The Chronicles of the Four Heirs: WAR

Chapter 8

The next morning Silas awoke me before the sun had a chance to rise.

“Get up John,” He said sternly, “we are leaving soon.”

After I rolled out of bed and got dressed, I walked downstairs. There I was greeted by Silas and Norma Jean. I noticed that Norma Jean has her backpack on.

“Where are you going?” I asked half yawning and rubbing my eyes.

“I will be heading back to the Holy 56th Base Camp to collect some supplies while you and Silas are gone for the next couple days,” she said cheerfully.

I nodded my head as I yawned again not really registering the fact that she said that Silas and I were leaving again.

“Where are we going?” I asked turning my head to Silas as I leaned over one of the chairs next to the kitchen table.

“You are going to learn Elemental Manipulation and Transmutation,” he stated bluntly.

“I would ask what that is but that sounds pretty self-explanatory,” I said stretching and yawning again.

We stood there for a moment quietly before Norma Jean piped up.

“Well, I’m off I will see you when you return.” She said as she walked out the door. There was a pause and then a c***k as we heard her open her doorway.

“We should be going to,” Silas said as he walked towards the door, “you won’t need anything on this journey.”

I followed Silas out into the front yard, and he turned back to face me.

“So far I have taught you how to center yourself and feel everything around and those are the basics for elemental manipulation,” Silas said sternly.

He paused a moment as the sun crested the mountain range and lit up the top of his face. He closed his eyes for a moment and took a deep breath. Holding his left hand out in front of him blue sparks danced around his fingertips as a whirlwind of dust began rotating around his hand.

He flipped the palm of his hand upward and the dust ring began spinning and rotating into a small sphere.

“Elemental Manipulation is more than changing your surroundings, it’s understanding how the elements react to each other and using those elements to create new ones or shape them to fit your needs, it is how planets are formed, it is what breathes life into a new planet, but with it you will never be without a weapon, there will always be something you can do to turn the tide of battle whether it is make small spheres of dirt and rock or pull Molten Rock from the planets core.” He said not changing his stern expression still holding the sphere in his hand.

“So how do I do that then?” I asked in awe.

“Everything I’ve taught you so far, center yourself and feel the particles around you and simply will them towards you.” He said bluntly.

As we stood there in the mountain breeze, I closed my eyes and focused on my center, feeling the pool of energy within myself I drew upon it.

“Good, now feel the particles and elements around you, it is no different than Scrying the trees or plants just dig deeper,” Silas said quietly.

I could feel the dust particles in the air and all the particles in the ground beneath my feet, I could see the individual structures that made them and Their constructs. When I focused on one, I could see into it as if my mind was acting like a microscope. I opened my eyes still feeling everything around me.

“Now focus it into a singular point above the palm of your hand.” Silas said holding out the dirt sphere floating above his hand.

I tried to imagine a small point just above my hand and force the dust particles in the air into it. But it felt like the more I focused the less I was able to control the particles.

I started to get flustered and my control was slipping so I took a deep breath, closed my eyes and recentered myself and tried again. This time I approached it differently because I remember Silas saying that what worked for one angel didn’t always work for another. So instead of trying to force the dirt and dust into a point I visualized them becoming one and joining together to create the sphere.

I could feel the sphere forming so I opened my eyes and saw the dirt and dust becoming a smooth ball. I looked at Silas triumphantly as I held it outwards while blue sparks still danced around my fingers.

“Good,” he replied almost half grinning, “now the next step is to change its make-up, by adding other elements to it we can change this from a ball of sand and rock into a ball of metal.”

He focused on his sphere and stared intensely at it as blue sparks danced around his hand again. Within a second two little pieces of rock different in color floated up from the ground and joined with the sphere. Before I could ask what, he was doing he held out his other hand and snapped his fingers and lightning jumped to the sphere making it bright orange. He then whirled his hands around it and the sphere turned black.

“Now your turn,” Silas said returning his focus to me, “you must feel the iron and copper beneath your feet and bring it up and the lightning is your heating element that fuses the elements together just as a blacksmith would use a forge.”

I closed my eyes again and searched for iron beneath my feet, the problem is I didn’t know what iron felt like. Each individual particle felt different depending on it make up but with the mountain and everything in it I couldn’t tell what what was.

I tugged on something that I though was iron and pulled it up from the ground as I white rock floated upward Silas scoffed, “that’s limestone.”

I released my grasp on it and resumed my search. I found something else in abundance beneath us and brought it up. As it broke the surface, I opened my eyes seeing a dark grey rock floating there.

“Good, now insert it into your sand sphere,” Silas said, “now find your piece of copper.”

As I brought up a piece of copper from the ground, I forced it into my sphere and then I poured lightning into the sphere causing it to glow bright orange with a hint of white. I circled my hands around the sphere to compress it and push the elements together.

As the bright orange sphere floated above my hand it began cooling and then turned black.

“Very good,” Silas said quietly, “now this ball of metal can be used as you see fit, this sphere floats because we compel it too do so, however you can keep close by you by merely altering its magnetic properties.”

He again hit the sphere with lightning but not so much that it was super-heated but enough to give it a charge. He then dropped his hand and the ball stayed just to the right of his shoulder.

“Having this knowledge allows you to be able to turn the tides of battle when needed, but this is the fundamental construct of creation.” Silas stated as he turned to face the mountain allowing the sun to warm his back.

“Not many angels have the ability to create a living world, but all can make planets, the power of breathing life into a one is more the power of the second sphere as well as certain Arch-Angels and Nephilim,” he said.

