Hello there. God bless! Sophie here, to tell the end of the story I owned to you a few days ago (Part 9) . Let’s get going.
As we left Irene Sanderson on the road, I ran towards the main road, not very far, where I wanted to get, as it was close to dark. An almost continuous vibration, like a rumble, was all around. In fact, the rumble had another thing to it. Like voices speaking to my thoughts. Not clear or close, but many. And this became a part of the rumble. A dark reality blended with our own, emanating from the tower. I needed to get somewhere safe with my baby. Meanwhile, I opened the phone and called mom. There were multiple calls and messages, especially from mom. It took a few attempts to get her to answer.
”Sophie! Thank God! Where are you?” ”We seem ok, we are in Mogoșoaia, close to the house of Doina. I managed to escape.” ”We are here too, your father regained consciousness fast after they took you, called us and came as fast as we could. Father George and Ferdinand are on their way. But…” A few seconds of silence. ”What, mom?” ”Helena is not ok. She drank blood from the guards. She feels really bad… ” ”Ok, let’s try to meet near the bush.” I left the call ongoing, when I heard mom screaming. I started to shout fast at the phone: ”Where are you? What is there…?” I could hear rustling in the bushes and tried to discover the reason. The night was already here and I suspected the worst.
As I got close to both the thicket and the exit to the main road, I saw them. Tall, gray, with shining eyes. The Candles. They blocked the way and entered the thicket. Two came to me, I started running back, but a small bridge near and above the road made escaping to the fields on that side complicated. I would have tried, if two of those things had not appeared in front of me. They looked more powerful than last time they were last seen, emitting vibration or something that made me feel even more unreal, like a hidden level of reality was opened once more. They whispered loudly, in their own way, with deep lamentations that made my heart tremble.
I stopped for a few seconds in my tracks, confused upon where to go next. I was almost surrounded and the only way that appeared to me was inside the small pocket of trees, that was on the other side from the bridge, towards Doina„s house and the tower.. ”Hello?” I heard mom on the phone. ” ”They are here, trying to push me in the trees.” ”We are here too, at least most of us…” This did not sound too good. ”Ok, going towards there… ” This smelled like a trap, to be pushed in there, but I saw no better option than this. ”Mom, do you see or hear me?” I am going in…” I heard a scream nearby, I hid near a tree.
Fortunately enough, Artanis was quiet, for now. I looked in the sense of the scream, I heard a rustle. I stayed put, trying my best to remain hidden, watching what was going on. I saw mom and Sidonia running towards the way I entered, I came out. ”Come on, they are coming!” shouted Sidonia and we all joined running out of the woods. No time for hugs, although we all have needed some. There were two Candles coming from behind, and another one blocking the way out, probably one I have seen before entering. Sidonia turned, probably senseless, towards another part, deeper, where nothing could be seen, being almost completely dark. We were coming close now to the tower, I could feel it in my bones. Artanis was tired of crying already, and fell to sleep, it seems.
I signaled Sidonia to stop a bit, as I got down to listen. We had to grab her by the arm a bit to prevent her from running. Then I signaled them to be quiet, while I was listening. The humming in my thoughts turned into a buzz that the reality resonated to. I said a little prayer in my mind, to take upon myself all this harm coming towards Artanis, to make her feel as little as possible. She was breathing heavily, like in a troubled sleep. I remember saying a second prayer, to the Mother of God, to hold and cover my baby. The Candles were nearby, we could hear their unearthly voices that froze and bitterned our souls, but not exactly where we were.
The tower cyclical emissions felt, very much, like shockwaves making the environment around to tremble. The smog-like or ash-like emissions engulfed the small patch of trees, as well as what seemed to be a pretty large area around. It felt like a bad dream, like reality around us changed. This was not the first time I felt something similar, last year it was even worse but, this time, instead of loneliness, it was more like the opposite, a strong gathering of many millenia sorrow, despair, of helplessness, like a giant vibrating choir. It increased in intensity, like the voices in it became not just louder, but more in numbers. And, like in some distance, this was just a very small bit of what was coming, like a mountain hanging on above our head, ready to fall over us, in pebbles, until it crushed us.
”In there, they are coming.” I pointed out. I needed to keep myself as calm as possible, as the air turned, slowly, into some sort of vibrating fluid. ”Better that way, I feel nothing clear there. But I stopped for a few seconds, I needed to ask: ”What happened? What happened to dad? Where is Helena? Where is Michael?” Mom gave a grim look.
