The Dymensionverse

Book 5 of the Salvation Series, the Second part of Act 2

The realm of He’aeven has always been influenced by prophecies, but when one speaks of the end of everything, it will be a race against time to interpret what is written, and to save the multiverse.

Ezekiel has fallen. While the Child Marked of White is missing, angel forces rally.
The Archangels press forward, coming face to face with their past, and the last place they thought they would return to: Purgatory. The place they spent decades fighting a war.

Still reeling from the consequences of his actions, Envy feels like he is chasing shadows.
Realising this war is escalating out of control,and it may be his fault.

They will fight to avoid, fix, or change their destinies. But can prophecy be changed? Or are their fates written in stone?

Preview:

The portal shimmered slightly, its closed outline causing a visible ripple in what should have been open air. It moved sporadically but consistently, giving the impression that it had a life of its own, like some supernatural thing that lived and breathed with the movement of space and time. It was nothing more than a tear in this dymension, but it was a part of the greater Tapestry, and according to the laws of the universe, it should not have even been there. It was an anomaly, a portal in open space, not anchored to any object or place, on a world that was supposed to be closed off.

It was new, and in a universe that had not had any new portals created since before recorded history, that was incredibly unusual.

Raphael stared at the slightly shimmering area of space, while the portal pulsed and shivered softly. He could feel its energy humming with his aura, both as an incredibly powerful thrum that he could feel in his core, and as a tingling prickle at the edge of his senses. A shiver ran down his spine. Even though the portal was in a ‘closed’ state, he could still feel the power and potential behind it.

Scratching at the back of his neck to try and stop himself from shivering, Raphael stepped back from the portal and looked over at Ramiel and Gabriel. They both stood facing the portal, with eyes closed and one hand slightly outstretched toward it. Occasionally, they would whisper to each other in low tones, but otherwise they were focused on their task. Studying the portal with their auras, sending pulses through it, and trying to get as much information about it from their senses as they could. They were trying to find out if it was safe to activate and travel through, if it led anywhere they could go, or anywhere at all for that matter. Lastly, they were trying to find out if it was a likely place the demons had gone to.

Raphael sensed the aura of Uriel approaching from behind him, followed by the rattling of her armour, and the chain at her belt.

She had the same sense of wonder and disquiet radiating from her that Raphael imagined he did. “It is terrifying,” she breathed, a slight sense of awe in her voice, “humbling and impressive. But terrifying.”

“What?” Raphael asked, looking over his shoulder at her. “The portal?” She hummed her agreement, so he turned to look at it again. “It is incredible. That it can exist at all.” He scratched his chin, noting the lengthening stubble he had growing there. “But yes, the fact that it is new, is greatly troubling.”

They both stared at the shimmering space for a moment.

“What could have created it?” Uriel asked thoughtfully.

“I do not even know where to begin to answer that question,” Raphael admitted. Though he did have a couple of unlikely theories, he was not ready to admit to them out loud yet. The first suggested that it was exactly what it appeared to be, that it was a random event of the Tapestry, while the other suggested that it was created intentionally. The only problem with that theory was that, as far as he knew, there were no beings powerful enough to make a portal like this without some form of anchor. The other problem was, if it was made by accident, what did that say about the state of the Tapestry?

“I suppose,” Uriel said slowly. “The only important question is, where does it go?” For a moment, Raphael wondered if she had been reading his aura and guessing what he had been thinking about. But it was the more important question. “It could go anywhere.”

“Indeed,” Raphael agreed. “If it was created by someone, or something, it could connect to any other world. But if it was not made by someone and is the result of the shifting of the Tapestry, it could literally go anywhere… or nowhere.”

Uriel gave him a sideways glance, exaggerated by her armoured diadem and her long black hair falling from her shoulder. It was followed by a flicker of question. “What do you mean, nowhere?”

“Well…” Raphael hesitated, unsure how much his fellow Archangel may have studied theoretical dymension travel. He knew Gabriel had studied it, but then she had always studied harder than the others. They had all seen some really strange things and places during their journeys over the years, but that did not mean Uriel would accept the idea of different planes. “It is possible that the portal could lead to spaces between realms. Or even to one that we cannot exist on, or even comprehend.”

