Redemption (Stand-Alone Spin-Off to Reaper Series)

  Redemption

  by

  G.P. BURDON

  All rights reserved; no part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.

  First published in the United States of America in 2015.

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  Copyright © 2015 G.P. Burdon

  All rights reserved.

  ISBN: 1517374316

  ISBN-13: 978-1517374310

  For the cheeky little

  Devil

  In all of us.

  1

  WELCOME BACK

  T

  he souls of the dead are tested and renewed after their time on Earth, rising from the pit to serve in the Garden, presided over by none other than Eve. Those who serve out their punishment, and truly repent, have earned the chance to prove themselves worthy of a second chance at life. To be reborn into the mortal world and lead a good life, with pure souls. The vast expanse of the Garden, stretching on for what seemed like forever, was full of souls. There were the souls who had just arrived, heading towards the giant apple tree, which glowed bright and gold as it led souls out of Purgatory. And there were the souls who tended the Garden, watering flowers, feeding birds, trimming bushes. They had served their penitence, and now was their time to prove themselves worthy of reincarnation. They all worked diligently, eager to make up for the mistakes of their lives, happy to be in the beauty and peace of the Garden.

  Whoooooooosh!

  A red and white blur sped through the air, rustling the leaves of trees and nearly knocking a few souls from their ladders as they trimmed branches. The souls glanced at the blur, but otherwise did not react. This was normal for them.

  Eve rocketed through the air, pitching left and right on her enormous red and white wings, swerving and dodging through the trees, the wind rushing over her, causing her unnaturally bright red hair to wave around wildly. Eve looked ahead, grinning, and saw a pair of large trees in her path, crossing over each other to form a misshapen X, as though the Garden was telling her to stop and go no farther. Ploughing on, Eve shot straight towards the trees. At the final moment before she was about to crash into the trunks, Eve folded her wings against her back and let herself shoot freely through the air. Spinning like a top, Eve shot through the gap between the trees, shouting a triumphant and exhilarated cry, then spread her wings once more and continued racing over the Garden.

  Glancing over her shoulder, she could just make out the pair of wings that belonged to her pursuer. They were doing better at keeping up than Eve had expected. Grinning mischievously, Eve turned her eyes forward again. Without warning, Eve flared her wings and shot straight down towards the ground, rocketing downward so fast that the wind was whistling over her red and white feathers. The perfectly green grass rushed up to meet her, but Eve pulled up before impact and skimmed along the surface of the ground. She still dodged and weaved between trees and plants, until she burst out of the cluster of trees and was in a large open field.

  Grazing in the field were several clusters of deer and horses, who looked up when Eve burst into their midst. As she sped directly towards them, some of the animals reared up in fright, and they all turned to gallop away, the sound of their hooves thundering on the ground. Eve glided into their midst, flying alongside a young brown stallion with a white mane. Eve reached out to the stallion and gently stroked its head, smiling as she ran her fingers through the animal’s soft and silky hair. Laughing with glee, Eve sped on and flew ahead of the herd, which peeled of to the left as they reached the end of the field. Eve shot back into the trees and continued swerving and rolling through the air, her eyes now set on the glowing gold light not far ahead.

  The Beacon. The enormous apple tree that was the final test of the deceased. When a soul made its way out of Purgatory by following the light emanating from the Beacon, which was so bright it could be seen from miles away, the soul would then face the temptation of countless glowing apples, all gold and glorious. If one resisted, they were allowed to be reborn. If one gave in to the temptation, however… then Tartarus would claim them.

  Tartarus, an ancient, powerful, and mysterious entity that seemed to be made up of nothing more than ethereal black smoke and water. Tartarus would claim the souls of those who had committed cruel and evil deeds in their lives and keep them within its depths, showing them the things that they had done, making them endure whatever cruelties they had inflicted on others in life. Once the soul had learned from its mistakes and truly repented, it would be free to join those in the Garden.

