Souls Stories
Born Special
"It is an abomination unto the Lord!" the being cried out as it advanced on the old nun.
"How could any such creature be an abomination to our lord, it is an innocent." She pleaded as she held the fledgling in her arms. It cooed, grabbing the nun's habit, smiling up at her and at the being that sought its destruction.
"Yours is not to question why, yours is to obey!" the being flared with great light, forcing the nun to avert her eyes. "This is the will of God!" Its voice took on an otherworldly sound, as if God itself was speaking.
The nun felt the voice enter her body, she felt her will begin to pull away as she slowly walked towards the being. The child cooed in her arms, even giggled as she slowly lifted it up towards the being.
It reached out, it glow too bright for the child, causing it to cry out. The nun suddenly gathered her will and brought the child close to her. "No!" she screamed, and prayed God would forgive her for what she was about to do.
She grasped the simple rose pendant around her neck, the strange jewel in the middle spinning. Suddenly a great fire gathered around her, though it did not harm her or the child. The being roared, its great wings unfurling but it was too late. A horrible fire cascaded over it, driving it back, singeing its wings and burning its face.
The nun ran as the being howled in pain, a sensation she guessed was new to the creature. She knew she could not kill it, it would come after her and the child, but she didn't care, she had to protect it.
She fled from the abbey onto the city streets, the hour was late, and though she would never dare the dangers of the night alone, she had no choice. She recalled it was a night like this not that many months ago that brought the child to the abbey.
The poor young woman was beside herself, she had no idea who the father was, there was no way she could take care of the child alone. She was a poor waif of a thing, she barely ate, and one day, as quickly as she appeared, she vanished. The sisters took in the child, though they discovered quickly it was different.
The nun was moving quickly but carefully now, she knew there would be thugs and other miscreants about that were not above taking advantage of her, whether she was a bride of Christ or not. She was glad the child wasn't making a noise, in fact, it almost never did, it was the quietest child any of the sisters had ever known.
That was one of the first signs they noticed about the child, even a few days old, it never cried, it never made nay noise but just stare at those around it. It was with her that the child first made a noise, it cooed happily when the sister held it for the first time. It was perhaps the only time she ever felt regret at becoming a nun.
She would make for the edge of the city, she would be able to find passage on a carriage there. She'd head west, into the wild of the country, that was the only place she thought she could be safe with the child. It was a long journey; still she felt oddly at peace, she always did when she held the child.
It was those times that she held the child that she quickly learned it was gifted. At first she thought she was overcome with emotion, but very quickly she realized, it was the child's emotion she felt. She felt its hunger, its happiness, everything. She knew when it was sleepy, when it wanted to be held, even when it wanted to play or simply just stare at her. Her entire being became wrapped up in this child.
She had made it to the edge of the city, though there were a few close scrapes, but something in her warned her of where to go, of what to avoid. The child had fallen asleep in her arms, still she knew in a way that it was because of the child that they had made it this far. This child was truly a precious thing, a gift from God.
Yet, the being's arrival had thrown her world into a tailspin. She had expected the being had come to announce a great destiny for the child. That perhaps it was here to save the world from the dangers that many warned were ahead. Instead, it had come to destroy the child that it was outside God's love, outside of God's protection. Why!
"Because that child has no soul." The being said, as it floated down from above her. All marks from when she burned it were gone. She grasped the child tightly around her and spun out fire again, only this time the being was not burned.
"How can it not have a soul!" she begged as she tried again and again to banish the being in front of her. "All creatures have a soul!"
The being waved its hand and the nun found all of her power gone. It walked up to her and she braced herself for the punishment she knew was coming. The being's aura surrounded her and she felt it hug her gently.
"I'm sorry my child, not all creatures have a soul, in fact far too many are being born without one. Many great wars are coming, and this world will find itself with less and less of God's creatures until one day, it will all end."
The nun shuddered as the child began to cry, she pulled away as she hugged the crying child tightly. "No, this child has a soul. I felt it, I felt it everyday when I held it. This child is alive, it is special!"
She closed her eyes as the glow from the being overcame her. She felt the child was happy to be in her arms.
The being looked on, as rain began to fall and washed away the ash in front of it.
"It was special." It said with a sad voice, before disappearing into the rain.
Promise Me
"Would you stop that, you’re making me nervous!" Maria exclaimed from behind her console. She and her brother had been working away all day on cataloguing information on recent events.
"Doing what?" Eli said, his eyes never looking away from the window.
"Staring out the window like that, you’ve been staring at nothing for over an hour now."
"It has not been an hour."
