Veiled

by Silvina Niccum

  VEILED

  “I have always existed,

  not just me but all of us,

  the spirits who wait to live.”

  By S.B. Niccum

  PUBLISHED BY:

  TreasureLine Publishing on Smashwords

  Veiled

  Copyright 2011 by S.B. Niccum

  All rights reserved.

  This book or parts thereof may not be reproduced in any form, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means without prior written permission of the authors, except as provided by United States of America copyright law.

  Smashwords Edition License Notes

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only or provided by the author of publisher, then please purchase your own copy out of respect for the author's work.

  The following is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are fictitious or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, to factual events or to businesses is coincidental and unintentional.

  Views expressed in this work are solely those of the author.

  * * * * *

  I dedicate this book to all those who came before, whose faces and lives sparked and inspired my imagination since I was a child. I also dedicate this book to all who loved and helped me along this journey: my husband, children, parents, siblings—families are forever.

  * * * * *

  A note from the Author:

  This book is a work of fiction.

  It is neither doctrine, nor doctrinally correct.

  This book happened because I let my imagination go wild.

  If you want to know what is real, read the Scriptures!

  * * * * *

  Characters and Gifts:

  Tess: Gift of Discernment

  Alex: Gift of Wisdom

  Celeste: Gift of Faith

  Russell: Gift of Working Miracles

  Nancy: Gift of Healing

  Valerie: Gift of Premonitions

  Dorian: Gift of Visions

  Dane: Gift of Healing

  Henry: Gift of Knowledge

  Katie: Gift of Interpretation of Tongues

  Leo: Gift of Discernment

  Irene: Gift of Discernment

  Estelle: Gift of Beholding Spirits

  Max: Gift of Tongues

  Luz: Gift of Beholding Spirits

  Amor: Gift of Healing

  Paz: Gift of Knowledge

  Fallen Angels:

  Agatha

  Eros

  Eugenia

  Amanda

  Marcel

  * * * * *

  Preface

  “And there was a war in heaven:

  Michael and his angels fought against the dragon;

  and the dragon fought and his angels,

  And prevailed not;

  neither was their place found any more in heaven.”

  Revelations 12:7-8

  I have always existed. Not just me but all of us—the disembodied spirits who wait to live.

  We were formed by the Eternals, whose image we resemble. They are the creators of the universe; they are immortal, perfect and beautiful in every way, not just their bodies but their minds as well. They have reached their full potential of progression and evolution. They are omnipotent and omniscient.

  Most of us follow them and obey their laws. However, there are those among us who are rebellious and devious, and do not like to comply with the Eternals’ rules. These rebellious spirits rejected the plan of the Eternals for our evolution, and wished to appoint a new ruler—the Second One—over our future planet. They are gaining strength and a large following; their hope is to overthrow the First One, our current ruler appointed by the Eternals.

  The time has come for us to choose sides and the choice is clear for me…but that is not the case for all. If those of us who oppose the rebellion fail in our attempts to stop them, we will be destined to live our next life in servitude to an unjust and cruel god.

  * * * * *

  Chapter 1

  “He would rather see them fail, than fully evolved?”

  “Of course not! He would rather see them choose for themselves if they want to progress and fully evolve,” Michael countered.

  “Choose? Choose? We will fail without the Second One’s help and they won’t do anything about it!” Beelzebub said, pointing to no particular place in space. “The Second One guarantees us full evolution into Immortality, isn’t that what we all want?”

  “The First One would rather die for us a thousand deaths than see us fail, but he would never take our freedom to choose away from us.”

  “The Second One guarantees us that not one soul will be lost or suffer unnecessarily. The First One guarantees us nothing. Who would be fool enough to follow this First One?” Horrified gasps and murmurs were heard throughout. No one had ever been so insolent when referring to our leader.

  “The Second One is the most qualified to lead. He’s been preparing for this task his whole existence. If we follow his lead, we will all make it!” Cheers erupted from a large number of spirits that were clustered together at one side of this council. They were the Fallen Angels, the rebels who followed the Second One.

  We’ve come to this council to hear the debates between one of the First One’s most trusted High Councilor, Michael, and one of the Second One’s most persuasive minions, Beelzebub. The point of these debates is to help us figure out what the best way to acquire more knowledge and experience should be. Most of the spirits assigned to Earth are present, and though my clan and I already know what side we are on, many other spirits are undecided.

  Beelzebub continued with a loud voice, “Listen to me Spirits of Earth, under the Second One’s rule you will have equality. No one will lack for their basic necessities; everyone will be guaranteed health, and an equal—longer life span. We will have no wars among ourselves, because we will be unified under one ruler—the Second One—at all times. There will be no rebellions. Justice will be swift and peace will abound for all and in all generations.

