| He unfurled his wings and gazed up at the star-strewn sky. He said, "Most Merciful One, the young ones are lonely. A member of the host is no match for them socially. They need company better than myself. Please, hear my prayer." He waited a moment, and then his hands shook with the presence of the Holy One. Joyously, knowing the Almighty was with him, he set his jaw and placed his hand on Sera's head. He cringed in pain as a flood of pale, flickering blue light flowed from his hand around Sera's head, then he let go, backed off, and breathed deeply with the effort it had taken. The next morning, Lynn was wakened by Sera licking her ears. It was past dawn, and the sun was already fairly high in the sky. Lynn groaned, knowing that they had lost valuable traveling time because she had slept in. "Wake, up sleepyhead," a familiar yet strange voice called from somewhere near. Lynn rubbed her eyes. "Who's that?" she asked. "Oh, come on, Lynn. I'm your best friend, you know me!" "Impossible! Cecile is back home!" Somehow, that one word, home, made her whole being ache. "Or at least I think she is..." She broke off abrupty, then said, "I don't even know what I think any more!" "Oh, will you be serious, already! I'm right here!" Then came Sera scratching. Oddly, the voice seemed to be coming from her direction. Lynn rubbed her eyes again, shook her head, blinked several times, and looked in Sera's direction. "Where is that voice coming from?" She had directed the question to Dimitri, but it was the strange yet familiar voice again. "Over here. Come on, yes, it's me." Lynn swallowed noticeably, then looked at Sera, whose tail was wagging. "I used to dream and imagine that I could talk to Sera...and she would talk back. Odd, but that was always her voice, this odd voice I hear now. So it could only be her...but dog's don't talk!" "They do now," came the voice again, and this time it was obviously Sera that had been talking. "Sera!" Lynn exclaimed. "It is you! But-but how?" The golden retriever's shoulders seemed to rise and fall. "I've no idea. I just know that I woke up, and I could talk. By the way, have you seen Dimitri? I haven't been able to find him yet today." As soon as Sera had said this, Dimitri landed softly nest to them. "Come, young ones. There is much to do, and little time to do it in." Sera and Lynn asked no questions. They simply followed Dimitri, wondering where he would take them today. After half a day's travel, they reached a clearing. Dimitri sat down, and he smoothed out his tunic. He looked over at Lynn, and gestured for her to take the spot next to him. She did so, and he looked as if he didn't know how to begin. "I know not why we travel, nor to where, but I do know this. The Father and the Son sent me with blessings, good tidings and benedictions to find you. Here we sit together in the fringes of a forest," he gestured at the trees circling us, and sighed. "They spoke fondly of you, like one talks of kin you look upon with respect and favor. They told me I would know when the proper time had come, I would give you the Heirloom of the Host, and I know that the time is now. The youngest angel or archangel is always its keeper. Rarely is another initiated into the host, so the youngster often is its owner for quite some time. I possess it now, I at a mere three thousand, one hundred and two years of age. By the orders of the Lord our God I give it to you now. They told me not where we went, nor when we shall reach our destination. I only know that the angels and archangels, cherubim and seraphim are starting to rebel against Him. He is old and weak, and Jesus also is losing His sanity. Most of what They have now is just wisdom and power. They need a new, young mind to join them, to run Their Kingdom smoothly again. Have you ever heard of the prophecy, 'Christ is died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again?' I have heard tell that the prophecy has been fufilled." Lynn was bursting with questions. She started to spout them. "By who? Are you sure They didn't tell you where we're going? Why do I have to go? What part must I play in this...this...thing?" Dimitri drew in a deep breath. "By..." he hesitated, "by you. Yahweh is your Father. He needs your aid in heaven. Yours is the new, fresh mind I spoke of. He disguised himself as Alan Baker, and therefore is your Father. I, nor anybody else I know could tell you why he chose your mother. However, it does a great grace to your mother's side of the family." Lynn averted her eyes. She got up, and began to pace the width and length of the clearing. "This isn't for me. This is too...too much of a responsibility! I can't...just can't...there's no way He's my Father!" Her eyes welled up with tears, and she blinked them back. "I can't be His DAUGHTER! Why can't Alan Baker be my father? Why, why, why!" she screamed, and her tears broke loose. She ran headlong into the woods, at breakneck speed, hoping to lose herself in the forest. On she ran, tears streaking her face and half-blinding her. Dimitri took to the wing, following her quickly. Soon he was able to cut her off. "Come now. Did I ever say it would be easy? No! I said our road was long and with many twists and toils. This is but one of them. Come. Let's do this calmly and rationally." Lynn took a few deep breaths, and with her voice still shaking, she said, "This is too much of a responsibility. I can't be His daughter. I can't be the daughter of GOD!" Tears welled up again, and Dimitri wiped them away with his cool hands. "Yes you can. It will be alright. You'll see yet. Now come back with me. I must give your the Heirloom of the Host." Once there, Dimitri sat down at the base of a gnarled ancient oak tree. Lynn again sat next to him, sniffling, and wiping nose and eyes with the back of her hand. He removed a thong from around his neck, to which was tied a bag which Lynn had never noticed before. He opened it gently, and he stroked the soft leather of the bag. Then he pulled something from the bag. It gleamed like crystal in the green light of the tree-shaded clearing. "A Futura stone," he said simply, as if that was all the explanation needed for this thing which he laid on his lap. "They are only mined in the quarries of heaven. No man on this planet has seen one and lived to tell of it. I think that you will be the first. This one is the most brilliant of all the stones ever mined. Some of the host say that He Himself mined it and put His work into it, but some disagree and say it was discovered like that long ago. I belive the former. I think, personally, that He put His toil into it, shaping it, smoothing it, polishing it, and carving away all the impurities. "All Futura stones have an indescribable color-we call it Futura. It can be pink as dawn and dark as night at once, or gold and red and silver simulatneously. The more pure a stone is, the more vibrant its colors. It is every color in the world, but not all at once. It flickers from color to color, and is an indescirbable mesh of silver, gold, blue, green, red, and all other colors in between. Only those learned in the nature of the stone are able to use them. The stone user knows every niche and crack in his or her stone. They could describe its surfaces in the dark, and still not make a mistake. Only that reader can use the stone to its maximum, for they, and only they have that knowledge." "How does it work? Where does its power come from?" |