The Chronicles of Heaven's War: Burning Phoenix

by Ava D. Dohn

  * * *

  Darla sat on the edge of the cot, forlorn and depressed. Her tears were that of self-pity, feeling the loss of a dream share she had never experienced, and believing she never would. Lowenah lovingly leaned against her little child, gently rubbing the girl’s back and shoulders. There were lessons this person yet needed to learn, must learn. She had survived her greatest contest up to this time, survived Asotos’ deceptive advances. Survived? Yes, but had not come off victorious. Indeed! If not for other dabbling fingers, the girl would have perished in her own damning self-destruction, threatening the future of all life in the universe.

  Lowenah sadly shook her head. Rachel’s hatred for evil saved her from an abysmal fate should she have followed Asotos. Oh yes, her love for Mother was a deciding influence, and it might have carried the day, but it was not by love, alone, that the girl had refused the Snake’s advances. And today was just the beginning of Rachel’s contests. Future days would deliver upon this child far greater dangers, and Mother might not be there to pull her out of the fire. Love, alone, would not rescue her child from damnation. Other weapons were also needed. They, combined with her love, would become unstoppable forces assuring not only her survivability, but also complete and total victory over all her enemies.

  “There, there, my sweet little Rachel. The distress is only momentary. It will soon pass.” Lowenah squeezed her little girl in a tender hug. “Then things will be all right again.”

  Darla whimpered, distraught, through her tears, “How is it possible that things will be all right! Despair is now my only companion, Hope long departed upon the desert’s breeze. An empty sack of dreams is all that I am, bereft of visions seen afar off that shall never be mine to possess!” She sobbed, “How does one suffer such pain and not wish for the swaddling bands of death to gather up her tormented soul?”

  Many were the words Lowenah could have used to correct her wayward child. Darla was fallen prey to her own selfish longing, forgetting the nature of the beast that threatened the very fabric of the universe. The girl was but one very tiny soul floundering in a frothing ocean of mayhem and dismay. Yes, Darla could have been chastised and rebuked, deservedly so, but Mother was not someone to do such a thing. ‘Look into the face of a man distraught and see your own soul’s reflection should the tables be turned.’ - AsreHalom.

  Fear...yes, fear was the demon troubling Darla - a most dangerous opponent. It was fear that could make a brave warrior throw down his sword and flee in mindless panic, fear of drowning that caused the rescuer to become the one needing rescue. Fear is a very powerful weapon, and could be wielded in so many different ways, thrust bold and forthright in its attack, or silently slithering into one’s soul, choking the heart. So many times Darla had faced fear directly, defeated it soundly, but never before had she faced its strangling tentacles as it slowly squeezed hope from her heart.

  Weapons Darla had to fend off this attack, but they were tools of war that she, herself, must master, for only by her personal might could these wondrous weapons be wielded to bring defeat to fear. Only by her own hand could she succeed.

  Lowenah stroked Darla’s long brunette locks, asking innocently, “My sweet, darling Rachel, do you still love me?”

  Darla looked into her mother’s eyes, concerned and somewhat curious. “Of course, I love you. Why?” Lowenah smiled, her eyes revealing hidden feelings. She did not answer, but asked, “My sweet child of the late hour, Rachel, my suckling baby, do you trust me?”

  Darla was surprised, hesitating before she spoke. “Of… of course, I trust you. I love you.” Lowenah caught Darla’s troubled glance along with the deceitful tone carried on the girl’s reply. She took her daughter’s hand, nodding. “Love me? Yes, I do believe you do, but your tongue speaks a falsehood regarding your trust.”

  Darla began to object. Lowenah stopped her. “You cannot fool the Maker of Worlds with smooth speech unless she wishes to be fooled. I do not wish to be fooled this day. Too painful a matter it is to recall times long passed when my heart desired such things, only to bring a ruination upon all flesh.”

  Taking hold of Darla’s hands while peering deeply into distraught eyes, Lowenah asked, “My child of the evening, last of the CherBulocks, I know you love me and a loyal love it is, it is. Yet in your hour of contest with the Snake, when our eyes locked for but a moment, I witnessed the look of betrayal in your stare - not your betrayal of me as your eyes bore into my soul, but of my betrayal of you, for secrets withheld that now your worst enemy revealed.”

