Chapter 1: The First and Last Prophetess

Part 2: Revelation

"I" The man threw his coat to the ground, revealing great arches of wings; a characteristic of angels from the Devic Kingdom. "Am Aryel. The Lion of God."

She unlocked her apartment door and stepped into her place. "Welcome to my humble abode, lord." Krome - As Aryel calls himself in his earthly guise - looked at her puzzled. Nur: "Just joking. You guys should develop your sense of humor, it's been how long? A dozen millennia since humans developed theirs?" She stared at him, then rolled her eyes. "Never mind."

"You act as if you were never one of us, Tetra." Krome said, expressing neither concern nor sadness. It was as if this man didn't know what emotions were.

"Nur. DOCTOR. If you please. As long as you're on Earth, call me by my earthen name." "How appropriate. Arabic for ‘light’. Pretty common with fallen angels, eh?" Krome said. Nur gave him a piercing look, as if trying to figure out what the hell he meant, then just brushed the thought away.

"So to what do I owe this social visit? Last time I saw one of you guys was when my twin brother and I were kicked out of the Devic Kingdom for teaching humans about magic." She said.

"You were told that humans weren't responsible enough..." Krome explained, as if she didn't know. Nur: "So I've learned the hard way... Magic was supposed to be a divine gift for Mankind to appreciate. Instead, they worshipped it. They couldn't grasp the concept that God's Will powered Magic." Nur said angrily.
"So you were punished." Krome finished Nur's sentence.

She looked outside the window and watched an old woman walk by with a cane. "A punishment like no other. To live amongst humans. God's creatures whom my brother and I once loved so much that we risked God's anger for. Now I loathe them so." As she looked at the old woman trying to cross the street, a tear formed in her eye. The old woman looked both ways fearfully and hesitated to cross. A little boy came along, took hold of her hand and helped her to the other side. "...Just as much as I still love them." She concluded. Krome smiled, for the first time in a very long time. "But I miss home." Tetra continued... "Every time I turn off the lights when I go to bed, I try to remember how... Perfect, it felt when I got close to His Light, and cuddled in the emanating warmth." Krome sighed: "I wish I could've been the one to give you the glad tidings that you were coming home. But that's not what I came for."
Nur wiped her tears.

"So... How's your research? You've found something new, have you not?" Krome asked. "You're talking about the final fall of Babylon , aren't you." Tetra said as she walked away from the window. "None other." Krome said.

"Aryel - Uh, Krome, I have something to show you." Nur walked to her room and took out a large book, scribbled by her own hands. "Hmmm. Your prophecies." he said as he flipped through the pages. "Impressive, why don't you get the book published?" he said sarcastically. Tetra: "Shut up." Krome: "What was that about us not having a sense of humor?"
She pointed at a page. "The sign of the seven suns." She said. "The seven spirits of God." Krome read. "That's right. The death of the seven, as prophesized in the Book of Revelations. What's the seven, Krome?" "I don't know. I've even talked to His Eminence, the Lord of Messengers. He doesn't know either. What we do know is that with death comes birth. So it's seven births. And I have a clue on what a couple of them could be."

Nur looked at the humanized angel with wide eyes and smiled. "You weren't sent by God. Were you?"
Krome was silent.

"I've also seen these in my dreams..." Nur continued. She flipped the pages some more, to a page with the playing card symbols in a whirlpool. "What does that mean, Krome? The four symbols of tokens aren't stable? We're entering the Age of Tokens aren't we?"

He let out a deep sigh. "Nur. Tetra. The balance has been broken. In fact, the there has been unrest in the Devic Kingdom . Uriel and Israfel (the Gatekeeper of Hell) were in an argument, meanwhile, Neria (Israfel's sister) stole the keys of Hades under the cover of the shadows." "She's fallen?" Nur gasped.
"Yes, some say she's followed the ranks of The Lightgiver... " "LUCIFER!" Tetra gasped again. "...But others believe she's got her own agenda." Krome finished.


