Will was staring at the empty streets of London through his window. It was around noon, but not a single person could be found, not even a carriage. He wiped the sweat of his receding hairline with a rag and put it next to the blank piece of parchment on his desk.
“Are you going to keep spacing out?” asked K., standing in the corner of the room.
Will turned his tired eyes to the man. He had to look up, K. was over 6 feet tall, towering over him. “What do you expect me to do? There’s no work because of this damned plague.”
K. adjusted his black vest, covered in handmade, golden ornaments, then gazed into Will’s eyes. If his stature wasn’t imposing enough, his intense, scarlet irises would do the trick. “Don’t you call yourself an artist? Create!”
“Easy for you to say since you don’t have to eat. Creating art for the sake of doing it won’t put food on the table,” Will gently rubbed his empty stomach, which howled in response. “I shouldn’t have left the countryside.”
“But then you wouldn’t have met me, would you?” said K., with a playful smile, as he took a step towards Will, considering how small the room was and how big his legs were, after just a step the two men were just a foot apart.
“Sometimes I question whether that was for the best or not,” said Will, in a low voice. He took a step towards K., only to pass through the man as one would expect to pass through a ghost. Will reached for a bottle of wine and poured himself a glass as if this strange encounter hadn’t occurred.
“Alcohol at this time of the day? You have reached rock bottom,” the red-eyed man said, with scorn on his face.
“And what other choice do I have? Better than drinking the damned water, I would rather be drunk than dead,” Will said, between sips.
“If you don’t pay more attention to your health you are going to end up being both.”
“It’s not like I’m being negligent out of a whim. If it wasn’t for the help I get from friends I would have starved a month ago,” Will had just emptied his glass, but his thirst had not been satisfied, so he poured himself another one.
Silence lingered in the small room for a few minutes, they could hear wood creaking under Will’s weight as he walked back to his desk, not bothering to avoid K. and passing through him again.
Will sat down at his desk and stared emptily at the blank piece of parchment in front of him. K. was the one who broke the silence. “I guess I have no choice but to lend you a hand.”
“Except you can’t give me a hand, you are not really here.”
“Figurative speech. And I am here, in mind at least. But as I was saying, I will help you get some money.”
“And how will you do that? Magic? Everything is closed and there’s no work,” Will said, as he emptied his glass and left it on his desk.
“I will help you write a masterpiece,” K. said, matter-of-factly.
Will burst into laughter, “For a moment I thought you had a real plan. You make it sound easy, ‘creating a masterpiece’… And besides, there’s no money in writing.”
“There is, if you get the right person as a patron. An Earl would probably be delighted to fund you if you dedicated it to him, for instance.”
The gears in Will’s brain started going faster, he wasn’t sure if it was for the excitement of the prospective plan or the wine taking effect. “I guess I could give it a try, I’m not particularly busy anyway. But for it to work the piece needs to be truly outstanding.”
“I have the perfect story in mind, I already told it to another human some time ago, but I believe you can give it an entirely new light.”
Will could feel his excitement disappearing as suddenly as it had arrived. “Is that what you had in mind? Your brilliant plan was for me to repeat someone else’s story, but in greater detail?” He felt ashamed for even believing in K. in the first place.
“The world is not black and white, Will. And the last time I told this story was during the Roman empire, it’s been over a thousand years.”
Sometimes Will forgot how ancient the being he was dealing with was. It sent shivers down his spine just to think about it, but it wasn’t enough to shake his discomfort. “But still, I won’t be regarded as the author, will I?”
“A moment ago, you were worried about putting food in your belly, and now you are all about the glory?” K.’s scarlet eyes seemed to burn like wildfire as he made strong eye contact with Will. “The story will be as yours as you make it. The last version was brief and simple, I’m sure you can turn it into a masterpiece. You have the talent, and the story itself is not only beautiful, but based on a true experience.”
Will’s curiosity had grown almost as vast the crown’s purse, it was so rare for K. to reveal anything about his past, that he couldn’t let a chance like this go to waste. “What is the story about, then?”
“A goddess falling in love with a human,” K. said, gazing into the distance.
Will was puzzled, “I thought you said it was based on a true story.”
K. sighed, “And it is.”
Will scratched his well-trimmed beard. “Then, by ‘goddess’, do you mean one of your kind?”
“Yes, and she was not just one of us. She was the best of us all.”
Will could barely contain his excitement, such a story was unprecedented, he could barely understand what K. truly was, not being entirely sure that K. wasn’t just some kind of demon or Fae that got sealed in the crystal that Will always kept in his pocket, ever since he found it.
