The Children of Eternity (6 page)

“But it is,” said Christopher.

“Now it is,” confirmed Jerry.

Christopher sat on the boulder beside Jerry and looked out at the stream for the better part of a minute before responding. “Do you think that is all that God had for you? I mean, the things that you just mentioned.”

Jerry seemed puzzled. He looked toward Christopher. “What else could there be? I mean, this is Heaven, we’re supposed to be happy.”

“Yes, it is, and yes, we are,” confirmed Christopher, “but that’s not what Heaven is all about. I’m starting to think that a lot of grownups here think just that way. On Earth there are places called rest homes, where older people go to sit and relax and eventually die. You don’t die in Heaven, not in body, but I think some people here are starting to die in spirit. I learned a new word for it awhile back; that word is
apathy
.

“You don’t stop growing and learning just because you die and go to Heaven. This isn’t a rest home in the sky. This is a place where the Father trains you, if you let Him. It is the second phase of our existence. I’ve seen people in the City of Zion do incredible things. I’ve seen them create sweet sounding musical instruments and other wonderful things through the power of thought alone. They push the human imagination beyond its limits.

“On the first level of Heaven, Professor Faraday is creating scientific marvels beyond anything that humans back on Earth could even dream of. He’s made spaceships that travel faster than a beam of light, taking you anywhere you want to go. Here you can live your dreams. Here you can become all you can possibly be, and that is the very image of His firstborn Son, Jesus. Along the way you can gain a lot of knowledge and wisdom. That’s what I want to do. What do you want to do, Jerry?”

Jerry suddenly smiled. He jumped from the boulder and turned back toward the lure. “What I want to do is to try and levitate that lure.”

“Don’t
try,”
replied Christopher. “Do or do not…there is no try.”

“Who said that?” asked Jerry.

“Yoda,” replied Christopher.

“Who is Yoda?” asked Jerry. “Was he one of the angels who taught you?”

Christopher smiled and stepped down from his perch. “Are you going to do it or not?”

Jerry didn’t answer. His expression had taken on an uncharacteristic calmness. He was still focusing on the lure, but he wasn’t struggling. A moment later it floated gently into the air. Yet Jerry’s expression hadn’t changed. For nearly a minute it hung motionless about four feet above the ground.

“Nice,” said Christopher, his arms crossed.

Suddenly, the lure shot off to the left as if propelled from a gun. It ended up imbedded half an inch into the bark of an oak tree 20 feet away.

Jerry looked to Christopher in amazement. “I didn’t do that.”

Christopher laughed. “No, I did. Imagine that lure flying right into the forehead of a demon, just like David’s sling fired a stone into Goliath’s head. It would ruin the demon’s entire day.”

Both boys shared a good round of laughter. Jerry went to the tree to retrieve his coin-shaped lure, but it wasn’t easy. It was wedged into the wood tightly. By the end of the afternoon, Jerry could move the fishing lure effortlessly about. He could even move stones that were easily ten times heavier than the lure. Christopher was also practicing the trade, though on a grander scale, moving large rocks that were easily 30 pounds in weight. They agreed not to speak of this to Jerry’s parents, at least not yet. If they were going to teach these skills to the people of the community, they first had to master them. Until then, they would keep a low profile.

During the days that followed, the boys made many treks down to the stream, not to fish, but to continue exercising their newly learned skill. They invented games to make the learning more fun, as well as to test what could and couldn’t be done with this newfound ability.

On one day, Jerry pondered if it was possible to pull oneself up into the air by their bootstraps. It was part of an old joke his father had told him, but could it really be done? Christopher vowed to try. He attempted to levitate himself.

What had started off as a joke became a surprising reality when Christopher managed to levitate himself about four feet off of the ground for a good ten seconds. His ability to levitate heavier objects was improving.

But they did more than just practice their gifts of levitation. They traveled to other places as well. Christopher insisted that they take some time each day to visit the children who had been raised by the angels along with him and now lived with other families. Most of them looked up to Christopher as one would admire an older brother. Christopher would play with them, though play wasn’t really part of his life anymore.

The boys also discovered that several adults who had been raised by these very angels in their youth had returned to the meadow to help. They planned to rebuild the home of their youth, and teach these children themselves if need be.

From them, Christopher learned bits and pieces of information about the War in Heaven. It was not going well for the angels. Many of them had been captured and were being held prisoner in a variety of undisclosed locations. Others had fled to the second level of Heaven where they were trying to regroup. Still others fought an ongoing battle with the demonic forces, yet they were always outnumbered, always on the run. Apparently, a huge number of angels remained stranded on Earth with no way to return to Heaven.

There were other stories of a growing and very organized human resistance, yet Christopher could get no specifics about this movement. Perhaps these people hid their identities for a reason.

Still, these were secondhand stories. Christopher longed for the truth, and there was only one place that would be found—in the Holy Place, in the very heart of the City of Zion. Yet the word was that Zion was deep within demon-occupied territory.