"Oui, un heure vingt." John said as he continued clicking away at his console.
"Nor has it been an hour and 20 minutes." Eli said, still not looking at the hacker siblings.
"What’s on your mind Eli, I’ve never seen you like this." Maria put down her coffee, and walked over to her friend. She placed her hand on his shoulder and finally grabbed his attention. "What’s wrong Eli?"
"I’m worried about them."
"They’ll be fine, we already heard from Abraham that he picked them up and they are on their way back with the book."
"What? Oh, yeah, I guess you’re right."
Maria saw something and ran with a hunch, "You’re not thinking about Jeren, and the rest of them are you. Who are you…Lucy?!" She suddenly exclaimed as the look on Eli’s face changed. "You’re worried about Lucy and Danny aren’t you?"
Eli looked away and continued staring at an empty point in distance. "Eli, I’ve never seen you take interest in any of them like this before."
"I don’t know what you’re talking about."
"Don’t lie to me Eli, we’ve worked together too many years now for you to try to lie to me." There was no harshness in her voice, just sincerity. Eli looked down at Maria, for the first time she has ever seen it, worry in his eyes.
"I don’t think they are safe. The night they were able to exorcise that demon from Danny, I felt something….watching us."
"What do you mean watching us?"
"I’m not sure, I thought that it was because a demon was being active, we’ve might have drawn the attention of something."
"But…"
"I think it’s always been there, I think something’s been watching them for a while now. I think it still is."
Despite working with him for many years, Maria realized she didn’t know much about their enigmatic friend, his history, his past, everything about him was shrouded with mystery, still, she didn’t hesitate a second in believing him.
"Let’s get them back here then." She said as she started to walk to her desk. "I’ll make the necessary adjustments, we’ll get them back here where can watch them."
"Maria, what, why are you doing this?" Eli said, dumfounded at his normally cynical compatriot’s actions and attitude.
"If you say they’re in trouble, I know better than to remotely doubt you, or to waste time."
"Marie, ma chere, your phone is buzzing." John said, pointing to the device as it sat next to her keyboard, vibrating along.
"I bet that’s Abraham letting me know they’re about to land. I have to make sure his escort is ready and waiting."
Just as she reached for the phone, she felt herself being pushed to the ground, as Eli tackled her, yelling at John "Get down!"
A massive explosion rocked them as a veritable firestorm struck the building, blowing brick and glass inward.
Eli checked on Maria, he was stunned but fine, he got up and quickly rushed to John, who was slightly more scratched up, but otherwise in good condition.
"What the hell was that?!" Maria yelled, she looked around and saw the entire west wall gone, the building was on fire.
"We need to run, now!" Eli yelled as he lifted John to his feet.
"Run from what?" Maria rushed over to her brother, helping him move away from the open gash in the side of the building now, running to the stairwell on the far side.
"I think he has a concussion," Eli yelled as he gathered a couple of the guns from the weapons locker. "We need to get him to a hospital."
"You didn’t answer my question, what the hell was that? What do we need to run from."
Maria felt Eli push her and John out of the way, as a small wave of fire struck Eli and threw him to the far side of the building like a rag doll. She turned around, and seeing multiple waves of fire come seemingly from out of nowhere and tear into the building. If this kept up the building would collapse in moments.
She hesitated, debris had fallen on Eli, but she had to get out of the building.
"I can make it to the stairs, go get him" John said to her as he started to stumble his way to the stairwell. The building’s sprinkler system, what there was of it left, impeded her view, but she found where she saw Eli fall and started to move towards.
"No you fool!" she heard Eli’s voice from amongst the rubble. "Get the hell out of here!" She saw him trapped underneath a couple of support beams that had fallen on him, his arm and face the only thing she could see.
"I’m not gonna leave you behind Eli!"
"I don’t matter now Maria. The bars are too heavy, just save yourself."
"NO!" She screamed as she tried with all her might to lift the support beam, but it would not budge."
"Don’t be an idiot Maria, you can’t help me now! Run, please!!"
"I can’t…. I can’t leave you Eli!"
"Go Maria, please, you have to find Lucy and Danny, they are crucial, I know it now, they are important to all of this!"
Maria grasped Eli’s hand, and huddled over his head as they felt more fire waves hit the building, shaking it.
"Please Maria, go, find Danny, find Lucy, and protect them for me."
"I….I promise Eli." She bent down and kissed his forehead. "Go with God Eli."
Maria turned around and ran as quickly as she could, smoke and water blocking her view. As she turned into the stairwell, she looked out at the opening for a brief second before she ran downstairs. The image burned in her mind forever.
The sight of wings.
