Guardian: The Guardian Part 21

"We have to save them," I rush to say to the angel beside me.

"Yes, if that is where they are. But first things first, we have to survive. If I am right, a great war is coming our way."

"Here?" I ask puzzled, wondering what anyone would want with this part of the world. He nods in answer.

"The Epitome?" I ask apprehensively, and he nods again with his calm face.

"They want to go home." he says as a matter of fact.

"But they can't. The portal is closed."

"Yes, but they don't know that."

"Shouldn't we just let them come and find out, and we could hide somewhere?" I ask hopefully.

"No, when they realize the portal is closed they will scour the earth in search of a Guardian, for they know no angel would agree to this mission if they did not have an a.s.surance that they could go back home."

"But they wouldn't know it is me."

"They would, eventually. Your scent, and your imprints are all over the Epitome. Even if you hide, they would do everything to draw you out. If they have the Divine Army with them, they could harm your parents to draw you out."

"We cannot let that happen," I cry out to him desperately.

"No, we can't," he agrees quietly, and I throw my hands around him in relief, glad that he would want to save my parents.

That is the other thing that is different about him, I realize. He is a protector, I can sense it in my bones. That is why I am always on guard with the other angels, but not so much with Penuel. Raphael, the warrior and healer. Ariel, the warrior. Azrael, the angel of death. Penuel, the guardian. They all have roles.

"What do we do?" I ask softly.

"We prepare for battle!"

Chapter 26.

"Oh wow, you are getting a lot better," Araqiel exclaims, still bent over, trying to catch her breath.

We have been at this for days now. Every evening when dad and my grandparents have gone to bed, Penuel sneaks me out of my room to the Epitome.

Today had been different, however, for I left immediately after dinner, telling dad that I wanted to go out for a couple of hours.

"Just to jog around or walk for a couple of hours. I miss the outdoors, but every day we have been working on the house," I bit myself in reproof when I saw the look of guilt in his eye.

"I understand princess, I am so sorry about that though. If it makes you feel better, the house will soon be done."

"No dad, don't get me wrong. I enjoy working on the house. But soon the days will be cold, grey and wet. I just want to enjoy this evening outdoors."

"It's alright," he'd said smiling. "Are you sure you don't want me to tag along?"

"I'll be fine dad," I called as I grabbed my rain jacket from the closet at the entrance hallway and rushed out.

My feet barely touched down on the gravel before a creature swooped in, grabbed me, and we soared up into the sky together, before landing gently on the soft cus.h.i.+ony gra.s.s of Rundskov Park. The pond just before us was covered in a golden glow of the evening sun. Araqiel then emerged from a tree where she was perched, her leafy green wings spread out behind her.

After the light small talk and niceties, the two angels then began practicing with me, making me steal their Essence and use it to reinforce the s.h.i.+eld. That is what we are still doing, and apparently I am being an adept student.

"But, can the fallen not feel us right now as we play around with our Essence? Won't they catch on what is happening?" I ask Penuel.

"No, not if we are in the Epitome," he answers me. "The s.h.i.+eld is s.h.i.+elding us!" I laugh lightly at the silly word pun.

I once again concentrate on stripping away Penuel's and Araqiel's Essence simultaneously, and it works.

"Great work!" Araqiel calls, and I just manage to meet Penuel's high five on time as I mumble my thanks. We three then seat on the bench in silence, catching our breaths after the strenuous activities. I note Araqiel's elbow is bleeding from the hard fall she took after I stole her Essence while she'd been midair, and I cringe in remorse.

"It's alright, just a little sc.r.a.pe," she answers smiling in her beautiful lilt when she sees my grimace. "I just hate that I have to recover by myself, now that Raphael is MIA."

A silence falls over us.

"How long will it take to recover?" I ask her.

"An hour or two," she says and I burst out laughing.

"What? Then why am I sorry for you?" I mock and we all laugh lightly.

"Is it true, about you and Raphael?" Araqiel suddenly asks when we fall back to silence again, the question surprising me.

"And what is that?" I ask her puzzled, curiosity having the better of me.

"That you are wildly attracted to him?" She brazenly queries. Her head is slightly bent forward as she studies me, and from the corner of my eyes I can just see Penuel looking back at me just as intently.

"That when he is near you, your temperature rises, and you begin to sweat, and that when he touches you, your senses spiral and your thoughts are scattered."

"Wow!" I exclaim both surprised and embarra.s.sed at how accurately descriptive those words are, and just how awkward they sound once spoken out.

Why couldn't we all just avoid the awkwardness by simply asking, is it true that you are attracted to Raphael?

"Ummh... Well I never thought to put it into those words," I giggle nervously at her. "But yeah, I think he is hot. And my teenage body reacts as expected, despite the fact that I loathe his very being with my whole heart." She giggles in response, and I am glad that she seems content with the answer and doesn't push it.

"Don't worry. He is used to it!" She answers me with what is supposed to be a rea.s.suring smile. Another way of telling me, you have no chance there. I answer her with a smile of my own that I hope says- I do not want that chance anyway. My phone then vibrates in my pocket, and I see it is dad calling.

"Hi dad!"

"Where are you? It's getting late."

"I am on my way. I will be there in five," I say as I look questioningly at Penuel. He confirms with a nod.

"Ok, see you then." I hung up the phone and look around the pack one last time, noticing how the pond sparkles under the bright crescent moon now up in the sky.

"Thanks again you two for the practice, and bye Araqiel," I say hugging the small girl beside me. She looks so young, and so faery-like, yet still so strong in her own way.

"Good night, Caroline," she says before turning towards Penuel.

"Have you sent word to Samyaza?" She asks him quietly in their angelic tongue. They do not know yet that I can understand them. I have decided not to tell anyone about it just yet.

