Academy of Light

by A Y Beltran

  I picked up my next book in random, and, just like the last one, I finished it early. I proceeded to get my third book at the third wall and picked the one with the title Navi.

  “It’s an interesting choice of book. I’m Curi. What’s your name, angel with white rays?”

  I turned to the owner of the melodic voice and found an angel with pink wings.

  “I’m Orieumber. I’m new here.”

  “I know. I can tell. You skipped a lot of books to get here,” she replied.

  “Oh, so we have to read them in order?”

  “Not necessarily. Just a word of advice. You’re doing a disservice to yourself by missing the opportunity to acquire the knowledge written on those books you skipped. There are books here that are unreadable and those are considered mystery books and are designed to feed our curiosity. And cannot be read unless you finish a certain number of books. I think that one in your hand requires 10 books before it reveals to you its title.”

  My gaze shifted down on the tablet in my hands. The word ‘Navi’ was so clear to me. But Curi was right, so I placed it back to the shelves.

  “Thank you,” I said.

  “Don’t worry. You’re new. If you need some help, just ask me, “Curi replied.

  “You’re almost finished with this wall,” I said, hoping it would come off as a compliment to her.

  “Except for those considered mystery books, I read all the books at first and the second wall. And now I’m almost done with the third wall. They said I’m advancing fast, and it’s a good thing. I really want to reach Dede and pass Dedui.”

  I read from the first book that Dede meant the tenth House and Dedui was the House of Trial.

  “Oh. That’s great. Congratulations. If you don’t mind me asking again though we’re not supposed to ask a lot of questions here, how many of the books at the first wall were mystery books?”

  “They’re about thousands of them.”

  “That many, huh?”

  She nodded and then smiled.

  “I’ll go back to the first wall. Thanks, again,” I said.

  Instead of going back to the first wall, I went to check on Venir.

  “Did you finish the whole row?” he asked.

  “Nope. I was told not to skip every single book that is available for me to read.”

  Venir raised his eyebrows. “Says who?”

  “Curi. She is reading the middle section.”

  “Huh, I saw a few angels skip a lot of books and still were able to move on to the next level. I think the law here is that you can read whatever books you want as long as you have the required level of navi,” Venir said and then shook his head. “This book, for example, is giving me a headache. I can’t read the half of it, which got me to thinking that I don’t have the level of navi needed to read it.”

  “You didn’t start with the first one, so try that one first before reading that,” I said.

  He gazed over at the first book in the row and sighed. “I think you’re right.”

  He moved toward it and started reading.

  I decided to go back to the first wall and started reading book after book and skipping only a few. And every time I finished a book, I visited Venir. He was reading at a much slower pace. In fact, the more books I finished reading, the more I realized that I was reading way faster than everyone else at the bottom level.

  I had had several energy-sleeps and my wings grew even bigger that I now looked like the odd one in my level. I wished to find a book that could teach me how to hide my wings, for I was now getting several curious looks from the other fledglings. I ignored Curi’s confused look as I made my way to the second wall.

  The first book I picked was the book that had the title Navi. I was reading the first page of the book when the thing I had thought would never happen in Heaven happened.

  The place was all suddenly blanketed in total darkness.

  CHAPTER 5

  Screaming dominated the once silent place and then it died down into a cacophony of murmurs, and then finally crying and a few whimpering sounds.

  But in the midst of all these noises I could not help asking myself this question: Was this how it was inside the Womb? Total darkness. And at the absence of light, our minds wandered? I was so used to seeing that this momentary loss of vision made me doubt myself enough that I touched my eyelids to find out if they were really open, which they were.

  What if the light would not return? What if the darkness would become permanent? Who would comfort us from all of this? Then all of a sudden as though it answered my question, I heard a voice. At first, I thought it was a humming sound, then later I realized that the voice was actually singing a beautiful song whose words though incomprehensible were pleasant to the ears.

  All the crying and the whimpering stopped. As much as I longed for the light to come back, I also wished for the song to never end. And the longer I listened to it, the more I understood the words used in the song. It was a repetition of the lines: Sleep little angels and have a sweet dream. You are in the Garden where the darkness cannot reach and the light prevails.

  I lost track of how long it was before the light finally returned. But when it returned, and darkness disappeared and the singing stopped, an even bigger surprise arrested my eyes.

  Everyone around me was on the floor.

  Asleep.

  Or were they dead?

