“That is, indeed, what I am saying. And
neither are you, Gabriel.”
Holy crap. The Dream.
Amber felt a little faint. There was just no
way…was there? Could The Dream possibly have been more than just
that? Looking sideways at Gabriel, she saw doubt and uncertainty in
his eyes. Catching her gaze, he gave her hand a light squeeze.
Not human? Several months ago, she would have
scoffed heartily at Ini-herit and pegged him for an insane liar. In
the past few weeks, though, The Dream had been making frequent
appearances, she had barely lived through some kind of explosion in
a pond and witnessed Gabriel brought to the brink of death by a
stare, among other crazy things. She supposed she was willing to
set aside her usual cynicism for some answers.
“Okay, fine. Sure. So, what are we?” she
asked at last.
Ini-herit had obviously been waiting to see
how they would react before telling them anything else. Nodding in
apparent approval, he replied, “We call ourselves Estilorians. We
have resided here on Earth since the dawn of man.”
Amber started to speak when he once again
grew silent, but he held up a hand. “Please, just let me speak. We
do not have much time and I know you have many questions. I will
tell you what I can now, but I must collect my thoughts.”
She closed her mouth.
When Ini-herit again spoke, his deep, level
voice held them in thrall. “Millennia ago, when civilization first
began, humans and Estilorians shared the Earth. We both have
similar physical characteristics and compatible mental processes,
so this seemed logical for everyone. Where we differ, we have since
discovered, is at a very significant cellular level. And as this
evolutionary difference became more apparent and Estilorians
advanced more rapidly than humans, there was an unmanageable shift
in the balance of power.
“For many centuries after we were first
identified, Estilorians were revered by humans. We were depicted as
gods and goddesses and other fabled beings in human literature, art
and music. Our unique abilities and the fact that we are long-lived
set us apart from humans in a way that no social construct could
withstand. Humans are emotional beings, and what began as reverence
ultimately turned, at least for many, into jealousy and resentment.
Unwilling to accept that they would never acquire the powers and
abilities of Estilorians, those humans grew to revile us. And
because they knew they would never defeat us if they challenged us
directly, they did what to them was the second best option. They
turned on the humans who still called us friends.
“There were wars and persecutions…and far too
much death. Seeing how our presence was destroying humanity, we did
the only thing we could. We joined together and created a new plane
of existence, removing ourselves from humanity. In time, the
stories about us were deemed nothing more than mythos.”
He stopped and studied them.
Gabriel shifted in his chair. “You’re saying
that human stories about Zeus and Apollo and stuff like that are
based on fact?”
“Yes.”
“So, Estilorians are immortal? Like the gods
in those ancient stories?” Amber asked. Her eyebrows were up near
her hairline by that point.
“Not immortal. Long-lived. There is a
difference. Although we heal quickly from injury and can survive
more significant injuries than humans, we are quite mortal. But we
do not age.”
Blinking at that, Gabriel said, “You’re
saying that we’re Estilorians? How can that be if we age?”
“You, Gabriel, are an Estilorian, presently
in an aging human form. Ambryl is a new being altogether, one we
have been working to protect since her birth, just as we have her
sisters.”
After exchanging another look with Gabriel,
Amber asked, “Well, if Estilorians removed themselves from
humanity, how come we’re here?”
“An excellent question. I will begin to
answer that by explaining that the creation of the new Estilorian
plane was completely unprecedented. It required the cooperation of
the most powerful of each of the nine different classes of
Estilorians. Even with those combined talents, the power required
to complete this feat nearly killed all of us.”
“You were one of the nine?” Gabriel
guessed.
“I was,” Ini-herit answered. “And so were
you.”
Amber had been rather proud of herself up
until then. She had suspended her disbelief and tried to make
herself open to the idea that the strange things that were
happening to her were because she wasn’t quite human. But this
stopped her in her tracks. “Are you saying that Gabriel is like, a
thousand years old? And that he’s this Estilorian being who is more
powerful than other, similar beings?”
