Apotheosis

The Land of Nod once was the sole domain of Adam and Eve’s son, Cain. Cain was the first murderer, and his brother Abel was the first murder victim. After he committed his crime, Cain was exiled into the Land of Nod, where he was doomed to wander forever, haunted by his part in the death of his innocent brother.

This, of course, is a load of complete and utter bullshit.

The story of Cain and Abel is just a story, but as we have already seen, stories can be quite powerful in the realms of the After. A Theo named Cain did wander in the Land of Nod, but only because he has been created by the collective imagination of mortals. He, himself, had no ill will towards his brother, and he often wondered why he received so much animosity from the mortals. He was a Theo burdened by the amount of hate and disgust from humankind. One day, the burden became so great that he finally slipped into infamy, a punishment which Cain did not fully understand. Cain is perhaps the only Theo in infamy who has done nothing wrong.

Now, the Land of Nod lies empty of Theos. It has become the realm of dreams. It is that state in between the waking and sleeping worlds that all mortals visit in those late hours of the night when they realize that they are asleep, yet someplace else.

No Theo has visited the Land of Nod since Cain’s sudden departure into infamy so long ago. No Theo until Dr. John Watson inadvertently popped himself and Becca into it.

Suddenly, all the people asleep in the world at that very moment receive a collective image of Dr. Watson and Becca in their dreams. Most people won’t even remember this happening, but a few will recount the weird night when they dreamed they saw Dr. Watson, you know, the Sherlock Holmes sidekick guy, holding hands with a pretty young woman. Therapists will have wonderful times trying to find the symbolism in that image.

Right now, Watson and Becca aren’t worried about the hundreds of hours of therapy they have mistakenly caused. Right now, Watson and Becca are still recovering from being attacked by a swarm of locusts.

Becca sits on the uneven ground and picks up a handful of dirt. No, not dirt. Becca runs it through her fingers. It’s sand. The entire Land of Nod is a desert filled with bright yellow sand. “Where are we?”

“I took us to the only place I knew where a mortal could keep their body in the After,” Watson replied as he sat down next to Becca. “This is the Land of Nod, the realm of mortal dreams.”

“So, why didn’t we need a node?” Becca asks, rubbing her hands together to clean them of the sand which clung to them.

“This area isn’t readily accessible to Theos of the After,” Watson says. “Like I said, it’s a mortal realm. I just thought we’d be safe here. We might encounter a nightmare or two but other than that, I think we’ll be alright if we just stay put.”

“A nightmare?” Becca glances around.

“Yes, a manifestation of a mortal’s bad dream. Every dream and nightmare gets created and destroyed in this very realm,” Watson says. “I’ve never personally been here before, but I’ve learnt enough as a Theo that I think we’ll be fine. There’s only one problem.”

“Which is?”

“I have no idea how to leave this place,” Watson confesses. “There aren’t any nodes in the Land of Nod because no Theos have been in here since Cain left.”

Becca glares hard at Watson. “You mean we’re stuck here? Forever?”

“At the moment!” Watson says, holding his hand up. “At the moment, we’re stuck here, but I’m sure someone will come and rescue us. Sooner or later.”

“Great,” Becca sighs as she gets up. “Just perfect. I’m stuck in the land of dreams after getting chased out of my own apartment by a plague of locusts. What’s next?”

“If I hadn’t gotten us out of your apartment, they would have sent something to kill you!” Watson exclaims. “That locust swarm was just a warning of things to come. Right now, on Earth, other signs must be popping up everywhere. Rivers of blood, earthquakes, meteor showers. They’re all forbringers of the biggest evil the universe has ever known. There’s something about you, Becca, you in particular that they want destroyed. I’m not sure why. I’m not sure anyone knows why you must be killed. But, we’re safe from their influence here, for now. Nothing in this realm can harm you permanently.”

“Okay, so we’re supposed to wait for some sort of rescue party to come and find us and take us back?” Becca crosses her arms.

Watson nods. “Hopefully they’ll be powerful enough Theos so that we’ll be able to spirit out of here and back to the regular realms.”

***

“We’re lost, aren’t we?”

“We’re not lost, Ron, don’t be a dolt!” Hermione sighs. “Harry knows where we’re going. Don’t you Harry?”

Harry is silent. He’s actively trying to remember the way back to Eden’s gates, when he spots them from quite far away. “There!” He takes off running towards the gates.

“Hey, Harry! Wait!” Ron runs after Harry, Hermione taking off as well.

“Gabriel!” Harry shouts at the top of his lungs. That is, if he had lungs in the After he’d be shouting at the top of his lungs. “Gabriel!”

The angel stops leaning on his sword and stands upright. His wings snap to rigid attention as well. “Oh, Harry. You’re back. Hey! You brought your friends!” He waves in the direction of Ron and Hermione. “Heya, I’m Gabriel, guardian of the gates of Eden. Of course, I know who you two are.” He gives Hermione a saucy wink. “What brings you back here? Don’t you know the Apocalypse is going on?”

Harry’s eyes widen. “It is?”

Gabriel nods. “Yeah. You three can see for yourselves.” He fishes out his portable television from out of the pocket of his robes and clicks it to CNN. The Trio gathers around the small screen as Gabriel holds the TV up to their faces.

