From Heaven To Earth (The Faith of the Fallen) (15 page)

Riell did not reply. She did not want to believe he was right.

“It sounds like he lusts for the power of the Faithstream just as Satan
does,” Drean decided.

“Shrazz may be an exous, a devourer, but this is his world as well as
ours! Did you hear his intentions for my people? They are your people now too,
Drean.”

Drean was still unconvinced but tired of the discussion.

“I think I’m going to lie down, Riell.”

He walked back to her bedroom.

“Drean, you just woke up!" she said as she followed him.

“I feel tired. All of these emotions have taxed me. I need to rest.”
Drean stretched out on her bed.

“Alright.”

“I’m going to sleep for a bit. Then we can discuss this further.”

Riell pecked him on the cheek.

“Drean remember I only want what’s best for you: I would never try to
harm you in any way. I care about you too much to give you up.”

You did though. You did harm me.

“I know, Riell. I feel the same.”

Riell went to the door.

“Where are you going?”

“I think I’m going to go to the bar for a while and talk to Keep. I
haven’t gotten to chat with him in a while.”

“Keep? Oh right, the owner of the bar Gerald and I went to.”

“Yeah. Did you get to meet him?”

“No, I spoke with a man named Greg though.”

Riell scoffed at the mention of his name.

“That guy is worthless. I have no idea why Keep hired him.”

Drean rolled over.

“He seemed nice enough to me.”

“I’ll see you when I get back. I’m going to go talk to Keep for a while
and see if he can give me any insight.”

“Promise me you won’t be alone with Shrazz unless you have to.”

She looked at him.

“I promise.”

“Alright. Be careful.”

“I will. Sleep well Drean.” Riell dimmed the lights and closed the door
behind her.

Drean pulled the black comforters of Riell’s bed over him and drifted to
sleep.

     
Gerald
awoke next to his car. He remembered well what had taken place: the explosion,
the unrelenting hurt, the cold release of his soul’s decay and God’s voice. His
Ruah had coursed through him, sustained him and revitalized him.

Gerald stumbled to his feet next to his undamaged vehicle. He had
expected a local Hell: screams of the dying, cries of loss and fire fighters
and police trying to bring order to it all.

Just like His clean up after the fall. Just a breath and all of it was
remedied. He’s never concerned with the lives of his angelic creations and
always seeks to get approval from these humans.

“Heh, I guess I can’t really say that now,” Gerald said after considering
what had happened. He saw his reflection in the windows of his car and noticed
his wings were gone, not invisible, just gone.

How am I still alive?

Foreign energy pulsed within him. He had not felt anything like it since
before the fall.

“This can’t be! But maybe, maybe...” Gerald hoped, closed his eyes, and
concentrated on the spark of power he felt within.

I shouldn’t do this in the middle of the street.

Gerald hopped on top of an apartment building to avoid curious eyes.

“Alright.” Gerald concentrated. He felt something twitch in his back.

My wings!

He flexed his wings, felt them poke through his skin and almost passed
out. Blood ran down his back and pooled on the roof of the apartment. Agony
wracked his body.

Gerald groaned.

Jet-black feathery wings ripped his back open, and a bellow escaped his
throat. He took deep breaths and struggled to stay conscious.

Despite the torture his human disguise caused him, the ecstasy of the
angelic energy coursing through him fulfilled him more than any earthly
pleasure ever had.

“Yes! Yes!”

A window opened up below.

“Hey sicko, clean up when you’re done up there!”

Gerald ignored the ignorant man’s comment. No human would ever know this
pleasure.

He stretched his bloodied wings out. Flame rose from them and the fire
consumed him. He cried out, but could feel the change beneath his human skin.
Soon he would be divine once again. His fire extinguished.

I feel so powerful. So alive! Time to complete it.
Gerald smiled
and braced himself.
Time to rid myself of this human shell.

He ripped blackened human skin from his face and scalp and released the
pristine tan skin and long black hair beneath it. Gerald flexed his muscles as
tightly as he could. His human skin cracked. Blood oozed out of it.

“Gerald finally dying. What a sight to see,” said a voice from behind
him.

“Peter.”

Gerald turned to face him.

