He was able to freeze his movements and hear if they were still behind him......this would work.....for a while. His heart was still racing and so overworked that he could actually hear it beating in his chest. He took deep breaths to calm himself and doubled over to let the sweat fall directly on the grass below him instead of rolling down his shoulders.
How the hell did they find him?
Now as the anxiety of his apparent escape was easing, real fear began to take hold and brought it all back. He eased toward the edge of the forest and leaned against a large tree. What was he going to do now? He'd gambled everything on the expectation that his bosses would acquit him, not betray him. Why were they doing this?
Listening again as carefully as he could, he realized there was simply nothing to hear. A few insects maybe, but no voices, no large animals and no weapons. Again he began to relax a bit. He slid down the side of the tree. Pieces of bark broke off and crumbled invisibly upon the dry leaves of the forest floor, sounding like rain.
“I'm gonna have to go in there blind,” he said, out loud.
“No you're not,” a voice answered out of the charcoal opacity of the unseen trees in front of him.
“Who's there?” He loudly whispered.
“Don't worry, I won't harm you in any way.” It was a woman or maybe a child, he could not decide which. “I saw you running from those men. What did you do? Why are you running?”
He tensed-up. The voice seemed to be even closer now. But he heard no foot falls. Was she hanging from a tree? “Who are you? Show yourself!” His words might have been whispered but they sounded loud, and he quickly looked all around with the desperation of an animal in a trap.
“My name is Sera. Fear not.”
The voice was right in front of his face now. He rose to his feet and jumped back, nearly tripping over a root. “Shit! Where are you? ”
A tiny, blue point of light appeared about five paces in front of him. But it became so bright that he could not get a good idea of just how large or small it really was. Then a golden smoke seemed to be fading into view around the central blue light.
He looked around him again, and also off beyond this light, and noticed that its rays only fell on him and his clothes. A sound like the rushing of air, mixed with a million frequencies all tuned to different transmitions assaulted his ears. “Aaaagg!” He reached up to cover them but it made no difference. The sound came from within his head. And he winced, tightly clenching his eyes closed.
“Okeanos, can you see me now?”
The voice was different all of a sudden; watery, and filled with music-like notes. Each word was consumed with a thousand different melodies, all playing at the same time. He slowly opened his eyes...
Sera
There standing in front of him was a beautiful, young woman, completely naked. But her skin seemed to have no marks of any kind. She had no nipples, but the shape of her breasts was obvious. Her large eyes shone, and a blue point of light occupied the each of the spots where her pupils should be. In the middle of her forehead was a small circle. Not a solid one, but a violet ring, which also glowed. He jumped back again.
“What are you?"
She seemed to consider this question to be rather humorous and looked off to one side as if she were carefully constructing an answer to it. Then her eyes met his again. but she said nothing.
"Are you a spirit?"
“Yes.” She said, smiling. “But I am also much more than that.”
Her blonde hair was so soft looking. It was wavy and rested upon her narrow shoulders. She was about as tall as he was, but slight in build. Her voice completely calmed him. He felt protected by her presence.
“I am a keeper of the Blue Dawn.”
“How... Why... What are you doing here?”
She raised her left forearm and tilted her hand so that her palm faced him.
“It is time for us to meet. I have served with my two sisters by your side ever since you were a young boy. We first contacted your mind when you became indwelt with the Infinite Parent's fragment. Everyone on this world who is indwelt has similar companions. Some people have one like me. Some have three as you do--one like me, and two like my sisters. Some have four; two like me and two like my sisters. There are few who have six companions; two like me, two like my sisters and...”
“OK,” he interrupted, “I get the idea. I don't have a lot of time right now for a big lesson. I'm being hunted by guys from the company I work for...ah...worked for.”
“Yes. I know. And I have taken you out of time for a little while.”
“Then you also know that they will kill me if they find me.”
“Yes. But they are not going to find you,” she smiled again. "I led you through a certain patch of bushes that masked your scent. Their animals think you disappeared.”
“That was YOU?” He grinned and thought back to the dead tree that blocked the path and caused him to veer off through some smaller brush and into the edge of the clearing where they now stood. “Thanks!”
