Post by gemstone on Feb 28, 2016 14:57:43 GMT
A slender figure stood quietly on marble floor, clad in white and holding a scroll tube in small arms. Clear blue glowing eyes looked out upon a gleaming city of gold, white marble and crystalline glass. Beyond the city was brilliant greenery, rolling hills and sweeping plains. Figures in white moved throughout the streets softly speaking. Overhead birds and angelic beings could be seen in flight, going about their daily tasks.
A tall figure strode up marble steps to stand next to the slender one, this one was clad in white robes and armour. Long white hair streamed down the warrior’s back in a thick long braid, in its hand a blue gleaming sword was held firmly. When the warrior spoke, the voice commanded power and shook the air lightly.
“Are you ready Messenger? I am to escort you to the mortal realm.”
The small figure nodded its head. A white hood hid pale softly glowing features, wings shifted against the angel’s back. Its voice was soft and musical. “I am ready Guardian.”
The pair rose into the air and flew high over the jewel like city below. Heaven was said to be a thing of beauty. Perfect, untouched by corruption. A thing that is beyond the human grasp of the mind. A place where there was no hunger, sorrow, want, need or carnal desires. Heaven had all that was good, joy, love, contemptment and harmony. This was the place humans of the mortal realm went onto after death, their souls came home to be re-joined with other beloved families who had gone on before them.
But this is not a story about what heaven is or who calls it home. This is the story of one lone angel’s journey down to the mortal realm, it is the start of a unique journey. Some will enjoy it, and other’s will ignore it and call it insignificant. However, even the insignificant have a story to tell.
The two angels reached the great pearl gates of Heaven, these slowly opened to allow the two to exit and fly out into the starry darkness beyond. For a moment they turned to look back, from this side only the gleaming gates could be seen shining softly amongst the blackness of space. Then the two proceeded to fly past Pluto, Neptune and the other planets as they drew closer to earth. Once they reached the moon the Guardian drew the Messenger to a halt and produced a cross decorated with red emeralds, it was placed around the Messenger’s neck and tied in place on a black cord.
“You will forget for a time who you are as you immerse yourself into the mortal realm. This will help you to remember when the time is right.” The scroll that carried specific words of command from the Throne of the Creator was now shrunk down until it was no bigger than a pin. It was slipped into a little slot on the back of the cross. This would ensure it would be safe and protected until it was placed into the right hands.
“I am ready.”
The Guardian took the Messenger by the hand and the last leg of the journey begun. From the moon the planet earth looked all beautiful, blue and green with swirling white clouds. Once the angel’s got closer, there were dark and crimson clouds that could be seen slithering over the face of the earth. Those dark shadows were strongest over certain cities, and yet there was hope for mankind. Bright white dots were scattered all over the continents, they either stood for those who had faith amongst the mortals or for the various celestials moving amongst the mortals on missions. They flew north, towards the continent of America, they then adjusted their flight path for Lebanon, Kansas.
From here on it was up to the Messenger as the Guardian had done its job and seen the Messenger safely to Earth. Messenger had come to earth many times before, but never had it been given a mission to walk amongst mankind so physically seen. White wings began to get a grey hue on the edge of the feathers as the angel’s flight trijactuary grew sharper in descent. A specific church had been noted, the angel had decided that would be its destination. Smoke began to rise and swirled around its white robes. Messenger bowed its head and wrapped arms tightly around its small form. Its wings were drawn in and curled around its form for the final descent. To any onlooker it would simply seem that a small meteorite streaked across the sky over the city of Lebanon before finally crashing into the earth not far from a small insignificant little catholic church that was close to the outskirts of the northern part of the city.
