes off them, one of them jabbed my brother with a needle.

  ‘Hey!’ Armaros objected, and that’s when Ninharsag looked up from the creature she was dissecting.

  After Enki’s brief, it was now apparent to me that Ninharsag was a female of the Nefilim species, one of the few, along with Enki, that Anu was proud to have fathered. Unlike many of her kind, who were white of hair, and blue of eye, her hair was as black as my own and her eyes were a deep green. She was tall and skinny, and her attire was dark green and black and more akin to the way that the men dressed.

  ‘Zeta!’ Ninharsag slowly shook her head once and pointed to Armaros. ‘Not a subject.’

  The Zeta looked to each other, shrugging, nodding and shaking their heads, obviously telepathically debating the issue amongst themselves.

  ‘They like to take genetic samples of everything,’ she explained, and looking Armaros over she appeared very interested herself. ‘And you are certainly a curiosity, being that you are reportedly from another universe entirely.’

  ‘Anu said you were expecting us,’ Armaros replied politely, and Ninharsag removed her hands from the gloves that extended inside the module in which her subject was enclosed, and walked around Armaros, inspecting him.

  ‘You appear neither male or female … how do you reproduce?’

  Armaros was a little affronted by the query. ‘We don’t.’

  ‘I could reproduce you,’ she boasted.

  ‘I’m happy with one of me,’ he rejected the notion.

  ‘She’s only toying with you,’ Enki advised Armaros so that he might feel less intimidated, ‘aren’t you, dear sister?’

  Ninharsag looked to her brother, eyebrows raised in speculation. ‘Of course.’ Her words seemed to contradict her expression. ‘So where is the diseased one?’

  ‘My colleague will be here with him —’

  Sammael manifested toting the large module right on cue.

  ‘— Presently,’ Armaros concluded, rather pleased to see his brother.

  ‘Where would you like it?’ Sammael floated it up into the air.

  Ninharsag had a glint in her eye as she noted Sammael’s talent. ‘Right in here.’ She led them to a passageway with doors at each end.

  As Sammael passed by the Zeta they jabbed him with their needle. ‘Oi!’ The warrior nearly dropped the module, as he kicked out in their direction and they moved back to a safe distance.

  ‘Not a subject,’ Ninharsag repeated herself, pointing out Sammael.

  ‘Yeah,’ Sammael backed her up on that, waving a fist in their direction. ‘Try that again and you’ll be subject … to a good hammering!’ He thumped his fist into his other hand.

  The Zeta found his reaction interesting and made notes on their devices.

  ‘I think they get the picture.’ Armaros drew his brother’s attention away from the beings.

  ‘I don’t think so.’ Sammael observed them. ‘They don’t look that worried to me.’

  ‘Well, I wouldn’t do anything too impressive to scare them.’ The scholar knew what the warrior was thinking. ‘Or they’ll just find you all the more interesting.’

  Sammael was bemused by this. ‘Weird,’ he concluded, deciding to leave the matter be.

  Ninharsag led on into a vacant operating theatre, where there was a tonne of technological equipment. ‘Once this room is sealed, it is impervious to penetration — nothing gets in, nothing gets out,’ she explained.

  Once the module had been positioned horizontally, with the subject facing up, Ninharsag used her own equipment to raise the container to a height that was comfortable for her to observe, and hot-wired some of her equipment into the control mechanism of the module. ‘This will keep the module powered up, and allow me to do some readings.’

  As Sammael observed the female work, he was notably concerned. ‘Are you sure we should be leaving the commander in this freak show?’ he uttered quietly aside to Armaros.

  ‘I shall stay with him,’ Armaros said to counter his doubt.

  ‘Have it your way.’ Sammael was happy to be relieved of the duty. ‘There are many other places I would rather be exploring here on Nibiru. This place gives me the creeps.’