“You're welcome. It isn't the first time, you know.” She laughed, and two small, orange forms faded into view; one on either side of her, laughing along heartily. Their images faded out again as they got control of themselves.
Ateb and Ahpla
“I take it those are your 'sisters'?”
“Yes, they are my very LITTLE sisters,” she remarked, and turned to look from one side of her to the other.
“Ha!” A tiny orange cloud faded in on her right side and then dissolved again.
He thought for a moment. “May I see them?”
She pondered the request for a moment, and then a humming vibratory noise seemed to come from behind her. There was the whooshing multi-frequency sound again, but it only lasted for a second. Then two small girls appeared to walk out of each of the angel's sides. They were lit from within by an orange light that shimmered and shifted around inside their bodies.
As he faced this incredible sight, the one on the his right-hand side said, “I am Ahpla.”
“And I am Ateb,” the other one chimed in. They both chuckled.
“They are a little shy, this is highly unusual. Seraphim have often made themselves visible through the agency of a kind of being that is much more like yourself – practically human – that is why I am able to show myself now. But Cherobim hardly ever get to be seen. They are excited right now. Usually they are better behaved.”
“These other 'beings' that you speak of, the ones who are practically human, may I see them?”
Sera was quick to answer. “No, I'm afraid that is not permitted in this case. They are TOO much like you. There is a risk that you would recognize them from their participation in certain events from your past.” She again stopped to think. “They do not have forms that you would understand, aside from the forms that they mimic; the forms of others in your race; other humans.”
He really didn't understand, but that didn't bother him.
She continued, “There are five of these other beings, one behind us, one behind you, one on either side of all of us, and one, their captain, above us. But I have not come to reveal such trivial details. Consider yourself fortunate that I have been given permission to show you my sister associates. It was foreseen that you would ask to see them, and they have been looking forward to it.” Another warm smile appeared on her face.
“Yes,” Ateb said, “We love you, Okeanos! We helped your mother name you. Your name means 'ocean blue'...”
“Well,” Ahpla interrupted, “...it is supposed to mean that. Your adoptive mother used the human version of our word.” She glowed brighter for a moment. “But Ateb is correct, we DO love you very much.”
“As do I,” Sera said with a musical tone that touched him deeply. “But the song we sing for you is awaiting your harmony. And now that we have met, we must get on to business. You were right in your acceptance of the vision you saw during your use of the Blue Dawn Flower. Your world – our world – is quite sick. It is permeated with the selfish birthmark of one who came long ago. You saw him in symbol, remember?”
Okeanos thought back to his first experience with the Blue Dawn Flower. He had been alone in his house. He was so paranoid, having the seeds in his kitchen. They were supposed to be a legend. He had been told from his earliest memories that the plant had been extinct for hundreds of years. So, he wasn't quite sure if one was actually growing in his backyard, nor was he at all certain how it would have arrived there. And though he would find out the answer to the latter about two weeks before this very night of the spirit vision, he had confirmed the identity of the plant the night he brought the seeds indoors...by the bold and possibly foolish method of simply grinding them up and ingesting them.
And, MAN! did he find out! Until this meeting, the experience of that first night was the single most important thing that had happened to him in his whole life. “Yes,” he stammered, “I remember the vision quite clearly. The 'one' that you refer to was a great being of light. I thought he was a god...”
“Be careful, Okeanos, this is a sensitive subject with us. The being you saw is a viscous and dangerous brother. He was once our boss...until he stumbled into darkness, and took a rather large portion of the family with him. For you, this is a distant and enigmatic image. But for us, it is like a painful fact. HE is the reason why those men are trying to kill you. He wants you dead.”
“I don't understand...” he said with a laugh, “What did I ever do to him?”
“You re-discovered the Blue Dawn Flower.” Sera looked suddenly serious. “It is the lack of this plant that once guided your race, that is the work of his hands; he spent thousands of years destroying the tools this world needed to expand its consciousness... He worked at demonizing these plants and almost succeeded in wiping out every trace of them.”