“Whoa,” Peter said when he saw Gerald’s charred body. He instinctively
stepped back.

“Get into a fight with a flamethrower?” he asked.

“You always look on the surface. I look beneath. The shell may change,
but you’ve always remained the same underneath that armor. The new version
looks good by the way. Is that an angel wing etched on your chest plate? What a
joke.”

Peter wore a full suit of polished silver body armor trimmed in black and
a helmet with a black visor that covered his face.

Peter leveled his rifle and smirked.

“We’ll have to catch up later.” Gerald looked past Peter. “What’s up,
ladies?”

“Turn around slowly, Herrero,” a soft female voice said from behind him.
“And put that gun down.”

Peter did as he was told and saw at least ten skia on the roof with them.
The one who had spoken forced him to his knees, took his helmet off and set it
aside.

“Watch him,” she said to her comrades. “Gerald, I am Feit. May I have a
word?”

“I’m in the middle of something actually.”

“This will only take a moment,” she said. “Our teacher and leader Verill
took notice of your ascension and sent us to congratulate you.”

“Thank you. But, your numbers say otherwise.”

“We brought them for your protection,” she said. “Herrero was tracking
you.”

“He is of no concern to me. But if you were so worried you should have
brought his dead body as proof of your consideration. You followed him to get
to me. I can’t trust you. What do you want? Tell me and be on your way.”

“Very well. Verill needs your help. He knows that you have been in
contact with an angel since he arrived on this planet five days ago.”

“Five days... really?”

“Yes.”

“So it’s Monday?”

“...Yes?”

“Weird.”

“...Can I continue?”

“Oh yeah. Of course.”

“The Curtain wants the angel Gerald. In angels lie powers unexplored: the
ultimate power to create and destroy at a whim. The Duo will undoubtedly use
that power to eradicate human kind from this world. Who knows what they plan to
do after that. Come with us. We can stop Shrazz, take the angel for ourselves
and clip The Curtain before it grows too powerful to check. No organization
should ever have that sort of dominance.”

“I apologize, but the only thing on my mind right now is flying. I
haven’t done it in so many years. Really flown I mean, and if you stand in my
way any longer I’ll kill all of you. And really, I can’t trust you. I know of
Verill, and I want nothing to do with him. Get out of here. And don’t
camouflage. I want to see you fly away. If I see any of you again this evening
I’ll burn you alive.”

Flame, brilliant and blue exploded from his wings and the rush of hot air
knocked Peter on his back and caused the half-angels to sway backward.

“As you wish.”

The skia left the two of them.

Gerald let the fire of his wings extinguish. He stood Peter up and stared
into him. The human did not show any sign of fear, only anger.

“You owe me one, Peter. The same goes for you. Tonight is mine. If I see
you again, I’ll bond that armor to your skin with a wave of my hand.”

Peter remained silent, and even though he desired nothing more than a
chance to prove Gerald wrong, he merely nodded. He knew Gerald had saved his
ass, but that was not why he was going to let him go tonight.

He wanted Gerald to leave so he could get his helmet back to his lab,
hook its hard drive up to his computer and see if it recorded their meeting
with Feit.

Gerald surged high into the clouds and released a pulse of energy from
his angelic body. His detonation’s blinding light filled the sky and crumbled
the remaining shreds of his human shell.

Clouds around him shifted, and the split uncovered Gerald’s naked body.
His new skin shone with a brilliant blue aura, and his eyes were the depths of
the ocean.

He flapped his wings once, sent himself upward through the clouds and
slowed when he felt a drastic change in temperature. Gerald fluttered his wings
to keep himself aloft.

Yeah, I’m dancing with the cirrus now. I’m just as quick as I used to
be it seems.

Gerald folded his wings and dove into the clouds below. He spiraled
downward and ascended again to the top of the world. With a land of clouds
beneath him and the stars and moon above him, he was home.

Drean opened his eyes. He was in Heaven, before The Throne of God.

What? Am I dreaming?

“Drean.” A voice boomed behind him.

God. I’m not dreaming.

Drean turned around to the Light of God and dropped to his knees in
genuflection.

“Lord,” he said. “I am happy to see you.”