"Yes, earlier today," Penuel answers in the same quiet voice.

"Will he help?"

"I don't know. Probably, but only when he knows we are sure to win. That is how he works."

"Let us hope for goodness, my brother," she says before bending her knee lightly in a kind of curtsy I've seen her do before to only him, and he does the same simultaneously. Their brotherhood of guardian angels has different formalities than Raphael's brotherhood of warriors.

"For goodness we hope, brother," he replies before rising from their special curtsy.

He then steps closer to me, wrapping me securely in his arms before we soar high into the dark skies again.

Chapter 27.

The days keep flying by fast and busy, filled with school, renovation works, friends, homework and training with the angels.

Penuel stays over every night after our usual practice at the park, lying on the bed with me. We have become very good friends, mutually respecting each other and acknowledging that we want the same thing.

He tells me great tales of the past. Of when the dinosaurs lived here on earth, giant animals that prowled all the lands. He tells of the various ice ages, and how they revolutionized the kind of creatures we see on earth today. He even tells me about the days of Gondwana and Pangea, and how the heavenly beings had feared that the earth wouldn't survive, home to all living creatures in this part of the universe, and the great lengths they had gone to, to protect those creatures living here then.

He then tells me of the evolution of man, how the heavenly beings began to realize that the son of man was an intellectual creature and not just any animal like the rest- making his own tools, learning from his mistakes, finding solutions to his problems and even going as far as to develop his own form of language.

He tells of how the heavenly beings had held a great a.s.sembly, and discussed the implication of these intellectual creatures. He tells of the age of the great amendments up there, when the Principles of Divinity or what he sometimes calls the Laws of G.o.d had been amended by the majority so as to favor the son of man, to make him the ruler over all on earth.

He also tells of how a great fraction of the heavenly beings, under the leaders.h.i.+p of Archangel Abaddon the destroyer, had rejected the new laws. How could such feeble creatures, that up to a few tens of thousands of years ago had been eating their own faeces and children, be made rulers of a world?

The heavenly beings were then divided into two factions. The pro-side had tried to explain that earth was just one planet among billions of others, and what was so wrong about angels ruling the rest and letting man rule the one? Abaddon and his followers though were adamant. What if they eventually evolved to be near as clever and strong as the angels? They argued that there would be a revolution, or a hostile takeover in the future.

However, the majority did manage to pa.s.s the laws making man the ruler of his world, and the chooser of his own fate as long as his species lives. A number of watchers had then been sent to the world, to live among man; to protect him from extinction by natural selection, because man was very weak compared to other creatures in the world, and to guide him towards goodness and G.o.dliness. Those watcher angels are called guardians.

"What is G.o.dliness?" I asked.

"A concept," he answered. "A concept of what is right and what is wrong, that had been written in the heavens, and approved by the heavenly beings. This concept has undergone numerous amendments with time, for different scenarios have arisen making it necessary to adapt. Take for example the concept of an eye for an eye. Over time we angels realized that this concept couldn't work. The sons of man would just kill each other senselessly. The concept had instead been changed to turn the other cheek or do to others as you want done unto you."

"The laws of Moses and the gospel?" I said questioningly.

"Yes, that is how they are known here on earth."

"So the angels sent Moses?"

"No, the heavenly beings sent a guardian. I was Moses."

"You were Moses?" I asked in disbelief.

"Yes, I am a guardian. Like I was telling you before, guardians have been sent to this world so many times before, since the elevation of man to ruler of world, to guide him."

"I hate it when you say him. What about all the women?"

"There are no gender p.r.o.nouns for us heavenly beings. All men women and children are he. It is the sons of man that misinterpreted the concept."

"So you wrote the bible?"

"Just the books of Torah. Other guardians and humans wrote the rest of the books in the bible. There are thousands of other ma.n.u.scripts that have been lost over time."

"Why would you write that the world was created in six days? No one believes that!"

"And I don't expect anyone to believe it in this age. They did believe it in those days, and the simple idea helped them avoid constant pondering beyond their brain capacity. But over time as man's intellectuality grew, they discovered how impossible that concept was.

That was the work of the guardians then, make things as easy to understand as possible for the particular generations. It was never our intention that the story of creation would be preached to the people to this date. We just a.s.sumed all men would have discarded that story ages ago."

"Ok. But... so what happened? How did some angels fall?"

"It happened when the first watchers were sent to earth. Those angels -Archangels, seraphs, warriors, angels of death, healers or intellects; All those angels that had spoken against the elevation of man, and shown open disobedience and defiance against the principles of divinity, were demoted to be watchers."

He must have noticed the look of apprehension that I gave him, and he nodded in agreement. "Yes, I was demoted too. I used to be an Intellect, now I am a guardian. I was one of the defiers, and so was Araqiel."

"So much for democracy in heaven!" He'd chuckled lightly at my retort.

"You misunderstand me, Caroline. There is democracy in the heavens. But there is also the princ.i.p.al rule of majority. Once a law or a judgment is pa.s.sed by the majority, the case is deemed closed. All should get on board and move forward.

But that did not happen in this case. Abaddon the Apollyon rallied angels against their brothers, and I am embarra.s.sed to say I was one of those that followed him, in spite of the fact that I knew majority rule is the ultimate decider. So I will disagree with you and say, yes, there is democracy in the heavens. It was us that tried to threaten it. An action I regret to this date." I saw the raw anguish on his face, and I hoped for his sake that someone tells him soon that he is forgiven.

"So the new order of watchers were sent out into the world of man, and Abaddon the destroyer was sent to imprisonment in Tartaros. We were not meant to alter man's life or educate him, we were just to watch and be sure that his species was not rendered extinct, for those were hard times for man. The animals around him were bigger, stronger and faster than he was. Without our protection, the sons of man would not have survived those ages."