Broken Wings: Genesis (29 page)

When I rolled to a stop, I took a
moment to draw a few deep breaths. Taking stock by flexing various parts of my
body an inch at a time, I assessed the damage. My hands were scraped and
bloody. They stung like hell. I had a couple of bruised, if not broken ribs. My
left shoulder was definitely bruised, and I shifted it around a little to make
sure it wasn’t dislocated. Nope. I was good, relatively speaking.

My leathers were torn at the knee.
Bringing it slowly into view, I saw that the knee was as bloody as my hands. I
pulled at the torn edges of the leather. Damn. That was beyond repair. I
wondered if I could bill the Angelic Host for a new pair? I tried to get to my
feet. A sharp pain ran through my ankle and I almost fell again. Okay, maybe a
sprain? I wiggled my toes. Yeah, it wasn’t broken. But it hurt like hell to
work my way to my feet.

By the time I was standing, I had
also worked myself up to being good and pissed off. A lesson was one thing, but
this was just plain cruel. I wasn’t sure I had a chance to fight this fight at
full strength. Being this damaged wasn’t improving the odds. I turned to give
Gabriel a solid dose of my temper, but he wasn’t there. I whipped around and
then started searching the sky for his retreat. I didn’t see him there, either.
That pissed me off even more. If I came out of this alive, I was going to track
that arrogant Angel down and give him a piece of my mind. Maybe even a good
solid thumping. I wonder if there would be any heavenly repercussions for
kicking the ass of an Archangel?

I finally settled down enough to
focus on the task at hand. My head hurt and my ears were ringing. It took me a
bit to figure out that the ringing wasn’t inside my head––it was coming from
all around me. The devastation surrounding me was horrendous. I can’t even
begin to describe the level of tragedy. Sirens, alarms, bells, screaming,
crying––that was what was causing the ringing in my ears. I couldn’t even begin
to take in all of the sounds at once, let alone sort them out.

Many authors throughout time have
written of the pits of Hell, the crying, wailing, gnashing of teeth, the
tragedy, and the sheer horror of it all. They didn’t even come close to
describing this Hell on Earth. I went to step forward, toward the center of the
devastation and stopped myself. The meeting with the strange Angel in the
Garden came back to me. The fight I was about to walk into was not just about
me and getting the job done, it was about this––all these people around me,
their pain, their suffering, and how much more they would be experiencing if I
didn’t succeed in what I needed to do.

The Angel was right, as much as I
wanted to shut them out and head straight into the fray. I couldn’t let them
become just numbers in a battle against the darkness. They were real. They were
what this fight was all about. So I took the time––time for them. I opened my
senses to the devastation, to their pain, their terror, their sorrow and their
confusion. For the first time in my life, I let myself feel from others what I
never took the time to feel for myself––what it truly meant to be helpless,
what it truly meant to be human.

It almost took me to my knees. I
staggered back, blasted by the overwhelming waves of emotion that struck me,
battering against my senses. And it overrode every ounce of determination I
had. How could I fight the fight? I wasn’t prepared. I was nothing. The fear
wrapped around me, tightened down by the sorrow. I couldn’t do this. What was I
thinking?

Part of me already fought. It
fought a losing battle against the overpowering despair of my own mortality, of
my own humanity. I wanted to drop to the ground here and now and curl up into a
little ball. I couldn’t fight this battle. I didn’t have the strength.

I tried to lock out the emotions,
to shut off what I had turned on inside of me. But it was more powerful than I
was, so instead I gave into the feeling. Closing my eyes, I let the tears of
desolation stream down my face. I shivered in uncontrollable fear. I let it all
come in, wash over me, take me deeper into the abyss that I knew I could never
climb out of on my own.

But I didn’t have to. Another
feeling rose through the massive waves of fear. It was surrounded by fear, but
it had strength at its core, determination. I clung to that feeling, following
it where it would take me. It didn’t only come from one source. It came from
many. I gathered each one as I found them, pulled them together into a unifying
whole to battle the waves of darkness.

