Thirteenth of The Blue

XII

GEIKI FELT DUMBSTRUCK WHEN the sword came free from being stuck on the rock. It is a mix of surprise, awe and joy all at a perfect ratio that made the world go swirl around in what seem to be a vortex melting everything around a center that was him. For him, the environment, the people and all the trees around exist no more.

He watched in morbid fascination as a pair of smoke moved like snakes slithering their way from the hilt, intertwining at some points towards the tip that does not exist. The sword was broken, more like shattered, four inches from the guard. The two smoke-snake, or simply smoke, whatever they are, should have ceased their forward movement when they reached where the sword was shattered, but to Geiki's surprise, they carried on creeping like vines from an alien world over something that cannot be seen. It just went on, and to Geiki's estimate, it could have been a meter and a half away from his grip. What is even more stunning is that whatever unseen material those things are creeping on, it seems to go wider at each passing inch. A foot from what should be the tip when they finally began creeping closer to each other and seem to have met at a pointed end that is still cannot be seen. It does not require a sharp imagination of an artist that Geiki does not have to arrive at a conclusion that those things have crept on what was the former outline of the great blade in his grasp.

It is another dream, a tortured voice of another Geiki screamed in his mind. Just another stupid dream!

When the slithering smoke finally met on the still unseen pointed tip, they seem to spread over the unseen outline like a low mist over the ground until all but the handle was wrapped by these voiding invaders. Geiki made a step back, an action he always does when experiencing these dreams.

That did not work; he should be taking another step backwards when the things wrapping what was once a huge and heavy blade disappeared like a cigar smoke blown by a strong wind. What Geiki have guessed that was a huge and heavy sword was what really it was. He can only stare at the great sword that was in his grasp. The backward step that he planned finally landed on the ground, but he is still here, trapped within a new nightmare he is sure he still did not have in the past.

He have seen the likes of this huge blades made famous by Japanese animation characters, the type of entertainment he will not find interest at. He always asks himself how could they bear and sway such a gigantic weapon of war when in fact carrying it is a battle itself. He tried to lift it, thrusting it towards the sky that was out of reach. It felt light as a feather. He fell on a thought that maybe this is how light those heroes' weapons are.

He was too busy wandering in the twilight of what should be a dream to notice that the world around him is now in chaos. The crowd, that should be watching him act like an i***t while examining a sword that was shattered moments ago, was sent in almost every direction. The team of scientists that should be still be engaged in a tough review were wrapped in terror, some hiding under the table, the others followed the stampede in pursuit of self-preservation.

Geiki did not notice how his hated college instructor Doctor Nitzky was wrapped in a black cloud for a second then came out of it as a winged warrior of hell wielding a huge double-edged ax on his hands. He did not see either how some people from the crowd morphed from human to demons with almost every kind of ancient weapon of war in their hands. Some of his schoolmates were wrapped in bright white light just to come out of it as heavenly warriors. Not a fat chance he will even notice how Archangel Michael and his assault team rallied down the hill from their concealment. He is deaf from the sounds of weapons thrusting to armors or colliding at each other. There is no way he could have known that a demon axe went whizzing an inch sparing his nose. His senses missed an arrow too that almost scathed his ears as it traversed a course towards the woods where he planned to pin Marie. The whole place has been turned into a celestial battlefield and he is still trapped in what he is sure is a dream.

Michael kicked Doctor Nitzky, who was now in black armors with a pair of dragon wings on his back like a winged knight. The sole of his sandals collided across the doctor's chest which sent him flying to the stage and through it, shattering it into timbers and splinters that were hurled in the air in almost every direction. The sound of cracking frames of wood and lumbers sounded like a lightning striking nearby to Geiki's ears and it pulled him back to reality, but he is sure to himself he woke from a dream just to enter a nightmare.

He stood there frozen, like a wave in the ocean that suddenly met its freezing point turning into an iceberg. He is rooted on the ground, his mind wanting to run away from all the chaos but his body was unable to move, rebelling against his brain. He is beginning to convince himself he warped through a wormhole and was thrown back in time amid an ancient battle but the wings of the two competing parties ceased the thought.

At this point, the evils are nearly on submission and are flying one after the other to escape the ambush against their own planned one. They already admitted that they lost this round of the chess game and must live, or leave, to fight another day. There will be more chances of attaining their goal, and it is not hard to admit they lost this first one. But not all, some were badly hurt having injuries like broken wings, or severe hits on their body. There were seven of them, clutching parts that were fatally hit based on mortal standards while the heavenly force counting nearly thirty, round them up with their weapons still at the ready should they decide to fight until their end.

"What are we going to do with them?" A familiar voice from a female angel trailing Michael as the high angel approached Geiki. The voice seemed familiar to Geiki but cannot place who it belongs to.