"Lucifer - Lightgiver, Neria - Lamp of God. I see what you mean by us and our obsession with light related names!" Tetra said and Krome nodded in agreement. "So the balance was broken because Hades' keys have turned into the negative." Nur said.
Krome explained: "Which also means that the keys of Earth, Atlantis, even the Devic Kingdom are now at stake. And when they settle, they'll settle for good. Be it Positive or Negative."
Nur started to see how serious the predicament was. She smiled: "Now I know why you've been looking for me."
"Because you know where the tokens are." Krome said, with a slight tone of fear. Amazingly, this fallen angel had the upper hand and Aryel didn't like that at all.
She sighed "Umm... Except one."
"What? Which one?" Krome frowned.
"The one and only, King of Swords." Nur revealed.
Krome sighed: "The Sar'Anbar - King of Spades..."
"I've tried to track it throughout the centuries, but the images I'm getting are vague. Mainly because I'm getting so old." Tetra said.
"You're joking right?" Krome and Nur stared at each other blankly. "all right, Go on." Krome sighed.
"The last human who had custody of the sword was an English Archer who found it in Petra during one of the crusades."

"Same place where the King of Hearts token was found." Krome rubbed his chin, deep in concentration.
"Yeah, The King of Cups. And if my research is right, that one's still in Petra ."
"So what happened to the King of Spades?" Krome asked. "Simple. Charles got wise and decided to dump the sword, which was, to him, more of a curse than anything."
"Got wise. And decided to DUMP it?" Krome was dumbfounded.
Nur smiled and started narrating:

"The English army returned to their fort after their expedition of Petra . They found out the secret of Petra; that the Nabateans who were the ancient inhabitants of the secret valley were in fact the mystic Kabbalas themselves. There was a small fight between the French and the English over the treasures they found, but they made a truce and agreed to divide up the artifacts and books amongst themselves. The French took a lot of the Kabbalistic writings, that band of knights later became known as The Templars. As for the English soldiers, they didn't care much about the Mysticism, rather the jewelry and the artifacts.

Charles, a former English priest found a sword. And when he wielded it, it came to life again, after centuries of being dormant. He showed the sword to his companions. They shrugged it off as a beautiful piece of armory but essentially ineffective in the archery ranks. He refused vehemently to give it away and said that he'd keep it by his side always...

Weeks passed. One day, in a fierce battle against the Arabs, the enemy stormed the fort. Charles panicked as he reached for his quiver and was stabbed badly. He decided to drop his bow and instead, unsheathed the sword, and with one swipe he took out an entire line of the enemy. More shocking than that was that he took a look at his wound and it was healed! He stood up, looked against the edge of the fort and started swiping in the air! With each swipe, an eerie whistling sound could be heard and a line of the enemy fell lifeless. So are you picturing this? Him at the top of the fort, literally erasing people on the ground from miles away on the ground!!"

Krome seemed lost in thought. Tetra smiled and put a hand on his shoulder: "Brings back memories?"
Krome shook his head. "I just miss David. May God's Peace be with him. Go on with your story."
"Now Charles became ecstatic and "blade" happy, he started swiping away. Laughing hysterically and with each swipe he felt mightier and mightier. And with bloodshot eyes and his veins throbbing with wrath, he declared himself God."

Krome's heart skipped a beat. "Damn these tokens... Time and TIME again…"

"At that moment," Nur continued "As the shock kicked in that he murdered everyone in sight, including his friends and his own brother. He realized the secret of life."
Krome nodded and said: "And so it deserves its name. The King of Heavenly Metals: Wisdom."
Tetra: "So he made a pact with God. That he'll forever hide the sword in an Altar dedicated to Him, in return for being forgiven for killing the people (including his human brethren whom the crusaders called infidels), and for committing the ultimate sin of declaring Godhood."
Krome shut his eyes. "That's why it's disappeared. Because God forgave him."
"Right." Nur nodded. "Now no angel, no magic, no prophecy will ever know where it is. And since Charles has been dead for more than a millennia, literally only God knows."

Krome: "Neria's after the tokens. I wish I knew in what order, but we know that the King of Clubs and the King of Diamonds are on top of her list, with which she can control Hell and Earth... We need to get them before she does."
"All the other crown tokens are pretty well hidden. But I cannot take part in any war or fight to bring them back. I've had my fill of war." Nur said.
Krome was visibly upset: "Cannot take part? Are you forgetting that you and your brother indirectly or directly caused some of these tokens to be created?"
Nur sighed deeply, as if about to give in: "Just tell me what your plan is, you know that neither angels nor fallen angels can wield the tokens."
Krome nodded: "I realize that. We need those tokens with humans we can trust. Humans who are strong and wise whom we can guide to Ascension so they will be able to wield the tokens and retain the elements for the good. I'll take care of the Heavenly Tokens, the King, Queen, Jack and Ace of Spades. After all, they are concerned with my own element and kingdom."

Nur rudely brushed the thought off with her hand: "Humans we can trust? Are you crazy? The age of Prophecy ended 1.4 millennia ago, Gabriel has basically retired."