”Aurelian woke up pretty fast, after the attack, and called us. He called 112 (European equivalent of US 911), he wanted to get in here, but he was hurt and decided not to let him. We did not want to attack the place during nighttime, but your abduction forced us to act. Father George is on his way, Ferdinand even closer. Yet, as we approached and parked, some of the guards of the property attacked us, although we were far. Probably we were under surveillance, this would explain how they were able to attack you and Aurelian, also why they knew we were coming, the moment we arrived.
Helena fought them, although she was quite exhausted from not feeding in a while, and she drank the blood of two of them. She did not kill them, just incapacitated them. Soon after, she started feeling pretty sick, and said their blood was bad, that it had something in it. Like taking a drug or poison. We came in the thicket, to rest a bit, she was pretty bad. You called, she said go get you, she will be ok.” ”We need to go, now!” said Sidonia, showing us a dark thing coming. It was a Candle, so we started running again. While running deeper, more towards the end of the trees, where the tower stood, mom continued: ”As we came looking for you, they attacked us. They grabbed Michael.”
I stopped in my tracks for a second, but mom rushed me towards a place where they could not be felt. I said: ”We need to find Helena. Without Helena, they will get to us. Please turn around where you entered. I think it is better to get out even going near a Candle, but to get out and not get into direct exposure to the tower. They are pushing us towards the tower, it is clear.” I stopped and they followed me. I listened and tried to discern if Candles were in that way, and they were.
Mom and Sidonia stood still now, their eyes wide, like they wanted to just run in the opposite sense. ”I know they are there. I know that they are coming. I see the terror in your eyes, I live it too. I have my treasure on my chest, I would not risk her well being at all, if it was not worth it, for her sake. Most of the way here, when Irene Sanderson was driving, I was afraid to try anything on her, because of Artanis. But The Lord helped me in the end, in that accident. If I had the courage to try it earlier, maybe we would not have been in this trap. Anyway, here we are, I take the risk, for her sake. They want her, but I shall not let them have her. And I trust The Lord.”
I went towards where mom pointed they came from and they followed me. Ripples in the something we were immersed into were felt. The presence of the Candles felt like dead desolation on an immense scale. Like a lake we were falling into and we got deeper and deeper. I had no idea how Artanis could still be asleep. I checked on her, she was breathing fine, still asleep. A small choir inside the larger choir was ahead. ”Perhaps going sideways?” suggest mom. ”There do not seem to be many of them in there, it sounds like a good idea.” We turned towards the way I entered. We were not very careful, as they were able, probably, to sense us from a distance, so keeping silent was, probably, not an issue. Indeed, we could not feel any of them being close.
Escape felt at hand, when two dark figures blocked the way. They were not Candles, but a man and a woman. The woman pushed the man forward, who took a step towards us. It was Michael. He had a lost look, like he was into some medication or he had a lobotomy. Behind him, there was Doina. A cruel smile was on her face. ”This feeble son of mine can not hold his temper under pressure. Too bad for him, as I still have hopes on turning him around. As it will be for my granddaughter.” Her eyes were darkened, something strong, hateful, calm but also ecstatic was in there, like under some sort of drug of demonic origin.
At this point, the mere presence of Doina exalted fear, no need to show any gun or a physical weapon. It was similar to interacting with an unmasked demon, that type of deep, overwhelming existential fear, although not that strong by far. Sidonia turned around to run, but she only made a few steps back, turning back to us screaming. Two Candles were behind, several around the bushes. Both her and mom came very close to me. We were like lambs surrounded by a pack of hungry wolves.
I looked at Doina, her eyes became so terrible, they looked like a deep abyss of darkness. Both what was Human and what was Elves in me trembled with fear, something inside of me screaming that I needed to run away from her at once, even if there was no way to. Demons in their natural, unmasked form, are so terrible to be seen and perceived, that most people would go mad at their mere sight. This is why we should avoid looking at them or what we suspect to be a manifestation of them. We should never talk to them, because relating to them can poison our souls. A Human or Elven soul has a natural revulsion to them, a mixture of horror and intoxication. This is how Doina became, gradual, demon-like.
”You met your fate tonight.” her voice sounded like a thick swarm of wasps, coming for me. Doina herself felt like a personification not of death itself, but of my death. Like it was in that old Romanian Fairytale, with the prince who leaves what seemed to be Elvenland and, in the end, meets not the Grim Reaper, but his own Grim Reaper. This is how Doina felt both for me and for the rest of us.