"Send them away," he answered with no emotion at all. "They deserve an eternal life of suffering in hell rather an end."

"Would they do the same to us?" The female stopped dead on her tracks when Michael unexpectedly turned around.

"No, sweet creature of heaven. Why would they send us back to our paradise? They would rather end us at the first thought of what we have back home. And they are condemned beings which belongs to the punishment of the oblivion where there should be weeping and gritting of teeth."

The female angel gave a short nod before he is finished.  Michael then hurried on his way to the still frozen Geiki, who has now a pair of eyes twice bigger than what they used to be.

"Come, Spring. I want you to formally meet him."

Geiki cannot believe it, this dream, he is sure, were not like the rest. A step back should have sent him light years away to his soft cozy bed, but a couple did not, and maybe four would not either. A sure thought that he is in dreamland should work either when the awaken mind forced the still sleeping body to get up with the price of heavy gasping for air the moment his eyes flung open. At this very moment, he wishes his bedside clock ring the morning alarm or receive a call from a friend to send his phone sounding and vibrating. But those chances were all shattered like a mirror wall smashed by a hammer to pieces when the approaching high angel in white tunic spoke to him.

"No, Geiki," Michael begun and stopped a step away at his very front, the spear still on his hands. "You are not in a dream."

"You know my name?" Geiki asked as if he does not know his own. His eyes opened too wide the way that his eyeballs may be able to have escaped from their sockets. "And you did not call me..." The name called out to him in his dreams escaped from his mind.

"Arkinobar?" An answer followed by a sweet smile displaying a set of snow white teeth. "For us, you are just Geiki, the human, but still Arkinobar." He paused for a couple of seconds to let the statement sink in. Then he continued when he did not hear any words from him. "I guess I owe you a lot of explanation?"

Geiki gave him a nod, still cannot believe he is not in a dream. "You can begin by introducing yourself." But his voice was like that of a boy before a stranger.

"No," he shook his head. "We can begin by opening your hands while thinking that sword will be embedded on your palm."

Geiki was stunned; he forgot the weapon that was still on his grasp. For the first time, he evaluated the weapon. It is a sword too broad to bear for any human being. It is a broad sword shaped like a long diamond, its broadest part is about a foot from the sharp tip and measures nearly a foot wide. And from whatever metal it is wrought from, it seems to give out a light glow of red. He gave the high angel a fixed stare, not sure he heard him correctly. "Do what?"

"You are holding a celestial weapon, made to be concealed in your palm. Just think it will shrink and will go into the skin of your palm."

"Just think?" He asked sure to himself this one is making an i***t out of him. The moment he release the hilt from his grip, it will sure go down the earth because of gravity. A six grader will know it, but he did as was ordered. He opened all his fingers at an instant. For a second he believed he saw the sword hung in the air, but his eyes only played its tricks. It came all the way down to the ground with a loud clanging sound that may have sent all the birds in the woods away.

"Never heard or read how Peter doubted Jesus' words he can walk on the water?"

"Never knew any Peter, and no, I don't read the book they claim to be holy."

"Maybe you can start the moment you get back home." He moved his hands so that the spear is pointed sideways, his curled fingers around the shaft are at the top. He freed his hand from the spear, aiming an open palm in the sky, and Geiki cannot believe it when it shrunk for what he must have observed took one full minute when it only took a second. Then he watched intently as the spear turned like a miniature of what it was a moment ago, now only good to be armed on kids’ toys. It is now enwrapped by a bluish flame that emanates from the high angel's hands. Then it sank down into his skin as if it is a body of water eating up a ship on a gaping mouth of waves.

He fixed Geiki a stare as if telling him "see?"

"You are an angel," he tried to reason out. "You can fold earth into a table napkin. I am a human." But he felt like he was wrong, it seems for how many seconds, he is awaiting a plummeting bomb right to his heart. It is as if he can hear it wail a whistle down from up above then it exploded right into him in a silent blast that never rocked a tiny pebble on the ground. "Am I?"

"On my defense on your first statement, I am only an archangel, folding the world into something paper thin is a work that can only be done by God." He looked at the eastern skies locating the sun, before speaking again. "Right now, I want you to keep that blade into your palm. Then the three of us are going to take a walk." He looked at Spring and nodded at her. "Go send our adversaries back to where they belong. Order our forces to patrol the around in pairs, then come back here and we got many explaining to do."

The moment Michael delivered his last word of his statement, Spring nodded and beat the air with a powerful pair of wings to attend to his fellow angels who held the enemies as prisoners. Dried leaves and dust were sent in the air as the angel departs away from them.

"Now," he looked at Geiki with those calm commanding eyes. "I know you don't want wandering around with that in your hands. And trust me; you will not want to discard it. Go on."

