When We Were Mortals

by E. S. Mercer

  At first nothing happened and she just screamed in pain forcing him to nearly give up. But, just before he lifted his hand off her stomach, the same familiar blue glow came out of his hand, and snaked its way inside her wound, slowly healing her. However, what neither of them realized was, that the stronger she got, the weaker he was becoming. Without his tethers fully intact, his attempt to save her was killing him. Soon, she could breathe and move without pain, and he finally lost consciousness. Zara bolted up in a panic once she realized he what had happened. He wasn’t dead, but she wasn’t sure he alive either. He had a slight pulse but had not taken a breath once.

  “I won’t leave you here,” she cried, fumbling around for her phone. “I will find help.” “There’s no need,” Michael announced, running up the stairs to help them. Uriel, who could not keep her composure stayed close behind him as Raphael and Ramiel fought of monsters and rioters who attacked just for violence sake.

  “Is he dead?” Uriel begged, trying to push Zara out of the way. “Please tell me he is not dead.”

  “I am not dead,” Gabriel said, grunting as Michael lifted him up. “Quit being dramatic.”

  “But you weren’t breathing!” Zara added. “You didn’t breathe at all.” “Now you are being dramatic too,” Gabriel chuckled. He realized how bad of an idea that was when the pain hit him hard enough for him to pass out again and back into Michael’s arms.

  As Michael picked him up to carry him down the stairs, he noticed that again, he wasn’t breathing.

  “There is something very strange going on,” he announced, walking down the Church stairs. “Something is seriously wrong with him.”

  “And this isn’t the place to figure it out,” Raphael ordered, “we need to get back to the Manor where it is safe.” Ramiel, who had found an abandoned car, perched on the curb with its engine running demanded that his siblings leave immediately. “Let’s go,” he bellowed, deflecting a stray bullet with his sword and diving into the driver’s seat. “We need to go now.”

  However, as they pulled away they failed to notice, Abraxas, who had appeared out of the same vortex I had sent Michael and Raphael back in, strolling up the stairs and into the Church with my comatose body draped over his shoulder.

  All them, focused on Gabriel, were too busy to notice, and by no fault of their own, allowed me to slip right through their fingers. *****

  As Gabriel and Zara were escaping the Manor, Renu was calling a meeting of the Renaldi’s and the remaining siblings, so they could come up with a plan to stop the ‘cursed’ from invading the city.

  “The monsters aren’t the only problem,” Alstair announced. “Guards all over the city have been reporting that they have seen glimpses of other realms. Buildings all over the city are changing and the Castle is now visible outside the city, which is causing even more of a panic. Rioting and looting have started as a result.”

  “If that is the case, the Praetorian can’t fix it,” Elaina added. “They can’t manipulate this. Not something of this scale.”

  “But we have done it before,” Renu argued. “The Crusades, the Inquisition…” “That was about people’s memories coming back and people witnessing on a smaller scale,” she retorted. “If the realms are merging, the entire world will see.”

  “How did this happen?” Lionel, one of the Conclave members asked. “I don’t know, but only Hyperion would have the power,” Renu replied. “He’s obviously up to something. Elaina, I need you to call upon the Guard. We need their help.”

  “The Guard isn’t mine to command,” she reminded her former husband. “And what are they going to do with merging realms? You want them you must…”

  She paused as she felt ground beneath them began to shake hard enough to knock artwork off the walls and anything that wasn’t nailed down to fall on the floor. Through cracked windows they could start to see the Capitol Complex from Matris appear before their eyes.

  “This will kill thousands, if not millions,” Elaina warned, rushing to the windows. “Two buildings can’t occupy the same space. The primary realms will win and the mortals won’t survive.”

  “The good news is, they will either recycle or ascend anyway,” Alastair replied sarcastically under his breath. “Their death isn’t permanent.” Elaina’s keen hearing and desperate need to protect the mortals didn’t let his comment go. “It doesn’t mean we shouldn’t help them! Death is pain. Suffering is torture and they shouldn’t feel it at all. They don’t deserve this.”