“He is actually much older than that,”
Ini-herit responded calmly.
She stared at him, then realized he wasn’t
going to expound. Then she turned and caught Gabriel’s gaze. He
raised his eyebrows and shrugged, obviously at a loss.
“Once the new plane of Estilorian existence
was formed,” Ini-herit continued, “humans could no longer detect
us. Well, some of the more intuitive humans sometimes catch
glimpses of us, but for the most part we are able to move about the
Earth undetected. Even those who sense us think of us in human
terms…as ghosts or spirits or angels. Those kinds of beings.”
“And you just come over to this plane
whenever you feel like it?” Amber asked, still trying to make sense
out of what he was saying.
“On the contrary, crossing over from one
plane to the next is extremely difficult. Very few of us have the
ability to move between them. And we have found that when we do
cross to this side, our powers are not at all what they had been
while on this plane before we removed ourselves.”
Shaking his head in bewilderment, Gabriel
asked, “So, how is it that you apparently crossed over now and have
retained all of this knowledge, but I’m on this plane and have no
idea what you’re talking about?”
“Because you asked this to be the case.”
“Come again?”
Ini-herit paused again, evidently lining up
his thoughts. Then he continued, “Let me go back nearly twenty
years. And first, you must understand that Estilorians do not have
reproductive systems designed like those of humans. We resemble
each other in appearance, yes, but Estilorians cannot breed or
carry children. At least, not with each other.”
Here he stopped to look at Amber, who blinked
and said, “You mean you, uh, have babies with humans, instead of
with each other?”
“No. In fact, we had proven over time that
this was genetically impossible. Instead, Estilorians as a species
have historically repopulated by harvesting human souls on the
brink of expiration and transitioning them into new Estilorian
forms. The circumstances for this to work successfully are nearly
enough to make human conception look simplistic, and over the
centuries, our numbers have dropped dramatically.”
Amber’s eyes widened. What Ini-herit had just
described sounded an awful lot like the idea of passing through the
Pearly Gates. It made his reference to humans equating Estilorians
to angels even more impactful to her.
He continued as if he didn’t notice her
reaction. “There is an Estilorian class called the Corgloresti who
can pass through to the human plane. I am the oldest and most
powerful. Our primary purpose is to identify willing humans whose
souls make the best candidates for what we call The Embrace.
Because of the nature of our role—that is, developing relationships
with humans whose lives are ending—our level of emotional
detachment is even higher than that of other Estilorians to protect
our psyches.”
Well, that certainly explains a lot
,
Amber thought. She once again noted Ini-herit’s impassive face. She
had to admit that getting to know a bunch of people only to watch
them die sounded like one of the worst jobs in the world.
“Once a soul crosses planes through The
Embrace, it retains no knowledge of its human origins. Most often,
the new Estilorian is entirely different from the human shell it
left behind.”
And thus, wouldn’t be the same person that
the Corgloresti had befriended on the human plane. So they wouldn’t
even be able to reconnect on the other side. Amber sighed.
Yep…definitely the worst job in the world.
“Twenty years ago, a Corgloresti named
Saraqael crossed to the human plane in the form of a deacon at a
small church.”
Now, Amber felt the blood drain from her
face.
Saraqael
.
Oblivious to the reaction he had caused,
Ini-herit continued, “We have found over time that this type of
role draws us closest to those humans most likely to accept The
Embrace. Due to the need to convey the human emotion of compassion,
this role is also best suited for our youngest Corgloresti who have
not yet become too detached. Saraqael was just over two centuries
as an Estilorian. And he became emotionally attached to a human
parishioner whose soul would be perfectly suited for The
Embrace.
“She was a young woman and innocent, but
dying of a rare human disease of the blood. Although he knew what
he must do, Saraqael could not accept that she would be lost to
him. He tried to extend his time with her in her human form by
communicating with human doctors, all to no avail. When that did
not work, he returned to the Estilorian plane to seek out a way to
extend her human consciousness into her Estilorian form. But such a
thing is impossible. Still, determined not to lose the human woman,
Saraqael spent his every waking moment searching for some way to
stop the inevitable. And then, to all of our surprise, he found
it.”
