Inspirational stories of God's love and grace...

The medallion hung in plain sight. Across the gaping abyss, the golden disk reflected the light from the torch. Zuriel couldn’t quite see the raised cross on the medallion, but he knew it was the prize he sought, although he hadn’t expected to find it so easily. His mind raced, trying to puzzle out why the precious medallion would be displayed so openly. Surely, with its great importance it should have been hidden better than this?
Zuriel looked down into the gaping maw of the pit before him. Holding the torch over the gap, he peered into the darkness, trying to see the bottom of the chasm. He could not. The torchlight illuminated deep into the hole, but the pit seemed to go on forever, the depth outdistancing the flickering light.
As a defense against the theft of the medallion, the pit was pretty impressive, he supposed. Zuriel judged it to be more than fifteen feet across. It stretched, end to end, from the craggy edges of the cave, with no hint of footholds in the thick rock walls. The roof of the cave provided no help either. It was smooth as a still pond, with no stalactites or protrusions of any kind. But, to Zuriel, the pit was easily bypassed. Surely there had to be more to the defense of the medallion, though? Surely, one deep dark pit could not be the only defense?
Zuriel looked closely at the sides of the cave again, looking for any evidence of a trap or hidden device. He scanned the cave roof, the wall behind the medallion, and looked deep into the pit again. His sharp eyes searched the floor of the cave upon which he stood. Nothing… No evidence of any other sort of defense against the theft of this priceless treasure.
Zuriel felt a thrill of unease slide up his spine. His intuition had warned him of traps before, and he always listened. Now it warned him again, rising gooseflesh on his arms and raising the tiny hairs at the nape of his neck.
Something was not right. Not that it mattered, he must retrieve the medallion. Nothing could be allowed to stop him, not even the feeling of impending danger that crept up his spine. He must return with the medallion before midnight, or Kiera would die. He could not bear to think of his vivacious sister put to death. He couldn’t imagine seeing the light leave her sparkling green eyes – eyes that were a match to his own. But, if he didn’t return with the medallion, that was what would happen. Fallon had no mercy, and he would show none to Kiera should Zuriel not return with the medallion in time.
Zuriel cursed under his breath. How had Fallon managed to kidnap Kiera right from under their collective noses? How had he managed that? They had known the danger, he and Kiera. They had known that Fallon was up to something. They’d been sure to take extra precautions. Kiera had been well protected, guarded by Rolf. But, Rolf had fallen to the poison arrow that Fallon had shot him with. When Zuriel had found him, the wolf had been near death. Only Rolf’s strong constitution, and Mara’s skill with the ancient herbal medicines had saved him. Zuriel cursed again, remembering how he’d felt when he’d discovered Rolf shot and his sister - his twin - gone. And knowing that Fallon had taken her had been even worse.
They’d almost had the medallion for themselves. Almost had the power of the Maker at their fingertips. But now, he’d have to hand the treasure over to Fallon in exchange for his sister. Zuriel knew he was getting the better end of the deal. His sister, alive, was worth more to him that a thousand priceless treasures. Still, Zuriel worried what Fallon would do with the medallion. It’s secrets were best not exposed to an evil such as Fallon. But what could Zuriel do? He would not sacrifice Kiera’s life! Not even to save humanity! And, when he thought about it, what had humanity ever done for him? Or for Kiera?
Zuriel shook himself out of his thoughts, knowing that he must concentrate on the task at hand. He eyed the medallion again. He knew he could cross the pit easily enough. He’d brought his throwing stars, with their special metal barbs they were strong enough to stick fast to the side of the cave. He’d brought a rope, too - although, perhaps the steel would not bite into the stone enough to hold his weight?
He ignored his doubts and removed the rope and the special throwing stars from his pack, threaded the rope through the hole in the center of the star, and knotted it at the end. He checked the knot, pulling hard to make sure it couldn’t slip back through the hole. Whirling the star above his head in an often-practiced movement, he prepared to fling it across the pit, intending to hit the stone just beside the medallion. His shoulder muscles tensed, his fingers gripped the rope with just the right amount of tension and he leaned forward. But before he could finish the movement, something bright, round and large shot up out of the pit, almost blinding him with white brilliance.
Zuriel stopped swinging and stepped back, the star and the rope coming to rest easily at his feet.
A glowing orb floated above the pit now, its radiance throwing everything into sharp relief. The stark white light dimmed the earthen colors of the cave, making everything seemed a washed out gray. However, on the wall, the medallion glittered brightly.
The orb began to shift and writhe. Wispy tendrils, like fog, emerged from the center, flowing outward as a shape began to form from the ball of light. Zuriel watched in dumb silence, knowing he should run for his life, but yet held in place by fascination. The shape evolved. The slender shape of arms and legs formed beneath a flowing dress of white light. White-blonde hair crowned the vision of the woman who had been transformed from the orb. The woman was slight and slender. She hovered above the pit in brilliant splendorous light.
She smiled at him, and spoke his name, and until then, Zuriel had not noticed the utter absence of sound in the cave. The apparition gave off no sound at all. No hiss of electricity, no hum of otherworldly forces, nothing - until she spoke his name again. Her voice was like pure music in the stillness, cracking the silence with soft crystalline clarity.
“Zuriel, the medallion cannot be taken from this place."
