18/XVIII. Redemption Is Nigh (Remastered)

“Wha- what are you?” Jackson stuttered as he saw the illumination fade away.

The little boy jumped out of the bed as soon as Jackson entered the room. Arthur came into view as he drew closer to the edge of the room.

“Have you not seen with your own eyes?” Arthur turned around, his eyes trying to tell something unfathomable, but… “If you can do these, then my mom…”

He knew the exact words that will come out of Jackson’s mouth, he wanted for his mother to get better, no matter what the cost.

“I’m sorry, I tried my all, but… the Almighty is already calling her home. It’s her time.” The angel spoke and those words pierced Jackson’s heart even further.

Home? The Almighty? God? Heaven? Yes, if this creature is an angel, then, it’s true, that all those exist as well. Isn’t he just saying this because I have been so wary and bad to him the past weeks?

He tried to reason in his head, but found no solace.

All he could do was to walk towards Arthur slowly and weakly, as if his legs were to give out anytime. “I… I know that I’ve been rude to you and your family, but…” He tried to find words to say.

“It’s not that, it’s perfectly understandable, but I really tried, however, an angel of Death is already waiting to take her to Heaven, it’s just a matter of time, I do not have power over Death.” Jackson collapsed on his knees as he hugged Arthur, and he explained as he caressed Jackson’s head.

“So… this means that mom… she’ll leave me here?” He lifted up his head, with teary eyes, looked hopeful and hopeless as the same time.

“Temporarily. I’m sorry.” Arthur wiped the tears from Jackson’s face as he let go of his hug.

“Thank you for telling me.” He calmed down and composed himself and took the chair nearby to support his weight and got up.

“So… if you’re-, why do you have a weak body? Why do-?” He shook his head in disbelief.

“I don’t have all the answers, I’m not God, but what I do know is that I was able to understand human weakness after being given one as we were sent here on Earth.” Arthur fluffed the pillow in the bed and sat eye-level with Jackson.

“Understand?” He was puzzled by the words that Arthur used.

“Before I came here, I only know of humans’ death as a natural way of things, I know people cries when someone dies, but… there’s little understanding as to why since we, an existence other than humans, were not allowed to show ourselves to humanity and have connections.”

“Death is indeed common or natural with humans, I’m familiar with this as I am studying to be a doctor, but are you referring to human connections? How they feel?” Jackson hinted a bit of curiosity from his last question, but ultimately, he felt that he was trying to analyze the mind of the angel.

“You could say that. I never… no, I had limited attachments to the humans, and throughout the thousand years that I have lived in the physical realm, I found myself apathetic to any human emotions.” The angel’s words were contrary from his actions.

“You’re lying.” Jackson scoffed at Arthur.

“Telling yourself that you’ve no attachment to humans yet doing good is…” He stopped in his tracks, trying to find the right word and Arthur interrupted, “Shallowness?” Jackson tried to reason with the negative implications that Arthur just mentioned, but as he observed Arthur’s face, he understood, for the first time, that no one can ever come close to comforting the angel.

He hugged Arthur once more, from his seat, but this time, similar to a fatherly hug, he embraced his head towards his shoulders and gently patted Arthur’s head.

“You can always tell me what you feel, but you don’t have to carry the world’s burdens on your shoulder. I know that God designed you and us, the humans differently, but ultimately, we have the same good in ourselves.” He told the angel.

“You’re not apathetic, you’re compassionate, you’re merciful, you’re loving. Anyone who would say otherwise would be lying. I’ve been in the mansion for only a few weeks, but I can tell from your actions that… that you cared for me, for my dad, and mom, intently when we asked for help.” He pulled Arthur’s head from his shoulders and cupped Arthur’s face with his hands, seeing eye-to eye, and trying to comfort Arthur.

Jackson felt that Arthur was more attached to his mother than him, and for that, he was thankful.

“Death is always at the corner, but I am glad that I understand a bit of you, now. I’m glad that there is someone else that will be upset once mom has gone home up there.” He added.

“Ironic.”

“What is?” Jackson asked the little child.

“I came here to comfort you, but…” He looked him in the eye, and continued. “You were the one who comforted me.”

“It may have come with the age.”

