by Kate Gallwey
They were all shaped and dressed the same in a flowing dirty white robes. Their skin glowed white from within, a sort of dead fish white that blurred any features that might have been there. We were so vivid next to them. There was a crystalline quality about their grey eyes that holds no mercy or anything like it.
I have only seen them display two emotions and that was curiosity and once greed while they where feasting on a beautiful green world, full of life. Feeding on worlds, takes the idea of a vampyrism to a whole different level, they left behind the dried husks of their prey circling lifeless around stars. Michael and my old ‘friend’ Ariel attacked them as one came near them and just as suddenly they were both down. Not drained or dead but out cold, like someone had thrown a switch. Raphael soon joined them and Lucian and I approached warily with weapons drawn as did Ariel’s two males, Zerachiel and Zuriel and a female, Vael. I would fight with my Alliance but this really did not seem like a good idea.
Lucian reached down and felt Raphael’s unconscious body and went to pull him away, a white ice-cold hand suddenly was there stroking his head. He went very very still.
Distraction was required, my specialty. I let my weapon go, we were not going to win this with weapons anyway, and reached for the one that was touching Lucian. I was as non-threatening as I could but I felt another come up behind me, and it presence was a warning. I moved the stroking hand away from Lucian and felt its repulsive hand.
It was smooth as glass and sucked, like many leeches gently at the energies of my skin. I let it stroke my hair and face. I touched it in the same way and felt like screaming, every impulse in me wanted to run or throw up. Imagine millions of maggots with little mouths crawling over your skin, sucking not gently at your skin and Essence, it was revolting. I have touched many disgusting things in my long life but I think this was the worst.
Everyone just watched as Lucian dragged the unconscious Raphael and Michael away and tried to revive them. One of the glowing white monsters made a sudden movement and Lucian went for his weapon and there was a flash and he was down. Stupid mistakes, then I made one. I grabbed the face I was touching and tried to feed from its Life Essence. I reached out with my energies to grab energy from it, big mistake; this creature was rotten and dead, pure poison. Evil is found in few places in this universe and here was one. I felt sick to my soul. I was struck and knew nothing more for quite a while.
I awoke feeling sick and disorientated; the floor was warm and breathed ever so slightly, as I opened my eyes the breathing increased. I was lying on Raphael; next to him were Ariel, Michael and Lucian. As I woke so did Raphael and he touched my face, I felt the warm fingers trace my cheeks first in concern then felt the touch turned to something else.
I brought my hand to his as he rubbed his thumb across my lips. My other hand entangled in his soft bronze curls. He was so beautiful, fair hair that tumbled in loose rings and curls down to his waist, and bronze coloured eyes that gleamed warm in the bright white light.
He was very muscular and had a huge chest that narrowed to a hard waist and rear, I like that part of a male best, the two muscles that dip down in the front and the rounded firm buttocks at the back that made you want to sink your teeth into each muscle. This was truly a male at his best.
A well formed male is a thing of pure beauty, I have always loved the combination of strength and softness, silky smoothness with iron underneath, a strong hard male is a wondrous thing. The white suit that covered us was skin tight and leaves nothing to the imagination, every muscle and curve is defined, the purpose of our clothes came later.
Lying on a male in such a manner makes it hard for him to hide his interest. But the suit does not come off and that makes further exploration of each other very hard but we teased each other to the limits of each others endurance.
Lucian came awake and saw what was happening; he roared and pulled me off Raphael and I was flung into the opposite wall. He flew at Raphael’s throat and they fought, rolling over and over in the small room. I wasn’t sure that I wanted to choose sides here, so I backed off and let Michael wade in and separate them.
He got between them and pushed Lucian back, he got hit a few times and he struggled hard to separate them for Lucian was not easy to hold back. Lucian very rarely looses his temper, he is calm and seems easy going and laid back, except with me, I guess I bring out the worst in him. “Mine.” Lucian snarled to Raphael. “Do not touch her like that again.” He calmed slightly as Raphael acquiesced and backed away.
“Mine.” He said again, this time to me; he touched my face and took hold of my chin. His touch was firm and eyes were hot and angry. “Mine.” I said, matching his anger and I grabbed fistfuls of his golden hair with both hands. I was frustrated and irritated at him and his behaviour.
I wanted something from him though then I didn’t understand what. We glared at each other and I pulled his head towards me. I don’t know who started it but I guess our instincts took over, and we were full of those.
We touched lips and both of us got a surge of power as our skin started glowing, we moved back, not trusting for a moment that the other wasn’t attacking. Lucian’s eyes were still hot and I wanted more, we moved together and our mouths opened and melded, I tasted his Life Essence, not to feed but to join with mine, it was a potent and a demanding uncomfortable match, fire and magic blazed in our veins and when each other was added to the mix we became like an exploding sun.
Deeper and deeper I went into the source of his power; taking this explosion to new and exciting levels, finding his pure masculinity, his Essence of self so alluring and so addictive. We feasted on each other, wanting so much more and tasting him was not enough, our bodies straining against each other, finding some relief in the heat of each others body, hands grasping and greedy seeking something, anything.
