Faerie Tales

Leaf explains about her people to Chris.

12.

Faerie Tales

 

A few minutes later, Leaf had Christopher think of his cloistered cell in the monastery and then, taking his hand, she transported both of them into the closet-sized room.   

“That is a wonderful way to travel about, Lady Leaf.”

“Chris, please just call me ‘Leaf’ and drop the formal title, or I will begin calling you ‘Brother Christopher’.”

“I was taught to address a lady with respect.”

“If you call me by Leaf, you will be respecting me.   I don’t share even my nickname with everyone.”

“Leaf is your nickname?”

“Yes, my people are very protective of their true names.”

“There is power in knowing a Faerie’s name.    I’ve heard that said many times.   I guess it’s true, isn’t it?”

Leaf sat down on the edge of his tiny cot, her eyes sparkling, “My true name is Llaiannileaf, Chris.   You are the only human that knows this.   I have given you this privilege because I trust you.”

“I am honored, Lady… I mean, Leaf.    I will never betray your confidence.”

“I know you won’t.    So this is your room?   It is very small.”

“It is called a ‘cell’ and it is the only private space that a monk has.”

“It is the size of a prison cell.”

“But it is all I’ve ever known.    Forgive me, for I’ve never had company here.    None of the brothers are allowed inside of any of their fellows’ cells without Brother Michael’s permission.    If anyone saw you in here with me, I would be thrown out of the order.”

“The walls seem thick and sound-proof.”

“They are.   As long as no-one opens the door, we are safe to speak.   In about an hour, the Watch-Deacon will go down the hallway shining his light into each cell to make certain that we all are here.”

“I’ll avoid him, don’t worry.”

“Lady… sorry, I mean, ‘Leaf’, when you are not in this world, where do you go?”

“The In-Between place.   You have seen it briefly when we teleported here.   It is a timeless void, but it isn’t really terrifying.”

“So you stay in that place between your appearances here?   For years at a time?”

She patted the edge of the bed next to her and he sat down beside her, as she explained, “Time doesn’t exist there, really.    It is like going to sleep for a few minutes - a cat nap, perhaps- but when you wake up and come out into your world, years have passed.    I only came into your world for the first time just a few days ago- by my reckoning- but nearly 60 years passed here.”

Chris shook his head, “That sounds so odd to me.    I was taught that earth is the center of God’s universe and aside from Heaven and Hell, there are no other worlds.”

“Chris, to be honest with you, there are tens of thousands of worlds that are mere variations of this world.    Others are vastly different.     This world and the various other worlds are not even the ‘Real’ world.”

“What?    I’m confused.   What do you mean?”

Leaf sat back against the wall and thought for a moment on how to explain it.

“Think of it like this:    The Creator God, who you worship as Jesus, is like a master painter.    He paints a perfect, brilliant painting that is breathtakingly intricate and flawless.    His students see his painting and some of them are very envious.     Some hate the perfect painting, but some hunger to copy this perfect painting.”

“Okay, I think I can understand that.”

“Those that hate the master painter’s perfect painting are cast out as students for their hatred.     Those who admire the painting and are still willing to serve the master painter, remain as students.    But those who are obsessed with copying his perfect painting are permitted to try to copy it.   He tells them that they will be allowed - for a certain period of time- to try their hand at creating a masterpiece as perfect as his painting.   They could try to copy his painting as closely as they desired, or else paint whatever they wanted to paint, but whatever they did, it had to be perfect.”

“Perfect by the master’s standards?”  Chris asked.

“Right, by his standards.   The master painter would judge their works one day and if they were less than perfect, he would cast them out as artists and destroy their paintings.    He knew that they would not be able to paint a perfect picture, but to teach them, he let them try.”

“And this is all an analogy of how God works?”

“Yes, but let me finish, then I’ll explain.     These students begin passionately trying to paint a perfect painting.    They do hundreds of paintings.   Some try to copy the master’s painting in flawless detail.    Others think that the original had some flaws and they try to improve on it with their versions.   Others try completely different themes.    But they all know that one day all of their paintings and their skills as a painter will be judged by the master.”

“So let me get this straight, Leaf.   God is the master painter, right?    So who are these students in your analogy?”

“They are his angels.     You’ve heard tales of Satan’s rebellion against God?    It really happened, Chris.    The demons were those ‘students’ who hated God’s masterpiece - which is the ‘real’ universe.    These demons were thrown into hell.   Those who stayed loyal and humble to their master are the angels of God in Heaven.”

“So who are the others, who thought they could paint as well as the master?”

“Those represent angels that thought they were as wise as God and could create worlds and universes as perfect as his creation.    They were proud, but did not actually rebel against God.     So God let this group go out of his perfect universe and try creating their own.    There were several hundred of these angels and they called themselves the Sidhe.     They were given the power to create their own universes and living beings, but all of their universes were closed off completely to the ‘real’ universe.    They were given a limited amount of time to create these universes.”

“How long were you given?”  Chris asked, spell-bound at her tale.

 Llaiannileaf laughed, “Chris, I was not one of those Sidhe.    They were the ‘Greater Sidhe’ and some of them created my people, a sort-of ‘Lesser Sidhe’ to act as stewards of their worlds.    Go-betweens, so to speak.”

“Oh… so you’re saying that this world is not the actual world that God made, but some of these angels… the ‘Greater Sidhe’ created it to try to copy God’s world?”

“Exactly.    Your world was a close copy of the original, but they explored some variables in this world.    The Greater Sidhe did that very often.   They would create worlds that were almost mirror images of the Real World, but with just a few things changed.”

