Az

by A A Bavar

  I stood with my arms slightly spread out and ready to attack. There was nothing; he was nowhere. Then, I felt the earth tremble ever so slightly and knew that Lucifer was about to make his move. He was coming for me from hell. But before I could pinpoint the origin of the tremor, Lucifer emerged from the ground behind me, and he was definitely on fire. Even with my back to him, it was impossible not to notice the blinding light of his aura or the intensity of the heat that emanated from his being. In my mind’s eye, I saw his body glowing, consumed by flames and shooting fire up into the starry night. I stood still and cursed myself for letting him have the upper hand once again. There was no way for me to turn and attack fast enough, so I bowed my head in an attempt to protect it from the oncoming onslaught, and focused my energies on shielding my back. I knew he was going to be merciless, just as I would be. I closed my eyes and prayed that my shield would protect me long enough against his fire to give me a chance to launch my own assault. Once again, I was mistaken.

  “That fancy hand glowing crap might scare these lowlife mortals, but unless you’re the Holy Father himself, get ready for another lesson.”

  Lucifer sprang with blinding speed, a panther going for the jugular. He grabbed me by the collar, his hand a burning globe of fire, and with a mighty tug lifted me off my feet. That definitely wasn’t what I expected, so my shield did nothing to protect me, and before I could react, he swung me around in an arc and sent me flying like a rag doll. I tried to regain my balance, but he lifted his free hand and I knew that I was outsmarted. I was flying through the air backwards, actually facing him, and saw his eyes glow red as a fireball exploded from his outstretched palm and spearheaded its way towards me. In a desperate attempt to minimize the damage, I twisted my body around for more protection, but my efforts were useless as the fireball rapidly grew in size and filled my vision. The impact was inevitable, and I bellowed in frustration as I was engulfed by its heat. Infuriated by my miscalculation and terrified at my vulnerability, the only thing that I could do in that split-second was to cross my arms in front of me to form a sort of shield. The impact of the fireball against my arms and chest was bone crushing, the heat so intense that it actually felt ice cold. I thought I was being cut to pieces. I was in agony, but the assault on my body wasn’t over. At that instant, I crashed backwards into the side of a house, the stone and wood shattering, splinters cutting and piercing every part of my body as I flew through leaving a gaping hole in my wake. My landing wasn’t any better, and I hit the ground with a loud crunch and bounced off just to slam into the opposite wall and finally come to rest. I barely had time to move a muscle before the house was bombarded by countless fireballs. Doors were torn off their hinges and windows exploded, sending fragments of wood, stone and glass in every direction. The walls shuddered and then suddenly collapsed, burying me in the fiery wreckage.

  THIRTEEN

  The extermination of Sodom and Gomorrah had started. And although not what we originally planned, Michael took the destruction of the house as the signal to begin the assault. The night sky, moments before black and filled with stars, was now a blazing orange as thousands of brimstone meteors streaked down and relentlessly pelted the city. Houses and buildings were torn apart with merciless brutality. The Lord’s wrath, its level of aggression, was breathtaking in its savagery. The whole city was on fire, flames whipping up tens of meters into the air from burning buildings and destroyed streets. Everything was pure chaos. People, young and old, ran in all directions, from houses into the streets and from the streets into houses, hoping to find some kind of refuge from the raining fire. But there was no escape. Soon, every house and building was pummeled to the ground and the streets were mazes of fire. Countless bodies lay charred and buried in the rubble or were strewn across the glowing streets, the sky above an angry red, and above that, the heavens lost in smoke. No one was immune; no one escaped.

  Gabriel, with Lot and his family behind him, raced to the courtyard that led to the city gates. The fire in the streets had spread quickly, fanned by the wind coming from the north, and the path was barely passable. Most of the houses were already in flames and the thick, black smoke made visibility and breathing very difficult. Suddenly, the front door of one of the remaining houses leading to the gate was yanked open, and a man stumbled out and fell to his knees. He looked back at the house and in between coughs, desperately called for someone. Gabriel instinctively rushed forward to help, but Lot’s alarmed cry made him stop. Before he could do anything else, the row of houses exploded into nothingness. But in that last instant before the explosion, the man looked at him and Gabriel saw the despair and fear that death brings. And it’s in those last precious moments that the soul can plead for salvation; but not this time. In a flash, it was all over.

