Veiled (22 page)

“
Really…why is
that?”

“
Well, the size for one,
then the fact that we are older…wiser…more experienced.”

That was interesting. Here
we were speculating about them, seeing them as “creatures” rather
than intelligent, even superior, beings.

“
Do Seraphs see themselves
as superior to Humans?”

“
No, not superior. Perhaps
at some point we might have felt this way, but not anymore. Seraphs
used to think too much of themselves, and that’s what got us into
trouble in the first place. I’d like to think that we have all
evolved past that by now, and that we see all of the Eternals’
creations as equals. You see, Seraphs started out as intelligences,
just like you. The only difference is that we were housed in
different shells than Cherubs and Humans. Perhaps the Eternals will
at some point decide to make other species of humanoids, and when
They do, those creations will be our equals too.”

We landed on a hilltop that
overlooked a vast city. I dismounted and she shook her torso
swiftly. She tucked her wings neatly behind her back and sat on her
hind legs.

“
I am sure you are
wondering why I brought you here.”

“
I am.”

“
Good! There are a few
reasons…one of them is that I haven’t seen my nephews in a very
long time…” She smiled a crooked smile and then shook her head,
untangling her long dreadlocks.

I just stared at her, not
knowing whether she was serious or not.

“
And the Eternals want me
to train you, because like I said earlier, you have been chosen to
perform an important task.” She said this with a more serious
demeanor. She waited for all that to sink in then asked, “Tess, do
you remember anything about your existence as
intelligence?”

“
No, I don’t.”

“
You were a very unusual
intelligence, Tess. In fact, you were not just you,” she said while
she eyed me cautiously.

* * * * *

Chapter 19

I looked up at her alarmed.
What could she possibly mean by that?

Dayspring looked at me with
almost pity in her eyes. “The intelligence that the Eternals
encountered was extremely unique. So unique, in fact, that they had
only encountered one such case before. But even that case was
different from this one. You see, this intelligence was dual, or
had two consciousnesses. One was the predominant consciousness, and
the other one, at that time, was weaker. How or why this phenomenon
happens, I don’t know so don’t bother to ask,” she said as she
gathered her dreads to one side of her face.

“
I didn’t know that was
possible,” I whispered, more to myself than anything.

“
Like I said, it is very
rare, but they had seen it before. You see, the Eternals don’t
create intelligences, they just give them form. Intelligences exist
everywhere and all around us. We may not see them as such, yet they
are intelligences none the less.

“
For instance, animals and
beasts are intelligences, lesser than humanoids, but intelligences
still. All matter, in fact, has a level of intelligence, the
Eternals know how to organize matter and give it a form. Do you
follow me?” She peered into my eyes, then I realized that she was
trying to discern my thoughts. She seemed to struggle with it, so I
smiled and opened my mind so she could discern my thoughts
easily.

“
As I was saying, the
intelligence that you used to be was different, and in fact it was
twin intelligence.”

“
Wait! I have a twin?” I
said eagerly. All kinds of thoughts crowded my mind. If I was a
twin that meant I had a sister, and if I had a sister…then I would
never be alone!

“
Whoa…slow down! You are
getting ahead of yourself.” Dayspring moved her arms in front of
me. “Just hear me out, OK.”

I nodded.

“
You did have a twin, but
that is no longer the case.” She looked at me warningly before I
could start a fresh tangent. “Let’s go back a bit. The intelligence
that the Eternals found was called Agathess. She was dual, as I
told you, and she was in trouble. The Eternals had encountered one
such intelligence before, my brother and I. We had to be separated
as well, thus becoming two. But unlike Agathess, we were very
close.”

Did she really say
Agathess? I felt numb, and agitated all at the same time, but I
tried to keep it together and hear her out.

“
OK, before you start to
have a meltdown, let me finish,” she said, hoping to get a sign of
acknowledgment from me. I nodded again, and she
continued.

“
After much debating and
thought, the Eternals decided to separate the two consciousnesses
because they were so opposite to each other. They feared that if
they didn’t act, both would be lost with the internal struggle.
Agathess was definitely two extremes in one mass, and it was bound
to end badly for her. So before formation, they decided to attempt
that which had only been done once before.”

“
With you and
Daystar?”

“
That’s right, but our
differences were that he was male and I female. In a way it was
easier to separate us. But for Agathess, the difference was in
natures, character, and disposition—all very hard distinctions to
make in separation. But it worked! And once the separation was
complete, from Agathess emerged Agatha and you, Tess.” She smiled
as if the information she was giving me was a pleasure to
hear.

“
Was Agatha the
predominant consciousness?”

“
Yes, she was, but give
yourself more credit, Tess. She had the advantage and you didn’t.
In fact, the Eternals feared that you would not survive the
separation at all, because you were so underdeveloped.

“
But you managed to
survive, even though Agatha didn’t make it easy for you. She takes
pleasure in seeing others suffer, especially you.” She shook her
head. “I will never understand that. She purposely kept you
isolated from other intelligences and from stimulus that would help
you evolve and learn.

“
Meanwhile she became a
follower of the Second One, who found her torturous pastime
amusing.” She rolled her eyes with contempt. “This continued for a
while but then something remarkable happened. Another intelligence
figured out what was going on, and somehow contrived a way of
getting you out of her control.”

“
Alex,” I said, grasping
onto what seemed like a fleeting memory. It had to be him. He could
always find me.

“
Yes,” she said,
intrigued. “It was Alex. He and Russell organized the whole
rescue.”

