Chapter Twelve: What is Liam

His silky blond hair was in a lazily made bun. Loosely wrapped, the shortest hairs in the front banged out. The top of his head slicks quickly, becoming heavy and darkening due to the downpour. He had a stubble-growing, five o'clock shadow that was soon to be turned into an ungroomed mess. The chin turns wet, congregating water at the menton. Rain then began to facet off his beard as if it were drainage. The nose, proportionate to the rest of him, was skinny but equal. His eyes are sky blue; green is sprinkled throughout.

He was associated with gentlemen, often mistaken for an elderly man rather than his youthful age. The judgments were made based on his know-it-all attitude. It could also be because he was twenty-seven but appeared physically to be in his forties. He both acted and looked older but was in fact a grumpy young adult doing this one good act for an unknown agenda.

There was more to the kind act than meets the eye. Risk is always run in games supervised by shady dealers. Pacmen we called em', schemers, and pack rats. They meddle behind the scenes or in this case, in plain sight. Shadowed by the upper echelons of status and prestige.

He put his index finger to his lips. "Hush now, children."

A man in hangekor armor yelled out: "Diarch Herald! Who are you with, Captain?" Prancing to Herald was a soldier. He tried to evade the mud as if it were lava, not to be dirtied. His axe at hand was raised above his head, which was a poor choice of positioning for any knowledgeable soldier.

Herald yelled, "Stop calling me by my first name!" His eyebrows twitched as he turned to see the clumsiness of the soldier. "Be careful, Jeremy. The axe is going to fall again!"

He said, "I got it!" The man did not indeed have it. He slipped face-first into the mud.

The children laughed. Even under the horrid weather and circumstances in which they proceeded it was funny. It was cold, it was wet, and they were in trouble. It couldn't be helped. What added to the humor of it all was his crooked Vekso. It hopped on his head with every high-strung movement he made until he fell. Jumping off came the helmet that rolled and fell down the trail.

Herald walked over the soldier's body, signaling to have the children follow. The three jumped over the man leaving him. A common troupe that could be found throughout this small dispatch was abandonment. "Do it yourself" was the motto for these men.

Five squad members were sent to repair the latching on the trailer. As long as the wood wasn't twisted or somehow broken apart, the hitch would stay stable. It would be without the locking mechanism that tightens the coupler, but it would be okay to ride on. The heavier wood side, the trailer, would lay on an unsecured latch. The driver would also have to navigate well enough not to hit another steep pothole like they did.

The three did as they were told and didn't speak a word. The man walked back picking up the smallest, who began to cough. He rolled his eyes as he went back and did it, but it helped either way. It ate at his heart to watch her struggle and if he were to ignore the little girl, bad juju would befall him.

The middle, startled by this decision and as a sort of defensive mechanism grabbed for her sister. The man with minimal effort put her to the side. She stopped in her pursuit, exhausted. She looked toward her brother for guidance. He followed Herald, and she followed the boy.

They met with the two individuals who had done the headcount earlier. The men stared directly at Herald as though he were the only thing to be seen, the center of attention at all times. The Diarch informed them: "We will be lagging a little bit behind and something new." He looked at the kids, saying, "Something of great importance has come up. Things will go according to plan—just another bump in the road." The child in his arms coughed, stopping him from finishing. He restarted, "As I said, it's just another bump." The girl coughed again and the man over exaggerated his response, this time holding his mouth positioned at the word he was last left on. He stood frozen in place. The men did not get the joke, but the child did laugh while coughing. He noticed her red nose worsening. He put the three inside the carriage without another word being spoken.

He lifted them onto the straightened-out tailgate. The youngest first, then the middle, and the boy.

The Diarch-angles oversaw scientific discovery, exploration, medical advancement, support in disaster relief, etc. The organization and promotion of the Diarcheristis, or Science Division of God's Cherubim, the counsel of the body that communicates with heaven on behalf of his majesty, furthered the war efforts in a way never thought possible. In the span of a decade, transportation technologies were developed: steam-powered engines pulling large locomotives, railroads, and stations across the physiology of the Azure were under construction to provide access to the Delta's east. The wetlands of that region and others alike were gone, modernized into trainways as tides were lowered through man-made dams. The dams siphoned and contained where the spillage should have gone.

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Much larger ships made up of steel, shipment facilities, and docking structures are also now being built in the Niles. Niles that led to vast amounts of water. One of the sides the Niles branch spills into is the upper ocean, the Sonit. The Sonit encompasses the Northern Regions of Heaven, consisting of several hundred islands, villages, cities, capitals, and the two sister nations, the Benign and the Dal Republic. The two northern nations form the top of heaven itself.

