Legacy of the Defender (The Defender Series Book 1) (22 page)

Opening my eyes to this pain was not something one could prepare for.  I could feel ribs through my lungs, muscles tore, and my spine felt crushed.  Breath would not come.  Paralyzed and unable to cry out...I was helpless.  My eyes could only open half-mast.  The creature held me in the palm of his hand now and looked at me.  His mouth opened while raising his hand.  He intended eat me. 

Sudden thoughts of Heaven rallied my focus.  I really wanted to be there.  Energy inside of me flared to life.  The last piece of the process fell into place.  He started to push us into his mouth, Malnuras, and myself, smashed together.  Recognition came a moment too late, as he must have felt the energy coalesce.  He pulled his hand back to look at what was happening.  Last thing I saw was his face go blurry with a surprised look, and he roared at the top of his lungs as he hurriedly tried stuffing me into his mouth. 

We were gone before he finished his action.

Floating again.  The pain this time was so intense...I felt numbness set in.  Darkness swirled about me.  It felt like falling this time.  The stars in the cosmos came on like a light switch.  My eyelids crept open as they struggled to focus.  I looked up at moving clouds.  The rainbow pattern of the shield protecting the city far beyond the clouds came into view.  We made it.  

Everything hurt.  Hands, many hands carried me and healing energy flowed slowly into me.  Vertebrae popped back in to place as the spine began to move back to normal.  Cool air filled my lungs.  I could breathe.  My chest rose as my lungs filled deeply and exhaled hard.  Muscle fibers rewove themselves.

“Father, he lives!”  I heard an angelic voice say. 

"It is a miracle of the highest favor.  Father has blessed him."

"He has lived up to his name.  He has honored his father."

“
Of course he lives,
” I thought.
  “He’s right here
…Wait what did they just say?  My father left when I was but a child.  What does he have to do with any of this?”  I tried to pick the voice out and track the sound of it with my eyes, but the motion around me was a flurry.  Many hands continued to touch me and heal me further.  However, the damage had taken its toll on my mental state.  A swift tiredness wash over me that bathed me in peace and closed my eyes.  Light descended all around me.  The need for sleep beckoned.

“The Defender chose him for many reasons,” I heard a voice say that sounded like Malnuras.  “One of which is the resilience to bounce back from death.” 

“My student has surpassed the teacher it appears,” Mathias chimed in. “Let him rest.  He has earned it.  He will need more than healing magic to regain his strength and recover from such grievous wounds.”

“He saved Heaven.”

“Indeed.  He made his father proud.”

Focus was impossible.  I gave in.

XVI

Portals

Moonlight fell on the surface on the land, illuminating everything in an eerie glow while casting many more shadows in return.  The world was silent at this late hour, far too silent than it should be.  No critters dared stir where thousands of sounds usually filled the night with their orchestra of nature, all playing the same song in different sections like a real concert it seemed.  Tonight the forest knew something was about to happen, and all those critters hid and stayed quiet – all the way down to the strange crickets that crawled here.

This was the third day of my hiding like a fugitive.  My instructions were to wait here and, under no circumstances, leave the area.  So it felt like hiding out or hiding from something.  I was never much for slinking around.  It was hard to not feel kind of dirty, like I was up to something, especially here.  A foul stench hung in the air that I could not quite identify yet. 

The soil was dark brown to red in places and a murky purple color in other areas.  Even the rocks had streaks from the taint that was millions of years old and infected the stones.  I had smelled foul odors before and this was a close second to offend my nostrils.  All of it smelled almost like...I paused.  I almost had it, but then the thought escaped me.  My mind began to run through all the smells I had experienced in the last few years.  No familiar smell registered.  It felt it was coming out my pores and had fully permeated my nose and lungs. 

My minded drifted back.

It was hard to imagine what had happened to me in the last few weeks.  Upon waking up, I was staring into the face of my teacher, only it was not really Malnuras.  It was another of the faces of God.  He was one of millions that had a different embodiment.  Each managed the aspects of Heaven.  Feeding the people, listening to them, and granting audience with God occasionally were among their tasks.  It was strange to think people here ate since they were just a soul.  I guess the desire to feast did not fade even with a perfect body that would never get sick or die.  Daemon hordes attacking Heaven to consume your soul was not covered by that clause.