Amber realized she was holding her breath and
slowly released it. Ini-herit’s smooth and intense narration held
her transfixed. His eyes never flickered from hers.
“In the oldest Estilorian library, there
exists a room of scrolls. This vast vault stretches longer than the
eye can see, and is filled floor to ceiling with cases of scrolls.
There is not an Estilorian in existence who knows everything
contained in that room, but I can tell you that there are scrolls
in there that this world would be better off never seeing. Scrolls
identifying some of the darkest and strongest powers imaginable.
Saraqael managed to find one. And he used it.
“As the human woman lay in her bed recovering
from her last failed medical treatment, Saraqael entered her home
with the scroll and performed the ritual it outlined. He believed
it would save her life. The ritual involved a joining of both body
and soul…powerful energy far beyond his control. It destroyed
him.
“But not before the human woman
conceived.”
After swallowing in an attempt to moisturize
her dry throat, Amber broke the ensuing silence. “You’re telling me
that I’m a result of some evil spell used by a love-struck
Estilorian who died after using it?”
She couldn’t believe how absolutely
ridiculous that sentence sounded as it came out.
“You are one of three such ‘results,’ if you
choose to look at it in such a way,” Ini-herit replied
matter-of-factly. “Though I said the scroll that Saraqael used was
powerful, not evil. In any case, due to the scroll’s power, the
human woman’s genes were apparently altered enough to allow her to
carry an Estilorian’s offspring. She gave birth to three girls
before ultimately succumbing to her human frailness. You, Ambryl,
were her firstborn.”
Amber didn’t have a clue how to feel about
that. She was too busy reeling over Ini-herit’s unemotional
revelations and the stunning fact that she believed every word of
them. It was like pieces of a nebulous puzzle had finally taken
shape for her, and she could actually put it all together for the
first time in her life. In the rational part of her brain, it
seemed absolutely crazy to her that she could just accept
Ini-herit’s story as truth. But it clarified the glimpses she had
seen through The Dream, and it fit so neatly with the events of her
life that it made perfect sense.
Her world had been turned completely
upside-down in the span of an hour.
Realizing that she had a death grip on
Gabriel’s hand, she deliberately eased up. When he tightened his
hold in response, she looked at him and caught his understanding
gaze. She suddenly didn’t trust her voice, and he seemed to sense
it.
“Is Amber’s mother an Estilorian now?” he
asked Ini-herit.
“No. When Saraqael perished, he severed the
chance that her soul could be successfully harvested. Once a
Corgloresti marks a soul, he or she is the only one who can
successfully Embrace it.”
Well, that was a real kicker, wasn’t it?
Amber mused darkly. She finally learned who her parents were only
to discover they were both dead.
She supposed that it didn’t change a thing as
far as she was concerned. Her birth parents hadn’t ever been a part
of her family equation and she had gone her entire life thinking
much worse things about her parentage. In fact, it should have
seemed like an improvement that her father had cared enough for her
mother to risk everything for her. Instead, the knowledge brought a
brutal wave of grief. She pictured the handsome young man with gray
eyes in The Dream and realized what he had sacrificed for love. Her
chest felt too tight and she was horrified she might actually lose
her composure with Ini-herit’s cold, dark eyes watching
dispassionately.
Drawing a deep breath, she clamped down
viciously on her reaction. Grief had to wait.
“I want to know her name,” she said at last.
“My mother’s name.”
Ini-herit nodded as though to himself. His
voice was surprisingly soft when he said, “I knew you would be the
strongest.”
“What?”
He waved that away. “The woman who birthed
you was called Kate. As I said, you were born first, followed by
Olaya and then Skylar. The birth was an amazing experience…unlike
anything we had ever seen. All of the most powerful Estilorians
attended. Including you, Gabriel.”