Geiki held the hilt with his right hand on chest level, so tight he may have extracted juice from it, aimed it above the sky then sideways so that his closed palm is aimed up. He doubted he can perform any better than Michael but a cold whisper that crept up his spine came haunting to both his of ears. "Arkinobar....." It is a soft chilly whisper of a male, someone he may have just recalled from a forgotten dream, or a voice carried by the breeze from a distance. There is no way he can tell which is what, but he heard it clearly, imagining the vapor of the breath entering the tunnel of an ear towards his eardrums. At that, all the doubts were kicked by a more determined Geiki inside his heart.

He opened his hand, freeing the fingers one after the other. He fixed the blade of the sword a stare that could have melted it back to the forgery. His mind is speaking to it, "shrink and go inside my palm." It was no surprise to him when the weapon went afloat an inch above his palm and began shrinking down like what Michael has done earlier. But instead of a bluish flame, his was a crimson one that by the looks may have been burning his blood as fuel. It shrank, a small measure longer than an inch floating amid the core of the reddish flame that never appealed hot to his senses. Then it slowly made its descent like a helicopter hovering for a moment while positioning itself until it finally landed on his skin. Like the way it was demonstrated to him, his skin ate up the miniature weapon and concealed it beneath. Then the flame died as if a fire from a lamp out of fuel. He rolled his hand into a fist many times; disagreeing with his first thought he can never do it while that thing is in his palm.

"That did not hurt a bit." He frowned at his open palms, eyeing it like a beast might emerge from it and swallow him. Turning around, he saw Spring have returned. The angel walked towards them this time, sparing the wings with feathers that seemed groomed from time to time from the effort of flights. He gave Michael an asking look that states, "What now?"

He pointed towards the woods where Geiki and Marie almost shared the different flavor of l**t. "That woody part over there seems so inviting, don't you think?" A sweet smile showing the set of snow white teeth, but this time they seem to emit a magical glow.

Geiki seemed to be stunned, embarrassed by the high angel's sense of humor. There is something in his words that sounded like he is an open book for reading. He knew better, Michael and his company were around before any of them landed their soles on the ground. He must have watched him and Marie with that pair of zooming eyes all along. But what made him be locked in the state of being stunned is the gorgeous smile of Michael. He imagined bamboos and huge trees bowing before him each time he casts that smile. A shake of the head cannot be fought and he willingly committed it before saying, "I do think so."

They treaded the ground, all three of them. Not a word was spoken by anyone as they made their trek over the high blades of grasses that grew around when a lane made by continuous pound of footsteps are going in a different direction. They came in the woods where Geiki and Marie went in earlier. But this time, they treaded further to where the branches of the trees met in arches. The vines clinging over them and spilling down seem to be reaching to the ground like tiny fingerless hands. What seem odd, is that the soil is free of any vegetation and seemed to be regularly attended to as there were only few leaves scattered about like the sweeper have been off for only a couple of days. Geiki looked up, around and down, fighting hard to pushing aside the feeling that he is entering an archway leading to a mystique elf land.

They stopped near a crystal-clear stream, its water running silently. Spring made it to the water before them and sat on a black rock shaped like an irregular heart like it was chiseled out of a big grain. When the two reached her, Michael moved his open right palm over his eyes for a second, then fixed the angel with a steady look.

Spring gave him a nod, and before she finished moving her head downwards, the eye shield with her helm, running around her forehead like a headband, disappeared after a bright white glow of light emitted from it. She may have looked like any typical human being but the armors and a pair of wings gave it away.

Geiki fixed his eyes on her in an evaluating scan. To say the female angel is gorgeous could have been an insult. There is no way to define her beauty using any dictionary. One look at her and you could tell the mystique beauty engulfing her totality. Her hair, that is curly, glints chestnut brown under the onslaught of sunlight and is dispersing tiny dust that shines bright the way the stars will when scattered at pitch black sky at night. Her b****y red lips have a different shine from them too. Geiki imagines what the angel will look like at night. He could visualize the magical dust glitters lighting a part of the dark surroundings while her lips will give a dim light illuminating her snow-white face. Her eyes below a thin arch of brows were shaped like almonds and were guarded by straight short lashes. Her nose were almost pointed but took a perfect ratio to her nearly oval face. He is starting to feel a different kind deep appreciation to the appearance of this heavenly warrior but the presence of armors threw away all the emotions forming in his soul. He was jolted back to the reality that this is a warrior sent from up above but she really looked like a princess sitting atop her throne.

"Her name is Spring," Michael said, sensing Geiki is evaluating the angel. "Glitterspring, named because when God created her, her hair disperses these dust-like glitters in the air. She has been your babysitter for all your years on earth. I believe you may have seen her a number of times."

