A man walked to the shore. He stood just over five and a half feet tall. His face was dark, with striking brown eyes. His hair was long and curly, and his beard was thick and full. Both were colored black. All of his features were typical of the men of the area. But his clothing made him stand out. He wore a vibrant white garment, completely free of dirt and dyes. It was this clothing that showed him for what he really was, even if nobody knew what it meant.
He had finished his work in a nearby city. Christianity was on the rise at this time and place, but believers were having difficulty spreading their faith. The man was sent to lift their spirits, and give them hope. He preached the word of God, and explained Jesus’ teachings. He sang psalms with the people, and danced in their celebrations. He healed the sick and the injured, and did other miracles so that they would believe in the power of God. Those closest to him said that he walked illuminated by a great light.
He looked west to the Mediterranean Sea. He smiled as he reached the shore. He was proud of the work he had done, and was ready to head back home. But he felt he could afford a quick respite before he left. The man closed his eyes, as he lifted his head and arms up to heaven. He gave himself up to God. As he did this, his body started to glow, white as his garments. After a moment, the man disappeared into light, and vanished from sight.
Zorael absorbed the light given off from his false body until he couldn’t hold anymore, and let the rest return to heaven. He wore the light around him like a garment, showing it off in pride. The young angel looked back at the city he had just left. A middle eastern town, northeast from Egypt. For him, it had been five hundred years since his death. Yet, in the age he was in now, he hadn’t even been born yet. It took him a while to get used to a soul’s perception of time. It was completely different than a living being’s. He had just finished his assignment, given to him by God himself. ‘Of course God was the one that gave it to me. He tells all the angels what to do,’ Zorael reasoned to himself. Still, he couldn’t help but beam with pride.
Zorael turned away from the city, and went out into the water. He didn’t often take a break after his assignments, but it’s been a while since he’s seen what Earth had to offer. He has seen enough of the land of this area from all his visits, so he decided to see what the sea had to offer. He skimmed the surface for a while, looking for any boats that may be out. Seeing the men test their strength against the fierce sea was an inspiring sight for the young angel. After he was satisfied with his people watching, he dove under the water, and started searching for wildlife. It took him a while, but he found some. He was enraptured by some great whales, swimming elegantly through the tides. And he was delighted by dolphins, dancing through the waters. In his search, he saw a strange light coming from below him. It seemed to be close. ‘Perhaps, a deep sea fish coming too high? Why would it do that?’ The young angel chased after the light, eager to see what sort of creature could be producing it.
He dove down, and down, and down. The light didn’t seem to get any closer. The sunlight around him dimmed more and more as he went lower, and still, the light he was chasing didn’t seem to get any closer. It wasn’t until the sunlight had completely dissipated that the light he was chasing was given any shape. It finally grew, and grew, and grew as he got closer. A mere several hundred feet above the bottom of the sea, he found the light’s source.
What he originally reasoned to be a single tiny creature was actually what seemed to be entire colonies of glowing sea creatures, living on rocks in clusters hundreds of feet wide. Every color of the rainbow seemed to be present, and stretched out for as far as the angel could see. These clusters went on for a mile, snaking across the ocean floor. This was the first time in his existence he had seen anything like this on earth. So he got closer, and tried to see what strange creatures could make such a spectacle of light and color.
He approached one of the colonies, but he couldn’t find the source of light. It was as if the rock itself was glowing. In fact, this didn’t even look like rock. There was a…material… leaning against a great underwater hill, just glowing spectacular colors for no reason. And as far as he could see, every “colony” of lights was the same thing. Just some colorful, glowing object leaning against an underwater hill. He searched each glowing object until the hill fell back down to the smooth, ocean floor. Where the hill met the floor was another spectacularly colorful glowing object. It almost seemed to be growing out of the hill.
