Immolation Ex: The Knower (COMPLETED)

Chapter XLIII

Simon smiled as the teenage boy stepped through the door. "I need to warn you, we have visitors, grandson, and they are like us."

"Like us, aha macav pina ta'ahon (hereditary chief)?" the young man with long black hair asked. He turned his head and froze in his tracks as he stood in the entryway to the living room.

"You have nothing to fear, my boy," Simon said, calmly placing a wrinkled hand on the boy's shoulder.

Carter stood and extended a hand to the teenager dressed entirely in black. "Hello."

"You have awesome hair!" Angel said, sending the young man's eyes toward the floor in embarrassment.

The boy nervously lifted his face and glanced over at his grandfather.

"It's okay, Jason. They are iimaat kwiisa (spirits in the Mojave language)." Simon pointed at Michael. "That one over there is a soldier of Mataviily (God)."

Jason shook Michael's, then Louisa's hand, and nervously nodded at the rest of the group. "Hello."

"Everyone, please take a seat," Simon said.

"Grandfather, why are they here?" Jason asked, eyeing the rather frightening Azazel.

"That my son is the Coyote."

"Coyote? From the legends?" Jason inquired incredulously.

"What do they want?"

"They want your help, grandson," Simon replied.

"My help?"

Michael dipped his head. "Jason, your grandfather says you have a gift, sumach a'hot. I understand that you know this to be the case. Your grandfather tells us you and he speak of the many things you see that are not of this Earth."

Jason nodded in understanding.

"You are both what we in Heaven call Original Souls. Your real names are..."

Simon raised a hand. "Please, I mean no offense, Michael of Heaven, but do not utter those names. The Mojave never speak the names of the dead again once they pass into the afterlife."

Michael dipped his head. "As you wish."

"My grandson has a gift and this is why I wanted you to meet him...and him, you. Tell them what you have told me grandson."

Jason nodded. "I have many su'mach. Dreams...frightening dreams of a golden cloud that destroys men's souls."

Gadreel sat forward. "That's because you are a Dreamer and you have had many Great Tellings, right? Dreams from First Time until now?"

"Yes, and they are usually confusing, but you...who are you? You look very familiar," Jason asked the Watcher in the Megadeth t-shirt.

Simon smiled. "He is Mustamho."

Jason blinked. "Yeah, right."

"Grandson, show some respect! You know..."

"No, it's alright, Birdman," Gadreel said, interrupting the old man. "I know who he is and that is all that matters."

"I doubt you are actually Mustamho, but you do look awfully familiar," Jason said, scratching his smooth chin. "Hey, I know, aren't you from that metal band, Gadreel? I'm pretty sure I saw your picture in Metal Week News."

"Yeppers, that's me." Gadreel stood and bowed. "At your service..."

"I knew it! That's where I remember you from!" Jason grinned and threw his fists into the air, producing a pair of 'devil horns'. "Dude, I loved your band's third album, Death Circus. It rocked hard!"

"Yeah, that one was my favorite, too," Gadreel replied. "Did you like the song, Demon Slayer? That one, I thought, rocked harder than..."

"Really?" Carter interjected. "Demon Slayer?"

"It's just a song, man," Gadreel replied and with a roll of his eyes, shook his head.

Michael and Azazel glanced at each other and sighed.

"Okay, so, what do you guys wanna know?" Jason asked, his nervous energy now gone, replaced by excitement. He sat cross-legged on the ground next to Gadreel.

"Have you had any dreams about the Frog Woman?" Angel asked, now sitting upright. "Do you know if she has any prisoners?"

Jason grinned nervously at the two pretty young women seated across from him with smiles on their faces. "Um, yeah, she had a prisoner. A king, the Dreams told me. But, he's gone now."

Angel's shoulders slumped. "Oh."

"The golden ones have another, though. A warlord, I am told. Big guy..."

Carter looked over at Angel. "Danny?"

"I don't know his name," Jason replied. "Sometimes the Dreams are vague."

"So, what are they planning? Can you see that?" Carter asked.

Jason closed his eyes and slowed his breathing. He was silent for several seconds. "The golden ones are working with the Frog Woman. They are going to storm Heaven when it is opened."

"Jason, would you be willing to come with us? We could use your help," Carter asked.

The teenager glanced over at his grandfather.

Simon sighed. "When the accident happened and I lost my daughter, your mother, Jason, and you lost her and your father to the Golden One, I cried. Because, I knew that they would not be there to welcome me to the other side. It saddened me more than you know that so many others will experience the same sorrow." The old man looked around the room with tired, sad eyes. "It is not my decision to make. The decision to go with you, it is Jason's. He is a man now and one way or the other, I am going lose him to death...now or later..."

"Grandfather..."

Simon's eyebrows lowered as he raised a hand to silence the young man. "I am not done, Jason...Now, hear me boy, if you fight and you and Mustamho win, then I will know that when you die, grandson, I will be there to greet you on the other side. And even if you were to die fighting, and Holok is defeated, then I will see you in Heaven even sooner as my old heart is nearing its last beat. But, if you don't fight...if I don't shed my selfishness and let you take the journey to be the warrior you know you are...and have been, I know that I would never see you again and honestly, I would not deserve to see you again, for I would be the coward."

Jason wrapped his arms around his grandfather's neck. "I love you, grandfather."

"And I, you, my boy," the old man said, patting the teenager on the back. "Now, make our people proud...for it is your turn to change your history. Once more you will battle her, but this time you will defeat the Frog Woman and save our people...save all people. I believe in you."