Geiki fixed his eyes on Spring's. He has seen a lot of faces all his life, but he learned to remember faces using the eyes. The eyes will not change no matter how the face transforms, he usually reason out. He shook his head, "I believe not."

"Yes," Spring smiled. "If you have been too careful to look around the places you have been. I was in the same room you were in the other day." She lifted her body inches from the rock using her hands and jumped off it. She stood were she landed, like a candidate for Miss Universe before the judges. Then the armors gave a white blinding light. But as quick as it came, it was gone along with the armors. The wings were not on sight either. "We look not too different from all of you."

Geiki found himself looking at a gorgeous lady she might instantly fall in love with. Aside from the absence of the armors, he look like no different from what she is a moment ago. But this time, her delicate hands were protruded out of yellow green sleeveless tops with a zipper running from the bottom and up. The zipper is at least a couple of inches safe from her cleavage. She wore a pair of shorts which was cut five inches from her pelvis fitting her healthy legs. Her feet were wrapped by short white socks and a pair of hiking shoes from a known international brand of the same color and they are now wet from the water of the stream.

"Doctor Nitzky's class," she came again shaking her head with a smile. "The two of you almost unleashed fury against each other. I believe I saw you wanted to thrust a fist on his face."

"So you are one of my schoolmates!" Geiki boomed excitedly. "Classmate, in fact."

"Not just that," Michael interrupted and gave another nod to Spring. And shortly after that, Spring shrunk in a matter of two seconds, morphing into a kid the age of a kindergarten. "You played with her during kindergarten."

At that, gears inside the head Geiki started to move transporting him to his own self when he was a kid. He was looking through the eyes of a child seeing the young Spring in his kindergarten school. The two of them usually play together, chasing each other around, kneading clay does, and sharing their first cursive drawings of houses assembled with plane figures of square and triangle or the conjugated circle and sticks resembling a human. He shook his head when he was thrown back to the present. "The kid I remember was named-"

"Cherry." Spring that now looked like her mature self finished it for him while getting back atop the rock to sit. "Was thrown to another section when we reached elementary but still kept an eye on you. We also went to the same high school, and you never noticed I am in most of your classes right now at college. I guarded you for many years by orders of Archangel Michael. Go to same bars you do, walk with my dog in the park when you do, and keep a good distance in the malls. It is almost wherever you go, I am there. I was also on the beach yesterday and enjoyed watching you sweet-talk that lovely foreigner." She cannot help but smile and shake her head.

"You're a stalker." Geiki cannot believe it. He is thinking if the angel sees him when he takes a bath or sits on the bowl with a book on his hands.

"Nah," Spring waved an index finger that was pointed up. "That would be too harsh. I am your guardian."

"Same and one." Then he looked at Michael. "May I now ask what is this all about?"

"Before we do that," he looked at Spring. "Spring, the Glow of Light."

Spring stood on the rock at once. Then after picking up the bow that she laid there when she sat, she loaded and nocked an arrow in it. She aimed it up the sky as if planning to bring down an unseen winged beast in flight over the skies. Without wasting a second, she let the arrow free off her hands. The arrow, considered too long in combat standards faithfully took its flight. It was too tactful as if following an invisible line like a missile soaring on a programmed course. It looked heavy by built and seemed impossible to be sent in flight when it is in Spring's grasp but now it looked like a needle clinging up in the air as it went up high. All their eyes followed it as it made its way up a clearing at the canopy of leaves, and then suddenly it exploded unleashing a white light that is brighter than the sun and was spread in all direction. The surroundings were lit up, wrapped by a different light ten times the measure of daylight. The peculiar phenomena occurred for five seconds and Geiki felt he was sent in twilight just to be pulled back again on earth when it was gone all of a sudden.

"What is that?" Geiki asked, realizing that both of his open palms were aimed upwards to guard his eyes from the different amount of light. He must have moved them involuntarily when his eyes cannot fight it.

"As I said, the Glow of Light," Michael explained. "That will erase the memory of anyone who has seen us battle the devils earlier. The memory will be replaced, altered in short."

"That would mean that as far as they can remember, all of these did not happen?" He said aiming his open hands around to his sides.

"That is for the Glow of Light to decide. Maybe the digging team will remember they did not have this project at all. The students went out on a field trip, but just hiking. There is no way of telling. The light decides for them."

Geiki thought of Leigh, remembering her for the first time since they parted. At first, he thought of asking her what alteration the Glow of Light did to her memory the first moment he will see her. Then that first thought was replaced by a worried feeling that she might be harmed. He will find out, but first, he have to deal with these angels to find out what is all of this about.

"Can I have my answer now?"

"Yes," he finally answered. "First, we begin with a story."