“Hhahahhahahha… age…”

“You’ve seen me like this, but it seems like you’re unfazed.” One of the puzzling reactions of Jackson as he saw Arthur and the illumination of the angel in the room was he was a bit surprised but not terrified, completely different from the reaction of the people from the mansion back in America.

“I don’t know why, I mean…” He wanted to point out the good that he did helping the children wake up from their coma.

“It helped me stay calm with all of the children running around in the room.”

Jackson’s calm expression and gentle embrace rubbed off to Arthur as he softly gazed around the room smiling as he rejoiced with the children who woke up from their long slumber.

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A few months passed since Michael healed Ham from an illness, Noah was still continually haunted by his nightmares, and as the year comes to a close, a new phenomenon in the skies surprised everyone in the plains and those in the trenches.

“It’s time to go back.” Michael glided through the strong winds forming in one of the oceans afar.

For the first time, in the history of mankind, a different form of nature started to build up and ravage the oceans, the excessive violence, pollution, and the increasing population of mankind drove the Earth to its brink of destruction.

For this, a safeguard was placed even before creating the humans. The first safeguard was the firmaments of water beyond the atmosphere.

On the second day, God, not only created the waters on the planet, but also calcified a bubble of water around the planet as to cool itself from the energy bursting in its midst.

Every planet has a core that fuels the life in it, this one, Earth, has a hot core, full of energy, and heat, along with this, a failsafe was created to make sure that the life on this thriving planet would be protected from self-destruction if there came a time that the heat would bellow up to its surface.

Raphael was the one that designed the nature, along with this water bubble.

As the heat bubbles up the surface, the firmament of water will be broken down to Earth cooling everything and everyone in it, however, as the water plunges down, it will bring flood and destruction to the planet’s inhabitants.

That was the oracle from God, a future that Michael dreaded seeing as the Oracle was delivered from Heaven.

The greying of the clouds, the wrath of the ocean currents, it’s one of the signs that the storm and the flood are coming near, but not yet… Father is holding it off, why? Michael wondered as he observed the lands.

The golden soul! Michael remembered Noah. He and his family had their soul connection up to Heaven, meaning, God has still some attachments to humans.

Michael quickly teleported to one of the deep parts of the ravine.

SFX: Wooooosh

The strong winds that came along with his teleportation reached Noah at the distance, he dashed to the other side of the ravine as he felt the presence of the angel, and his face lighted up in glee as he gazed to the angelic form of Michael.

“Golden armor, four white wings, and a flaming sword, is this your true majestic form?” Michael stood ten feet tall compared to Noah’s six feet height. His towering figure made Noah remember the giant cannibals at the other side of the plains.

His smile welcomed the angel happily, and Michael transformed into a human-like height, six feet and he covered himself with a white robe, and tucked in his wings behind his back.

“You look exhausted…” He noticed Noah’s heavy eye bags. “You don’t look like you get enough sleep.” Those statements rattled Noah as he has been seeing nightmares in his sleep.

He must have been given Oracles through his sleep.

Michael only saw the oracle for a second, but Noah has been ravaged by the horrifying oracle a few months now.

“A bit, but enough of that, come on, I’m really glad you stopped by, I was hoping to get some answers, and my son Ham was really grateful about the previous miracle.” Noah dragged Michael to the entrance of the trenches and into their home once more.

A little hospitality never killed anyone and Noah offered dinner again to the angel, fully knowing that the creature would not need nourishments like they do.

“Just a drink?” At the end of the meal, Noah offered the grape juice once again.

“Alright.” It’s rude to turn away from kindness, Michael. The angel remembered the common practices of humans that Eve taught him.

“I want to ask you about something.” Michael stared blankly at the juice, rather, at his reflection in the colored water. The reddish-violet texture of the juice made him remember the horrendous oracle that he had from God.

“About your nightmares?” The angel quickly answered Noah as he knew this was the thread of conversation that it was going to.

“How did you-“ Surprised by this statement, he remembered that the angel was the messenger of God. Noah sighed, relieved that the angel knew. “Right. Yes.” He got straight to the point.

“Ask away.” Michael opened the door. He welcomed his curiosity more than anything else. His misery of sleepless nights was visible on the food prepared in the table. The juice also tasted funny.

