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

The freaks continue to make loud metallic sounds…clang…clang…clang… and the stumping of their hind legs to demonstrate their objections for burning some of them. They were actually outrageous of what had happened. This made the ground shook heavily that might be intensity 1 in the Richter magnitude scale. More debris was falling down the river and it made a splashing sound. I was amazed of their strong hind legs. With one swift motion, I plummeted back to the cliff. I stood at the edge of the cliff. My body was in perfect state of equilibrium. They began to approach me. I immediately conveyed a telepathic message to them, “Stop. Don't force me to hurt you and I mean it.”  They all stopped. “Very good,” I told them.

“Okay, let’s make a deal so I’ll not hurt you guys.” I started talking to them. In a surprising manner, they all listened to me. Their red eyes were turning to green and were all glued to me. I decided to come closer to them. Still talking.  I touched one of them gently in his hind legs. I felt an electromagnetic energy coming out from his body. I was right someone was controlling them.

Alan on the other hand was still concentrating. He was in charge of controlling the freaks. The freaks were the product of his mind materialization. He was extra careful that these freaks would not hurt Abigail. All what Abigail saw where just virtual reality. A second dimension of Thessaly! Not an actual Thessaly. The legion of the fallen angels could not afford to hurt human beings. They were here to protect the human species.

The focal point with my conversation with them was that I tamed them. That was quite incredulous.  “Can you sit down on your hind legs?” They relayed a message to me, “Yes.” “Oh beautiful! I want you to sit on your hind legs.” They all sat in their hind legs. “Perfect! You turn out be an intelligent creatures.”  I heard happy hissing sounds. They seemed to be pleased of what I said.

Alan was dumbfounded  He was no longer controlling his creatures but it was already Abigail who was in full charge of controlling his creations. He stopped concentrating and willingly surrendered to Abigail’s subterfuge. He grabbed a swivel chair and sit. He watched Abby in the wide monitor screen with a smile on his lips. “He is powerful and graciously shrewd.”

“Are you happy hurting people?” I asked them.

“No. We want to have some fun with you?”

“Fun with me but you are hurting people.” I stressed

“Part of the game.”

“I don’t like this kind of game.”

This time they don’t answer me so I asked them, “Are you angry with what I asked?”

“Definitely no! We don’t want our new master to be mad at us?”

“Oh I see.” I arched high one of my eyebrows. 

"I am now your new master?" I was amused why they treated me as their new master.

"We can be friends. I want you to go back to your master in form of fireflies or lightning bugs. You can glow in the dark and guide humans in case they get lost. Your ugly appearance would scare the hell humans."

They all hissed again but this time their hisses were low. They were conversing to each other whether they were amenable to my suggestion.  I let them talked for a while. I waited for them to reach a decision. I waved to my siblings who were still levitated to join me.  They all flew down and joined me on the high cliff. They began to bombard me with questions.  “How did you subdue them?” asked Mikhail. “Just controlling over their minds,” I replied. “What is happening with them Abby?” seconded Stephen. “I let them decide.” “Decide what?” Darwin blurted. I crossed my arms over my chest and spoke. "You are so overwhelmed. Let's wait for their decision."  

Finally, they talked again to me. I asked them if what was their decision. They told me that it was fine to turn them into fireflies but with one condition.

“Yes what is the condition?”

“If you ever need us, call us.”

Despite of their creepy looks, there was still kindness in them. I was tremendously touched and told them. “From now on, you will always be with me wherever I go.”

I closed my eyes. The surrounding near us turned into magnificent kaleidoscope colors.  The transformation was fast. I turned them into hundreds of colorful fireflies. Totally different from other fireflies! They circled around us with their bioluminescence abdomens. It was the most splendid glow I have ever seen. So illuminating! We all giggled because they were trying to tickle us. They were dancing, dancing with their illuminating abdomens. I was satisfied.

We decided at once to return back to Thessaly proper. The destruction caused by bombings was not really that extensive. Only few buildings were destroyed by the bombings. It could be repaired.  With all our super powers, we restored the buildings that were ravaged. The buildings were back to their original shapes and structures.  We let the people go back to their respective homes. They were safe and sound.  I heard a man calling out my name. When I glanced back, it was Barry holding the tiny hand of Sarah.

“Have you seen her mom?”

“No, not yet.”

