Talisman of El (22 page)

Alex grimaced. ‘What is that?’

‘Ichor,’ Isis replied. ‘It is the fluid that flows through our veins instead of blood, thereby granting us immortality.’ Alex reached her hand out, but Isis pulled away. ‘No!’ Alex jumped, retracting her hand at once. ‘Ichor is poisonous to mortals. It will kill you if it gets into your bloodstream.’

‘Why aren’t you healing?’ Charlie asked.

‘Copper and steel are poisonous to us,’ Isis said. ‘It makes it harder for us to heal. That is where Terra comes in.’ She looked over Charlie’s shoulder. ‘Ash, if you would.’ Ash disappeared through the door. A few seconds later, he returned alone. Then a woman materialised out of thin air beside him. She was tall and thin with slicked-back burgundy hair falling into a tumble of loose curls, wearing an icy blue, floor-length gown with a tiered bottom. Charlie wondered if there were Arcadians who weren’t breathtaking. At this rate, he was going to need an oxygen mask to stop him passing out whenever he forgot to breathe.

‘I would like you all to meet Terra, Elder of the air kingdom,’

Avaran said. ‘Beings of the air kingdom are great healers, though only Aeons have the physical ability to heal.’ Terra moved towards them, her hazel eyes – eyes that reminded Charlie of his mother – never leaving his face. She extended a gaunt hand to him, and he shook it. Her ivory skin was cool and smooth like silk. She looked in her mid twenties and had the same oval-shaped face and low cheekbones his mum had; but the hair was wrong, the eyelashes too long, the lips too full. Charlie felt a pang in his chest.

After shaking their hands, Terra said, ‘Welcome, Charlie, Alex, Richmond and Derkein.’

‘How do you know our names?’ Richmond asked. ‘I obtained it from your minds.’

‘You read our minds?’

‘In a sense. I am a healer and a retrocognitive. I see visions of the past, including dreams.’

‘So you’re like a time traveller without a machine,’ Charlie said.

Terra smiled. ‘Yes, I suppose you can say it is like travelling through time.’

‘That’s kinda cool,’ Charlie remarked.

Terra went over to Isis and took hold of her injured hand.

She closed her eyes and seemed to go into a meditative state.

The gang watched as a yellow light appeared in her palms then disappeared. Isis let out a breath of relief, and they saw that the wound had healed.

‘The time it takes one to heal depends on the severity of the wound,’ said Isis.

‘Can it work on my ankle?’ Richmond asked.

Terra went over and knelt down before him. Taking hold of his foot, she slipped his trainer off and grasped his ankle.

She did exactly what she did to Isis. When she finished, she put his trainer back on and stood up. ‘Give it a try,’ she said. Richmond jumped up, bounced up and down on his feet, and then sat down again. ‘It doesn’t hurt,’ he said, beaming. ‘Charlie,’ Isis said. He turned his attention to her and saw her holding a piece of the broken vase, but it didn’t frighten him. What did frighten him was what would happen when she cut him.

Extending his left hand, Isis made a small slit in his palm so quick he didn’t have time for doubts. He winced as a burning pain shot through his palm, but when he saw that the wound wasn’t healing, he couldn’t have been more relieved. Terra approached him. He placed his injured hand in hers, and she performed her miracle work. A cool sensation coursed through his veins, and his body tingled. It was a nice feeling.

When Terra removed her hand, he looked at his palm and saw that the wound had closed up, and as Avaran had said, not even a scar remained, just a smear of blood. Even the numbness in his body had disappeared. He had a new boost of energy.

Ash patted Charlie on the shoulder and said, ‘Looks like I won’t have to kill you.’ With a smug smile, he whirled round and left the room.

Charlie and Alex regarded each other, bearing identical expressions that said, ‘He was joking. Right?’

‘Can you heal Derkein?’ Richmond asked.

‘No, I’m afraid I cannot,’ Terra said.

Derkein smiled at the trio, but Charlie saw the sadness in his eyes.

‘We’ll just have to wait till we get to Eden,’ Charlie said reassuringly. He then noticed the strained look on Avaran’s face, the same look he’d had when Derkein mentioned Eden earlier, before Ash had interrupted them.

As if Avaran was reading Charlie’s mind, he said, ‘There is something you ought to know about Eden.’

It had just gone 11:30 p.m., and Tohu was getting livelier by the minute. The gang, Avaran and Isis were sitting on the platform deck watching the villagers dancing around the campfire.