Uriel laughed, a soft breathy sound. “you mean the idea of Astral planes?”

“Well, yes,” Raphael admitted. “Among other things.” He really should not have been surprised that Uriel had some idea of the planes. They all usually shared interests with each other.

“That is a possibility, I suppose…” Uriel said thoughtfully.

Raphael watched her as she studied the portal. There was a curious look in her eyes. “You believe in the other planes theories?”

“Well, I can not deny them,” Uriel admitted. “Some are all but confirmed, and we have seen enough things in our time that were generally thought to be myth, so…why not?” She patted the heavy leather-bound tome hanging at her hip by a chain, “also there are a few passages in here that describe some of them, as though they were first-hand accounts. Such as the Horizon, Babylon, Limbo, and the dream…” She trailed off, realising she was talking about things she probably should not. “…realm…” she finished.

“First-hand accounts!?” Raphael practically shouted. Now that she had mentioned it, there was no way he was going to let her off the hook. “You have to tell me about them now.”

Making a pained expression, then opening her mouth to speak, Uriel was interrupted by someone else.

“First-hand accounts of what?” The dark armoured form of Sariel asked as he landed next to them, the mismatched armoured form of Raguel right behind him. They had approached so quietly and with their auras hidden that Uriel and Raphael had not sensed them arrive.

With a groan of self-pity, Uriel slapped her palm to her forehead rhetorically.

Raphael smiled, turning to look at Sariel and Raguel, noting that Michael had stopped to check in on Ramiel and Gabriel. Now with Sariel and Raguel being present, they would certainly help with convincing Uriel to share what she knew. “We were just talking about some of the lesser-known Dymensions, such as Babylon,” he said as he looked toward Uriel, “and the dream realm…” He was looking at her for confirmation, to be sure he had heard her correctly, but also trying to gauge her response. “And what was the other one? Horizon?” Uriel rolled her eyes, but nodded. “And she was just saying that there were written accounts in the Book of Knowledge.”

Raguel, half way through adjusting the hooded red cowl around his shoulders which they all wore, stopped, then responded with the awe that Raphael had imagined he would. Even Sariel’s aura spiked with interest.

“Really?” Raguel asked emphatically, his loose cowl forgotten momentarily. “What does it say?”

Uriel sighed, “you know I am not really supposed to share what is in the book.” The appropriate response of someone with her background, and someone tasked with keeping the book.

“We know,” Raphael said with a laugh, giving Uriel a wink. “But we are all curious.”

She was about to argue with him when Sariel interrupted. “Would it help if I told you I have been to Babylon?”

Everyone turned to look at him, with various levels of surprise and confusion on their faces. Babylon, or the Tower of Babylon, was not just a myth; it was a legend that many different worlds all shared.

“What?” Raphael said, finally. He knew that Sariel and his Hunters had occasionally gone to places that most of He’aeven’s Warriors had not, but he had not heard about that being one of them.

Sariel smiled, “it was during a bizarre quest with my second in charge and a pair of odd Archangel Warriors. Around the time we encountered the Sin of Greed, actually, now that I think about it.” The look on Sariel’s face was one of rare pride; this story was clearly a fond one.

Uriel cursed, using a more accurate swear word in Common to show her surprise. Even Raguel looked at him, an almost stunned expression on his features.

Sariel laughed, genuinely finding this amusing, a rare occurrence for him these days. “That report was kept out of the official records, but we travelled through Babylon on our way to see the Dragon Queen. She, all but confirmed that Horizon existed too.”

Raphael’s head swam. The Dragon Queen was an Elohim, a god-like being of rare power, and incredibly influential across the Tapestry. Few angels had held her council, and fewer had spoken to her outside of it. If she said a place existed, there was little doubt that it did. In fact, her own realm was practically a higher plane on the Tapestry too.

“Whoa!” Raguel exclaimed again, running his hand through his slicked back red hair. “What was it like?”

“What, Babylon?” Sariel asked. “Or the Dragon Queen’s realm, Drahkmarr?”

Raguel’s eyes nearly jumped out of his head. “Both!”

