Chapter Sixteen

 

The Dream Keeper

 

The Dream Keeper outstretched his massive wings against the indigo of the twilight sky. Though normally loath to interfere, he knew things had to be sped up. The last dream he sent had opened their minds and their psyches, but they needed another push. Though they had felt the pangs of attraction for each other, they needed to be opened to it more, so much depended on it. If they did not become a team devoted to each other soon, it might be too late. Their stubbornness and fear were understandable, but time was running out. The situation was becoming worse, more lives of those like him were lost every day, lives that should never have been taken. His kind were meant to be immortal, created in the Heavens to glorify their Creator, to protect the Heavens and to watch over humanity. There had been so many wars, and so many of his kind had fallen that now when one of his brothers or sisters died in battle, there was no soul to cross over into Heaven, or to the Underworld. They simply ceased to exist, their energy quickly winked out and extinguished forever. It was unnatural. Energy of any kind couldn’t just disappear, not without transforming into something else. This is why their deaths were often followed by natural disasters; earthquakes, a tsunamis or fires. There were, however, a small number of angels who dedicated themselves to collecting the quickly dissipating energy of the ones who died in battle, trying to preserve their energy in a way, by encapsulating them into objects and placing them in sacred sites throughout the earth. These angels were rare, but when there was a major battle being fought, they always seemed to be there, lying in wait to try and save the essence of those mighty ones of the Light who had died in war.

The Dream Keeper knelt at his altar, facing the West, his silvery blue wings opened wide. He plucked a feather from each wing and then let them fold neatly against his back. Holding a feather in each hand, he lifted them up so that the full moon fell upon them, letting them become "moonstruck" and thus enchanted. Praising the Creator, and with the deepest essence of love and light, the Dream Keeper began his chant in an ancient, beautiful language, his voice melodic and resonant, resonating deeply throughout his sacred space. He programmed a dream into each feather, one for each of the ones on the earth who played a pivotal part, though neither of them knew it. One was innocent, not knowing who or what she truly was, but powerful beyond her understanding. The other was full of bitter hurt and a deep sense of betrayal. Each was one of a kind, and they needed each other. His brothers and sisters of the Light needed them both, and so here he knelt, breathing words of enchanted dreams into each of his feathers, to bring the two of them closer together.

***

In her dream, Annaleah stood with bare feet on the moonlit path, deep in the woods she knew so well, behind the house she shared with Uncle John. The kudzu covered pines and Spanish moss draped oaks gave her a sense of familiar comfort as she gazed upon them. Here she had played since she was a child, learning the mysteries and wonders of nature. She had many fond memories here; One of which was as her only memory of her mother, Elise. Like Annaleah, Elise had loved nature, and Annaleah remembered walking in the woods with her and seeing her long blonde curls blowing in the wind around her slim face. In her memory, she was holding her mother's hand, and they were laughing and singing while trying to find interesting things to point out to each other. She couldn't have been much older than three, as her mother had died when she was four. This memory was sacred to Annaleah, and was one she saved to think of only sometimes, afraid if she thought of it too much, she would distort the sound of her Mother's voice, and of her laughter, one of the only things she had left of her. She wanted to remember it pure and real, so she kept the memory safely locked away in her heart, for the times when she needed it most.

Annaleah walked further along the path which opened into a small clearing far within the woods. A figure stood there, dressed in black and partially hidden in the shadows of the night. A sense of familiarity washed over her, as well as a sense of longing, though she was still unsure of who it was in the clearing. She stood at the edge of the woods, watching him, her eyes drinking in his form, or what she could make of it, and tried to understand what was happening. Her sense of urgency to go to whomever it was standing before her was mixed with a sense of foggy confusion.