  Armaros noted Ninharsag glance at Sammael, and her expression was not one of favour. ‘As you have never really had an interest in science, there is hardly any point to you staying, so feel free to depart.’

  ‘I’ll check back with you later,’ Sammael sought to reassure his brother, and cupped a hand around his mouth to advise. ‘Just to ensure you haven’t been shoved in a jar or something.’

  Armaros was not reassured, but gripped his own forehead tightly between the thumb and middle finger of his right hand. ‘I feel sure that will not be necessary.’

  ‘Whatever you say, you’re the commander.’ Sammael’s tone was semi-mocking, obviously a little irked to have been overlooked by his brothers for the appointment. He waved to all in leaving and vanished.

  ‘Apologies for my associate,’ Armaros beseeched his hosts. ‘There is no filter between Sammael’s brain and his mouth.’

  Ninharsag shrugged, indifferent. ‘I like a person who states what is on their mind.’ The lady of the labs completed her tinkering, whereupon the module containing my body reactivated and she turned to view the readouts on a soft-light screen, very similar to those once developed in the dark universe by the Fallen, only these appeared brighter, more colourful and more advanced. ‘Your technology is surprisingly similar to our own,’ she commented to Armaros, without looking at him.

  It was not so surprising to me, considering the Nefilim and the Fallen were the same soul-mind.

  ‘A fortunate coincidence,’ Armaros granted, although he knew the truth as well as I did.

  She was quiet for some time as she scanned over her data, and then turned back to Armaros with a perplexed expression. ‘I am reading a life form that is certainly not human, and although your associate appears to be in perfect hibernation I am not detecting his soul essence at all. So either the subject is dead, or he has the ability to separate his subtle body from his physical form.’

  Armaros stood wide-eyed, no doubt astounded by her technological know-how and her candour.

  ‘I suspect the latter,’ she advised for his information. ‘Two reasons. Firstly, the body shows hardly any sign of decay.’

  ‘Hardly any?’ Armaros found it curious that I should have any decay, being that I was immortal.

  ‘The virus appears to have affected some of the internal organs, but that is nothing I cannot fix.’

  My brother nodded in understanding. ‘And your second reason for suspecting my associate’s disconnection of spirit?’

  ‘My sister, Ereshkigal, seer of the disembodied, noted a spirit of your breed following you into the Worlds Chamber earlier today.’

  Armaros felt completely exposed by the statement, and yet still hesitated to divulge my presence; thus I was compelled to br
eak my silence and spare him the decision.

  ‘I am here, Ninharsag.’ I assumed she was as telepathic as the other Nefilim we had encountered thus far. ‘I am Azazèl, Commander of the Grigori.’

  Both Enki and his sister reacted to my announcement.

  ‘Ah, there you are,’ she replied aloud for Armaros’ benefit. ‘I am fascinated to make your acquaintance, Azazèl.’

  ‘As am I,’ Enki emphasised. ‘How extraordinary your kind are proving to be.’

  ‘Can you remove the virus and destroy it?’ I asked the scientist.

  ‘I can remove it, most surely. And contain it, in the same manner you have,’ she advised. ‘But it shall require further analysis to find an antidote that will neutralise it altogether.’

  This was consistent with what Anu had claimed, and the news made me edgy. ‘It is a parasite like no other and must not be allowed to escape.’

  ‘I assure you, Commander, it shall not escape.’ She sounded very confident about that. ‘But in order to separate it from your body, I will have to reverse the freezing process, and it will try to resist the procedure, perhaps aggressively. But whatever damage is done to your body in the process I can repair, for your genetic structure is also surprisingly similar to our own.’ She looked to Armaros. ‘Almost as if we were ancient relatives.’

  ‘Perhaps we are?’ he answered kindly.

  Ninharsag served Enki an odd look of assurance.

  ‘It might be best for your commander not to witness the separation procedure, as it could cause some anxiety,’ she suggested.