Doina opened her mouth and started chanting in the air something so terrible, that the air itself started to feel like poison. I knew what this meant, they shall sacrifice us with the ritualic swords the Cardles had at them, sacrifice us to Satan. The Candles were chanting alongside her, supporting her, expelling mountains of cold emptiness and soul damnation, a damnation we should join soon enough. Doina shall no longer speak any Human or Elven word, until it will all be finished.
The Candles rejoiced in their terrible, cosmic sorrow that they started laying on us. Sidonia screamed, mom screamed too, Michael fell to his knees to the ground, lost. We were sinking in an ocean of helplessness of accepting kindness, goodness and love, where the soul could not suffer those, being for them like damnation.
I looked at Artanis, who was still, blissfully asleep. I touched her little chest and there I found the necklace on her neck with oil brought from the ossuary of the Holy Martyrs of Aiud, those who were tortured and killed for Christ in the communist prison of Aiud. In that oil, it was mixed also from other Martyrs from communist times, like Arsenie Boca, Ilie Lăcătușu, Constantin Sârbu, Radu Gyr, Ioan Ianolide.
In the first second, I tasted a small taste of the entire sorrow of the Elven race, a small taste of it, through the sorrow of the dead Elves around me, who rejoiced Hellishly that we, the living Elves present in here, shall be part of it soon. But not just from them, but also from the Earth itself, through the air around, through the water of this Earth, as all Elves, living and dead, share the same life in them, the life of Earth. Soon, it will become unbearable. My soul felt empty, dry, helpless, deserted to the sky and back again. And I knew I shall feel soon enough not just that, but from the stars and back.
In the next, I realized something that many of the Martyrs who suffered and died for Christ, and hundreds, if not thousands, many of them were Caterpillar Elves. The Elves race became extinct due to our fall in 2001, but due to our Martyrs, who most likely did not know they were Elves, we got a new chance. I started crying. I fell to the ground, kneeling, as I could not stand. Tears were flowing, turning me inside out. Artanis opened her small, sweet eyes, and peacefully looked at me, and she silently cried alongside me. I started to pray in a low voice at first, but gradually going louder:
”Lord, have mercy on us, your children from under the stars! We are unworthy of all your mercy, we deserted You, after you gave all Your great gifts. We were proud, ungrateful, cold and cruel. We forgot about You. Worthy were we of death. Yet, for the sake of those of us who loved You and truly resemble You, we are here again. We are still Your children, Lord, and you allowed us to live again. We can rise ourselves in resemblance to You, we can open our hearts to rise from this small piece of clay we are bound to, not being able to see your Heaven in this age, but we can bring it in our hearts, in our lives, we can bring You to live in us and become your living Icons as well.
At least, Lord, look upon those of us who are still clean and innocent, who just open their eyes in this wonderful place called Earth, so that they shall have a chance to become worthy of You and to intercede for the rest of us, living or dead, who went astray from you!
Cover us with Your almighty palm from the tar rain that comes over our frigid hearts and warm the ice in them, turning it into a warm and gentle sea, and hold us to your bosom, us who loved this piece of clay more than Your face in us, resting our sorrow that is greater than the depth of the Earth! Forgive me from daring to ask you all this, even those words are dirty and unworthy, forgive us all! But, dear Lord, something I truly know, that nothing of our evils can ever do can be greater than your unshored love for the most unworthy of us!”
My tears fell on Artanis, who cried tears filled with light, peace and sorrow, but a different sorrow than our dead kin around. My tears fell over hers and a faint, gentle peace touched my heart. Our mixed tears fell over the necklace with the holy oil. I opened it, took a bit of the oil and mixed it with our tears. This is what I felt I had to do. I started gently, then grew louder, as ”Lord have mercy on us, the sinners! Lord, give us your infinite love!” As I shouted the last word, I spread the mixture of tears and oil towards the Candles. Mom and Sidonia were down with me already, crying themselves. I signaled them to join their tears with my own and those of Artanis in my palm, united with holy oil. I spread this on Michael, he twitched like awaken from a nightmare, fell to the ground as well, and joined crying. I gathered his tears as well and started to spread this warm and faint peace over the Candles. The tears were small pieces from us, small pieces of us, sent to them, hoping, like against any hope, that a miracle we all need will happen through them.
