Lilith Between Flesh And Spirit

Chapter Twelve: A Different Space And Time

Gadreel is the guardian of Eden's gate, a hinged barrier that stands out from the modern exterior of the circular garden as the organic plant body of a tree. Twisted branches resembling the tangle of many lives; some are illusions of snakes; others evoke headless human parts; and among them are the embedded shapes of Adam and Eve.

Wrinkly terracotta's arms merge into bark, exposing his chest covered by a blue jumper and a dirty apron, hips of denim with fig leaves growing on them, and missing feet. That is Adam.

The sight of Eve, though, causes Norea to raise her eyebrows.

Short white blond hair for a bright red one, a time-chiselled face for smooth skin, and tiny blue-aged marble eyes looking back at her own reflection—only their age differentiates them.

Lilith and Eve are the same woman through a different space and time.

Hips and bust equal in size, with a narrow waist wrapped in a painter's apron, a white t-shirt, and green cropped pants accentuating her pear-shaped body, are all that can be seen from Eve. The rest is merged into the tree that holds her upside down to the contrary of Adam, leaving her with just a head to stick out and a mouth to scream for help at Lilith.

Could the mother of all and the woman Norea loves be the same person?

"Norea, quick, come and help me get them out!" Lilith urges with an itch to call out for her sword.

Refusing to look, Norea only presses her hand against the tree that serves as a door to burn it down to the ground without harming either Adam or Eve. Their inert bodies fall helplessly on the sand, but only Eve turns on her back. Lilith rushes in and sits beside Eve, using her folded legs as a pillow for her head.

Stretching out her arm, Eve strokes over Lilith's face—her once vigorous features with nothing but a fainted smile. "I'm just the shell; you have always been the real deal!"

"Shut up, you got us all out of this hellhole, Eve!"

Eve sniffs and shakes her head, the memories of their time too heavy to be told out loud. "No, you did it, Lilith, and who is this next to you?" She asks as her eyes now dart over to Norea.

Lilith snorts. "Norea, yours, and Adam's daughter!"

Eve can barely contain her tears when she catches a clearer glimpse of Norea. She feels throughout her soul that Norea is her daughter. As if to punish her for ever creating the latter, who had put an end to the Archons' plan, the cruel material world had rendered Eve permanently barren one life after another. After grabbing Norea's hand, Eve lowers her entire body into a tight hug. "You're just our perfect little fire of truth."

Kisses rain over the face of a clueless Norea. Eve feels warm—the warmth of a light to guide anyone's path—the soul that Norea never has in her life. Taking a deep breath, Norea feels their connection too, and at last she lets Eve's love sink into her heart and wraps her arms around the latter, joining their cries as one.

Lilith can't help but crack a smile at their reunion. A fleeting happiness as when she gets back up, her face darkens with concern over Adam's motionless body with his face buried in the sand.

"What happens to you guys?"

"They got us." Eve sits up, shrugging her painful shoulders with a yelp. "We were just a peaceful couple in the suburb. Adam owned a coffee shop, and I was a teacher when one day the Archons blasted into my primary school. They killed everybody there, including the small children I looked after. They then devoured my soul, and this is how I ended up here. I guess Adam had tried to rescue me, and they got him there, too."

Norea tilts her head at Eve's recollection. "I know this story; I heard it in the news a few months ago. A soon-to-be retired teacher, along with her husband, both infertile, went on a rampage and killed everybody in a primary school."