  As the Beacon grew closer and loomed above her, Eve pulled up and shot directly into the enormous branches above. The branches were so thick, you could park a station wagon on them and still have room to walk around the car. Eve flew straight up through the branches, ignoring the apples, her speed disturbing leaves as she shot by. Eve flew with all the speed she had in her, flapping her wings hard to keep pushing herself up and up and up, her flowing white dress billowing behind her.

  Finally, Eve burst out of the treetop and into the shining light of the sun, which seemed to shine directly down on top of her. Eve hovered in the air for a moment, her arms and wings spread wide and a big grin on her face, allowing the light of the sun to warm her. She then let herself gently float down on top of the nearest branch, which still allowed her a perfect view of the Garden for miles all around, and the snow-capped mountains far in the distance. Eve stood on the branch and folded her wings, still grinning, and then waited for her pursuer to finally catch up.

  Eve, daughter of Elohim, who much of humanity knew as God, was an Angel. A unique one, at that, with her long hair redder than any rose. Her wings were a mix of white and gleaming red, and her green eyes shone brightly with curiosity about the world, and the search of mischief she might be able to find in it. She looked to be roughly seventeen to nineteen years old, but being an immortal, her true age was actually in the millions of years. Her lips were almost as red as her hair, the hint of a cheeky smile always playing upon them. She wore a long white dress, looking as though she had just attended a debutante ball, but her feet were bare. She liked the feel of the wooden branch beneath her toes, enjoyed the sensation of grass under her soles when she walked. Whereas most other Angels wore shoes or sandals, Eve had no patience for them. So, gently rubbing her toes against the wood of the branch and enjoying the rough texture, Eve waited patiently, allowing the sun to warm her wings.

  A few moments later, another Angel who looked about sixteen years old, had pure white wings, and a long black ponytail, burst out of the top of the Beacon, though not as gracefully as Eve. She clipped her wing on a branch as she flew upward, uttering a brief cry of pain as she sent leaves flying in all directions, before quickly gliding down and landing beside Eve, panting, but smiling at Eve nonetheless.

  “You cheated!” the Angel accused.

  “Did not!” Eve laughed.

  “You did!” the Angel insisted. “You made the plants grow taller to slow me down, I know it.”

  “Plants grow, it’s what they do,” Eve shrugged, still grinning mischievously as she danced to another, smaller, branch. “I can’t help it if you don’t watch where you’re going, Ruhiel.”

  “Rematch?” Ruhiel suggested. “This time, I pick the course.”

  Eve laughed as she walked along the thin branch like it was a balance beam, her arms stretched outwards from her sides.

  “Another time. If you’re going to learn about the Garden, we’d better actually do some work.”

/>   Ruhiel nodded eagerly. She was younger than Eve, and as part of her education in Heaven, she was expected to learn about the reeducation of souls, which was Eve’s responsibility. Most Angels simply read about what Eve did, but Ruhiel had requested permission to actually get some hands-on experience with Eve. Something no other Angel had requested before. Eve had initially been surprised by the request, but had then happily accepted. With the Garden taking up so much of her time, she didn’t often get the opportunity to spend time with other Angels. She often got lonely in the Garden, away from her kind. As rewarding as she found her role in the universe, she still wished she was able to spend time with friends. What few she had.

  “Come on,” Eve said to Ruhiel, snapping out of her reverie. “Tartarus has released more souls today. We should go welcome them.”

  “Ooh, yes!” Ruhiel grinned.

  Giggling, Eve spread her wings and took off into the air, with Ruhiel following close behind. They soared into the sky and banked towards the East. Ruhiel sped up to fly by Eve’s side, looking excited at the prospect of seeing Eve at work. Eve tried to pretend she didn’t care about the attention Ruhiel gave her, but would be lying if she said she didn’t enjoy it.

  “Can I ask you a question?” Ruhiel asked, suddenly sounding hesitant and nervous.

  “Sure, go ahead,” Eve replied.