  ‘I believe it will cause more anxiety if I do not bear witness,’ I spoke up. ‘But Armaros is free to go.’

  ‘Your choice, Commander,’ she allowed.

  ‘Your commander has excused you,’ Enki advised Armaros, ‘perhaps you might like to see our gardens? I’d be happy to show you.’

  Armaros appeared unsure whether he should take the lord’s word for that.

  ‘If you have a place where you store knowledge of the arts, sciences and histories, Armaros would surely be more disposed towards that,’ I advised.

  ‘Ah!’ Enki sighed, enlightened. ‘Your commander suggests you are something of a scholar and would prefer to see our Hall of Documents.’

  Armaros was pleased to be assured of my intent, for this lord could not have known of his thirst for knowledge. ‘The commander knows me well,’ he concurred, ‘I should very much like to see this place you speak of.’

  ‘Splendid,’ Enki concluded the matter. ‘As coincidence would have it, our Hall of Documents leads off into the gardens, so we can see both.’ Enki motioned to the exit.

  ‘I shall leave my commander in your very capable hands, Nin,’ Armaros granted. This was another point Enki had explained in his discourse on males and females earlier: Nin was a title within a female’s name denoting her senior stature among the Nefilim. Just as En at the beginning of a male’s name denoted him as a lord among the men of their race.

  ‘You need hold no fear for his full recovery,’ Ninharsag advised. ‘Come back around nightfall and you shall greet your commander as he once was.’

  Armaros, appreciative of the news, said, ‘Gratitude.’

  Ninharsag was perplexed. ‘None is required. This is my calling, and with a case as intriguing as this, it is I who am grateful for the knowledge this opportunity awards.’

  Content that all was well, Armaros turned and accompanied Enki from the lab. ‘Might I ask, En, what is a garden?’ he queried as they departed.

  ‘It’s very colourful,’ he replied, ‘and fragrant. I feel sure you’ll find it a most pleasurable experience.’

  ‘Well then, Commander,’ Ninharsag addressed me, now that we were alone. ‘Let us see this parasite contained and your body restored to you.’

  ‘I am in your hands, Nin,’ I granted.

  As my form was brought out of cryogen, I felt the virus awakening — it was hungry and annoyed by its long state of inaction.

  When Ninharsag opened the module, I was horrified.

  ‘It is waking, Nin,’ I warned her. ‘Did I mention that when in my body this thing can exhibit great strength!’

  ‘Not under a muscle relaxant it can’t,’ she replied, as she took a small device in hand.

  My eyes opened wide, which alarmed me — I feared my saviour was about to be attacked.

  Ninharsag didn’t flinch, however, and as she placed the device against my skin, my eyes fluttered closed once more.

  ‘Apologies to have doubted.’

  ‘You are a little skittish, Commander,’ she retorted. ‘Are you sure you are up for this?’

  ‘My only concern is for your safety, Nin.’

  She appeared to find my statement amusing. ‘Right then …’ She moved across the room and activated a large incubating unit on the far side. ‘On to phase two.’ Ninharsag returned to where my body lay exposed in the cryogenic module and positioned a long pointed metal arm that extended from the ceiling, into position over my form. Then, laying her hand upon a metal plate on her desk, the metal arm shot a stream of light into my body, whereupon my physical form vanished and then reappeared in the incubator on the far side of the room. ‘Now for the hard part.’

  ‘The extraction?’ I assumed.

  ‘Indeed.’ She left the bio-containment chamber and when she returned she was dressed in a suit that covered her entirely, which included a helmet that enclosed her head. ‘You see how cautious I am.’ She sealed closed the door to the chamber we were in.

  ‘It would be a great shame to have such a brilliant mind as yours eaten away,’ I replied, thankful that she was heeding my warning.

  There was another smaller, fully metal incubator that was attached via a long metal rod to the one in which my body lay.

