Painted Moments

5 The Histories

Chapter 5
The Histories

Aspen left the room after delivering the first round of drinks. He would probably be going back and forth throughout the meeting.
Mason and I found our usual seats in a sitting area closest to the Dias. We listened in on meetings mostly uninvolved unless we were needed.
I started to zone out as the meeting commenced with its usual traditional prayer. I Repeated the words I've spoken once a month since I was a child. After that the announcements were too generic to hold my attention. My eyes began roving about the room focusing on the paintings depicting our history.
Each painting was spectacularly detailed. Some were dark and dismal. Others were so bright and peaceful.
My favorite though was the ancient painting that told the origin story of our families. The garden of Eden. It's rare to talk to someone who has not heard of that holy place lost to time. According to biblical texts it is guarded by an ArchAngel with a flaming sword.
My family knows there is more to the story though. The painting tells a tale of love and sacrifice between the ArchAngel and a human woman.
The story starts after the Angel has been guarding God's treasure The Tree of Life from humans for decades. When one day a human child full of innocence came across him. In her innocence he could find no fault in her. So he spared her. She returned safely to her parents.
As the years went by the child visited him often. Still holding that innocence regardless of her advancing years. When the child grew into a woman as beautiful as her innocent heart the Angel fell in love with her.
They lived together for a time just outside of Eden. Till one day the Angel rejoiced in the knowledge that he would soon become a father.
That joy was to be short lived however, when the news of the great flood once again reached the Angels ears. Years ago he had become aware of The Creator's edict, but it had so little to do with him he had put it from his mind completely. Now he is faced with the fact that in a matter of days he had to prepare to lose his family forever and continue his duties alone, spared from the on-slot within Eden, or die with them in the coming flood waters. He could not disobey God's law and bring them within Eden.
The days passed in his worry as his wife begged him to retreat to Eden. However, neither one could have prepared themselves for the true betrayal of the woman's family. Word spread about The Tree of Life and it's guardian. Once the rains began to fall the Angel and the woman were met with a battle. A Flood of a different sort beating at their door.
As the Angel fought the interlopers. He left his wife and unborn child with her brother. A fatal mistake as once the Angel was met with the horde and severely wounded they were double crossed. As the Angel was beaten back by the mob to make a last stand at The Tree of Life. He was confronted with his beaten wife pushed to the front of the crowd by her own father. Threatened with her life the Angel was finally able to admit he could not live without her.
As her brother stepped forward demanding the fruit the Angel relented, plucking the largest and sweetest fruit from the tree. The moment the fruit broke away from the mother tree however, the tree itself quickly began to wither. All other fruit fell rotten to the ground without an ounce of life left for the panicked crowd to pilfer.
Hysteria swept through them in waves as they realized they could not escape their fate. The rot began to spread from The Tree of Life throughout the garden.
Chaos ensued! The brother of the woman quickly lost his life as he attacked the Angel, grasping with his greed, hoping to obtain eternal life. The woman broke free from her father using his distraction. In his anger and panic he struck her, slashing her across the back. He did not live long enough to regret his actions.
The Angel and his wife escaped as God's wrath broke through destroying the garden and drowning everyone left behind. Flying through the storm with his wife he headed for higher ground in the mountains.
For two days he cared for their injuries. As the waters rose they were running out of time. Soon there would be no land to step foot on. Finally the Angel came to a critical decision. He would lose his wife and his unborn son to her wounds or starvation if he did nothing. He fed her the fruit of creation and life, filling her with immortality and their child with strength.
Sustained and healed by the fruit he took her into the air flying above the storms. Flying high for 38 days and 38 nights he safely guarded his small family and the last seed of The Tree of Life.
Finally as the waters receded he landed on a small land mass that peaked above the waves. As days went by the land was revealed to be an island of extremely fertile ground. At the top peak of the island he made his home with his immortal wife. There he planted the pit of the fruit, and the new garden of Eden was born completely cut off from mankind.The Angel resumed his duty, but there was a price for his actions.
The Angel and the woman had three sons. Once their children were grown they began to display abilities as a side effect of being born of the woman imbued with knowledge and life. God could not allow more chaos in the world by the birth of new godlings. God stripped the young men of their own immortality; demanding the children to leave his new garden. Finally he wilted the womb of the Angel's wife. When the woman wept at God's feet begging that if they must go; at the very least send them with the ability to protect themselves from those that would try to steal their secrets. God relented and allowed them to keep a small limited amount of creation within their life's blood. At the expense of their own life force the brothers could breathe life into their artistic creations.
After a short time in God's presence learning of their gifts. The offspring of the Angel and the Immortal woman went into the world. The oldest and strongest son Veta went north, taking only food for the journey and tools for painting and sculpting, the middle son Partum went east ,taking only food for the journey and his painting tools, and the youngest son Motus went south, taking only food for the journey and his carving tools. This is the beginning of the recorded history of The Veta families.
It is believed that Motus also had the ability to write things into being, but it died out by being overpowered by too many marriages to humans and the other two families.
The name still survives, but that uncanny ability is believed to be lost forever. The only abilities that manifest in any family now are the painting of space and time creation and the molding of physical mediums into creations within your own reality.
Then there is the main family. The direct descendant of the eldest son who can do both due to the fact that he resided within the Woman's womb when she ate the fruit. The combination causes unique abilities in an individual of direct descent.
Like Mason's ability to fade into the background by completely hiding his life force, and someone else's he is in contact with from all of your senses. It makes me wonder for a moment how my ability will develop.
My Grandfather, my mother, my brother and I are the only four people capable of combining and using these two abilities. Meaning we are not limited by the spatial barriers. Hence the fact that I could reach into Grandmother's painting and pull out real cookies.
Anyone else would have to enjoy them within her painting. Since her space pocket is not a place in our reality.
It is only a small difference. Most get around it by having a Partum painter paint what they want in the space pocket onto the canvas. Then moving it around once they are inside it.
Likewise, if they want it on our plane of existence they commission a Motus sculptor or carver. So basically my family is just lucky to have a shortcut.
Looking up above the painting Eden; I can see the family rules carved like a binding contract into a mounted plaque.
Create only what you know.
Never be seen creating life.
Destroy all mistakes!
These are the rules that have protected our families for thousands of years. They have only been broken once. The civil war that was caused within the families resembled mob wars. Brothers fought brothers. Children held hostage by parents on opposite sides of the coin. Severe punishments meted out to teenagers who just did as their parents told them. Family units destroyed or broken apart by cousins they grew up with. Orphans left at the main house. It was called the neutral ground until the final battle. It was a bloody nightmare.
No one wants to go back to those times. Though some silver linings did come from it. The exploration of our effect on humans changed everything when it comes to preserving the power within our blood.