There was a common thread running
through them all. The fear was there, as strong as what I felt from all the
others. But there was a determination, too, a struggle to fight for as many
lives as could be saved. The fear was there for their personal safety, but
riding the wave in top of that fear, overshadowing it, was the fear for the
safety of others. It wasn’t because they had to save others. It wasn’t because
a demand was there to put the lives of others before their own. It wasn’t even
because they consciously thought about what they were doing. They just did what
needed to be done without thought, with only a driving need to do what was
right.

These were the true angels, the
best of humanity brought out in the midst of adversity. No higher being could
touch the selflessness of humanity when it struggled to tip the balance of
light back against the darkness. This was what free will and the true
experience of humanity was all about. It warmed me, and I drew on it. They were
fighting the fight, knowing the odds were against them. That was the same fight
I needed to take to the doorstep of the Abyss itself. And I was ready now to do
it, no matter what the end. This fight wasn’t for me. It was for them. How
could I show any less dedication to the salvation of as many lives as I could
save from what was to come?

I filtered the emotions out, all
except those that gave me the strength to see me through. Then I reached out
with a different set of senses, feeling, probing, and searching for––there it
was. It was a small feeling, but one enough for me to go on. I could feel the
heart of the darkness. It touched me at the core, but I closed off the feelings
of strength from its contact. That strength was for those who deserved it. No
one else could be allowed to take that from them.

The feeling came from below the
pile of devastation. Both buildings had crumbled into piles of burning rubble.
The fighters, those who had the strength to make a difference were helping
those without strength of their own to get away. Some went into the piles of
debris to drag others out. Some went in and never came back. They knew the
risk, and took it anyway. Now it was my turn to do the same.

I wouldn’t be able to get to where
I needed to go from where I was at now. Walking into those downed buildings was
not an option. I looked around for another access and found it in the subway
tunnels that ran under the city. It would be the only way in, if they weren’t
already blocked to allow me passage.

I walked to the nearest access
point and stopped before heading inside. I spared a last single look for the
devastation behind me. In the clouds of smoke that poured upward into the sky,
I saw a face looking down. His wings spread out behind him, the Archangel
Gabriel looked at me and smiled. It was a grim smile, but one meant to offer
encouragement. I’d have to explain to him about bedside manners if I got the
chance when this was all through.

Then it was down into the darkness
for me. It wasn’t as dark as I first thought it would be. The burning embers
from crumpled structure blazed to life in various stages throughout my descent.
The air burned my lungs. It was thick, acrid, and bitter to the taste. My eyes
stung, too, the dust trying to settle in and take hold of my vision. When I
reached the bottom, I wasn’t sure what to do next. So many ways were blocked by
fallen debris. Maybe this hadn’t been the best idea?

I stepped over beams and concrete,
working my way to the subway tracks. Looking down the dark tunnel I could see
that it, too, was almost completely blocked. A light flared, another fire
coming to life. It showed me the way, a small space, barely large enough for a
person to get through, became visible in the dancing shadows cast by the light
of the flame. I hopped down onto the tracks. A rumble shook the ground, another
explosion going off somewhere above. Showers of dust, debris and chunks of
stone crashed down around me, but none of them connected. I was lucky, or maybe
some Guardian Angel was watching over me. Not likely. I’m guessing luck.

When the rumbling settled, I could
see that the opening was still there, calling to me. I still had my senses
open, and I followed the call further into the darkness. I’m not sure how long
I walked before I came to a dead end. I looked at the wall of a crumpled
building in front of me, hoping to see a way through, as I had before. Now
what?

Another light caught my eye, this
time to my right. It was a passageway, barely discernible in the darkness, but
it showed me the way past the blockage. And the call was getting stronger with
each step that I took. This tunnel was different than that of the subway. It
was sculpted, not natural by any means. I’m betting that it was created eons
ago and that I was probably the first human to set eyes on it since. Well,
maybe not. Ke was in human form now––did that count?