“This part of your training can be somewhat dangerous, so I need you to understand that above all you are a Nephilim and that even though you are part human you do not require what humans need to stay alive,” he said putting his hand on my shoulder. “To really get a grasp of elemental manipulation we will need to travel to a place where you can freely do so without upsetting the delicate balance of the inhabitants of a planet.”

“Ok so what does that mean?” I asked confused.

“Your training ground will be in the vastness of the cosmos on a planet long since dead with a star nearing the end of its life,” he said as he raised his hand in the air, “Odo.”

Blue sparks cackled around his fingers and the sound of thunder clapped as a portal was opened.

“Remember you do not need certain things to survive, you will feel cold but it will be a minor inconvenience there will be no oxygen so sound will not travel but you will hear my thoughts as I will yours.”

Silas turned and held out his hand as if to motion me forward as he began walking towards the portal. As we stepped through, I could feel gravity give way, instead of my body being warm it was instantly cold and instead of the sky being bright it was dark. I almost thought I had gone blind but then I noticed the stars and how vibrant they were. It was breath taking, I turned to silas to speak but no sound came out.

Think it, don’t speak it. I heard his voice say in my head. He floated towards me standing on a piece of rock. This is part of your training, being able to communicate what you want to say through thought. This allows for a tactical advantage in combat.

Silas, do you see all this around us! I said to him still amazed by the beauty of being somewhere in the cosmos, surrounded by vibrant stars and the beautiful colors.

Let’s get to work john, I heard Silas say.

Over the course of the weeks, we spent out in the remoteness of space, my imbuing abilities greatly improved. I had learned how to create gravity wells in order to bring raw materials together and shape them to my will. I made planets from dust and just as I had created them, I obliterated them using an ability they simply referred to as Destruction which was unique to a certain class of Angel.

Destruction techniques are part of the foundations of all creation. Without Angels who specialize in destruction there would be no way to contain the threat of an overrun planet. I heard Silas say in my head.

         I had learned that in order to use my destruction abilities I had to learn how to break apart particle bonds. It wasn’t so much as obliterating something but removing whatever holds that object together and it instantly returning to nothing more than cosmic dust. However, the amount of will power and energy that the task takes is dependent on the object being destroyed. Silas explained to me that in order to destroy a planet all the energy stored inside of that planets core or Hell is sufficient enough to destroy that planet. By drawing on the core of the planet all I have to do is focus my will on the rest of the planet and turn it into dust.

We sat gazing across the stars on a planet that I just built. It had an atmosphere, so we were enjoying a nice fire under unfamiliar stars. All the while Silas was educating me on Destruction Abilities.

         “The ability to destroy is usually reserved to those who have the best cognitive ability to decide when it is time to destroy,” Silas stated, “if you recall that was the problem with the first Archangels, after that God had divided the Angels of Creation and of Destruction.”

         “So what keeps those angels in check, it seems to me that if a destruction angel wanted to take over, he could,” I asked

         “That possibility does exist but there are measures in place that prevent that,” Silas said turning his gaze into the fire, “however the Virtues keep everything in a delicate balance and correct any kind of problem that may arise.”

         “So, the Virtues are powerful then?” I asked looking at Silas.

         “Yes and no,” he said as he shifted his gaze to me, his face was basked in the haunting light emanating from the fire.

         “Virtues have the power to maintain order and balance over all of Creation,” he said resting his elbows on his knees, “however they do nothing more, they are generally regarded as cowards, they determine if events are within the confines of balance or not. They are not afflicted with any kind of emotions nor morality, so they do not view Creation as right or wrong only balanced.”

         “so, the Virtues maintain order and correct events and anyone who doesn’t do their duty is what, destroyed?” I asked placing another log on the fire.

         “Oh no, it’s much worse than simply being destroyed,” he replied, he went on to explain that when the universe needs balanced due to some sort of circumstance, whether it is from an angel or demon destroying a planet that didn’t need to be, or if one of the Virtues notices a key individual dies, they simply put in place a series of events to recorrect that mistake.

         “If anyone were to try and challenge that balance and fought the Virtues, it is within their power to simply remove that person from existence.” He finished saying.

         “So, what keeps the Virtues in check,” I asked.

         “The Dominion and Throne Angels are the ones that keep the Virtues in check,” he replied.

         After that he didn’t say much for a while and just stared into the fire. The next day I would end up destroying that planet and repeating the cycle. After several weeks we stood atop a small planetesimal that I had created again with an atmosphere and because of the planet having no star I made the planet to be self-sustaining. I knew the planet would not last long after we left but it felt like home to me. 

Silas had decided to not have me destroy that planet but simply stated that we would need it for higher combat training. Silas would run me through imbuing combative drills where I used my surroundings to create weapons and he would push my ability to quick react to whatever weapons he was making to my limits.

By the end of the time, we had spent on the planetesimal in the far reaches of space I was significantly more confident in my abilities as a warrior and as an angel. I could manipulate my surroundings much easier and I could imbue my armor to fit whatever I needed.

As we arrived home Norma Jean was busy studying some documents from recent battles that had taken place during our absence. She had said that not much has happened since we left, and that recently only little skirmishes appeared where the demon army was chased away.

“It doesn’t make any sense to command,” Norma said as we sat around the dining table, “why would groups of demons attack and then run away.

Silas didn’t say anything, he laid back in his char resting his elbows on the arm rests and interlocking his fingers.

“It is troubling to see this kind of behavior in the demons especially when it has not been seen before,” Silas said.

“Exactly,” Norma Jean replied.

“Many things for us to ponder on,” Silas said as he stood up out of his chair, “for now we shall rest, john it will be several days before you are supposed to journey with Michael, Norma I want you to train john on your link.”

Norma didn’t say anything and we both nodded, Silas turned and headed into his room closing the door behind him.