Angelfire
Page 28
Nathaniel's expression let me know he was serious.
"That's why it's our job to help you protect human souls from them. Bastian and his fol owers may very wel be on the hunt for this Enshi."
"We need to borrow a few books and see if we can find anything out about it," Wil said.
"Go ahead," Nathaniel said, standing. "The good stuff is behind my desk."
Wil examined each book on the shelf Nathaniel had pointed to, running his fingers down each spine, reading the inscriptions, and final y choosing three books. He laid them across the desk, and I read the titles. Nathaniel chose a clean but old leather-bound volume and began thumbing through it.
"This is in Latin," I said, taking a seat next to him. "I can't read Latin."
Wil sat and flipped the pages to skim over something I could only guess was an index of sorts.
"Can you?" I asked when he didn't respond.
"Of course."
I looked at the two others books. One was also in Latin and the other was in a language I didn't immediately recognize. "What is this language?"
"Hebrew," he answered without looking at me.
"You can read Latin and Hebrew?"
"As can you."
"Ah," I said. "Another one of my mystery skil s I can't seem to remember. I real y hope cooking is on that list, because I'd like to be able to cook cupcakes without turning them into cement."
He rewarded me with a little smile. "Cooking wel was never something you worried about in the past."
10
AN HOUR LATER WILL AND NATHANIEL HAD VERY little to show for their efforts. I amused myself by watching the two of them, particularly fascinated with the intensity in Wil 's eyes as he read the ancient languages, and with the fine muscles as his forearms tensed with each page he turned. He final y closed the Latin book and took up the one about ancient Sumerian lore. After a little while, he slapped the open page he was reading, making me jump.
"I found it!" Wil chirped. He stared at me with an excited expression, but I only shrugged. He frowned and continued.
"Enshi, the Lord of Souls. The giver and taker of the breath of life."
"Breath of life?" I mumbled. "That sounds a little too philosophical for a Saturday."
"Whatever this Enshi is, it's as big as we thought," he said as he read farther.
Nathaniel peeked over his shoulder. "What is it?"
"It says the Enshi is a dormant being who is the god of life under the command of Enki, the supreme god of Earth, according to Sumerian mythology. Many ancient civilizations mistook powerful reapers for their gods, so that's one possibility for its origin. It's associated with this symbol."
He flipped the book around to show the page to Nathaniel and me. The image was of three open circles arranged like a dartboard, with four smal solid dots arranged horizontal y across the center and two crescents facing each other vertical y.
"This is the seal of Azrael," Nathaniel explained. "Could the text mean that the Enshi serves the Destroyer?"
"That's definitely the impression I'm getting," Wil said in a dark voice. "Azrael is the angel of death, but not an archangel
--at least not anymore. Archangels are the highest ranking and most powerful of the angels. If the Enshi is a reaper, then this has to mean that the Enshi is actual y an angelic reaper. There's no way a demonic reaper would serve an angel. It goes against the nature of reapers and everything they are taught to believe."
My head spun trying to make sense of what they were saying. "Angelic reaper? The Destroyer? Angels? What are you talking about?"
Wil glanced at Nathaniel, who stared back intently, as if he didn't want to answer the question. I hated it when they exchanged glances. It made me feel like I was a naughty child listening in on the grownups' conversation.
"Yes, angels," Wil explained. "The counterpart to the Fal en."
I studied his face, shocked by what he was tel ing me. "Do you mean that real angels exist? The Fal en are demons, aren't they? Does that mean that God exists? Satan, too?"
He took a breath. "Yes. Lucifer rebel ed against God and lost the First War, as you have probably learned at some point in your life. God banished Lucifer from Heaven, and he fel into Hel , but his war fel to Earth. The angels who joined Lucifer's cause fel with him and became demons--the Fal en. Two of the Fal en bore horrible children, whose descendents are the creatures we know today as the demonic reapers. In desperation for more soldiers to fuel his army of the damned, Lucifer uses the reapers to col ect human souls."
I was thoroughly fascinated. "And the angelic reapers?
What are they?"
"The descendents of the Grigori," Wil explained. "Not al the Fal en who fought for Lucifer were truly wicked. God believed the Grigori could be rehabilitated, and so they were imprisoned in the mortal world. In order to make amends for their betrayal, they were ordered to watch over humanity. They're the keepers of angelic magic and medicine and the gateways into Heaven and Hel . They bore children between them, but these children weren't created out of wicked spirit and savagery. They became the angelic reapers, the earthbound soldiers of God who destroy the demonic reapers and stop them from taking human souls. The Grigori have four lords, the Elemental Watchers, who rule over the quadrant points of Earth. They are Fomalhaut of the northern winter, Regulus of the southern summer, Aldebaran of the eastern spring, and Antares of the western autumn. They represent the spirit of their quadrant's element."