A crushing silence came over us. I felt ready to accept my material demise, even my fate as one of the Candles, if God wanted to. Because I knew that, whatever He got for me, it was the best for me. If earthly Hell was for me, it meant that was the best place or state for me, since I was not able to accept and live Heaven. I looked at Artanis, without being able to say one more word, I prayed with a meek gesture for her and all the Elven children like her, that at least for them a new chance for life be given.
The dark storm around what they and we were part of, like got to a halt. It did not stop, but it was like suspended, remaining, somehow, in the background. The Candles were like under a cold shower, they were both alert and confused. In the next second, the ground before us felt like non-existing anymore, the abyss of being lost and forsaken went like a straight ice dagger through my heart. But I continued throwing tears and oil into all Elves around me, living and dead. And then I realized that I was held. Held in the palm of the One of whom I did not feel, but Who, nonetheless, held of us. Mom, Sidonia, Michael imitate me as well in throwing tears on us and the Elves around us.
The abyss underneath the physical ground our bodies still laid upon was silent. Waiting, like not daring to engulf us. The chanting of the Candles turned into a chaotic ramble that became louder, in order to save itself. Doina was the only one who kept chanting, even intensifying it, but without managing to keep the Candles in line. The void in our souls became a paradoxical sweetness, as I realized all four of us were ready for our end, as one of the Candles came out from the rest to us, with their sword taken out. The eyes of Doina, eyes of void, commanded the Candle silently to do something terrible my mind and heart could not fully comprehend, so that I can put in Human or Elven words.
The Candle looked at us. Then looked at Doina, moving their undead torso back and forwards, like with silent squeaks. I looked into their shiny, cold, silver eyes and I knew then. A new tear came in the flow, a tear just for this Candle. Just for my grandfather, who stood in front of me, returned from the grave, in bones that were not his. And I threw this one last tear into his chest. I felt mom, from behind me, did the same. Artanis smiled and we all were silent, except for Doina. Grandpa turned towards Doina, who yelled something indescribable. As she yelled, he looked into her eyes and plunged the sword in her chest.
The chant stopped. All the candles became, suddenly, silent. Doina opened her eyes and mouth wide, releasing streams of darkness, both visible and invisible darkness. Grandpa placed his left arm on Doina„s shoulder and removed the blade. She remained on her feet, shaking left and right, as a chasm opened inside her. Grandpa moved aside and let her fall to the ground, on her side, mostly face down. Doina twitched a bit, snorting silently, as her soul left the body. Terrible was the sight of her eyes, of her accursed, broken soul leaving the body. Such a deep darkness, one second if you see it and I guess your life would never be the same, even if you lived a hundred years on this world, even a thousand years, even until the end of the world.
Michael came to me and he snuggled at my chest, near Artanis. I put my arm over him as well, as he stared into his dying mother„s eyes as well. We could not cry anymore, no one of us. Mom and Sidonia embraced me from behind. Only a few seconds before Doina„s soul finally left, I no longer saw the accursed enemy, the accursed and abominable enemy she was. I saw an Elf, just like us, a soul who lost her way, a soul for whom Christ died, just like for us. A soul whom Christ loves more than any of us is able to love Him. Her gaze became frozen in place, and her right hand gave one last twitch and then nothing.
A faint rain came over all of us. I looked up at grandpa, in his undead eyes. I felt again the ocean of sorrow I felt before, but this time I felt it differently. I could not let myself perceive fully, of course, that would have ruined me on the spot. But I was also able, somehow, to feel, like feeling a grain of sand under a mountain, his love for us.
The light of a lonely star shone upon us. A moment like a century. Our souls spoke to each other. I was overwhelmed, but calm. The cold shine of his eyes became warm and gentle. I knew this would not last forever but it was real then. I smiled and Artanis smiled with me. The Candles around stood still. But it would not last, one of them gave a shriek-like sound, another responded and they started coming towards us, with their swords out. I could see now each sword had symbols inscribed on it, I could not recognize anything.
Other Candles responded, and grandpa turned to them. Soon enough, it turned into a turmoil among them, and they drew their swords one by one. Most of them came towards grandpa, but not all. They started turning one against each other. Those who stayed put attacked first, stabbing the others whenever they could reach.