  Gabriel turned to Lot, “You have to leave, now! Take your family and go. And do not look back for anything. Let this be the proof of your detachment from this city of sin so that you may be spared.”

  “But the people? Who will save the people?” Lot asked. His eyes were red and tears ran down his face uncontrollably.

  “There is no hope for them. I’m sorry,” said Gabriel. “Now go! Leave before it’s too late. There is only so much that we can do to keep you safe.” He grabbed Lot by the arm and pushed him down the street leading to the gates. Lot’s wife and daughters scrambled behind him. It was the end of the line for Gabriel, because now it was all on them. Redemption is fickle and has no tolerance for selfishness and if there was to be any salvation for any of them, it would depend on their actions in the next few minutes. Lot turned and momentarily stared in the direction of where home had been, and then grabbed his family and without hesitation ran. Within seconds, they were gone, lost in the smoke.

  FOURTEEN

  The sky above Sodom and Gomorrah was filled with millions of live sparks of burning wood that rained down like shooting stars. Hell itself could be no hotter. But none of this mattered; life in all its forms and manifestations had ceased to exist and was extinguished from every corner of the cities. Earthly life, that is, for Lucifer stood in the middle of the destruction where Lot’s house used to be with flames lapping at him from every direction. He looked irate, the knowledge of being tricked gnawing at his gut, but he was not fazed. The offense simply made him more determined to collect his prize; every single soul. I could see his back from where I was buried under the smoldering rubble. Slowly, I pushed the burnt wood and other debris aside and, through the smoke and haze, got to my feet. My face was dirty and stung where blood dripped from dozens of cuts. I was completely covered with soot, my overcoat burning at the edges and my hair singed into a tangle, its offending sulfurous smell filling my nose. I opened my arms and embraced the fire in utter defiance of the very element that defined Lucifer and let out a low, feral growl as my wings unfolded behind me. My eyes narrowed into slits of animalistic fury.

  “Lucifer!”

  The vicious mention of his name, threatening enough to chill the bones of any being, didn’t evoke any reaction from Lucifer. But it should have, because he and I both knew that it was hurt time. Instead, he just stood there with his back to me, lifted his arms and massaged his chest. Then, in a very casual tone, he said, “I can always count on your stubbornness. But you still don’t understand that although you’re tough, I’m tougher. And smarter.”

  I didn’t wait to see what would happen next. It was what he expected from me and that predictability made him, in turn, be predictable and I knew exactly what to do. I dashed forward and closed the distance between us with lightning speed. Lucifer did not move a muscle and maintained his confident and annoying calm. His smug attitude confirmed my suspicions, nevertheless it also fueled my anger – a definite mistake since anger is his prayer – and I grabbed him from behind with such violence that his bones and muscles cracked and tore. Lucifer’s demeanor, however, stayed the same. I looked over his shoulder and saw that I was right. There, held in his grip was a smoldering fireball, his weapon of choi
ce. I grinned as my wings enveloped him, closing him in a feathered, but ironclad prison, and lifted him up and off his feet. Then, with a mighty shove, I thrust my body straight up and shot skywards with my captive. Lucifer didn’t resist, he smiled and enjoyed the ride.

  “How long did it take before you recovered from our last fight? If I’m not mistaken, and I never am, it was a good century before you could fly with dignity again.”

  I gritted my teeth. The memory of our previous battle was not something that I liked to be reminded of, especially since Lucifer blindsided me because I was too naïve to believe that he would attack me from behind – or at all, for that matter. But the pain and humiliation served to harden me, and I got wise to his relentless character. Lucifer never gives up, and since our war was not yet so defined, he made it a point to win every battle or, at the least, deliver the last blow. His beating me senseless – almost two hundred years after Abel’s murder – was a lesson and payback for Cain; and it was the only lesson I ever needed.

