Children of the Archangels

CHAPTER 63: WAKING UP A GIANT

Luke felt like he had been jabbed with a dose of adrenaline. His eyes were suddenly staring at the unconscious body of Jurgen below.

Luke couldn't help looking at Jurgen in a new light. Maybe, even as a white man, he had understood what discrimination was. Luke's comment earlier seemed to nag at him. It was like he tried to own the receiving end of discrimination, as if the times hadn't shifted to two extremes of hating one another. There was so much division in this world that manifested itself in prides that preyed on each other. There was no reason for Jurgen's brother Bernar to die. Whether the group of university students were drunk, high, political extremist or not, it was uncalled for.

Yet, that didn't make Jurgen's response any more noble. He had taken out his anger and fear on minorities ever since he saw a group of them murder his brother. He had taken out his frustration of his disability, and his inability to help his younger brother, on those who were suffering through such a Gaze as he did. Luke knew each time Jurgen saw a mentally slow person, he saw himself in that person, unable to exhibit courage to the world.

Even if the world was only his younger brother.

But what bugged Luke most was the stuff he didn't see. That weird angel dressed in red that offered him fruit from the Garden of Eden. How did he get his hands on it? If he was there to help Jurgen, why didn't he stop the people who assaulted Bernar? He had to file away his questions for another time. There was still work to be done.

A tree came soaring in Luke's direction, a misdirected toss from Mongollon that was about to roll him over like dough. Luke stretched out his left hand and sent a bolt of lightning towards it that split the tree in half, and it fell behind him and Jurgen. When he looked down at the unconscious Jurgen, he no longer felt as disgusted as he did before.

Because now he too had the same doubts about God's pledge of allegiance to the common good.

Luke tried to switch the doubt off. This was not the time nor the place. He summoned the Divine Blaze and joined the girls.

Rilee was huffing. "Tough bastard," she said. "We felled him four times and yet he always comes back up."

Luke knew the answer. The Divine Blaze could solve it. He shaped the red fire into a dozen swans with talons, just like the image he saw Jurgen looking at while staring up at the light. Luke wasn't sure if every child experiencing the Gaze saw the same thing, but if they did and curiosity was endless for a child, he could see why it would be hard to get their attention.

He sent the birds out. They kamikazed their targets. The Mongollon fell to the ground, his fur catching on fire as it zigzagged from follicle to follicle. He didn't even have time to voice his disgrace before he dissolved.

"How did you..." Rilee studied Luke with a new light. "Seems like not all the boys here are useless."

"Dreamscaping," Luke mouthed out as he put the puzzle together based off of Sirius's memory. He didn't elaborate, and the sound of demons howling as the swans moved on to expelling demons from bodies drowned out the word for Rilee to hear anyway. Iumenti were creatures made by God directly. They couldn't reproduce. They were one of a kind in 99% of the instances.

Therefore, some Level 4 Iumenti and higher possess the ability to Dreamscape, making them extremely dangerous. But the way to make a dream persona disappears is to find the dreamer.

And the Divine Blaze managed to follow the connection straight back to the dreamer and set his real body on fire too.

Bye-bye Mongollon.

With the demons exposed, Sirius quickly used Absorber to finish them. The red swans faded, and the field was quiet.

All eyes turned to Luke as the red flames in his hands died down. Luke wasn't sure what they thought of him—if they would be proud of him of even more wary of him with such a new power. Luke wanted to hide from their looks, but everything around him was in ruins. Silence covered the field for a long second until Sirius raised his sword of light into the air and started chanting slowly, "Luke, Luke, Luke."