“So what did they change here?   I mean, how is this world different then God’s actual world?”

“I’m not completely sure, Chris, as I’ve never seen the Prime World - that is what they call God’s original world.    But your world had a terrible war where an advanced technology nearly wiped it out.    This was a variant type that the Greater Sidhe tried out a number of times.    It is a common variation.”

“That is a lot to try to understand.”  Chris admitted, rubbing his forehead, “So this world isn’t real?”

“Oh, heavens yes, this is as real as any other world, even the Prime World.      Think of this world as an imitation of God’s masterpiece.”

“A forgery.”

“More of an interpretation, Chris, one of thousands.”

“So will my faith in God still count, as this isn’t really his world?”

“I don’t know, but I would think that the Creator God would respect and honor those who seek him with sincerity.   You have no power to do anything to get to the Prime World, so I would say God will examine your faith.”

“But now I don’t know exactly what to believe, Leaf.”

“Just believe what you’ve been taught.    Christianity exists in the Prime World, my father told me, and you are worshipping the true God.”

Chris nodded, still seeming very troubled, “So what happens to this world then?    It will be judged one day against the, um… the Prime World?”

“Yes, that is what the Greater Sidhe told my people when they created us.    Some of the Greater Sidhe had grown selfish and evil, but many remained honest and true.    I don’t know what will happen when their worlds are judged by God.     But I do know that many of the worlds and universes that my people used to monitor in the Chronal Well are disappearing.”

“Disappearing?   Why?”

“We don’t know, but the Greater Sidhe left us after creating my people and we have had no contact with them since then.    My father feared that perhaps the time of judgment from the Creator God was beginning and that, one by one, the various worlds were being judged and then destroyed.”

“But what about the living beings in each of those worlds?”   Chris asked, alarmed.

“I don’t know that either, Chris.    My father wondered that as well.    He thought that maybe they too would be judged by their faith in God and brought into his presence if they were good or cast into Hell if they were evil.    But that was just a guess.    It deeply troubled him, though, and so he began going into the various worlds of the Chronal Well to see if he could find out what was happening.”

“But he disappeared?”

“Yes, and one by one, my family went into the various worlds, looking for him, but none of them returned.    I was the last.”    She looked down at her hands and Chris, feeling her pain, put his arm around her to comfort.

“I can see your desperation.    If this world is in danger, then we all may be facing the Day of Judgment soon.”

“Maybe not - I don’t know, really.    That is why I am so anxious to see if my father - or a member of my family- left a message inside the Barrow.”

“So your people’s purpose was to act as liaisons between the Greater Sidhe and the people of all the worlds they made?”

“Well, more or less, that is true.    In some worlds everyone knows about us, but in worlds like this one, we are mythical beings.”

“Yet you are really alive.   You just don’t age… right?”

“Right, we were created by the Greater Sidhe just as humans were... at least in this world.”

“So what is your people’s relationship to God?    Do you believe in him?”

His question took Llaiannileaf by surprise and she stammered through an answer, “I… I really haven’t… I never thought about it, I guess.    We know the Creator God is real, we understand that, of course, but we never really had any dealings with him.”

“Then what happens when one of your people dies?   If one of them were killed, for example, what happens to their soul after they die?”

Leaf thought about it for a moment and then shrugged, “We seldom die, so I don’t honestly know, Chris.    I had never considered it… until today.    Now I will have to consider some sobering possibilities.”

“What about you, Leaf?     What do you personally think of God incarnate in the form of Jesus Christ?”

“I’ve not met him, Chris, though I’ve heard some of the stories of him from the Prime World.”

“Leaf, I worry about the state of your soul.”

She laughed softly, “I wouldn’t worry about me, Chris.    I’ve done what I was supposed to do and so I guess God will judge me accordingly.”

Though she tried to brush it off, Chris could see that the question that he’d posed was still bothering her.   There was a slightly troubled look in her sparkling blue eyes.    He couldn’t image that a merciful God would send such a lovely woman to Hell.     Her story was incredible and rather hard to completely accept, but he would help her anyway, for he knew she was truly alone.

“Leaf, if you want to see Brother Michael’s artifacts without him knowing you have returned to this world, you could safely do so right now, as he will be preparing to lead the evening prayers.   He keeps the artifacts from the hill in his private study and it will be empty now.”

“He has a private study, yet you only have a tiny cell?”   She teased gently.

“He’s the master and I’m just a monk, Leaf.   It is the way of things.    I know of his study, as every monk has been called to appear before him from time to time.    It will be locked, but am I right in assuming that you can get us into the room?”

“Let’s go see the artifacts, Chris.”   She held out her hand to him and he took it, knowing that she expected him to think of the study of Brother Michael.     As soon as he thought of it they suddenly were there, standing in the larger room which was lined with books and some of the artifacts that he had told her about.

Reviews

[Dhaye]

This is fantastic! Imagine if what Leaf saying that the world is not the real one. Very creative.

I really want to finish this novella but it will take time. I have few more chapters to read. lol

Thank you for sharing your talent here. Keep up the good work, Eddie.

[Eddie Davis]

Thank you, Dhaye, I appreciate you reading it.

[Dhaye]

Lol. I always read but a chapter is finished in two or three readings because of limited time. Sometimes I save for offline reading. But it's vacation now so I hope I can finish a chapter each day. I like the story of Leaf.

[Eddie Davis]

I am very glad you are enjoying it.