A twister of boiling anger and bitterness took over the surroundings and I think for most of you just this would freeze your mind solid. I jumped on my feet, taking Michael with me up. Something kept me surprisingly detached, I looked around, mom, Michael and Sidonia seemed to be the same. Grandpa roared, stabbing two Candles around him, who backed down. The way was clear, but only for a few seconds. We did not realize it, grandpa came to me, grabbed my shoulder (It felt cold and heavy, as it would be when a Candle touches you.) and pushed me towards the exit. I obeyed, as he took mom and did the same. Michael and Sidonia reacted on their own and we ran outside the trees.
After a few meters, I stopped and turned around. Grandpa looked at us, while other Candles came in his back. I think he tried to tell us: ”Run!” He received several blades in his front and back, the fumes of destruction came out of his undead body, enveloping it in white mist. I started running again, not before seeing the light in his eyes going down.
”Stop!” I shouted at the others. They stopped and came near me. The fight in the trees was coming to an end, as all the Candles who turned against the majority were almost completely terminated. From the tower, a column of darkness reached the sky. From it, tentacles of darkness came out in the air around, some of them being able to reach us, they were this big, and the tower was less than a kilometer away. Being out from the immediate reach of the Candles, I could feel the poison of the tower inside the ground and the air. Going to the road would mean exposing ourselves to the eyes of the tower. We looked at each other and sobbed.
”Poor little souls!” I heard the voice of Helena. She came to us, with her black wings opened. It was the second time I saw them. We ran to her and she embraced us, covering all of us with her wings and her dark love. Just in time, an explosion similar to the one I felt earlier, in the car, came out and, without the protection of Helena, we may have been even crushed, mentally. For less than a second, the sky became saturated with what felt to be blinding darkness. We fell to the ground, screaming, as Helena barely kept us in one place and going around like balls.
As it dissipated, Helena, pretty shaken herself, managed to get us up. I could see at a distance, a woman dressed in a suite, with magenta hair. The bullet hole was visible on the shoulder of Irene Sanderson, and the makeup was removed. I could see the Clown patterns on her face. You see, the Vampires of Helena„s kind have Clown patterns on their face, as part of their skin coloring. Sanderson was not any type of Vampire, it was one of the Clowns, like Helena herself. Each of them has their own color pattern, unique in the world, but the pattern of the two Clowns was similar. Sanderson came towards us, looking into the eyes of Helena, who whispered:
”I was almost sure it was her all along. I felt it since last year. Filthy traitor!” Sanderson came closer, but stopped. She had the same empty darkness Doina had in her eyes, the same greedy hatred. Helena looked at Sanderson and raised her right arm towards Sanderson, like threatening her. Sanderson raised her left arm as well, but sideways, doing some gestures I could not comprehend. She also opened her mouth, saying some words we could hear, due to the distance and noise. Candles started exiting the forest, at least a dozen, if not more, it could not count.
”Coward! She does not dare to face all of us together!” said Helena. ”She relies on them to do her dirty work. Come on, we need to get rid of the Enemy the two scumbags opened the door to. This means to bring down the tower as fast as possible. We can deal with the two later.” ”Mom is dead,” said Michael. Helena looked at him with sorrow and caressed his forehead with her wings. She whispered gently: ”No time for mourning now. We need to stop the Enemy. He is angry already, probably, since Doina is gone. If we go back, we need to face the Candles. We can bring one or two down with those guns, but not all. If we go forward, beyond the trees, we shall be naked in front of the tower. Now or never. Take a deep breath, we have done similar things before, albeit not on this scale.”
We looked terrified back and forward. I knew Helena’s plan of action. I was not supposed to be part of it, but he had done similar things and witnessed the training she did with mom, Michael and Sidonia. I knew the principles too well. Yet, I needed to be calm and time to get things out of me, and the other Elves even more than me. And now it was a question of seconds, we needed a few minutes. And the others knew it as well. Their faces turned grim, as death and maybe more than it was at hand. I hold Artanis at my chest.
”Come on, don’t look at me like that!” Helena went on.” Calm down, I know it is hard, do not think, it shall crush you, as I already see it. Be as calm as you can, but also as present as you can. If they kill our bodies, our souls will be free and in Heaven with The Lord soon. All of us.” She looked at me with love, at me and Artanis. ”But what if they take our souls down as well?” I answered, knowing that, if we were caught alive, they may achieve this on all of us. ”Regardless, we need to do it. If we do not do it, we shall at least die or worse. But, if we do it, at least we have a chance. If it were only us, perhaps who could have chosen death. But Artanis is with us. Come on. ” she finally said, looking at us and we felt the love of God and felt refreshed.
