[Sebastian] The Whisper

Sebastian sat in the middle of a small, sparse room. Her only luxuries in this place was a comforting tree in the corner, which grew up through the wood paneled floor, a candle flickering in the corner, and the floor pillow on which she sat, her back straight and her wings folded perfectly along her sides. Her tail was tucked neatly beside her and her cloud halo swirled slowly, displaying her calm complexion. Her eyes were closed in mediation. She breathed slowly. In… she took in her surroundings in her mind’s eye, the golden tree, the blank walls, the smooth floor. Out… she breathed out her worries, calming her stormy mind. She continued. In, out. In… out… Over and over. She listened to the gentle sound of the flame burning the wooden wick, its crackling filled her ears. She pictured the flame in her mind, seeing the way it jumped, lived, breathed, contained within the reach of the wick. It listened and obeyed its confinement. So would she. She began to lift up a prayer.

Oh, Great Weaver. Hear me. My mind has been troubled, my thoughts have been swayed, twisted, and turned by doubt. Restore my faith in you. Hear me, oh, hear me.

She sat for a moment longer, listening, breathing, contemplating. When nothing but the flickering of the candle met her ears, she sighed and opened her eyes, letting her posture fall into a more relaxed position. Her wings drooped. Even though she had always lived in the Elysium, she had never seen The Weaver. Throughout her entire life, she had always faithfully and dutifully served him. As a hatchling, her parents trained her in the art of battle, forging her path to be as they both were: great warriors. When she was of-age, she was skilled enough to lead her own elite group of warriors. Thus, she fought and won many battles in the name of The Weaver. However, as always, only silence ever followed her cries. She turned her cheek to the silence, deciding to ignore it like usual. Perhaps he was busy today.

Sebastian shifted the weight underneath her, padding the pillow gently with her clawed talons as she repositioned herself. She sat up once more, closed her eyes, and attempted to re-enter a meditative state. Perhaps, she messed up the first time, and with every other time before then. She breathed deep, filling her lungs with the sweet scents around her. The smell of the tree and its soil, the smell of fire, of the candle, of the wood beneath her. She pondered it all in her mind.

“Come to the open fields.”

Sebastian’s eyes opened slowly, widely. She cleared her mind, sitting in silence, waiting for the voice to return. Voice… voice was not the right word. It was more of a whisper, no, more of a feeling. A feeling that formed words in her mind, thoughts that were not her own. 

”Come to Eden. Meet me where the dells meet the hills, a place full of trees. There, you will find me.”

Sebastian knew this wasn’t the voice of The Weaver, this was some other. She contemplated this fact for a moment, wondering what kind of creature had this range of ability, enabling it to speak to her across realms. However, she found herself standing nonetheless.

It didn’t take her long to meander out of her home, quickly taking to the skies as she oriented herself towards the center of the Elysium, a realm called Eden. It was not much different from the Elysium, other than the fact that it was a land of color, whereas the Elysium was mostly gold. It also boasted quite a variety of different creatures that called it home. Sebastian wondered if one of these creatures was calling her now. Although she had been to Eden before, she did not know much about the land, as she focused most of her energy on training and meditation. One would have to ask a more nature-oriented Elysiphim in order to gain any insight on what Eden was like.

On powerful wings, the journey was not overly long or exhausting. Sebastian alighted on the soft grass with grace, folding her wings gently across her back. She landed at the base of a hill, estimating that it was the hill that the voice mentioned to her, since atop this hill sat a large tree decorated in golden leaves. Such a sight was an oddity in this land, even to Sebi. She tilted her head at it for a moment before she began to climb up the hill, one foot after another.

As she rounded the top, a small creature, sitting in the grass in front of the tree, came into view. Sebastian stopped a few paces away from it upon seeing it, a small gasp escaping her parted maw.

“Greetings,” it said, a forked tongue slipping out from between its sharp teeth. Sebastian noted its small, red body, covered in scales. Such a creature had never graced her paths before. Where could it have come from?

“Hello,” Sebastian responded, a bit distrustful. “Were you the one speaking into my thoughts?”

“Yes,” said the creature, eyeing her quickly before it turned in the grass and ran up the trunk of the tree. It reappeared amongst the branches, beckoning her in with a wave of its tail. “Come closer.”

Sebastian obliged, stepping underneath the shade of the large tree’s leaves. Up close, she noticed this tree was brimming with small, golden fruits. She took another step forward, intending to eye the fruit more closely; however, her foot stepped on something mushy and she looked down to see she had stepped on a core of a half eaten piece of fruit. She lifted her paw, wrinkling her nose as the black, sticky juice stuck to the pads of her foot. Shaking her talons, she looked back to the creature, “What is this place?”

“This hill does not have a name,” the creature responded, twisting on its branch. “This realm, however, was named Eden by your ‘Great Weaver.’”

Sebastian didn’t miss the way the creature said The Weaver’s name. A hint of venom lay within its voice, and she squinted her eyes, deciding to proceed gently. “My? Does he not belong to everyone, as we all belong to him?”

The creature sat up. “No, he does not,” said the creature, tongue flicking once more. “I am not the product of your Weaver.”

Sebastian tilted her head. “The Weaver created this realm, this world. He created everything.”

“No, little Elysiphim. Your Weaver has been lying to you. He has been lying to your whole species, puffing you up with lies so that you will blindly follow their lead,” the creature’s eyes seem to light up as it said this, and Sebastian’s brow furrowed greatly. She took a step back. At her reaction, the creature smiled. “Yes, little Phim. I know how The Weaver neglects you. You cry out to him and does he look down at you and lift you up? No. He doesn’t care. Thankfully, I have come to offer you freedom from your confinement. I offer you knowledge, I offer you life. All you have to do is eat the fruit from this tree.”

Sebastian couldn’t lie that what the creature said was true. She took a step forward, reached up, and plucked a piece of fruit from the tree. Doubts that swirled in Sebastian’s mind resurfaced in her thoughts. The Weaver never responded to her. He didn’t seem to care. She lifted the fruit towards her face, gazing into its golden skin. Within the shape of the fruit, she saw her own reflection. As she looked more closely, she saw her scars, the same scars she had earned while fighting for The Weaver. She remembered her parents. She remembered the candle.

Suddenly, she dropped the fruit on the grass and ground it into the mud with her heel, turning on the creature with rage and fury, the cloud halo above her head beginning to thicken and swirl. “Nooooo!” the creature yelled, staring at her foot before it looked up at her with matching rage. “You fool! You have been brainwashed your whole life! You have the chance to join me!”

Sebastian reared on her hind legs, then she lifted from the ground and hovered before the tree, wings beginning to unfurl themselves out of her as if coming from thin air. They unfolded slowly, beginning at her face and head, down her neck, back, to the tip of her tail until all ten pairs of her mismatched wings spread wide, filling the air with tension and majesty. “How dare you spill blasphemy about The Weaver!” she bellowed, her voice ringing over the treetops. “How DARE you try to trick me into betraying him! Flee from here, you foul beast, lest I destroy you where you stand.”

The creature dug its claws into the branch, scowled at Sebastian for a moment, then turned and scurried away into the brush. Sebastian breathed a sigh and landed gently on the grass, her wings folding back into themselves as she gazed at the tree a moment longer. Perhaps this was a test. With one last glance to the tree, Sebastian set her gaze back to the clouds of the Elysium in the distance, then took flight to rejoin the rest of the angelic realm in their harmonious song.