Weapons known as Santuses, tools for mass destruction imbued with godlike energies were being produced. Batteries that hold more potent energy, synthetic enhancements, and vaccines for most common diseases were found and designed for use. Because of Diarchy, advances in biology, astronomy, progress toward truth and true knowledge. Leaps and bounds were being made thanks to people like Herald.

They were archangels of their own right, important figures in heaven. Higher than most chains of authority in pure prevalence. The Diarchy was well perceived by the public, and people listened to what they had to say. Suppose it is a reflection of their stature in a society that doesn't know any better.

In the camper, the children would find their corner to huddle in search of a delegate for forgiveness. Someone, anyone who would swoop them away from their unknown faiths. And If Herald were to be their guardian angel, then let it be. They felt safe momentarily, and he was good for it.

The inside of the carriage felt larger than what the outside perspectives led you to believe. The depth, much deeper than expected, made the floor space feel roomier. A man in their squad who was 6'9 could move around on the inside just fine. Before the addition of children, there were twenty men in total; you could imagine how enormous it must have felt for them. And the fact that it could be operated as a vehicle and ridden upon was fascinating to all.

People shuffled, argued, worked on repairs, and multiple conversations went from left to right. From behind the tailgate is where the loudest voice instructed the angels and men: "Okay, back inside! Hurry it up folks, we don't have all day! I want to get back home too!"

An unknown soldier stepped inside, spitting on the floor. He stared at the children like food. The next inside the vehicle was Herald, who sat by the children shielding them away. Everyone took their seats. The driver could be seen through ventilation getting aboard. The boy focused on the slits above him. Only a sliver of the driver could be seen from where he was positioned, peeking out through the wooden vent.

The reins dangle low. He wraps them twice around his hand, so the next time an incident like this happens, he'll be prepared. He lifted the rein above his head where it could be seen by the boy. Bringing them back down gets the horses going. Subtle bumps could be felt on the road, but nothing with enough force to dismantle the vehicle yet again.

Jingles could be heard chiming along hard movement and against the weather's wind.

The boy extended his head to get a better view. He saw that this person was wearing a fool's cap. It was muddied like he should be. Red, blue, and yellow were the cap's original themed colors. He was curious to see more of the driver, but there was nothing else to be seen.

The cap jingled on. A whistle along the wind, metal clinked together as the bells collided, and hard jangles from smaller balls within the bells happened as bumps along the path were hit. A band played outside if you listened in, tunes were released from the driver's hat. The fools' cap performed music.

A soldier from back inside the camper asked, "Who did you get with you, Herald?"

Herald didn't respond. The person scoffed, and another chimed: "I bet the bastard found a girl. Taking her back to camp—am I right, Diarch?" The boy looked up to see Herald's reaction. Herald looked around the camper as if he hadn't heard a thing. The men began to talk to the children. "What do you three have to say, huh?"

The children did not speak, they were doing as told, lips sealed and puckered into the mouth. All except for one. The little girl, in a delayed reaction, went to answer the question.

Herald noticed taking her place in the gossip and said, "For all of you curious!"

The little girl looked up at Herald remembering her sworn vow, but there she was, trying to have a nice conversation.

Herald looked at the two most talkative men, staring deep into their souls. "They are demons from Gehenna." The two appeared to be confused; one eyebrow rose, the other lower, and their foreheads' skin rode up. "The Inferno, no? What about Hell? Has anyone been there?" The two men did not answer. Herald did not acknowledge, but only them. He was waiting for a response he knew would go in his favor.

The rest of the carriage murmured on how to answer the question like a hard-to-solve equation. They were hesitant to embarrass themselves in front of the smartest person in the room. The men shook their heads at all of it. To Herald, to all questions, and took the claim that demons were among their ranks as a falsity.

"As you all know," he said "I've been to hell." He said this in order to throw the soldier off track. He went into another side matter on a completely different subject. The topic was an expedition known as 'Liam.' A direct order from the big man himself—"the real deal" as he put it —"to find highly classified information." He never went further than this.

He would talk of creatures of the night and how they appeared. He called them animals. He talked about how good men, like these soldiers, died in vain and that the first trip to Hell was a disaster.

Jeremy, the soldier who had slipped and fallen on his face earlier, laughed abruptly. "I figured it out! Those kids aren't demons, are they?"

Herald took a deep breath, releasing it. He smirked, saying, "You got me. I was being sarcastic." He explained, lyingly: that children were embarking on a similar journey as men. He assured the men that the children wouldn't be an issue and would be gone once they arrived at their destination. Nothing of importance happened after. The rain let up, it was almost dark, and everyone was more exhausted than before.