The Inner Circle: The Gates of Hae'Evun Read online

  'No,' Sa'Tan snapped, but his anger cooled quickly as he was struck with an idea. 'The bush,' he exclaimed. It must still have some power in it.

  'What do you mean?' Mi'Chael enquired.

  'Maker appeared to me as a burning bush,' Sa'Tan called over his shoulder even as he hurried to the side of the mountain. 'His power must still be in it. You see, it is killing the bush.'

  Mi'Chael looked at the plant and nodded his head in recognition of the wilting leaves. Sa'Tan rapped his hands around the base of the tree and tore it from the ground. With it in his arms he raced over to the boy and as he got closer his face became clearer.

  'Boy!' Sa'Tan announced. 'Do you see me?'

  The human boy turned around, his face becoming red as screamed at the top of his lungs. A moment later, the beautiful woman raced through the trees and looked about protectively. Her eyes met with Sa'Tan's and she took a step back in horror.

  'What are you?'

  'I am a silt.' Sa'Tan smiled.

  'Have you come to harm us?'

  'To the contrary,' Sa'Tan replied. 'We were sent by Maker to protect you.'

  'I must be sure that you are real.' The woman gaped at his large wings and shook her head in awe. She stepped forward tentatively, whilst simultaneously pushing her son farther away. Her hand moved through the air, but instead of touching Sa'Tan, it moved through him like he was nothing. 'I must be dreaming,' the woman whispered, 'but you are so clear before me.'

  'Put your hand on the tree,' Sa'Tan said. The woman did as he'd asked and her flesh made contact with the plant, enabling her to wrap her fingers about its surface. Sa'Tan moved his hand and placed it gently around hers, feeling her warm skin for the first time.

  'That's impossible,' the woman said.

  'All things are possible in the Lord,' Sa'Tan replied. 'Meet me here alone tomorrow at the same time and tell no one of our encounter.'

  'Must you leave?' The woman maintained her grip on the tree. 'I have so many questions to ask of a being so close to Maker. Your world, this shadowy one on top of mine, seems so strange and grey.'

  'I'm afraid I must,' Sa'Tan replied. 'But I promise to return and we will talk long into the night. For now, I must attend to other matters. When I meet you again, come alone,' Sa'Tan reminded her, nodding at the child.

  'Of course,' the woman murmured, releasing the tree and moving away, she looked back over her shoulder, but was unable to locate Sa'Tan in order to make eye contact. 'Come,' she said to her child and the pair departed.

  'Are you sure of what you're doing?' Mi'Chael asked. 'Maker did not intend for those on Earth to know of our Way. We are only to watch and protect.'

  'I am the Devil,' Sa'Tan growled. 'I'll do as I please.'

  Ignoring his wife's pleas for attention, Sa'Tan abandoned her every night in the weeks that followed so that he could meet with Eve, the woman by the river. The two became increasingly fond of one another, Eve likewise happily forfeiting time with her husband Adam in favour of time spent with Sa'Tan. After a few short weeks there remained very little that they didn't know about each other.

  One night, when it was very late, Eve sighed and said to Sa'Tan, 'Is it really so that Maker has said you must not eat from the fruit of this garden?'

  'We may eat the mana that He has provided us,' Sa'Tan replied, the dissatisfaction plain in his tone. 'If we violated His commandments in such a way, I'm certain I would positively die.'

  'You will certainly not die,' Eve said softly. 'The fruit is good and eaten often by those on Earth. Perhaps Maker simply knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened and you will take what should be yours by right.'

  'What is mine?' Sa'Tan shook his head as he watched Eve move to a nearby tree and pluck a large red apple from its branches.

  'You are the first born of all creation.' Eve sat beside him and touched the apple to the tree clasped in Sa'Tan's hand. He moved his freehand, slowly wrapping it around Eve's until he felt the apple leave her hand and fold into Hae'Evun.

  He held the fruit before his eyes and wondered at its magnificence. His tongue had tasted nought but mana throughout the entirety of his days. He sank his teeth into the flesh and tore away a chunk. As he chewed he was unable to imagine how he might ever find the words to describe the flavour he tasted.

