The Chronicles of Heaven's War: Burning Phoenix (94 page)

Gradually the ceiling lights diminished
until Lowenah’s radiant energy alone burned within the Theater.
Unlike the blaze of a flame or torch that casts its power outward,
driving the darkness into the shadows, Lowenah drew to herself the
darkness, allowing no light escape from her inner self. Blinding as
day she was, with the magnificence of the universe spinning about
her, yet oppressive as an empty void was the pitch blackness
surrounding her.

Into this empty void, Lowenah opened her
mouth to speak, but the voice of a Divine Being from beyond the
reaches of Time was what all those present heard. Faith need not
exist to believe that the Maker of Worlds stood before them. God
revealed
was here, the God of gods with power unquestioned
and glory unimagined, reaching out with word and thought, searching
mind, heart and soul, cloaking the might of the immortal being
behind a thin veil of fragile mortality. Here stood Mother, the
Megas Creator, and Olothreutēs, the Pontifex Maximus Apolluons, the
Greatest Destroyer…The Absolute of all things.

From the depths of Lowenah’s unfathomable
worlds, the words rose up, filling the room with an overwhelming
resonance of Power Divine, those things spoken being eternally
seared into all hearts and minds hearing them. “Do not think your
feet have found my lair by chance this day, for from the founding
of the world have you been chosen to stand before the forces of
eternity to be judged for righteousness or evil! Those standing the
judicial thrones have come to their conclusions.”

Lowenah lowered her hands and stared toward
the closed Theater doors. “To you has been given the gift or curse
to dance with Fate. Today, each one of you will choose for yourself
the road you shall take. One road leads you back to yesterday’s
dreams while offering you tomorrow’s shadowy visions. With you will
go my blessing and my peace will continue to guide your path.”

Looking up forlorn, she explained the second
road. “The other offers you only but one choice, to sell your soul
to the incorruptible Fates and become their slaves in my house,
never to have again the freedom to choose for yourself good or bad.
It is a dangerous, foreboding path. Leading to what? That I even do
not know... Oppressive it will be. Clear to the point of death, it
shall demand your obedience, and you shall obey its commands
without question!”

Clasping her hands together, Lowenah stared
up toward the ceiling. “Long has this day pressed in upon my
spirit, making my soul groan in despair. My children! My children!
Great is the valley of deep shadow and cruel it is to those passing
through it! To be forced to walk it would be the greatest of sins
on my part, for only can a true heart toward me hope to succeed in
this dismal place.”

Sweeping her arms wide, she declared, “So it
shall be! With free will, I do invite my children to take this most
dangerous of roads. Should your heart be in a tumult over this
request, I offer you...no...beg you to secret your leave from here
and take with you my blessing. There is no shame when an honest man
speaks truth to his own soul.”

At that, the leaved, double doors opened in
the Theater into the blackness of the antechamber. A ghostly glow
lit up in the floor, cloaking the identity of all while revealing
the route of escape for any soul seeking it. With bated breath,
Lowenah waited, hoping a few brave souls might remain to weather
the coming storm. No mother should expect of her children what she
was asking this day, but what else was there for it? No child
should ever be expected to accept.

The room suddenly became as still as the
tombs of yesterday’s heroes and as chill as a bitter winter night.
Chasileah sat there, her heart burning with agony’s hour while her
stomach churned in sickly revulsion.
Trapped!
Trapped she
was in a cage of raging beasts seeking to tear her soul asunder.
The way of escape was open, but chained she was by the needs of
another.
Away!
She must get away!

Darla groaned, struggling to sit, breaking
Chasileah’s bonds. The woman could not see a thing, for a blind
void filled the Theater to the point of extinguishing both breath
and life.
Free!
So free! Darla was up and sitting beside
her. She could now make escape from this horrid place. Then it
struck… the vision of past and future days. Was it only to
Chasileah that all truth was revealed that hour, or did each one of
the children sequestered within those walls suffer such damnation?
Chasileah did not know, nor did she care to discover whether it was
so. The worlds of today, yesterday, and tomorrow raged by in a
tumultuous, chaotic rush, tearing away her senses, leaving only the
cosmic dust of uncertainty except for the one remaining true
reality, the open doors offering freedom from Fate’s evil
burden.