But the idea that there had been love stories featuring these beings and humans was now brewing within him, he could feel the inspiration coming. “Tell me the story, then!” He said, as he haltingly grabbed his ink and quill and put them near his parchment.
“She was beautiful, possibly the most beautiful being I will ever lay my eyes upon. She possesses some kind of quality that attracts men, much like a siren’s voice will attract sailors. But that’s not what makes her so great, she is sharp, bright, and possibly the most intelligent being I will ever meet.” K.’s voice was dreamy, it was so unlike him that Will was momentarily taken aback.
“It seems like you fancied her quite a bit,” Will commented, as he wrote a few notes on the parchment.
“Yes, but not in the way that you are inferring, she was like a sister to me. I miss her deeply.”
Will could feel the melancholy in K.’s voice, he felt bad for him, but that wouldn’t stop him from hearing the rest of the story. “And what’s her name?”
It took a while for K. to answer, the silence was starting to get awkward when he broke it. “The first person to write this story called her Venus, for the sake of consistency, I suggest you keep it.”
“Roman goddess of love and beauty? I suppose it makes justice of your description of her.”
“It was Ovid’s idea, but let’s not dwell on details, the story has yet to start.”
“Sorry for the interruption. Please, keep going.” The last thing that Will wanted was for K. to give up on telling the story, he was already hooked by it, more than he was willing to admit.
“She met a young man, smart, skillful, and renowned for his appearance, let’s call him Adonis. The details of how he came across her crystal are irrelevant, but he did. She saw raw potential in him, he had all it took to become a leader, and she was willing to transform that rough diamond into a precious gem.”
After saying it, K. went silent for a full minute. Will’s anxiety couldn’t hold any more “And what happened then?”
K. eyed him, and the intensity of his stare made Will regret saying anything. Whenever he looked into the man’s eyes, the bright red color reminded him he wasn’t dealing with a man at all. A few moments later, K. continued “However, Adonis was way too young. Regardless of how much charisma he had, his mind was set only for hunting. But Venus wasn’t the type to give up so easily, she accompanied him during the hunts, trying all possible means of convincing. She even decided to try going hunting completely naked, in an attempt to grab his attention.”
K. went silent again, but this time, Will knew better than to say anything. He simply wrote a few notes on his parchment and waited patiently for him to continue.
After what seemed to Will a lifetime of waiting, but had probably been around two minutes, K. resumed the story. “But apparently, he was immune to her charms, he only cared for hunting, regardless of what animal it was. She tried explaining how much difference he could make if he applied himself, how far he could go, and that even being remembered forever in history was within his reach. But he didn’t listen, for all he had space for in his mind and heart was hunting.”
Another pause, K. moved to the empty corner of the room and was facing the door, his back turned to Will, which was already getting used to the sudden stops during the story.
“The situation upset her, and she decided to stop seeing Adonis altogether. After a while he started to worry about her absence, thinking something may have happened to her. No matter how many times he would call her name, or rub her crystal, she wouldn’t answer. He went back to his house, and before going to bed, pleaded once again for her to appear. That night, she appeared in his dream, and he was delighted. Just knowing that she was fine lifted a huge weight off of his shoulders, they spent the whole night talking, and she started to get through him, the fact that they could have physical contact in dreams certainly helped, as they even shared a kiss.”
Will was expecting a pause and started to get up to get some more wine, but as suddenly as K. stopped the story, he resumed it. Will went back to his chair hastily so he could keep notes.
“She asked if they could be together for longer, plan a better future for him, he accepted, but it had to wait, for he had planned to go boar hunting the next morning. Venus managed to get into a piece of his mind, but young and careless as he was, his heart still beat for hunting. She urged him to reconsider, to call off the hunt and stay with her for longer, but he didn’t listen. As the sun rose, Adonis grabbed his hunting equipment, got his dogs, and left.”
K. turned back towards Will, and as he did, Will noticed something resembling a tear, rolling down the man’s cheeks. Perhaps the reason for him to face the wall earlier hadn’t been so arbitrary, after all.
“When she woke up, she was in the middle of the woods, her crystal on the grassy ground. She called for Adonis, but got no answer. She couldn’t move more than a few feet away from her crystal, it’s our prison after all, but she searched the best she could. The first signs she saw were the injured dogs, whimpering under a tree, and just a few feet farther she saw him. His body was pale, with a large tear in his torso, where the tusks of the boar hit him. It was the first time in over two thousand years that she cried. Legend says that a beautiful white and purple flower grew on the spot that Adonis’ body laid.”
Will wrote a few more notes after K. had finished the story, he could feel the inspiration flowing through his body, he knew he could transform it into a masterpiece. But one question still loomed in his mind, “Why was the flower white and purple?”