A seam opened in the wall and a Creator entered, it separated us with a flash of energy and we both hit the walls with force. I slid down the wall and had to breathe deeply to clear my head. Lucian had his weapon in hand when he helped me to my feet, but he didn’t attack, he learns fast, and attacking our Creators was a lesson in futility. His hand found mine and I felt large echoes of what we had stirred up in his touch and felt a very breathless and weak at the knees.
This Creator nodded and beckoned for us to follow, there was no disobedience, yet.
All five of us trailed after our Creator, it took us through long corridors and through huge rooms that had different life forms floating in glass jars, some dead, some very much alive, clawing, trying to get out.
We went through one room that contained beautiful, gold beings of power strung up high on the walls, with tubes of gold light being pumped out of them as they moaned, struggled and died. Creators were everywhere and their cold eyes watched us or ignored us as we followed the one who led. Images both flat and three dimensional, of worlds and galaxies, star systems and planets, wonders and horrors lined our journey through the place that birthed us, looking like a psychotic monster’s trophy collection of kills.
We were on a huge space faring vessel that was the size of a small moon, journeying through the universe feeding on life; it was more like a space city than a space ship. It was various shades of white, yellow and cream, with tall spires that looked like spikes and tall twisted towers that resembled claws. It was a place of beauty and cruelty and death was the best thing that could be found here.
Some of the things I saw went beyond horror. I just went numb to it all, I wanted to scream with the tortured, I wanted to throw up and keep throwing up until all the pain and sickness was gone from me. Most of all I was so filled with the fear that they would do the same to me. Screams and cries echoed down galleries of pristine beauty and perfection.
I can look dispassionately at a gory end of a battle, the field filled with blood of the dead and dying, knowing that at least that is clean in comparison to this. A wail started up within me and still continues to this day. I think when a child of any race finds out
that its parents are monsters; they too have this soundless bitter cry always within.
We walked for what seemed ages, finding horror and pain and stunning beauty at every turn. Then we came to the Library. It was beautiful, a long round room that just went up as far as the eye could see, full of books, scrolls and many other forms of storing information.
A sanctuary of Knowledge, my greatest addiction above everything else I need to KNOW! Information from tens of thousands of now dead worlds, spell books, histories, mysteries and stories all found within the Library of my Creators, I was in heaven.
My kindred flew up and down gathering information storage systems and settling at various beds, chairs and tables set out to absorb the knowledge. I saw Gabriel hooked up to large set of clear crystals downloading information, with a green and red lights shining from them at seeming random. I saw Metatron and the orange haired Raguel bent over huge glowing books reading the information contained within.
The Creator that led us looked at me and I couldn’t move, I was spellbound and it placed a glowing icy finger between my eyes, it weaved a spell and there was a sharp pain and a veil was removed from behind my eyes and I could read and understand all languages and use the giant computer crystals, plant and bio storage systems. It did the same to the others. “Learn.”
We were told, and then dismissed.
We could fly in the Library, there was no gravity. Thought pushed us where we wanted to go and I loved that. Soaring among the wisdom of a million worlds I found a peace of sorts and tried to forget the horrors happening all around us.
CHA
PTER FIVE
lessOns Of Pain
How do you get obedience from a child, kindness or a fist, a carrot or a stick? Our Creators weren’t really the carrot or kindness kind of parents. They wanted us to study all we could from the Library and some of us took to it like a ducks to water, others grew bored and started to pick fights. Michael grew bored and so did Metatron and they started to fight. Metatron’s scar, though healing, left him with a permanent sneer of his left side of his mouth. He and Michael started with fists and ended with weapons, Michael’s weapon was a wide sword that gleamed blue at every pass, and he was very fast and strong but Metatron was a third again as tall and was much stronger. Gabriel could beat him, I wasn’t sure I could or that Michael could.
Lucian wasn’t sure either and intervened with Raphael, they shouted and swore at one another for a while, as males do. Insulting each others weapon skill and level of intelligence and then Metatron attacked Lucian, he really isn’t that bright and they were more evenly matched, and Lucian is just as strong and a lot faster. Even with Metatron’s longer reach Lucian could take him. Lucian is a superb swordsman and his blade moved faster that you can see. He can beat Gabriel who is the best of all of us with a sword.
He can always beat me in a ‘one on one’ fight; I don’t know why I keep trying but I do, in some things I am not that bright either. Metatron was hard pushed and gave a good showing but Lucian cut the other side of his face open and then disarmed him. Gabriel stopped Lucian killing him, reminding him of the One Alliance policy of no killing each other we had all agreed to. We all went back to our study.
Metatron caught me alone in a corridor later and pulled my hair. I think that was his idea of a chat up line.
Ariel and her friend Vael, Raphael and I formed a study group as we were all interested in magic. I found spell books and discourses on magic fascinating as did the other three. So we studied together. Spells of healing, growing and evolution were found in one huge scroll and another held words of power and domination. I studied, for what seemed like years, magic that could shape and create things in our life.
