Chapter 18

Vince didn’t know where to begin. He didn’t bury his father; he had other people do that for him. He helped Karl dig a hole that they thought would have been large and deep enough to accommodate Samantha’s coffin-less body.

Chris took up the task of wrapping the body in a sheet. Since sheets were scarce, she had to use the bloodied one that had been on Samantha’s bed as she died. Chris didn’t want to use it, but she had no other choice.

Karl helped Vince carry the body down the stairs and out the main door where they laid her body next to her grave – a patch of earth next to the front door which had been, at one time, a garden.

They placed her, as gently as they could, into the earth and began shoveling the dirt back in, covering the body. As he shoveled, Vince kept reminding himself that it was this woman, the one that they were burying, that he was going to marry the day after Orion died and everything went back to normal.

In fact, he had even promised her this.

When the burial concluded, Vince stared at the new grave for a while. It was the presence of others looking over his shoulder that brought him to look behind him.

About twenty new faces came to pay their respects to a fallen comrade that they had never met. Vince guessed that the other two hundred or so new arrivals didn’t hear of the burial.

“Is everyone settled?”

Karl gave Vince a heartfelt nod. “As settled as they could be – under the circumstances.”

“I’ll need to address them, I guess,” said Vince. “I’ll need a megaphone or something.”

“We picked one up on the way back. It still works, if you can believe it.”

“Well,” Vince began and turned around. “Let’s get this over with.”

“Don’t you want to clean up first?” Chris gestured to the dried blood on his face and hair.

“No; not until the war ends.”

Chris realized that, for Vince anyway, this was a war now bent upon revenge and not just to save humanity from oppression. It was his war paint in its most natural sense.

“Come on,” she said. “Let’s go talk to the others. They’re beginning to wonder why we called them here.”

“Boy,” murmured Karl from behind them with a sarcastic grin. “Are they in for a big surprise.”

* * *

“Can you see what he’s doing now?”

Agnes and Mykella had stopped walking. They had recently found a cave which gave them passage under a large lake with ominous mist hanging over it. Agnes had noticed that Mykella’s eyes had closed. She wished that it was her, and not this child, that had been burdened with the Sight.

It was bad enough that Mykella was destined to fight Orion, but to be able to see what the Master Dreamkiller is doing, and knowing that she must find a way to use it –

“He’s not doing much, just standing and talking to someone.”

“Who’s he talking to? What’s he saying?”

Mykella sighed and concentrated harder on Orion’s lips. It only took her a few more seconds to realize the fear and her eyes snapped open. “He knows we’re coming.”

“I was afraid of this,” said Agnes and she let her eyes drop.

“But he seems to be expecting a lot more people than just us.”

“What makes you say that?”

Mykella hesitated as she hated to be inside her enemy. “I can feel his fear.”

This put a smile on Agnes’ lips. “Then Orion has doubts of his own victory.” She looked into Mykella’s face. “From here on out, when you see Orion sleeping, you, too, must sleep. You must enter his dreams – make them nightmares.”

Mykella shook her head, her red hair going into her face. “I don’t think I can do that. I’ve never done it.”

“Yes – you’ve gone into your mother’s dream. You are a Dream Crusader, don’t forget it. It is your gift.”

“I’ll be defenseless – I’ll be on his territory.”

“You must use it against him, then.”

“I can’t.” Mykella was battling the tears.

“You did it before, you can do it again.”

“But – Mom was trying to reach me, not the other way around!”

Agnes reached up and placed a gentle hand on her pink cheek. “Believe me when I say it is the same thing. You will learn to control your gift. When you learn to use it, you will have an eternity to master it.”

Mykella gave Agnes a confused expression.

“When you can manipulate the dream world, all time will stand still and you will have the power to travel in the realms of the dream. Wherever you want the Dream Crusades to end, it’s up to you. You will have the power to take him wherever and whenever you want – he will be powerless.”

“How do you know so much about this?”

Agnes smiled. “It’s all I’ve been learning for the last sixty years.”

* * *

Ilias found Tracy sitting by herself on a path overlooking a lake. Why she had climbed this mountain was a question he wanted to ask, but he was afraid that, being an immortal, he would not understand. Perhaps he could persuade her to make him understand why she desired to be alone.

She glanced up at him as he approached her. “I can read your thoughts, you know,” she said with a smile. “That was your gift, remember?”

Tracy was having a hard time remembering things as it was. The time she was Tracy Kingston was a blur in her memory now. Her fight with Orion will always remain, but her childhood was fading.

