Falling Leaves II, Part Eight

Editor's note:This week we are running the serial story, Falling Leaves II. If you missed Part One, you can find it here:http://www.DailyWisdom.com/2001/11/12/

It is autumn. The forest leaves have begun their whirling dance to the earth's floor. Barren branches etch thin black lines against the lavender blue dusk of the star filled sky. The castle with its many, multi leveled minarets stand stark in silhouette, its shapes penetrating the fabric of space. Its gray stones jutting up from the ground as though it had commenced from under its soil. Medieval gravestones dot the ground to the right. The mist, like fallen clouds drape their vapor, connecting the burial markers, unable to escape, they lay tethered to its stone companions. The sea slapping against the cliffs far below whispers its secrets to the wind.

Walking up the steps to the door, our invited guests arrive. There are many people dressed in seventeenth century costumes with masks. Alec is a pirate and Rebecca is his wench, figures she thinks.

The host and hostess meet Alec and the group at the door, they know him.

"Alec I see you're still a pirate! Come in my friend!" Baron Von Daek puts his arm around Alec's shoulder. "Since you will be staying for a few days. I have some interesting maps to show you. You still have an interest right?"

"Always! Meet my friends. This is Rebecca, Thomas and James. They're archeologists researching my latest project."

"Look at you darling aren't you lovely. We have your rooms all set up, Ramon, get their things from the car." The Baroness looks at Rebecca, "My dear, we have a Psychic for the evening. You must try her. Now Alec you have to give me your first dance dear so we can catch up on all the latestŠ"

Alec and the Baroness leave.

Rebecca and her Father go to the banquet table. Dennis walks up and the Baron nods to him.

There is a person in an animal mask and costume watching our group. He leaves the main floor and goes into another room where he opens a door and descends a staircase, then he comes to another door, he opens it and enters, as he does this he goes through a barrier. He is now in the spirit world in the palace of darkness. Satan is on his throne.

Baal walks into the presence of his master. "May I speak to you my master?"

"Ah Baal, my faithful servant." Satan lifts his scepter. "I am glad you came. What have you to report?"

"Soon the spirits in bondage will be released. Are they ready?"

"More than."

"Can I help you?"

"Only if you can push the time away."

"I have done all I could."

"We are getting stronger. People are adding to my kingdom and they don't even know it. It so amuses me. I know that with all that energy we will not fail. Hate is a powerful force it will prevail. Even if I do burn, I will certainly enjoy a momentum of satisfaction in my heart knowing that his beloved people, the ones he loved so much he gave his son, will too. Even if they don't worship me now, they will one day. I will make him sorry. Stupid people! Don't they know why we try so hard to get them! To stupid to see we are the evil in the world."

"Like yes, we just like you and we don't want to punish you because we hate God. And when we get you we are going to change our ways and be nice! Wonder how they will feel when they are forced to worship us!" Baal laughs. "Forced to live in our world. Why would we, even if we knew how, be kind to the creatures that took our place? When we have such a lovely opportunity to hurt him with our torture to His children. What makes them think we have any sympathy to man. Isn't it amazing how people will believe everything but the truth?"

"What can I say? Men have always been so easy to fool. You have to laugh…I know God finds this whole situation difficult. He can't just effortlessly do it. I'm sure he won't find it easy to dump all of these people in a lake of fire... If he puts me there he'll have to place them in the same spot…All the chosen people that don't believe…" Satan comes out of his reminiscing. "Why are you here?"

"An interesting situation has arisen in my region. There is this woman," Baal looks puzzled, "she's making some very interesting guesses... they could be a problem for us."

"A woman? She has no power, not in your region. What's up?"

"This is an American woman an archeologists. She's up at the party now. Actually she's made some revelations that she couldn't have made without divine intervention."

"Put someone on her."

"Well, of course I have. I just thought you would want to know."

"Thank you."

"Let's go into the fortuneteller," Thomas leads his daughter on the dance floor. "Lets see if she can tell us what we will find on this expedition."

"Okay," Rebecca doesn't know any better. They walk over to a side room and sit on a couch. Some people come out of an adjacent room laughing.

It's a man and woman, "So you were once a Sultan and I was your slave girl, Hee, hee."

A woman comes to the front and leads them to the back room. The room is in darkness except for a lamp emitting a pale green glow, standing on a table in the center. Thin multi colored satin drapes the furniture. Wafts of burning incense weave a scented trail.

