Everything happens so quickly then, but at the same time, it feels like everything is moving in slow motion.
The man grabs my arm and before the scream working its way up my throat can rip out of my mouth, I’m being blown away by what feels like a hurricane. Only it isn’t.
I can feel my eyes widen as the very air around me shifts, comes to life, crackling with fire and lightning. Then the atmosphere itself is opening. I’m out of my mind with fear, but through the haze of blind panic, I can see the endless expanse beyond the opening. The never-ending star-filled universe against a prism-like spectrum of colors. So many colors, so vivid, it’s difficult to look at.
I can feel myself thrashing and kicking, but it’s no use, this man is far stronger. He’s pushing me into the opening and I can do nothing but let myself fall through it.
I’m flying then, flying through what feels like time and space, which is crazy. But it’s difficult to keep a grip on reality when you’re flying through starlight and rainbows. I can feel myself screaming, but the sound is lost in the vast expanse. Traveling at what feels like lightning speed, I’m too paralyzed to be terrified. I’m beyond all thought and reason. After what feels like an eternity of falling, the universe stills and thankfully, I feel and see nothing.
3
I wake up to a crashing headache.
Am I hungover? No—I wasn’t drinking last night. I was working at the diner.
The memories come flooding back. The man with the knowing eyes at the diner. The same man showing up at the playground near my trailer in the middle of the night, telling me that he’s my grandfather—Magnus Evenstar, he’d called himself.
My eyes focus on my surroundings, but I can’t make sense of it. I’m lying on a bed—not my cramped bed in the trailer, which is foster home number ten, but a huge ass bed with silk sheets and pillows that feel like clouds. If that isn’t enough to convince me that I must be dreaming, the white marble floor and onyx walls definitely are. I jolt out of the bed and feel a wave of dizziness as I stand at the center of the palatial room. As I gape at the large onyx fireplace and the plush purple velvet furniture dotting the room, my confusion only grows.
Where the hell am I?
The scene outside the floor to ceiling French windows is of an impossibly blue sky, meeting an even bluer ocean. It’s paradise. Am I dead?
A loud knocking at the large double doors makes me jump out of my skin. I look down at my attire to make sure I’m decent, only to find myself clothed in grey silk pajamas—sure as hell not mine. I don’t own anything silk.
The man from the diner steps into the room.
“Where the hell am I?” I demand instantly, feeling both disoriented and furious.
“I told you I wanted you to come with me,” Magnus replies simply in the infuriatingly calm tone.
“So you kidnapped me?” I’m shouting now and I don’t give a shit who hears.
“Calm down, Jazmine. I can explain. We have a lot to talk about.”
I stare at him in disbelief, I can feel my panic rising, but I stamp down on it, forcing my breaths to slow. I’ll need to stay calm, if I’m going to have any chance of getting the hell out of here.
“Explain,” I say through gritted teeth, although I have no interest in knowing. I just want to keep him distracted while I look for an escape route.
Magnus takes a deep breath then, before walking over to look out of one of the large windows. I keep my eyes trained on him the whole time, in case he tries to grab me again.
“In the beginning, there was Eden—I’m sure you’re familiar with the story, like most humans are. But what humans do not know, is that Eden is real and it isn’t just a garden, it’s an entire world. It sits alongside Earth in another realm, running parallel alongside Earth, but never touching.
“Its inhabitants are the Seraph—the first beings to ever be created. We are mortal just like humans but unlike humans, we have the power to influence the elements, to control them. Every season, every raindrop, every gust of wind, the rising of the sun each morning and the painting of the night sky each night—it is by the hand of the Seraphs. Adam was once a Seraph until he fell from grace, was stripped of his powers and banished to Earth. From him, the human race was birthed. Humans know nothing of our true existence, though they have told tales about us throughout the ages, worshipped us through many guises. We are their gods, angels, higher beings, apparitions, deities. These are all just human interpretations of the Seraph.
“So, to answer your first question—you are in Eden, the royal city of Arcadia, to be precise.”
Oh god, I’ve been kidnapped by a lunatic from a cult, and now he’s going to kill me.
I don’t know what I was expecting him to say, but it sure as hell wasn’t this. All efforts at finding an exit fall away as my entire universe focuses on trying to process Magnus’s words.
“What the hell are you talking about? I can’t even …”
I’m shaking my head in utter shock and denial. My mind can’t even begin to fathom the meaning of his words. Because it’s crazy. Nonsense. It has to be.
“You don’t believe me,” Magnus says flatly.
“No shit. Did you hear the crazy shit that just came out of your mouth? A world called Eden in another realm? Another race—the Seraph or whatever they’re called that can influence nature? It sounds insane.”
He seems displeased by my profanity. I don’t give a shit.
What he does then, shuts me up entirely though. One minute he’s standing with the morning sun encasing his solitary figure, the next, the daylight around him disappears. There are actual shadows seeping out of him, swallowing the light.
I back up frantically, stumbling as I go, and nearly landing on my ass.
Then as quickly as they had appeared, the shadows vanish again. Leaving only the daylight in their wake.
“What—what the hell was that?” I almost shout.
He turns to me, those knowing grey eyes taking in my flabbergasted expression.
“A demonstration of the power of the Seraph. I forget that humans will only believe what they see,” he says.
“Except you’re not human, Jazmine. At least not fully—your father was a Seraph, so that makes you half Seraph.”
If I thought I was shocked before, it’s nothing compared to what I’m feeling now.
“And not just any Seraph. The Dynasties are the ruling class of Eden—the strongest Seraph bloodlines. In the beginning, there were eight Dynasties, but after the fall of Adam and his Adonis Dynasty, seven remain. Of those seven Dynasties, the two most powerful Dynasties are known as the sovereign Dynasties, the two royal bloodlines—the St. Tristan Dynasty and the Evenstar Dynasty. The rule of Eden has always fallen to one of these two sovereign Dynasties and before your father died, he was the King.”
He fixes his eyes on me.