  “This time, I’ll make sure you stay grounded with your mortal friends even longer.”

  There was a thunderous but muddled explosion as Lucifer detonated the fireball. The fierceness of the blast made my wings shake violently and expand to the point where the pain became almost unbearable. I bellowed in anger and frustration as my shoulders and wing joints started to rip, and for a split second I thought that it would be a repeat of last time. But suddenly, the intensity of the attack was over and my wings held.

  “Seems like I’ve learned a few new tricks. And, yes, I do remember last time, just as you will remember this one! Sometimes it pays to be stubborn.”

  I can’t explain how enjoyable it was to watch Lucifer savagely try to break free from his winged cocoon. His soul – not really sure if he still had one – was on fire. With his arms bent and pinned against his chest, he had no other option but to forcefully throw his shoulders from left to right and thrash against the walls of his prison as he tried to break or weaken my grip. But I had prepared for this, and there was nothing that he could do in that position to overpower me. His arrogance had cost him this round. He played his card and lost. The roar that emanated from his mouth was bestial, and his face contorted into a mass of fury as he transformed from his human form. He glared back at me with the blood, red eyes of the diabolical beast he’d become – red skin, bulging muscles, horns, fangs, tail and all – and growled contemptuously, baring his yellow teeth ready to attack, rip and tear. I sneered back and waited for his next move as we continued to climb. Lucifer hissed, his forked tongue flicking in and out, and then slumped in resignation. Defeated? Only when hell freezes over. But for now it was as good as it gets.

  “Temperamental, aren’t we? And we haven’t even talked business; about the souls that I snatched right from under your nose.”

  I wanted to continue feeding his rage and push him to the edge. But this was his territory, and Lucifer’s mind was too contorted, and his being way too slippery to play into my very obvious strategy. He shrugged and made himself comfortable, accepting his temporary role as prisoner. We both knew this wasn’t going to last long, so he didn’t have to react and assumed his usual cold, calculating self and didn’t give me the satisfaction of engaging. Instead, he exhaled slowly and said matter-of-factly, “You know that you can’t do that. They were all condemned by your Lord, so how can you explain disobeying Him? Your orders were to simply chastise and abandon everyone to me.” But I knew he didn’t accept defeat lightly – or at all, for that matter – even if it was momentary, and behind the cool of it all, I felt his body tremble almost imperceptibly with suppressed anger.

  Now, what he said, he believed, but I was enjoying the victory and felt no need to respond. I guess I had learned more from Lucifer than I imagined. Keeping quiet can sometimes be the most explosive weapon. I felt his muscles tighten and knew that he was seething inside.

  “They belong to me!”

  Hearing the frustration behind those four words made me smile. I genuinely felt elated for the first time in centuries. It was definitely redemption time, and as I accelerated towards heaven, I felt myself completely recharged and knew that this proximity would cause Lucifer great distress and even ebb away at his powers. But life, even an archangel’s life, is a journey of mostly sour grapes, and the hero seldom wins. Not that I think that I’m a hero, but I’d like to believe that I’m better than Lucifer. Anyway, my elation was cut short as my attention was drawn to a point beyond the city gates. Lucifer noticed and followed my gaze. What I saw was not disturbing or frightening, just disappointing to me and delightful for him. Life, when remembered as a story, is a tale told by an idiot, and the romanticized account of it is a tale told by an even greater idiot – at least a friend of mine in the future would immortalize this thought in writing. But Man likes to tell tales, so we call them romantics, and I was once a romantic believing in happy endings.

  I focused my attention on Lot and his family as they ran from the burning city – and although I knew it in my mind – realized for the first time in my heart that I was looking at the sole survivors of two cities. Cities that had taken centuries to build but mere instants to obliterate. Sodom and Gomorrah had ceased to exist and would soon be buried under the desert sand never to be found.

