ANAK CAHAYA- A child of Light

Not a single soul seemed to be disturbing the quietness of this brilliant summer night. The scintillating stars beautifully decorating the clear deep navy sky, the sweet wind calmly caressing the trees foliage and the warm streetlight creating a mesmerizing atmosphere. Although England is known for its notorious rainy weather, tonight it seems like a European summer made its way into the quiet town of Bicester. All this would only be seen in the eyes of an ordinary man, Mikael is not blessed to see this serenity tonight, and neither is his brother. “To your left!” Gabriel shouted at Mikael, viciously slaying his sword into thin air. “Behind you!” Mikael shouted at Gabriel, not stopping for a second from swinging his sword like he would battle a wild soldier. “Duck!”  Mikael shouted again, before jumping and slaying his sword rapidly in a horizontal line. An explosion of dark goo like blood exploded from his sword. “Finally!” Gabriel exclaimed, shielding his sword behind his back. The sword vanished like it never existed. Mikael did the same with his sword. “How many did we kill this week?” Gabriel asked Mikael. “Three,” Mikael answered. “Vicious beings!” Gabriel remarked, whipping some goo off his face. Mikael nodded in agreement and then waved his hand towards the dark stain on the ground. “Ashes to ashes.” He whispered. A flame began to grow from that stain engulfing a small van-size invisible shape. The flame grew brighter and more virulent every second before it suddenly extinguished in a puff. “This never happened before! All three in the same county is like they are following someone.” Gabriel remarked. “Yes, it is rather odd to see them all in the same county, let alone in the UK” Mikael affirmed. “And not just any hounds, the most ferocious ones.” Gabriel continued. “Do you think they were sent for the Anak Cahaya? “ “Most reasonably assumed…this is why we must find this child first!” Mikael answered. “Maybe you shouldn’t have done that hiding spell.” Gabriel scolded him. “Is for the child’s protection! To make sure that the forces of darkness won’t find this child I had to make Anak Cahaya hidden to us too.” Mikael explained. “We’ll find this child!” Mikael assured Gabriel. But maybe he was the one who needed to be assured after all this child was put under his protection.   * A sudden noise woke Ella up. In her dream, she was this lost hero hunted by hell hounds. She was close to meeting her demise, but the noise that woke her up stopped the dream in time. Sleepily she stretched her left arm tamping on the bedside for her mobile. Face still in the pillows she turned her mobile upside down to reject the call and return to sleep. Even though she already forgot what she dreamt about a strange feeling transpired and lingered. She tossed around from side to side trying to find the most comfortable position when she was finally on the verge of falling back asleep her mobile rang again. Annoyed, she sat up and answered. “Hello, who am I speaking to?” She crankily posed the question; her words could barely be called words. Her question returned no answer. Ella smacked her lips in annoyance and pulled her mobile away from her ear to look at the caller’s id. The phone number was not even local. She shrugged her shoulders and decided to close the call. However, just before acting her intention, the caller spoke. “Hello, who am I speaking to?” The caller, in a strong male voice, echoed her question. Ella would not just give her name over a phone call to a nameless person, so she decided to ask the same question in a different way. “Hi, may I know who is calling me?” “Hi, am I speaking to Michael?” The caller asked instead, “Can I talk to Michael?” The caller asked again after adjusting his voice. “Hi…Hello! Can you hear me?” She asked the caller, thinking that he might not be hearing her due to a bad network connection. “Loud and clear. But it seems that we don’t understand each other.”  The man replied in an overly formal tone. Ella felt a certain annoyance creeping inside her, she hates people who are acting all authoritarian. “I am afraid there is no Michael over here…never been one- Have a good day, sir!” She calmly spoke in very well-spoken English, focusing on keeping her calm and copy the caller’s formal tone. Who calls at 7 am on a Saturday? Not only was he rude in not introducing himself first, but he also lacks any telephone manner. Urgh…those people should not own a phone! Ella complained out loud, putting her mobile back on her bedside with a loud noise. Thinking that it must have been just another random marketing call, she felt satisfied with closing the call. However, not long after, the caller returned “For God’s