  I looked up and saw the others were floating with their eyes closed as though they were having their energy-sleeps. One name immediately occupied my mind.

  Venir.

  With my heart slamming in my chest, I went to where I last saw him, cautious with my steps to avoid walking on those who were lying on the floor. I found Venir huddled against the wall.

  “Venir,” I called, shaking his shoulders. My heartbeat continued to race. And when Venir started waking up, I whimpered a sound of joy.

  “What happened,” he asked.

  I helped him up to his feet. His eyes widened when he took in the vision around us.

  “What’s going on here?” he asked.

  I shook my head and said, “I have no idea.”

  Venir and I decided to wake as much fledgling as we could. And so we went around, shaking them up to wakefulness. Many of them woke up disoriented. The others went back to their business reading. But there were a few who were scared.

  I glanced up. Most of the angels who were floating on top of us were already awake. Since they were reading books that were definitely advanced, I wondered if they knew what happened. It would have been nice if there were matured or experienced angels in our company to guide us on what to do and explain to us what had happened.

  “I’ve made some inquiries,” Venir said beside me.

  “And? What have you found out?”

  “Nothing. None of them knew what it was. Some of them even asked me what to do.” He glanced up. “Do you think they know something?”

  I followed his line of sight. “They might. They all seem to be all back in business now.”

  “That’s what everyone in our level noticed so they followed them.”

  This was true. The fledglings looked up and imitated what the fledglings above them were doing, which was to go back reading.

  But this did not feel right. Eternity should not be spent reading books for the sake of learning or learning for the sake of it. It should have a purpose.

  “What’s the matter?” Venir asked, frowning as he studied my face.

  “This is not right, Venir. Something happened here, and yet everyone is treating it as though it was just normal. “

  “I’m not so sure about that.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Look around you. I meant, study them, their faces. They’re not okay. They are rattled. Scared. They’re just putting up a front to emulate our betters above us.”

  An angel to my right was holding the book he was reading with tears rolling down his cheeks. He looked shorter than both Venir and I. Size
s. This was one of the things I also wanted to learn here in the academy. Why were angels born in bodies that were on different levels of physical maturity? Some were grown up, others were children, and there were others like Venir and me who were teenagers.

  “Look at this hall. It is so huge. Don’t you think one of these books will tell us about that dark phenomenon? And if it’s not at this level, maybe it’s up there, or up there. And if it’s not in this house, then it may be in the other house.”

  I studied his face. He looked serious.

  “So we’ll look for the answer like a quest,” I said.

  “Like a quest,” he repeated.

  I went to the third wall and picked up the book Navi. This one was believed to be tough to read. I leaned against the wall and started reading.

  The book discussed that all the trees in heaven were called Kalaskig and came in a variety of colors: blue, red, pink, white, yellow, purple, golden, brown, and green. The green ones were only found in Emerald’s Garden.

  Kalaskig could temporarily replenish a navi but was not permanent. Where it was planted and how it was raised influenced its taste. But the best part of the book was the one where it gave its origin.

  When the house of the Navi was pregnant,

  The heirs of the gods had foreseen

  That the balls of life required sustenance

  To grow and to recreate themselves.

  Michael, the First Born of the First god, rose

  Downcast yet calm, he spoke to the unhatched,

  ‘Alas! You are born in the sea of life,’

  ‘Yet you die in deprivation of it.’

  Sapphire with her blue rays rose beside him.

  ‘Despair not, Michael, chief of the archangels,

  For there remained portions of the gods in us:

  A gift to wield and bend energy to our will.’

  Then she gathered her two hands together

  And into a circular motion, she caressed

  A brilliant glow in the shape of a sphere.

  Then on her palm revealed the seed—

  Kalaskig

  In jubilation Michael’s rays were ablaze,

  Then he smiled, and to his archangels, he spoke:

  ‘This tree of energy, Heaven shall have

  In the walls, in the houses, in all of the gardens!”

  And so be it in all eternity.

  These were the moments when the archangels had found bliss in their artistry. While heaven was their canvas, they created masterpieces after masterpieces; all in preparation for the birthing of the little angels. Michael then realized what it was that drove his god to sacrifice his own life.

  The moment I finished the book, I fell asleep. I woke up lying on the floor.

  “You’re amazing,” Venir said, helping me to my feet.

  “What?” I said, feeling a little disoriented.

  “Your wings are a lot bigger now,” he said. “Look on the floor.”

