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He paused as she leaned in to study the carvings. Most were symbols and not particularly detailed, so the tale they told would be difficult to understand without someone verbally adding to the story.
“You hear cherubs, and you picture small, plump, winged children,” Cain guessed. “In truth, they do not remain children. They grow as all people grow. They are much like most other celestial beings. They have wings, they can wield a lot of power, and their holy blood does not make them innocent as most humans believe.”
She licked her lips and looked back at him. “Okay.”
“The cherubs—or guardians, as they were mostly referred to—were made in God’s image. The monsters, better known as gatekeepers, were created in the image of what would be His complete opposite.”
“Guardians and gatekeepers,” she said. “What exactly were they all supposed to be protecting?”
“The original resting place of Eden, God’s consort. That was why He didn’t create them to be weaker beings than Him. He gave them godlike powers so that they would be strong enough to keep her safe while she slept for centuries on end. The only ability He denied them was the ability to create complicated life-forms—it was all that separated them from deities. Later, He regretted making them so powerful. But in the beginning, it suited Him.”
“So the biblical Garden of Eden is in actuality a resting place, and it’s located beneath Aeon.”
“Yes. She no longer uses it, since God long since washed His hands of His first creations. Things might have been different if the lesser deities He’d instructed to watch those creations, enforce His rules, and keep the peace were more vigilant. Nyx, Nemesis, Apep, and Kali did as they’d been assigned to do most of the time. But not always. And they paid less and less attention to their charges as the eras went by. They weren’t very impressed with them or this realm, so you could say they often slept on the job.”
Wynter’s eyes flicked back to the carvings of the guardians and gatekeepers. “You and the other Ancients . . . you’re not like the Aeons in many ways.”
“Because the Aeons are celestial beings, and we’re not.”
“So they’re the guardians?”
“Yes. At one time, we lived together in Aeon. My kind, the gatekeepers”—he tapped the carving of a snake-like being—“was the underground city’s first line of defense. The two species didn’t get along well. The guardians felt they were far superior and didn’t particularly wish to share Aeon with us. But the two species were united by one thing.” He gestured to a particular carving.
Her nose wrinkled. “Looks like Godzilla.”
“Have you heard of Behemoth?”
“Yeah, it was supposedly one of God’s monsters. He later trapped it in purgatory. Or so the story goes.”
“It wasn’t a single being, it was a race created to defend the surface of Aeon. They lived up there. They were fine with it. Until they weren’t. They wanted the underground city, and they wanted it all to themselves. Having them as a common enemy united the guardians and the gatekeepers. We fought together against the behemoths in a short war that wiped them clean out.”
Her brows lifted as she studied the carvings depicting the battle. “Shall I assume God wasn’t too happy about the race being destroyed?”
“You should. In His mind, we’d played God. It was made clear that we’d be punished if another war ever broke out. For a long time, there was peace. But it didn’t last.” Cain paused as she once more studied the carvings. “When I was born, Adam was convinced that I wasn’t his son. He wasn’t wrong.”
Wynter’s gaze snapped back to him.
“I didn’t carry the birthmark of his family line, you see. So he proclaimed that I had to be another man’s child. Eve didn’t deny it.”
“So who is—or was—your father?”
“My mother had a friend she would often meet in the Garden of Eden, as it’s better known. They had a short affair. He was my father. And that was bad, because he wasn’t a guardian like her. He was a gatekeeper. It was forbidden for the two species to breed.”
“So you’re, like, half celestial?”
He felt his mouth tip up. “No, not even close. I have too much of my father in me. And then there is my creature. Guardians don’t have an inner entity.” He licked his front teeth. “Adam would have killed me when I was a baby if the lesser deities hadn’t forbidden it. It was decided by them that I was to be allowed to live, but that I was not to be given to my father to raise—that would be his punishment for breaking the rule. The deities trusted Adam to punish my mother.”
“That’s the main reason no one stood up for her.”
Cain dipped his chin.
“You once told me that Adam wasn’t able to punish you after you almost permanently killed Abel. Did the deities interfere again and disallow that, too?”
He shook his head. “By that point, they’d stopped paying attention. They were bored, I think. I escaped punishment because I quite simply put myself out of his reach.”
“Where did you go?”
“To see my father. To meet his kind. My kind, really.” He twisted his mouth. “Time went by, and Adam didn’t seek retribution. Eventually, we came to believe that he had decided against retaliating. So none of us expected the surprise attack that came years later. Well, it was more of a slaughter.”
