Parousia

~ 40 Days ~

Please keep in mind that this book is in rough draft form and will be edited later. *** UPDATE: Parousia is undergoing rehaul and polishing. Stay tuned for publishing news. Reviewers of the eBook and/or Paperback will be entered into a contest for either a gift card or to have their book sent to a celebrity. If you would like to participate in the opening of my blog, please visit here and join the mailing list / subscribe. https://www.authorstephaniehansen.com/ ***

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After the auto-pilot of her limbs resided, Araceli prayed hoping her Mom would hear. She needed something, anything because Vee and this man were counting on her. Then, as if her brain were tethered to a string that attached to Heaven, she heard her mother's words. Comforting as her baby blanket, familiar as the game of phone, she heard the message loud and clear.

"You must gather two of each kind," her mother's words said.

"Mom, are you okay? Is HE still there?"

Vee and the man stared at her very confused which made sense. Not only did they not speak but definitely not to invisible people.

"Everything's fine here. Let me worry about myself. You have enough on your hands."

"I know. What am I going to do, Mom? What is this gather two thing?"

The glowing and flowing vines seemed to answer for Avodus. They formed pictures of every animal on Zitro and not only Araceli but Vee and the man both watched in amazement. The first figure was a griffin with four legs and wings. Araceli remembered a familiar creature told in stories on Earth but this one was not quite the same. It had a 3-D shadow that seemed to follow it but not behind or flat, more like an extra layer of skin.

"The shadow throws off enemy targeting systems," Avodus informed Araceli.

Next, the vines formed another shape that Araceli recognized, a minotaur. It stood on its hind legs and had horns and scary fangs but the dimples on its cheeks touched the soul and warmed the skin.

"Okay, but, Mom, have you seen the sky? What am I going to do once I have two of each kind and where is Thyone?"

"She's on her way to you. Think, Araceli, I'm running out of time. How do you save beings from a fully encapsulating flood?"

And then it hit her, in order to save them, she would have to build a bubble-like structure. She tried reaching out to Avodus again but all she was met with was silence. A weight seemed to drop to her stomach not being able to hear her mother and not knowing where Thyone was but Vee looked at her with glowing eyes as the night seemed to make them do that. She would need Vee and the man's help to try to find something that would seal the wood.

In freezing temperatures, Lucifer smiled watching Araceli struggle to find the key. For he knew he had forty days to play with and he had his perfect pawns. Araceli and her naivety, including her two, new comrades. He was looking forward to messing with his true love, Avodus again because he knew the more he got under her skin, the harder it was for her to let him go. And, for his daughter, Thyone, the molding he had in store. She would become stronger than he ever dreamed of being. As his smile froze into a statue like state, Lucifer's spirit left his ghostly body and floated wherever it wished. He could go to old Earth and torture the past, he could go to Zitro and plague the present, or he could go to Vortex as the future was equally promising for good and for evil!

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