The story of the after is when a soul dies they go to be with God in Heaven if they followed the tenants of that faith.  What they did not know was you could choose where to go or live, but your soul had to be manifested in a somewhat of a physical form.  A daemon could hurt you still, and then consume your essence, leaving you just a husk.  You would not exist anymore.  In God’s plan, he did not account for Heaven being under siege for thousands of years.  It was not a short sight on his all-knowing ability.  Lucifer was sneaky and caught him off guard.  Death is what allows souls to leave Earth when they die, and the blood of your body is what activates the portal to allow your soul to go to him.  I had to chuckle that God was so busy maintaining protection of his occupants that he had to turn his back on everywhere else.  Not many prayers found his ears nor did help from On High come around much.  

So to open my eyes and see another version of God standing over me was unsettling and unexpected.  Sure, he had all of Malnuras’s features and even his memories, but the voice was different enough but still the same.  The mannerisms slightly changed.  Yet, it was not my teacher; and to think that I had been living with part God himself for many years.  He never told me anything that would have led me to even see that.  It was hard to not feel lied to, but I understood that he had to keep it secret.  If word got out that he was God, any time we visited a town outside the walls would raise questions.  People who had chosen to live outside the city of Heaven would have no real memory of it.  They lived in a place of their choosing.  Not many wanted to leave the afterlife.

They did not get visits from any of God's faces.

Yet some held onto the idea of life and chose to exist outside of Heaven’s walls.  Villages and cities were all over the realm; none within several thousand miles of Heaven.  It was doubtful that the horde knew they were there until recently.  The city of Heaven held the attention of the horde for several thousand years, until now.  That last village was proof.  The horde consumed them all.  A moment of remembrance was all that I could afford right now.

Those who tended to my wounds mentioned that the walls were safe and the shield was back at full strength.  They called me the "Savior of Heaven" when greeting me.  Everyone knew who I was and so many people wanted to shake my hand or hug me.  This was a utopian society without a care in the world, until they saw it was vulnerable.  Their underlying fears were now all over their faces, with a good reason to feel this way.  They did not feel safe.  It would take some time to restore.

It was strange to me that the man escorting me around had no name.  They called him Father.  His face was known everywhere as the face of God.  I wanted to call him Malnuras, but the need to do so went away in the first few days.  He was also very scholarly.

He spent many hours explaining to me how things operated in Heaven.  God’s power provided everything for the people.  They did not have to work for food; someone provided for those who felt the need to or simply enjoyed the experience.  The city did not have any waste, as the food eaten looked like food but was really made of energy that nourished the spirit.  Anything the mind could desire was available.  You could eat and never get fat.

My food was organic, for there were thousands of people that had their own gardens and grew food for the simple pleasure of watching life grow.  I needed real nourishment.  Someone slaughter several cows in my honor.  There was plenty of meat at every meal.  My strength returned in time.  It was tasty.

One question played on my mind that I did not know how to address.  After teleporting back to the city, while my consciousness faded, the words, “My son has surpassed his father,” played over and over.  Confusion was prevalent.  Mathias’s voice spoke in reference to me.  The statement made no sense unless he thought of me as his son after training under him for many years.  However, several times there had been a strange occurrence.  Several conversations I shared with him happened as if he had been there with me during a potentially failing moment.  A conversation I heard only in my head.

Had I actually been communicating with him? 
Was there a telepathic link with my master?  Was he indeed my father?  The man my mother claimed to be my father left when I was barely crawling, so my memory of him did not exist.  They chose me for this position because of my compassion and the desire to protect life.  Was there more to it? 

I pondered this for days when Mathias came to visit me.  He had a guest with him.  The look on my face must have been priceless to find myself face to face with the Sasquatch.  It or he did not say much but did give me a nod.  It was awkward to me to be as tall as he was.  When I shook his hand, I heard something in my head.

“You will replace me when you return.” 

It almost was not a voice, but a feeling coming across between us accompanied by a very male presence.  I nodded and he stepped and started to shimmer from sight.  The hope of more conversation degraded with a look.  He was not much of a conversationalist.  Several of the sessions at the campfire had shown him teaching the people, but perhaps that instruction was very rudimentary or basic.  I blinked.  He was gone.

So that is what that looks like.

I stood silently.  My eyes locked on my master.  He smiled at me for a slight moment and there was a proud look on his face.  To my surprise, he took a knee and bowed. 

“Hail to the savior of Heaven,” his words came rather stoic and firm.

“Master stand up, please,” I urged.

He rose up gracefully and bowed. 

“Why the formalities and titles?  You know I did what I was trained to do.”

“No, you are wrong.  We designed your training to protect Earth…not to save Heaven.  Yet you managed to do both, bringing honor to yourself…and to your family.”