“
So Russell can work
miracles. Too bad he doesn’t remember,” I said more to myself than
to Dayspring.

“
Once you were no longer
under Agatha’s control, you thrived. It was incredible to
watch.”

“
You watched me?” I asked
surprised.

“
Yes, the Eternals let
Daystar and I watch. They thought it might be interesting for us,
given our history.”

“
Oh, I see.”

“
You were great to watch,
never a dull moment. You had a knack for going off by yourself and
getting into trouble. You were on a mission to experience as much
as possible with your new found independence. Better still was
watching Alex trying to find you. He’s like your magnetic North, or
you his…either way you are very, very fortunate to have him and the
rest of your clan. They protected you during that time when you
were very vulnerable.”

“
Yes, I am fortunate,” I
said. My mind was too full of emotion to say anything more. “So
what’s this special mission that I have to be trained for? Is she
going to be my sister in mortality?”

“
I don’t know about that,
Tess. That is the Eternals’ territory, not mine.” She turned her
gaze out toward the city below, but looked at nothing in
particular. “They want me to prepare you. They believe that only
you can have a positive effect on her—if you get stronger.
Apparently, only you can keep her from the evil that she is capable
of.”

“
But…what if…” I was going
to say,
what if I don’t want to spend
mortality with her, what if I want nothing to do with her, what if
I can’t be a good influence, what if I fail?
But I didn’t, I couldn’t say it—Agatha and I were
inexplicably tied to each other, and deep inside I felt that she
was my responsibility, and I had to try.

Dayspring discerned my
thoughts and smiled. “Come on, follow me,” she said and then turned
and started running on all fours toward a meadow.

We came upon three half
grown seraphs, who were wrestling each other. Dayspring pounced on
them and joined the fight as soon as she saw them. It didn’t take
her long before she had them all tied up with their own tails and
roaring with laughter on the ground. When they looked over and saw
me standing there they quickly stopped laughing and looked over at
Dayspring for answers. She told them who I was as she untied them,
and they eyed me suspiciously. Once they were free from their own
bonds, they paced around me in circles with curious
eyes.

“
Is it a full grown
human?” one of the young Seraphs asked.

“
She has a name, Gimel!”
another boy protested. “You do, don’t you?” he asked with his face
inches away from mine and enunciating every word slowly and
carefully.

“
T-e-ss,” I responded,
imitating him. I meant to be sarcastic, but he didn’t get it and
took it as encouragement to keep talking to me that way.

“
See! T-e-ss, very nice
name,” he said, smiling at me.

“
So…is it fully grown, or
what?” Gimel asked again.

“
She looks grown, but not
old,” the third seraph commented.

I looked for Dayspring,
hoping she would intercede, but she was down the lane, greeting
another female, the mother of the boys I surmised.

“
Tess, you idiot! Her name
is Tess!”

“
All human spirits are
made to look like a human in their prime. However, you are not yet
fully grown,” I pointed out, trying to take charge of this
degrading conversation. They were taken back by my fluid and
coherent speech, and remained still with their mouths slightly
open, while they processed the new information.

“
Sorry, we got off to a
bad start. My name is Corban and these are my brothers Gimel and
Shomer—they are idiots, so don’t mind them,” the seraph who was
closest to me said with a smirk.

“
You boys leave the poor
spirit alone! She hasn’t even lived yet! She must be scared out of
her mind,” the female who was talking with Dayspring
said.

“
I doubt she is afraid,
Ephratha. Tess is a tough little Angel.” Dayspring gave me a
significant look. “In fact, she was one of the spirits who took on
Legion.”

Upon hearing such high
recommendation, the young Seraphs turned to look at me with fresh
eyes, and started bombarding me with questions.

“
OK, you boys stop that
right now. Go inside and wash up for dinner,” their mother
instructed.

Gimel was the first one to
turn with a sneer. “She doesn’t look that tough. If she can do that
to Legion, then anyone can,” he murmured as he slinked away. Then
the other two followed, but not without turning a few times to look
back at me.

Dayspring visited with her
family for a little while, then we went back to the spot where we
had originally landed. There we sat in silence while I sorted out
all this new information.

“
I’ll be happy to answer
any questions you might have,” Dayspring said after a
while.

I had so many questions
about so many different things that I didn’t know where to start.
“Why did you tell your family that I was one of the strongest
spirits? I know you meant it, but you are wrong. I am not as strong
as you think I am.” I wanted to be that type of spirit, I hoped to
be, but I wasn’t.

“
Opposition,
Tess…opposition has made you strong. It is the greatest teacher of
us all. Think back to all the hard, sad, and seemingly unfair
circumstances of your existence. You will find that each of those
has shaped and strengthened your character.

“
What makes you unusually
strong is that you have consistently responded well to that
opposition. That is what makes anyone strong.” She now turned to me
with a smile and her tail started to sway lazily. We spent a few
moments like this, me lost in thought, and she swaying her
tail.

“
Were you a Discerner in
mortality?” I asked.

“
No. Originally I had the
Gift of Wisdom, but as I evolved I developed other gifts as well.
In time I could have them all.”

“
So how many do you have
so far?” I asked, and oddly, her skin turned slightly pink around
her golden face and her aura showed that she felt
embarrassed.

“
We don’t brag about those
things,” she said and looked away from me.

“
Sorry. I didn’t
know.”

“
Don’t worry. It’s no big
deal. I’m just sensitive about those things.”