Veiled (21 page)

Now that the show was over,
they returned to their original places, standing guard like before.
Not one of them seemed out of breath or fatigued in any way. They
stood perfectly still and calm as ever.

The female Cherub came
forward again, and announced that it was time to volunteer, and the
whole room had hands raised in the air.

“
Very well, Angels, you
will receive your assignments shortly. Bear in mind that once you
volunteer, you may receive any of the Angelic Assignments, whether
it’s your preference or not, and you’ll have to perform that duty
to the best of your ability. These are important tasks and are most
serious. Many will depend on you and your service,” she
warned.

The Eternals then bid us
farewell and good luck in our upcoming missions. They also
expressed their appreciation for our willingness to serve each
other, and then departed.

Once they were gone, the
theater burst almost simultaneously into a loud chatter. Russell
was among the first ones to do this and quickly came to Alex’s side
and the two began a complete retelling of the two
fights.

Max, Dorian, Dane, and Leo
joined in on the conversation as well and were all laughing and
wildly flailing their arms around in the air, in a poor attempt at
reenacting the sword fight.

“
That will keep them
entertained for a long time. In fact, I don’t think they’ll ever
get over it,” Nancy said, and the rest of us laughed, knowing all
too well that she was right.

“
Well…it was impressive.
Did you see that female Seraph? She looked so elegant and
dignified, while she wrestled that other Seraph,” Irene
interjected.

“
I wonder why the Eternals
made them that way? I mean, not human, like us,” Valerie
asked.

“
I took a class about
them,” Katie answered.

“
Really?” Celeste and I
asked together.

“
I didn’t know there was a
class about them,” I added.

“
It’s called Heavenly
Creatures. It was lumped together with all the other classes about
creatures, and of course I took them all.

“
The Eternals created
Cherubs and Seraphs at the same time. They were created right after
the First One and the Second One, but I don’t know why they were
made different. No one does I suppose.” Seeing that she had our
interest Katie continued with enthusiasm.

“
They evolved and they all
gained their immortality. They were never as numerous as we are,
though. The Eternals only made two planets, one for the Cherubs and
one for the Seraphs, and that’s it. No more planets were needed,
because the Eternals never formed any more Cherubs or
Seraphs.

“
Since then they have been
assisting the Eternals in their creations and acting as the law
enforcers of the Universe and their personal guards. They are
completely devoted to aiding the Eternals in this Universe. They
are so trusted by the Eternals that they hardly ever need
instructions from them. They naturally know and do what the
Eternals would do or say in every situation.”

“
They also have special
powers like what we just saw. Cherubs can create white foggy mists
that hide and Seraphs can make fire that doesn’t burn the flesh of
the pure in heart.”

“
Really?” Valerie said
with interest.

“
They also have incredible
individual gifts, like us, but more so because they have had so
much time to work their gifts. They have just evolved a lot more
than any other human creation.”

By now the guys had come
over, and were listening to Katie as well.

“
They sound like
interesting creatures. I hope we get to work with them,” Celeste
said, and several others agreed with her.

“
They also help humans in
time of war,” Katie added absentmindedly.

“
I’ve seen those wars, in
Freedom Fighter’s class. Cherubs do help—and they are awesome!”
Russell said, and Alex nodded in agreement.

As we exited we were each
given a long chain with a strange looking pendant at one end and a
thin bar at the other end. The bar could be slid through any of the
links on the chain, making it easy to wear in several different
ways.

The pendant consisted of a
pearly white ball about two inches in diameter. It was suspended in
the center of an intricate work of gold metal, each strand no
thicker than a human hair. The strands of gold intertwined and came
together at each end, forming a tip with a smaller golden ball at
each end, the top one being fastened to the chain. The ball inside
glowed pearly white, and the words “No current instructions” were
inscribed in golden letters right in the center of the
ball.

After further inspection I
determined that all pendants said the same thing. We fumbled with
the chains, finding new and improved ways of wearing it, but we all
seemed to settle on the more traditional ways—hanging from our
necks or around our waist—because we had to be able to see the
writing on the ball clearly.

We were led to the “Angel’s
Lounge”, by way of an inner courtyard. We passed a huge white iron
gate that was completely covered by a climbing flowering plant.
Then we entered a covered area still full of trees, fountains, and
sitting areas. Windows that looked into Earth’s events, current and
past, lined the walls on one side and a Cherub-sized bookcase
covered the other side.

Our little clan found a
small portion of the lounge and each of us found something to do
while we waited for our assignments.

Dorian, Luz, and Katie were
watching one of the windows. The event that the window was
displaying was that of a dog who saved a boy’s life by listening to
the boy’s Guardian Angel. The animal had courageously heeded the
guardian angel’s voice but in the process had given its life to
save that of the boy.

Meanwhile, Dane was already
sitting down and reading a book. Alex was floating near one of the
top shelves next to a female Cherub, who was showing him a
particular volume. For her the top row was level with her eyes and
she looked enormous standing there next to Alex, who was exactly
half her size.

The rest of us made
ourselves comfortable. I beat Russell to the only loveseat
available, and secured it for Alex and I. Russell glared at me
jokingly over the loss of the coveted spot, and had to content
himself with a smaller chair. When Nancy glided by, he pulled her
onto his lap, and shot me a sly look.

Valerie was pacing back and
forth rubbing her fingers together, with a worried look. Then
Dorian jerked his head up and looked at Valerie, so suddenly that
we all looked at him and Valerie with alarm.