  Darla shook her head saying it was not so.

  Lowenah sputtered, “Don’t lie to me or to yourself! I ask you now, and be truthful to the point of death. Do you have faith in me?” “Have faith in you?!” Darla had not expected such a question and did not know what to say. She was preparing to ask what a CherBulock was, having never heard the word before. Now that was all forgotten. She cried, “Mother, I love you!”

  Lowenah frowned. “Rachel, do you have faith in me?” Feeling like an animal caught in a trap, Darla shook her head, squirming in desperation. “I do not know a thing at all! Mother, I love you and will do anything for you. I hate the Evil Worm with all my heart and soul. Is that not faith enough?!”

  Still holding her daughter’s hand, Lowenah turned her face away, shaking her head sadly. “It is not enough, my Rachel, to love me. Many are the ones who have loved me, or at least the deities contrived that claim to represent me. Yet those very people have done and do the most abhorrent things in my name, deceiving themselves and others that they are doing my will. Love alone does not curb the evil, but only stokes the fires of holiness to cover the wickedness being done in my name.”

  She looked back into Darla’s face. “My daughter, Ilaniya, loves me to the point of death, but does not understand me, know me. She surrenders her soul up to the service of that Evil Snake because she has been shamed by her own heart into believing that the confessions of her loyalties under duress and severe torture have condemned her to everlasting damnation. Love has not saved her from the upcoming, unspeakable sufferings she will receive at the hands of that man. Yes, because of that same tricksy love for me, rescue she rejected.”

  “Now for hate...” Lowenah looked down at her hands. “It has been said to ‘hate the bad and love the good’, and it is a correct statement, but also tricksy for those easily deceived. For if the bad is whitewashed to appear less evil, possibly good or just not bad, will doing what is good be such an easy thing? If two roads - one smooth and flat, the other narrow, winding and steep - are believed to deliver one to the same destination, which one will the carefree and thoughtless choose?”

  “ ‘Shrewd is the person seeing the calamity afar off and conceals himself from it.’ Wise words, true, but how does one become shrewd if he or she lacks the wisdom to see the calamity or has no ability to ward it off? My Rachel, it is by faith and trust that one wards off the coming blow. Faith and trust in what? In someone able to protect them from the calamity...”

  Lowenah sat back, again looking into Darla’s eyes. “Now should a man come to a forked road, the one smooth and the other tempestuous, and should a trustworthy innkeeper warn him that highwaymen lurk down the smooth road, it might well be an easy thing to take the other more troublesome road. What, though, would be the case if the same innkeeper merely warned the man to stick to the tempestuous highway, giving no explanation? How easy would it be for the man, burdened down with many trade goods to follow the innkeeper’s advice if he had little or no trust and faith in the fellow?”

  “Only by faith and trust would such an endeavor be made. And should the decision be to follow the easy road, and the traveler was to fall in among highwaymen, would he have the right to feel betrayed because the innkeeper did not tell him why it was not wise to take that road?”

  Not yet understanding the moral of the story, but answering the question as best she could, Darla repli
ed, “The innkeeper was not under obligation to warn the traveler at all, he not having been placed under the servitude of that man. So any warning, great or small, should be considered a gift. The treasonous act, then, would be committed by the traveler, himself, for ignoring the trustworthy warning.”

  Lowenah smiled again. “So, then, the traveler need not have any love for the innkeeper to heed his warning, true? Indeed, it mattered little if that had been the case. What he needed were two other things that neither love nor hate could replace - faith and trust. Had the traveler only one thing, either trust or faith in that the highwaymen might lie in wait down the smooth road, he would have chosen the twisting road, considering it to be the safer of the two.”

  “And another question... Had the traveler known and loved the innkeeper, but did not trust him, thus had no faith in the man’s warning, would love have saved the traveler from falling in amongst thieves?” Darla shook her head, saying nothing.

  Leaning close and tenderly kissing her child, Lowenah crooned and then asked, “I know that you love me with all your heart, yet what would your outcome have been if your passionate hatred for the Evil Snake had not been so great? Would you have gone with him even after my warnings to be wary concerning his smooth words and treacherous ways? Was it only hatred that saved you that day?”

