The Bleeding Son (4)

Chapter Four: In the Beginning

“EL RIDES OUT! EL RIDES OUT! EL RIDES OUT!!!”

Instantly, I threw down the lance I had in my hands, leaving the students who stood before me in the Battle Hall and charged towards the doorway to catch a glimpse of The King, our King - EL. The students stood behind me, firm in their fight stances and not moving, though you could see the gleam in their eyes as they longed to see the King ride. Who would not want to see EL ride?! You see, everything about EL is the definition of beauty, splendor and grace!

First, every time EL stood from his gigantic throne in the Hall of Thrones, the whole of the Kingdom was astir. This was not an everyday experience and when it happened, no matter how many times it happened, it was a rare treat. Thick smoke and vapours of sweet incense that seemed to be his very breath would pour out from the great Hall of Thrones, and every nostril would be filled with the sweetest and most soothing scent imaginable, the air was extra-charged with that humming tingling buzz of his person, while in the middle of the vapour and smoke there would be the thundering of The Voices, ear shattering voices that were gentle and powerful, in the oddest sort of way. And then the shouting would begin: EL rides out! EL rides OUT! EL RIDES OUT!

Of course, it was the Seraphs who were shouting and chanting about The King riding out. By their very nature, they were really chatty, almost shy, more beautiful than handsome - and extremely powerful. Their priviledged position was that they floated and fluttered in the air and stands right above the King, chanting to one another about how Holy and Epic and Awesome the King was! This may seem odd to Earth dwellers who would wonder how you could talk about how wonderful someone was….forever. But when you looked into their eyes, you could see why the Seraphs never stopped chanting. They were constantly in awe of the King as they flitted in and out of that thick cloud of white intense vapour, thundering, lightning, incense and of course, Kabod!

They were the ones who were bathed again and again and again in that awesome stuff, the very life force of the EL.

Kabod was life, Kabod was beauty, Kabod was a covering, Kabod was intelligence, Kabod was….everything - and EL was the very essence of it.
When you stayed around the EL, Kabod washed over you. The perfect became ‘more perfect’, gold gleamed brighter, intelligence sharpened, love became more acute, hugs became warmer, life was more beautiful, the water tasted sweeter, the fruits became more exotic - everything became better because Kabod was the very essence of EL’s life, and EL’s life was abundant, was robust, was….sigh

Life.

Like a group of excited birds, the Seraphs would fly in and out of that cloud that shrouded the King, and then he would leap from his throne, and sometimes, just his gleaming woolly hair would be seen billowing in that excited jump. With gleaming wings of pure white or gold feathers, a pair covering their bronze feet, a pair covering their wizened smiling face and flying about with just a pair, the Seraphs would lead the procession as the King made his way to the mighty door of the great Hall of Thrones and then, right at the door, the procession would halt as The King came to the very door of the great Hall of Thrones. And then, the whole of the kingdom would tingle with the intensity of his Kabod and the love that oozed from him. Creatures would nestle next to each other, stare in owe in the direction of the great Hall of Thrones, angels would pause to hug one another, workers would put down their tools and simply jump joyfully for no reason at all, the whole of the Kingdom became one big pool of dance, joy, celebration, love and the pleasurable intensity of Kabod!

Then the King would prance one way in a drunken jig that was his dance, and we would all reeled with him in that drunken pleasure of his mirth. He would reel the other way and we would all follow, and then we would sense, more than see, the broadness of his smile - and new suns would pop in distant parts of his ever expanding multiverses as life emerged from nothing just at his grin. And as the joy washed through us, he would leap with a mighty cry from the Hall of Thrones that sat atop the Hill of Thundering, and as he leapt, in an amazing choreography that never got old, a sea of Cherubims would sweep out from nowhere covered in clouds, like the King was, merging with his garb of vapours and he would be swept away on this vehicle that was a combination of Kabod, Cherubims, thick smoke, thunderings and ecstatic maddening joy - and flying above him all the way, in a position that would be enviable if such a thing were possible in our abode, was the most beautiful and most perfect of all Cherubims, the strategist, singer, guardian and shining light - the Arch Cherub that covered the throne from above, Lucifer.

However, today was different.

