Copula Chronicles: The Complete Collection: Origin, Descend, Ascend, Legacy

by Venessa Kimball

  I think back on the events in the forest when I saw the giants. “They were attacking Sondians and charging toward us. It was coming after Nate and me.”

  Daniel folds his arms over his chest. “Attacking Sondians and protecting you.”

  “Protect us?”

  Siobhan speaks up, “The thing was charging toward them!”

  “I had to distract them.”

  Monica’s voice at the doorway is a surprise. I expected her still to be with Corinna. She looks at me, drawn to my concerned look I suspect. “She’s resting.”

  “It didn’t attack though,” Daniel brings us back to the conversation.

  He was right, and he doesn’t seem to need our confirmation as he continues. “They weren’t there to harm you. Biblically, they were never put here to harm you.”

  “Biblically? Okay, you never said anything about giants in Sunday school Pastor Dan,” Elicia states firmly.

  Daniel grins at her. “Just Daniel and maybe one of the Sundays you missed and I spoke of Nephilim. Hebrew for ‘the fallen’.”

  “Fallen from where?” I ask

  “Fallen from beyond the veil of our universe? Beyond a black hole? Possibly beyond the Andromeda galaxy?”

  His prophetic words remind me of how Ezra speaks about the beyond. Angela speaks out, “Sam has been duped by Michael either through Ushering or possession, giants aren’t out to kills us, but protect us, and the soulless are out to steal our souls? Does that cover it?”

  He shakes his head. “You need faith in the midst of all of it. I’m not talking outward faith, but inward. Reliance on your spirit and the bond it forms. You have to trust it.”

  Trust the bonds––the same thing Nate said to me.

  Daniel scans the room looking at each of us. “The other beings you experienced in the forest, they appeared to be human but they were not.”

  “Shape shifters,” Jake says flatly.

  “Yes, adapting to those around them. A defense to hide among the masses. But there are others that are occupiers.” Daniel pauses and looks at me. “You have seen them in your visions Jesca.”

  His pegging me as a witness to them makes me think of the files of abductees Ezra had in Florida. “I’ve seen them in files back in Florida.”

  My throat has dried out and my cup is empty. I reach for the pitcher again and fill my glass as the words come out thick. “The abducted, are those the ‘occupiers’ you’re talking about?”

  Daniel watches me take a long drink and nods. “And the Copulas within paired with our souls are beacons, drawing them to us.”

  Balthazar takes up with Daniel, disgust in every word he chooses, “Taking us as hosts, like demonic parasites possessing a body.”

  Daniel closes his eyes and pinches the bridge of his nose. “Yes, and now that they have gotten to a few, gained passage into our world, they will not stop.”

  The image of Corinna in a vision, clawing at my leg, her eyes pools of black and her face turning inhuman. Roan and Delilah’s eyes in the nightmare that haunted me repeatedly––they were warnings of this invasion, not just my fears.

  “What the hell do they look like?” Elicia asks. “If they are occupying humans, is there some way to identify them?”

  Nick adds, “Yeah, I mean it’s not like they would have horns, tails and shit, right?”

  Daniel smirks, “No, they won’t. Horns, tails, half-man half-goat, all of those depictions are inventive and artists have gravitated to produce them, but not what is really out there.”

  Sebastian speaks, “Angels––halos, white robes, glowing auras, and wings to fly. They are beautiful when portrayed as such, aren’t they? But they are warriors that protect guardians.”

  Celestial beings. Angels and Demons. Heaven and Hell. All intangible theories and ideations, but ones that could very well fit into this maddening reality we are now encompassed in. “So, are we the Angels?”

  Everyone’s gaze moves from Daniel to me with my direct inquiry. I guess I’m not the only one that has considered it.

  Daniel shakes his head. “I’m not sure I have the authority to answer that. But what I consider is the possibility that angels could be the guardians between this universe and another. Guards of the veil, a sheath of mysticism that divides us. Now that this veil has been breached by us, a seal has been broken. Who are the angels that will take arms?”

  “Us,” Xander says, already accepting what Daniel has insinuated––that we might be the only angels able to fight this battle.

