Chapter XVIII: The Legacy: The Dawn of the Fallen Angels

We all sat on the lawn in a round formation, holding each other hands as a sign of solidarity and feeling each other’s vibes. There was electromagnetic force being transmitted to each one of us. I believed that it was our spiritual powers combined together. I felt it all over my body.  Dad continued to speak. “Abby, I devoured the past although we are not directly involved in the revolt. However, in our genes, in our bloods, we are both human and angels. The truth is indispensable. We are generation charged with greater responsibility to this world. We should not fail. There is still one thing we need to fix  before going to Paris and this is your mission.”

I felt bewildered so I asked dad. “What do I have to fix, Dad? Do we have greater enemy aside from Diablo and his puppet, August?”  “Uncle Khail will explain to you what you need to fix Abby,” dad replied.

Khail started to talk. “We numbered as stars in Heaven before the rebellion. We were sinless, intelligent and in all handsomeness. After the war in Heaven, we were cast down to earth. We were divided whether to follow Diablo or we have to go on our own. Greed and selfishness were too powerful. Millions followed Diablo and build a nest they called the bottomless pit. We went on our own and we form ourselves into legions. There is one angel who neither follows Diablo nor joins our legion. He formed his own flock. He is a force to reckon with. He is feared by humans. He punishes evil men and women by castration. He believes that sexual desires caused men’s sin. They turned them into eunuchs. Or sometimes, put these men and women in a chamber and removed the bad self in them from their memories. Some became catatonic and found by authorities wandering in the streets. The authorities find this a mystery. This is his way of punishment to get world rid  from evils. His flock increase to thousands already. Removing memories from human minds is a sign of cowardly act. Humans were given by God rational thinking to choose what is right from wrong, what is good from bad. I tried to convince him few years ago to stop this dastard act but he won’t listen and he wanted to do his own way in punishing the evilness in men. Although, he may think this is the right way, this does not justify his actuation." 

“Who is he?” I asked Khail. “He was one of us who revolted against God. His name is Kalil . I show you his image,” said Khail. Through Khail’s mind power, the image of Kalil is projected in front of us. He was tall, towering like 6 feet with masculine body, auburn hair and with perfectly shaped contours on his face. No signs of evil in him. All in all, he was similarly like grandfather and Khail – an angel, a fallen angel.

“Where can I find him?” I asked again.  Khail winked his left eye and the image change in the virtual projector. We were brought to the glory that was Greece. My eyes toured the opulence of Greece. Houses were usually built on the rocks in the endless coastline decorated with white pebbles. The seas were blue. The ebb of tides reaching the shore was bubbly white.  Greece reminded me of Greek mythology - the stories of gods and goddesses. Where the story sit in Olympus mountains.  The story of  power and glory and a story also of love and deceit. The story never ended and brought to the present era although it was just a myth. A myth that some people really believe that god and goddesses existed before with majestic faces.  A myth like the story of "The Knights of the Round Table" in England. 

We keep on touring Greece until Khail’s virtual projector settled between the borders of the states of Thessaly and Macedonia. We saw a huge temple sitting on top of a tall mountain highly sculpted with Corinthian architecture. The architecture was magnificently amazing and pleasing to the eyes. It depicts Greek's arts and culture. I could imagine why Kalil chose Greece to be his headquarters. I presumed he wanted to be treated as God by the Greek people. Greeks were religious basing back to history. Greece was his crowning glory. I wish my presumption was wrong. I felt the surging vibes inside my body that I would not be facing a nemesis but an ally. I felt that meeting Kalil in due time would be just an acid test whether I could control my power or I would use my deliberate judgment.  “Damn! They were apt to something,” I said to myself.  Suddenly, the virtual projector stopped and it ended the discussion. I breathe deeply and exhaled out the air out from my nostrils.

