Page 16 of An Unexpected Ascension (A War Between Worlds #1)

The Angel

Ever since that last visit from Hermes, the whispers inside my head have gone from a steady crawl to a frenzied screaming, begging me to uncover the truth, to just touch the tree.

It’s been three days now and the noise is almost too much to bear with absolutely no distraction. By the time I am finally needed at the orphanage again, I’ve nearly gone mad.

Jessie accompanies me on the walk over, her side glances filled with worry as I squeeze my eyes shut every now and then. My lips mutter prayers, struggling to focus on the words rather than the chaos inside my head.

“Are you okay?” she asks.

I nod. I haven’t been able to tell them about the relentless chattering the demon left me with. I’m too afraid they will find me tainted.

Later, Sister Mary’s voice pulls my attention from outside the window.

“Briar, dear, is something wrong?”

Tearing my eyes away felt like gum stretching from the bottom of my shoe.

“Just zoned out for a minute.”

I avoid the lie of telling her I am fine and press a smile on my face, wondering how convincing it is.

For the past few days, I’ve debated telling her about the demon, about what he wants me to do. But part of me doubts it would help. That maybe Hermes is right, I’m destined for Hell. Telling Sister Mary might only lose me the few days I have left in Heaven.

Looking down, I realize the clatter in my head has distracted me from the book I was reading to Phillip in my lap. His big brown eyes peer up at me, wondering if I’ll continue.

“More?” he asks.

I nod.

“Of course!”

Uncover the truth! Touch me! Listen to my story! Uncover the—Touch—Listen!

It’s getting worse and a little drum at the base of my skull starts to pound away to the incessant pestering. I can’t even hear myself finish the book.

Slowly, I place the boy on the ground, giving him a soft kiss to his hair before I push to my feet and pull Sister Mary aside.

“Can I ask you something?”

“Anything, deary.”

Her face grows wrinkles of concern as I pinch the bridge of my nose.

“How do I find my mother? She passed years ago. I’ve tried calling her name, asking around, but I refuse to believe she’s... not in Heaven.”

A dark cloud passes over her face, something like fear or perhaps a sadness that I couldn’t quite put my finger on.

“It might take some time. Don’t give up.”

It’s the same answer I’ve been given time and time again, meant to be hope, but it feels like a condolence. She brushes off my shoulder as if lint even existed here, then squeezes my elbow lovingly.

“Sister?”

“Hmm?”

She pauses in the doorway to the room.

“I-I think I need a break. My thoughts are a little jumbled today.”

Those aged eyes soften.

“Take as much time as you need, deary.”

“Thanks.”

There’s a ping inside of me and when I look up, I find that Sister Mary has paid off my Hail Marys. My mouth drops open, and she gives me a wink before returning to assist another sister with a crying child.

Risking a brief glance at Jessie, I slip out the door without a goodbye and traipse down the stairs, then out the door of the orphanage. Through all the chaos littering my mind, I somehow manage to think about how I feel knowing my penance is finally paid off.

A demon is coming to collect me to live the rest of my eternity in Hell and here I am, that much closer to settling in. I feel torn between the two and it doesn’t help that an invisible force is pushing me towards the Garden of Eden.

I don’t even notice, too caught up in my own head, that my feet are carrying me to the one place I’ve been trying to avoid for the last three days. As I stand at the archway wrapped in vines and blossomed flowers, I dig my heels into the ground.

It’s here! Touch me! You’re so close! Uncover the truth! Hear my story! Listen!

Screaming, relentless screaming the closer I get. I lift my feet to turn around, but they do not move. Instead, they take me in the opposite direction, under the arch and down the path toward the tree.

Branches crooked and twisting, crawl high above me, reaching down. Its leaves like rain and its fruit like hail; a storm waiting to happen. There’s a frigid breeze that combs through my hair, biting at my skin as if the world knows my every thought.

Touch me, girl, and I shall give you answers you seek and answers you never knew you needed. I will show you the secrets of the Gods, I will show you the inside of the universe.

The many whispers die into just one voice. It hisses away at me, promising me things that I should not know.

Do you wish to know where your mother is? I have the answers you seek. Just one little touch.

My fingers twitch beside me as a branch lowers, the fruit dangling in front of my eyes. Slowly, my hand creeps toward it, wondering if this is what the tree wants, if this is the Devil’s doing. Am I failing a test or am I seeking the truth?

Thunder cracks above me as the skies blacken into a cluster of thick clouds. Flashes of lightning illuminate the tree, my fingers wrapping around the violet fruit and the world swirls around me.

Ice crawls through my veins, shivers course through my bones, and my lungs collapse.

I open my eyes to a void of white, an echo of nothingness around me.

The absence of color is so bright, it burns like fire.

Suddenly, in the distance, a swirling dot of blue comes into view, mixed with purples and pinks.

Such a beautiful collage of color.

The dot grows bigger and bigger until everything is consumed by it. One by one, sparkling gems speckle the air, forming all around me.