  “It seems that way, doesn’t it?” Daniel says, meeting Xander eye to eye.

  “Now, Michael Sanderson’s obsession to learn more about what is out there beyond us by orchestrating the events leading up to the intersection, has given what is beyond our universe an open invitation to enter it,” Balthazar adds firmly, bringing us back to the present situation.

  “Sam opening the wormhole for the Sondians in that forest?”

  “What if it wasn’t him?”

  I look at Xander, surprised by what he has just said. He doesn’t notice, completely focused on the possibility as he lays it out to Daniel. “Jesca saw Sam’s face shift. Saw Michael.”

  As Xander pauses, I see the battle within him not to give Sam any lenience with his involvement. “Balthazar told me what Jesca did on that cliff to Michael. We don’t know if he’s dead. No body.”

  Xander glances at me, then looks back at Daniel, “If Michael is able to possess another, even shift or use trans—transf—”

  Balthazar helps him along, “Transfiguration.”

  Xander nods to him, and then continues, “Then he could have traversed with Sam, Ezra and Nate. He could be there with them, among the soulless.”

  The truth he speaks is hard to swallow and the gulp I take leaves a strange hint of something metallic on my tongue suddenly. “All of the beings beyond this veil can’t be soulless. My mother, her soul came to me at the cabin. She’s from beyond the veil, am I right?”

  Daniel nods, giving me fuel to continue. I look at Sebastian. “Your wife, Dobria, her soul came to you. Monica, did your mother come to you?”

  She nods. I look at Xander, next to me. “Your parents and grandmother. Their souls are all there, somewhere beyond this veil that divides us.”

  “My mother has come to me in dreams more often since the intersection,” Monica says, looking down at her hands.

  “They can be our support from the other side.”

  Daniel asks, “Yes, but how will we know which veil they are beyond?”

  Everyone except Daniel, Sebastian and Balthazar, look at each other, curious about what he just said.

  “Which one?” Xander probes.

  “What do you mean which one?”

  Daniel looks at Sebastian, then Balthazar. “Andromeda is only one opening beyond our universe, beyond the veil. One opening that apparently bears the unthinkable parasitic beings eager to take over us and our world.”

  Daniel looks at each of the guardians. “How could our loved ones’ souls dwell in a realm like that? They can’t. If somehow another veil to a separate universe has thinned to ours, one that holds the souls of those who’ve passed, that might be the way they are contacting us.”

  Sebastian speaks to us, making sure to look at Daniel. “Heaven or hell, what if that realm holds the answers to our world’s salvation? Our salvation?”

  Daniel looks from Sebastian to me. “And what if that realm has the answer to why we have been divinely chosen with this legacy?”

  I close my eyes, taking in the grandness of what has transpired at this table in a matter of minutes. How Andromeda could potentially be the metaphoric hell that Ezra contemplated the night he told me who I was––a guardian. How a metaphoric heaven may exist somewhere else, an entirely different universe. And how these two realms are now in an all out war for
our world and mankind. As panic rises within me, I smell him, feel him, all around me––Nate.

  “Ezra! I can’t breathe!” My throat is closing!”

  I open my eyes as the echoing whisper in my head dissolves. I turn to Xander urgently grabbing his arm. “Did you hear him?”

  He looks at me then the others, my panic forcing his. “No.”

  The room starts to spin and I close my eyes again only to see the image of Nate, holding his throat, gasping!

  I call out, “Xander, He can’t breathe!”

  The sound of the chairs screeching all around me are an echo beyond the moment I am in with Nate.

  Xander begs to know, his hand holding my shoulders now. “Who can’t breathe? Is it Ezra?”

  “It’s Nate!” I cry out with panic. “He’s grabbing his throat! He can’t breathe! He’s going to die Xander!”

  With my eyes still closed, pinned on the image of Nate, Xander spins my chair to him, making the room move again. I grab a fistful of his shirt, to find something solid to hold onto.