  “None of us deserve any of it!” Alstair cried. “This is a war that has nothing to do with any of us!”

  “And yet we do ourselves no favors by standing by and letting it happen,” Ryan announced, walking into the room. Elaina, overwhelmed by the sight of her son, ran into his arms and started weeping. Renu, who normally showed much emotional restraint, shared in her reaction.

  “You came back,” she said, stroking her son’s face. “You are ok.”

  “Where is Eva?” Ryan asked ignoring her and looking around. “Is she ok?” His mother had started to explain to Ryan what he had missed, but was soon interrupted by the hysterics that came from the other side of the Manor.

  “He’s gone!” Uriel screeched, as she tried to get passed the guards and out the front door. “Gabriel is gone and he took Zara with him.”

  “What do you mean he is gone?” Ramiel asked, calming his sister down. “There are too many guards for him to have gotten out.” “None of us saw him leave,” one of the guards offered. “It’s not hard to get out of the house, but they couldn’t have gotten far. The borders are patrolled.”

  Against the warnings of the senior Renaldis, Uriel insisted that she go after her brother. She didn’t know where he was or why he left, but she knew she had to find him.

  “It’s not safe out there,” Alstair reminded her. “You need to take a couple guards with you.”

  “We will be fine,” she replied. “I have Ramiel with me and we are perfectly capable of handling ourselves.”

  “I insist,” he retorted, grabbing ahold of her arm.

  “And I don’t answer to you,” she said with a gritted smile, sheathing her sword. “I have my brother, that is all I need.”

  “You can track Zara’s phone,” Ryan offered, “keep track of them and then leave at sunrise when it is safe.” But she refused. The longer they were out there, the more danger they could be in. She was angry with herself that she hadn’t realized it until it was too late, but now sensed that he needed her more than ever.

  “I just wish Raph was here,” she said, motioning for Ramiel to head out. “Gods I hope she found them.”

  “She did,” he replied. So, the two of them left, tracking Zara’s phone and desperately fighting to get through those thirteen blocks. Accidents, looting and hungry monsters threatened to make their trip more complicated than they hoped, but, short of kicking them out of the way or detouring a time or two, they were able arrive at St Michaels unharmed and at the very moment Gabriel began healing Zara. They were stopped, however, by a strong wind that carried the time vortex their brothers arrived in. Call it fate, or intuition, but somehow, although they arrived late, I managed to send them to the exact spot they needed to be.

  “Uriee,” Michael exclaimed, leaping onto the street. “What the hell are you two doing out here on the street?” Ramiel, overjoyed in seeing his brothers, threw himself into their arms. He was always the quiet one, but his emotions ran deep, and to see he hadn’t lost them made the heaviness of the moment easier to swallow.

  But Uriel completely ignored him as she kept her eyes on Gabriel, who was slumped over and obviously injured. And Michael, realizing she hadn’t answered, gently pushed Ramiel to the side to see if she was ok. Seeing the horrified look on her face, he followed her gaze until he saw his little brother collapsed on the cold marble.

  “Raph,” he cried out. “It’s Gabriel.” ***** The monsters soon fell as Leviathan’s curse dissipated, but the damage had already been done. Chaos
had spread throughout Heaven City as the knowledge of something more slapped the mortals in the face.

  The landscape of the City was changing as Matris began to displace much of it, forcing destruction and death where there once was peace and nescience. And if you were to walk down the street you would find a mish mosh of new and old, parts of Caelum that stood out from what was left of the mortal realm; Cimmeria and Magas dispersed in between and a million people from all realms face to face with each other, trying to imagine what they had found themselves in the middle of.

  The mortal’s reaction varied from thousands praying in the street, to hundreds looting and rioting while others preached the end of the world. Nonetheless, what Hyperion had put into motion was unstoppable, even for him at this point; not that he intended to anyway.