Zorael doubled back, and looked for any clues on what this might be. He went a mile before he found that clue. Expecting the hill to slowly fall into the floor like on the other side, this time Zorael found a strangely formed cave opening. Instead of just a hole, the opening was made of two parts. The top part was a rock, jetting out of the hill at a sudden angle. And the bottom part was the ocean floor, opening up into the hill in front of him. The opening was roughly one hundred feet wide, and the top part of the rock was two hundred feet tall.
Zorael got closer to the opening, and noticed rocks like stalagmites jutting out from the floor. There were hundreds of them, lining up perfectly into a semi-oval coming from the hill, and jutting inwards towards it. Each the height of a man. They were filthy. All kinds of life were growing from them. Looking closer, Zorael saw that it wasn’t just the stalagmites on the sea floor. There was a graveyard of sea creatures, being gated from the rest of the sea floor by the stalagmites. All sorts of creatures have found their way down here. Deep sea bottom dwellers, surface swimmers… There was even somehow some livestock in this pile of decaying flesh. Zorael noticed a fish swimming past him. It found a part in the pile, stopped moving, and sunk.
The young angel had no idea what this was. Impossibly long, and impossibly wide, was a countless collection of triangular objects attached to a long hill. The hill was one hundred feet wide, and a mile long. At one end of this hill, was an impossibly large cave, filled with corpses. It’s like the banners of heaven are inviting you into the gates of hell. Lost in his thought, the young angel started to investigate the top rock, jetting out of the ground. On his way up, a sudden light burst from the rock. A smooth crack appeared, and white light poured out from it. As Zorael started to investigate this, the crack thickened, and became round. It opened to be ten feet across. And it had a pupil.
A sudden rush of movement created an impossibly loud noise as water rushed everywhere. Zorael backed off and floated up to get a broader picture of what was happening. The cave shut, and swallowed. All the putrid flesh entered the cave’s mouth, as water rushed out of its gills. The head of the hill lifted up, moving hundreds of feet each second even with its slow movement. Each of the huge, triangular, glowing objects stabilized the hill, as it snaked its way through the water. The hill coiled up, its glowing fins folding neatly against each other. And the hill looked up, right at Zorael. Not up, towards the sky. That’s not where the angel was. He looked up, through dimensions, and saw the greater plane the angel resided on.
A great sea serpent saw the angel for what he really was. It opened its maw, and let out an impossible noise. As his maw was left open, the water around it bubbled and boiled, heating to impossible temperatures. And the beast stared straight into Zorael’s soul.
“Leviathan”, God answered.
Zorael was kneeling before his god, in the highest point of heaven. He had just told him of what he did for the early Christians back on earth, and what he found afterwards.
God only replied with that one word. And in it, dozens were understood.
“He, whose strength on earth is rivaled only by two others”
“He, who rules the ocean and all its seas, and takes from it what he pleases”
“He, whose flesh is like shields sealed together”
“He, whose fins illuminate the abyss like the sun illuminates the sky”
A great serpent God made by hand. One of only three creatures on earth for which this is true. One mile in length, one hundred feet across, with countless fins shining as vibrantly as the light of the heavens. Its strength is so great, nothing in the ocean can stand against it. Its grace so great, it can slip through the waters like a bird diving through the air. Its command of the sea is so great, that when he hungers, fish willingly bring food to his open maw, and offer themselves if they have none.
“Understood,” replied Zorael. His voice and his soul, cold and dim with fear. Walking through the Song of Eternity raised his spirit somewhat. And bathing in the Light of Creation returned some strength to him. But he could still barely move from what he experienced.
“You have done well for me this day, child. Go, and rest in the joys of heaven. Return when you’ve had your fill, and I will send you out again.”
“Yes, Majesty.”
Zorael raised, gave a tremoring bow, and looked for some place to rest in heaven. He looked down on the seven layers, and lost himself in his thoughts. He couldn’t get his mind off that serpent. In his short time serving in heaven, he had never seen anything alive which had any sort of power over a soul. Yet this creature could see right into him. The angel huddled around himself. And, deep down inside his soul, a seed was planted. A single seed of curiosity. For, ‘If I have just now found something like this after five hundred years of serving… What else do I not know about?’
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