I played with my basic natural gifts of fire and learnt how to shape it into a weapon or a thing of comfort and life, I learnt how to adjust the frequency of sound and movement to create works of art and once created a creature that resembled a bird in many ways, that sang sweetly for a short while then disintegrated into dust for no reason that I could find. We were children of the gods learning about the wonders of the Universe limited only in our imagination, and I have never lost interest in the wonders of it all.
Many groups were formed by interests; Lucian and Michael studied war and techniques of battle and with them Raziel and Samael, several others joined them and when he could be bothered, Metatron did too.
Gabriel, the brains of us all, studied the meaning of many lives out of dusty incomprehensible tombs of the wisdom about what beings think and feel and why they do so. She also covered what we would call nowadays, quantum physics and the theories of what you think is what shapes your reality, and what you perceive is subjective to your experience. I didn’t understand her interest then and I have only just begun on this path, I am not as smart as Gabriel but I am getting there.
We slept within the Library and most of us curled up together at regular intervals, making our own hours, days and nights. Our time together in the Library was the best and quietest time of my life, we saw nothing of the Creators and it was wonderful but nothing lasts forever.
They came in during our rest time and I woke up with a sense of fear and dread of what was to come.
They loomed over us, we rose to our feet. Several other Creators came into the Library, one for each of us. I tried to reached for Lucian as the one in front of me spellbound me and I couldn’t move, it’s hands roamed all over my body, I wanted to throw up. I couldn’t scream or cry for help. There was no one who could help us anyway.
We were carried into a white room full of equipment that looked and felt menacing and placed on white stone slabs. The room reeked with fear and pain. There were eighteen slabs waiting for us and I was tied down on one, bound at the wrists, ankles, neck and hips.
Not long later the binding spell was removed. I could move my head from side to side but that was about it. A single spot light shone down on each cold slab and the Creator that was assigned to me started work. Pain was inflicted for the fun of it. Torture is usually carried out for the extraction of information; we had nothing to tell them, this was done to let us know who was in charge. Eventually they would break us to their will.
We are very hard to kill; this is not good news for someone trying to die to get away from the pain. I have met death a quite a few times during my life and found it a blessing, a total relief, nothing to fear anyway.
I fought back trying everything I knew and had learnt in the Library. Complicated spells and magic words of power, they scarcely noticed, just absorbed the magic I flung their way. I tried to die; they knew how to keep us alive, no one was allowed to die here.
Each of us either broke or found something so strong within that they couldn’t touch; I would not scream, beg nor cry out in any way. I found my strength in my silence.
It wasn’t enough.
There is a union of sorts formed with a good torturer, and these were the best of pain inflictors. They had turned it into an art form. Eons and eons, time immeasurable these beings have been inflicting pain, I can’t even begin to imagine the things they have learnt, I do not want to!
I can turn someone inside out and make them think they are in excruciating pain but I am a poor torturer, I have too much empathy with my… client/victim? Whatever the word is, I suffer the pain with them, and only do torture when there is not other option.
Our Creators knew the tolerance levels of each nerve in my body and they enjoyed our pain or just never felt it. I felt the acid being spread over my flesh and smelt the burning, I felt the small but many cuts with different blade shapes and thicknesses enter my body.
They opened my flesh, first the skin layers, then the muscle and then to bone and often out the other side. The pain that can be inflicted with fire is off the scale. The smell of my own flesh being roasted off my cheek will be neither something I will never forget the smell or feel of acid in my eyes. I grit my teeth during the burning and the freezing of the open wounds, but the acid that ate my mouth a
nd lower jaw away was excruciating.
The healing was part of the torture, slowly my skin was knitted back together, and the itching nearly drove me insane. I hurt everywhere with pain and humiliation and couldn’t stop the tears running down my face, but I never uttered a sound.
It was the small handful of tiny black worms that nearly sent me over the edge. They were casually dropt into my face and they wriggled over me trying to find an opening, they squirmed over my eyelids and mouth as I kept them tightly shut, but like the humans that were created in my likeness, I cannot shut my nose or ears.
They burnt as they crawled in, as I franticly shook my head trying to dislodge them. They left a trail of pure acid, and I wanted to lose consciousness, I felt faint, nauseas, dizzy and shivery and all of my being was focused on the tiny burning pain wriggling through my body.
I could feel them down the back of my throat and in my inner ears. You go into shock that this is happening to you, disbelief it and try to visualize that this is just a bad dream and then crave death with such a longing, I wanted to scream and bring an end to my existence.
They let each part of my body heal while they worked on other parts of me. There was not even an escape into sleep. Our Creators didn’t seem to need sleep and came up with many creative ways to keep us awake.
Sometime the noise around me of my screaming kin was a torture all by itself, I imagined I could hear Lucian and Raphael and the others but couldn’t see them in the dark, I cried bitterly with frustration of not being able to help them. Days, weeks, years, time immeasurable, it went on and on.
The stone slab was bitterly cold and I could hear the others around me sob and moan; I still hadn’t made a sound. When the slab started to move and slowly slice off my arms, just below the elbows, the same was happening to everyone else, I could hear them scream.
