Ascension: Invocation (15 page)

"You want a hug?"

"Yes, please. I won't cry this time."

Alicia paused and finally stood and opened her arms to the girl. Sariana stood and gripped her tightly. The embrace was warm and again Alicia felt a kinship. She smelled the girl's hair and tears began to well up in her eyes. "My God," she thought. "I think this might be for real. Am I going crazy? Has this girl made me crazy?" The girl broke the embrace and noticed Alicia's tears.

"You remember?" the girl asked her.

Alicia sniffed and quickly wiped away the tears. "Remember what?"

"Me. Do you remember me now? You didn’t know me when we first met."

"How can I remember you? Like you said, I've only just met you."

"Your soul recalls all of your memories, from this life and beyond. I think you’re waking up. Do you feel our bond? Do you know that I am of your soul group?"

Now, Alicia couldn't help it. She burst into tears. "Yes."

Sariana cried with her and held her again. "This is glorious. I'm so glad. Lucifer will be saved."

Well, this certainly wasn’t in the life plan. For as long as she could remember, Alicia had painstakingly mapped out her own destiny. Nowhere in that plan did she intend on the whole Queen of Lucifer thing. This complicated things beyond reason.

“This is what I’ve looked most forward to. For my Grandmother to hold me in her arms.”

"Okay. Wait," Alicia said and pulled away. "You have to understand how fucking insane this is. God, if you're my grand-daughter, I shouldn't be cussing around you, should I?"

Sariana smiled. "Your language is well known. You don't offend me."

"I'm famous for my potty mouth?"

"Somewhat. Yes."

"Great,” Alicia grabbed a box of tissues from the bathroom, wiped her face and handed the box to the girl. "So, what kind of grandma am I? Do I make you cookies and that kind of shit?"

"You knew me only as a baby. My memories of you in this life are very faint."

"I thought you said I told you to come back in time? God, this sounds stupid."

"You told your children that this must be. The Luciferian Preemptive was your reign’s most glorious legacy. I have always known it to be my destiny in this life," Sariana then paused. "But it happened too soon. I wasn't fully prepared. My education was not complete."

“So, what you’re saying is that everything happening now... has happened before?”

“Once before. Everything except the Preemptive itself. This is new.”

“Why don’t I remember any of this?”

“Because, as of now... it never happened.”

“Okay, Sariana. What the fuck?”

“Our prior timeline is being erased as we speak. The Preemptive dictated that only my arrival forward would mark the beginning of the Begin.”

“That was the edit point? It’s like we’re recording over a prior recording with new footage?”

“Yes. Precisely. With every moment that passes, the old moments are gone forever.”

“First of all, isn’t that dangerous? Do we have a backup or something just in case?”

“This is quite serious, my Queen.”

“Yeah! Duh! In future-world you don’t keep copies of important shit?”

“There are many timelines in which numerous scenarios have been imagined. So, in a way... yes. There are ‘backups’. However, this is the only timeline where you, as you know yourself in the present, exists. It is the only line in which I exist as your grand-daughter. It is the only one where you are the Grand Queen of the Third Order of Lucifer. In all of these timelines, the Human Exodus occurs without fail. This one, however, represents our best chance for a successful rebellion.”

“Wow. I must have been some kind of genius to be able to figure this all out, right?”

“It’s not that complicated.”

“Well, then why didn’t the Humans see it coming and just stop me from doing it?”

“Keep in mind, in your world, this would be equivalent to one day stumbling upon a cow doing basic math. They must have been surprised.”

“Oh, come on!" Alicia laughed. "What?! We're not that stupid." The moment was a little weird. Sariana said nothing. "Well, whatever,” Alicia was still impressed with her future self. “Obviously, I did figure it out.”

“Indeed. You pronounced it your Grand Revelation and it was kept a Royal secret until my birth.”

“Yeah. See? It was a big deal.”

“We’re pretty sure you had help. Most later-day Luciferian scholars agree that this is probably not something you came up with on your own.”

“Christ, Sariana, would you throw me a bone? You’re not exactly instilling confidence.”

“I am sorry, My Queen. I just want you to understand the gravity of the situation. The Humans did discover the Preemptive. In fact, it appears that they have been meddling with this timeline in an effort to corrupt your plan.”

Alicia was quiet for a moment and poured another drink. She took a sip and somewhat shyly asked, “Can we, maybe, pause this timeline... until we can figure something out?”

The tales of Sariana’s grandmother were always relayed in great reverence for a fierce and confident woman. Portraits throughout court portrayed the Grand Queen as brave, perhaps angry and vindictive, but never overwhelmed and unsure. Sariana was only now meeting this young, confused woman and felt it her duty to assure her.

“There is no Regent, be it King or Queen, Princess or Prince, in the long and virtuous history of Lucifer more revered than you, My Queen. I am humbled and it is one of the great privileges of my soul’s journey to be here today in your presence.”

Alicia was flattered but that seemed a bit much. “I don’t know about all that...”

“If anyone can figure this out... you can.”

“It’s just... erasing everything seems... reckless. Dangerous.”

“It is very dangerous. All Luciferians were aware of the risk. We felt confident that with your leadership, the Preemptive would prevail. In turn, the Exodus would be a failure and the lost souls of Lucifer would be uncovered. What is curious to me is why the Humans allowed me to cross at all. I’m quite certain that this was the reason for the attack prior to my arrival.”

“Well, what exactly happened last time?”