A week passed, and the boys saw neither demons nor angels in the sky. Apparently this backwoods location on the third level of Heaven was not of any real strategic interest to either side. To some it seemed like a refuge. Other people of the area spoke of revolt against the demon hoards; yet, here at least, there were no demon hoards to be found. Despite the community’s insistence on becoming involved in the conflict, complacency was beginning to set in.

Jerry’s parents had a middle-of-the-road attitude. They spoke of the need to act, but couldn’t decide what course of action to take. In the end, they did nothing.

On this day, the seventh day, Jerry and Christopher were in the forest again by the stream. But this time they weren’t honing their skills of levitation; they were fishing. A sort of strange melancholia had descended upon them both. They knew that they had to do something, but like so many of the others, what it was eluded them. To make it still worse, the fish weren’t biting.

“I’ve been thinking about that night at the church,” said Jerry. “I’ve been thinking about what Jennifer Davis said.”

“She said a lot of things,” said Christopher, whose gaze remained fixed on the bob floating 30 or so feet out.

“Yeah,” confirmed Jerry, “but I was thinking about what she said about remembering her loved ones in Hell. She willingly chose to remember when no one else would. I wonder why she’d do that.”

“Because of Serena,” replied Christopher.

“Maybe,” replied Jerry. “But later, after Serena was rescued, she chose to regain all of her memories of Earth, and the Father granted her request.” Jerry paused. “I mean, my dad realizes that he must have known his father. He speaks of gaps in his memory of Earth. Surely his father was there, but he can’t remember him. Neither can my grandmother. She can’t remember her own husband. To them he has become a phantom.

“They both admit that he must be in Hell. There is no other explanation. But knowing that he exists and is in Hell is not like knowing him. The way it is now, they’re sort of detached. It doesn’t have the emotional impact it might otherwise have. I don’t know. Does that make any sense?”

“Sure,” replied Christopher.

“I don’t have any experiences like that,” continued Jerry. “Everyone I ever knew and loved is right here in Heaven. I’m totally disconnected from Earth. But you aren’t. Are there gaps in your memory of Earth? I mean, I know you were real young when…well…you know…”

“When I died,” said Christopher. “It’s OK, you can say it. I remember that day very well, though sometimes I wish I didn’t. For that matter, I remember all of my life on Earth perfectly. There are no gaps. I remember my parents. I even remember my three older brothers, Jamie, Brandon, and Tyler. They are much older than me. They’re all in their twenties now and still right there on Earth. Sometimes I look in on them using their books in the Great Hall of Records. Their future is not yet written. I’d like to think that they’ll end up here eventually, but I just don’t know.”

Christopher paused, anticipating Jerry’s next question. “I know…why do I remember when almost no one else does? I’m not sure. There are just so many unanswered questions.”

“Maybe it’s time we got some answers,” suggested Jerry, “now that we know the right questions to ask.”

Christopher knew where this conversation was going too. “We need to go to the Holy Place, but it may be pretty dangerous; it is right in the middle of demon-held territory. I’m not sure that the demons would allow us anywhere near the Holy Place.”

“As I see it, they don’t have the right to deny us access to the Father,” said Jerry. “After all, according to the demons we have met, this war is between them and the angels. It doesn’t concern us. We should be allowed to come and go as we please.”

“So they say,” replied Christopher. “Still, they are demons.”

Jerry nodded. “Are you up for it?”

“Yeah, I think so. We can’t just sit here.”

“Shall we go tomorrow?” asked Jerry.

“We go tomorrow,” confirmed Christopher.

And so the plans were made. They discussed their options and alternatives all afternoon and well into the night. They really didn’t know quite what to expect. They prayed for guidance. Tomorrow they would meet with the Father.

O
N THE MORNING OF THE
eighth day following the incident in the woods, Jerry and Christopher rose early. They donned the traditional white vestments of persons who intended to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Place. Fortunately, Christopher was able to wear the old white robe that Jerry had long since outgrown. They set off through the sparkling mists toward the entrance to the City of Zion.

It seemed but a short walk through the cool, blue mists before they arrived at the gates of the city. Before them rose the mighty wall that surrounded this great metropolis. On any ordinary day, this place would have been abuzz with people going into and out from the city. That was not the case today. The quiet was positively eerie.

In places, clouds of smoke still arose from the city beyond the wall. Still, the boys couldn’t evaluate the extent of the damage from where they stood. A great white marble wall, 100 feet high, surrounded the city, blocking their view of the streets and buildings. To evaluate the condition of the city beyond, they would have to pass through the great archway 50 yards before them.

The archway, one of 12 entrances into the city, stood fully 50 feet high and 100 feet wide. It was undamaged, but was guarded by at least 50 winged demons dressed in armor. They were spaced out across the width of the entrance in two rows. Each held what looked like some sort of long, metallic spear. They didn’t appear to be very friendly.