“
What’s wrong?” I asked
with concern. Their auras had changed colors.

Valerie and Dorian
exchanged looks, but remained silent.

“
Oh, come on you two. You
can’t do that and not tell us. Tess, what are they thinking?”
Russell demanded.

“
They are not telling me,”
I responded.

“
Well, what good is your
gift, then, if you can’t tell us what others are thinking?” he
teased.

“
I can only do it if they
want their thoughts to be read. All I can discern right now is
their aura.”

“
So…what does their aura
say?” Russell said, now with irritation.

“
It says that they
are…sad.”

“
Sad?” Alex said, as he
glided over with a large indigo colored book in his
hands.

Russell looked back at
Valerie with impatience, then back at Dorian.

With hesitation Valerie
explained. “This might be the last time we are all together again.
Here I mean.”

“
What, in heaven?” I
asked.

“
Our assignments are
coming as we speak,” Dorian continued.

I looked at Alex, uncertain
of how I felt about this, and he returned the same look to
me.

“
Don’t worry, we’ll still
see each other, but our clan…we won’t be together like this again,”
Valerie said with a sadness I had never detected in her.

“
Well…not for a long time
anyway. There will be other times, right Val?” Dorian
corrected.

Looks were exchanged all
over the room. They expressed things we couldn’t utter. An eternity
seemed too short a time right now. Ever since we had come together
as intelligences, we had all been together. The first beings I saw
with spiritual eyes were those that surrounded me now.

“
Tess, you’re up!” Dorian
said, and turned his head to one side. We all turned to see what he
was talking about and quickly got our answer.

She walked as a lioness
would on all fours and with the grace that only a feline would
possess. Her eyes were set on me, and for a moment I felt like her
prey, but then I read her intentions.

She stopped right in front
of me, sat back on her hind legs and raised her upper body upright.
In this half sitting position she was as tall as Russell. If she
were to stand on her hind legs she would no doubt tower over us
all.

Her face looked human, yet
slightly feline. Her hair was gold, mane like, and fell in long
thin dreads below her shoulder blades. Her face was pleasant yet
serious.

“
Hello,” she said,
ignoring our stares.

Still under the spell of
the shock, we managed to mumble some form of greeting.

“
I am Dayspring and I’ve
come for you, Tess,” she said succinctly.

Alex looked at me with
distress and I looked back at him a little
apprehensively.

“
Don’t worry, Alex, you’ll
see her again. In
fact, I’m sure
you’ll work together in some of the Angelic
Missions that lie ahead,” she assured. Her knowledge of who we were
was a little disconcerting.

I mustered the strength to
stand up, but I couldn’t turn to say good-bye. I knew that my
resolve would fail me if I did that.

“
I’m ready.” My voice
broke a little as I said this. Alex grabbed my hand and squeezed it
once.

“
I’ll see you soon.”
I told him, and his thoughts were too much for me
to process at this time, so I disconnected before I melted into a
heap of nerves.

Seeing that I was ready,
she nodded her head to the group as a farewell, put her arms down
and walked out of the room in the same fashion that she had walked
in.

When we were out of the
Angelic Missions mansion, she asked me to get on her back and I did
so with some reservation. She ran on all fours at an incredible
speed for a short distance and when she gained enough momentum, she
leapt into the air, unfurled her wings, and began her ascent. I
could have flown next to her, but not at the same speed. This was
the fastest I had ever flown!

“
Do all spirits who want
to be Angels get to be trained by a Seraph?” I asked, trying to
make conversation.

“
No,” she said with a
touch of amusement in her voice.

“
Why me?”

“
You’ve been chosen,” she
said.

“
Chosen?” I asked, but got
no answer.

She kept flying upward and
out of the spirit world that had been my home since Earth was
created.

“
Where are we
going?”

“
To the Kokaubeam
galaxy—the closest galaxy to the Eternal’s own planet—and the
oldest. It is also my own galaxy.”

We flew at a tremendous
speed, stars and suns looked like streaks as we passed them. Yet on
Dayspring’s back it felt like we were on a leisurely ride around
the world.

“
Here we are.
Shinehah.”

“
The sun world…isn’t it
your planet?”

“
It is.”

This world was an ancient
world, yet it looked perfect and new. It was now inhabited by
immortal Seraphs, all of whom had been through the same process of
evolution that I was about to embark on.

Like all mortals, planets
die and go through a process where they come back to life in an
immortal and perfect state. Currently on Earth one could find weeds
and plants with thorns, even poison. Not here. The whole planet was
like a perfect paradise, no thorns, no weeds, no pests—everything
bloomed on its own accord as it should. The seasons came when they
were supposed to and all creatures lived in perfect peace and
harmony. From above I could see all the villages, towns, and
cities, they were full of Seraphs going about their business, yet
when they saw us flying overhead, they looked at us with
curiosity.

“
Why are they so surprised
to see you?”

“
It’s not me they are
surprised to see. Humans don’t usually come here—never
actually.”

“
Oh…I didn’t realize…why
is that?”

She found this humorous and
chuckled a little. “I guess it’s because most humans don’t know we
exist. And those that do are too busy with their own planets to
visit us.”

“
So a human could come if
they wanted to?”

“
Certainly! Seraphs love
humans, but I’m afraid that a lot of Seraphs tend to view humans as
cute little toys, rather than sentient beings.”