Chasileah sat, transfixed, as the seemingly
endless ages of her life flashed by in an instant of time, branding
forever in her brain memory of its passing. Every detail of her
life came to her, so clearly could she see it all with intense
feeling, from her beginning existence when two cells burst forth to
create this new life, up to this very moment in time, not one
breath, one second of it to be omitted, but upon the canvas of
remembrance it was painted in vivid reality.

Ghost riders chasing the ever elusive
shadow-herd of Time went charging past into Future’s cloudy
tempest, catching Chasileah up with them as they stormed by. Into
that caldron of twisted unknowns they rode, the woman watching in
amazement her future world roads should she stay or should she
depart.

The first road was such an easy one to take.
Little there was to speak of other than to live the continued
drudgery of life her heart had cast the woman into. In her ears,
she could hear the reports of war from huge victories to massive
defeats - the endless names of those she knew and loved being read
off as their bodies were consigned to the Silent Tombs, and the
endless messages she was to deliver to grieving lovers and
companions. She found herself wandering that quiet, mundane road
off into a shadowy uncertainty, the future a gray mist hiding
Fate’s destiny.

The second road was very contemptuous and
troublesome. Chasileah watched, seeing vows fulfilled. Blood filled
her hands, running in rivulets from her fingers. The woman listened
to her own mouth ordering myriads of her brothers and sisters to
their deaths. Riding upon steeds sheathed in iron, wearing helms of
gold with banners raised high and swords drawn for combat, she
shouted the battle charge into flaming missiles of death and
destruction.

By her very mouth, worlds went crashing into
oblivion, armies vanished into smoke and ash, wails of grief rent
the Heavens for the countless slain until the very seas turned red
with the blood of holy martyrs and demonic beasts. All the while,
this woman sitting astride her bloodied steed shouted out to the
Heavens for the birds, the raven and the crow to gather and eat to
their full, for the hour of destruction was not yet nigh.

This road, too, was uncertain, leading into
a fathomless unknown of roiling mist, but it filled Chasileah’s
heart with the hope of vows fulfilled and dreams satisfied. As she
watched, a man with deep hazel eyes and dark, wavy hair stepped out
of those turbid clouds, taking her hand while singing the sweetest
of healing songs to her heart. He smiled, tears running down his
face, saying, “Never have I loved a woman as I have loved you.
Already my heart is one with yours. Come and share your dreams with
me and I, for my part, shall return your glory to you.”

The vision of the two roads instantly
disappeared, and Chasileah found herself standing before the two
opened, leaved doors exiting the Theater. Two fiery Cherubs stood
there, one on each side of the passageway, their smiling faces
easing the woman’s uncertainty. Before her stood another Cherub,
but this one was no stranger to her. Long had it been since she
stared into this fellow’s eyes as the two stood upon the high peaks
overlooking the lush green valleys of Lagandow, such a serene gaze
coming from a gentle face. In the Cherub’s hands were held an
inkhorn and a scroll.

The Cherub lifted the ink horn, asking, “Has
my lady chosen for herself this day which road of uncertainty she
will take? Before you goes my peace, whether you turn to the right
of the left. Your Mother has promised you her lov,e no matter the
journey you begin.”

Chasileah smiled as a wave of freedom from
care washed over her. Today? What was today other than an extension
of yesterday and tomorrow, the momentary space in the continuous
rotation of the universe that men chose to divide up into night and
day, seasons, even hours and seconds? Today was not linear but
circuitous, ever returning to where it began with only one’s
memories having changed. So, for tomorrow…it would soon become
today and then yesterday and then quickly be forgotten, leaving but
the memories remain, the memories such as she had of this fellow
and those lost days so long ago on Lagandow.

For one last fleeting second, Chasileah
looked longingly at the opened exit, thinking of the countless
cares from freedom she would experience by taking it. She then
turned to the Cherub with the inkhorn, bowing her head. “Your
servant... Your slave...”

The Cherub grinned approvingly, declaring,
“So it shall be.” Upon the parchment, Chasileah’s name, long
forgotten, suddenly appeared.

