Chapter 2 A Painful Ending and New Beginning
Arcane walked out of Celeste's bedroom in Switzerland.He had a duplicate android of himself that took flights from country to country so no one would notice he didn't fly in planes unless he was piloting them himself.The android would go to his apartment in New York and house sit for him while he was gone. He willed himself back to Mt. Shasta where he still owned 2 1/2 acres at about 5000 feet on Mt. Shasta. When he had first built the cabin there were no power lines to his land it was so remote. At first he had used Aladdin Lamps run by kerosene and a good wood stove to keep warm even when the snow was 4 to 7 feet deep or more in the winters there. Like Jonathan, Arcane had always been drawn to the mountain and its natural accentuation of intuitive gifts. He found it quite easily to move physically to any time or space with his physical body even though he was now well over 1000 years old. His body had been regenerated within the last three years by medical sentient robots dispatched to his remote mountain cabin so he looked once again like about 30 years old. He was very healthy and athletic looking. He liked to get out on his Mountaineering cross country skis with metal edges and ski the newly fallen virgin snow.
Also like Jonathan, Skiing had always reminded him of Jesus walking on water and was very rejuvenating and exhilerating for him. This was especially true in the high alpine conditions between 5000 feet and 10,000 feet in elevation on Shasta. Now for Arcane is about 3000 AD. Five hundred years ago, Arcane had installed a private perfectly quiet cold fusion generator at his now highly modified cabin and acreage. It supplied all heat and power needed to keep the interior at 60 degrees farerheit year round so the water pipes connected to the well pump and pressure tank didn't freeze and so no mold occured in his cabin during his long absenses of up to 8 months when it wasn't snow ski season.
He usually spent Christmas alternately in Switzerland or New York or with his grandchildren in the various parts of the world where they lived. Now Celeste was gone he didn't quite know how he would handle Christmas. After Christmas, each year he and Celeste had retreated to Mt. Shasta unless there was a war emergency at the United Nations for the months of January through April. They would spend New Years somewhere on earth with the kids or grandkids and then go by the 5th to Shasta. Sometimes, Celeste got bored with the Mountain fastness and would visit relatives while Arcane was there. However, he never tired of the mountain because he was busy working off planet for 6 months at a time and then he would return the next moment after he left. Celeste used to make sure she was there at the cabin for a week after he returned from his 6 month stints off planet to reinforce and recreate him and their relationship. He would repeat this about every 30 days while in their remote cabin on Mt. Shasta.
In May he would return to his apartment in New York or his Estate in Switzerland depending on the needs of the earth and his familt's many far flung business interests worldwide. It had been tricky for Arcane and Celeste to reinherit their estates after they had presumably passed on. After a few hundred years they created special trusts to children and grandchildren or greatgrandchildren that their new Identities were executors of. As executors they could allocate how and where there finances were dealt with. Their children and grandchildren understood what was happening so there was no problem. There had been times when a descendant under 20 had let the secret out. But for Arcane, repairing time was his job now for over 1000 years. Most of the time he didn't have to deal with it at all because his biocom or Celeste's called in those necessary to change time so it hadn't happened.
However, now Celeste had given the Swiss Estate to the Grandchildren. So he would now go between their Manhattan apartment and his Swiss Chalet in the Alps and his cabin on Mt. Shasta.
Arcane found time travel anywhere in the Galaxy easier from Mt. Shasta than for any place on earth. Mt. Kailash was another good time travel port for exit and entry from and to earth but most of his family lived in Europe, the US, Canada and Australia or New Zealand. So he found Mt. Shasta just more convenient. However, if he was travelling as a diplomat to another Galaxy. Mt. Kailash was the best choice. He would then do it as a relay. He would start on Shasta, and get a time boost from His Oneness's Time relay left in Mt. Shasta since ancient Lemurian times, then he would boost to Mt. Kailash and then go supernova to whatever Galaxy he was needed in.
However, this time when he physically appeared in his cabin everything was different. Celeste was gone. It reminded him of the horror he had felt when Celeste's previous lifetime as his betrothed Arrayin and when she was tortured and died at the hands of Tech Noir. Arcane's body shuddered involuntarily.
