<span style="color: #BFFFBF"><span style="font-weight: bold">Present,</span><br/><span style="font-style: italic">Eight hours before the meeting<br/>Mittenwald, Schiffmeister Hotel</span></span><br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic"><span style="font-weight: bold">Revelation 7:1 -</span> After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth, that no wind might blow on earth or sea or against any tree. Then I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, with the seal of the living God, and he called with a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm earth and sea, saying, “Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees, until we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads.” And I heard the number of the sealed, 144,000, sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel: 12,000 from the tribe of Judah were sealed, 12,000 from the tribe of Reuben, 12,000 from the tribe of Gad, ...</span><br/><br/><br/>Fingers light and gentle carefully turned the pages of a book fourty years old. Alcohol may be man's worst enemy, but the bible says love your enemy. If he had to choose between the two, alcohol sounded more pleasant. He propped himself up on his elbows and comforted his back up against the large white pillows behind him as he reached for the glass of wine next to him and sipped it as he continued reading.<br/><br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic"><span style="font-weight: bold">Revelation 17:8 -</span> The beast that you saw was, and is not, and is about to rise from the bottomless pit and go to destruction. And the dwellers on earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world will marvel to see the beast, because it was and is not and is to come. This calls for a mind with wisdom: the seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman is seated; they are also seven kings, five of whom have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come, and when he does come he must remain only a little while..</span>.<br/><br/><br/>His lips twitched while he sat the glass aside and moved himself closely to the woman in his bed, stretching his limbs for a moment. A hand came to rub his sleepy eyes soon before they fluttered open again to the welcoming warm glow of the bedside lamps. The man found himself thinking of the painful chain of events which lead him to the fiery-headed woman that went by Isolde Devereaux through the spiritual guidance of his deceased brother. If it was not for the olive-eyed one he made sure to avoid for the day, he would have followed after this one Isolde. He could not let her escape soon after he had found her. Ah, so many questions he had for her but little opportunity he was given yet he did not lose faith in God. He had guided him and God has looked for solid virtues in him, and he had found her. His encounter with the enigmatic flower shop owner was the absolute evidence he was looking for.<span style="font-style: italic">He</span>was watching and one cannot dispute<span style="font-style: italic">His</span>plans; and his plans were many, as they were for the Holy who bore the seal, who bore his blood, who bore his name.<br/><br/>Patience was always unmistakably bitter but the fruit was sweat, Luciano thought as he pulled out a folded note which he had placed between the pages of his Bible prior to laying in his bed. He closed his eyes and recalled the events that changed everything for him during the day; he thought distinctly about his encounter with the florist who spoke to him in his native language. As this one strange man leaned in and whispered in a soft, soothing voice the following words:<span style="font-style: italic">"Rumor has it, the World's fair at Flushing Meadows in Queens, is seconded only to the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair commemorating the anniversary of the Louisiana Purchase. You should take the young lady to New York...-”</span>Luciano felt the note was discreetly handed to him. The energy discharged from this florist vaticinated the divinity present in proximity and the overwhelming sensations almost brought the Italian to tears as he found himself higher in vibration, a silent paean emicating from within. For the highest good he felt that the note was not an ordinary note, but a message from a world of the beyond – a guidance for the greater of all.<br/><br/>A flutter all the way from the torso to his head inundated him as he stared down at the book in his lap with a blank face. For a moment he could not detach himself from the thought of wanting to feel the joy and harmonious loving feeling that one strange florist bestowed upon him. He was certain that the florist was no ordinary man or a simple messenger - he must have been ... something else. Looking up towards the open balcony doors, he drew in a long deep breath and placed the note back inside his Holy Bible. He averted his gaze down to Anna who was facing the other way.<span style="font-style: italic">“Are you asleep?”</span>He whispered as to not awaken her should she be sleeping. Upon his return in the evening, he had noted a change of expression on her face and one unlike anything he had seen from her before. She did not seem to want to speak and Luciano could only wonder if her silence was bad news.<br/><br/>He flipped off the light switch on the lamp, looking forward to the morrow as he laid down his body to rest. The grace in the movement of his arm circled around Anna's waist and he drew her near to his frame as if seeking to draw the weakness from the poison out; from whatever news or events that may have poisoned her day. A brushing of his lips passed lightly between her bare shoulder blades and his eyelids closed, joining her in sleep. Hope only prolonged his torment, yet desired what he had not. Even in his deep state of sleep, a horrid pain of an eburnean reality that could not be forgotten, fell upon his heart, drop ... by drop.