“I can block my mind from you – if I wanted.” He sat down next to her and looked out at the lake. “A beautiful place,” he said, half-heartedly. He has seen the creation of everything, so one tiny lake was insignificant next to the creation of the universe.

“I come up here every so often when I want to think,” she replied.

“Ah,” Ilias mused with a smile. “You still hold on to that mortal way.” He stopped for a moment as he watched a dove fly over the lake. “Well then,” he began again, not looking at Tracy. “Do you think that this bird can help Mykella? That by recreating nature is weakening Orion?”

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

They had debated the issue a week ago and it was Tracy, finally, who won. It was her idea to begin nature’s cycle again. She shrugged her shoulders. “He’s beginning to question his powers. He’ll probably go back to Eden to eat pretty soon.”

Ilias thought this over. It was not in his nature to think, as mortals do, for too long. He acted on instinct more often than not. “Are you thinking of going back to your old post? As Guardian?”

Tracy looked up in surprise. She had never even considered it a possibility – not after failing God. “Heaven’s no,” she said.

“You have a way of blocking your mind from me, Tracy.” Ilias gave her a smile. “Not even the Sisterhood could do that.”

“Can you tell me about the Sisterhood? You’ve never told me the whole story – only fragments.”

“First, tell me why it’s important for you that Orion needs to go back to Eden.”

“He’ll be at his weakest. His powers will be next to nothing.”

Ilias thought this over and then grinned. “Yes, I see your point.” He turned back to the lake. “And now you want to know about the Sisterhood,”

Tracy wasn’t sure if she really cared about his past or not. But, in this celestial state of being, she had to do something to pass the time.

“The Sisterhood of the Tainted Angel.” Ilias smiled as he was in a place somewhere Tracy could never be – his past. “I never thought that I, Ilias, was a tainted angel.” He turned to look at Tracy. “Do you think I’m tainted?”

She shrugged. She didn’t know how to answer him truthfully; she had never heard his story in full. “Tell me the whole story and I’ll tell you what I really think.”

“I suppose that I could be called tainted – I abandoned my God,” he whispered more for himself than Tracy.

“Anyway,” he continued, “I found the Sisterhood long before you were born. I discovered Isabella in Madrid – she was a lost soul searching for her place in the world. She was very beautiful, this Isabella, and young – twenty-two I believe.” In his mind he saw the young woman as if she were standing right in front of him.

“How long ago was it?”

He looked at Tracy. “I remember it like I remember my wings being ripped from my back. It was 1894. That was how long it took for me to regret giving Orion my powers.”

Tracy looked at him in contemplation. “Can I ask you a personal question?” He shrugged his bare shoulders. “What do you care if Orion has the powers? That he is what he has become?”

“I’ve done a lot of soul searching, as the mortal phrase has it. My place is with my God. By taking back my powers, I pray that I will be forgiven and He will grant me a second chance to live with Him in Heaven.”

She noticed a change in his appearance; he was fighting the rage inside – rage against himself. “I’m sorry if I’ve upset you.”

Ilias sighed and then smiled. “I owe you everything that I can give. You deserve to know the truth.” He paused and then turned back to the lake.

“Isabella; she had an easy mind to manipulate. I didn’t tell her about the thing’s I’ve just told you. I’ve only told her of prophecies to be fulfilled. You see, even back then Orion was known throughout the world.”

“I’ve never heard of him before I was a teenager,” replied Tracy, a hint of skepticism in her tone.

He smiled. “Not by name, you haven’t. But by atrocities, perhaps. He knew how to travel not only in dreams, but through Time as well – thanks to my fellow Oracles.” He didn’t want to sound condescending; it was, after all, his first assigned job from God as well – being an Oracle.

“Isabella was a fine lady, much like yourself,” he continued with a smile. “But, unlike you, she was orphaned. Her parents fell ill and never recovered – they died when she was eight. I went to her more out of pity than anything else. I wanted to go to her when she was just a child, but I knew that wouldn’t have been proper. She needed to live a life, no matter how cruel it was without a mother or father. She begged on the streets, she went from home to home, and almost killed another person for a small amount of food.” He looked up and saw the dove fly overhead again.

Ilias continued. “When I thought she had lived long enough, I made my presence known to her. I offered her a place to live and food to eat. Since the castle had been deserted for nearly a hundred and fifty years, there would be no taxes due for the land.” He thought for a moment and then turned to look at Tracy. “I think it was the money issue that ultimately won her. And to think; money is still the source of life.

“Isabella traveled north and eventually settled into Grendel Keep. I didn’t know what I was going to do – I admit that, but I did know that I needed mortals to keep watch.”

“What was she supposed to keep watch over,” Tracy interjected.