“Good word for it: 'demonizing.'” Okeanos replied almost to himself, automatically. This was the word he had used to fight for the preservation of the Blue Dawn Flower, an effort and political position that was as fairly courageous as it was against the law.
A look passed between the three glowing forms. And a shiver ran up his spine.
Sera's form briefly flickered ever so slightly. Her companions turned toward her as if instinctively synced together as one. “'He' is aware that we are meeting,” she said in a mechanical way. “We need to finish up here, so that we may then depart to address other issues. Tomorrow you will aboard the yacht of one of your friends and well-hidden from the Monster of Light. It is a friend of yours, whom we contacted about two weeks ago. But now you MUST listen carefully to what I am about to tell you...”
“He is still around? This Monster?” Okeanos felt a surge of childlike fear and strong adrenalin.
“Yes.” Sera looked increasingly impatient.
“Well, please, tell me what you must. I don't want to die.”
The three luminous beings looked again back and forth at each other. “You're not going to die, Okeanos. We are quite capable of protecting you. The only way that you could be harmed is if you wish it upon YOURSELF.” As Sera spoke the last word, it buried itself like an arrow inside his mind.
“That's ridiculous! Why would I wish harm upon myself?”
Ahpla faded out for a moment and then re-appeared. Then Ateb did the same thing. The two small beings began to glow more dimly.
“I cannot answer that adequately,” said Sera. Then she seemed to sigh. My sisters must return to their natural forms now. They are about to run some interference for us all.”
Then, without warning, Ateb rushed forward to about one step away from him. “We love you so much, Okeanos, you are our gift to the world. Ahpla and I think about you night and day. There is never a time when we are not watching you. We see you even when we are not physically close to you. Do you understand? We are bound to you for your whole life. And our big sister will be with you after that life and will be your companion and confidant for millions of future and more perfecting lives, even until you reach the Center of Infinity. And we will miss you and be assigned to others. You are our first charge, but throughout the ages we will reunite with you and have happy times. We...are virgins, in a way. Our order never fails...unless...you fail...or...” Her eyes clouded slightly. “But with Sera guiding us all, I am positive that we will all triumph in the end.”
Okeanos was filled with an emotion he'd never felt before. It was something like a cross between despair and some kind of erotic urge in this slight being's presence. He could not determine exactly what it was that he felt.
Ateb put her hand out and gently touched his stomach. And he saw a vision of her crying and calling his name. She seemed to be in great pain in this flash, and his heart sank. Sensing that somethiing was wrong, she quickly removed her hand.
“What is it?” Sera asked her with some amount of concern in that musical voice of hers.
“I don't know...” replied Ateb, turning her head back to address her chief. “He is seeing something that I am not able to perceive.” She slowly stepped back to Sera's side. “I know it was something about me though.”
“It was nothing.” Okeanos lied.
Then Ahpla spoke up, “Ateb and I must depart now. Goodbye, Okeanos, we will see you again soon.” She smiled comfortingly at him and then at her complementary sister.
“I want so much to talk with you again, Okeanos,” said Ateb. And both of the other angels turned and looked at her. She paused and then returned their gaze. “When we are together next time I want to speak with him and ask him about what things are like for him as a mortal of the realm.”
Sera smiled. “Yes, patience will get us there, Ateb.”
When Sera turned back to Okeanos, a sharp bolt of light shot straight up into the night sky out of the top of her head. And the smaller sisters vanished. In the place where Ateb had been standing a small orange heart shape lingered for a moment and then dissolved in the air.
“She is smitten with you,” Sera intimated. “This happens sometimes with the little sisters, especially the passive complements--the Sanobim. Ateb, in particular, is extraordinarily curious. On the rare occasions that she is granted leave, she studies incessantly about human behavior. And...” she paused noticeably.
“What?” asked Okeanos.
“She is obsessed with you; tracing your family lines, reviewing the adventures we have accompanied you on, looking forward through reflective mechanisms for any future information about our mission and your life.”
“I don't understand.” He was surprised that such things might occupy the minds of spirits.
