Date: Thu, 01 Dec 2005 19:44:01 +0000
From: Jason Parker <archangelmatthew72@hotmail.com>
Subject: The Angel: Chapter 29

Author's Note: A lot of confusion after the last chapter... Some of you
outright hated it. Some of you loved it. Some of you just frankly didn't
know what to make of it. And still others thought for some reason, that that
was the end of the story. The fools. I wouldn't leave you with an ending
like that! You should know me better than that by now. Hope this clears some
stuff up. And if it doesn't.... e-mail me. That's what I'm there
for.

Disclaimer: K, so basically, there's not a whole lot I need to
disclaim in this chapter... but I guess I'm legally bound to or something
because the world sucks like that? So anyway, if you're not meant to be on
this site, then don't get caught. Not much more I can say than that...


* *
*

'Back to Nowhere'


	As the world fell away around him, his outstretched hand brushed
the fingers that reached down to him. The digits shone brightly. The light
traveled up the arm, like flames spreading upwards, until the whole figure
gleamed like a beacon. It was as if strands of pure light were weaving
themselves together to form the figure. It felt like a current of warm
water was flowing across its surface, tickling his skin and warming his
hand gently. Jason let the brilliant fingers slip from his grasp and he
found himself standing once more in the endless white expanse. The form
before him shifted slightly, mesmarizingly, as if it were reweaving
itself. Such an intense rush of serenity and tranquility filled him that he
felt his breath catch and his chest become tight. It was almost painfully
beautiful.
	"What *are* you?" Jason managed to gasp, his words slipping out as
softly as a breath.
	It spoke to him, and as it did so, sparks of light seemed to
splutter from its mouth, to hand in the air briefly before rejoining the
rest of its body. "I am the guardian of your world. For the last several
hundred years, I have been the protector and observer of all things here."
	Jason felt a welling in his heart, like butterflies fluttering
inside his chest. The sight... the noise... it was nearly too beautiful to
bear. The sound waves seemed to flow over him like a warm breeze. "But what
*are* you? You're... captivating..."
	It seemed to smile at his remark. "There's no word in your world
that can describe what I am. I simply exist. We have always existed, though
I have not." As if reading the confusion straight from his mind, it carried
on hardly missing a beat. "My kind has existed since the very first things
existed. We live only a few hundred years at most, but when each of us die,
another is born-- I suppose we're the origin of the Phoenix myth that you
have on earth."
	It gestured gracefully, and the world around Jason melted into an
expanse of the universe. He hung weightlessly in space, galaxies swimming
all around him like a cosmic school of fish. He turned on the spot as the
arm of a swirling galaxy passed around him, and he found himself among the
glittering jewels of stars and planets.
	"We haven taken it upon ourselves to watch all sentient life in the
vast universe that is creation-- because we believe there is a greater
cause for it all."
	Jason turned back to the glowing figure. "You're gods!"
	It smiled, and then laughed. "We're nothing of the sort. We created
none of this. But we have watched it all develop. You see, we believe that
creation is an experiment."
	"What kind of an experiment?"  Jason asked dubiously, as he tried
unsuccessfully to dodge a star that blazed towards him, only to find at the
last minute that it passed right through him without pause.
	"We believe God-- in all his profound glory-- cannot understand
himself. What he is, or how he came to be. We believe that creation, is
God's experiment to see if eventually something will happen to create
another being like himself. And so we watch everything that happens.  We
foster life and development. For surely, as we have always existed, so
shall we always, and then we will be expected to report all that has
happened to the great being."
	Jason paused in trying to catch a star between his fingers, to ask
"Isn't that all a bit... far fetched? It certainly seems to require a lot
of faith."
	The being nodded, and the universe faded away to leave them back in
the white expanse. "Perhaps. But we are content to hold or faith in it
until it is proven otherwise."
	Jason was caught off guard by the shift in realities and he
stumbled backwards. He fell, but the air supported him, leaving him hanging
on nothing, drifting slowly.
	As he meandered past his glowing companion, it reached out with a
gleaming hand and halted his movement, righting him once more. "Tell me
Jason, I'm curious... what made you decide the other world was real?"
	"I didn't." He answered truthfully.
	"Oh?"
	"I just decided that I'd rather live in the other world than that
one, regardless of whether it was real or not."
	"Doesn't it bother you that you might be living what is,
essentially, a lie?"
	Jason thought about it a moment, and then shook his head. "Not
really. As long as I don't know it's not real, it's as true to me as
anything else."
	The light being considered this for a time. Then it smiled.  "You
humans have such a unique way of thinking. I think of all the sentient
being I've observed, yours are my favorite."
	He tried to think of something to say. But... what can you say to
something like that? 'thank you'?
	After a while he asked his own question. "So what happens now?"
	"Now?"
	"Yeah, now that I've chosen."
	"Ah," the being seemed to look much more intently at him than
before. "First I need to be certain that it's your choice. Because there's
no going back on this. Whichever you choose will be where you stay for the
rest of your natural life. I'll sever all contact with the other world so
that you'll never be left in this position again."
	Jason nodded.  "I'm sure. More sure of which is real and which
isn't. But I'd rather be with Matt than anything else."
	The being nodded, and reached for Jason's head. He felt it's warm,
pulsing hands clasp about his skull, and it said "Don't expect everything
to be as you left it. A good while has passed since you departed."
	Jason was about to ask what had changed when the light of the being
suddenly expanded outwards around him like a gigantic flickering net. It
closed around him and his ears were filled with a rushing noise while his
body felt like it was being dragged into a vacuum. He closed his eyelids
tight out of fear that his eyes would be sucked clean out and clenched his
fists involuntarily. Then there was only silence and darkness.


* * *


So, like I said. A short chapter. Sorry. I spent a long time mulling this
over trying to figure out if there was anything else I could have done or
said to make it longer. And the answer was no. Buck up though, chapter 28
was 44 pages long, and chapter 30 is going to be a long 'un too.

I'm still chilling at ArchangelMatthew72@Hotmail.com so don't hesitate to
get in touch and tell me what you thought, or ask questions, or scream or
do just about anything. Tune in next time for the last and final
installment.