  And I did. The floor was shiny enough that I could see my own reflection, my reflection that turned out to be so darn pretty. My wingspan had extended in size and was now bigger than Venir.

  My grin was wide when I glanced back at him.

  “You know what this means?”

  “It means you can fly higher now.”

  The thought of flying even higher and reaching the next level made my heart swell. I held Venir’s arms to refrain myself from jumping up and down.

  “I can go up there and ask,” I said and then stopped. “What about you? Aren’t you coming with me?”

  “Hey, I’m still stuck with this book. But put it this way, we’re partners. You go up there and investigate while I continue my search here.”

  I found it to be a smart idea, but maybe I could convince him a little more. “You don’t need to read the books I already read. I’ll tell you everything about it. Oh, how about I’ll help you read this one.” I pointed at the book in his hand.

  “Nah, that’s cheating,” he answered. “I’ll read it by my own pace. But you go ahead, angel with white wings. Find the answer we’ve been looking for.”

  I leaned over to him and kissed his forehead. But before I moved to the next one, I picked the book lying on the floor. It was the book Navi.

  “Huh, you forgot to return that one,” Venir said.

  “I slept so quickly with this one,” I answered. I padded toward the wall where I found it, but when I was about to put it back on the shelves something glowed below the title. The name of the author appeared.

  “Oh, wow.”

  CHAPTER 6

  I fluttered my wings and slowly they lifted me up into the air. The wind was soft and gentle against my long hair. I glanced up and urged myself to fly faster. My heart started pounding in my chest when I neared the height where I was blocked and fell. A few more inches. Five inches. And then. I swooped past my limit and reached the second level where the books were yellow.

  But the first order of business. Investigation.

  Since there was no floor to hold my feet, I put myself in a hover mode just like the rest of these angels. No one seemed to notice me or care that I reached this area. They were focused on what they were reading. Surely there should be at least one angel who was curious to know about what the darkness was about.

  I decided to start from the first wall so I made way over to the side while sneaking a glance at some angels who looked friendly or inclined to talk.

  I randomly picked a book and hovered toward an angel who glanced my way.

  “Hi. I’m Orieumber.” I offered my hand, which the angel merely stared.

  “I’m Tarain,” she said, ignoring my hand so I put my hand behind my back.

  “So, do you know anything about that darkness?”

  She shook her head. “No.”

  “Aren’t you curious about it? Don’t you want to know what it was?”

  “Of course, I do. That’s why I’m reading. I’m looking for the book that it may lead me to my question.”

  “Have you found anything about it so far?”

  She gazed at my face and then wrinkled her forehead. “Why would you even ask me about the answer? Don’t you want to read it yourself?”

  Oh.

  “Well, so we’re not supposed to share knowledge or information?”

  Her frown deepened. She looked at me as though she were assessing whether I was deliberately being obtuse. Then she smiled.

  “So you just got here.”

  “Yes?”

  She smiled at me in a patronizing manner.

  “You know that possessing the knowledge about the darkness is valuable?”

  “Okay.”

  She leaned closer to me in a conspiratorial way.

  “If you find anything, anything at all about it, since it’s valuable information, you don’t tell it to anybody without an appropriate price.”

  Oh. “Well, how much is the information?”

  She chuckled. “I wish I had some. But let me read some more and I’ll get back to you for a price though…” She gave an appraisal look. “I don’t think you have anything valuable to trade.”

  “I think I have.”

  “Really?”

  “Yup. Down there at the first level.”

  “Mash. Its complete name is Mashsphere, but we all call it Mash.”

  “What?”

  “The first level is called Mash. So you haven’t read that book? Huh. Consider it a freebie. But there’ll be nothing of that sort next time.”

  “Okay. Agreed. Going back to my valuable piece of information. There is one book at the Mash that is believed to be one of the mystery books, yet I was able to read it.”

  “What is it called?”

  “Navi.”

  “Huh. Navi is not a mystery book, but it’s, indeed, tough to read. I didn’t get to finish that.” Then she leaned closer again. “Did you really finish it?”

  “Yup. And I know the author,” I whispered.

  “Wow.” Her jaw
dropped. “Okay. I’ll find you the information you want in exchange for the name of the author of the Navi.”

  “I will not only give you the name of the author, but I will also provide all the information you have missed.”

  “Orieumber, please price your information well lest you make us all look stupid.”