In shock, Chasileah woke with a start,
seated as she had been in the dark, quiet Theater. Her agony of
heart was now gone, it filled with a resigned acceptance that Fate
was become her master and, live or die, she would follow its
requests without question.

Lowenah slowly opened her eyes, having
chosen not to witness what might become. She had hidden in her
inner worlds, waiting the moment of return to see if any would risk
the uncertainty she offered. Her heart leaped with joy and surprise
to see that not even one of the children drawn to this place this
hour had departed. Honesty and love had again won out! She had held
out no false hope, nor had secreted the evil future that awaited
her children, yet here they remained, choosing this
uncertainty.

Today all doubt had been removed, for not
for reward or for glory did Lowenah’s loyal children serve her. By
free will they had chosen to become slaves clear unto death. So
true had become the statement for Mother’s creation: ‘every person
decides his own destiny.’

The golden glow of hidden lights gradually
gained in power, revealing the resolute, determined look on each
face as countless eyes stared at the person standing before them.
No longer did they see the King of kings and Lord of lords robed in
the glory of the universe. Before them now stood their
golden-haired sprite, mother maiden, hands clasped and head bowed,
with tears running down her face.

She looked up, casting her tear-filled gaze
about the crowd. In a halting voice, she addressed her children.
“You have offered your souls to me for whatever purpose that may be
chosen for them. For this, I am forever indebted to you. Now,
please, stand and swear aloud to me what your hearts have already
shouted out in the darkness, this being done so that all here may
know by your public declaration what you have promised to me in
secret.”

Darla groaned in pain as she took
Chasileah’s hand while clutching Euroaquilo’s arm. Euroaquilo
reassured the woman she need not get up. Darla cursed him, ordering
the man to assist her up. Managing to stand, Darla shook in agony
while sweat poured down her face. Euroaquilo and Chasileah wrapped
their arms about the woman, supporting her.

Lowenah looked over at her little child, so
desperately attempting to be at station like the good soldier she
was. Tears burst forth anew with joy and pride, watching this
heroine so filled with resolve and fortitude. She looked about the
room, recalling the deeds of so many of the children here. Yes, she
had chosen well. Deep was the fire that burned within the breasts
of these people. How would she fail with these loyal men and women?
In her mind, she could already see the Great Dragon fleeing from
these Realms.

Then came the pronouncement, “Now swear in
the ears of all standing with you this day an oath for them to hear
so that a shoulder they will always have to lean upon in darkest
hours when hope is only a fading memory and faith little more than
a wistful vision in a forlorn mind.”

She lifted a hand. “Swear to the living and
the dead this oath:
To hold the soul of your brother and sister
precious, to drive the evil from this universe, to be trustworthy
and loyal at any and all cost to your soul and spirit, to support
my daughter king, Michael, and those who drive their swords into
her enemies’ hearts, to become whatever you must become to win
success against the ungodly evil even though you should be forced
to sink to the very level of such ungodliness, to deliver ruination
and destruction necessary upon every and all living things because
it is the right thing to do, to never surrender to will of self
when protecting the weak and helpless, to sacrifice all that is,
was, and might have been yours for that of another, to be a
trustworthy agent of your fellow’s heart. All these things swear to
do clear into an everlasting death, should that be requested of
you
.”

Now lifting both arms high, Lowenah
declared, “Strength beyond normal and a guiding spirit of light are
the gifts I give to all you who swear to me this oath! Yet a
terrible burden it is, far too great an evil for any child of mine
to carry. So it is, if with honest appraisal, any of you should
feel it a burden beyond your strength, then please, with my
blessing, depart and save yourselves from this calamity that I
request.”

Again, the two leaved doors silently opened,
offering Chasileah escape. This time she felt so different. No
visions came that might swage doubt or fear, no Cherubs with
inkhorns or requests, just an inviting peacefulness promising the
same uncertain future afforded all Lowenah’s children. This time
the woman’s feet fought not with mind and heart, but stood firm in
harmony with spirit and soul. No, this time there was not
trepidation at choices made. She was certain that the road chosen
was the road she desired, no, craved.