An old grey haired priest hurried out of the back door of his little church in reaction to the sound of earthly crash. Whatever had crashed to earth, lay in a crater just on the edge of his little graveyard. He grabbed a shovel out of instinct and picked his way amongst the grave stones until he stopped at the lip of the crater. Smoke rose slowly up into the air, it was thick and strangely smelt of incense. He heard a soft cough and then a soft low moan. The old priest furrowed his brows and began to inch his way down into the crater until he reached the centre. There lay a slender form of what he thought looked like a girl but he could not tell at the current moment. Hastily he removed his long coat and wrapped the girl in it, then proceeded to carry her out. Once on the outer lip of the crater, he glanced around himself cautiously before hurrying back into the safety of his small church.
The girl’s unconscious form was laid out on a pew before a giant statue of the mother Mary. He darted into a side room where second hand clothing was donated by this of his flock and soon located clothes he thought might fit her. He went to remove his coat, then lightly touched his rosemary beads and shook his head. That was not his place, he carefully put the clothes by the girl and then retreated from the main church room. His hands were shaking slightly as he made himself a cup of tea. The crater and the girl did not make any sense, other than the myths of angels coming down to earth. He shook his head, muttering that that was simply nonsense. He was old and whatever he had found this night was unexplainable. He would have to keep the girl’s arrival as a secret. Strange things happened in and around Lebanon, while he was a young priest he had drifted along blissfully unaware of certain things. However as the years went by, he saw things he could not explain. This most recent incident topped the iceberg. He turned when he heard movement from the main church and quickly left his back room to peek in on the girl.
The new arrival had awaken and slowly sat up. She was surveying the interior of the quint little church. From its high stained windows that showed various archangel’s, saints and others; there were many statues throughout the church, some of mother Mary, others of the Christ hanging on the Cross, and St Christopher. The church had a high roof, with beautiful wooden arched beams overhead. She turned her head to look at the raised dais where a beautiful carved table stood. Upon it was a beautiful wooden form of mother Mary, holding in her arms the baby form of the Christ. The girl rose to her feet, as she did so the priest’s coat spilled to the floor leaving her bare and naked for the present moment. The priest got the shock of his life as he stared at her flawless slender body. Her skin was like alabaster, she looked as if she had been beautifully and wondrously made and yet something was missing. The priest found himself staring as his brain tried to make sense of what he was seeing. He then jerked back around the corner and started praying as he worked the rosemary beads between his fingers. Maybe this was all a dream? Yes he would wake up any minute and it would be nothing more than a strange dream. He dragged a hand over his face, he was getting far too old for this. He shouldn’t be concerned about the fact the girl didn’t have any female parts? Her chest was flat, no nipples, she had a flat stomach with no belly button. But what had disturbed him the most, possibly because he actually looked, was the fact that her female anatomy between her thighs didn’t exist, it was plain skin. He dared to look again, but now the girl was dressed, she had put on the clothes he had left for her. Long socks, sneakers, overalls, t-shirt and arm sleeves. Her long flaming red hair she had worked into a pair of untidy braids that rested lightly on her shoulders. She now looked human as if what he had caught a glimpse of, never had happened.
The girl turned fully to face the priest and offered a slight smile as she held out a hand towards him. He responded by carefully approaching her and touched her hand. He felt an instant warmth flow up his arm and a sense of reassurance. She wasn’t there to cause him harm or confusion. She then looked up and around herself before back to him, and canted her head to one side as if to say she did not know where she was. The priest guided her up to the statue whom she had been quietly admiring.
“Do you know who this is?”
The girl stared at the statue really hard as if struggling to recognize the face carved into wood before shaking her head slowly in response.
“That is the Mother Mary.” He pointed at the little baby in the statue’s arms. “That is the Holy Child Christ. He came down to earth to live amongst mankind.” He then drew her attention to a large wooden cross with a ceramic looking Christ nailed to it. “The Christ died on the cross for our sins, he arose three days later, defying death and was resurrected.” He smiled as he slowly walked with her through the church, pointing at the various stained windows. “This is a church, it is dedicated to Mother Mary, Queen of Heaven and her son Jesus Christ. This is a place of sanctuary for the lost and fallen. It is a haven and considered a holy place.” He looked down at the young girl, watching her face to see if anything was registering as he explained what the building was and it’s religious connections.