Helena started the prayer hastily: ”O Heavenly King, Comforter, the Spirit of Truth, Who art everywhere present and fillest all things, the Treasury of good things and Giver of life: Come, and abide in us, and cleanse us from every stain, and save our souls, O Good One! Lord Jesus Christ, hold us in your arms, as we pass into the fire! Mother of God, cover us with your veil!” We started our gestures of communion, to get our powers joined, to commune our magic. A natural process for magical beings like us (even if the process was discovered by Helena, me, then the rest) but, like any natural process, we knew too well that, without a mystical component, without the grace of God, it would all be helpless. It was like a game of ball passing, but of balls not of physical matter.
We started feeling a bit relaxed, for a few seconds, as a cool breeze of wind came over us, breaking a bit the thickness of the liquid around us. Sanderson started chanting, and the Candles with her. It felt very much like before, but not so intense, because they were further away, but it got stronger, as they came towards us. The Candles moved into some sort of formation, not coming very close at first, but encircling us. Helena said: ”Keep the Jesus Prayer in your minds as much as you can. Soon enough, the Enemy shall reveal themselves even more, you know very well that you need to keep your eyes closed. I shall do my best to cover us but this may be too little in itself. Remember the codes we established.”
A giant line of darkness came out of the tower, visible behind the trees, replacing the old one. It reached the sky. The black beams of the signal started to spin faster and faster, around the tower (in itself non visible from in here), forming some sort of black tornado that generated a storm that expanded far beyond the tornado itself, engulfing a pretty large area, including us. The trembling that was felt underneath our feet seemed from the two beams turned into some sort of spinning of the ground according to the spinning column of darkness around the tower and above it. Probably the ground itself was not spinning physically yet, I think.
I said: ”That looks like a Cone, like one of those entities that attacked us last year, doesn’t it?” I asked Helena. ”Exactly, only larger and stronger. It uses the tower like a body, like they are embodied in it. If it moves away from there, it will get weaker and if it strays out too far away, it fades completely.” she replied. Michael added: ”That is Mr. Breeze. Mr. Breeze embodied.”
The Candles gathered around us, chanting, in circles. Sanderson remained at a distance. I could not shake the perception of being not in the reality of everyday life, but in another plane of existence, a terrible one, where the everyday one faded, being replaced by something else. Something from below, faster and faster, as the spin of the twister, felt like sinking us in. One of the tentacles that shook around from the column of darkness hit the ground close to us. Both us and the Candles were startled, one direct hit would have smashed anybody, living or dead. The tentacles seemed to be looking something towards the area where we were.
Mom shook and her scars on her temples started to bleed out. Helena and I looked at her, as she was not breathing too easily. ”Ok, let’s finish this off now.” mom said. ”Do we start it?” ”We are.” I said. ”We are.” said Helena as well. Helena took up her invisible shield and we supported it without energy. We did not know how much it would work against the Candles, probably not much, but we had to. We held our hand, as we all kneeled, facing the tower from beyond the trees. The air around turned into a storm. We closed our eyes, concentrating on the tower. We could perceive over our closed eyelids the contour of emitters, surrounded by some sort of black mist, like a blurred out x-ray image. But more like imagination projection, only somewhat similar to what mom experienced when she was tortured at the Securitate, 34 years ago.
It was a communication tower, but also not. There were the main antennas, but were like part of a face. A very twisted face, no clear correspondence of mouth, nose or eyes. But, somehow, it was a face. And it looked with greedy ferocity for us. And it spoke things we could not understand, but they felt terrible and giant.
The ”ghost object” powers of Helena allowed her to create ”ghost objects” from telekinesis, and we would amplify her power. We had codes. Helena raised her arms in the aer and shouted: ”On my mark! A35!” This meant projecting a big boulder to the center of the main antenna ensemble, akin to hitting the enemy on the head. It was really hard to do it. Helena did the main thing, we only supported, as the main power and direction were on her, as Full Vampire, us being Caterpillar Elves. And, besides, most likely, even if we were Full Elves, she would still have been the backbone of the thing, anyway. The boulder did not go too fast, it was like dragging.
It hit the tower not in the center, how we wanted, but sideways. A roar like a thunder was felt immediately, the Enemy knew where we were and what we were doing. The Candles were only a few meters away. We could feel the mouth of the Enemy being opened towards us like a black hole and starting to pull us in, taking energy from us piece by piece. The power was felt to the marrow of our bones, in the center of our heads, it was like it was attempting to get, if possible, the soul out of our bodies. An incredibly dark and immense abyss tried to suck our lives out, like a vacuum from Hell.