  Darla did not want to answer, it hurting too much to think of herself as a foolish waif, having almost taken a road that might well have led to her damnation. She finally spoke up. “Mother, I do not know if I have faith or not. Making you happy has been my greatest concern…” She lowered her gaze toward the floor. “that is, until I felt as if betrayed by you. Then the hurt from love betrayed burned so badly within me, I wished only to leave this place and never live again.”

  Looking back into her mother’s face, wide-eyed, Darla asked, “What does faith feel like? If I have it, I must feel it in some way, shouldn’t I?”

  Lowenah laughed. “Do not speak as though the suckling to me. You are a grown girl and know well such definitions. I will say this once, succinctly as may be, and you can do with it as you will. Faith, my dear, is the engine that continues to drive our lives after all hope is gone. Your friend, Paul, defined it long ago for the people of his Realm. It has been a motivating force in that world down to this day.”

  “Faith cannot stand the bulwark alone. Trust is its ally. The two are inseparable, yet both different, one complementing the other. You see, one must trust first. Without trust, you will not step on Destiny’s road to begin your journey. Oh, and there are so many things you must trust about the person or persons encouraging you to take that road.”

  “Once you have taken to the road with trust, you must ally yourself with faith if you wish to make a success of your journey. Faith leads you to action, motivating you to stick to your path because faith will give you insight, rejuvenate hope, to see afar off the promised reward of journey’s end. So it is that trust and faith will deliver you to hope, thus with faith and hope, you will successfully endure whatever the fated road may deliver upon you until the reality of your endeavors has been experienced.”

  Darla spoke up in her own defense. “Then I do have faith! I see, have seen afar off the hope we all attain for. That is why I have lifted up my sword to do battle with the wicked one, to bring to a finish the evil in this world.”

  Lowenah agreed. “And a good soldier you have proved to be, brave and fearless, a sterling example for others to follow.” She then shook her head. “But it has not been out of the faith that I speak of you having done such things. No, my dear Rachel. Child, your faith is, always has been based on the trust of your own hand. You have a great deal of faith in YOU, but little to none in others… including me.”

  Darla was shocked. “That is not so! I trust you! I do! I do!”

  Lowenah hushed her. “Your faith is in your might! Strong-willed you are, a powerful woman, keen of mind and fleet of foot. Your sword is deadly and aim is sure, but it has been by faith in your own willpower that you have forged ahead.”

  “But I have relied upon you!” Darla whined. “Many times I have cried out to you for assistance!”

  Wagging a finger, Lowenah countered, “And many times I have responded to my little child’s pleadings. Yet it was out of desperation, when all hope in your own might was departed, that you called out to me. Never have you beseeched me before the battle, requesting my presence to be with you in the contest. Always, when your strength has waned and your countenance fallen have you reached out to me. Yes, my dear one, only when all other hope was finished did you reach out for my hand.” She shook her head sadly. “So, so much like the others are you. Yes, you are not the only one forgetting me until no other hope exists.”

  Darla began to cry, whimpering, “How do you tolerate such an evil child, a misfit urchin of evil times, a Che… Cher… CherBulock?”

  Lowenah laughed. “I have already said too much for inquisitive ears. Only of my lessons shall I speak. Evil you are not. Urchin? Well, there are times. Look, I created my children to be free, independent agents. It takes conscious effort to call out to me, the very nature of going it your own way being so strong within you. But times have changed since the carefree days. Trust and faith, not in ourselves, but in the powers that can remove evil from the universe are what must be cultivated now.”

  “Listen and gain understanding. It was not the trust and faith the traveler had in himself that saved him from the highwaymen. The traveler lacked any knowledge of those dangers. Trust and faith in the innkeeper was the traveler’s saving grace. By trusting a warning given by someone with knowledge, a warning possibly given without any explanation or definable reason, the traveler saved not only his valuables but possibly his very soul. So it is with you. It is by the trust and faith you place in someone other than yourself – me - that you will successfully attain journey’s end.”

  Lowenah lovingly poked Darla on the arm, grinning. “I could go on and on. You know I love my voice when this kind of mood is on me. Let me finish with this: It is your boundless love for me bonding with your trust and faith in me that will see you safely through your coming trials, and come they will. Love will make it an easy matter to faithfully carry on when the path becomes uncertain, you knowing I will never betray you. True, tribulation and suffering may well haunt your journeys, but the final promise will always be waiting your arrival. That three bond cord, faith - trust and faith combined - hope and love will never betray you.”

