The Blood of Enoch

"It should be right here...Right...Here!?"

Mona stared incredulously at the map, her eyes bulging so far out of her skull, Sully thought they were going to roll out the sockets and slide onto the ice underfoot.

She threw down the heavy paper and stomped, throwing a hissy fit like when she was a kid...but Sully...

Sully had nothing to say.

It was colder than cold as Hell. The wind poured down the back of his sweatshirt like Death himself was breathing down his neck and he swore that something was watching them. Something in the tree line maybe was waiting for him to also display some sort of disappointment or anger.

Unfortunately for this hidden entity, Sully was a man of few words, even less when the feelings were strong.

And what he was feeling wasn't disappointment or anger-- It was rage.

White hot rage that felt like the snow underneath his boots was about to boil to a simmer.

Wordlessly, Sully stared out at Gracewood Meadow, still and milky like the cataract of a dead eye.

The moor was completely frozen solid under what could easily be three feet of ice if not deeper.

All him and Mona had was the map; the compass; and the riddle.

This already was a three hour hike, so by the time they returned to the village, it would be sundown, and tomorrow yielded a blizzard so mighty even the locals were fearful of its news.

They were --effed.

Mona screamed again and this time Sully caught her by the arm and gave her a hard glare, motioning her to pick up the map.

"What is the point?! We came out all this way! For NOTHING!!!-" She cried bending down to pick up the soiled scroll from the wet soil.

"-Would you please shut up Ramona?!" He nearly shouted, before scanning the woods around them.

The feeling of being trailed never left his mind and only strengthened from his younger sister's loud theatrics.

She snapped her head up for a rebuttal but saw Sully searching around them. Mona snatched the paper and huddled close to him, the paranoia seeping from his skin like a pheromone.

Something was wrong-- Sully was never wrong about these things...

Half satisfied with the silence, Sully leaned into his sister to take a look at the map himself.

It only confirmed what he already suspected, they would need to come back when the weather was warmer, because they were at their destination.

The Merkabah should be right in the middle of this impromptu lake.

"I was going to say we need to come back later... but...I think we have another option." Ramona met his eyes with the same shock as before.

"No Sully, you only have four 'Signs' left-- If you waste it on this, then you won't be strong enough for when the rest of the Kin come...We'll be murdered, Sully, especially if Waseela or Tanweer come first..."

Ramona gulped hard, placing her hands on his chest to keep him from stepping any farther toward the water's edge.

Waseela only had one more 'Sign' left, but she had trained her whole life to use them to their fullest strength. Tanweer had to have either three or maybe two left, and she was brought up the same as her sister.

Their mother had been trying to find the Merkabah for decades and their family line for centuries.

"If I don't do this, they can be here any minute and steal it from us Mona! Right now, we are the Scions of Enoch's legacy. We deserve this...after everything we've done." Sully had that glint in his eye that told his twin sister that he had already made up his mind.

She stared back at him for a long minute before sweeping herself aside-- Sully hugged her, a rarity for him, and nodded solemnly.

Performing a Miracle or a Sign as an untrained Descendant was highly dangerous; what Waseela and Tanweer do effortlesssly, these twins labored through.

The twins stood silent at the water's edge; puffs of breath lingered only sec0nds before being dragged away on the frigid breeze.

If he was going to do this, it needed to be quickly, if they had to battle the Kin, Mona preferred to do it with some sunlight--

Despite the stillness in his body, Sullivan's mind was racing; if he pulled too much 'Grace', the power could rip up the whole lake bed.

He could be too loud and lead the Kin right to them-- He could use too little and not even make a dent, wasting his energy for nothing.

And worse case...he could die.

And if he died, the Kin would extract what Grace he had left and rip out Mona's while she was still alive, torturing her to the grave.

Sully gulped down the terror in each scenario and stepped onto the muddy border of ice, nearly slipping before catching himself.

Mona stepped towards him but retreated backwards, towards the tree-line, out of the line of fire--If everything went left, she needed to be on the ready to save the both of them.

After he steadied himself, Sully looked back at Mona, almost hiding behind a dark oak, looking more scared than sure. They met eyes, and he smiled in what little reassurance he could give. "I love you." He mouthed to her, and turned fully toward the lake. If not now, then it would be never.

Despite the cold, Sully felt the need to shed his coat, tossing it to the side and rubbing together his palms for warmth.

Mona didn't move to get it, she just stood there, watching Sullivan kneel onto the ice, placing bared hands on the surface.

From the shift in energy, the wind picked up, the trees themselves sounding like they were shaking in fear. Mona's ponytail whipped around her face, obscuring her view of Sully, and the gold ring spinning just above his back.

As the wind riled from restless to violent, Sully felt almost weightless, as though the whole world was suspended on string-- and he bore the scissors.

He opened his eyes and the colors of the world shimmered, taking on hues he was sure he had never seen before.

Touching Grace always felt like the first time, as though reality itself was put through a kaleidoscope and tumbled for a new scape.

Despite the brilliant world unfolding around him, Sully's gaze was fixed on the dark, sprawling branches of the gargantuan tree, standing in the center of the lake.

Immaculately white blossoms crowned it's limbs, chiming like the tink of crystals every time the wind blew through them.

Sully started to walk forward before realizing that the base of the tree was buried under the water's surface.

Pondering for a moment, he rose to his feet and raised his fist, raising his face skyward--

"I am Sullivan Jeremiah Galilee...Third Descendant of Enoch and his rightful Scion... I beseech in His holy name--Make way."

He sprung open his palm and pointed it to the expanse of ice between him and the Merkabah.

The ground shook, bringing Mona down as she watched an invisible force drill through the ice in front of her brother, brutally carving a path down the lake into its mud bed like a deep wound.

When it reached the center, the force of wind stopped short, much to Mona's shock, before funneling up into the dark clouds, out of sight.

The wind quit almost immediately and when Mona got to her feet, she looked into the direction of a laughing Sullivan, before feeling the hot spatter hit her face.

Instinctively, she ducked away, wiping her cheek to see her light purple gloves come away with blood.

Slowly, her eyes dragged back to her brother, his breath sputtering for a moment before his body collapsed-- his head falling to the other side.

Tanweer stood before Sully's body, brandishing a bronze khopesh, her dark eyes burning like black hellfire.

Before Ramona had time to even scream at the sight, the khopesh had done it's job again; her head lolling backward before rolling out of sight.

Tanweer gathered the map from inside Mona's coat, along with her phone and Sully's, from his back pocket.

Inside, Tanweer knew she was going to have to pay for this, but Sully would have destroyed the world using the Merkabah's influence.

She looked over to her sister, Waseela, standing at the other end of the path the boy created.

Within a blink, she was standing with Wasi, shoulder to shoulder, staring up at the ethereal giant.

"They probably couldn't even see this..." Tani remarked, fighting the urge to touch the trunk.

"I doubt they even could without Grace..." Wasi reached her hand out, smiling with all the joy in the world.

The whole time, they were searching, only for it to be so simple now--

Eve didn't eat an apple, it was a pear.