I saw a young woman at her 30’s drawing closer to us. A sign of relief on her face. She was wearing gabardine black pants, white collared flimsy blouse and walking in her 2 inches pump sandals.  “She is my daughter. Thank you for keeping her safe. I left her in a car to buy her cotton candy in a store. When I went out, I saw these large creatures crawling so I decided to go back inside the store. I was absolutely worried. I thought she was eaten by those ugly creatures.”

“Mommy, mommy. This guy is flying.”

The woman got startled. Her translucent blue eyes turned big.  “Oh, actually we took a chopper plane. I took her with me. I am a Police Lieutenant. And it is my duty to keep safe your daughter.” Barry was defensive. I just winked at him.

“Again thank you.” The woman said and left with her daughter.

“Good work Lieutenant.”

Barry grinned at me. “I have to go back to work.”

“Tell you’re men not to loose fire again, Lieutenant.”

“Hahaha, I will Abby.” Barry was gone in split second. 

“Let us all go back to Bethany Hotel. I need to take a shower with all these messes we've gone through.  I smell like….ah never mind! My body is profusely sticky with my sweat and dirt.

“You smell like a rotten egg,” teased Darwin.

“Shut up Darwin. I don’t smell like that. Besides that is a derogatory word for 12 year old lass. You guys are good in goofing me up. Check that out in urban dictionary. It is an offensive word.  Oh frustrating.” I lashed back at Darwin.

I saw my siblings raised their hands up in the air and made comical expressions on their faces. They all looked cute but I know they just want to kid me after stressful hour hurdling the race. I know this was not yet over. 

We all got back to Bethany Hotel. When I looked-up the sky before entering the hotel, I saw fireflies scattered everywhere. Even it was just 2:00 o’clock in the afternoon; their abdomens were sparkling like diamonds in the sky.

Walking a mile with Raymund John Lopez

I don't dig into the outside surface of his personality but I dig deeper into the gravity of his character. Some maybe are cynical in their judgment which is the cause of distorted image of one’s self. In all human aspect, we need to understand that each one of us have flaws. We are not born perfect in this world. That whatever differences we have, we should learn to align ourselves in the streamline of relationships and human understanding......

He is not a movie handsome guy typically. I would rather say he is simply gorgeous in his own way. Saying gorgeous means to me having magnificent character that I need to dig deeper. I know I would appall the readers or rather would strongly disagree with me. I am not digging into the surface of his physical appearance. Outer appearance is ephemeral in nature. We all grow old. As we grow old, our physical appearance and attributions alter too. I am digging into the deeper intensity of his character which sometimes it is indescribable beyond words. As what Thomas Merton said, adjectives are useless and just a superficial language. You have to know the person by heart.

I met him way back 2009 when I was an agent at the Number Portability Department. He was one of the QAA assigned in Number Portability. Gee, we were not that closed before. I was a taciturn. I often overheard him spoke English. I was nosebleed. I often see him from time to time in Operations. We just meet and greet. Again, we were not that closed. How did we get close? I remembered I wanted to borrow a love story book from him. From that time on, our friendship sparks but not really that intense just like today. Maybe somewhere along the evolution of friendship, a magnetic energy pulled us together. That is what I call gravity. The rest is history.

Time sometimes is like a bandit. Look at him now. He has gone that far. He now leads the Cebu Initiatives. However his designation as Operations Project Team Leader of Cebu Initiatives for sure has raised some eyebrows of some staffs in the Operations and maybe ire of controversies. Designation is not an easy task. It means an extra burden of loads of tasks he needs to carry on every day. In an organization such us ours, it is normal having an environment of pulling-down syndrome. Or in other words, crab mentalities are just lurking around the corner ready to usurp a person in position. It’s like politics. Lots of hullabaloos. Lots of bravado. You don't know your ally. You don't know your enemy. 

I believe that in growing complex competition of survival, it is part of the norm. This type of arguments have become fanfaronade rhetoric but dangerous at times when arguments deal more on emotions. When arguments are of emotional sensitivity, it is harder to have calm and rational analysis of the particular issue. This is the most challenge I observed in Operations. Even I sometimes I am carried with emotions. Belonging in the rank and file, we are benefit seekers. We want to acquire what is good and avoid the bad. When emotions sets-in, we start to throw snarl words and hitting a person below the belt. In simple terms, character assassination.