  “Jes, open your eyes! Look at me!” Xander yells. I feel his face close to mine, his breath fast and nervous as everyone else in the room closes in on me. I can’t open my eyes. If I do, I might lose my connection with Nate. I whimper past the fiery burn filling my windpipe as I breathe in fast. Where is Ezra? I turn around and scan the wooded area in my mind’s eye. I can’t see him! Where is he?

  “I’m coming in.”

  Xander’s thought in my head makes me even more worried.

  “No!—I can’t!—It is too risky!—I can’t lose you too!”

  I think about me getting lost in Corinna’s head and Xander having to come after me. I know he is strong, but this is different. If I let him in, he may start experiencing what I am, and then he would be lost in here with me. I push against his mindful presence seeping into my head, building the wall between him and me. Every breathe I suck in is labored as I wheeze, “No, stay out.”

  Sebastian is at my ear urgently pleading with me. “Jesca let Xander in. You can’t handle saving Nate alone. Your connection with him is vulnerable and you are dying along with him! You need to let him help now!”

  As my grip on Xander’s shirt loosens, I feel my energy depleting as my throat spasms and tightens. I try to swallow it down, but I can’t as I gasp for air in the physical world. With no other choice, I let the mental wall dissolve to let Xander in. Instantly, I feel his presence in my head and the strength he brought with him, just as I had when he brought me out of Corinna’s mind.

  With him here, I focus on Nate and his surroundings, knowing that Xander will find him faster in my head if I do. Everything appears blurry, except for a wooded park-like patch in the distance. It only is visible for a moment, and then disappears into the fog. Then two silhouettes take shape. They are facing each other and one of the silhouettes’ hands is resting on the other’s shoulders. It has to be Nate and Ezra, I can feel their presence.

  I hear Xander in my head, “Jes, I can see them!”

  Like his words are my guide, the fog suddenly lifts around Nate and Ezra, bringing them into clear sight. Feeling Xander at my side now, I glance to my side and see his physical form. It’s hard to explain, but it feels like the only thing separating Nate and Ezra from Xander and me is this thick fog.

  Suddenly, Nate collapses to the ground. Without a second thought, I lunge forward through the mist landing on my knees next to him. My voice squeaks as my wheeze matches his. “Nate—I’m here! Xander and I are here to help you!”

  He doesn’t even look up, notice my voice. Why can’t he hear my voice?

  I look at Ezra, kneeling beside Nate now with his hand on his back. I squeak urgently, “Can you hear me Ezra!”

  He doesn’t even flinch with the sound of my voice. I reach out for Nate to get his attention, but Xander grabs hold of my hand. I try to pull it away, but he holds it forcefully. “They can’t hear us! Reaching out to him might pull you in too far to him Jes!”

  Through my labored breath, matching Nate’s, I yank my hand out of Xander’s and reach for Nate.

  CHAPTER 9: PULLED UNDER

  Nate

  Ezra puts his hands on either side of my face and forces me to look directly at him as he kneels before me. “Nate, you are not going to die! It is an illusion, a trick, to weaken you!”

  I shake my head and hiss through my closing windpipe laboriously, “How—can you—be sure?”

  Ezra’s eyes are determined and his voice comforts me. “You don’t know how to trust yourself right now, Nate. Trust me, please.”

  I want to trust him, but my head feels like mush and everything is spinning. I shake my head from side to side, trying to upset the feeling of passing out. I feel the desperation in Ezra’s grip, but it doesn’t compare to the touch that lands on my back. Pure energy and current and her. Jesca. How did she find her way here?

  I scan the space around Ezra and me, gripping his arms with the energy she releases to me as I wheeze, “Ezra, she’s here. Jesca’s here!”

  Terror fills his eyes as he looks back at me. “Shit, she can’t be here. It’s too dangerous!”

  Suddenly, an echo fills my head. “Nate.”

  Xander?

  Before I can tell Ezra I hear Xander’s voice, he hisses at him while he tries to get me to look at him. “Damn it Xander, you shouldn’t be in here! Listen to me Nate, you are not suffocating! Your fears, they are filling your head. Don’t listen to them. This place, those that occupy it are pulling you under! Trust me!”