  She wagged a finger again. “Remember, though, when all is finished and the reality is yours, faith and hope will quietly pass away, but love - love never fails.”

  Standing, Lowenah turned and asked Darla to do the same. Studying her child’s comely form, she lovingly stroked the girl’s skin. “You are most beautiful, a vision of loveliness. I do love you, you know. You are one of my favorites, perfect in every way.”

  Looking up into Darla’s eyes, she confessed, “You are not the only one needing faith. I, too, need it - had it in you. I did not doubt your loyalty and love for me the other day on that tortured plain. Oh yes, my heart ached at seeing your suffering, but I did not doubt you for one minute. I’m so proud of you!”

  To say Darla was shocked would be an understatement. The girl did not know how to respond. Wrapping her arms about her mother, the girl wept for joy.

  After waiting a respectable time, Lowenah finally pulled away, taking hold of Darla’s shoulders. “How can someone hope if they do not know what awaits them at journey’s end? Your sisters have hoped to once again receive the Dream of Dreams, a gift stolen from them by your evil brother. By their faith, they patiently wait for the day when another will deliver to them that dream.”

  “But for you, how could you hope for something you had no knowledge regarding? Or how could I defend your future promised glory if you too did not suffer the test of a deceiver’s heart? So, now that you have seen afar o
ff the glory of the Dream of Dreams, it is now time for you to witness it to the full.”

  Darla was dumbstruck. “What? How?”

  Lowenah frowned, then smiled impish. “My hand is short, is it?” That smile slowly faded as she stared into her child’s eyes. “I give to you both the blessing and the curse - ecstasy and agony. I deliver both into your hands. The Dream of Dreams is to be yours for the coming moment…” She turned away, hiding tears that revealed future knowledge. Excited, but also concerned, Darla asked, “Mother, oh Mother, please tell me. Do not hold back a single thing from your child.”

  Lowenah looked back at Darla, sniffling. “No child, it is enough. Like your sisters so dear to your heart, you will become, knowing the Dream of Dreams, and… and with it all the other knowledge they carry buried deep within their bosoms.” She refused to speak further about the matter. Taking Darla’s hand, Lowenah forced a smile. “Hurry now, a bath, a bath. You must carry the smell of fresh, flowering beauty this hour. Quickly be off, and when you return I will have prepared you raiment and train.”

  Darla dutifully obeyed, rushing to the officer’s showers and cleansing her body with the fragrant soaps Mother gave to her. After her return, Lowenah dressed her child in the sheerest, spider-silken gown that left little to the imagination. “Better to leave the others longing for such untouchable treasures.” she laughed when Darla commented how seductive the outfit was.

  Lowenah painted Darla’s eyes and lips, splashing a dash of colorful blush on her face to ‘add a little accent’ before placing on her head a chrysolite and sapphire crown and attaching to the gown a long, flowing, silken train, a pair of high, laced, satin sandals finishing it all. Oh my, did Darla look a sight to behold, it being said by those witnessing it that she was a thousand times more alluring than when dressed for the Prisoner Exchange. When satisfied with her creation, Lowenah led Darla from the cabin by the hand and down the long companionway toward the aft exit door of the DusmeAstron.

  The aft exit door opened on the starboard side of the ship, just abaft boiler room four, and fore the two main fueling stations and the elevator leading down to steerage. This entrance was often used by officers who boarded, wishing to avoid the formalities when entering via the main ramp. This was the same entrance Darla earlier used when she was searching out Euroaquilo before departure for the Prisoner Exchange.

  Today the passageway was noticeably quiet, no engine and boiler crews, no guards or laborers. Mother must be up to something, but what might it be, and why the buttoned-down ship, which Darla felt was also Mother’s doing? She was not kept pondering her questions for long.

  The hatch quickly slid open, catching Darla in a blinding blaze from several banks of construction lights set up outside that were pointed directly at the open doorway. Laughing, Lowenah waved her hand and the lights slowly began to dim. As Darla regained her sight, the girl noticed that they were not alone. The entire camp was gathered outside.