“It’s the color of her hair and eyes…” K. said, passing his hand through his own silver hair.
After pondering for a moment, Will went through his notes. “You were right, K., this story can become a masterpiece.”
“I’m always right about these things. It’s your job to make sure it does, though. But please refrain from revealing details about my kind, make it so it resembles Roman gods.”
“I wouldn’t try to write about your kind, either way, it’s way too complicated to explain the concept, especially considering that I’m not sure I understand it myself.”
That brought a smile on K.’s lips. “And I would rather it kept this way. Now work on it, you can only have one debut!”
As K. said it, Will was brought back to the task at hand and started going through his notes again. “There’s so much to be done, it’s going to take a while to finish…”
***
Will worked on the story for months on end, and after putting blood, sweat, and tears into it, it was finally done. After he showed it to K., all that would be left would be to get it published, getting an earl for a patron had proved feasible, although his patronage was depending on the perceived quality of his work. “K., it’s done, would you like to go through it together?”
As Will said it, K. materialized out of thin air in front of him, he felt uneasy whenever that happened, but never let it show.
“I’m all ears,” said K., sitting on Will’s desk.
Will read his entire piece, which he entitled ‘Venus and Adonis’, after many minutes of reading, he was expecting K.’s critique.
“It has a lot of sensual bits, but it’s definitely well-written,” was all that K. said.
“Well, as you said, I should be using Roman god concepts, and since Venus is the goddess of Love, Beauty, and Sex, it made sense to make it more explicit. What do you think? Bad idea?” Will was feeling insecure after the entire poem was done, while he was writing he felt confident that it was going to be a masterpiece, but now that it was done, he wasn’t so certain anymore.
“No, not a bad idea, actually. Sex sells. And as I said, it’s well written, that’s what counts. Just don’t forget to add the dedication to the earl, and of course, to sign it. You don’t want it to be considered as ‘author unknown’, do you?”
Will grabbed his quill and started adding the finishing touches, on the head of the parchment he wrote:
‘To the Right Honorable
Henry Wriothesley, Earl of Southampton,
and Baron of Tichfield.’
Then, following K.’s advice, Will moved the quill to the end of the page and signed his first work.
Your Honorable in all duty.
William Shakespeare
***
“What are you looking so serious for, Mike?” asked a young man, that was laying comfortably in Mike’s bed.
“So, you decided to show yourself again, Ruriel? It’s been a while. And don’t call me Mike, please,” Mike answered, without taking his eyes off the paper in front of him.
“What? Am I supposed to call you Michael? Give me a break, no need to be so formal all the time. And by the way, you didn’t answer my question,” Ruriel said, sitting on the bed, his short, silver hair was a mess, it was apparent that he had been sleeping for a while.
“My name is not Michael anymore, and you know it. Now, please, stop interrupting me, I’m trying to write a speech,” he sighed, it was always difficult dealing with Ruriel.
“Man, you’re no fun, all you do is work. And too bad for you, I will keep calling you Mike, besides, it’s past time that you started calling me Ruri, everybody calls me that.” Ruri was fidgeting with his fingers as he spoke.
Michael closed his eyes, and did a silent prayer, he was under pressure and his patience for Ruriel’s reckless behavior was depleting quickly. “That would be disrespectful, regardless of your behavior, you are still a servant of the lord. And speaking of work, shouldn’t you be doing the same? Don’t you have your own duty to fulfill?” Michael said, turning on his chair to face Ruriel.
The two men locked eyes for a few seconds, Michael’s brown eyes didn’t show any discomfort while staring deep into Ruri’s, despite his unusual white iris. Ruri shrugged and looked away a few moments later.
“How can you be so careless? You need to fulfill your duty to the lord, don’t you?” asked Michael.
“The others will do it, it’s fine if I just wait,” Ruri was looking down at his bare feet, pale as snow.
“When the Lord put you in my life I was sure it would be for you to guide me into the right path, but I start to think it’s the opposite, I’m the one that must save you,” it was the only explanation Mike could come up with, either that, or it was a test of his resolve.
“Save me? I’m fine, I don’t need any saving. I’m the one that got the best deal out of this situation,” half a smile flashed across Ruri’s face, but it didn’t convey any happiness.
“What do you mean? You disappear months at a time, apparently sleeping for the whole time you were gone!”
“You see, that’s the trick. They all have to deal with reality, and I don’t. Each of us has a special ability. Some are extra smart, others are creative geniuses, and I’m the visionary.”
“You? A visionary? Are you sure you know what this word even means?”