Gasping, I inhale the beginning of the universe as it unfolds before my eyes.

As each planet grows, unfurling in quick succession, I name them in my head.

Except, it doesn’t stop at eight and the worlds now building in front of me are not planets, they’re nothing I’ve ever seen before.

They’re hardly even in the same realm.

No, these worlds are parallel to the planets that humans find many years after their creation.

Heaven, this one must be Heaven given the glow.

In an instant, the world transforms and a wave of sickness washes through me.

My feet touch ground now, marble to be exact, but this isn’t the Heaven I know.

A temple brushed in the whitest white constructs before my eyes, encasing me in its center.

Columns carved with an unearthly beauty, stand tall and proud.

In flashes, the sun once glittering against the shining marble turns into the moon looming low over the Gods’ temple, giving a soft magical glow.

Men – no, Gods – appear one by one, cloaked in exotic fabrics and adorned in gold.

They hold goblets of wine and mingle with women.

I spin in place wondering which God is the one I grew up with, the one I spent years trying to know.

They don’t see me, and they cannot hear me, so I watch and listen.

A shimmering green silk drapes loosely over one rounded, muscular shoulder of Koa, the God of Nature.

His dark curling hair atop his head matches closely to that scattered across his bare chest.

Gold cuffs in the shape of vines hug his biceps, wrapping tightly to the bulging body part. He laughs, the sound like the whistling wind, calm and delightful.

“And what then, Amadeus? He simply took her as his bride?”

Koa sips from his goblet, those eyes the color of rich soil gleam with amusement.

Amadeus smiles.

“Why of course! And she was happy to oblige him.”

The God of Love finishes his recollection of the very first pairing he mastered. It was a match made in all of the worlds; nothing could come between them. Twin Flames, Soul Mates, two halves of a whole – he went on to brag.

This God was donned in a red tunic with white breeches, both tight against his body. The blond hair he wore sat down past his shoulders and fluttered in the light breeze. He was the embodiment of passion, of lust, of love.

“Tell Kao how it ended.”

Garroway, God of War, snickers.

Black, black, black from his head to his toes.

The long dark hair tied low at the nape of his neck, his black leathers, tight across his chest and hugging his legs.

Boots, made for crushing skulls, sat heavy on his feet.

This God emanated death and destruction. Drank the blood of the fallen from his golden goblet. Breathed those last gasping breaths as the souls drifted from the dead.

Amadeus’ electric blue eyes narrow at the dark God.

“Well, if it wasn’t for the Great War of Garroway – a mindless, meaningless war struck from boredom – those two lovebirds would still be spending their last few years in each other's arms.”

“Ah yes. Garroway’s boredom has gotten out of hand, hasn’t it, brother?”

Achaz chuckles.

“Despite his recklessness, I might add that the pairing lasted even in death. When those souls stood at our gates, they stood hand in hand. Never knew two beings to be so attached.”

The God of Life recalls. He sips his wine, rubbing a hand down the center of his white Godly gown, his thumb hooking around his golden belt. That light breeze washes over them, his short ebony hair just a few shades darker than his rich brown skin.

Amadeus meets Achaz’s hazel eyes, granting him a grateful look. The credit much needed because this pairing was in fact his favorite masterpiece.

Before Kao could cut in to share his latest accomplishment, the world whirls as I free fall once again.

It seems time has passed, how much is uncertain, but now I’m looking down from the highest point in Heaven, staring at the temple. The room is open, the breeze heftier up here and the sun much warmer. It’s a rooftop of a stone tower with thrones strategically placed in a circle. In them, sits the Gods.

“They question us. Even now after all we’ve done for them, all we’ve created.”

Achaz snarks, his fingers gripping into the arm of his golden throne.

“They’re merely human with puny minds, they can’t grasp the concept of a God. It’s not in their nature.”

Koa dismisses, popping a grape into his mouth.

“They’ve reduced us to legends, to entertaining bedtime stories, to mythical beings that hold no current sway. They console themselves with lies of our beginnings of how we too were once human! Does that not light a fire in your veins?”

Those very veins in Achaz’s arm bulge, pressing against his muscles, threatening to snap the golden cuff around his bicep. He combs at his ebony hair with aggression, unable to cool the rage simmering within him.

“Many things spark a rage inside of me, brother, but what do you suppose we do about it? I refuse to give into their meandering and belittle myself by walking the same Earth as them.”

Garroway snickers, assessing the bed of his nails.

There’s a thick silence, fogged with fury before Achaz goes on.

“We eradicate those who question us.”

All eyes narrow on Achaz. He only pinches his lips, holding his ground.

“That’s barbaric,”

Kao finally says, drawing forth a wrath from Achaz the other Gods have never seen.

He hurls himself forward, nose to nose, seething.

“What’s barbaric is allowing us to be demeaned. Do you like to be belittled, God of Nothing? Do you like it when lesser beings question you or think you as dim-witted?”

