Elysium Warriors and the Banished Star: The Afterlife Series

Copyright © 2013 Bambi Harris

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ISBN: 978-1-4759-9684-5 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4759-9685-2 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2013911642

iUniverse rev. date: 6/28/2013

Contents

Scroll Two

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

To my darling Jill for her fabulous style, sweet heart, delightful smile and her compassion for others

To Jerry for his kindness, support and ongoing encouragement

And to Jami, the cutest pixie wench in any whimsical neighborhood for her contagious energy, loving soul, and endless warmth

Scroll Two

I can’t believe how much has happened since I wrote my first scroll entry! I dare say, I don’t think the ink in this quill pen that Roy gave me is going to last my entire divulgence. Fortunately I have a basic blue pen that Eric smuggled through the Angel Café to get over to our new world, (The Elysium Sphere).

I should probably explain so please bear with me. As I said in my last (first) entry, I am not much of a journal writer but I feel it is important to document the beginnings of this world for the sake of prosperity.

Not only that, but once you realize that you are going to live for eternity; we could actually be looking at this journal a thousand years from now quite easily. I may be part angel, but it doesn’t mean I’m a genius—I can forget things!

Oh, where do I begin? I briefly touched on it last time, but again, my name is Penny Lane. Now that I am ‘married’ my last name might have changed except for the fact that my true love was never given a last name because he was born in the afterlife.

I say married like that with inverted commas, because it is a new type of marriage, something we both created. Just recently Avery and I became, eternally betrothed; has a nice ring to it, don’t you think?

I would much rather be eternally betrothed than married. I had friends who were married in my last life on Earth and they struggled with it. I think here in the afterlife things are a little more solid. Everyone here, even with our shades of gray, pretty much knows who they are and knows the person they love, it is less muddied.

Avery used to be my spirit guide, not that I knew that until long after I met him when I died. He had loved me since he knew me, but he just didn’t know it on the surface of things.

We were created from one soul so I would have to say that we do have an advantage. It is easier to commit yourself to someone eternally when you are literally part of each other. You have less chance of them tiring of you.

Just the same, I am always insecure and he is still the handsomest man around, even in our new world. And I see how some of the new village women look at him and I just close my eyes and cross my fingers and hope he still looks at me in thousands of years the way he does now.

Anyway, I should stop rambling about all that mushy stuff. I should get you caught up on everything that has happened since I last wrote. I have to try and not get so easily diverted.

Oh did I mention the inter-village Olympics? Jeremiah is completely enamored with the idea and being the athletic archangel he is, of course he is hosting and competing.

It is still in the beginning stages but I think it will be a good bonding exercise. Many of the people here are from different afterlife origins, some of them from the alien afterlife (we had a mission there once; they are like ancient Greek gods, fascinating).

Oh and there are some of those people from that strange invisible place on Earth that used to document Earth’s national disasters and other such things thousands of years ago. We call them the harbinger ancients. They have yet to speak out loud, preferring only telepathic communication which rubs some of the others the wrong way.

But let me start in some kind of organized fashion; well at least allow me to attempt it! In my last entry, we had just moved to the new world. It was empty apart from one castle, and another castle which was mostly destroyed.

It turned out that the cherubim (they are a fancy kind of high up angel) used to live there. I believe this world was supposed to be the next Garden of Eden but they had unfortunately ruined it for themselves.

A couple of the cherubim were given permission to experiment with creating new beings and one of the beings multiplied itself and some turned bad, so to speak. They were like orbs but often took on the appearance of the gargoyles in the image of the ones that are on top of our castle overhang.

The cherubim ended up leaving because of these creatures, which had destroyed one of their castles out of jealousy of them. These gargoyles had built tunnels and lived in these low underground places and were just miserable.

When I went out to explore our new world, I discovered some childlike cherub people in the forest and the gargoyles found me there and tricked me into following them. I feel stupid now about being captured but I managed to get out by using my mind.

Eric has been catching us up on some of our angel abilities and on top of it, we can hone in some special skills because God put something special in us too. No one really knows exactly what he added to the mix so I guess somewhere along the line one of these scrolls will reveal all; once I know that is!