The girl was quiet the entire time he explained the interior of the building. She stopped before one particular little stained glass painting. It depicted a little angel, holding a scroll in one hand and a small trumpet in the other. She looked at it a long time and then finally pointed a finger at it, it seemed or felt familiar to her and yet the memory remained far out of reach for the moment.
“That is an angelic emissary.” He explained in response, watching her with a slight smile on his lips. This was the first main response he had gotten from her throughout the tour. He looked at the little stained painting for a long moment before looking back at her. Perhaps it was a clue as to her true identity but for now he was simply glad for a hint of connection between them. “Do you have a name?” He it was time to ask some questions, though he knew it would at the moment be almost useless. “Where do you come from?”
The girl simply continued to stare at the stained window painting, before she looked over at him and offered a gentle little smile once again. She lightly patted his hand and gave him that sense of reassurance once again. She was not in a hurry to remember, there was no sense of urgency about her. All would be revealed at the right moment of time. The Priest nodded his head slightly as if understanding what she was trying to say with her current muteness.
“Well then, while you seem at a loss of memory, I think we should assist in bringing you up to speed with the current state of the world.” He took her by the arm and led her into the back room. It was a quint little set up, with a table and couple of chairs for when he had visitors. There was a small colour tv sitting on a side table, and he settled her on a little couch in front of it. He then turned on the tv and put the channel to history and documentaries. He wasn’t sure how much she knew, especially if she really did come from heaven. That thought kept buzzing around the back of his mind. He probably would eventually accept that having a celestial as a house guest was a real thing, for now he tried to simply treat her as a lost soul without memories who needed a little bit of couching to remember who she was. Deep down he simply hoped that the whole crater thing had been someone’s prank that had gone bad. However, the whole crater thing buzzed like bumble bees in the back of his head. He kept going over the finding of the girl in his head, replaying it as if trying to look for a realistic answer. He bustled around the room making another cup of tea, some toast then set it on a lap table and offered it to her. The girl took it and rested it over her knees, then watched the priest as he sipped from his own cup of tea and mimicked him. She then picked up a slice of toast and sniffed at it before looking at the priest again. He made biting motions and then pointed at her to do so. She frowned slightly before she took a bite and chewed slowly at the toast. She tasted the cooked bread, butter and strawberry jam, it was very nice. She ate the toast slowly and carefully, enjoying every bite and making it last until both toast and tea was gone.
The priest smiled in a fatherly manner and took the small lap table away. He then went to his book shelf and chose some books for her to read. He then brought them over and set them down next to her. “These are some books, they may help you remember things about yourself.” He smiled once again before straightening up and yawned. He needed to retire and rest, he looked at the girl sitting on the couch and glued to the tv. She would be alright, there was little trouble she could get up to here in the back of the church. He shuffled on tired feet to a door that led into his small bedroom. It was a very simple room with simple furniture to match. A single bed, with a chest of draws, a night stand and a lamp. He closed the door and changed into his pyjamas then settled to sleep the rest of the night away. It was surprising how the strange new arrival had quite literally exhausted his tired old bones.
In the back room the girl remained glued to the tv, watching various shows into the early hours of the morning. She then turned her attention to the books that the priest had left for her. She picked them up and started to flick through the pages. She sped read through nearly every book until she touched a hand on the final book. It was the Bible, she lightly traced fingers over the engraved letters on leather before opening to the silken thin pages. She read this book slower than all the others. She curled up on the couch, with the bible open at Revelations as she drifted to sleep in the late hours of the morning. Sunlight filtered in through a small circular window and lightly touched upon the elegant cross the girl wore around her neck. It was crested with emeralds and tied in place with a strong black cord. It softly winked in the sunlight as the girl gave in to a need to rest after her unique arrival.