GAME ON - GoM 2

2

Claire, Tom and Father Jason couldn't help letting go of Alex and step back, shielding their eyes. The glow radiating from Thames' hands had become painfully blinding, and it flooded the church's every corner, reflecting on the angels on the windows.

In that surreal silence, Tom risked a glance and was left breathless. Alex didn't lie on the altar anymore; she floated in the air, a whole foot above it. And as Tom still tried to believe his eyes, she floated higher. Her body shifted, her head moving up and her feet moving down, until she seemed to stand in the air, three feet above the altar.

Then the light changed, to wrap around Thames like a pillar that grew to engulf Alex. She didn't move, eyes closed, her face as relaxed as if she were sleeping and her hair fluttering slowly as if she were underwater, not in that bright column of light stretching from the floor all the way up to the ceiling.

Thames still stood at the end of the altar, face and arms raised toward Alex, as if holding her up there in the air. But only his silhouette was visible. His body looked like made of that light, a smaller bright column the size and shape of a man. And something else growing from his back. Tom couldn't see clearly, but it looked like... like... an additional pair of arms hanging from his shoulders? What the hell?

"Wings...!?" gasped Claire.

Tom turned to the girl, refusing to believe it. She watched the whole scene with welling eyes, both hands to her chest. And past her, Father Jason suffocated an exclamation and fell to his knees, crossing himself in enthralled awe.

Tom looked up at Alex again, gently floating in the pillar of light. He thought about intervening but stopped. The pillar got thinner and even brighter for a moment. And then it seemed to beam up through the church ceiling, causing a blast of wind that blew in all directions, pushing Tom and Claire a couple of steps further.

Tom shivered from head to toes when that warm wind stormed around him on its way out, filling his chest with the most unexpected emotions. It lasted but a heartbeat, yet it was all so clear, he was able to process it all as it happened.

It felt like a gentle but firm pressure in his chest. But whatever caused it felt huge. As if a mountain tried to hug him. However, it wasn't hard, nor cold, nor static. It oozed life, and such a pure, thrilling feeling that Tom could only call it love. And it was massive, and strong, and deep. The kind of love something the size of a mountain would express.

Tears blurred his eyes and a lump crept up his throat. He was shaken to his deepest core. He wanted to cry and laugh out loud at the same time. Because that wind hadn't filled him only with love, but also joy. And it all radiated from the light wrapped around the woman he loved, holding her up in the air. And now he knew why she looked so serene, and why her lips were pursed in a mild smile.

It was all gone in a blink—the wind, the emotions, the light.

The candles along the altar flickered in the sudden shadows. And Alex floated down softly to rest on it again.