‘So, you’ve never seen the garden?’ Derkein enquired. ‘It is a sacred place,’ Avaran replied. ‘It is only accessible to Rulers of the Legion. Many have searched endlessly and have yet to locate its whereabouts. Even if by some miracle we happened to pass upon it, we would have to gain passage from Uriel, the archangel who guards the entrance.’ ‘So the chances of us finding it –’

‘You would have better luck sprouting wings.’

Charlie and Derkein exchanged looks. ‘Stranger things have happened,’ Derkein said.

Charlie knew exactly what stranger thing he was referring to: the dream he had of Derkein before they had met. If that could happen, surely anything could.

‘You would risk your life for something you may never find?’ Avaran asked.

‘I won’t have a life if I don’t find it,’ Derkein answered. ‘If I go back to the surface like this, that’s it. I won’t live long enough to find my father.’

‘It is too dangerous to venture the lands of Koura,’ Isis said. ‘It is under the constant guard of Archons.’ She turned to Avaran, her eyes pleading. ‘We cannot let them go.’ ‘You can’t stop us,’ Charlie argued. He looked at Derkein.

‘We’re still going, aren’t we?’
Please say yes, please say yes.
Derkein was silent for a moment, and Charlie wondered if he would heed Isis’ warning, but then Derkein looked at Avaran and said, ‘I believe in destiny. I may not be able to explain the events that have taken place over the last few weeks, but what I do know is that the talisman brought me to these kids.’ He paused for a second, as if deliberating over his thoughts. ‘I don’t know what the future holds, but I think we were led here for a reason.’

Charlie relaxed his shoulders. He couldn’t have said it better himself.

‘You said the demons won’t stop until they have the talisman,’ Derkein continued. ‘If it’s that important to them, perhaps I could negotiate –’

‘No.’ Avaran’s voice sounded strained. ‘You hand it to them and your life is as good as over. So is the rest of the world.

The talisman is more powerful than you know. Had whoever attacked you been aware that it was in your possession, they would have thought twice.’ Avaran descended the platform with such grace they didn’t hear the thud of his feet on his landing. He turned to Derkein with a serious expression.

Charlie could have sworn he saw a glint of fear in his eyes, if only for a split second. ‘Archons had tried to disable the talisman for centuries before it vanished, but their attempts ended with their own death and destruction.’

Charlie noticed the villagers had stopped what they were doing and were looking towards the platform, as if waiting for something to happen.

‘The talisman is missing a crucial item, the main source of its power –’ Avaran began, but Charlie interrupted him. ‘The black diamond,’ he said.

Avaran regarded Charlie, his gaze serious and intense, as if by some miracle, if he concentrated hard enough, he would be able to see him. He glanced away briefly then back at Charlie, this time with a look of disbelief, which caused the slightest wrinkle on his otherwise smooth face. When he looked back at Derkein, his expression was unreadable. ‘Yes,’ he resumed, ‘the black diamond was the main source of its power. However, since the talisman did save you, it is clearly still active. I will now attempt to retrieve it from you.’ The platform was about three feet off the ground, two feet shorter than Avaran, so he looked puny as he stood before Derkein. If he were planning to take the talisman from Derkein, he would have had to stand on his toes, and then some. Or not ....

Charlie had to blink a few times before deciding his eyes weren’t deceiving him. Avaran was growing. His body grew larger and taller. Derkein and the trio gawped up at him.

Although they knew Aeons could change their appearances at will, that knowledge had not prepared them for what they were witnessing. They could have done with a little heads up.

Any other humans would probably have had heart attacks at the sight of a nine-foot angel towering over them.

Charlie’s gaze fell on Derkein, whose forehead seemed a tad shiny. He was probably wishing he wasn’t wearing the talisman, especially when Avaran reached towards him. Avaran’s hand came within inches of the talisman when a white spark shot out of the object and struck him in the chest.

He yelped as the spark sent him flying off his feet, landing hard on the ground a few yards away.

Isis vanished and reappeared beside Avaran. The trio and Derkein made haste after her.

Avaran was sprawled on his back, clutching his chest in agony. Charlie grimaced at the sight of ichor seeping through his robe. Terra appeared and worked her magic on the Guardian, and just like that, he was back on his feet again. ‘What on earth was that?’ Derkein asked. He looked down at the talisman with terrified eyes, as if he wanted to remove it but was too afraid to touch it.

