Phantasmagoria - Chapter 2
 

Author: Andrew

The fire popped and hissed as the four friends enjoyed its warm glow. Kelloran was quiet as he tried to find the words to describe the visions he had been seeing. He knew they granted to him by the Gods, but he did not know why they were occurring or what they meant. He knew that somehow it had to do with the Winds of Change and one of the scrolls recovered in the booka-stolen lore of the Library. It was the scroll about Angels.

When Kelloran was a child he, like every kid, had heard tall tales about mythic creatures like angels, giants and dragons. Growing up, he discovered that many of his childhood fairy tale beasts were in fact real. There really are goblins, fairies and trolls that roam the woodlands, but things such as angels always remained in the realm of myth. He gave the scroll little thought except for noting that it addressed the subject of angels seriously not as fictional winged babies or genderless, tranquil harp players.

Kelloran had seen many strange sights over the years but the idea of invisible, winged messengers of the Gods flitting about dispensing miracles and divine retribution seemed beyond comprehension. That is until the visions began.

On an early morning a week ago, Kelloran had stepped out of his shop to relieve himself. He had stayed up late into the night re-reading the booka-stolen scrolls. He stretched his sore neck and looked about. All the shops are dark except Thomas'. Always the early riser, the alchemist was up and chanting a dawn prayer to his newly awoken god, Allahn. Kelloran squinted as a brilliant sunray struck him, burning through the morning mist. The Restorer had startled when he realized the light was coming from the north not the east. It was not the sun but some radiant, winged-being descending from the clouds to hover above the Apothecary. It drew up the alchemist's prayer into a luminous candle and then it offered blessings upon the Candleman's faithful servant. The Templar stood dumbstruck as the winged harbinger began to ascend once more. He blinked once and light and the winged man were completely gone. Over the week, he continued to spy glimpses of these winged messengers. One swooped down to answer Chells' prayer to the Chained Goddess of Compassion. He saw another with its eyes closed in concentration, perched on the peak of the Temple's roof as Stone burned incense to purity the shrine. One roosted in the rafters of the tavern as Raith used his virtue of Justice to understand a minor case of theft that Myra had just told the him about. Kelloran expression became serious and he then he spoke again. “I can’t tell you what it means. I feel in my bones there is more for me to see. More that I’ll be shown. But right now, I really only know this… They aren’t myth. They are real. Angels are real.”

As Kelloran stopped speaking for a moment, he noticed Thomas staring into the darkness above his shop where perhaps the alchemist envisioned a messenger from his god had hovered. Chells had gone all grey and hazy, like he did when he was deep in thought, and Stone looked slowly, warily out into the shadows searching for something. The Restorer finally spoke “What do you think? ” Thomas looked happy as he replied, “I think it’s great! They are sent here to help us by our gods. Right?”

Stone was next, “I hope so. But it makes sense to me. Hell has its minions in the form of demons. Why wouldn’t Heaven, or Firmament or whatever you want to call it, have its agents? Maybe they are what make the whole spiritual cosmos work.”

Chells’ spirit face came into focus as he changed his focus to the conversation. “I think we sensed a little bit of this when we were in the Spirit Realm when the Winds of Change were blowing. Some of us found the Temperance tarot card with the winged being on it and for a moment we could sense another, higher realm, as high above the Spirit Realm as the Spirit Realm is high above the Shadowlands.”

Kelloran was quiet for a moment before he spoke “I can except the idea that every time we use the power of prayer or virtue an angel acts as the messenger of that god to grant us what we ask for or need, but I can’t figure out what is with the other ones I have seen. They are the ones that put me on edge.”

“What other ones?” was the main idea from the garbled chorus of questions from the other three.

“Oh. I guess I forgot to mention that part. There are other ones that I’ve been spotting. They are just perch in the trees or roofs and do nothing. The majority of angels I’ve seen seem to appear, do their divine duties and vanish. These others though just seem to watch and wait. Like they are waiting for something to happen and they seem… angry.”

There was a long, uncomfortable silence until Thomas finally spoke in a sarcastic tone. “Great….”