  'You needn't be restricted to such a grey world,' Eve continued. 'Come and join me on Earth. Maker has abandoned us. Let us unite and become the leaders of both Hae'Evun and Earth.'

  'But how?' Sa'Tan stared deep into Eve's eyes.

  'You have spoken of a stone of great power,' Eve murmured.

  'I should leave.' Sa'Tan got up abruptly. 'It is late.'

  'I haven't upset you, have I?' Eve enquired.

  'Get away from me,' Sa'Tan cried, 'for I have committed a great sin against my Father.' He allowed what was left of the apple to fall to the dirt.

  After the night on which he'd eaten the fruit, Sa'Tan did not return to the river for a long time. Instead, he hid himself away, fearing that Maker would return with the knowledge of his guilt. But Maker did not return and the silts of Hae'Evun became increasingly discontent. Maker's task had not alleviated their sorrows. Rather, it'd become fuel to the fire. One man found an apple core down by the river and before long had sown its seeds. Hae'Evun grew both mana and apples.

  One day, a human man tripped and broke his leg. As he'd done many times before, Sa'Tan reached out toward the man and put his hand flat against his shadow flesh. The wound was healed and the man leapt to his feet praising Maker for such a miracle.

  'It was no miracle from Maker,' Sa'Tan grumbled. 'It was I who healed you.' But of course, the man could not hear him.

  When Sa'Tan found himself flying above the river several days later, he felt compelled to see if Eve had continued to wait for him. Upon landing he picked up the old dead tree and found Eve sitting by the river, a sorrowful expression on her face.

  'Eve.' Sa'Tan approached, waving the tree before him. 'It is I, Sa'Tan.' But the woman could not hear him. 'Eve?' Sa'Tan crouched before her and pushed the tree up against her hand, but it only moved through her flesh instead of touching it.

  'Oh, Sa'Tan,' Eve whimpered. 'Why have you forsaken me?'

  'I have returned,' Sa'Tan cried. 'I love you.'

  'Sa'Tan?' Eve's face turned in his direction but their eyes could not meet. Perhaps, just for a moment, she'd heard a whisper of his voice.

  'I know what you've done,' Adam rumbled as he appeared among the trees. Eve turned slowly, her eyes wide with fear as Adam threw back his arm and pierced her heart with a spear.

  'No!' Sa'Tan cried as Adam rushed back into the woods. 'Don't you dare die,' he pleaded as he slumped over Eve's body. 'I won't let you.' Her eyes looked through Sa'Tan and as she tried to speak a strange red fluid spilled out of her mouth. So unfamiliar was the substance that it took Sa'Tan a moment to realise that he was looking at human blood. 'I'll fix it.'

  Resting his hands over her chest, Sa'Tan pushed the healing force he'd been blessed with across the boundaries of Hae'Evun and into the Earthly realm. His hands were warm and somehow he knew that her flesh was cold. Sa'Tan focused and Eve's heart moved just slightly. He focused again, but could not make it beat. How could he heal her with a spear still sticking out of her chest? Sa'Tan stepped back and grabbed the dead tree. With a desperate cry he swung it at the spear. The two made contact and with a spray of red blood, the semi-translucent spear flew out of Eve's chest and disappeared from view before it could hit the ground.

  On hands and knees, Sa'Tan prayed for Maker's help, but Maker did not come. He put his hands above Eve, but her wounds were too great. She died and her reflection in Hae'Evun vanished as though she'd never existed. Sa'Tan sat back, choking on emotion. Tears fell down his cheeks as he cried out, blaspheming Maker's name.

  'If I should spend an eternity burning in the bowels of torrid, I shall do it to save this woman,' Sa'Tan snarled, beating his wings and swooping into the night.

 
After gathering together all those holy objects with which he'd been blessed, Sa'Tan returned to the mountain by the river where he'd first met his Maker. He put the dead tree back where it'd originally been and rested his crown around one of its branches. Sa'Tan placed the two tablets with the ten commandments at the foot of the tree and removed the black stone from his pocket.

  'Let there be gates to make passage between Hae'Evun and Earth,' Sa'Tan announced, squeezing the stone with all his strength.