  “Since we were given spiritual form, we have all witnessed what has happened in other Planets. We have seen what wars and sickness can do. We have helplessly witnessed the sorrow and anguish that all these are capable of inflicting on mortals. If we follow the Second One, we will never have to worry about those things. We will be free to pursue our own interests and develop our talents without the waste of life. Relinquish the day-to-day cares to the Second One, and together we will evolve into a glorious society.

  “What more could we want out of life? Why would we ever accept the Eternal’s faulty plan? Why should we do what other worlds have done? We are smarter than they, we can choose a better way to live, and we have the option to choose another ruler—The Second One!

  “He will lead Earth to greater peace and we will show the Eternals and the Universe at large, that we, the spirits of Earth can accomplish that which has not been accomplished before. Who is with us?” Beelzebub shouted, and the same group of eager spirits erupted in cheers. Scattered groups of spirits throughout the rest of the crowd cheered as well, but the majority did not, and this angered him; one could see it in his face.

  He had been very persuasive, but the number of spirits cheering were nowhere near the number he expected. He had hoped for a major uprising, but only managed to impress a few of the undecided spirits. I had to admit that he made a tempting point—life without the threat of wars and unnecessary death due to ill health was very desirable. As he said, we could focu
s on developing our talents and providing for ourselves better—right?

  It was now Michael’s turn to speak; he had been calmly waiting on his podium, which was placed at the other end of the stellar stage.

  In the center stood the rest of the High Council with two Royal Court Cherubs and Seraphs on either side. Each of the Cherubs was holding a Flaming Sword tip down in front of them—currently the swords were inactive, but the Cherubs seemed quite ready and willing to let them light up. I wasn’t sure what kind of damage a Flaming Sword could do to a spirit that feels nothing, but I heard that they are the only weapons that can actually hurt both the living and the… not.

  Behind the High Council was the Choir of Angels. The whole bottom row of the choir was holding bells, the top row was holding trumpets, and the Angels that stood at each end of the choir were holding huge harps.

  “Thank you, Beelzebub, you make a very compelling argument,” Michael said with an earnest look as he faced his opponent. Then he turned and looked at us with a pleasant, easy smile. The contrast between the two was staggering. While Beelzebub looked agitated and defiant; Michael looked calm, confident and stately.

  “I too love peace. I too love equality, but the First One loves us too much to force those principles on us when we will have no memory of this conversation. Once we step through the Veil, we will forget about this debate, what was said here, and our vote. We will even forget all about the Eternals, the First One, and the Second One.

  “We will still be who we are… but think about how we might feel obeying without knowing why? If we do as Beelzebub suggests, all we will know when we get to Earth is that our leader imposes rules on us, rules that we might not understand and may even want to defy—and if we do—what then? What is this ‘swift justice’ that Beelzebub so casually mentions?”

  Murmurs rose from the masses. Many spirits were nodding their heads, realizing for the first time what the implications of the Veil could have on this decision.

  “And if we are to have equality, you might want to ask yourselves why the Second One is promising some spirits ‘a favored position in mortality’ if they join his cause? How equal is he really going to be, when he sets himself above the rest of us here and now?” Beelzebub looked positively livid at that last comment and eyed Michael with a flash of hate. Michael, however, either didn’t notice or ignored him, and continued with his side of the debate.

  “I assure you, the First One does not want to see anyone lack for basic necessities, but the choice for a unified government, with true equality, has to come from us. He would never impose a law on anyone who will have no recollection of ever agreeing to it. He would never make you obey His laws out of fear and He would never force you into a spiritual evolution you know nothing about.

  “But He will come and dwell with us, and teach us all He knows. He will live among us and sit on the ground with us—not a throne. He will pay the way for us to evolve and progress if we choose to do so. And he will show us how to create a free government with equal rights if we but ask.

  “No one can guarantee our safe passage into evolution; not the First One, not the Second One, not even the Eternals can. The only one who can is you, to yourself and to no one else. But the First One will guarantee us one thing—freedom.

  “To spiritually evolve and progress we’ll need two things: experience and freedom. Experience is the reason why all worlds follow this plan. Experience has taught even the Eternals that true evolution of souls happens when they are free to make their own decisions. In fact experience has also taught the Eternals that the Second One’s way does not work, for it is not such a new idea after all.” Michael pointed one arm at Beelzebub and stepped down from his podium, floating in space and coming closer to the masses.

  “The Second One’s plan has indeed been tried and it was a tremendous failure.” He continued while still pointing an accusatory finger at Beelzebub. Loud murmurs rose from the crowds at this last revelation, but Michael continued and the crowds’ comments died down.