  Darla looked down in shocked surprise to see all the crew and officers dressed up in their smartest of uniforms. With them were dignitaries, members of the court and councils, Mother’s honor guard, and so many of the important people who had journeyed here to this little desert planet for the Prisoner Exchange, minus those journeying with Field MarshalTrisha, en route to EdenEsonbar. But most unexpected to behold was the distinguished man standing below at the bottom of the descending stairs.

  “My Euroaquilo!” Darla gasped, as her hand went to her mouth. “My Euroaquilo...” She repeated, more subdued this time.

  Stunning the man did look, too. Tall, proud, and majestic he was, dressed in purple robes of state, gilded in gold and draped in silks dyed red, blue and green. A cloak of the finest woven mantan satin, laced with silver and chrysolite threads, covered his shoulders, while a turban shimmering the colors of the rainbow he donned for a headpiece.

  Before Darla could respond to the wondrous visions she was witnessing, a cheerful applause arose from the hundreds of smiling well-wishers gathered below. At that instant, three ancient T-4’s roared by overhead, wagging their wings as they passed by. Darla was totally overwhelmed, staring out dumbly at the goings on.

  As the roar of the fighters slowly faded away and the joyous applause died down, Lowenah took Darla by the shoulders, turning the girl toward her until she peered into Darla’s surprised eyes. “Always have I desired this day. Too long we have had to wait, you have had to wait, but this once, please, forgive me for taking so long. There were many reasons.”

  Lowenah looked down at Euroaquilo and back into her child’s face. “Today you come of age. This day you will give your virginity up to the man who can give you the Dream of Dreams, and like your sisters you will become, a woman knowing good and ill.”

  Taking her daughter’s hand, the two slowly walked down the stairs to the sand below, Euroaquilo gracefully bowing, sweeping his arm out toward them.

  “My ladies...” He called out to them as he stood up.

  Placing Darla’s hand in Euroaquilo’s, and then cupping hers over them, Lowenah declared, looking into Darla’s face, “I have given to you this man who will give to you the celebration of the heart, the Dream of Dreams. A father he will become to you, to refresh your heart, mind and soul. Today you will become a woman, leaving forever the innocence of your childhood behind.”

  She then spoke to them both, glancing toward a pearl-white starship shimmering in all its translucent brilliance. “By blood does a covenant become sealed. Go to your chambers prepared for you and seal with each other the everlasting covenant that only a man and his maiden can consummate. It is the custom of our people. ‘So shall the blood of the man be given to the maiden to make her complete, and a woman she will become.’”

  Lowenah now lifted up her voice to those gathered for the celebration. “See! Our daughter has come of age! Her day of celebration has arrived. Today is a new dawning for our child, a new beginning for us, our kind. It is the assured expectation of things - that our own new coming of age will soon arrive.”

  The people broke out in renewed applause and exuberant celebration with music and song. Lowenah led Euroaquilo and Darla over to the fiery sentinel, standing at the base of the starship’s on-ramp. The sentinel bowed low, removing an ornate cap as he did. After standing erect, he reached out and took Lowenah’s hand. “My Queen...”

  Lowenah smiled, offering a respectful nod. “Do give them a splendid time, my good fellow, as I know you will.”

  The sentinel assured her that he would, quickly turning his attention to the couple and ushering them up the ramp and into the ship. After waving to the cheering crowd, the party stepped inside, the ramp closed, and the star-ship silently rose into the evening sky. In seconds, it was little more than a speck on the distant horizon.

  Rare was the dry eye among those gathered there. Few had ever seen one of Mother’s star ships up this close, let alone a fiery sentinel, and to do this for a coming of age celebration? Well, that was momentous!

  Lowenah listened to the silence as she and the others quietly stood, staring off in the direction of the star-ship. This hour must be remembered, an event that would stir the heart in the cold, upcoming times ahead. This was no way to end the day, so quiet and subdued!

  Motioning for the musicians to strike up merry tunes, Lowenah called out to the people to remain for a departing feast. “Tomorrow we shall leave this world behind. Let it be remembered with intoxicating fondness.”

  Late into the night, the wine flowed and the music played, the weather remaining exceptionally warm. Song, dance, feasting, and, yes, a few romantic interludes out among the dunes, filled the memories of those fortunate few who celebrated Darla’s coming of age. Times were changing, had changed, but tonight would long be remembered by the men and women of that world as the day of renewed hope.