“Master, what do you mean my family?”  I asked, feeling hesitant and confused. 

“You are Nathanael’s son.”

“Are you Nathanael?”

“I am.”

My stomach knotted. Emotion welled up behind my eyes. 

“Why do I address you as Mathias?”  I stammered, fighting back disbelief.

“My given name is “Gift of God.”  You may know it as Matthew in your world.  The pronunciation in your tongue would be “Mataeson” when God created me.  When I earned my name and became Yahweh’s General in charge of the city’s defenses, my name changed to Nathanael and Mataeson became my surname.  God allowed me to marry, giving me the hope of having offspring to give my name.  I became an Archangel.  I married another angel, Millennia ago, and stayed with her for hundreds of years.  When she died, I mourned for a hundred more…before allowing myself the chance to take a mate again.”

“So how did you end up with my mother, and why was I left with her to be raised in Hell?”  I felt my voice crack.

“I decided to look for a human wife since the city was not under immediate threat.  I started spending more time on Earth.  Eighty three years later, I met your mother.  The simplicity of attraction won.  I fell in love with her and married her according to Earth's tradition.  We had a child born of our love.  You started to show angelic tendencies right away.  This scared your mother, and I owed her an explanation.”

“Once a child is created, a decision has to be made for that child to be human, living in one world, or Nephilim, a resident of both worlds.  Your mother, when she learned who I was, could not handle the reality of it and chose to have her memory erased.  Sadly, this process can cause severe depression.  Your mother chose to drink heavily to deal with it and married your stepfather who mistreated you.  For this, I am sorry.” 

He lowered his head.

My thoughts floored me.  Here was my actual father.  My mother had never been very forth coming regarding anything, other than he left months after my birth.  He was an Archangel in charge of the city’s defenses.  The awe factor went off the scale, and I found myself embracing him tightly. 

My father is an Archangel!

For several moments we embraced.  Tears openly flowed.  I did not care.  This was more joyous than any victory.  All the brutal lessons taught to me by my real father and the days I cursed under my breath meant nothing.  His lessons had made me the warrior I am, and according to his own words, I had surpassed even his skills.

“I wish we had more time, my son, but something requires your attention.  I have written instructions on this scroll.  All of the details are there.  Your training is over.  It is time to join the war and fulfill your role,” he said, smiling and putting his hand on my shoulder.

"That day in the village when I told you my name...You knew didn't you?”  I said.

"Yes.  Tathlyn is the name I gave you as a child.  I had hoped it would come to you...and it did." 

Warmth hugged me like a blanket.

“I will do as you ask, Father.”  I smiled.  It was nice to hear he had faith in my abilities.  He turned and began to walk away when he stopped and turned back.

“So now that you know who your teacher really was, had you not retrieved all of him, the shield would not have been able to heal...as it is the Father’s sheer will alone that keeps the horde out.  I do not know if you realize how close we came to losing the city.  That would have caused a cataclysm to the universe.”

“What do you mean, Father?  Would Heaven have been destroyed?”

“Not just Heaven.  The Heavenly Father would have started everything over.”

“Oh…”  It was all I could manage to say as my mind failed to wrap around his words.  Nathanael walked away.  I was sad at seeing my father go, but a strange peace came over me.  Somehow, things made perfect sense.

I got to meet two important people today. 

I closed the door and went back inside.  I smiled knowing my father was proud.

Familiar voices whispered in the recesses of my mind.  They spoke amongst themselves as if trying not to disturb me.  My blades carried on a conversation in hushed tones.  I sat and listened for a bit while arranging my thoughts and feelings about the recent events.  A reference caught my attention.  The need to interrupt the topic was too strong. 

"So the two of you knew about my father and you kept it a secret?"

"It is true,” they responded.  "Nathanael has kept the two of us around for quite some time.  We served under him." 

"Wait...You served under him?  What do you mean?”  I asked.

"We are the souls of angels, fallen in battle.  We chose to continue our service for the greater good by occupying and blending with weapons to increase their power.  This honor bestows upon an Archangel added power.  We did not know whom we would bond with when the time came.  It gave us both great pleasure and has been an honor to serve you."

A long pause ensued

"What are your names?”  I asked.  “And I do not mean righteous fury.”

"Sabathiel," the left hand said.  "Communicating and creating divine light was my station.  Divine light is what the City of Heaven uses to defend its walls.  I create the flames that engulf your weapons when your energy is fully charged.  That energy converted to divine light.  By destroying me, another angel would have to be trained to replace me before any more divine light weapons could be created to defend the city."