The shadowed form moved slightly, the moonlight falling more fully on him, and Annaleah gasped in surprise as she looked upon Sebastian Bainbridge, but he was not as she knew him in her waking life. What little bit of skin she saw was pale and luminescent, as if arcs of light were within him, reminding her of white opals in their brilliance. He was much taller, at least eight feet, but it was neither of these two things that registered the most shock to her. It was his enormous wings. If he were eight feet now, then his wings were a full fifteen, reaching several feet over his head. They were full and glorious to behold, shimmering with a silvery white light that looked as if it were somehow alive. The feathers shone like the quality of his skin, but paler, a silver white so pure it almost hurt her eyes to gaze upon them. His hair was still long and black, but it too shone with its own light, a deep blue aura about it, as if the moonlight had come to life within it. He was beautiful.

Sebastian must have felt the intensity of Annaleah's gaze upon him, for he turned and looked right at her, where she stood trying to hide behind the branches of a small pine at the edge of the clearing. The moment his eyes met hers, she felt her legs lose a bit of their strength, for they were not the eyes she knew in the "real" world, but eyes she felt, without knowing how or why, that she knew intimately. His eyes had no pupils; the whites only held a large, colored iris that was silver and reflective like a mirror. She was frightened for a moment, though she sensed he meant her no harm. What was happening?

"Annaleah," Sebastian said, his pale, full lips smiling at her. He opened both his arms and the full span of his large, beautiful wings to her, radiating a sense of love, one which washed over her so completely that she felt hypnotized by him. The swelling of her heart became a flood of emotions, as if she had known and loved this creature for longer than she had even known herself, had known life or breath. Nothing made sense, and so she let go of sense all together and went with her emotions, which were so powerful they drove her out of her place behind the small pine, and towards Sebastian in the clearing of the woods.

As Annaleah moved, she noticed her feet were not her own feet, but those like the creature which called to her. They too, were pale, but instead of lit from within with a silver light, they radiated with a warm, pale golden fire, little arcs flashing here and there. As she walked, she noticed her body felt different in stature, not the tiny five-foot frame she was used to. She too, was much taller, though not quite as tall as the creature Sebastian Bainbridge had become. Moving seemed more effortless, as if her intention to move fueled her forward more than the movements of her feet. She was confused, but too blissful in her state of emotions to let the confusion settle in and ruin it.

Finally, Annaleah stood face to face with the strange and beautiful being that Sebastian had become. He looked down at her with a serene and loving smile on his lips, his silver eyes soft and gentle despite their otherworldly qualities. The moment seemed to last forever, emotions and meaning conveyed wordlessly, carried into her heart and mind, filling her with a deep, living sense of passion and longing. It washed over her and through her until it became all she could think, all she could feel, reverberating in each heartbeat, exhaled with every breath. Finally, she fell towards him, into his arms, consumed, on fire with longing for nothing more in the world but to be held by him.

Sebastian caught Annaleah neatly in his arms, and encircled her in his wings, holding her so close she felt she could melt right into him and together they would burn as one being. Tears came to her then, spilling down her cheeks and falling onto her breasts, a silver light coming from them as they fell. Sebastian opened his wings then and placed a finger under her chin, tilting her head up to look into his mirror eyes. As she saw herself in them, glowing and alive and beautiful, it felt so very right. Sebastian wiped the tears from her eyes, slowly, gently and with great care. His eyes never left hers as he bent his head down, until right before the moment when he caught her lips with his, and everything in the world ceased to exist but their kiss. In that sacred, glorious moment, as their lips pressed together, she was pierced to her heart with all-consuming adoration, and from behind her she felt a great motion, as if she had moved something with a great weight on her back. Confused, and a bit shocked, she broke the kiss, turning to see what was happening behind her.

Sebastian laughed despite her apparent confusion and said, "Oh Annaleah my darling, did you forget?"

Feeling a bit betrayed by his laughter when he could plainly see her distress, Annaleah asked, "Did I forget what?"

At this Sebastian outstretched his magnificent wings to their full height and length, blocking out the sky and the moon hanging therein.

"Your wings Annaleah; you forgot you had wings."