“Why would I like that, Achaz?”

His voice was as cool and calm as the green silk that clothed him.

“I do not find them threatening, let them think what they will. Isn’t it our duty to act above them and not below?”

Teeth of the God gritted, grinding so fiercely I’m shocked he didn’t cough up dust. Thick fingers twitched, debating to grab hold of Koa’s robe and smite him right here.

“Does anyone else agree with this blasphemy?”

No one answered.

One blink. I open my eyes again to find myself back in the garden, except it’s not me reaching out to the fruit on the tree, but a man with short dark hair and handsome features. A woman, her red tendrils glisten the same as her eyes as she hangs on his arm, pleading with him.

“Lucifer, please, I beg of you, do not! They will not be merciful when they find out!”

She sobs.

“Let it be. You don’t need to know.”

“My dear Ada, I do need to know. Where have our children gone?”

As his fingers wrap around the plum fruit, the colors of the world cycle once again, transporting us back to the tower, the Gods draped over their thrones.

Lucifer stands in the center, chin held high, his hand resting atop the woman’s head. He strokes the red strands, attempting to calm her while she sits on her haunches, terrified.

“I know,”

Lucifer starts, despite the heaviness of the Gods’ silence.

“I know where my children have gone, what you’ve done to them.”

A smirk dons Achaz’s sharp face.

“Then now you also know the consequences of questioning your Gods.”

Lucifer’s lover wails beside him, her hazel eyes finally drifting upward to level with a set of celestial ones. She rises to her feet, finding strength in her fury.

“We will never see them again, not ever! And for what? So you can fulfill your selfdom? Wretched, heartless Gods!”

she screams.

Lucifer places a hand on her lower back but does not try to quell her madness for he too is consumed.

Acceptance fills him with each breath, and he knows what is coming, he knows the eradication will steal his afterlife, his lover’s eternity, but what’s an immortal existence without the ones they loved? It’s nothing.

Achaz stands.

“How dare you stand before a God and accuse him of such vile things? If you knew love, you would worship on your knees instead of wail in pity for yourself!”

Lucifer steps before the woman, his hand entwined with hers.

“We have no love for you or any of the Gods. Not with what you have done. Thousands upon thousands of souls gone. Mothers, fathers, sisters, and brothers. Children! Because they dare ask a question of something you’ve never let them understand.”

“Understand? You humans could never! Puny little minds. Even now.”

The other Gods remain quiet, too careful to stop the tyrant.

“I will gladly follow those souls that shuddered before your unmerciful ways. Better than to live under a God that has no love for his own people. Just know, I won’t be the only one. There will be a day where you will need your followers, and you will have none.”

A sardonic chortle echoes through the atmosphere.

“You are nothing but a pest.”

Achaz looms over the couple, his shadow swallowing them. A snap sounds from his fingers and time slows to a crawling pace, but nothing happens.

He snaps again, his brows knitting together.

As if in answer, rolling at his feet is the core of a fruit, plucked and shared in the nick of time.

The air depletes around them, vacuumed on a furious inhale by the enraged God. His arms lift to the sky, then slam down, dragging with them a bolt of lightning, striking Lucifer dead center in the chest, bringing him to his knees.

Still yet, he does not perish.

Ada curls her arms around him, now crying softly, accepting that there will be a long road ahead where their suffering will know no end.

Achaz’s head veers back in astonishment.

“Garroway,”

he snipes.

The God of War sighs, the dramatics all too much for him.

“And here we thought you the almighty one,”

he retorts.

Fire burns inside Achaz’s eyes, the time for poking fun isn’t now. Garroway stands from his blackened throne, drifting toward Lucifer and Ada.

With a snap, just as the God before him had attempted, he wills the two to dust. Again, nothing happens.

He merely shrugs.

“Must be the fruit. Just damn them to Hell and get on with it.”

A blustering cloud of vexation explodes from the deity before he says.

“Yes, then. You will spend eternity in Hell for your disloyalty and transgressions.”

Though it’s not what was expected, it’s a better fate than eradication?—

“Without your woman.”

Lucifer’s eyes cut to his, a venom swirling around his irises. He grips her tighter by his side, but the God is already pulling her to her feet.

“And what purpose does it bring to separate us now?”

he demands.

“Hrmph! There the human goes again, ordering about his God.”

He gives Ada a perusing look, his chest rumbling in approval.

“My sons have grown bored, what a pretty little plaything you’ll turn out to be.”

“And you call yourself right! How you hold us to such a standard that you yourself will not bother to match! Damn her, eradicate her, but do not whore her to your filthy sons!”

“ENOUGH!”

Achaz bellows.

“Garroway, now. The sight of this vermin is making me ill.”

In an instant, Lucifer is engulfed in flames that lick taller than the Gods themselves. Ada screams, dropping to her knees despite Achaz nearly tearing her hair out from his grip at the top of her head.

As Lucifer vanishes, so do I.