The passage wound its way down
into the darkness. It had held against the destruction above, and was lit with
some kind of glow. I couldn’t find the source of the light, but it reminded me
vaguely of the indigo blue of the Crystal
City. Maybe it had the
same power source. I followed the sloped tunnel down, feeling the pull of the
heart of the darkness reaching out to me. Whether that was a good or a bad
thing, I don’t know, but it was taking me to the place where I needed to be and
that’s all I had time to think about right now.

When I reached the bottom, the
passage opened into a huge, dark, cavernous chamber. Best guess? I had reached
my destination. The walls were of large cut stone, neatly built into a solid
space to hold the earth above from crashing down and burying the opening.
Ancient symbols adorned those walls, in glittering silver and gold. I thought I
recognized some of them, but others were totally alien. It was the
archeological find of the century––perhaps in recorded history. But that’s not
what I was here for.

Against one wall, at the far end
of the room from where I stood, there was a Gate, much like the Thirteenth Gate
of the Crystal City. The site of it made my throat
close, and I found myself fighting for air. Where the Thirteenth Gate was a
frame if interweaving, moving colors, this was pure black. It still moved, but
it was more the roiling movement of an oil slick. The surface was the same.
Unlike the flat, mirror-like surface of the Gate I knew in the Crystal City, this one matched the frame, the
thick darkness oozing first one way and then the next, constantly flowing.

And in front of the Gate was Ke.
He had his back to me, staring at the surface of the Gate as though mesmerized
by the shifting patterns of blackness. I saw his head tilt, listening for the
sounds in the room. He knew I was here.

“I wasn’t sure whether or not you
would come.”

I took the last step down to the
flat floor and started a slow walk toward the Gate. “You knew that I would.”

“Have you made your decision, then?”
He turned to face me. I think he wanted to see the expression on my face when I
gave him the answer. I know that’s what I’d be looking for if our positions
were reversed.

I shrugged. “I’m here, aren’t I?”

He was staring at me, but it
wasn’t to gauge my response. A look of surprise, maybe even shock was what I
saw in his eyes.

“You’re an Angel.” He whispered.

That pissed me off. The Thrones
were right. He was only playing games with me. As raw as my emotional state was
right now, I couldn’t deal with it.

“Cut the crap, Ke. I know what
you’ve been trying to do, and it isn’t going to work. I––”

He shook his head, pointing behind
me. “No, Yeshua. You have wings. How––?”

That stopped me. Wings? I turned
my head to look behind me, twisting my body to get a better look. He was right.
I did have wings. How the hell did that happen?

The wings folded behind me, tucked
out of the way. They weren’t the feathery wings of the angels, or even the
butterfly wings that the cherubs had. These wings, though perfectly formed,
were made of light. A dim glow emanated from the surface, casting the area
around me into the shadow of an indigo light. It wasn’t a light source from the
Crystal City that followed me through the
tunnels on my way down here––it had been my wings.

They were translucent to the point
of not even seeming real. I reached out and stroked the surface of the left
one. It was real all right, but it had an odd feel to it, soft but almost
spongy. Huh. Gabriel hadn’t caused that spectacular mess of a landing upstairs.
It was my fault. A cold wave of thought washed through me. What would have
happened if–?

I shook the thought away. I’d had
enough of the shoulda, woulda, couldas. It was time for action. A movement
caught my attention. Ke was moving closer. Another thought jumped to mind. Here
was a guy used to seeing angelic wings. Heck, he had a set of his own. So why
was he so mesmerized by mine? How was I going to be able to go back to living
among my own kind? I’m thinking these things would sort of stand out at a
coffee house or grocery store.

Did that mean I had to live with
the angels in the Crystal
City? Shit.
That
was not on my agenda. Was I still human? I didn’t feel any different. These
wings were going to get me in a lot of trouble. Could I make them go away? As
though on cue, I could feel a shifting at my shoulders. I turned just in time
to see the indigo blue surface folding down into my back. I moved my shoulders,
testing a little. They were still there, but were hidden from view. Cool. That could
be handy.