  No, he was too busy making his way back to the castle with my body. Abraxas returned once again, with Noita being dragged behind him. The King was hell bent on destroying the world and keeping me out of the way in the process.

  “If you don’t plan on waking her up, what do you plan on doing?” Notia asked, tugging at the enchanted chain that was wrapped around his neck. “What are you wanting me to do about it?”

  The King ignored him so he chose to change the subject.

  “I beg you my Lord, please consider the consequences of what you have done,” he pleaded. “The mortals cannot withstand this kind of destruction.”

  “Just like my brother,” Hyperion said, stepping over a dead body. “You have a softness when it comes to these insubordinate, sinful and vile people. You worship their weakness and as if it is a strength to be glorified. They are not worth saving.”

  “And what of Evangeline,” Noita asked. “Aren’t you afraid that you will create the monster you are trying to avoid by torturing her like this? Will she not find it more and more difficult to forgive you as you continue to do such horrible things?”

  Hyperion turned around, grabbing Noita’s chain from Abraxas and pulling the Magasian close. He wiped his hand across the witch’s mouth, causing his lips to disappear; leaving no visible mark that there ever was a mouth to begin with.

  “You are here to do my bidding, not be my conscious,” the King said, turning back around. He looked down at his hand with disgust and then wiped it on his chest. “You Magasians are even more disgusting then they are.”

  “You made them all,” Abraxas said, accidently out loud. He cringed when he realized the King could have heard him, but there was no reaction to it so he kept on walking, quietly.

  *****

  “Hyperion has declared war,” Samiel announced, throwing his coat at Lilith as he motioned for my fossilized body to be placed by a large table. “He has destroyed the veil between the realms and we are no longer safe here in Cimmeria. We need Praesidions on guard and we must prepared to fight.”

  “Fight who?” Lilith asked, dropping his coat on the floor. “The mortals?”

  “No, you ignorant tart,” Samiel scoffed, “The King.”

  “What is the point if he has set the end of the world in motion?” she asked, pointing to me. “Why don’t you just wake her up and let her deal with it?”

  “Don’t you think I would have if I could?” he replied, angrily. “I need the copy.”

  “So, go get it!” she demanded. “I can’t!” he yelled back. “You don’t need to, she is doing that herself,” Arabella said, creeping out of the dark. “Can’t you see? She has been doing this all herself.”

  “I have don’t time to wait for her to do it herself,” Samiel said, softening his tone. “I need her awake now, my love. I need to avenge you.”

  “Are you talking to yourself again?” Lilith asked. “Seriously Sammy, I think you are going crazy.”

  Samiel turned to lunge at Lilith when Arabella swooped in between them.

  “You need her,” Arabella said, stroking her husband’s face. “She will fight to the death for you, so use that.”

  Samiel took a deep breath. “Fine,” he whispered, turning back towards my body. “But until then I need her to shut up.” “Just ignore her,” Arabella replied, now sitting on the table beside me, tapping on my hardened skin. “Set your army loose on Hyperion and focus on waking her up.”

  Samiel started pacing, “but how?”

  She jumped off the table. “Find our son. Gabriel can do it. “Our son?”

  Samiel asked. “Our, as in yours and mine?”

  “Yes,” Arabella replied. “Why?”

  “Oh, nothing,” Samiel said, turning away from her. “Just something that Hyperion said.”

  She grabbed his arm to make him stop and face her. “And that was?”

  “You tell me,” Samiel countered.

  But she stood there in silence. Lilith was starting to get worried as she watched him go into a tirade about Arabella and the King. His hands were flailing as he swore Gabriel was not his son. Then he went off about Arabella being meant for Hyperion in the first place and how he was second choice.

