Thirteenth of The Blue

XIII

GEIKI FRANTICALLY RUB HIS EYES with both of his hands, not sure if he was imagining things. Half of him still believes all of these are part of a wild dream that his acrobatic mind can come up with. He never released the firm grip at hope that he is going to wake up any second. He will believe at anything that has rational explanation and none of all of these seem to fit his standard. This dream never ceases to fascinate him, and if he had been an author, he will sure wake in the morning with a wide smile on his face at having a new foundation of what to write next. But he never dreamt to deal in a profession that he finds too dull. But author or not, he wishes his body, which he is sure comfortably sleeping beside his pretty best friend, find a way to wake and shatter this corner of dreamland.

He gave Archangel Michael a look. Both of his eyes are still closed and while he is standing there like a statue. Even hair strands were immobile because of the absence of wind or breeze. Both of his open palms seemed to be glued together in front of his chest, his fingers aimed towards the sky, in a prayer position. For the first time he noticed that his nails gives a shiny glow. Like the dreams, that he is sure he was in, the high creatures never ceases to fascinate him too. It is like each time he takes a look at them, there will be always something new.

His eyes went to Spring, giving her an asking look. The archangel has been like that way for nearly a couple of minutes. She gave him a silent answer, communicating with him by actions, "he is praying."

It is as if by command, both pairs of their eyes were trained at an old acacia tree across the stream when they heard its creaking sound as if a monster is forcing its way out. Spring stood, gave him a sweet smile as if saying, "see?"

 Geiki cannot get it. Archangel Michael prayed for too long for the tree go creaking. That is odd, he thought, and it has nothing to do in explaining what the hell is going around here. But he kept his eyes on the tree that is on a continuous creaking, as if protesting against some kind of a t*****e. For the first time he sensed movements on it as if it is coming to life. The memory of reading trees which can move and talk came flooding in his mind. He remembered reading it from a novel of John Ronald Reuel Tolkien.

But this tree does not belong to the realm of Tolkien's imagination. It is just a tree, its creaking sound produced by a twisting maneuver like a giant unseen hand is working on it. Trees were never flexible, he knew better, but this is not the first time the rules of science will be defied. For the past how many minutes, he had witnessed weird events that only an insane man would dare believe. Weapons went afloat denying gravity of its work, things shrunk and goes beneath the human skin, and now, the tree is twisting but its trunk refused to break into splinters. The tree continued its weird behavior, swirled its trunk clockwise then leaned its body over and across the stream as if it went too tired from the punishment, sparing the flowing liquid below a feet.

At that, the high angel opened his eyes and dropped his hands to his sides. He gave Geiki a contented look. "Now we got something to sit upon."

"You prayed for a seat?" He came protesting as if lecturing the angel. "You could have asked for folded chairs raining down from the heaven."

"You complain so much," Michael shook his head. "I ask for something, and He will give it in His own way. Would patience rain down from the heaven if you ask for it? Or will He give you a way to test it, extend what you have, and learn to acquire more of it on your own." He motioned an open hand to the leaning tree as if a waiter ushering a customer on a table.

Without so much of a word, Geiki made his way to sit on the part bare of any branch. As he made his way, the angel followed a couple of steps behind but never left the topic hanging. "I see you haven't prayed for a very long time. But those people who do, wanted The Almighty to do everything for them. They are forgetting that they are the center of all creation, and they, themselves are the miracle. For instance, a husband works day and night in pursuit of wealth, but he neglects that his family needs him more than the material things he can provide. He forgot that God blessed him a family, and he was already gifted with more than he needs. He still goes to church and asks to be blessed more."

"Did I happen to walked in a religious class?" He fixed a piercing stare at Michael who is about to sit beside him.

"I am just giving you a lesson, son," he answered when he sat. "And before I lecture you any further about it, we get back to the explanation I owe you."

"That is why you dragged me all the way here, isn't it?" He looked around and a deep feeling settled in him that he really does not like any of these each second. "A sword stuck on a rock, that is supposed to be the center of an archeological find, came free when I pulled it. A battle between white-winged beings and ugly creatures erupted after I did it. What is going on around here?"

"In the year of 1944 Anno Domini," Michael began and all of the surroundings went silent. Not even a single cricket could be heard as if the whole of earth intended to listen. "The demons decided to take earth as their territory."

"But that would be World War Two around the globe." Geiki protested.

"So as many remembered." He waited for the words to sink in. And when he sensed he got his full attention, he went on. "They occupied many places, lived with the mortals and were in guised in mortal bodies. After a year, choirs of angels emptied from the heaven to reclaim humanity from their grasp. There were wars almost everywhere and for two years we chased them around the globe, making earth a dull place to be in. They lost and was left with no other choice than go back to the oblivion where they belong."