  Lot and his two daughters were huddled together and walked quickly and with determination in the direction of the hills. I was surprised, since I imagined them to be the ones who would fail. However, it was Lot’s wife who had separated and was walking melancholically in their wake, her gait full of uncertainty and doubt. Could I save her? Snatch her from Lucifer’s grip as I did with Cain? But as I looked down, I knew that it was already too late. Lucifer, even in his imprisoned condition, stirred the seed of passion and desire in her, whispering in her ear what her heart yearned for, burned for. “Don’t listen! You can fight him!” I shouted in my mind as she stopped, slowly turned her head, reached out her arm towards the burning city and then instantly turned into a pillar of salt. How ironic, the same salt that she had borrowed earlier from her neighbors to prepare food for us.

  Lucifer laughed hysterically, and although it was not a complete victory, with Lot and his daughters safe and beyond his grasp, that moment was sweeter than any that he had ever experienced over me. For him, destroying that momentary elation that I felt was priceless. He always wanted to prove that my choice to serve Father rather than join forces with him was the wrong choice, and that Man was essentially greedy and selfish. There was no salvation.

  “My, my. Another one bites the dust. Who would have guessed? I did!”

  It’s impressive how Lucifer could turn the tables on me by saying exactly the kind of thing that got under my skin, but I don’t think he expected what was coming. Suddenly, everything was different. This beast that I had once called brother got to me, yet again, and ripped that small twinkle of happiness from me and tore it to pieces. I lost control and let compulsion and hatred replace reason. I had no cunning plan – and I was not the Black Vegetable. There was no strategy, no tactic, and no instance of morality or talk; just hatred. I released Lucifer and pushed him down. He must have thought that I wanted to get away from him because he looked up at me and sneered. But I was on top of him like lightning, pummeling him, my fists and knees mercilessly ramming his body and face. Lucifer, dazed and disoriented, fell through the sky like dead weight. But I wasn’t done. I dived after him, gripped his wrist and violently pulled him up, hammering his chest with my free hand at the same time. He exhaled, the breath knocked out of him. But again, this was Lucifer and he wasn’t going to give up that easily. Slashing out, he grabbed my neck, his yellowish claws digging in, tearing the skin, causing damage. I screamed in pain and jerked sideways as I gripped the assaulting hand in an iron-like brace and twisted it. There was a loud crunch as his wrist broke. The beast howled, pulling back and recovering his hand. With the ground only meters away, I lifted both legs and savagely sledgehammered them into his chest, sending
him crashing into the dirt with such force that even Mother Earth groaned. The impact was inhuman, and the ground under Lucifer cracked in every direction like slithering snakes, the fiery remnants of what used to be houses exploding into the air as the shockwaves hit them. Lucifer’s body lay battered and bleeding, buried in a crater in the center of the destruction to the destruction. I landed with an authoritative thud beside him and looked down. As I stood there looming over him, I felt no remorse. To the contrary, my senses were acute and I felt a cool calm. Lucifer, bloody and in pain, laboriously gasped for air as he rose to his feet. But I still wasn’t finished with him. I kicked his legs out from under him, making him fall. He landed on his back, groaned wearily, his body bruised and broken, and stared at the starry sky above him. He was breathing in spurts, and a bloody foam oozed from his lips.

  “Time to make this memorable, you old goat.”

  I looked down at Lucifer and our eyes locked momentarily, the red of fire and passion versus the blue of what used to be faith and integrity. There would be no truce, not now, not ever. I nodded as my eyes focused on Lucifer’s horns, and I felt an uncharacteristic moment of tranquil coldness and immediately knew what I was going to do. It was the desecration of a symbol, the breaking of an unspoken bond, an unthinkable act, and yet, the ultimate reward. I smiled, somewhat in the vein of how Lucifer smiled when he had you in his crosshairs, lifted my booted foot and brought it down hard on Lucifer’s left horn. The horn shattered into pieces, the explosion of energy thunderous and lethal, but not colossal enough to dwarf the blood curdling howl that emanated from Lucifer’s mouth. I stood there and watched him writhe in pain, but the moment did not last as he regained his usual arrogant composure and stared up at me.