  My throat constricts as I try to breathe, cutting off all air again. Quickly, I send him my thoughts. “No, it isn’t an illusion. It’s real. These things want to kill me!”

  I can’t hold my eyes open and I feel so tired. Where are Jesca and Xander? I don’t feel them anymore. I feel Ezra’s firm grip on my face as he holds my head up to him. “Nate! Listen to me! Do you trust me?”

  I do trust him. I nod the best I can as I collapse into him. Seeming expectant of it, Ezra puts his hands around my waist and slowly lifts me to stand. I lean into him unable to stand on my own when I feel both heat and energy emerging off his body and soaking into mine.

  The feeling of pure energy coursing through me takes over as he gives me his life force. Every wave that pulsates through me loosens my windpipe making it easier to breathe.

  CHAPTER 10: PROMISES

  Jesca

  I feel the tension in my throat give when I see the tension in Nate’s face melt away. He whispers, “It’s working. I can breathe.”

  I hear Ezra’s voice in my head, “Jesca? Are you there?”

  My eyes dart from Nate to him. My heart wants to go to him since I know he can’t see me.

  “Yes. I’m here.”

  I see Ezra’s lips move, but the empty sound in my head doesn’t match. Why can’t I hear him? I look back at Nate. He’s talking too. I see him mouth my name, but I can’t decipher anything else. “Xander? I can’t hear them.”

  “Ezra! Nate!” Xander’s just as alarmed as I am.

  The mist that pulled away to reveal them moments ago is creeping back in, consuming them.

  I hear Ezra’s broken thoughts suddenly. “Not safe—They know—Need—find Sam—Staying out—sight.”

  Xander’s hand stiffens on my shoulder as he thinks, “Ezra, we are coming! Michael, he might be there!”

  The mist is a pure white fog now, so bright it’s painful to look at. I have to close my eyes.

  “Jes.”

  I don’t respond to Xander, still wanting to be in the projection, not wanting to be pulled back into our realm of reality. “Jes,” he says again. “He’s safe Jes. Both of them are.”

  I open my eyes and glare at him. “They aren’t safe. They are under attack.”

  Xander lets go of me and looks up at Sebastian hover
ing behind me. “They are being manipulated. Nate thought he was suffocating. Ezra said it was an illusion, but I don’t think it was. I could feel my own throat tightening. Jes felt it too. Ezra, he healed him.”

  As I listen to him, it only makes me more and more angry that we are helpless to him here. “Yeah, because we couldn’t. We are here and they are there!”

  Xander speaks over me, “Ezra said they know they are there, I think. His thoughts were breaking up.”

  “Their presence has created a ripple in their environment. They are attacking for their own protection.”

  A bundle of nerves twists within me. Where are Michael and Sam in all this? I feel blind to everything that could be putting Ezra and Nate’s lives in danger. “What if it’s Michael, or Michael controlling Sam? We don’t know who’s attacking them!” I growl and hit the table with my fist as I shake my head. “ We have to go now. We can’t wait!”

  Balthazar interrupts, “The team is analyzing the devices.”

  “Fuck analyzing the devices!” I yell as I glare at him.

  Sebastian raises his voice, “If they are calibrated with the coordinates of the wormhole Michael or Sam accessed the night of the intersection, it will be safer!”

  “Something is trying to kill her father and my cousin!” Xander bellows over him.

  “If you go now, it’s a leap of faith!” Balthazar yells

  I turn to face him. “One that I’m ready to take. I already told you that!”

  Balthazar hisses, and then looks at Sebastian, “We can’t let her do this! She doesn’t know what she’s risking! Neither of them knows!”

  I rise up from my chair and face Balthazar and yell. “Would you risk your life for your father?”

  Balthazar shifts his stands and looks down seemingly defeated, but I don’t relent. “Miriam. Would you risk your life for her?

  “Yes, I would, for both of them.”

  Balthazar looks beyond me to his father. I turn to Sebastian. “I’m going tomorrow with or without the coding and you won’t stop me.”

  I push my way through them and stalk out of the briefing room, blinded by anger and tears.