He had asked Celeste years ago once she had gotten used to remembering past lives again if she had sacrificed herself as Arrayin so he would terminate Tech Noir for sure. She had smiled coyly and said matter of factly, "It was the only way to fully empower you to save our people, Arcane." Just thinking about all that gave him chills even though it was 1400 years in Arcane's past in real time.
Right now 1400 years ago seemed just like yesterday to Arcane. He thought this might be because Arrayin as Celeste had passed on again. He didn't know if he would ever see her in the physical world again. She was just gone!
Arcane's thoughts of Celeste drew her spirit near to him. She appeared like the angel she always was. Arcane was surprised by her warm spirit. He said to her, "You are so beautiful like the first time I met you as Celeste!" She said, "I feel pretty good, too." He said, "Do you remember the first time we met in Atlantis when I was the boy, Darshan?" "Of course Arcane. But that wasn't the first time we met. I guess it isn't really useful to you at present to know about them in your present lifetime." Arcane said, "Yes. This is true. I'm having trouble with all this because I'm having to cope with you dying as Arrayin all over again in addition to losing you as my wife Celeste."
"You must be strong, Arcane. You will need other women in your life over the next several thousand years you are alive!" Arcane frowned. "That's how long I have to live yet?" "It appears so, Arcane. I have a very different perspective from this side. It is not time based at all. Everything on this side is just about Being and not time or space. I can see al our lives not only as humanoids but as all types of manifested beings both physical and spirit."
Arcane felt a little faint. He couldn't deal with any more of this tonight. He said quickly to Celeste, "This is all I can stand for now, Celeste." "It's okay, Arcane. I'll come into your dream tonight and you won't remember my body has passed on. Okay?" Arcane said, "Yes, just as long as I don't have to remember you're gone." "It's a deal, Arcane." With this she drited away.
Arcane shivered and cried by himself that his wife of over 1000 years was gone. He drifted off to sleep in an awkward position on the cabin living room couch. Soon, just as Celeste had promised she showed up in his dream. He was back on the island of Maui, Hawaii. It seemed like both 1986 and everytime they had visited there on anniversaries an the last 1000 years or so. However, this time Celeste had angel wings?" Arcane said, "Why are you wearing angel wings?" Celeste said, "I've earned them, Arcane." Arcane said, "Whatever you say." Arcane found he was lifted by her presence and began to feel elated. He said, "Come walk with me in Haleakala Crater." Celeste said, "Let me fly you there." Because it was a dream Arcane said, "Where did you learn to fly with those?" She said, "It'll be safe. Don't worry." Arcane asked, "Do I grab you or do you grab me?" Celeste said, "Let me hold your waist so we can fly side by side."
When they reached the familiar Ney Neys(a variation of Canadian Geese that don't fly found at Haleakala. It is believed they were blown to Hawaii during a storm thousands of years ago.)Arcane spied the now familiar trail down through the cliffs to the first cabin in the crater. Arcane sighed because of all the amazing memories here. However, something was very strange in this dream. He looked up at the sun above them and it had the face of the Galactic Sentience. He was not sure how he knew that was who it was for he had no memory of ever having even met the Galactic Sentience. The Galactic Sentience as the Sun said, "You both need to visit me, Grandpa." Now this was just so strange that Arcane felt faint even in the dream. Arcane thought at the time that this had to be the single most bizzarre thing he had ever experienced. He looked at Celeste. Both her arms embraced him now as they flew. Because he could feel her love and her presence he no longer felt faint. She held him as they flew. Then she kissed him which caused him to wake up very uncomfortable on the couch of his cabin. Once again the shock of Celeste being dead shocked him to the core.