‘
That
was the power of the talisman,’ Avaran answered.

‘Only humans and the keeper of the talisman can touch it without it harming them.’ He had shrunk back to his normal size. Charlie wondered if it had been because of the shock he had received. He also wondered what would have happened to Avaran had the black diamond been attached. The image of sparkling dust, like the one he had seen when he’d first touched the talisman, flashed across his mind, and he shuddered, because deep down he knew it wasn’t dust. It was ashes. Avaran turned towards the temple, his expression pensive.

Charlie wondered what he was up to, until he saw six chairs floating out of the temple, one after the other, hovering a few feet off the ground. Avaran was using his psychokinetic powers.

The awesome thing: he could move things with just a thought. The terrifying thing: his mind control worked on people as well as objects. Charlie reminded himself not to get on the wrong side of him.

The chairs landed in a circle, and they sat down. ‘Why would anyone risk their life for this thing?’ Derkein asked, referring to the talisman. ‘Why is it so important?’ Avaran followed the voice and found Derkein. ‘It was some fourteen thousand years ago – surface time – when King Gaddis, Ruler of the air kingdom, rebelled against the Legion, taking most of his kingdom with him.’ Avaran glanced at Isis sitting beside him, who shared the same sullen expression as him. He turned back to the others, and his expression became unreadable. Even with the knowledge of knowing that he was an angel, it was still hard to believe that Avaran, who didn’t look a day over sixty, was so … ancient.

‘Gaddis deemed mortals as dispensable,’ Avaran went on.

‘He believed we were the gods of Earth and that humans should treat us as such. So began the war between the sons and daughters of El. When the mortal world gained knowledge of our presence, they started creating stories, resulting in the birth of mythology. Of course, you cannot rely on folklore for the complete truth.’

‘So stories about Greek gods like Zeus and Poseidon originated from angels?’ Derkein asked.

‘That concept surprises you, I see,’ Avaran said. ‘No idea is ever original. Stories about werewolves, mermaids and fairies all started from somewhere. Thousands of years before we descended, a group of angels called Watchers lived on Earth.

Stories of godly beings first originated from them, though it was not at the time written down. The Watchers were to live among humans but not interfere with their evolution. Sadly, they played a part in corrupting mankind and were destroyed because of it.’

‘I know this story,’ Alex said. ‘Pastor Graham at my church said Watchers mated with humans and had giant children called Nephilims. They taught humans sorcery and witchcraft, which made God angry, and he wiped them out with a flood, except for Noah and his family.’

Isis smiled. ‘It is pleasing to see a young child who knows her history.’

Alex smiled proudly.

‘I know about Noah’s ark, too,’ Richmond complained. ‘Of course, I can tell you are also very wise,’ Isis complimented. She winked at Richmond, and he blushed. ‘So, in a sense, Gaddis is like Lucifer,’ Derkein said. ‘Indeed,’ said Avaran, ‘but not only did he break his covenant, he also attacked the other kingdoms, killing Queen Niemi, Ruler of the fire kingdom, and Queen Sophia, Ruler of the water kingdom. The destruction of the Rulers split the kingdoms. Some joined Gaddis, some went into hiding, and others joined King Sol, Ruler of the earth kingdom. Sol was the only one Gaddis could not defeat, for he was the Chief Ruler of Arcadia.

‘After endless battles between Archons and what remained of the Legion, the four archangels who govern Earth –

Michael, Gabriel, Raphael and Uriel – coined the talisman, sealing it with their powers. They appointed Sol ‘Keeper’ of the talisman. Anything the keeper put to word became reality, and in the hands of Gaddis, he would have mankind subjected to misery, labour and servitude.’

‘Are you telling me this thing is a wishing well?’ Derkein asked, referring to the talisman.

‘Wishing well …’ Avaran shook his head. ‘Another myth misconstrued. But, yes, the talisman acts like a wishing well.’ ‘Why didn’t you say that before?’

‘You did not enquire about it. Furthermore, without the black diamond affixed in the talisman its powers are limited.’ Charlie heard Candra’s voice inside his head:
‘The talisman

you saw. You need it
....
’
Going near the talisman was the last thing he wanted to do, especially now he knew a horde of demons were after it. And why would he need it?

‘Even if it was whole,’ Avaran continued, ‘it would not comply with your orders.’