Chapter 3: The Discovery

With a renewed sense of urgency they all worked overtime in trying to find out what was going on with Alec and what the dark mist was. The only progress that had been made was Jace's discovery of the scroll that had the picture on it. They knew they could work from that at least. After another five days of research a strange looking researcher approached Jace. He was rather old and scruffy looking. It was like he had been living in a library attic for thirty years. His clothes were covered in dust and he clearly hadn't shaved or washed in a very long time. When he approached, Jace was looking in the Clave Archives for any other scrolls close in age to the scroll he had found in hopes that one may have been mistakenly placed with the wrong set.

The scrawny-looking researcher approached Jace. He had a limp and he seemed to have a hard time catching his breath. Jace looked up at him and asked him if he could help him with anything. The researcher looked at Jace and said, "My name is Ezekiel, and I know what you seek." Jace's interest peaked. "Do you know where this scroll came from, or where the rest of its scrolls are?" Ezekiel looked at him with a creepy grin. "This is a piece of the Ancient Angelic Chronicle. The other pieces have been lost in time. We only found this one fragment from the Caves of Alexandria in Egypt. It was an ancient Greek crypt kept secret from the Egyptians and it held many of the old scrolls depicting our angelic ancestors and their human offspring."

Jace was shocked. How could Angels have human offspring? The closest that had ever come was the purposeful blessing of their blood into the Nephilim that are shadowhunters today. Never had there been a record of an Angel siring or having offspring. Ezekiel saw the shocked and incredulous expression on Jace's face and began to speak softly. "Yes you are unaware of the true lineage of our Angelic benefactors. It is not taught to the younger shadowhunters and it is knowledge deemed ineffective to today's needs so it has since been mostly forgotten. I am the last one who remembers the old teachings, for I am the oldest living shadowhunter. I am the last of my generation alive." Jace was so shocked that there was a whole other level of knowledge about angels and that no one but this man appeared to know. He needed every bit of information from this man and it was clear that the Clave was mistaken in the usefulness of that information. The Clave had been wrong in so many things, Jace was not surprised by this failure. He sat down with Ezekiel and asked to be taught everything he knew. Ezekiel looked at Jace and said, "This may take a few days."

Alec had noticed that Jace had been gone for a few days. He hadn't even checked in at the house in the evening. He was beginning to get worried but according to a message he received from Jace, he was following a lead. Alec and Magnus were hopeful because they had found absolutely nothing that would help them. They had just finished up at the third library and still nothing. Tomorrow would be their last day to research. They will have exhausted all the information available in Idris. However, at dinner Jace finally came back to the house, but he wasn't alone.

When Jace walked through the door Alec and Magnus were confused when a very old and scruffy man followed close behind him. Magnus stared for a long moment before his eyes brightened and a large smile came across his face. "Ezekiel!!! Is that really you?! How are you still alive?" Ezekiel smiled. "I took good care of my body, Magnus. I also made sure to stay away from those drinks of yours." Ezekiel and Magnus laughed. Alec looked at Magnus and he explained, "This is Ezekiel, love. We worked together many years ago when I first designed the wards around the Institute in New York. He is a very old shadowhunter and always curious. He was one of the few who never treated me like less than others. What are you doing here?" Alec and Magnus looked at Jace and Ezekiel now, expecting answers.

Jace spoke up first, "Ezekiel has told me a lot that we don't know Alec, a lot that we have never been told, and our parents have never been told. It has taken a while to hear it all." Magnus waved everyone into the living room and everyone sat down at the couches. Madzie was in her room playing, so Magnus cast a soundproof spell around them. Ezekiel looked towards Jace and nodded. Jace began to speak looking at Alec intensely. "Alec we have been denied a very important piece of our lineage and I think it may relate to what is happening to you now. The Angel that gave us our angel blood and made the first shadowhunters was not the first to bestow angel blood, and those shadowhunters were not the true first shadowhunters." Alec gasped. "What are you saying? There was another angel that came before and created other shadowhunters?" Jace continued, "Yes and no. There was another angel, but he did not create shadowhunters in the way you are thinking. He had true Nephilim. He fathered children with humans." Alec and Magnus both winced with the knowledge that an angel would actually father children with humans. It was at this moment that Magnus shot up from the couch. "I know where I have seen that symbol before now!" Magnus seemed really excited now. "I was with you Ezekiel and you had a book with you and it had a bunch of symbols on it and this was one of them." Magnus pulled out the picture of the symbol that had appeared on Alec's arm. Ezekiel looked at the symbol and his breath caught in his throat. Magnus was very worried by the look in Ezekiel's eyes. Ezekiel was fumbling now with the picture in his hand as he handed it back to Magnus. "I think you better tell them the rest, Jace, before I explain what this means."

Jace continued to explain what he had learned. "The angel that came before no one knew which angel it was but it was clear that he had fathered two children, a son and a daughter. They both had children and they were the first shadowhunters, although they were not called that then. Shadowhunters didn't exist but they had all the same powers as modern shadowhunters and more. They were able to call upon the heavenly fire inside themselves through their direct connection to the angel. Only one descended from the lineage will have the connection to the angel. There hasn't been one for centuries. When the angel created shadowhunters this family of ancient angel blood just blended in with the shadowhunters. The true lineage has been lost to time. No one knew who was from the lineage and it faded out of memory as there was no way to find them because no new shadowhunters appeared with the traits. One thing was known, there would only ever be one that had the powers. Of the two children only one possessed the powers and this was passed down. The important thing that the Clave originally wanted to know was which angel it was. This angel would have been in rebellion to the heavens for committing such an act with humans and it would be deemed dangerous if one descendant appeared. We would not know the true powers they possessed because the identity of the angel was unknown. If he was an archangel the chosen descendant would be immensely powerful, but depending on the angel they may wield certain abilities. Another thing I learned is that there are way more angels than we were taught and few ancient archangels we were never taught about as well."

Jace stopped and looked at Alec who was staring at the floor with his eyes almost glazed over. Jace could feel the fear in his Parabatai. He reached out to put a hand on his shoulder but Alec moved backwards slightly away from his touch. He whispered, "The angel, in my dream, he said I was chosen. He said I was HIS chosen." Ezekiel spoke now softly, but shakily. "Now it is time I share the meaning of this symbol. In the ancient times all of the most powerful archangels had a symbol. These were passed down with their stories and were rumored to come from the very angels themselves, much like the runes given to shadowhunters. Magnus did see me with a book with those symbols on it. It was my favorite pass-time, to observe and remember all the different angels, their symbols, and their stories. This particular symbol would have been on the cover with a few others because it is the symbol of the most powerful and also lil-known archangel. You have heard of the top two archangels Gabriel and Michael, but this is the strongest and most deadly archangel. He is not brought to the forefront of folklore and knowledge because he is the instrument of Heaven's wrath and terror. He is the Angel of Death." Everyone in the room gasped. Alec began to shake when those words were spoken, Angel of Death. Terror entered his mind. He is connected to the Angel of Death. That did not sound good. Ezekiel continued on. "I think it is clear that it was he who mated with mortals and it is clear that Alec is the chosen descendant. This would mean that the Lightwood clan is the descendant family. The Angel of Death has had many names, but the one true name associated with him is Samael." The moment his name was spoken aloud Alec screamed.