A devious smile flashed across Ruri’s face, “Exactly, but it isn’t the same meaning you know. While all of my kind can visit past memories while dreaming, I have the unique gift of seeing the future.”
“The future? Can you glimpse at God’s divine plan, then?” he had never known that Ruriel had such an incredible gift.
“Well, kind of. The future isn’t fixed in stone, you know? Every little action can potentially change it. But with my ability, I can put myself in so many variations of the future, it’s amazing! I’ve seen one in which all men had been extinct, there were only women in the world, it was unreal! There was another future when everything was automated, and people just partied the whole time. There are endless possibilities! And while I explore them all, the others will solve the problems. I’m sure one day I will wake up and our duty will be fulfilled.”
Michael couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “I feel pity.”
“For them, right? They have to work and face reality, while I have this amazing gift.”
“No, I pity you, Ruriel. You are just escaping your responsibility, running. All the while letting others do all the work. How can you even be sure that if they achieve their objective, that you will be rewarded as well?”
“The Chief is going to solve it, I’m sure of it. And by the time she fixes her problem, all the others will be solved already, including mine.” Ruri said, as he carefreely leaned on the bed, using his hands as pillows.
“Chief? So, in other words, do you mean an Archangel?” Michael was confused, he didn’t know angels had a ranking system between them.
“Yeah, I guess you could say that. She surely has the face of an Archangel.” Ruri smiled, looking at a fixed spot on the wall.
“Do you trust her that much? Shouldn’t you at least try to do something by yourself?”
“I trust her entirely if anyone can do it, it’s her. I’m 90% sure that new president is with her.”
“Really? Kennedy? How can you tell?” Michael had talked with Ruriel several times before, but this was the first time he was revealing so much about himself and the other angels.
“It’s just a hunch, but I’m normally right about this kind of stuff.”
Michael lost interest instantly, “So it’s nothing but a guess? I should have known better than to expect you to have any concrete information.”
“If you had lived for as long as I have, you would have learned to value your gut feeling too.”
“Except you spent most of that time in a dream world! Desperately trying to escape reality, while all the others are actually changing it!” Michael was out of breath, he could feel his heartbeat rising. “I already wasted too much time with you. Begone, I have work to do.” He said, turning his back to Ruriel and focusing again on his notes in front of him.
“You are boring as always, Mike,” Ruri said, and as he did, he disappeared into thin air.
Michael was finally alone again. Before he went back to work, he took a glimpse of the clock, he was full of dread, too much time had been wasted with Ruriel’s shenanigans. He grabbed his pen firmly and kept working on his speech, even if Ruriel didn’t want to be part of the change in the world, he would.
Hours passed, and when Ruri decided to reappear, Mike was sleeping in his chair, snoring lightly. Ruri approached and took a peek over Mike’s shoulder and read the page he had been working on before falling asleep.
“I guess I can give a hand every once in a while,” Ruri said in a low voice.
***
Michael was focused. The pitcher had an ominous look on his face, but Michael wouldn’t let it get to him, he knew he could hit it. In less than a second, the pitcher threw the ball and Michael swung with all his strength.
He felt the bat connecting with the ball, and a second later it was flying high, a home run.
“I would have never guessed that this was your kind of dream, Mike,” Ruriel was suddenly standing right next to him on the field.
“Dream?” as he said it, Michael noticed that the thousands of people that were watching the game didn’t really have faces, he felt his stomach turn, and disappointment filled his chest.
“I always thought you were more of a football guy, but I have to admit that this baseball uniform fits you,” Ruriel said, casually.
“Can’t you leave me alone? Don’t I deserve peace at least when I’m asleep?”
“You were the one that preached about fulfilling one’s duty, weren’t you? Now, bear with me,” as Ruri finished his sentence, the baseball field and everything around it shifted.
Michael found himself in Atlanta, a city he knew well from his childhood, but something was off. He recognized the streets, but the buildings were much higher than he remembered, and the cars were models he had never seen or even heard of. He was so overwhelmed by everything that was happening, that he almost didn’t hear Ruriel.
“What do you think of your hometown, Mike?”
“Where are we, really? This can’t be the same Atlanta that I was born in,” since it was a dream, maybe Ruriel had messed everything up as a prank, it sounded definitely like something that he would do.
“The question is not ‘where’, but ‘when’. This is Atlanta about a hundred years from now. If your work bears enough fruit and the next generations take it seriously, this is how it will look like.”
“What? Will I be a politician in Atlanta or something?” Ruriel wasn’t making any sense.
“Don’t focus so much on the city itself, that’s not why I brought you here. Look at the people.”