“Since the days of the early Local Universe, Sherobim have manifested this odd quirk. They are closer to the human sons and daughters of the mortal-inhabited planets than any of the other orders. They really do behave more like humans sometimes than angels.
"There is more that I must tell you, and you have to pay close attention to it. The end of the great war in heaven is upon us. Some of this you saw when using the Blue Dawn Flower seeds. Another great son of light is on his way here, to this world. He has been traveling for a hundred and fifty years. He is the replacement for the Monster of Light. And in the Monster's haste to do as much damage as he can do before being arraigned, he has begun his final campaign to ruin the advent of his brother's arrival.
“Now, after hundreds of thousands of years since any supermortal being was lost to his machinations, he has found a new way to influence and snare the minds of the lower orders of these beings again. This was an unforeseen development that has seriously complicated what was to be a smooth administrative transition.”
Okeanos was puzzled over what he was hearing, and it showed on his face. “I don't understand. How can beings greater than humans be so vulnerable? Can't you guys deal with such evil? If your leaders go bad isn't there a system for addressing it?”
Sera looked down at her feet. “Yes, the universe is a well-policed place under normal circumstances. And what is happening now on this world, and a few others, is the most far-away exception to the Rule. It is confusing to you, because it is also confusing to us. Who can blame a human being for not comprehending how much more there is to the story. In some ways, it is actually beyond your current ability to grasp. But listen... Our time – outside of time – together, tonight, is growing short. And I must now ask you for something.”
Okeanos stiffened but his curiosity overwhelmed him. “Anything I can do for you I will.” He blurted out, before seriously contemplating what that meant.
“I'm happy to hear you say that, Okeanos, because this is going to be the hardest thing you may ever do. I need you to give me a promise.”
“OK.” He said sheepishly.
“I need you to promise me three things: Number one, you must not reveal to anyone, especially your friend with the yacht tomorrow that we spoke tonight.”
“Done,” he said quickly. “No problem.”
“Good. Number two, you must follow my guidance until this venture is completed.”
“How will I know when it is completed?”
“Because a party the likes of which has never been seen will be our common-reward. And I KNOW you like to party.” They both laughed easily. “And here is the final thing: You must, and I mean MUST, be willing to divorce yourself from anyone, any being, of any order that you have been, or will soon be, introduced to - human or 'spirit,' if my sisters and I tell you to.” She drove her countenance into him with a force he wasn't expecting. Her gaze was almost unbearably serious. “This is YOUR choice though. I would never presume to force you to choose what I need. It is against our mandate.”
“Yes. Yes, I think I'd be willing to do all those things for you, Sera. But I need time to think a bit. This is, after all, our first date.” He noticed that her smile was less apparent.
“PLEASE don't misunderstand the nature of this third request. You, we, and the entire planet could reach a depth of pain and suffering that even I can't comprehend. The loss of your loyalty at this time in history would unbalance what thousands of generations of mortals and angels have fought for. Your world is the one of the greatest hopes of all the local spheres. To lose it would start a ricochet reaction that might reignite the war in full force.
“I come to you appearing like one of your own kind. But in truth, I am no mere woman. I am also – as are my sisters – limited in our ability to function intellectually while in these lesser forms. It is like I have to use a human mind to appear to humans. And, with no offense intended, the human mind is like a thimble. My natural mind state is, comparatively, more like river. But, make no mistake, the mind of the Monster is like an ocean. The power and experience of his order dwarfs any other person on this world – seen or unseen. His charm is more subtle and viscous than even I have been able to withstand sometimes. I will tell you that I came close to being seduced by him, on, I'm ashamed to admit, two separate occasions. This put me out of commission and required extensive rehabilitation both times.
“Honesty dictates that I tell you something that might be hard for you to take. But it is required of me, so I must relate it. My last two human charges WERE manipulated by the Monster, and actually died in HIS service, while I was distracted with his mind games. It is a weight that you cannot possibly know for me to carry around, and it has dulled the my shine. I, sadly, am not well-aware of what the soul status of these two humans is now. The current commander of my order has been very reassuring on this point, and she let me know that they are still sleeping the sleep of physical death—the “first death.” They are being held in suspension, awaiting the results of my efforts with you, and our efforts with humanity, in general. These departed, but not-yet disposed-of humans have not made their final decision about whether they want to go on after their resurrection and reintegration in the halls of the Mansion Worlds.”