There was the singing, thundering, the mirth and joy as the voices of The Voices bellowed from the clouds of impenetrable smoke, “EL rides out! EL rides out!!”, but then, here is the mystery that we all do not really understand, for EL rode out but it was The Boss who was seen riding alone, his hair white as wool, golden sash around his waist and as always, drawing intrigue from us because unlike EL who was the definition of gigantic as he sat on his throne that reached into the tip of the clouds, The Boss was barely six feet tall. Yet, in a way we do not really understand, The Boss was actually EL even though EL sat on his throne - and yet it was EL who was The Boss very much like Ruach was also EL! And when you spoke to the Seraphs who were always around EL, they would tell you that Ruach and The Boss were not seen when you walked into that gigantic Hall of Thrones. They would also tell you the strangest thing; that when The Boss walked into the Hall of thrones, he would walk right up to EL’s feet and as he walked along that polished floor that was made of a perfect crystal with a name so complex I cannot remember, he became EL. It was like he came from EL and lived IN EL, and went back to EL, becoming EL...because he was EL.

And yes, I have as much understanding as you do.  

Today, The Boss rode his dazzling horse, a magnificent beast that was the definition of the very word itself. While I would like to speak about the beast, what is more important is that The Boss rode straight to the battle hall where I stood, with lance in my hend. I watched in surprise as he rode towards me because before he said anything, I realised what he was saying to me:

“Follow me”, he said without words. I dropped my lance, and without a backward glance at the students, I took to the air with The Boss riding right in front of me, that white hair of his flying in the wind, above a face that was serious and intense at the moment. Moments later, I saw the bright and beautiful form of Lucifer, along with the mysterious Uriel, both  flying out towards the horse of The Boss. Two wings covered three of Lucifer’s faces at the moment, leaving only the face that was like that of The Boss, a face that most of the angels had. He flew right beside The Boss on the left hand side, while Uriel, covered with his characteristic gold mist stayed on the right. I stayed behind them as they conversed during the course of that journey. Every now and then, I would see a puzzled expression on the face of Lucifer while The Boss looked intense all through that journey, as though there was a serious matter to be dealt with. Then all four of us were flying out of The Kingdom towards the annex that had been a hub of activity in more recent times. It was the place we called Eret, but at the moment, the plans for that place were largely unknown. I had never been there myself, so this was an interesting journey for me as we cut through the humming corridors that would later be termed ‘space’ by men.

Then I saw her in the distance and I gasped.

I had seen several annexes of The Kingdom, but never one like this. The shape was a perfect sphere, more perfect than anything that I had seen. What made this amazing was that you could see that the very atmosphere of that place was Kabod that was so thick, it was like a constant mist that shrouded the spinning ball that I saw before me. And you could see that she was alive - breathing slowly if you looked close enough, a rough living mass of material that had a vast amount of water, swathes of green and covered with thick clouds. We cut through the clouds quickly, thick living clouds that nuzzled against me like floating formless creatures of fuzzy warm life. And then my eyes widened at the huge expanse of water right below me as we cut past the covering clouds and raced towards the land below, The Boss in the lead. My eyes could see the unreal amount of living creatures that played and spawned in the living waters below me, as though some artist had gone completely mad in the creation of a painting that consisted of a billion life forms of varying shapes, sizes, dimensions, characteristics. And then, as though an even madder artistic god had given every single one of them life. There were more living creatures in this place than in The Kingdom, as though the elements that made up this place had been played with in many permutations that produced a kaleidoscope of creatures that swam, flew, crawled, jumped, slept in a million shades of colours and shapes and patterns and…

“She is something, isn’t she?”, I heard The Boss say.

“Oh yes, she is! Gorgeous!”

“There is still so much to be done on her, though,” The Boss continued

“Very true,” Lucifer said, that dark puzzled expression still on his face. “She is not yet perfect”

“Ah, but she is,” The Boss replied, “Like an unripe fruit is perfect, though it is not yet ready to be eaten. But still, perfect. When I am done with her, then even you will be moved by the outcome, dear Lucifer.”

“I cannot wait to see what she will be like at the end, my Lord, but I know that your plans are always perfect, faithful and true.” Lucifer replied, with passion in his voice. He had always been a passionate one.

For the first time since our ride began, The Boss turned to look at Lucifer with an expression that was hard to interpret, then he closed his eyes softly, smiled, still with that haunting look of his face before turning away to look at Eret. Was it sadness, was it dissatisfaction, was it pain, was it…? I have never forgotten that look, especially when you consider how things played out in the end, but there was something I was very sure of that day; that expression was not a happy one.

And then we touched down on the ground at a spot The Boss had picked out. He dismounted slowly, hands trailing along the back of his stallion, before he bent towards the horse and kissed it on the side of its face like a long lost brother. Sometimes, it was hard to imagine that this being who stood before me was EL himself. He looked so vulnerable, but I recalled there had been talks regarding a universe on the outer region of the realms known as The Orbs. He had spoken quickly with a group of the Elders about how there would be a new universe in that realm, and then he had snapped his fingers. That was the first time I had seen an Elder gasp, because almost all of them did. For at that moment, on both the holographic map before us and in the realms of our extended consciousness, that Universe, Mobilluria, had simply vanished, disappeared, ceased to exist – and every single creature, angel, being, in all the realms of The Kingdom had known instantly what had happened….at a casual snap of his fingers.  