So it turns out I can create fire with my mind! Fireplaces light up wherever I go. It’s a bit of a thrill I must say but I would never tell anyone that, I don’t want to sound egotistical or anything.

Eric said Avery can probably create ice (he better keep it away from me, I hate being cold). He hasn’t tried it yet but hopefully he will be around if I accidentally set anything on fire!

Avery and I live in the castle, (Avery named it Destinata, meaning destiny), we have a side each and Jeremiah was nice enough to put a doorway between our sides so we can easily access each other.

I should quickly mention the sky. It has a transparent ocean in it; whales, sea life and everything. It’s quite a sight to behold, and really brings a whimsicality to our world. By the way, I got to name it! The world that is, I called it Elysium Sphere because the whole thing has a circular layout and it really is a heavenly place, despite the rough beginnings.

For some reason the cherubim had the castle separated but it is fun to have our own sides, it’s like visiting each other, kind of like dating I guess. Eric has moved his MLC world over and a staircase leading from my side of the castle leads underground to where it is situated.

The MLC is that place I mentioned last time that deceased depressed people fall into when they get too bleak. He is such a wonderful counselor and he is so happy to have his old home back again. Because Avery and I are part of Roy and Eric, some of our humanity has rubbed off on Eric and he is more emotional now but still the same old angel we know and love.

Just as an aside, Avery and I had flying lessons, how often can one say that? Wings not planes of course. I’m not wonderful at it but Eric says we probably won’t have to do it often; it’s just a back up. I’m not sure what event would cause the necessity but I’ve been dead long enough to know that anything can happen, and it often does in my case.

We can also shape shift though we only did it once and being a rat was really hard; coordinating those four little legs was not easy!

Oh I should tell you about everyone else, because when we first got here, there was just me and Avery with Eric. Now everyone has moved into the village, the builders came and created a beautiful town center energized by the circle of fire. There is a nice marble amphitheater there with statues and greenery, it’s just beautiful. Roy let Avery and I lay the first brick before the village center was built, it was wonderful!

We had some issues with the cherubim wanting to move back into the castle once we subdued the gargoyles and created the township. Fortunately after much issue, we were able to convince the cherubim to oversee the new Earth instead.

As per last entry, Earth has been destroyed as you know and a new revised one has been created called Virtus, it is very close to here and that is why Elysium Sphere has been created.

Our purpose here is for all of the supervisors of the Virtus operations to live with each other to make it more of a well oiled system sort of thing, which brings me to the new heads of each village!

Lexi, (Avery’s brother), and Jeremiah, (who by the way has taken a liking to me calling him uncle nowadays), run the mortal mapping village, which they named, Consilium. They love their new modern mansion with a gym and pool for Jeremiah and a huge eighties record collection for Lexi.

Opposite the mortal mapping village lives Adam, (my ex sixteenth century boyfriend) and a very good seeyer, and he is running the spirit guide village, Illuminare, with my Earth brother, Richard. They live in a glamorous art deco mansion with gingerbread windows but I haven’t seen inside yet, though I don’t think Avery wants me visiting Adam too often.

Then a long way over, opposite our castle, is the harbinger village, Nuntius, which is inhabited by Avery’s childhood nemesis, the un-dashing, Cary, and his wife, the ever nosey, Denny Winters.

For now, my friend from the alien world, Idmon, an accurate premonitionist is residing with Cary to do his administrative work but I don’t know if that will be a long term situation.

Elysium Sphere is still in its early days so I’m sure scroll three will be loaded with village gossip. Which I should mention, is taken care of. As you know, Denny used to be a reporter for the Grim Reader in the normal afterlife plain and now she has taken on the village gossip, which I hope will alienate her a little, but don’t tell her that.

Just the same, because we are a little less technically equipped over here, she has taken on a few cherub workers and has to do it with an old fashioned ink and screen press thing. She is not thrilled about it, but at least it should keep the gossip down to a minimum for a while.