  “You really think you see her, don’t you?” Lilith asked. “This is why you have been acting the way you have.” She looked in the direction she assumed the deceased woman to be. “While you debate your marriage, I will be calling the Generals' in for a meeting,” she said, patting Samiel on the back. “You take care of you and I will handle the rest.”

  “Fine, whatever,” he said, blindly waving her off. “Ok,” she responded, tiptoeing away. “Find me when you are done.”

  Chapter XIII

  I found myself walking towards a blinding yet inviting white light as its warmth pulled me towards the shadow of a figure standing right beyond its horizon.

  “It’s ok,” the soft voice called out. “You are safe here.”

  “Where is here?” I asked, walking into its pleasant glow.

  “A place you built a long time ago,” she said, reaching for my hands. “And you’ve been here before.”

  As my eyes focused, I realized immediately who she was. “Mother,” I breathed, pulling her close. “I don’t understand.”

  “I didn’t either, at first,” she said, pushing me at arm’s length so she could look at me. “This is amazing.”

  “What is?” I asked. “The fact that you were able to replicate yourself like this. It’s remarkable,” she replied. “I thought for sure you would be stuck in here with me forever.”

  I was still a bit confused. “Wait? What?” “One minute your father was attacking, and the next, you and I were here. You transferred our consciousness to this place. Then, I watched you fracture into two pieces and disappear,” she responded. “I thought for sure something had happened to you, but I know now the truth.”

  “And yet I am back.” I interrupted. “Explain that?” “Your father has put you to sleep and yet only part of you is back,” she said. “You are still very fractured.

  She explained that the plane we were on was something beyond those of the realms and slightly transparent. She couldn’t see everything that happened outside of it, but she caught enough to put the pieces together. “I have been here awhile and have seen the horrible things your father has done.”

  “But you have been here alone,” I added. “I am so very sorry for that.”

  She reached out and welcomed me into her arms. “Please don’t be sorry,” she said. “I understand what you were trying to do.”

  “And yet I failed,” I said dejectedly.

  “No, it’s not over,” she replied, hugging me, “This is just a temporary stop for you. You will find a way out again.” “You said I split in two? So where is the rest of me?” I asked, looking around. What had been a large white room when I arrived transformed itself into a very familiar comfy little summer cottage with great access to sunlight and the warm breeze.

  “Somewhere locked inside that room, I assume,” she replied, pointing towards a locked pine door. “I didn’t realize it until a short time after your disappearance. It’s as if you tucked yourself away until you could figure out a way
back.”

  “This is the same place I had come to when I fell into a coma,” I blurted, feeling the furniture, but it was empty and dark when I was here.”

  I looked up at my mother. “So, where were you? Where was all this stuff?” “Maybe you reconstructed a place that looked this one, but couldn’t access the real place, since you didn’t know who you were,” she replied. “Maybe you are right,” I said as I walked towards one of the windows and peaked outside. I pulled back the curtain to see a little girl standing outside in the grass with her back turned towards me. Her long black braid, dangling at her feet as she rocked back and forth singing a very familiar tune.

  “The peace I seek you give me, the love I want I have,” she sang in a sweet little voice.

  “I know that song,” I said, walking towards the now visible front door. “You should, I used to sing it to you when you were little,” Seraphine replied, sitting in her favorite chair. “Go,” she said, waving me outside, “I am tired and need to rest.”

  “Are you ok?” I asked, ignoring the little girl for a moment.

  “I am,” she assured me. “It’s just been so long since I have had visitors, so I am a little exhausted.” I thought it was odd that she would tire so quickly, but let her rest as I walked outside to greet the little girl. As I did, she turned to face me, with nine planets hovering above her hands.

  “Do you want to be the Sun?” she asked, pushing in them in my direction. “It’s fun I promise.

  “Sure,” I replied, sitting in the grass in front of her. “What do I have to do?”

  “Just sit and smile,” she said. She grabbed my hands and lifted them in front of me. “And stick your hands out like this!”