Now he stood with his head nestled against the horse, eyes closed, hands around the broad neck of the beast. There was a low sound like the gentle purring of a satisfied cat that was coming from the horse. After a moment, he turned away and started to walk, slowly and deliberately, towards the beach that lay before us. If I had not known he was all-powerful, I would have been worried by the look on his face. It was one serious gaze that I had never seen before, though in comparison to many of the others, I was young, with only a billion megaanum of existence, in man-years. We walked behind him as well, waiting to see what was coming next as we understood that something unprecedented was about to happen. The closer we got to the water, the calmer it became, just as the cool breeze slowly stilled, just like the singing birds began to fall silent, just as the blades of grass ceased to sway.

And then, for all of us Watchers, our eyes widened when The Boss slowly took off his garment, revealing his lithe, slim muscular form that pulsated, shone and radiated with power…with Kabod. All he had on was an undergarment around his waist and the sandals on his feet, but even the sandals came off slowly as he walked towards that beach, and I could see that The Boss, the master of all of everything, had begun to flex and release his fingers as though preparing for a herculean task. I stole a quick glance at the others and I saw that the look of puzzlement had deepened on the face of Lucifer. Even Uriel, the golden mysterious one who had utter composure was doing a bad job of masking his puzzlement as he watched The Master walk to the point where sand met water, before dropping to a squat. Then he closed his eyes again, bent his head backwards, and we all heard a great sigh – and the whole of creation around us sighed with him. He was in us all and worked through us, and when he sighed, what could we do but sigh as well?

Then there was a rushing sounds like that of a mighty wind that bent the trees and grass, gently, as it moved through the trees towards the Master, embracing him. It was Ruach, and Ruach was EL – and yet they were separate, and then something like a fire lit the top of The Boss’s head briefly before dying out softly. It was at this point that Lucifer, unable to control himself anymore, rushed forward and towards The Master, unable to control his normally calm emotions. As he rushed forward, I saw the waters glide softly towards The Master as he squatted on the beach that fateful day, and then, right before his face, the waters rose and then froze before him. I do not mean the waters became ice, because you could still see fish and other creatures line the surface of that portion of water, watching with unblinking eyes at The Master, eagerly watching and waiting for what he was about to do. I mean the water formed a wall right before him, like a mirror, and in that mirror, you could see Lucifer running towards The Master who remained still with his back turned to Lucifer. In that moment, it almost looked like a frantic assailant rushing to deal a powerful blow to a victim that was totally oblivious to the fact that he was about to be attacked.

At the last moment, The Master opened his eyes, staring at his own reflection, Lucifer standing right behind him. I could see the mirror images of all of us juxtaposed with the teeming life in those waters as they lined up in neat rows to watch what was about to begin. The Master kept looking at his image, as though he was seeing what he looked like for the first time. As he looked on, his hands thrust forward into the sand beneath him, picking up a small heap with one hand, while the other slowly began to knead the sand carefully, as he nodded from time to time. As I watched, I understood that right now, The Boss and Ruach, all of EL, were communicating via means which could not be uttered, and from his nods, I knew he was in agreement because they tended to align in their thoughts. Were they not one?

Finally, after standing for a few minutes, Lucifer broke the silence and asked the obvious question:

“My Lord, what are you doing?” he began, his voice furtive.

“I am creating, and with my very own hands”

“My Lord,” Lucifer continued, “What…what are you creating in this way? What compels you to…to…come down, like this, in this manner…this humble manner?”

The Boss continued to mould slowly, wrists moving in patterns that were like the skilled movement of a master calligrapher, his eyes never leaving his reflection in that stilled body of water as he worked, and on that intense face, only his lips moved when he responded.

“We are making one that is to be like me from the soil of Eret.” His hands continued to move as he spoke. “The one we create will be called ‘Man’, and Man is to be like me, think like me – and Man will learn to do everything that I can do.”

“Like you?” Lucifer said, sounding like he was unable to understand, “To be like you, like The Almighty EL? I….I don’t understand. Master, why do you make one from soil to be like you?”

There was silence for a while, and then that haunting expression that I had seen earlier crossed The Master’s face again.