  With a rumble like thunder, the earth shook and the mountain threw down rocks about Sa'Tan. The dead tree fell against its surface and its branches inscribed a gateway. The rocks became black and the great arching gates surged away from the mountain. With a loud cracking sound, they swung open. Without hesitating, Sa'Tan raced through the gateway and found himself standing only strides from where he'd been before and yet in a completely different reality.

  For a moment, he stood frozen, stunned into silence by the beauty surrounding him. There were more stars than in Hae'Evun and the moon sat fuller above Earth. Strange fragrances from thousands of different flowers enticed Sa'Tan, but he would not be blinded to his purpose. Hurrying around the gates, Sa'Tan found Eve's body and put his hands over her. The healing power within him felt stronger now that they were close. Perhaps it'd only been distance that prevented resurrection.

  Sa'Tan felt the woman's blood travelling slowly toward her heart as its wounds shrank and the surface came together. He squeezed his eyes shut and focused.

  'Just one beat,' he pleaded and beneath his hands Eve's chest shuddered. 'Again,' Sa'Tan demanded of the heart as it became whole and released another quivering beat. Then another. Eve's rib made a cracking sound as it snapped back into place and the broken skin on her chest slid together leaving no evidence that she'd ever been dead.

  'Sa'Tan,' Eve said softly, putting her hand to his cheek. 'You came.'

  With a furious cry, Adam raced through the trees, a spear once again in his grasp. He charged at Sa'Tan and thrust the weapon before him. Sa'Tan swatted it away as though it were nothing. Adam continued running and slammed into Sa'Tan, but his strength was like that of a child. Sa'Tan pushed Adam backward and wrapped a hand around his throat. He lifted the human into the air with ease and laughed in astonishment at his weakness. How could Maker have possibly felt he'd achieved perfection with such creatures?

  'If I see you again,' Sa'Tan threatened. 'I will kill you.'

  When Maker felt the drain on His power, He returned to Hae'Evun with great haste, but when He got there, He hardly recognised the place. A great war had broken out in Hae'Evun, with Sa'Tan the Devil and his followers on one side and Mi'Chael and his followers on the other. There were humans in Hae'Evun and many silts upon the Earth. The war reached a climax and Mi'Chael was forced to retreat to the distant parts of Hae'Evun. Sa'Tan and his silts remained close to the gates, living in both worlds as he saw fit.

  Had Maker not been slow to anger, He may have destroyed all life in His fury. But something told Him not to. All the same, when His Spirit went down upon the Earth and found silts engaging in sexual acts with humans, and others raising them from the dead, His anger became as hot as the blazing fires of torrid.

  In those days, Sa'Tan and Eve had been together for some time and were trying without success to produce children. The pair heard the sound of the Lord Maker as His Spirit was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord Maker among the trees. But the Lord Maker called out to Sa'Tan, 'Where are you?'

  'I heard you in the garden,' Sa'Tan replied, fearful of the voice and knowing not from which direction it came. 'I was afraid because I was naked with Eve.'

  'Who told you that you could be naked with Eve?' Maker's voice grew louder. 'Have you eaten from the trees that I commanded you not to eat from?'

  'The woman you put here on Earth; she gave me some fruit from the tree and I ate it,' Sa'Tan whimpered. 'Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned.'

  'What is this you have done?' Maker asked the woman. 'Had I not given you a man of your own? Did I not bless you with many children?'

  'The Devil deceived me and I gave him the fruit.' Eve turned away, refusing to look Sa'Tan in the eye.

  'Because you have done this,' Maker said to Sa'Tan, 'cursed are you above all living things. You have come to think yourself wiser than the almighty Maker, you vile, retched demon. I will cast you out of Hae'Evun and down upon the Earth. Cursed are you and your children and your children's children and your other children to time indefinite. You will cry out in your misery and suffer in the evil of your touch. Cursed will be the good of your labour and not a soul will go unpunished. You will be hunted like an animal all the days of your life. And I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring and hers; She will crush your head and you will strike Her heel.'

  'As for you,' Maker said to the woman, 'cursed will be your life and the life of your offspring. You will seek escape but have nowhere to hide. They will destroy you, reaching even the frozen mountains before I will show mercy to you.'