  “So either he who is so well prepared and qualified to lead our world is ill informed, or he knowingly deceives us. If he deceives us, we should ask ourselves—why? What purpose does he have in doing so?

  “If he does not deceive us, and is ignorant on this very crucial point, then we should be asking ourselves—how prepared is the Second One to lead our world?”

  The throngs could no longer be contained and almost at once a loud mass of voices burst out, some angry, others happy and cheering. The whole gathering of Earthlings was in an uproar—I could see groups of spirits from the rebellion shouting at the ones who were cheering. Some even started pushing and shoving others, as if that would do any good!

  Celeste came to my side, grabbed my arm, and pulled me away, without anyone from our clan noticing. Once we were out of the council area she looked suspiciously around.

  “Tess, guess what I just found out!” she whispered.

  “What?”

  “The location of a secret Cherub training ground,” she said with awe.

  I rolled my eyes. Was she really thinking about playing around at such a time? I looked at her and her eyes looked expectantly back at me…so I guess she was.

  “Celeste…” I shook my head, not sure which of the many reason to give her, as to why this was not a good time.

  “Come on, Tess! We know where we stand. What’s the purpose in staying here? Let them fight it out if they want to…we are going to find ourselves some Cherubs!” she insisted.

  How did she do this? How could she always find a way to sound remotely logical when there was no room for logic? She could see that I was considering it, so she just grabbed my arm again and pulled me out toward space.

  I reluctantly followed her, but felt way too anxious about our escapade to enjoy it. Last time we got caught doing something forbidden, the High Council seemed annoyed—more so than usual. I couldn’t tell for sure, but some of them looked at us with distrust. It made no sense to me at the time, but now in light of the latest developments, their reaction seemed warranted.

  She literally pulled me all the way to a still developing planet that had several deserted canyons. They were narrow orange-red labyrinths that would—in theory—be a great place to hold Sentinel and Herald training.

  Cherubs train humans to be Sentinels and Heralds and only the most gifted and devoted spirits are chosen. Looking for these Cherub training grounds was an ongoing quest for us human spirits. We are completely mystified by the humanoid creatures that the Eternals created soon after they formed the First One and the Second One. Seraphs are really fascinating too, but they keep more to themselves and are extremely hard to follow.

  Cherubs are double the size of a large human, completely white—skin, hair, feathered wings—even their fur raiment is white. Seraphs, on the other hand, are golden a little bit smaller than Cherubs, but still bigger than any human. They are half human from the waist up, and half lion from the waist down, and their wings are leathery like a bat’s. They dress in much the same way as Cherubs do, but the fur raiment is golden like their skin. Both species serve as the Eternals’ personal guards and help keep the Eternals’ creations and Universal Law in check.

  “Come on...we are so close, I can feel it!” Celeste said as she zigzagged her way through this planet’s orange-red desert landscape.

  “This is a bad idea. What if we get caught again? The High Council will banish us!” I said cowardly.

  “Oh, come on. You worry too much, and exaggerate too. If, and I stress—if—we get caught they’ll be mad, but they’ll get over it.”

  I nodded and we moved cautiously forward, seeking temporary shelter behind the little rock formations.

  “Will you relax; you look like you just saw a ghost!” Celeste teased.

  “I am a ghost. Besides, I feel like we are being followed.” I insisted.

  “Technically, you are not a ghost—you haven’t lived yet—and ghosts are dead mortals.

  “
Besides…who would be interested in following us?” She turned and glided forward more cautiously now. Her feet were hovering inches from the ground, and as she moved, the folds of her robe passed through the solid mass of the grotesque rocks that looked more like disfigured little humans than mineral deposits. In front of us was a mesa that would provide more cover than these rock goblins that surrounded us.

  “I’m not imagining this, Celeste. I can tell when other spirits are near.” I warned her, but she ignored me still.

  “Shh, we are almost there.” She hurried to the mesa, one of many on this planet’s soil, and slowly hovered upward to peek over the top. Then she quickly ducked down again, her face showed concern for the first time since she dragged me along on this harebrained idea of hers.

  “What! What did you see?” I demanded.

  “Boo!” the noise came from the other side of the mesa, and it gave us both a start.

  “You set us up!” Celeste bellowed as she flew up, and in a flash was punching the airy figures of Dorian and Russell. Alex was there too, but laughing his head off as he floated on top of the mesa.

  “Ouch! I almost felt that. Do it again!” Russell laughed.

  “Yeah… and she’s quick too—look!” Dorian tried to get Celeste back, but she quickly blocked all his attempts with her forearms.

  “You think you are so funny, don’t you? I can’t believe I fell for it; I should’ve known that you guys wouldn’t leak information like this so casually,” Celeste said good-humoredly.

  The three laughed again, and Celeste began another round of punches.