“You led the rebellion of the Third Order as you will again but this time you must do it with purpose."

"What in the world possessed me to do that? How did I do it?"

"As you told it, it was quite circumstantial."

"You mean, by accident?"

"I suppose. You ascended with most of your fellow souls and led the rebellion from within. As it is told in Luciferian history, the Grand Queen’s First Revelation of Initiative occurred...”

“Another revelation, huh?”

“Yes, My Queen. The first. Of your Revelations of the Initiative”

“Just how many of these revelations did I have?”

“There were five of these. Children must memorize them in school.”

“I see.”

“I can recite them, of course, if you’d like. They’re quite long, however...”

“No. That’s okay. I think I just need to make a mental note to back off on the grandiose... stuff. Anyway, go ahead.”

“You have always been destined for this. But I bring you knowledge. Now you know your purpose. We have successfully altered the time-line."

"What's going to happen next?"

"I cannot know this."

"So, what? I just hang out now and wait to become Queen? Do I go on TV and proclaim myself Queen? God, I would be so fired."

“I don’t know. As I told you, the Humans have erased your trigger. They have placed false knowledge in your scriptures. They made it in your nature to doubt all prophets. The entire timeline has been altered... but, perhaps, only slightly. Your vehicle, for example. It was late but you still arrived as you foretold. It seems the Humans did not anticipate that I would arrive at all.”

“In the original timeline... Brady and I just found a family to interview?”

“No. Just as you were to leave Brady received a call alerting him of his father’s death. You drove alone. You were in an accident and hospitalized where you remained until the exodus.”

“Oh. Well, then... thanks for stopping that, I guess.”

“Everything herein is up to us. We are rewriting our history from this moment forward.”

“What about you? How do you exist here... if you don’t exist at all... yet? Right?”

Sariana thought about how best to explain this to someone in the third dimension. “I will continue to exist until I am removed. For example, should we fail in our mission and my parents are never born, I too will cease to exist... at least, as you know me. My soul, however, will still be. That is to say, the very energy or matter that is my soul will still reside in the omniverse. I however, will not.” Sariana sighed. “This is difficult to explain. Suffice to say, I would like it if we don’t mess this up.”

“Shit. Yeah. Okay. So, then... what now?”

“We must continue to encourage your fellow souls to avoid the rain. We are to also find the Exalted One. We must convince him to avoid the Exodus. We will need him to lead your souls to Agartha."

"Who is the Exalted One?"

"The one who the Humans speak through."

"I don't understand."

"The man who made contact."

"The radio DJ?"

"Yes."

Alicia laughed. "Okay. Why is he important?"

"His is an old soul and quite powerful.”

“Really?” Alicia had seen pictures of Graham. He didn’t seem all that special to her.

“His soul was not born with the Earth. He is of Lucifer. Should he ascend at the Humans decree, he may represent a great and powerful danger to the omniverse."

"If we can get him on our side, though, he'll fight with us and we'll win?"

"The Exalted One does not purposely take sides, so to speak, but, yes. His assistance is required.”

"Isn't he a bad guy, though?"

"A bad guy?"

"If he fights with the Humans, doesn't that make him bad?"

"There is no bad or good. He does not believe himself to be bad."

"So, he's been brainwashed?"

"He has been misled."

“Okay, so he is one of the Lucifer souls that got sent to Earth?”

“A great Luciferian Warrior Soul, yes.”

“And there are more?”

“Indeed. Our finest warriors.”

"If these guys are so powerful, why don't we just round up all of the old souls from Lucifer that are on this planet and get them to join our team?"

Sariana raised an eyebrow. "Does this sound easy to you?"

Alicia thought for a moment. Why did this seem impossible? All of the other bat-shit crazy ideas floating around the room appeared entirely plausible. "I'm just spit-balling ideas here. How do we know who's who? Old souls from, um, new souls?"

"We do not believe we can know this until ascension. In this dimension, it is unknowable for all souls of this world exist with amnesia."

"So, you don't know for sure? Isn't there some kind of test?"

"The test is during the ascension. This is why it's important that you keep as many souls on Earth as possible, for the second Exodus. A savior will gather you for the true ascension."

"Okay. You mentioned that in your speech. A savior. Who is this?"

"It is your soul mate. Yours is to be the first union of its kind: a new soul and an esteemed warrior soul."

"My future husband?"

"Yes."

"No shit? My future husband is a galactic warrior?"

"Your soul mate is a mighty soul, born of Lucifer."

"God that still creeps me out. I still feel like you're talking about the Devil." Alicia paused. "Is he hot?"

Sariana smiled. "I did not know your soul mate.”

"Right. Sorry."

"You must think he's hot,” Sariana played along. “You married him."

"How will I know him?"

"The savior will find you in your most dire time of need. This is predetermined."

"So, some dude is just going to walk up to me and say 'Hey, how's it going? I hear you’re having a hard time. I'm your husband.'"

"Pretty much. Yes."

"All right. So, when does this happen?"

"I cannot know this. We must suppose that time will pass between the first and second Exodus. I do not know how long. The second Exodus, of course, does not occur in my time line."

"Okay, let me make sure I have the straight. In your time line, I got in the rain, ascended to what... the next dimension?"

"Yes."

"I got there and then what?"

"You proceeded like the others but had the First Revelation of Initiative.”

“Right. That.”

“Long story short, you concluded that the Human ascension was unjust."

"I just got pissed and quit?"