I stared at Dad then turn my head right to gaze to Khail. “You’ll leave at 9:00 in the evening. You’ll be accompanied by Mikhail, Darwin and Stephen. We already booked plane tickets to Greece. You’ll be met by Cody and you’ll work with him. He is a secret agent assign in Thessaly but he is one of us. He has been conducting surveillance about the activities of Kalil.  He will discuss with you the mysteries going around in Greece. You need to stop it, Bethany. All four of you will be accommodated in Hotel Bethany,” dad said. “That is mom’s name on that hotel,” I blurted out. “We own that hotel,” dad answered back. I smiled and said softly, “It seems like we own dozen of establishment dad.”  “When you are in Paris, you will learn everything Abby,” reminded Khail. I raised both of my arms and quibbled, “Oh well, all mysteries will be unveil soon for me, right? But it will come first with a test. Okay, that sounds cool. Soon I am going to write my love story in Paris.” “Abby!” dad snapped at me. “Oh dad, I was kidding you. No worries. I am your obsequious daughter.”  “Good, you better packed your things,” daddy ordered.

I went upstairs, straight to my room. I gazed my attention to the window covered with flowery pink curtain. There was something that was instructing me to look through the window. I came closer to the window and brushed aside the curtains. There I saw a pretty woman standing, smiling and waving her right hand at me. I blinked my eyes. When I opened back my eyes, I saw her speaking to dad. I gasped my breath. It was mom talking to dad. I blinked my eyes again to be sure what I saw. They were all gone. Tears fell down from my eyes. Then I heard a knock at the door. I know it was dad. I said, “Come in dad.” “You saw your mom, Abby?” he asked. “Yes talking to you. So it was not illusion dad, right?" I asked. “She wanted this necklace to be given to you and you need to wear it all the time so she can be with you.” Daddy told me.  Dad gave me necklace. It was a beautiful necklace with a heart pendant. The pendant was glittering with small diamonds. Indeed an expensive pendant.  Inside the heart pendant was mom’s picture. I wore the necklace and let dad locked it for me. Now there were two necklaces hanging down in my neck. The necklace with angelic gold pendant I wore since I was three and necklace just given by mom. "That was my gift to your mom before we got married," declared dad. "It is so beautiful dad. Thank you so much." 

Chapter XVII: The Legacy: The Dawn of the Fallen Angels

I heard a knock on the door. “Yes daddy.”  “Can I come in”, asked dad. “Sure dad,” I answered.  “Wow, my baby is a grown-up girl now. Very pretty and attractive. Your physical appearance is exactly like your mom in so many ways.  If I can only hold time in a bottle, I would still like to cuddle you like a baby. Yet no one can hold on the time. Not even in the palm of my hands. We can only reminisce what had passed. Some of the memories might have been buried already in oblivion. The only difference when I gaze at you, the memories of your mom lives on.” I saw the sadness in his angelic face.  In the depths of my being, I commiserated with him. Dad kissed me in my forehead. He smelled musk perfume. I could not trace tons of fine lines on his forehead nor silver hairs on his head at his 50’s. He was physically youthful with still strong muscular muscles. His eyes were radiantly green and nocturnal. I always love the color of his green eyes. Some people were afraid to look straight into his eyes. Those eyes represent power. His resemblance was a striking similarity of grandfather. They were mistaken as twins sometimes though. I put a big smile on my face of his comments. I drew near him, gave him a peck of kiss and spoke softly, “I love you daddy.”

“Do I have a training again?” I blurted. “Dad, grandfather trained me for almost 6 years of my life. I don’t have a life of my own since I was small. I need to live a normal life like any other kids. Have fun, go to school, have friends, maybe boyfriend. My entire life has been surrounded with angels. I never had a chance to mingle with humans.  I feel like bird imprisoned inside the cage with no freedom to choose what I ought to be. I am envious of those young pretty teens in the neighborhood. They enjoy life.  At night I can hear them titillated discussing about fashion trends, hairstyles, make-up, and of course dating. When they talked about crushes, they all giggled and pinched each other. I guess it is normal for teenagers to have crushes.” I snapped., 

“Ops that was a touché Abby. You are squawking too much. We have already set rules for you until you are at the right age. Dating is anathema to the rules imposed. Dad could not hide his irritation. When I saw that on his face I cringed. “Your grandfather went back to Shangri-la with Joey and Richard this morning. They have important agenda to put into consideration. It was very urgent! Today is your last day of training with your grandfather,” dad underscored. I jumped jubilantly and shouted. “ Ye-hey!" Dad interrupted me.  “Hush Abby. We are not done yet.” My shoulder sagged when I heard this. “Common Abby, follow me.”  I was hesitant to follow him. My inside was boiling, fists closed. My reaction started the stuffs in my room to jerk in slow movements. “There you go again Abby. Stop it!” Dad warned me. I inhaled deeply and said, “Back off.” The objects stopped moving. “Good girl! Just follow me downstairs,” dad ordered.