  Slithering through the film into Hae'Evun, Maker found Mi'Chael and blessed him and put a halo atop his head and atop the heads of his followers. 'You have shown great goodness in loving me. I will send but a small number of you to remain upon the Earth to ensure Sa'Tan cannot bring it destruction before the appointed time.

  After the chosen angels had exited through the gates of Hae'Evun, Maker closed them and sealed them off so that they would not again be opened until the appointed time. The gates faded into darkness and no eye could see them.

  Saddened by the betrayal of His beloved human creations, Maker searched to see if even one of them had remained true to Him. Through the darkness He found a small group that still worshipped and loved him. They had not taken part in sinning against him. These people would suffer, too, but he gave them the gift of knowledge and whitened their middle-eye as a defining mark. These he called Elglair and told them to travel north until the cold kept them from going any farther. There they would take shelter and live in peace and security until the end of the system.

  Thirty-two Elglair men were anointed to write a book in which Maker told the inhabitants of Earth about their only hope for the future. It was a book in which He could put the promise of His return, a book that foretold the future through prophesy. The book served as proof that His appointed day would come and He would not forsake those who loved Him. Those thirty-two Elglair men wrote the compilation of books that are now commonly known as the Holy Tome.

 

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  17. Then the seventy angels returned with joy, saying, 'Lord, the demons are subject unto us through Thy name.'

  18. And He said unto them, 'I beheld Sa'Tan as lightning fall from Hae'Evun.

  19. 'Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy and nothing shall by any means hurt you until the conclusion of this system.'

  23. And He turned unto His Elglair and said privately, 'Blessed are the eyes which see the things that ye see.

  24. 'For I tell you that many prophets and kings have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them.'

  25. And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tested Him, saying, 'Master, how shall they know us when we come upon them?'

  26. He said unto him, 'By the light of thy eyes.'

  27. And he reached out his hand and light came unto their eyes.

  Scriptures of the Holy Tome

  CHAPTER One

  wooden box

  A wooden milk crate sat in the corner of the room. It would soon find its purpose, but not just yet. The deceased baby boy lay beneath a soft brown blanket. His mother watched him, her heart aching and her tears flowing. Seeol stood in the doorway, intermittently observing her and resting his head behind his wing. He'd waited patiently throughout the night--which Seteal appreciated--although she very muc
h doubted he was capable of having any real understanding of the situation. After all, he was only an elf owl.

  'Okay.' Seteal sniffed, dabbing her nose with a sleeve. 'It's time to go.' Unable to physically touch the boy, she gathered the blankets around him and placed him inside the wooden box. As she lowered him the blanket fell away to reveal the ugly welts that'd formed beneath the weight of her hands around his neck. 'I'm so sorry,' Seteal whispered. 'You shouldn't have left us so young. You shouldn't have to die when you can fit into a box.' She laughed hysterically, only to again fall apart.

  After remaining fixed in place for some time, Seteal did her best to rewrap Parrowun in the blanket before replacing the lid atop the crate. She scooped up the elf owl, slipped him into her pocket, and reluctantly turned back to face the crate.

  Seeol remained silent. He'd lost a lot of blood for such a small animal and Seteal was certain that soon he'd die. She picked up the crate. It was far too light to contain a human being. When she arrived at the front door, She took a deep, shuddering breath and pushed it open.

  At first, the sunlight was blinding, but soon Seteal's eyes adjusted and when they did, she found herself wishing they hadn't. The city square was silent, without a single living soul. She looked down at her feet and realised she'd lost one of her shoes. She must've looked quite the sight, standing in a blood-stained dress and one shoe. She kicked it off and stepped onto the landing. The boards creaked noisily in the silence of the square and Seteal felt herself struggling against the urge to retreat. But that wouldn't do. She had to get back to Elmsville.

  As Seteal made her way down the old wooden steps, she feared the beating of her own heart would attract one of the whisp-mutated creatures still haunting the area. Placing one foot after the other, Seteal made her way across the pavement. She tried to avoid looking at the masses of corpses scattered across the square. The morning sun had already caused a foul odour to fill the air and a hundred flies paid each body careful attention. Seteal gingerly stepped over the tip of an outstretched, white-fleshed demon wing. She looked for the owner only to discover his absence. After dry-retching several times, Seteal took a moment to get her bearings and continued.