The voices of the Candles brough like behind them, a choir of disembodied similar voices, a huge crowd, of stoned despair of not being able to accept the light, or kindness, or love, hating them when they met them, bot also still longing for them and, precisely for not having them, hating them more. It felt like drying out any hope and life from me.
”It did hit well!” shouted Helena. ”One more time!” We proceeded again. It hit better this time, but it did not manage to do much, it broke. This made the uproar even stronger. Sidonia managed to say: ”We can try to make giant hailstones. And hit from above.” It made sense, since she was a Mermaid. ”Ok then.” said Helena. ”Four on each side. If they hit well, we melt them. Then, we try to maintain them, and make another round, then another, if I feel capable, and not let the Enemy gain his composure. 3, 2,1 go!”
The Candles were a meter away. The first hailstones hit the upper sides of the antennas. At least one of them managed to hit big, an explosion, followed by what I think was a shriek of pain and the sensation of us starting to spin around, falling into a freezing lake of dryness of heart and hopelessness, similar to what the choir behind the Candles showed. But, as we were still on the surface, Helena managed, with our help, especially of Sidonia, to keep the hailstones in existence and not just that, but also melt them. Small explosions and shrieks of pain came from the tower. Helena did not let us let go, she held us with her mind and a new set of hailstones, smaller than the first, came and melted into the antennas. Then a third, melted as well.
Candles reached us. For some reason or the other, they did not try to stab us, but placed their hands on our shoulders, we could feel them through the clothes. They tried to break our bonds. The immensity of their inner damnation wanted to get inside us, we resisted. Inside all the uproar, I could still have an idea, so I screamed: ”The hand! The hand on it!” After a second that felt like neverending, I heard Helena answering: ”Ok, right now we grab him by the head!” Helena projected a giant ”ghost” arm over the antennas of the tower, and we supported her, as usual. The Candles tried to move us, they almost succeeded, piercing the shield in places.
It was excruciatingly hard to hold the ”hand” into existence and to grab the tower. If I wouldn’t have had the Jesus Prayer said in my heart, my mind would have crashed under its own wait, turned into mush. It was one crucial second, one, when we all felt that it would be impossible and it is over. Already our hearts were overwhelmed but the icon of Christ over the naos of the church of Saint George from Mogoșoaia came to our minds. We silently prayed one more time. A discrete power came over us only for that second and the ”hand” caused the explosion in the main antenna.
The Enemy screamed from the sky and back. Part of his mental deafening scream came to us. The Candles started shaking, when they saw their master mortality hit and took their hands from us. We managed to repair the shield, as the Enemy was like the shaking victim of a fire squad who had just received a bullet to the heart and now was falling to the ground. Part of me felt doomed, yet another felt uplifted. We held each close, like a ball of people, to the ground, as we retreated inside the shield. We heard the antenna falling to the ground, as the movement and the vibrations we fell around became chaotic.
As the main antennas were down, another explosion broke the tower itself. Another scream of our Hellish enemy, the tower fell over the house, one last explosion that came over us, the last howl of the Enemy as he fell into the abyss he came from, the shockwave almost made us break the bound, but we did not. The Candles screamed, as they went ablaze, then they went silent and their bodies fell to the ground.
Silence. Fire and desolation near us. But we felt like we were on Earth again. And alive. The trees caught fire, the house of Doina was on fire as well. The presence of Hell and suddenly, we felt on Earth once again, and it was like we were at the gates of Heaven. I looked at Artanis, who opened her eyes, sat on my knees and said in a whisper: ”Praised be The Lord! Thank you Lord, I promise we shall fight that you be proud of your children from under the stars” The stars gently caressed us with their light.
As we got to our feet, we hugged and started jumping with joy and cheering. Except for Michael, who was still grim, but we hugged us too. I saw one last time Irene Sanderson as she turned her back on us and went away.
Artanis fell sweetly asleep but then, at a small sound of Michael coughing she woke up and started crying. I had to breastfeed her, because it was about time.
This is it. I hope that, in the next few days, someone will take the time to explain how the rest of the night went on and the next few days. But I’m too tired now, it’s a very hard time.
Take care, my fellow Elves, I embrace every one of you. Take care of you and your loved ones.
God bless!
Sophie
Update Part 11