| 4: Oh My Love It's Time The scene outside was grey, as always-but inside the cheap motel room there was light and there were two people. "So you say there's a world beyond this?" asked the girl clothed in a trenchcoat. "I have been sent by the God of the next two worlds in order to prepare the hearts of this one," answered the man shorn of a trenchcoat. "What's the next world like? We've been taught by the Four that the next world is a paradise of music and moshing for the faithful, but that the Ancient Evil claims unholy hearts." Chronos smiled, a habit he had acquired for when he didn't know quite how to answer. "The next world is like that... for some. It's like this one-there are cities, people, wars, and turmoil. It's called Earth, and it's where everyone here goes when they die." "Is Earth where you're from?" asked Angelique. "No. But I've been there, briefly, and I know people that live on Earth." "I wonder... will we remember this life when we're on Earth?" "Nobody knows, Angel. But..." "But what?" "I think that, if people were really close here before they died, their souls will seek each other out in the next." She smiled at that. "Well... I hope that I'll seek you out one day on the other side." "I hope so, too." *** Into the private chambers of Lady Protector Vanana Loe came a spirit. "Vanana, arise!" he shouted. His voice was melodic and fluid like a babbling rivulet. She awoke, and found a spirit hovering over her bed. When she recognized it, she immediately rose up and prostrated herself on the floor. "It is I, Robh of Voke! There are developments afoot-important developments! An Earther has arrived!" Vanana nodded in understanding. "All glory to the Four." "She has torn the fabric of magic, and that fabric is but stronger when torn. Think of the possibilities... a portal to Earth!" "You wouldn't be telling me all this right at this very moment unless there was a downside," Vanana perceived. "Milord, how may I assist you in this matter?" "The girl is in league with the Corruptor." "It won't be so hard to find him now," realized Vanana. "He is linked with the dread Earth magic. Scrying should lead us to him in time." "Your job has been made easier, but harder if the Corruptor discovers the raw arcane powers of the girl. He is no fool-if he can tap into them, he could blow away brigades at a time." "All glory to the Four," answered Vanana humbly. *** Angelique was sitting on the edge of the bed, munching on dry multi-colored cereal rings. "So, if there really is a Countdown in the afterlife, what sort of songs do they play?" "Countdown?" asked Chronos. "Ah, you mean the Great Countdown controlled by the Tota Regues Leiv?" "Of COURSE! What other Countdown is there?" Chronos put his hands up. "Just making sure, you know. Well, they play the songs that the most people want to hear." "Are they good songs?" Chronos chuckled. "You know, the priests back in Pendinmortica had a saying: 'St. Traia is in Countdown now.' So confident they were that their constant intercession for the Pendinmortua would work, but I know a secret." "A secret?" "Yeah. The Countdown sucks." "Then what do you listen to?" "Various things..." "Sing me one of those songs, Chronos..." asked Angelique as she sprawled backwards across the bed. "Hmm..." pondered Chronos. "I've got one, done by one of my favorite musicians: "Oh my love it's time You know how it feels You read between the lines And know me better than I do I lost again my friend You know I'm not a saint You've known it all this time Still you've been waiting for me Come lie next to me Know why you and me are one Please come lie next to me No lies, you and me are one." She listened to his singing, and it was oddly beautiful. She looked at this stranger, the only one who had shown her any form of real compassion for as long as she could remember, and she realized that he made her feel like nobody else could. It was something about him-the way he knew things hidden, the way he spoke, something-but she longed for him. Chronos, for his part, was constantly used to a lone, somber, rough existence-always fighting for something and never knowing any love except the vague love that he preached from above. The thought of human love had never occurred to him until now, at least not on the personal level. Love was an abstraction, something to be understood, weighed out and measured like so much gold. As Angel smiled at him and her beautiful eyes seemed to melt into his, he found himself smiling back to her, smiling like he had never ever done before. *** "We are close, my good Alice!" proclaimed the rabbit. "You know what I just realized?" said Alice. "You've got a vaguely British accent." "So that's what this dialect is called? My master Chronos gave me my voice, you must understand, so I haven't the foggiest what I sound like." "You're so prim and proper... far too proper for something that eats carrots all the time." "Dear lady, I shan't speak of the donuts you ate this morning if you leave me to my forage," Virgil replied. "At least carrots are healthy..." "So where is Chronos?" asked Alice. "He's... walking to Librastadt Park, I do believe," Virgil informed. "That's where the preachers and the philosophers go to be heard. If you take a left on the next street, I daresay we may beat him there." "Quite exce-I mean gravy," Alice nodded. "Look-you've got me talking like YOU, now..." She giggled at that, and the rabbit