It was now about 3 am. Arcane got up from his living room couch and walked to the window. It was snowing. It was winter. Celeste was gone. His kids were gone, too. He was alone. It was snowing. He laughed to himself as he remembered Jonathan telling him of his death fantasy. Jonathan had told Arcane that when he got to old and decrepit rather than going into a rest home he would walk some wintery snowy day up on Mt. Shasta all alone and let himself freeze to death. He talked of digging a hole in a glacier with a note pinned to his crest in plastic. It would say. "If you can heal me and regenerate me wake me up!" He laughed out loud to himself again as Jonathan was now at least 1000 years old and still looked between 35 and 45 depending on when he was last regenerated. He laughed again as the irony set in.
As tears formed in Arcane's eyes a part of Arcane longed to do this now rather than to go on living without Celeste. He realized if he wanted to stay alive he needed to visit his parents.
Arcane instantly willed himself to New Deva 900,000 years into the future. It was way before he had taken out Tech Noir so he was allowed to visit during this time under an assumed name. The security on New Deva would know he was Galactic Time Guard by his entry soul signature. Also the Time Guard had given Arcane basic Carte Blanche in almost any time and space because of the Galaxy wide respect he had earned by his actions.
Arcane had visited his parents telling them at first he was a long lost brother to his father who had joined the Time Guard and had been modified to look like an ancient earthling. However, in the most recent visit he had told both parents the truth knowing they could keep a secret. They had found it a very strange secret to keep and had had some difficulty not telling 15 year old Arcane. However, the joy of seeing their adult son who now looked like an ancient earth alien was worth keeping the difficult secret.
As he appeared in his parent's living room he saw himself studying there at about age 15. (He would not tell his young sefl at this age who he really was as it would mess up time.) Arcane introduced himself. He said, "Hi, I'm your uncle. All my friends and family call me 'Future'. Young Arcane said, "Hi, Uncle Future. My parents often talk about you. They say you travel the Galaxy. Even though you've been modified, you sure do look a lot like me. Could you take me with you next time you go off planet?" "I'm afraid not Arcane. I work for the Galactic Time Guard." Young Arcane said, "Wow! I've never met one of those. Can I tell me friends?" Arcane frowned, "I'm afraid not, Arcane. I'm just telling you because you are family and I know I can trust you and your parents to keep a secret." Young Arcane was crestfallen at not being able to tell his friends.
Old Arcane had forgotten just how well endowed psychically he had been at this age. He was barely able to keep young Arcane from guessing the truth. At that moment young Arcane said, "You're not me in the future are you?" Old Arcane said, "Probably not, Arcane." From the way Uncle Future answered this he knew it was a possibility but also realized that even if it were true time and space would suffer if he knew for sure. He let it go.
Old Arcane said, "Where are your parents? It's really important that I speak with them." Young Arcane said, "Oh, They're in the next room. They had started to study some ancient earth language. I think it's called Angleish or English or something like that. They said you speak it fluently, Uncle Future. Is that why you don't look like us?" Old Arcane said, "Yes, I was modified to live there as a planetary anthropologist." Old Arcane realized he had been telepathing with young Arcane all this time rather than speaking out loud. This might have been a mistake. Old Arcane asked Biocom. Biocom replied. "It's not a problem because of the way that young Arcane thinks. He hasn't had enough real life adult experiences to know what to do with all this information and by the time he has had enough experience he will have forgotten 90% of it." Old Arcane was very relieved."Thanks Biocom." he said. "Your welcome, Arcane."
Young Arcane seemed pleased to have rattled so sophisticated a relative. He left his studies in the living room and showed Old Arcane to both of their parents. Young Arcane said out loud, "Hey, Mom and Dad. Guess who's here? It's Uncle Future." Old Arcane almost cried out loud in hearing his young self speak his native language again. Old Arcane felt very sad at not being able to speak his New Devan Language again because his tongue had been shortened by 50% to look and operate like an ancient earthling. This made it impossible to speak his native language properly any more. This was one reason his parents were trying to learn English in order to take the sting out of not being able to converse in Native New Devan.