“I am creating man to be like me because man will be my companion, my partner – and the plan is that man will sit with me in The Kingdom. You see, I am making Man as the companion that will reign with me...forever”

“Ahhhhhh,”, Lucifer began as comprehension slowly hit home, “B…but…but why man? My Lord, why should soil be your companion? What, exactly, is this man thing that you create? Why are we angels not the ones to sit with you and…”

“Lucifer,” The Boss interjected softly, his tone so tender that you could cry at the warmth in those vocal torrents that were his gentle voice, “Can the clay say to the potter, what are you making?”

And for the first time in my whole existence, I could have sworn that Lucifer was about to cry.

****************************************************************

He had been sitting at the bus stop for over one hour, chewing minty gum slowly and watching people pass by. A face cap on his head partly covered his extremely handsome face that was over a light T-shirt with some comic hero doing an energetic pose that looked like a frantic effort to get off the shirt. His jeans, high quality jeans, were loose and his shoes were black comfortable loafers. He looked like someone in his late twenties when the truth was that he was in his mid-thirties. His cheap phone was in his side pocket as he tweedled his thumbs to pass time while he waited for her. The time was 9:45pm, there was little light in this part of town and this bus stop was not exactly the best place to be seated at this time of the night, but he was here for a reason. Even though making his thumb dance around each other was the most entertaining activity to be carried out at this time, he knew the outcome would be totally worth it.

The bus stop was mostly deserted at this time of the night and apart from the man who sat near him, there was no one else waiting for a bus. He had a fair idea how things were going to play out, but in the meantime, he was content to wait, twiddling his thumb and allowing his nose get used to the smell of the man who sat next to him. The stench was like that of a worker who had worked in a cigarette factory for 2 years without a bath or change of clothing, and then who had died in the factory, decomposed and then, in zombie form, given his clothing to a human being – who just happened to be sitting next to him. Truth was that he didn’t mind at all. On a normal day, he would have had a conversation, but he had to focus on his target for tonight. However, he made a mental note that when the time came, he would do a good deed to his present companion who didn’t smell so good. Perhaps it would be compensation for the nastier part of what he had to do tonight.

The red car screeched to a halt right in from of the bus stop, and he could see the heated exchange going on in the car between its solitary passenger and the driver. He sat down and hunched in the darkness, becoming smaller and allowing himself sink deeper into the darkening grey of the night as he leaned against the transparent walls of the bus stop shelter. In a few seconds, the passenger door opened and she emerged, and you could tell from the animated movements that she was very angry. The door slammed with a bang, which he imagined would have set the driver’s teeth on edge, but apart from a very loud insult that was flung at the woman, the driver did not waste much time. There was the squeal of tyres and then the red car was hurtling off into the distance, gobbled up by the darkness of the night.

“Ready?”

“Uh-huh.” he replied, then realised he had spoken out when his companion turned to him with a puzzled look.

The woman looked around for a while, looked in his direction, and then she must have judged the bus stop wasn’t the safest place to be. After a further furtive glance, she took off to the left of where he sat, walking quickly. A feeling of dejavu swept over him as he watched her go, his eyes trailing her, his thumbs still dancing around themselves and though he was itching to follow, he knew he would need to wait a while, create the right amount of distance…till it was time.

The bus stop was right next to the sides of a bridge, separated by a small car lane. If the street lights were in order, the bus stop would be bathed with light, but considering the lights had not worked for about two years, darkness prevailed, and in the night, the shadow of the fly-over bridge shrouded the bus stand with an additional shade of darkness. The next bus stop was a good distance away, about 10 minutes on foot if one went at a brisk walk. That was the direction she headed towards, and watching her, he got the impression that she was looking to get away from the darkness around her and into the light, then find some means of transportation that would take her far away. She took a backward glance and then kept walking very quickly towards the next bus stop – and then, without warning, she turned into a side alley way, perpendicular to the road and right out of his sight.

That was his cue.

He turned to the man next to him, dug his hands into his pocket, pulled out a wad of notes and handed it to the man who had been sitting next to him. He felt satisfaction and broke into a cheerful smile at the shocked gaze of the man who simply stared at him in disbelief.

“I have to go, so if you are going to take it, take it now because I think you need this more than I do”, he said.

Shaky needy fingers reached out to take the notes and he could see, even in the gloom, that the finger nails were dirty. He took a quick glance towards the alley way, and then he thrust the money into the hands of the man who sat before him, and just as he turned away, he could not help but notice the tears that had welled up in the eyes of the man. But right now, there was no time for emotions. Time was running out and so he turned and began to run towards the alley way. He didn’t even hear the shaky voice behind him that struggled to mutter profuse thanks.

Hunting season was in full session...



TO BE CONTINUED...