And so he did. There were people walking on the street, chatting, and using some technological devices that resembled a small walkie talkie. As he observed, a bus stopped a few feet away, and he saw the people entering it and finding themselves seats, the remaining were left standing.
By the time the bus left, Michael had tears running down his cheeks.
“So, you finally noticed, huh?” said Ruriel, casually.
Michael started walking through the city, looking around more attentively, Ruri was following him a few steps behind. After walking for a good thirty minutes, Michael took a seat on a bench in a park he had ended up in. “They are the same…”
“Yes, it took a while, but there’s no segregation anymore. Black, white, Latinos, all are treated the same way,” said Ruri, taking a seat next to Mike.
They were touching shoulders, it was the first time they had made physical contact. Michael looked at Ruriel’s arm, white as a piece of paper, and them back at his own, chocolate brown. The difference was apparent, but in the world they were in, that wouldn’t matter. “How?” was all that Michael could bring himself to say.
“As I said, this is the result of your work and the work of thousands of others. It wasn’t easy, and many people had to die until it got to this point, but don’t you think the result is worth it?”
He didn’t have to answer that. Of course, it was worth it, he would give his life for this to happen, without a second thought. “Is it only in Atlanta?”
“No. I can show you other places, the rest of Georgia, Mississippi, Alabama, South Carolina. All over the country, it’s the same.”
Michael was elated, he could barely hold all the excitement he was feeling. “Show me, then, Please!”
“I will. But don’t forget, this isn’t a fixed future yet, it’s just a possibility. For it to become a reality, you will have to devote your life to it, even more than you have been doing until now. And that’s not all, you will have to motivate and inspire the next generations to do the same. It’s a lot of work.”
“I will do it. I will do whatever it takes.” Michael said, without a shadow of doubt present in his voice.
“That’s good to hear. Now, prepare yourself, our next stop is Alabama!”
***
The next morning, even though he had sore muscles and back pains from sleeping on his chair, Michael woke up reinvigorated. He decided to write an entirely new speech, and the pen just flew through the paper, words flowing out of it so fast that he feared the paper would be torn apart, but he couldn’t help it, he had to get these feelings out of his chest.
Hours passed before he even realized it, and he had written a new speech that couldn’t even be compared to the one he had started writing the night before. It was hard for him to admit it, but Ruriel was the one that made it possible. And Just as he thought about that, he heard the angel’s voice.
“This one is much better, Mike,” Ruri was peeking through Mike’s shoulder, his white eyes focused on the speech, and a shining smile formed in his mouth.
“This is thanks to you, Ruriel. Now I know why God put you in my path. Together we will change the world!” Last night had opened Michael’s eyes to the real possibilities of the future, he had more energy than ever to fight and be the difference.
“Yeah, about that…” Ruri’s face was serious, there was no trace left of the smile that was there a few moments ago.
“What?” Michael was puzzled, Ruriel always wore a carefree expression, it came to a shock that he could have such a sorrowful face.
“I’ve got to go,” Ruri had an empty look, avoiding Michael’s eyes.
“What do you mean? How can you leave after what you just showed me? We can achieve that! Don’t give up now!”
“You don’t need me anymore, you were already on the right path, I just gave you a little push, and now you are all set.”
“And you are just going to disappear? What are you going to do? Escape reality again?” Right when Michael started to believe that Ruriel was more than what met the eye, he was let down again, he could feel betrayal filling his chest.
“Exactly the opposite. My vacations from reality were too long already. But for the future you saw to actually happen, your work isn’t enough. You are going to be an important part of it, but not the only one.”
“Do you plan to guide someone else, then?” Michael was disappointed with himself, while Ruriel was thinking about the greater good, he was only thinking of getting the angel’s advice for himself.
“Yeah, Mike. And I will need your help getting there,” a thin smile formed on Ruri’s face, a bit of joy appeared to return to his eyes.
“Of course, I will help in any way I can. But could you stop calling me “Mike” already? I changed my name so many years ago!”
“Deal, I will call you by your right name, but promise to send my crystal through airmail, I’ve been stuck on the bottom of the sea for a few hundred years in the past, and I’ve made it a point not to travel on boats since then.”
“Okay, airmail it is.”
“Thanks, Martin. I used your ‘real’ name, happy now?” Ruri said, rolling his eyes. “By the way, did you think of a name for this speech yet?”
“Not yet, I had just finished it when you showed up.”
A devious smile flashed on Ruri’s face, “What about, ‘I have a dream’?”
Martin chuckled, “Yeah, that seems appropriate,” it was weird for him that this might be the last time he would talk like this with Ruriel. He had loathed his behavior since they met, but he had become part of Martin’s life. But he couldn’t be greedy