  “Well…” Ruhiel began, awkwardly. “My teachers told me that I was the first Angel who wanted to come here and learn about reincarnating the evil souls.”

  “Not evil,” Eve interrupted, smiling patiently. “They’re not evil. They just didn’t know better.”

  “Oh, okay, sorry,” Ruhiel said, blushing. “Well, I’m the first Angel to come here and learn from you, right?”

  “Yeah, you are.”

  “Can I ask why?” Ruhiel asked hesitantly. “I mean, this is kind of important work, right? Why wouldn’t anyone else care?”

  “Good question,” Eve said, looking sideways at Ruhiel as they soared over the treetops. “Believe it or not, I kind of have a bad reputation in Heaven.”

  “Why?” Ruhiel asked.

  Eve looked at her, surprised. “You don’t know? No one told you?”

  “Well, I kind of know,” Ruhiel said, still sounding uncomfortable. “I heard some people talking. But my parents like you. They were supportive of me coming here, but some of my friends… They say you’re… That you’re…”

  “The Devil?” Eve asked flatly, feeling the familiar anger inside begin to boil at the title.

  “Yeah,” Ruhiel said softly.

  Eve was quiet for a moment, swallowing her rage. She took a deep breath and slowly let it out, trying to calm herself.

  “I think you just answered your own question,” Eve finally said. “Like I said, I’ve got a bad reputation. And people, humans and Angels, have trouble letting go of things. I was young and foolish when I gave humanity knowledge, younger even than you. I thought I was helping. But it just led to disaster. Humanity nearly wiped itself out of existence, because of one mistake I made. So now, people call me… Devil.” Eve spat the word out as though it tasted foul on her tongue. Trying to sound nonchalant, Eve shrugged and continued. “So that’s why no one else has come here. No one wants to be near the Angel who nearly destroyed humanity.”

  “But I don’t get it!” Ruhiel said insistently. “It was just a mistake! And everything turned out okay. It’s not like you did it on purpose. You thought you were helping, right?”

  Eve nodded. “Yeah, I did. But like we all eventually learned, good intentions don’t always have good results.”

  “What happened, exactly?” Ruhiel asked with obvious curiosity. “What happened when you gave knowledge to the humans?”

  Eve looked down to the ground below and grinned. Then, looking at Ruhiel, she said, “That’s a really long story, and we don’t have time right now. Look!”

  Ruhiel looked below them into a large field. The field was full of luscious green grass and flowers of varying sizes, colors, and beauty. Numerous shapes and colors that didn’t exist in the mortal world, and every other color from red to blue to orange. Many flowers were as tall as a man’s hip, while others were shorter and turned their faces towards the sun, following it progress across the sky. Amongst all the flowers, though, was the reason for their arrival. Hundreds of people had gathered, most looking lost, confused, and in awe of the place they suddenly found themselves. They were being led into the field by other people, these people dressed in simple gray clothes, all kindly ushering the new arrivals into the field.

  “There’s so many!” Ruhiel exclaimed.

  “Looks like Tartarus let a bunch out today,” Eve grinned.

  There was a small hill at the head of the field, towards which the gray-clothed people were herding the new arrivals. Eve and Ruhiel both gently glided down and landed upon the hill, which was nothing more than a tall mound of dirt covered in gleaming flowers and the greenest grass. Eve folded her wings and smiled out at the crowd of gathered souls, who were now staring at her in amazement. Eve raised her hands and gestured for everyone to come closer.

  “Come on in, everyone!” she invited, raising her voice so everyone could hear. “It’s okay, come on! That’s it! Close as you can, now. Awesome!”

  Once the crowd of two-hundred or more souls had gathered closely together at the base of the small hill, Eve’s grin grew wider as she looked down at them all. She brushed her bright red hair over her shoulder and began to address the crowd, as she had done countless times before with countless others.