Krome: "I was talking about those men and women, who (just like us), don't feel welcome when walking amongst mankind." Krome explained.
Nur: "You mean. The homo-superiors? The genetic anomalies? The freaks?"
Krome: "That sounds so much like you, Tetra."
"Shut up." Nur crossed her arms.
"
Yes, I mean them. Since we can't wield any of the tokens, we'll have to entrust them to humans strong and wise enough to keep them, who would use them for the positive and to fight the negative."

Nur: "But what I don't understand is... Why don't we just get the keys back? It'll save us a lot of trouble."

Krome sighed. "Ok, it was a sort of security measure: When the keys were forged by the first Angels, they were placed within an inter-dimensional pentagram. One point in each realm with the fifth point being in the seventh heaven."

Tetra: "Ahh.. So when Neria stole one, it broke the link, and shattered the pentagram. A safety measure so that no one ‘uninvited’ can gain access to the seventh heaven. Clever. But of course, the compromise would be that the inter-dimensional gates are now unlocked. And anyone, even humans can now cross and challenge for the four thrones in each kingdom."
Krome raised a finger: "Remember, only ascended ones can challenge. Those who pass the twenty two levels. Which is in itself a monolithic task."

Nur leaned back on her chair: "So the only way to re-activate the keys is to make new ones and link them back, right? Using the same spell that was cast by those angels at the beginning of time, and create a new pentagram."
Krome shut his eyes and sighed, as if grasping for every inch of hope he had left inside him. "But see, if the tokens fall into the wrong hands and the four kingdoms of Earth, Atlantis, Deva and Hades are throned by evil..."
Tetra made a reversal motion with her hands. "They will cast the Pentagram reversed, and instead of the fifth point being the seventh heaven, it'll be the seventh circle of Hell. Throned by the Anti-God. Oh my God... Eternal darkness."
The two were silent for a moment.

Tetra looked at Krome and shied away. "I know what you're going to ask me."
"Will you help me aid humanity?" Krome asked. Nur sat down and shut her eyes. "This is going to turn into a lecture, isn't it?" Krome exclaimed.
The lights dimmed. She raised her hand and a Tarot card formed in the air. It had the picture of a (fairly) young man on a precipice, with the sun in the air and a dog by his foot. He seemed happy, careless: and free.
"The Fool." Tetra said as Krome sat down.
"Man was put on this earth. He was blessed more than any creature ever created, even the angels, for they were created in God's own essence... They were God's most beloved creation." She said the last sentence spitefully.

She continued: "Yet as man's will separated from that of God's, he failed Him every time. God asked to be worshipped and accepted in return for man's bliss, instead they turned to rulers, angels, messengers, the demons and fake gods. The Age of Prophets came and went to no avail.
See Krome, I've already done my part for humanity: While my brother and I did the mistake of teaching the Pre Language, I tried to dilute it.
Like my brother who created Alphabets, I created the Tarot deck. It contains the twenty two letters in pictures, symbolized by the very same twenty two levels of Ascension."
Krome protested: "Ascent or Descent? Your deck is worthless, just as a good person can use it to Ascend into Light, so can an evil person use it to Descend into Darkness and premature Immortality."

Tetra shook her head: "Not my problem how they interpret the Secrets of Life."
Krome stood up violently and his chair fell. "Your problem, ENTIRELY! You were punished, yet you continue to try to instill divine knowledge to the humans. Don't you see that the fact that humans are in ruin was because of YOU fallen angels?? The humans whom you, the great Tetra, made Zeros, you've named their card the card of the Fool! Yet you're the fool for missing a great opportunity to end what you started. For taking part in the history of the end of history. Your chance to reveal what's left of good in you. You see, if you don't help me in finding these people, there probably won't BE a judgment. And everyone, not just you and me, but the angels' lives as well, will be threatened by this Demonic onslaught of darkness."

Krome waited for an answer. Tetra looked at him with her sad eyes and he knew the answer was No.

Krome started walking towards the door. "I know you've made countless oaths before that you'll never help mankind again. I was a "fool" for thinking you still had it in you: One more sacrifice. But I guess not."

Tetra wept.

He opened the door. "Oh, and by the way. I lied. I did come here to tell you that you can go back home." He raised his hands towards her, a blue light surrounded her and ancient markings again found their place on her body. She fell to the ground in pain, as the wings grew back onto her. The door slammed.

The tears continued flowing.

"The FOOL." she shouted. "Means the innocent..."

 

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