The vision did not seem threatening at all. Zuriel thought perhaps this was some sort of trick. Perhaps the apparition was not really there at all? He glanced around the cave once more, trying to find the source of the trickery. Perhaps some ancient Technology that had not been destroyed in the Great Wars? He could find nothing to account for the woman’s presence.
Slowly, he stepped forward, reaching out his hand and stretching his fingers over the empty blackness of the pit, toward the woman and her aura of light. She did not move at all as he reached toward her, simply floating there in serene impunity to the laws of gravity as he tried to touch her. She even smiled, her pale lips drawing back to reveal her teeth, her eyes crinkling at the corners in kind amusement.
“You cannot touch me. I exist on a plane higher than what exists in your corporeal world. The representation of me that you see before you is my soul, my spirit – my physical body lies at the bottom of this pit.”
Zuriel swallowed, stepping back from the edge of the pit, “So, you’re dead, then?”
“No, I am not dead, nor am I truly alive. My body lies at the bottom of the pit, yet my spirit is held here, anchored to it. I cannot move my body from this place, but my spirit feels neither pain nor the passing of time. I am here to guard the medallion. You must believe me; I have been given the power to do so. Please do not make me use my power against you. You know the medallion’s secrets. You know why it cannot be taken from this place.”
“But,” Zuriel stepped to the edge of the pit, wanting to be closer to the woman. She needed to understand that he had to have the medallion. It was Kiera’s only chance.
“Not even to save your beloved sister, Zuriel. You cannot move the medallion. It holds too much power for this world. Pried as it was from the Ark of the Covenant by heretics who should never have touched it, the medallion retains some of the power of that sacred artifact. Even a small amount of the Maker’s power is too much for mere mortals to control. The medallion cannot be taken from this place of safety.”
Zuriel believed her, ashamed for a moment that he had initially wanted the medallion’s power for himself. Zuriel’s shoulders slumped and he took a step back, “But I must have it. I must save her.”
“There is another way,” the woman smiled kindly at him again, as if she knew his pain.
Her smile comforted him, making him feel as if everything would be all right. Zuriel shook his head to clear it, negating her statement. No, the woman was wrong. He’d thought this over a thousand times. There was no other way.
“Yes, there is. Have Faith, Zuriel.” The woman shimmered closer. “Go to Fallon, armed only with your Faith and give him the book that I have placed at your feet. He will return your sister.”
Zuriel blinked in amazement, wondering how she knew his thoughts so effortlessly. He glanced down quickly, easily finding the book that lay at his feet. It was a book of the Word as he had heard whispered about when he was very young. Books of the Word had disappeared millennia ago – destroyed by the Great Wars. None were known to have survived the Great Wars, when heretics had seized control of the world for a time. The heretics had burned all written knowledge and destroyed the ancient Technologies. All that was left of those times were stories, and legends of the book of the Word.
“Tell him that the book is more valuable than the medallion, for it hold the secrets of the world - the Maker’s plan for the universe. You must not tell Fallon of this place, or of me,” the woman cautioned. “Give him the book, and he will release your sister.”
“It holds the Maker’s plan?” Zuriel looked at the book, thinking that he would like to know the Maker’s plan, too. Surely the Maker’s plan was more valuable than the medallion pried from the Ark? Would Fallon think so too?
Zuriel picked up the book and opened it, reading from it. One line jumped out at him from the pages: “Be still, and know that I am God”. Gooseflesh rose again on Zuriel’s arms and a shiver ran down his neck.
Ahhh, the power of the Word, he thought. To know the mind and heart of God was a prize more powerful than any medallion.
“May I read it also, Lady?” Zuriel asked, running his fingers over the thin parchment of the book’s pages in wonder.
The woman smiled, her light shining brighter. She acquiesced with a slight nod, “You may.”
“Thank you, Lady!” Zuriel hugged the book to his chest, all but forgetting the medallion that hung on the wall across the open abyss, and his mission to steal it.
“Look again to your feet, Zuriel. This one is yours to keep and share. All should know the Maker’s plan.”
Another book had appeared at his feet, a duplicate of the one he held in his hands. Zuriel bent down and picked up the book, clutching both precious copies to his chest. He did not know how to thank the woman. Perhaps if he found some way to free her from her prison, it would be reward enough?
Zuriel looked into the woman’s face, surprised to see a hint of mirth glittering in her fine eyes. Before he could speak, the woman held up her hand.
“I do not suffer, Zuriel. There is no need to rescue me. The Maker is not cruel, nor unjust. He has seen that I know no pain, and my duty is fulfilling to me. I am with the Maker when I am not here. Go, and think not of me, sharing the Word will be thanks enough. Go, Zuriel, and rescue your sister.”
Zuriel swallowed and stepped back from the pit.
“Thank you, Lady.” Still clutching the books to his chest, Zuriel hastily grabbed his throwing star and the rope, and ran from the cave. He couldn’t wait to read the Word of the Maker. He couldn’t wait to share them with his sister. He couldn’t wait to see Kiera again.
He now had Faith that what the lady had said was true. He knew he would have no difficulty trading the book of the Word for Kiera, instead of the medallion that Fallon had wanted. After all, who wouldn’t want to know the Maker’s plan? Even Fallon would value that knowledge more highly than the medallion!