  “Hi!” she said cheerfully, like she was greeting a group of friends she had known for years. “My name’s Eve, and this is my friend, Ruhiel. And in case you’re wondering, yes. We’re Angels. I can see you’re all confused, but bear with me and I’ll do what I can to answer your questions.”

  Eve took a moment to let the souls absorb what she had said. It was going to be a lot to take in, and just having said the word “Angels” was enough to render much of the crowd dumbstruck. After a few seconds had passed, Eve continued.

  “You have all just been released from a dark pit we know as Tartarus,” she explained. “Tartarus took you because of things you did in your mortal lives that meant you were not ready to enter Heaven. Yes, there is a Heaven. What you did in your lives for Tartarus to take you doesn’t matter anymore. Tartarus has shown all of you what you did. Made you experience the pain and suffering that many of you had caused, so that you can truly understand the consequences of your actions. Some of you have been with Tartarus for a few days, others for years. But if you’re standing here listening to me, that means you learned. You understand that life is more than what you previously made of it. And that you’re ready to try again. But there is still more to learn. Which is why you’re here.”

  Eve paused for another moment and looked out over the crowd as they stared back in wonder. Glancing beside her, Eve could see Ruhiel look thrilled to be there and was having trouble hiding it. Turning back to the crowd, Eve went on.

  “This place we’re in now is called the Garden,” Eve said, gesturing all around. “This is the next step in your lesson. Tartarus taught you consequences, but here, you’ll learn to care. To care for the lives of other beings, be it human, animal, or plant. And you will also care for each other. All life is valuable, that is the lesson here. You will all tend to the Garden, working together, making sure that every life in the Garden is cared for. From the person standing beside you, to the shortest blade of grass. To do this, you need to stop thinking so much about yourselves. Humility is the key. So, to start you off…”

  Eve grinned as shouts of surprise went up among the crowd. The clothes that they had all been wearing were suddenly gone, replaced with the bland, gray, clothes that the other tenders of the Garden wore. Eve distinctly heard Ruhiel say quietly, “Cool!”

  “This is a lot to take in, I know,” Eve said to the crowd. “I don’t blame you if you’re confused, even if you’re a little frightened
. It’s all normal. Those who brought you here from the shore of Tartarus, they will show you what to do next. They’ll show you to where you’ll be staying, give you some food, and show you the ropes. If you want to talk to me, I’m here to answer any of your questions. Don’t be afraid, they’re just wings.”

  Eve spread her wings slightly to show them off, letting the crowd take in the bright red and white feathers.

  “Remember,” Eve continued. “What you did to end up here… it doesn’t matter anymore. It’s in the past. This is not a punishment, no more than what you experienced within Tartarus was. These are lessons. Lessons to make you the people you once were. Pure and good. You’re new people now. New souls. Forget what you have done in the past, whatever it was. This is your new start. Your new beginning. If you accept these lessons, if you learn empathy for all life, you will be reborn. So, it’s really up to you. Make the most of your time here. And welcome back.”

  2

  A MUTUAL FRIEND

  A

  s was tradition whenever such a large number of souls had been released from Tartarus at once, the human souls who tended the Garden threw a party that night, to welcome the newcomers into the fold. This was the part that Eve loved the most. Seeing all the people come together, celebrating their new lives, their second chances. Once it was dark, after the newcomers had been showed around and become more understanding of the situation, as well as recover from their time in Tartarus’ grasp, small bonfires were lit, delicious drinks were made from the Garden’s numerous fruits, food was gathered and laid out, and the party began. Years and years ago, Eve had gathered together a wide variety of musical instruments, so that any soul who had musical ability would be able to contribute to the party with songs, allowing others to dance and enjoy each other’s company. Presently, a man and a woman, who Eve knew had been in the Garden for several years, were sitting down with an acoustic guitar each and facing each other in a challenge of who could play the best riff. The crowd of onlookers would cheer for their favorites, getting more and more excited as each riff become far more complicated and impressive. Eve loved watching the people come together and be happy. It was always a wonderful sight to see.