“Mansion Worlds?”
“Think of these worlds as the first level of what you call, 'heaven.' Nearly all humans choose to go on after their death in the flesh. They become citizens of the Local System. And they progress upward and inward, growing more spiritually brilliant until they reach the Center; the Abode of the Original Parents.” She stopped speaking and looked at him as if she needed confirmation that he was getting what she was saying.
“Yeah, I guess that makes sense. Somehow I always knew that there was some kind of system like that. But our schools of philosophy have distorted that quite a bit throughout recent history I guess.”
“Yes they have.”
Just then a large bolt of light came rushing down into the top of her head. She flickered a bit with its impact. “My sisters are back and we must now leave you for a time.”
Mischievously, Okeanos looked to where Ateb had stood previously and said, “Hi Ateb!”
Sera seemed pleasantly put off. “She says, 'hello,' Okeanos. I know this is all new for you right now and you have much to think about and consider. This is NOT a game, but it is OK to think of it as a kind of adventure IF that motivates your body toward action and your soul toward loyalty. But hear me clearly again: The four of us are about to embark upon the most difficult and dangerous times we may ever face, even into the future cycles of eternity. Everything beautiful and worth living for is dependent upon what we and the other contact groups do in this coming year. You are the first to be contacted. And very much will be expected of you. You will not find another time to really rest until this is all over and completed successfully.”
Then a sparkling and beautiful look came over her face. And she said, “You have made tonight, the most important promise of your life to me. And I want to make YOU a promise in return; which shall seal a modern covenant between us--heaven and humanity:
“I promise you that, when we have successfully integrated a new and superior administrative system on this world, three things will become possible: Number one, from the day of triumph, forward, all the humans who have assisted us in this project will be given the gift of extended visual range, so that you might live out the remainder of your days able to actually visualize us as we truly are. Number two, you will be asked to serve as human executives in the first, new world-wide government, and will be attached to a special corps of leaders who function not under the authority of its human headquarters, but rather by mandate the superhuman government of the Local System...
“And, finally, Okeanos, as an ultimate reward for your bravery, loyalty to the Eternal and Infinite Parents and your personal sacrifice in the coming months, you will have the choice at some point in your elder years to SKIP the natural death of your body and translate directly to the Mansion Worlds, where you will begin your ascension career. This has never been instituted on any other planet in the Local Universe. And when I say that, I should also tell you that there are over three million evolutionary, human-inhabited worlds in this part of the galaxy! Do you fully understand our covenant?”
He stood dumbfounded and overrun with emotion. Tears crept into the edges of his eyes. “Yes. Yes. I understand you.” And shaking with a new potential purpose for his life, the promotion of the Blue Dawn Flower, and a real, substantial sense of mission. He gulped, and said, “I promise my loyalty to you and these Parents forever. I will not let you down, Sera!”
There was a small puff of orange on either side of the angel, and she giggled. “Then Okeanos, first child of the Blue Dawn, we leave you to your assignment, as we depart to continue ours. Look for our next meeting to occur on the far-away shore that you will soon reach with your friend in his yacht; the friend you will meet up with tomorrow. We will be watching you and with you completely in spirit, until we meet up with you again in person.”
And with that, the whooshing sound returned loudly again and the angel vanished, except for the small, blue point of light that first appeared to him. It lingered where she had been standing. Some distance behind it a leaf on the ground lit up, emitting a red hue in front of him, and the blue point disappeared from his sight.
He walked toward the leaf, and once he reached it, another leaf, further into the forest, lit up in the same way. He walked to it. And using them as beacons in his journey through the darkness, he made his way toward the coast, beginning an adventure that would test every aspect of his character.
Nothing would ever be the same again, in him, in the world, or in the starry realms above his head.