Arcane thought back upon what it had felt like to have the long tongue of a water breather of his native New Deva. He remembered in Water Scouts how he had learned the ancient water breather technique of unrolling his tongue from the roof of his mouth where it was politely kept when not speaking or hunting for fish. The tip of the tongue was used for bait. The Water Scout was supposed to stay very still barely breathing water and wait for fish to come and try to eat their tongue. If the scout was still enough the fish would come and check out the tongue. A mechanical barb had been installed on the tongue to spear the fish when it got close enough. Then all the scout had to do was to grab the fish and rip out the barb and put the fish in a bag at ones waist. He had been one of the few scouts in his troop that had been successful in obtaining a fish in this old water breather way. It was as difficult as rubbing sticks on land to make fire but he had done both. It had been so hard to be so exceptional at everything. Other scouts had been so jealous of his Shark and Whale patches. A whale water Scout was the highest like the Eagle Scout was back on ancient earth. He had encouraged his children to become eagle scouts back in the 20th century when they were children and then young adults in the 21st. Now they were all gone and he longed for Celeste and his young family. A tear formed in his eye. Arcane stood facing his parents and smiling at their joy to see him.
Arcane's parents were delighted to see him. His Dad embraced him and said, "My God, Future, you still look the same. Even after all these years you still look the same. I still can't get used to you looking like and ancient, ancient earthling." Arcane as Uncle Future smiled and embraced his Mom and Dad. His parents looked worried for a moment and said to young Arcane, "We have important business to discuss. It's something too dangerous for you to know, Arcane." Young Arcane said, "I understand, father." Old Arcane knew at that moment that young Arcane knew for sure more than he wanted him to. However, Biocom was right. He would forget most important things before he could process them with truly adult thoughts.
Arcane's father looked at his future son Uncle Future and said, "What brings you here, son?" Arcane as Future said, "Celeste is gone!" His father said, "What happened?" Arcane cringed. "All our children chose to pass on within 500 to 800 years of their births. When the oldest of our children chose to join the other two it was just too much for Celeste and so she refused regeneration. She's gone!"
Arcane's father looked into his sons eyes and said, "Future. You just have to put things into perspective. You are extremely lucky to have had Celeste in your life for over 1000 years, especially after losing Arrayin so young in your life here on New Deva." Future said, "I know that Dad but death is always difficult. Just like the ancient earth Buddhists said, "Birth, Old age, sickness and death" are very difficult and sometimes confusing.
Arcane's Dad said, "Yes. I've studied those texts. I agree. Those times in anyone's life no matter how long they live can be very difficult." Future Arcane said, "Dad. I just knew I neede to be with the two of you and my young self to stablize so I wouldn't end my life prematurely in grief. His Dad said, "Then coming to see us is very wise indeed. I sense the Galaxy will need you for some time." Future Arcane said, "Yes. Celeste came to me as an angel and told me I have several thousand years of life left." His father looked shocked and said, "Is that a blessing or a curse?" Future Arcane said, "For the Galaxy and Earth that might be good. However, for me it is both." Arcane's father said, "I agree."
Future Arcane said, "I don't need to talk about this anymore. I just need to be with you and pretend everything is okay.If I do this long enough maybe I'll believe it and it will be okay." Arcane's mother said, "Can young Arcane join us. I think he's feeling left out." Future Arcane said, "Yes, Mother. It's time he joined us."
As mother gathered up young Arcane to join them ARcane and his father spoke of Ancient English. Since Arcane could no longer speak his native New Devan language without a severe accent his parents had begun to learn ancient Earth english to soften the psychological blow of Arcane not being able to speak perfect New Devan anymore. Arcane's tongue had been shortened about 50% in length about 1000 years ago to appear to be an ancient earthling in real time in his life. So Future Arcane had to telpath or speak English with his parents. They proudly experimented with their command of English and Future Arcane had to laugh. He said, "It's wonderful that you try to speak earth English as I am now doing but our long native tongues get in the way a little. You both sound as if I were talking while holding the tip of my tonue with my fingers. I can still understand you but you couldn't pass for ancient Earthlings. They all laughed. Just being together was really great and beginning to heal Future Arcane's ancient soul. Future Old Arcane spent several weeks with young Arcane and his parents on New Deva.
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