I will tell you news while it is very current (at least now, maybe not while you are reading it- it could be old news by then). Roy, my soul family, my favorite cowboy angel, is moving the Akashic records here!

He is going to have a large facility built in the sky and live there, like his old Wild West house. I do think he is bringing the flying train too which should be fun, though it could be interesting with the dolphins and all.

Not only that, but once it is done, he is taking on Zophiel as his main assistant. I haven’t mentioned him yet but he is wonderful. I met Zophiel when I first moved here. He was living on my side of the castle, the only remaining cherubim angel on this world.

I didn’t say before but cherubim have four wings with eyes all over them and four faces and calf hooves. Well he petitioned to stay with us and the cherubim let him, and even blessed him with a new form- just one human face and human legs but he kept two of his brown eye-covered wings.

He is so lovely and he still lives on my side of the castle, though I think he will move in with Roy eventually. He loves to read and organize so he should do well with that.

There is one villager I haven’t mentioned yet and I’m so thrilled she is here! Pauline, my friend from Earth and my close friend since I died, is allowed to live in Elysium Sphere too! She was an older lady when I was living on Earth and I was a little girl but she died long before I did.

As you know, everyone in the Afterlife ages or digresses until they turn 35 and then stay that way. She is getting very excited as she is 38 now; she is already talking about a big party for her 35th.

I am very glad she came and that Roy let her, as I know she is only here because he allowed it. Being the most respected of all of the Archangels (his name is Metratron really but he is such a huge John Wayne fan and dresses as such- I couldn’t resist calling him Roy since the day I met him.)

Anyway he doesn’t have to pull strings, he seems to like doing things for me and I like that he makes me feel special, I am grateful every day for him, for all of my dear friends and family.

I should be wrapping this up now. I hope next time I write a scroll, I will have something riveting to tell you but as it is, I’m sure you will have to read this a few times to really feel satisfactorily caught up.

There is one more thing, as if there aren’t enough changes in my world and for those around me. When Avery suggested we be eternally betrothed, he got a special moonstone from the angel city.

It’s a small circular gem and the angels blessed it. It is our version of a wedding ring like they have on Earth but because it is eternity, the gem is permanent. We both have one and it is at the center of our foreheads, melded into our skin and they seem to glow more when we laugh or feel joyful. I am still getting used to it but I couldn’t be happier.

Rufus, my hyper scruffy gray mutt, is attempting to eat one of the ancient scrolls that the cherubim left behind but I diverted him by manifesting a bone. Just the same I should get him over to Avery’s side of the castle soon so he can play with Avery’s goat, Charlie. I shouldn’t say that, Rufus and Charlie are our pets, but old habits die hard.

I hope this reading has enlightened you to the beginnings of Elysium Sphere and with any luck I’m still in the castle where this scroll will be kept.

Until the next entry my celestial friends,

Penny Lane. Elysium Sphere (1 year after Virtus inhabited)

Chapter One

T he first thing I was aware of as I lay there with my eyes closed was a feeling of pure dread.

In the past I would get the same feeling in the pit of my stomach and I was unable to shake it even if I couldn’t explain it. It was an imposing sense of doom for an unidentifiable situation that usually related to something that I had forgotten about.

Unfortunately since my changes, I struggled with placing its origins as the sensation might be related to a future event, some kind of warning that something might happen.

Now as I slowly opened my eyes and looked around my large castle bedroom, I realized that the sound of music had woken me.

Rufus took my Victorian quilt with him as he sprung off the bed and rushed across the large wooden floors. He jumped up and placed his paws on the stone ledge of the arched window to the right of my bed and tried to peer out though he wasn’t quite tall enough.

I had asked Avery to set my alarm for just before sunrise so I could take a stroll in the village before other residents turned up. When we were living in the normal afterlife plain he had me signed up for the celebrity alarm program and I was often woken with the likes of such people as Frank Sinatra or John Denver at my doorstep.

Since we moved to Elysium, about the equivalent of an Earth year ago, he had been creative with alarm ideas as there is no set program in place here. One day he had even sent me a doll which came to life and disco danced for me, but today the music was live and it piqued my curiosity.