“Your ancestors,” he answered. When she gave him a puzzled expression, he explained. “You see, you were destined to become a Dream Crusader – I knew that, even way back then. So I had her watch your ancestors to make sure your lineage survived to give birth to you.” He smiled and looked back at the lake.

“Everything was coming together. Once you were born, I had a Sister in every generation. When you chose a new destiny as Guardian, I had the Sisterhood watch your son, Vincent, and then Mykella.”

“You don’t really care what happens to Mykella, do you?”

“Not in the sense of my plans – no. When I accomplish my task, then yes, she is important. In a way, we are working for each other: I take away Orion’s powers, leaving him vulnerable, and then Mykella kills him.”

“What happens if you fail? That Mykella dies?”

“Then my cycle begins again.”

Ilias paused for a moment, sighed, and began his story again. “Isabella was strong, but alone. So I recruited others to be with her. Sarah was next, and then came Celeste, and so on and so on.”

“Why women?”

“Because women have stronger minds than men. And they have a longer life-line than men.”

“Okay, I agree with you there; but, why me?” Tracy looked doubtful as she turned to Ilias. “I mean, couldn’t it have been someone else – like Mykella that you were foreseeing? I hardly did anything prophetic in my life except become a Guardian to Eden.”

Ilias almost laughed. “Don’t you see? You, first off, were a Dream Crusader, able to travel inside the dream realm. Then you gave birth to Vincent who became Mykella’s Watcher and protector.”

He paused to let Tracy consider all this. “It all fits,” he said at last.

“So, the Sisterhood was to protect my family and then Mykella?”

“No, not to protect it; just to keep everyone on the right path.”

“They’re all dead now, the Sisters, aren’t they?”

“More or less,” he said. “Sister Agnes left me shortly after Mykella was born. I’ve been keeping tabs on her though.”

“That shouldn’t be too hard; most of humanity has been taken,” she remarked behind a sarcastic grin.

“You wouldn’t think so,” he replied. “But the truth is, even my angelic powers are beginning to fade. I was afraid that I couldn’t have found you when I did.”

“But, I wasn’t mortal.”

“Yes; you were in a spiritual realm between heaven and earth. You weren’t dead, yet you were no longer alive.”

“So, how did you find me?”

He smiled. “The same way that you want Orion to go back to Eden. I thought that I could intercept him before he walked through the gate. But I was too late. He was gone. Vincent and his friends were gone. But you, beautiful you, still remained,” he answered. “And now, may I ask you a personal question?”

Tracy looked out at the lake. “If I can answer it,” she replied.

“Right before I came to you – just after your son left – what were you going to do? You were terrified that God was angry with you and would not let you enter heaven.”

She thought for a moment. “If I remained in the state that I was in,” she began, “then I was going to use whatever power I had to fight with my son.”

“Ah,” said Ilias with a thoughtful nod. “And here you are – doing exactly that; from a different vantage point.”

She looked back at him with a question on her lips, but she didn’t know how to word it without sounding like a child.

“You want to know what you are, if you’re not spirit.” She nodded with a smile. “In my way of thinking, Tracy, you are directly below God’s angels.”

A silence fell between the two. Tracy was contemplating what she had heard and Ilias was wondering what she thought of him again. He wasn’t trying to shield his mind from her and she finally looked back at him.

“You were tainted when you abandoned God and gave Orion your power,” she began. “And now you’re an angel trying to redeem himself. No; I don’t think you’re a tainted angel. You’re very courageous in what you hope to achieve. Like you, I too hope to get into Heaven once this endeavor ends.”

Ilias smiled and stood up. “Well then,” he said and held out his hand to help her to her feet. “We’d better get to Eden as fast as we can.”

* * *

Eden. The word entered his mind as Orion tried to lie down and get some more sleep. He rolled over onto his side, facing the wall, and wondered why he had thought of Eden. Every ten years he goes back to eat from the Tree of Knowledge, but it hasn’t been that anniversary quite yet; he still had another five months to go.

He sighed and rolled over again and looked over at the bird sleeping in its cage.

He had never had trouble sleeping before. In fact, sleep was where he felt safest. Orion sat up quickly as a thought came to him. Safety. He should feel safe no matter where he is. He is Orion – the God-King.

If I even question my own safety, then I will go back to eat. I shall eat all this time. No one shall question my authority then, and I will feel safe.

He sighed again and let his eyelids close over his blackened eyes.

* * *

“He’s asleep,” said Mykella as they stopped walking again. They had just entered a tree-lined path.

Up ahead, they could see the dark outline of the castle.

Agnes looked over at Mykella. “Then it’s time for you to do the same,” she replied.