I obediently followed him downstairs. When we went outside, I saw my whimsical cat, Mojo. His tongue was wagging and saliva dripping. He was exhausted running after those butterflies scattered and flying everywhere. Their kaleidoscopic sets of colors were immensely an attraction to the surrounding.  “Mojo, you cannot catch them unless you fly or use a net or unless you want to be in your original form.  I reminded him. He grinned at me and wiggled his tail.  He immediately transformed back to an angel.  Haniel, the giant figure was now in front of me. I hugged him. I always do hug in appreciation for his untiring love for me.  The butterflies flocked all over him. I laughed at him. “Gee, they thought you are a sweet flower. They are hungry and looking for nectars to suck Haniel.” “Oh me? Oh no. I am not a flower. I am your soldier." He acted like a little kid and mimicked a small fragile voice. Seeing him acting this way, I giggled. Haniel giggled too  and  laughed loud. Dad was amused with us that he laughed too. “Shoo, flock to the trees.” I commanded the butterflies. They all flew back to the cherry trees. Their wings sparked brilliantly against the rays of the sun. I turned the butterflies back to light pink, light green and white cherry petals. Cherry blossoms still look awesome in summer. The beauty of nature is beyond description. The surfaces were still covered and scented with red roses. I collected about 50 red roses, threw them up in the air and turned them into white doves. The white doves flew in a V formation.

I saw Khail, my surrogate father and my siblings, Mikhail, Darwin and Stephen coming towards us. Khail’s sons were the only siblings I have. I considered them my siblings and my other true bloods since part and parcel of my life was growing up with them. They, as I would describe in a simple term were just right with me unequivocally protecting and loving me as their own. They were part of my system. I had a great fun with them under their father’s custody. I absolutely appreciate all the wonderful things they have done to me. My siblings waved their hands at me and I waved back. Mikhail was exactly my dad’s age. I was much closer to him. When he was near me, he embraced me and said, “Hmm my sissy. You are a big girl now. Time fly so fast. Look at you, you are sexy and beautiful.” I blushed. Mikhail always knew how to flatter me. Khail softly touched my shoulder. I turned around and hug him. I love this guy so much. He had sacrificed so many things for me as the sole legacy.  There was a spontaneous flow of emotions among us and a moment of silence. I could sense that I would be leaving Japan soon. The hairs in my skin rose. Japan had always been my home sweet home. 

Dad began to speak.  “Abby, we plan a game, sort of a cunning device to test your ability skill. If you pass this test, we all move to Paris where my headquarters is located. We will leave Japan. I will expose you to new world and the secrets of the incredible treasures. The richest of the world! The power and the glory! You will bequeath these as agreed upon by the legions at the age of 18.  I promise that you will taste a little bit of normal life like going to school, have friends or whatever you desire to do as long as it is with the limitations of the rules.  If you fail this test, I send you to Shangri-La for another re-training.”  “Dad, by saying “we” you mean including Khail and his sons? Including Haniel?  Just a point of clarification,” I said. “Yes we all leave to Paris only if you pass this test,” dad emphasized. I was satisfied of the answer. I don't want to go to Paris without the precious people who had been sacrificing their lives and time with me. "Satisfied?" asked dad. I nodded my head and smiled. "Oh daddy, I am very pleased. Thank you so much." "As long as it makes you happy Abby, I am happy too."

Whether I pass the test or not is big question mark for me. I knew it would be a deceptive test. My heart started to leap and bounce. I love games according to my desire. I love to manipulate scenarios according to my will. I don’t want to go back re-retraining with grandfather. Not that I hate training but it is my burning desire to experience how it is to have a normal life even for a fleeting time. I was challenged to past this test and I must.    Dad noticed that I was tensed. “Relax Abby! I assure you can pass this test. Just use your good judgment not more playing on your heartstrings.  You are the main character in the story. You are the superhero. You'll go on a mission. You'll be only given one day to accomplish the mission. Your siblings would be the support characters. They are going with you. Haniel won't go with you in this mission or Khail or me. Let's discuss the details. Abby."