The physic sits down and motions for the two to sit. She picks up some tarot cards. When she does a spirit in mist appears above her. A spirit face in mist appears above the two visitors too. The mist face over Rebecca and Thomas and the one over the seer talk to each other in moans and whispers then the spirit face over the seer engulfs her face and seems to whisper in her ear. The physic begins to speak, "You have come for information concerning your work. You are father and daughter? Right? You look for old things," she listens.

"Your archeologists." "Yes, we are," Thomas looks surprised. "Can you tell us if we will be successful or not?"

"Will I find what I am looking for?" Rebecca seems skeptical.

The mist whispers in the seer's ear. She lays out the cards and seems disturbed. "I think you are trying to disturb things that are best left alone. I feel that if you continue in the things you are doing you are in grave danger. There are forces working against you that you are unaware of, they seek to cause you great harm."

"Are these forces spirit or flesh?" Thomas remembers his daughter's vision.

"Both."Now a different spirit comes into the room. It talks to the other two there. It says in the spirit world where the humans cannot hear. "She is dangerous. Make her ours or destroy her," when it says that we see Rebecca shiver.

The seer's spirit whispers in her ear. It says, "Tell her we can help her.""But my master wants to help you. If you pray to him he will hear you pleas and free you from this curse."

"Who is your master?" Rebecca is still shivering.

"The Great Spirit Baala. I have power with him and for a fee I will pray for you and he will listen to me.

"What is the cost?" Thomas questions.

"No Daddy." We will take our chances. We will pray to our master," she gets up to leave.

"But Becky she knows everything!"

"Yes," Daddy but how does she know?"

As they leave the spirit enters the Seer, she stands up and says in a man's voice. "You will die and we want8 you to!1ff8 Your God cannot help you!"

"Then why do you warn me? To make me believe, so with that faith you can? Rebecca grabs her Fathers hand.

They're others waiting to go in. They watch the two hurry off with baffled faces.

The masquerade Ball continues.

Alec takes Rebecca's hand and they begin to dance. "Oh, by the way." He reaches into his pocket and hands her some earrings. They are several little gold leaves on drop chains. "Here, I wanted to give these to you."

"Oh Alec, where did you get these?"

"They're from my collection, there quite old."

"I can't take these..." the gold sparkles in her eyes. Thank you, I love them."

Ray walks into the room and goes over to the banquet table. He turns around and waves to the others, they can see he has a nose ring and a thick gold band on top of his head encircling a topknot. He eyes the female guests, bolstered with confidence.

Dennis looks around and goes to the entryway, he ascends the stairs. He enters Rebecca's room and begins looking through her things.

Rebecca goes to Ramon. He leads her up the stairs to her room. Dennis is rifling through her things. She gets closer. He is still looking. She's at the door, she opens the door, and he is gone. She goes to the closet and gets her box and opens it. She hears a noise in the back of the closet. She sweeps away the clothes and discovers an inch gap between the floor and the wall. She kneels down and peers under. There is a light shining between the gaps. She sees two black booted feet with buckles on the top. She raises back up and has an odd look on her face.

"Is there someone spying on me?" She notices the wall wiggles unstable it is just ply board. She pulls at it and it gives way. Now the light is gone. She gets a candlestick from the table and goes back to the opening. Cobwebs net the old pictures hanging on the wall, odd paintings of strange statues and snakes. Dust covers the old wooden carved furnishings, along the edges.

"Who was in here and right next to my room? Alec has on boots with buckles. Okay Alec this isn't funny."

She follows the small dark hallway to a staircase; leading downward she descends deeper into the bowels of the castle. Finally the staircase opens into a railing that overlooks a huge room. It looks like an old throne room. In the center of the room is dominated by a tree, very old and withered. There are piles of fallen leaves lying all around it. The fruit hanging on the limbs seems petrified.

"How strange," she picks one off.

"Hello beautiful, where did you come from?"

"Well, I might ask you the same thing. Who are you?"

"Well, you might say I'm the reason you're in this mess. Did you come to follow me?" A man walks out of the shadows. He has on a red half mask. He is dressed in white, with a red cape.

"Really what mess is that? I thought you were someone else," Rebecca starts to turn around. "We're you spying on me? I heard a noise in my closet."

"I'm just lost, don't be afraid. If you're hungry I wouldn't suggest eating that, looks dead."

"Well, I'd have to agree. I can't believe it's here, looks petrified."

"Yes, it's very old. Do you have an interest in old things?"

"As a matter of fact I do."

"You must be the archeologist staying with the Baron and Baroness."

"Yes, I am. Did they mention me?"

"So you are looking for the bones of Adam and Eve?"