“I… have this nightmare that everything, and everyone is under water, and I… can’t breathe, shout, or…” Having just to recall the nightmares, Noah struggled in finding the right words to describe the frightening future that he experienced in his dreams.

‘The livid feeling of drowning helplessly’

Those were the right words, but Noah did not dare to utter it with his own mouth. He doesn’t want to believe it, he would rather shut his mouth, trample everything behind to deny the existence of such future.

“Father is giving you the power to see the future.” Michael slowly answered Noah’s inquisitions, and as the words left his mouth, a soundly gulp was the only one that eerily echoed in the cave.

“That’s…” He couldn’t believe his ears, nor his brain. He tried to reason it with his own, but- “That’s not true, right? We’re…” As if he was afraid to die, the cold sweat started to cover his face and drip.

His eyes suddenly devoid of life, of all the crazy things that he had seen with his eyes, the violence in the plains, the cannibals in the other side, and the monsters waiting and lurking in the dark of the trenches, this was more gory, though there were no blood involved, the gurgles of the people drowning forever haunted him in his sleep.

A hand stretched out, and gently patted him in the shoulders. Michael, his wife, his three sons and daughters, right, I’m still here, I’m still alive. “I’m here.” Noah came back to reality as soon as Michael spoke those two words.

“Right…” His anxiety manifested clearly, short breaths, diluted iris, cold sweat, and shaking hands and feet. “What’s the path of salvation?” His teary eyes reminded Michael of the time Adam fell from the grace of God.

“Here is the path of salvation.” Michael grabbed Noah’s sweaty hands and curled it into his wooden cup.

The angel’s cryptic answer raised his curiosity further, but the anxiety had washed away as Michael reassured Noah.

“What do I need to do?” His determined eyes reflected the fire of passion, the same one Michael saw from Cain when they offered their best sacrifices of work. He just hoped it doesn’t end up in tragedy.

“We’re going to make an Ark.” The angel smirked as he patted Noah’s head, more like a father patting his child’s head.

That night, Michael stayed out in the trenches to be of guard, Noah hesitated to sleep again because of the nightmare, but his weary eyes and exhausted body could only hold out for a little while, near midnight, he fell asleep.

That night was peaceful, his nightmare stopped, and his wife got a good night sleep as well, as far as peace was concerned, there was another oracle.

“MAKE THEE AN ARK OF GOPHER WOOD; ROOMS SHALT THOU MAKE IN THE ARK, AND SHALT PITCH IT WITHIN AND WITHOUT WITH PITCH. AND THIS IS THE FASHION WHICH THOU SHALT MAKE IT OF: THE LENGTH OF THE ARK SHALL BE THREE HUNDRED CUBITS, THE BREADTH OF IT FIFTY CUBITS, AND THE HEIGHT OF IT THIRTY CUBITS. A WINDOW SHALT THOU MAKE TO THE ARK, AND IN A CUBIT SHALT THOU FINISH IT ABOVE; AND THE DOOR OF THE ARK SHALT THOU SET IN THE SIDE THEREOF; WITH LOWER, SECOND, AND THIRD STORIES SHALT THOU MAKE IT.”

Noah saw a bright Light in his dreams, speaking to Him. The warmth of the Light reached his soul, and he was able to get a good night sleep and as he woke up early in the morning, he remembered every little detail of that dream.

“Michael!” He barged out of the cave and his shout echoed in the valley. The sound soon reached Michael’s ears and he came in a flash of wind.

“What is it?!” The angel was certainly alarmed at Noah’s shriek, but seeing that Noah’s pale face has been transformed into a healthier one, he only smiled in gladness.

“I heard Him. The Light, He talked to me.” His complexion even improved while he was talking about the dream last night.

“That’s great. What did He say?” The angel became curious as to what God might have said.

“He told me about the Ark that you have mentioned, and how we are going to do it.” Noah’s spirits lifted up upon hearing those words.

“You are your family are the ones that needs to do it. I can only assist in calling the animals.” The angel sadly smiled but retained his delight in his eyes as he heard the dream of Noah.