Geiki gazed up as if seeing things from the past. Flashes of what may have been video clips came playing over the blue ceiling of sky. He saw turrets from lined tanks fire and spit devastating shells. He also heard the passing planes as the Pearl Harbor was bombed by the Japanese Navy and reduced an entire fleet to scrap. And almost at the same time, the Philippines' so called "The Rock," the island of Corregidor, was overwhelmed by same force. It was also in between those years that Europe was engulfed by war as the Nazis stretched their empire and battled the Royal Forces and the Allied Coalition.

"The whole of Pearl Harbor," Michael went on as if reading Geiki's mind. "The structures were reduced to rubble, and the entire fleet at anchor was destroyed when we attack the enemy's stronghold at Hawaii. The Nazis never spread their empire; it was represented by another stronghold. D-day never involved the Allied Forces that suppose to have landed in France. We attacked France and the whole of Germany, where the enemy was, with one full force. Our forces that reclaimed Philippines was attacked when Manila Bay was supposed to have fallen. We reclaimed it again when the Allied Forces must have come back. Hiroshima and Nagasaki were not bombed either, it was destroyed when our forces sweep the enemies there. And many more things in between of what should have been known as World War Two to mankind."

Geiki fixed him with one solid look, not sure if it is an angel he is talking to or an insane man commonly found in mental hospitals. He himself felt the screws and bolts in his mind going loose, but he took a firm grip on it. "You're talking about the world history here. That is the world as everyone knew it! It was written in pages of books, that were drafted and compiled based in first hand witnesses, government plans, and too many primary sources. How come what many have believed could be wrong?"

"Forgetting something," Michael's voice is cold this time. "Remember the Glow of Light?"

"We wage war and was seen for at least a couple of years around the globe," Spring's soft voice came behind their backs. Geiki turned around just to see the bare-footed angel walking amid the streams, dipping her feet into the water which went almost to her knees. She bent her body down to pick up something out from the water. "During those said times, even not intended by both parties, mankind and their properties were caught amid the violent clashes. Many have died when they found themselves caught up in the middle. When I let the Light burst around the planet, it is for it to decide as Archangel Michael said earlier. It came up that it decided for a story of another world war instead of just the first."

Now he is listening to a duo of fools. How can he accept that all the stuff he had learned from grade school to college is not a fact? He is a history student and his mind cannot crumple all the facts and discard it in a bin. But he decided to ride on the bus that has no other destination but the asylum. "So the Second World War never occurred. What are all of these are going to do with me and that odd-shrinking sword inside my palm?"

"Take it easy," she said, her voice seem to creep around with a vibration that was never felt. "We are just preparing you for a trip."

"A trip?" He cannot help it but wear a smile that was abruptly cut when Spring walked towards them, cradling something unseen with both of her hands that was irregularly shaped like a dipper. She went near to Geiki who is trying hard to twist his body just to face her.

"Yes, a trip. It would be easier for you to see things before your eyes." She almost whispered and offered whatever she has on her hands to Geiki who gamely extended an open palm. "So that you know that lives, including small lovely creatures like this is in your hands."

That struck home. It went off like a nuclear warhead detonating inside his being. How come lives will be hanging on a balance in his hands? He fixed a stare to a baby crab given to him by the angel, and gave it a look like as if it is his first time to see one. "Lives are in my hands?"

"It is time." Michael nodded at Spring and jumped down the stream. "Come now, Geiki. We have to go to many places."

But Michael remained there, not taking any direction which he is supposed to follow. Spring crawled under the leaning tree and came out standing in front of Geiki. He really found this duo a pair of weirdoes.

"Please close your eyes," she ordered with barely a whisper. Her words seem to be a small unseen hand reaching in his eardrums.

He gave her an annoyed look. Close his eyes so they can plunge a dagger into his heart? How come he can know they can even be trusted? But he read seriousness about her eyes and he knew the order is hard like a metal and as cold as a block of ice. He moved his eyes to Michael who, besides fixing him a stare void of emotions, is doing nothing. He decided that this is an argument he cannot win. He was left with no other choice but to submit to the command. Knowing the impact on the water will not harm it, he let the small crab fall all the way down and was carried away by the stream for some distance before sinking back to the ecosystem where it belong. Then he slowly closed his eyes.

He counted, annoyingly decided he will fling his eyelids wide open at the count of sixty, but he was still somewhere amid three and four seconds when he felt a gentle tap on his left shoulder and it seemed to have sent an undefinable tickle in his soul. Spring's soft voice came next. "You may open them now."