“You have made no progress with your mission. Why is this?” Leoran asked
Drean.

“Lord you told me to learn about the humans and find what staunched the
Faithstream. I have done so.”

“And?”

Something seems different about him, the inflection in his voice...

“Distrust?” Leoran said. “Your sense of duty is in jeopardy it seems.”

“Father, you just seem different.”

“I am losing strength, angel,” Leoran said.

Angel. He always addressed me by my name after I received it. Proudly.
Something is wrong.

“Angel, pay attention!” Leoran grew impatient. “You will dispose of
Gerald as the skia and the exous have planned.”

Dispose of him?

“Why, Lord?”

“You dare question me?”

God’s voice reverberated throughout The Sanctuary. The humming celestinite
pained Drean’s ears.

“Of course not, Father. I live only to serve you,” Drean answered.

“Drean, Gerald is a fallen, you are aware of this?”

“Yes.”

“He is a betrayer of the light and must be erased. I thought I could
trust him, but I cannot,” Leoran said.

“I understand, Lord.”

“The exous and the skia could be used to our advantage,” Leoran said as
an afterthought. “Agree to their plan and ally with them to aid our cause.”

“Yes, Lord.”

“When you wake, do this,” Leoran commanded. “If you falter again I will
replace you with someone who adheres to my will. I cannot afford a failure.”

“Yes, Lord.”

“I take my leave of you.”

Drean awoke.

God has died. My Father is no longer in existence.

He bawled.

Riell rushed into the room shortly after, alarmed.

“Drean, I was gone for just a few minutes! What happened?” She wrapped
herself around him and rocked him back and forth.

Drean was inconsolable. He cried louder and buried his head into her
shoulder.

“Calm down! What happened to make you this sad?”

“God, He’s... dead!” he said in-between sobs.

“What?!” Riell exclaimed.

“God came to me in a dream, but it was not God. It didn’t feel like my
Father!”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes!”

“I’m sorry, Drean,” she said.

He grieved quietly against her.

“But if He came to you in a dream how do you know He’s dead?” Riell
asked.

“You know nothing, nothing about the presence of God, Riell, so don’t
question me on this.”

Riell got up.

“I just wanted to help.”

Drean realized his emotions were getting the best of him and tried to get
a hold of her hand. She stepped outside of his reach, folded her arms and
looked like she could cry herself.

“Riell, don’t leave. You have to understand, this is my Father. We have a
bond. That was what you heard when you were talking to Shrazz.”

“You mean when you cried out?” she asked and put an arm around his
shoulder.

“Yes, I’m sure of it. The pain was caused by God’s separation from me.”
He laid his head on her shoulder.

“Oh, Drean.” Riell drew him close, he cried on her shoulder. “I know this
is traumatic for you, and I wanted to give you more time to think about it
but...”

“I don’t know if I’m ready to make that decision yet.” Drean sat up and
wiped his face with the sleeve of his shirt. “But the new God said if I do not
aid you, he will erase me. I do not know if I can keep him from doing that! I
don’t want to be erased. I want to stay with you.”

“If he had the power to do that he would have already,” Riell said,and
she gripped his hands in her own.

Drean looked down at the bed.

“Maybe you are right.”

“God gave you freewill. He trusted you to make these decisions, so make
them. You know I’m behind you. We can face this together.”

Drean nodded. He did not want to resort to betrayal, but he needed Riell
now more than ever, and that need outweighed everything else.

“Alright, Riell.”

Riell smiled.

Shrazz will have to go to the epicenter of the Faithstream to absorb
it. Satan will be there. Riell will be at my side. It will be a chance to
finish all of it. I will avenge my Father.

He felt tears seep from his eyes like blood from a deep wound. It
mirrored the gaping hole in his heart. He knew nothing would be the same: for
him or anyone.

“Drean, is there anything I can do to help? We have some time...”

She held him close, kissed his cheek, his neck and his lips.

“This helps.” He smiled.

He knew it was a lie. Nothing could replace the love of his Father.
Nothing could make him forget His murder.

So, he kissed her back and tried to enjoy the time he had with her.

He knew where time would lead them, but he did not know where it would
take them, or if in the end, it would bring them closer or irrevocably apart.