  ‘Now stay your nerves, Commander, this could be violent,’ Ninharsag warned, again holding a hand over a metal plate on her desk. The smaller incubator activated and the sound of a vacuum ensued. At the same time my incubator began to flood with liquid-light. My unconscious form began to convulse, which, tranquillised as I was, must have been caused by the mind-eater rebelling against its predicament.

  My being was suddenly sickened with panic, as blood streamed from my nose, eyes, mouth and ears. I could see the dark shadow of the creature being drawn to the surface of my form, writhing as it struggled to keep hold of me. The more it resisted, the more my body thrashed about.

  ‘Let go.’ Ninharsag heightened the vacuum and the blood streaming from my facial orifices was drawn towards the suction, some splattering onto the inside of the transparent casing of the incubator before streaming across the surface towards the void that led into the second incubator. ‘Stubborn little bastard,’ Ninharsag commented, intensifying the suction once again.

  My body was spasming so intensely I feared I was going to be torn apart. But as the liquid light in the chamber threatened to cover me completely, the mind-eater gave up the struggle and let go, whereupon it was sucked into the second incubator, which Ninharsag immediately closed off and froze. ‘Contained,’ she announced.

  My body lay still inside the liquid light that now covered me entirely. The blood dissipated into the fluid and I appeared at peace; which, with the relief of being free from the virus, was exactly how I felt. ‘I am indebted to you, Nin.’

  ‘Not at all,’ she replied, inspecting the readouts on the incubator to ensure all was well with me. ‘You shall be able to re-enter your form before evening. Until then, there is nothing more to be done. So, you can wait it out here, or do some sightseeing with your associates, whatever is pleasing to you.’

  There seemed little point to me in wasting the rest of the day watching myself sleep. ‘I should check how my brothers and ship are faring, so I shall return. And shall announce myself when I do.’

  ‘As you wish,’ she granted, exiting the bio-containment lab and I along with her. ‘I have nothing to hide.’

  I’d not had the chance to converse privately with any of the
Grigori since we had landed in this universe, and there was one unfinished topic that was in the back of my mind that really needed clearing up. Thus I sought out Sammael, and found him with Sariel, walking down a dimly lit and unremarkable passageway with no windows.

  ‘Where are you two going?’ I asked and Sariel took pause when he noted my voice.

  ‘Commander?’

  Sammael halted also, heeding his companion’s distraction. ‘Azazèl is here?’

  Sariel confirmed with a nod. ‘He is asking where we are going.’

  ‘We are headed towards the detention level of this palace,’ Sammael informed me. ‘You can find out a lot about the people you are dealing with by speaking with their captives. I realise they will not have an unbiased perspective, but it could be enlightening nonetheless. And we were told we could go sightseeing anywhere.’

  ‘A fair point,’ I awarded.

  ‘The commander thinks it is a good idea,’ Sariel conveyed.

  ‘See!’ he stressed to Sariel. ‘I’m not the moron you all take me for. We also had a look around the upper palace, and met a few of the Nefilim, who were all too busy being self-indulgent to speak with us.’ Both Sammael and Sariel seemed very amused by the statement.

  ‘How so?’ I wondered what the joke was.

  ‘Well … we spied a couple mating —’ Sammael raised his eyebrows ‘— who were too engrossed in their activity to even acknowledge we were there.’

  ‘They did appear very preoccupied.’ Sariel suppressed a grin.

  ‘And we saw several others injecting themselves with a substance that appeared to cause some euphoria in them,’ Sammael said. ‘And afterwards their eyes glowed bright!’

  ‘We think this may be how they advance their supernatural ability,’ Sariel posed, ‘although they have technology to teleport them about.’

  ‘Just like the Fallen Elohim, they have no natural psychokinetic talent.’ Only if the Nefilim advanced spiritually would that latent talent emerge in their species. The observations were interesting, but not the reason I had sought them out. ‘Ask Sammael how he disposed of the seals,’ I requested, and the telepath complied.