“Yes, nothing to worry, I’m sure my family will help me do it.” His wife followed Noah at the entrance of the cave to greet Michael, and his sons and daughters followed her as well.

Though work has been tough, Noah and his family built the big boat for many days.

Shem, Ham, Japeth, their three wives, and the wife of Noah assisted him in the construction.

Many people from the plains were quick to mock the family as they build the boat and preach the oncoming flood, seeing that the humans never experienced rain before.

Noah continued to strive forward into finishing the Ark while the oracle of the flood came flooding in his nightmares once every thirty days.

He wanted to save as much people as possible, but no one would believe his words.

“Messenger of God.” He pulled aside the angel from their work.

“You can just call me, Michael.” The Seraph spoke softly.

Noah smiled and chuckled embarrassingly, “Yes, Michael.”

“Yes?”

“You mentioned that we’re going to build an ark for salvation of the flood, and I know that my family believes me because they have seen you and what you did with Ham, but I wanted to save as much people as possible.” His tone worries, and as he expressed his concern to the angel, Michael can only looked so apathetic so his anxieties.

“Then, what would you like me to do?” The cold tone again, Noah knew that he was asking too much from the messenger of God.

“I… if it is possible, can you perform a miracle so that the people can see and believe?” He still asked him of this ridiculous request, Michael became wide-eyed, not of shock, but of annoyance.

The angel clenched his jaw and calmly replied to Noah. “I can only perform miracles in front of the people who already has faith. Even if I do those things in front of them, they would not believe.”

Michael’s words jabbed Noah’s hearts and desire at the same time. He already had faith even before he met Michael that’s why he was able to see him.

But that did not stop him from preaching and preaching and preaching.

They strived to finish the Ark as soon as possible, and Michael led the animals to the Ark by their numbers.

“I’m still amazed by how. Those are wild animals!” Noah stretched forth his hand and saw with his eyes the lines of animals by their numbers lead into the big Ark.

The people of the plains were merely interested in the boat and continued to mock the family as they close the Ark’s door.

“That’s the last one.” Michael glided towards the deck of the Ark at the front.

“Are these people not wondering about you?” Noah’s curiosity amused Michael once more.

“No. They’ve already seen many kind of me in the plains.”

“Many?”

“A lot of my Fallen brothers and sisters went up from Hell to Earth and lived amongst humans concocting evil through their off-springs- we call them Nephilims.” He simply explained. His pained expression warned Noah as he regretted asking that question.

“The Nephilims were…?” He tried not to press the question, but his curiosity got the best of him.

“The cannibals, the giants, the murderers, the monsters, everything in between are the Nephilims.” His eyes averted to the land beneath them. The clouds are starting to form on the west side, but no rain has yet to fall.

“Are the Nephilims the reason God wanted to send a Flood?” Noah wondered further, his mind jumbled by the fact that the evil beings that lived and roamed in the plains are spiritual beings.

“Part of it.” He answered nonchalantly.

“The angels were the ones who brought sin into Earth, but evil thrived within the human hearts. It killed the very nature that supports life here on this planet.” The angel added, he tucked in his wings and put on his white robe.

“The air, the water, the plants, and the animals…” Noah contrived on the conclusion that even though Nephilims were part of the problem, humans certainly added to the fact that the Earth was dying.

“Yes…” Michael breath deeply as his eyes gazed on the Euphrates, and the Tigris River.

“I remembered those rivers thriving with life when Adam first went out of the Garden, and now…” He couldn’t begin to fathom what happened to the greenery that surrounded the river.

“If… the Light didn’t create angels and humans, how would Earth look like?” Noah’s curiosity knows no bounds.

“I can’t imagine it.” The angel honestly answered his question. The mere life that humans produce, the emotions, expressions, the light they emit and the character inside each individual surpass everything created before them.

“Hahaha… Your cryptic answers really are interesting. Such as the oracle that God hath given me, your answers drive me to discover more for myself.” Noah smirked happily as the family prepares the night’s food for the animals.

Before Noah could exit the deck to the animal’s pen, a drop of water fell down his cheeks, followed by the strong gush of wind as Michael disappeared from his sight, the rain started to drop.

“Salvation is near.” He whispered as he entered the Ark and closed off all windows and doors outside.