Sariel was thoughtful, scratching his rough goatee for a moment. “Well, Babylon is… in a word, chaotic. It is overwhelming, with strange gravity, and construction like you have never seen. While Drahkmarr is a beautiful sanctuary world. Comparable to He’aeven.”

Raguel’s jaw dropped in awe. Even Raphael had to admit he was impressed, and very curious.

“Was Babylon a different plane?” Raphael asked. The mention of its construction specifically, made him think Sariel was referring to a literal tower, not a world.

“In a way,” Sariel said thoughtfully. “From what we experienced, it had very similar rules to He’aeven, in the way of physical existence at least. It had oxygen, gravity, and so on. But there were a few rules that set it apart, such as the lack of a single contained space…” He furrowed his brow, the weathered lines on his face more noticeable. “It is hard to explain without having been there.”

They had all heard the legends, of course, that Babylon was a ‘tower’ constructed by hundreds of different species, all speaking different languages. But it had grown too large, and became lost to time. The theory was that it was not lost, but only the means of travelling to it was.

“Do you think we could go there?” Raguel asked, hid golden eyes wild. “I want to see it!”

“It is not impossible,” Uriel said thoughtfully. “Especially as things are.”

Raguel cheered, just as Michael, Ramiel and Gabriel came over to join them, their differing armour to each other completing the mismatched ensemble of the rest. The look on their faces and the seriousness in their auras immediately brought the mood back down.

“You are not going to believe where this portal leads,” Gabriel said seriously, her decorated wings, disappearing behind her.

“Oh?” Raphael asked, though, going by the way Gabriel immediately looked at him with a difficult look, made him wish he had not asked.

“Yeah,” Michael agreed, fidgeting with his red mantle, which hung from his decorative pauldron. “It would appear we are going back to Purgatory.”

Raphael’s stomach dropped out beneath him, and he shot Gabriel a concerned look back, she did not look back.

“There is a definite trail leading there,” Ramiel added, reminding them of their mission, his arms folded across his tabard.

Purgatory. The single most common place where most of the fighting during the last war took place. Raphael had hoped to avoid returning there, and he knew most of the others felt the same.

“Damn,” Raguel said seriously. The others agreed. “Wait,” he added. “So, we left Heaven, crossed two different Earths to get to this one, found our way here, and now we go back to the one realm that is closest to where we started?” That was simplifying it, but it was accurate.

“It would appear that way, yes,” Gabriel agreed.

“I feel like we have been going in circles,” Raguel said with a forced laugh. Not only was that more or less what they had been doing while trailing demon forces, but it said a lot about the state of the Tapestry itself.

Sariel cleared his throat. “If it is anything like last time, there would be a few ways out of there. If we close off any escape routes from there, we would deliver a heavy blow to any plans the demons have.”

“I agree,” Ramiel said, his voice a quiet rumble. “It is worth investigating.”

Catching himself fiddling with one of the gemstones in his necklace, Raphael sighed. “I guess we are going back to Purgatory.” He gave Gabriel an apologetic look as everyone murmured their agreement.

As a group, they moved away from the portal, while Ramiel and Michael stepped up on either side of it. The two Archangels focused their auras, then lifted their hands toward it. At first, it did not look like anything was happening until the shimmering space before them flickered and began to glow. A soft light pooled in its centre, before the whole thing opened up before them with a flare of energy. Everyone gathered was buffeted by strong winds and energy until it settled.

Standing before them, turning slowly and softly pulsing was a new portal. It was strange to see a portal without an anchor of some sort around it, floating freely and self-contained. But otherwise it looked just like any one of the other portals they had dealt with in He’aeven, and the thought that it just happened to be here sent a shiver down Raphael’s spine.

Both Ramiel and Michael took a moment to recover from having spent their energy on controlling the portal before Ramiel turned to the others. “We have delayed here long enough. Let us move.”

One by one, the Archangels stepped through the portal.

Raphael went last this time, taking a moment to centre himself. Preparing both his energy and his mind, before he stepped through.

For a brief moment, he could sense the realms shifting around him, but then moments later, he stepped out onto solid ground and opened his eyes to see the familiar grey land and skies of Purgatory.