The images of horror displayed on the screen are devestating. Some of the populated regions of the world have already been destroyed by earthquakes and floods. Millions of people struck dead. No one on Earth understands why.

“No one on Earth wants to admit that this is a good old-fashioned Apocalypse going on,” Gabriel explains. “Scientists are trying to blam all sorts of natural phenomena instead. Global warming, El Nino, the Gulf Stream, solar flares, you name it. No one realizes that this the end of the world.” He shrugs sadly and clicks the television off.

“You mean we’re too late?” Hermione says. “And we came all this way!”

“Yeah, why did you come back here? Was it to talk with Caius?” Gabriel points to a small shack in the distance. “He’s on break.”

“No, it’s not to talk with Caius,” Harry says quickly. “Is there anything we can still do to stop the complete annihilation of the universe?”

Gabriel shrugs his shoulders again. “Not that I know of, but then again, I’m not really up on my apocalyptic terminology. The really sad thing is, all those dead people? For some weird reason, they’re not being accepted into the After. It’s strange. It’s like there’s no more room for them here. Can you imagine? No more room in the After!”

“Yeah, that is strange,” Harry murmurs. “Anyway, there’s a reason we came here. Would you happen to know where the Land of Nod is?”

“The Land of Nod? It’s directly east of here, but why would you want to go there?” Gabriel asks. “There’s nothing there to see. Just mortal dreams, and you might think that mortal dreams are exciting things, but really, heh, they’re not. Some of the nightmares are, but they always disappear before you can get a really close look at them. Dreams are really fragile things. Even if you just look at them funny, they’ll fall completely apart.”

“Yes, well, Eve told us that we’re to fetch some people. Watson and Becca,” Hermione says.

“Oh, them!” Gabriel grins. “Now that’s an interesting pair. Oh, yeah, they’re in the Land of Nod too. Awaiting the day when powerful enough Theos arrive in the Land of Nod to rescue them. Ah, you must be the powerful Theos. Hey, great job! Only, you two,” he points to Ron and Hermione. “You haven’t even begun to tap into your full potential yet. You’d better give both of them a crash course in channeling Theo power, Harry. They might need it.”

“How do you know so much about us? About everything?” Ron asks, casting a suspicious eye on Gabriel.

“Hey, kid, hello. I’m an angel,” Gabriel says, pointing sharply at the wings on his back. “Being an angel is really boring work. We do all the menial labor in the After. Why? Because we don’t complain, much, that’s why. We do a lot of watching in our spare time. Why do you think so many of us have little portable televisions? It’s because we love watching stuff, especially mortals. We’ve got a sixth sense about what’s going on, and we can’t do a thing about it because of that silly non-interference rule.”

“So, do you think we’re too late to save the world?” Harry asks.

“Don’t ask me, I just work here,” Gabriel says. “I tell you what, though. The After’s not going down yet, so there still might be a chance. Especially since no recently-freed souls haven’t been able to get up here.”

“That’s all I needed to know, thanks Gabriel!” Harry signals to Ron and Hermione. “We’ve got to head to the Land of Nod, and I’ve got to teach you a bit about your power.”

Caius soon returns from his coffee break. “Who were those kids?” he asks, pointing to the three figures disappearing over the eastern horizon.

“Oh, just Harry and his two friends,” Gabriel shrugs.

“Still trying to stop the Apocalypse from happening, are they?” Caius says.

“Yeah.”

“You know, they’re too late for that. The infamous Theos are too strong.”

“Oh?” Gabriel raises an eyebrow at Caius. “How do you know? You’re no angel.”

“Yes, I know, but I am still quite observant,” Caius says. “And I was in infamy for quite a long time. What they’ve come up with, they’ve been planning since Lucifer’s Great Fall from Heaven.”

“Hey, Caius...”

Caius gives Gabriel a cold stare.

“Oh, alright,” Gabriel rolls his eyes. “Caligula, Lucifer’s Fall was just a story.”

“True, true,” Caius says, nodding. “But he’s still pretty pissed off at it.”

“He’s not,” Gabriel shook his head. “You’re not saying that he’s behind all of this end of the world business?”

“Oooooh. That would be telling, now, wouldn’t it?” Caius grins, taking his place at the gates. “I believe that it’s time for your break, Gabriel.”

“I don’t need a break, Caligula. I’m always at the gates, remember?”

“NOT FOR LONG!” Caius’ voice becomes deep and menacing. He holds up his hands and blasts Gabriel in the back with a burst of his power, knocking the angel face forward into the dirt.

Gabriel’s face is a mixture of shock and complete betrayal. “What?” He coughs, realizing that his wings, his beautiful wings, are aflame.

“Time to go,” Caius murmurs, shoving the angel out of the way. He flings the gates of Eden wide open.

“No....” Gabriel wheezes weakly. “You...can’t...”

“Oh, lighten up, Gabe!” Caius exclaims. “It’s just the end of the world!” Caius sharply kicks Gabriel in the head, and the angel loses consciousness. “Now, let’s see what this garden looks like.” Caius strides confidently through the gates and into Eden.

Posted by Michelle at November 23, 2002 8:22 AM