As I walked across the floor, fire suddenly whooshed up in the fire place opposite my bed as it always did due to my presence.

My silky pink nightgown dangled over my feet which were getting cold from the slight chill in the morning air. I pulled open the wooden shutters and peered out curiously.

At first I couldn’t see anything because the sun hadn’t quite shown up and I had to squint a long way down to the green area at the side of the castle.

Concentrating my angel abilities I was able to ascertain there were four male villagers there. Once I honed in on them, I realized they were from the mortal mapping village which was headed by Jeremiah, otherwise known as the archangel, Jehudiel, and Avery’s brother, Alexander.

Most of the residents there, who were all mortal mapping supervisors, originated from the alien afterlife plain and all preferred to wear Grecian togas. Their singing style was much like a barbershop quartet. I smiled as I realized that Lexi, that is what I call Alexander, must have trained them up on his favored eighties era music.

Of course, as I smiled and waved at them, I knew that Avery had his mischievous hand in it as he loved to surprise me with his equally quirky sense of humor. I listened intently, making sure I showed that I was grateful for their effort.

Listening to their lyrics I realized that I knew the song. "I come home in the morning light, my mother says when you gonna live your life right."

I had to laugh, though not too loud as I didn’t want to offend them. But there they were, smiling wide and seemingly enjoying their new skill at singing a song they likely didn’t understand. The four men who were wise and proficient in so many ways and they were singing, Girls just wanna have fun, to me.

They ended it on a smooth A Cappella note and I clapped appreciatively as they all bowed and waved as they headed back towards their village. I quickly closed the shutters, sensing that a storm might be in the midst. I would have to keep my walk a short one in case.

After making the bed, I went into the hallway and to the left where my turret bathroom was. Even now, after a year had passed, I smiled as I entered my favorite room. Eric had spent a good portion of a day creating the beautiful room with a round walk-in bath surrounded by a miniature novelty fortress.

The fireplace on the left wall lit up and I felt like I could curl up and sleep in front of it.

For now it was still mostly dark but I loved how the sunlight would come through the stained glass picture of me and cast colors across the black and white tiled floor.

Rufus explored the floor with his nose, searching the room for food that he might have missed last time I fed him in here. He looked up at me pleadingly.

You can have a bone when I leave, I told him as I went to the door next to the fireplace and entered my large closet room. I never liked to leave home without dressing at least a little nice, but I really wanted to venture something for comfort this morning.

Replacing my nightgown with underwear, I quickly settled on something simple. Pulling a long green velvet dress over my head, I then quickly grabbed a black hooded cape to combat the chill. Though I had always liked the medieval era clothing, I opted for them more often now that I lived in a castle.

Rufus kept at my heels as he usually did, his terrier eyebrows moving all over the place as he studied my every move. After quickly brushing my hair and blinking my large blue eyes a couple of times to focus, I headed out. I made sure to close the bathroom and bedroom doors, knowing that Rufus liked to tug on the bedclothes and bath towels once he was done with his treat.

Go to Zophiel, I ordered.

It had taken him a while to learn this command but my cherubim friend had helped me train him as he didn’t mind the company.

Zophiel spent most of his time in my library, most of the higher angels never slept. He loved to read and study and that is why Roy knew he was a perfect candidate to work with him on the Akashic records.

He’s coming for you, I yelled out to him in a forewarning.

He chuckled, always amused by the movements and innocence of an animal he had never encountered before we arrived in Elysium Sphere.

I entered the library which had improved a great deal since I first moved in. I had polished all the wooden shelves and organized all of the scrolls so Zophiel could access everything with intent rather than randomly.

Jeremiah, who seemed to have a true knack for carpentry, had created an arch in the wall of the library and the empty spare room next to it so we could add more books for Zophiel to read.

I studied him as he sat on the edge of the gold cushioned stall. His new form as an archangel, something granted by the cherubim, was something he was still adjusting to. Just the same I think that he liked the easier movements