sake! Who the hell is bothering me, on a Saturday morning?” Ella rudely shouted this time, with no regard for her manners. She usually does not receive calls, as she is not a very social person and her family? They never call. If she ever receives a call is either from a scammer or a potential employer. However, she has not applied to any jobs recently. And then, no serious employer would call a candidate in the weekend, and at 7 in the morning. “Woo!!! Language, young Lady! You don’t want to anger my Boss. I am looking for Michael or maybe Michaela.” Gabriel continued. Uriel spent weeks locating the Anak Cahaya, yet the mobile number he gave him belongs to a woman. In all honesty, Mikael always referred to the Anak Cahaya as being a child and never had he referred to Anak Cahaya with a pronoun. Yet hearing the women on the phone made him feel that maybe Uriel made a mistake this time. Never had there been a female Anak Cahaya in the whole history of the humankind. “I don’t know why you’re looking for that person, but I know that whatever you’re trying to sell me, I have no intention in buying!” Ella strongly dismissed him in a bossy tone. “But I am only selling the best quality products, mam’!” Gabriel replied to her in a parodical Hindi accent. With the intent to relax the conversation a bit, and maybe catch a glimpse of her thoughts. He was expecting at least a smile from her. “Listen to me, SIR! I am not in the mood for any bullshit, so please excuse me, but I am going to close the call!” Ella angrily replied to the man’s attempt to humour. She had a bad day yesterday, and some frustration still remained. She did not feel like talking to anyone today, she just wanted to curl herself into a ball and cry in self-pity. Days like yesterday revive those maggots that slowly eats her up from the inside. She works hard to achieve things, as that is her only way of proving herself that she is not worthless. Setting goals and working hard to achieve them is her only way of fighting against the depression that is ready to crush her to the ground; for that she has to stand strong. Closing the call made her feel a bit better in the inside, is little, but from the little things she takes the strength she needs. The choices she has power over, no matter how insignificant appear makes her feel that she has a say into her life. It makes her feel less helpless. “NO! NO! NO!”  The caller shouted before Ella closed the call again. She turned off her mobile and tried to go back to sleep. Yesterday was a very long day for her, work in the morning, and lectures in the evening. She almost missed the last train back to Bicester the night before. She really needs more sleep. But when she tried to return to sleep, the lingering feeling that was bothering her only increased; Hell, that is what she could feel. She felt like she was in Hell in her dream, but somehow a friend of the man that called her came to her rescue. The dream felt so real that when she woke up, she felt determined to call back and find out more about that man, and if somehow that man has the friend she dreamt about. “Hello!?”  The earlier husky voice answered her, uncertain of the call. “So, you decided to call back, after all?” The man asked her. “Yes. I want to know what this is about.” She paused. “And I apologize for swearing at you earlier. My name is not Mikhail or Michael and not even Michaela is Mi-ha-e-la, and I go by Ella!” “Nice to meet you, Ella! We reached for you because we need your help with a pressing matter.” The man replied in a very mannered tone. That made her calm down a bit but also made her curious about the type of help “they” are requiring. “Are you calling me on behalf of a charity society?” Ella asked. “No. We require your help with a situation!” He calmly stated, despite reading her slight annoyance from her question. “Ok, but firstly, hmm... how did you get my personal mobile number?” She asked defensively; not many people have her personal mobile number, and the people who do, she knows them personally. “Mikael gave it to me!” The man answered her. “Mikael? Who’s Mikael?” “Mikael is my best buddy!” He replied cheerily. “What’s his profession?” Ella asked, wondering if somehow, she might have forgotten about this friend of hers called Mikael. Maybe they were colleagues or classmates once. “He is a messenger…. of sorts” He answered her. “Messenger? You mean a postman. I did not give my phone number to any postman; I am certain of it. Is this some sort of a prank?” “No, Miss. Mihaela. This is not a prank.” Gabriel assured her in an overly formal tone. “I am absolutely sure that I don’t know anyone with that name well enough to give my personal mobile number to!” She frowned in disapproval. She values her privacy and takes great care in protecting her personal data. Professional scammers can do great evil with just a name and a phone number. “You do!” He said, “but you just can’t remember him” His voice sounded sad telling her that. Only if Mikael did not erase her memory again, they might not have to interact in such an odd way, Gabriel thought. “I have a pretty good memory, Mister. I would not have forgotten someone that close to me. But, fine, I agree that human memory can be very flawed at times. Perhaps, I gave him the mobile number accidentally.  