“What does Adathan do?” Asked Hannah
“He is the gatekeeper of Limbo for the angels,” she said. “He is responsible for marshaling the newly dead to the gates of heaven.”
“Oh!” was all I could muster.
“Yes, it is a great responsibility and he is always in many places at the time.”
“What do you mean? Physically he is in different locations at once?”
“Yes, he has the power to split his being so that it is in many places inside of Limbo in order to retrieve the newly dead when they arrive.”
I suddenly realized that when Adathan had met me in the Mega Mart that he was also doing other things in other places in Limbo. That was why he seemed distracted at times when I was talking to him. I didn’t understand how he split his being into multiple parts.
Was he in ten places at the same time or was it a thousand? It was hard to understand how he was able to do this and keep track of everything.
“So did he know that I was the Potentate upon my arrival?”
“I’m not sure, but I would assume so. Only he could tell you that for sure.”
I realized that I had a very narrow perspective of the goings-on in the afterlife. The Ethereal Vortex was a huge place and I was only a very small part of everything that was happening.
“Why are you the only angel protecting the Tree of Life? Isn’t this a very strategic location for the demons to attack and take over?
“No, the demons are only interested in the born souls in the earthly plane. They aren’t interested in the unborn souls. These fruits have no power to aid them.”
I didn’t understand how the souls provided power to the demons. At that time I didn’t really care either. I was more concerned with taking away souls from their destiny.
“So these fruits are unborn souls that haven’t had a chance to become a human being?” I asked.
“Yes, exactly!”
“What does the Oraculuim want with unborn souls?”
“They mostly wish to use them to escape their fate in the ethereal vortex. To essentially consume the souls and untether themselves from the Ethereal Vortex.”
I had a confused look on my face and she could tell that I didn’t know what she was talking about.
She continued, “the Oraculum is a being of immense power, but it is pinned to the roots of the Ethereal Vortex. It can only inhabit certain places in Limbo and cannot affect events. The Oraculum has the power of foresight, but it does not have the ability to affect the vortex points around them. If they did escape their link to the Ethereal Vortex then the Oraculum would be very dangerous and formidable to both angels and demons.”
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I understood what she meant, but I wasn’t sure of all the ramifications. I did know that the Oraculum had tricked me as they had never mentioned the fact that I’d be stealing souls from the Tree of Life. I had naively assumed that I was only retrieving fruits from the tree. Fruits that had some kind of power, but weren't actually going to be living beings.
“You cannot give the fruits to the Oraculum, but I will allow you to take them from here.”
“What do you mean?” I replied. “How can I take these souls away from their destiny… away from the tree? I cannot steal the souls of the unborn!”
“You won't be taking anything as such and I trust that you will bring them back. In fact I have found three volunteers from the tree to aid you on your quest. I told them of your coming. They know that you as the Potentate will need their help to retrieve your token. They were quite excited to help you. They see you as a heroine in the afterlife and one of the most powerful beings inside the Ethereal Vortex.”
I was surprised and didn’t know what to say. It seemed like these souls already had a destination and purpose in the world. But, if there were volunteers then I could only assume what I was doing was virtuous. Jophiel definitely seemed to trust me!
“Their safety would be my biggest concern,” I replied
“I know you will keep them safe!”
“How am I to stop the Oraculum from taking them and provide me with the information that I require to find my token?”
“I trust you as the Potentate and I know that you will find a way. These are trying times and we must align with those who seek to help us.”
“What do you mean?”
“The war against the demons has been constant for eons. At times we’ve had the upper hand, and at other times they had the upper hand. Lately the demons have been getting much stronger than any of the angels can ever remember. They are building some kind of instrument near the center of the Nexus Point.
“The middle of Limbo?” I asked
“Yes. The Nexus Point is the center of the afterlife and is the primary point of both the kingdom of heaven and the realms of hell.”
I knew a little bit about this. My previous discussions with Azazel had gleaned some information about this place. As the Potentate I remembered a little about the Nexus Point, but could not remember anything specific.
“The Nexus Point has been a war zone for eons. Lately demons have been building an instrument that we suspect will allow them to connect directly to the earthly plane. In doing so they will be able to commandeer thousands of beings and steal them to hell. The more souls they have the stronger their forces will be. This will grant them immense power and the balance of the afterlife would be forever altered. It may even allow them to invade heaven and conquer our domain.”
“That sounds really bad,” I said meekly.
Jophiel smiled and said, “yes, that is bad!”
“What is this instrument? How are they building something like this?”
“We have never seen this instrument before. It is something new.”
I wondered what my part was to be in all this. I had arrived in Limbo like a newborn child and now I was getting involved in planar ending events.
What lives the previous Potentiate must have had.
“What about my friend Captain Douglas,” I said.
I remembered that I wasn’t only here for myself. Captain Douglas wanted to get out of his dog form and I promised to help him.
Jophiel looked at the canine and smiled.
“Dogs are not allowed in heaven - unfortunately!”
Is there some way to change him back into a human again?”