"How do you know that? Do you know Alec?"

"Yes, I do. I know a lot of people. Tell me, what would you do with these bones if you found them? Prove there is a God?"

"I guess it would prove something. Prove that part of history is true. My work is finding the truth in the past. We have a right to know the past."

"Some people think that just because they don't want to participate in a belief system that it's properties won't apply to them, the man smiles."

"If they don't want to play that game then they don't have too? Rebecca responds."

"What do you believe?"

"I think that the truth is still the truth even if you don't know it. Some people don't believe there is a God at all, my Father doesn't."

"Excuse me for saying so but, only an idiot would deny the existence of a higher source. It's just which higher source is the right one to worship."

"What do you mean? Which god? We can only have one creator of the human race. And obviously we should worship the one who created us. Isn't that the whole idea of worship? Thanking someone for what they've done for you. I don't think the one who created us had help."

The man looks really bewildered or shocked at this answer. "Maybe people should be given the choice of whom they would serve?"

"Why wouldn't people want to serve the glory, the high most King?

"I'm sure they want to serve the most high King."

"If your talking about who I think your talking about, why would people want to serve a fallen creature?"

"Maybe some people don't think he's fallen."

"You mean, 'The don't play that game thing?' In essence he is fallen."

"Maybe only from a place he didn't like, a place that didn't understand his needs."

"Needs? What needs could one have that heaven could not provide?"

"Heaven, heaven," the man shakes his head, "yes, heaven has a reputation."

"So does hell," Rebecca narrows her eyes.

"Yes, so does hell. One all good, one all bad. Why does it have to be that way?"

"You're talking about good or evil, right?"

"Yes, good and evil, which is best?"

"This place has some of each. It isn't working."

"Working or not, some people don't like being told what to do."

"Your right, people should have the right to choose on their own. But in order to make an intelligent choice they should have the facts."

"Don't you think there is a different wisdom from each or a different prize?" The man holds out his two hands making fists. "Pick one."

She looks at this man suddenly aware of what he may be. "Wisdom? Maybe if I ate this I'd be wiser?" She looks at him, holding the fruit up. "How can you give a prize if you don't possess one? Tell me... if the Devil did exist do you think he would still be in the garden?"

He looks long and hard at Rebecca. "I would think so... from time to time."

"Protecting the evil tree or the tree of life?"

"It would be his."

"Only temporarily."

"If that were the tree of life, I'm afraid all the life is gone out of it," the man kicks at the leaves on the floor. "But, it was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil that was supposed to make you wiser."

"And indeed it did, after all," Rebecca backs up.

"Well, no more fruit for you. I see you made good use of your wisdom."

"It did come at such a high price."

"Maybe higher than you think."

"I'm still willing to pay for the consequences of my mistakes. I wonder if all are?"

He stares at Rebecca then smiles. "Do you know what this room is, Rebecca?" He walks across the floor to the raised platform of the throne; he swings his cape and sits on the seat. "It is the throne room of an ancient king. Do you know how someone gets to be the king?"

"He's born into it?"

"I mean the first king."

"Others either choose him or he's stronger than the others."

"Either way wouldn't he be worthy of praise?"

"His works should be examined and if he were good he would be worthy of praise and adoration."

"But if he is stronger than the others by that alone shouldn't he be praised?"

"Only a bad king would have to get their kingship by being stronger than others."

"A king is still a king. And a God is still a God."

"Is he?"

8 "65aIf there were elections today for the Prince of Darkness do you think all would agree? The man tilts his chin up. "Do you think Lucifer would win?"

"In his current situation do you think he would still want to?"

"What is it that you have in your box?" He looks at the blue box in her hand.

"Nothing."

"Really, isn't there?

"Nothing I need to worry about. It's only a dot, a gray dot."

"Small spots can grow."

"Only if there fed."

"Eve wasn't the only one to be hungry."

"I would never feed it, Rebecca continues."

"Wouldn't you? You might feed it and not know," the stranger answers.

"Excuse me but may I ask your name?"

"My name is not important."

"Well, You know my name."

"I think you know my name too... don't you, Rebecca?"

"Well, women do have a particular intuition, a certain knowledge of good and evil... maybe the privilege of the most potent first bite?" Rebecca holds up the fruit and pretends to take a bite.

"Maybe so, maybe a privilege that could get her a serpents bite."

"Or a privilege that protects her from it."

"If she sees it coming."

"I can see it."

"Really? You came down here?"

"Maybe that's why I came. I am on a search."

"You may not like what you find."

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Contributed by Marjeana Martin
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