Within four seconds, he cannot believe so much will change around. The thought of waking from a dream to another never left his mind. He is not sitting anymore, but standing at the shoulder of a concrete and empty street. The place is darker than where they were before and he guessed the time is somewhere between eight to ten in the evening. He looked around and found buildings instead of trees. Then his eyes darted upwards, towards the pitch black mantle of sky that was ornamented by what seem to be sparkling diamonds that should be the stars.

"Welcome to your first day on earth," Michael boomed before he can even ask. He was still on the same distance from him, he figured.

"What trick is this odd dream playing this time?" He asked Spring who is still at his front, his eyes locked on his face as if she will passionately kiss him any second.

"This is twenty one years ago, Geiki." Michael began walking around as if he was a guide giving a tour. "As I said, your first day on earth."

Geiki looked up when Michael gazed at the sky, searching for unseen things that seem to be hovering above. "Twenty two years ago, Siknabar, a former archangel, the right hand of Azazel the king of demons, forged a weapon that is too powerful on celestial standards. With one sway of it, he can bring hundreds of angels down. And it was rumored that there were other ways he had used it, but none lived to tell the tale."

"Wait," Geiki said side-stepping away from Spring. "None lived? You mean they died?"

Michael nodded. "There is another death never yet known by any mortal. One final end dubbed as the eternal death." He took paces towards him and stopped a good three paces away. "Once a human being dies, he resumes an eternal life, either going up in the heaven or down in hell. But at this another life, one that should be eternal, they can still be killed. It is like the way your computer files be moved to what you call recycle bin, then from there you can still delete them and loose it forever."

"To get back to the explanation," he gazed up again, as if awaiting a star to shoot down from the sky. "He himself led the entire army twenty two years ago and took the Philippines again, because of its strategic location. They dwelled with the mortals under the guise as humans, concealing their true forms. During their occupation, they are the governing body and all sorts of sins should be willingly committed. They drowned every mortal in this country in the sea of sins. They kill those who worship in churches, but never made an effort to destroy the structures. Churches lived under fright and the holy gospel were thought and shared in secrecy. In almost all places in the country, people killed one another over something, stole from each other, then concubinage and a******y became common. Most of all, many turned their backs to God. This place is not a good place anyone would want to be in for about a year.

Siknabar, knew one of the ladies who practiced sharing gospel in secrecy, kept a good eye on her ever since and became fond of her. She was supposed to be killed when Siknabar, the General of the invading force, found out what they were doing during silent neighborhood gatherings at night. Her life, among the others, was spared in a condition that she accepts being his wife. She became pregnant within four weeks and gave birth after nine months this dawn, to a cambion, a product between the union of demon and a human being."

"You mean we time-travelled twenty one years ago?" He looked at Spring as if not believing any of Michael's word.

"Humans call it, replay." She said and took paces towards them. "We can see it, but can never interfere. This is from different memories that were sewed as one, so we can look at it like we are in a cinema theater. Only this time, you are not kissing a girl before a film you do not intend to watch."

He may have laughed at the thought. How many times did he really do that? But he sensed a stinging seriousness about what is happening.

"This dawn," Michael went on. "Our forces gathered up there to free humanity from b*****e and sin. But something went wrong."

Geiki felt Archangel's words. There is a mix of sorrow, remorse and regret dubbed on every part of it. He is sure now that Michael is waiting for something to fall from above. He gazed up just in time to see a feather fall amid the cold concrete street. It looks something like a bird's feather, yet this one is five times too large and emits a shiny glow that lit a small portion of the pavement about a saucer in diameter.

"Here he comes," Spring announced softly and was immediately followed by a series of steps.

A man in a parka, its hood over his head, appeared out from the wall of darkness up ahead. His face could have been easily seen if only it was not concealed under a black shade. He is taking a course that will lead him straight to the feather. The man went on, still not laying an eye on the thing that does not belong on the pavement as he looked around, as if expecting to see ghosts appear out the windows of the surrounding edifices. And as expected, he came near the feather, nearly stomping his feet over it, yet he noticed it and spared it from being stepped upon. He bent his body down, his hand reaching for the glowing thing with growing curiosity. He moved it closer to his face as if tempted to eat or smell it, his eyes is a measure bigger from what it used to be as he realized where it came from and what danger is hovering unseen up above his head. He gazed up, his eyes piercing the dark ceiling of the night. He is sure an unseen threat is up there but aside from the stars that oddly blinks out too long and often; he sees nothing that will elevate his suspicion to a proven fact. At that, he made hurried paces, turning around on a reverse course as before. Without a word, Michael tailed him while the two followed a silent command of doing the same.

If Geiki could have predicted what he will see, he may never have moved a step forward.