seemed to purr a little bit and then cough. "I thought only cats purred." "I am a rabbit, and therefore am simply incapable of laughter in the common sense. I shake instead." "Right. This left right here?" "Most veritably, my good Alice." *** "Behold the word of Kyrios God unto the people of Columnia!" proclaimed Chronos in the park, Angelique next to him. "I preach the evangelion of the Anointed One, who was slain and rose on the first day of the week! I tell you that in his blood, you can have eternal life-but you must be shattered first, shattered like the deformed pottery you are!" As he preached, the sheer alienness of his words drew a crowd to him. "Yes, every single person that would live must die first! You must nail your very soul to the cruel arbor of death that held the Anointed One of God! In this, and only in this, can you find life!" "Hey jackass, you're full of it!" shouted someone. "The Four slay you for blasphemy!" "Your god wants to kill you, preacherman! But the Four-they are loving! Does your god even know the meaning of the word?" "My God DEFINES the word 'love!'" cried out Chronos. "Is there any here who will accept the evangelion of the Anointed One?" A lone girl stepped forward. With a rabbit on her shoulder. "As cold water to a weary soul, so is good news in a far country!" she proclaimed, seemingly under the influence of something supernatural. "You... you are the Earther, aren't you?" asked Chronos. "You are Chronos?" she inquired in reply. "Virgil led me to you." "Virgil?" "The girl has elected to call me Virgil. She evidently has a passing familiarity with the work of our good author Alighieri." Chronos nodded. "Do you follow the way of the Anointed One?" asked Chronos. "I do!" she declared. "My name is Alice." Before Chronos could reply to that, someone in orange and black stepped forward and started shouting. The speech sounded raspy and hissed, like the tongues of so many snakes. "What the devil is that man uttering?" inquired Virgil ever-so-politely at Chronos. "It's Lucine, the fallen language," answered Chronos before he started acting weird. "He's casting a spell in the name of a Four." After that, Chronos started speaking in languages unrecognized by the mob. Alice somewhat recognized a few of the words from Spanish class, although they sounded different. "Nostrum Deus magnum est, Regnit ex caelum altae Cum scientia, potens et amor Nostrum Deus magnum est!" As he sung those words, lightning leapt out of the fingers of the Lucine speaker, and headed straight for Chronos. It surged through him, though, and he was protected. He started laughing. "Flagrum funt in via et incendat malem totem juxta!" declared Chronos in reply, and fire shot out of his fingers. Now it was the mage's turn to laugh. "You fool!" he chuckled. "This is Columnia! The mages of the Four are fireproof!" Chronos nodded in appreciation of his foe. "Then witness the power of Kyrios, Who holds light and dark in the palm of His mighty hand!" called out Chronos. "Let the sanguine skies fall free!" At that, thunder began rumbling in the distance, and the sky turned red and dusky like at sunset. "By the four pillars of Columnia!" declared a voice in the crowds. "It's noon!" Then they felt the raindrops. The skies poured like blood. "This is the work of Kyrios, by the power of His Anointed One!" proclaimed Chronos, in a supernatural rapture that caused his hazel eyes to glimmer like stars. *** "I think I've found our man," a man in a soldier's outfit reported to Vanana. "Have you?" "Yes. There is a man down in Librastadt causing a commotion, who seems to be infused with the power of the gods," reported the soldier. "He wears an arcane symbol around his neck, two perpendiculary-crossed silver bars, with the bottom part of the vertical bar longer than the rest." "It's called a cross, Eterniu," replied Vanana. "Anything else?" "He preaches a god called Kyrios, and another called the Anointed One." "I see," Vanana said. "This sounds familiar. Let's see... anointed one... hamashiach? No, that's Hebrew. What's the Greek?" "Hebrew? Greek?" pondered Eterniu. "What are these things?" "Nevermind," ordered Vanana. "Ah-christos! Of course! And kyrios would be... hmmm.... that's harder." "Does this help us, Lady Protector?" inquired Eterniu. "It does. I think I know what sect he's from now," Vanana answered. "And a cross... the symbol of those that fight lions... it makes sense." "Lady Protector? Your orders?" "Mobilize the entirety of the Paranormal Squadron and take down the Corruptor. Alive. Seize his comrades as well." "With pleasure, Lady Protector!" saluted Eterniu. "All glory to the Four!" "All glory to the Four. Dismissed." *** A warning flare was fired into Librastadt, clearing the crowds to the side streets where they watched. Dozens of mages in black-and-orange uniforms lined up at the far end of the park. "You are in violation of the Sedition Acts," reported the lead mage. "We have been sent to apprehend you. Come quietly and you will be treated equitably." Angelique gulped as she saw them. "Chronos, that's the Paranormal Squadron!" she cried. "What's gonna happen to us all?" Chronos looked at her and smiled wryly. "Oh my love, it's time," he replied. "This isn't the time for jokes," she rebutted. "The world's a joke," he answered. "Now stand your ground!" he ordered to Angel and Alice, grabbing the cross around his neck. "This is what we are fighting for!" |