"That's why it's our job to help you protect human souls from them. Bastian and his fol owers may very wel be on the hunt for this Enshi."
"We need to borrow a few books and see if we can find anything out about it," Wil said.
"Go ahead," Nathaniel said, standing. "The good stuff is behind my desk."
Wil examined each book on the shelf Nathaniel had pointed to, running his fingers down each spine, reading the inscriptions, and final y choosing three books. He laid them across the desk, and I read the titles. Nathaniel chose a clean but old leather-bound volume and began thumbing through it.
"This is in Latin," I said, taking a seat next to him. "I can't read Latin."
Wil sat and flipped the pages to skim over something I could only guess was an index of sorts.
"Can you?" I asked when he didn't respond.
"Of course."
I looked at the two others books. One was also in Latin and the other was in a language I didn't immediately recognize. "What is this language?"
"Hebrew," he answered without looking at me.
"You can read Latin and Hebrew?"
"As can you."
"Ah," I said. "Another one of my mystery skil s I can't seem to remember. I real y hope cooking is on that list, because I'd like to be able to cook cupcakes without turning them into cement."
He rewarded me with a little smile. "Cooking wel was never something you worried about in the past."
10
AN HOUR LATER WILL AND NATHANIEL HAD VERY little to show for their efforts. I amused myself by watching the two of them, particularly fascinated with the intensity in Wil 's eyes as he read the ancient languages, and with the fine muscles as his forearms tensed with each page he turned. He final y closed the Latin book and took up the one about ancient Sumerian lore. After a little while, he slapped the open page he was reading, making me jump.
"I found it!" Wil chirped. He stared at me with an excited expression, but I only shrugged. He frowned and continued.
"Enshi, the Lord of Souls. The giver and taker of the breath of life."
"Breath of life?" I mumbled. "That sounds a little too philosophical for a Saturday."
"Whatever this Enshi is, it's as big as we thought," he said as he read farther.
Nathaniel peeked over his shoulder. "What is it?"
"It says the Enshi is a dormant being who is the god of life under the command of Enki, the supreme god of Earth, according to Sumerian mythology. Many ancient civilizations mistook powerful reapers for their gods, so that's one possibility for its origin. It's associated with this symbol."
He flipped the book around to show the page to Nathaniel and me. The image was of three open circles arranged like a dartboard, with four smal solid dots arranged horizontal y across the center and two crescents facing each other vertical y.
"This is the seal of Azrael," Nathaniel explained. "Could the text mean that the Enshi serves the Destroyer?"
"That's definitely the impression I'm getting," Wil said in a dark voice. "Azrael is the angel of death, but not an archangel
--at least not anymore. Archangels are the highest ranking and most powerful of the angels. If the Enshi is a reaper, then this has to mean that the Enshi is actual y an angelic reaper. There's no way a demonic reaper would serve an angel. It goes against the nature of reapers and everything they are taught to believe."
My head spun trying to make sense of what they were saying. "Angelic reaper? The Destroyer? Angels? What are you talking about?"
Wil glanced at Nathaniel, who stared back intently, as if he didn't want to answer the question. I hated it when they exchanged glances. It made me feel like I was a naughty child listening in on the grownups' conversation.
"Yes, angels," Wil explained. "The counterpart to the Fal en."
I studied his face, shocked by what he was tel ing me. "Do you mean that real angels exist? The Fal en are demons, aren't they? Does that mean that God exists? Satan, too?"
He took a breath. "Yes. Lucifer rebel ed against God and lost the First War, as you have probably learned at some point in your life. God banished Lucifer from Heaven, and he fel into Hel , but his war fel to Earth. The angels who joined Lucifer's cause fel with him and became demons--the Fal en. Two of the Fal en bore horrible children, whose descendents are the creatures we know today as the demonic reapers. In desperation for more soldiers to fuel his army of the damned, Lucifer uses the reapers to col ect human souls."
I was thoroughly fascinated. "And the angelic reapers?
What are they?"
"The descendents of the Grigori," Wil explained. "Not al the Fal en who fought for Lucifer were truly wicked. God believed the Grigori could be rehabilitated, and so they were imprisoned in the mortal world. In order to make amends for their betrayal, they were ordered to watch over humanity. They're the keepers of angelic magic and medicine and the gateways into Heaven and Hel . They bore children between them, but these children weren't created out of wicked spirit and savagery. They became the angelic reapers, the earthbound soldiers of God who destroy the demonic reapers and stop them from taking human souls. The Grigori have four lords, the Elemental Watchers, who rule over the quadrant points of Earth. They are Fomalhaut of the northern winter, Regulus of the southern summer, Aldebaran of the eastern spring, and Antares of the western autumn. They represent the spirit of their quadrant's element."