Just one question; You are not some sort of a freak who is looking for his next victim, are you?” Her frown accentuated, even more, she never forgets people with whom she is close. Who is this Mikael? “Ha-ha...Not in the slightest!” He answered, amused by her question. “By the way, I haven’t given you my name. I am known as Gabriel!” “Nice to meet you, Gabriel! How can I help you?” Ella automatically replied like she had no control over her words. “Can you come to Oxford?” “Right now?” “Well, as soon as possible!” “Seriously. You know, this is the lamest way of asking a girl out for a date, I swear! And guys are usually the ones going to the girl, not the girl to the guy! I think you have to upgrade your game” She replied, disappointed. Another annoying guy! She huffed rolling her eyes. “Miss,” Gabriel spoke, before bursting into a healthy chuckle. “I am not asking you out on a date. We actually do require your help, think of this meeting as a job offering an interview.” “Job offering interview!? I haven’t applied to any jobs lately. Unless you are calling me regarding a psychology internship? Oh my gosh! Are you?” She replied, covering her mouth in surprise. An internship in her field would look fabulous on her CV; not many undergraduate psychology students get this opportunity at the beginning of their degree.   “You can call it an internship if that helps you. It is sort of an internship in all that matters.” Gabriel replied switching to a more casual tone and raising his feet on top of his mahogany desk. Raphael will own him the book he’s been after for a while. Raphael was sure that he won’t be able to arrange a meeting with her for months. “Wow, brilliant! Err…what exactly is this internship about?” Ella asked him excited, ignoring the gut feeling that told her to close the call and change her phone number. How did he get her personal mobile number? She never gave it to the university, or even put it in her CV’s. She was now curious and hopeful because if this truly is an internship it would look fantastic on her CV. “Is about helping people!” Gabriel replied. “That sounds exactly like what I am looking for!” Today must be my lucky day! Ella happily thought. “Can I have more details about the internship? Do I need to bring my CV or a recommendation letter, should I bring my ID?” Ella stormed him with questions, suddenly bursting with newfound energy. “Mikael has already all the necessary documents,” Gabriel replied straightforwardly. “We will tell you more about the position when we meet up.” “Ok!?” Ella replied slightly concerned. How do they have my documents? She asked herself. They must have gotten them from the university. Ella answered her question dismissing her concerns. “Where will this meeting take place?” “Is your choice, but the meeting must take place in a respected place, peaceful and sacred,” Gabriel informed her. “Respected, peaceful and sacred? Like a church?” Ella asked in disbelief. I must have misheard it, she thought. “Yes, a church, and it has to be one that belongs to your confession,”  Gabriel confirmed. Although any place would be as good, he must obey the universal rules. And then, the environment would attenuate any potential shock or denial. “Ok!?” Ella replied. However, her concerns returned. Who would set a church as a meeting place? Ella asked herself. But this time curiosity took over; his request is intriguingly odd. Her first thought was that the internship is religion-based, and that might be why the meeting place must be a church. She has general knowledge about many religions, and although she was quite religious in her childhood, today she is more rational. Some days she believes, some days she laughs at the fictional stories embedded in religions, and some days she wishes that at least some of the Gods societies worship are real. Today is one of the days she wishes. “Saint John Cassian Parish located at Saint Thomas the Martyr Church. Is this place good enough?” Ella asked the man, giving in to curiosity, and maybe to hope too. Maybe this man has some answers, she thought. “Yes, it’s perfect. See you in two hours, then!” He said, promptly closing the call.