Abbadorn paused at the beach of a large lake. He appeared to be having difficulty telling the story. At times it was as if he was awash in pain for speaking of it. The time came to head back to Teddy’s home. He only kept them there long enough for Thunder to get a large drink of water. Jasper and Teddy were completely silent, entranced by the tale they were hearing, knowing that it was a firsthand account and a privileged piece of history that most would never come to know.
“The Council of Host gathered daily. Lucifer’s absence did not go unnoticed. Archangel Michael, field commander of the Lord’s army, was very concerned. Reports that he and Gabriel had been receiving caused them to draw up their own plans. They sent spies to Lucifer’s rallies and uncovered the entire plot. They took this information to the Lord, who confirmed the truth in the details but refused to interfere upon Lucifer’s right of free will. For God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Never changing with social culture or environment, God is always true to himself. Despite his own behalf, he is holy and just, and will not violate his creation’s free will choice.”
“Michael and the others worked quickly. They constructed the lava slide transport to move around the planet unseen. They used it to gather the raw materials needed to construct a great prison in the bowels of the earth, a place that one day God would call HELL. It had to be a place where Lucifer and his rebels could be held indefinitely. They used their powers and created another compartment next to Hell but distinctly separated by a deep canyon. This place of bliss and security would be used to watch the gates of Hell and see to it that they never opened. Michael then ordered the construction of another throne of the Almighty: ‘The Trinity Throne,’ powered by the life force of all Angels still loyal to the Lord. This throne would rule them all. It was decided that it was best to hide this throne on the distant angelic planet of Iconium. This was the very first planet to form out of the cooling gases of the big bang. From earth the planet Iconium is an eight-month journey by portal ship. It is hidden on the very first spiral arm of the ever expanding, ever-growing cosmos. So with every passing human year it gets longer and longer to journey there. It would take an angel most of a century to get there unaided. The archangel Gabriel, Volnar, and Raphael boarded a portal ship with 700 angels and left for Iconium. Outside of the Lord, there is nothing that has ever been made that can travel faster than a portal ship. There are only two portal ships, and they are programmed to transit from earth to Iconium and nowhere else.”
“Upon arrival at Iconium, the construction of the Trinity throne and a great city to encircle it began. When Gabriel and Raphael boarded the ship and returned to earth months later, they went up to heaven afterward and a horrible scene awaited them. Upon their arrival, they saw Heaven, and it was burning. The rebels had attacked. The war had begun. They hurried to the Mount of Assembly where Michael and Uriel greeted them with looks of desperation. They were losing this war. The remaining Council of Host decided to move the second portal ship to the Garden of Eden. Should Lucifer win, they would then evacuate Adam and Eve from earth and send them to Iconium, saving the Lord’s greatest of creations.”
“Lucifer managed the battle from the safety of the back lines, commanding his first officer Gezon to kill all in his path. Many angels slipped away back into the creation life force energy they had been made from, dead, never to be an angel again. The fighting grew more intense. Heaven was tearing itself apart. It was the scariest storm you have ever seen times ten. Lucifer believed the fighting was almost at its end. Victory would soon be his. Facing heavy losses, Michael retreated to the Mount of Assembly. There they would make their last stand in defense of God’s sacred mountain. Until this time, Lucifer’s aggression and sin had been angel against angel. Now he and his rebels were marching up the mountain. They carried Lucifer upon his throne. He rallied them forward from there with battle chants. Then he stopped them all, stood with pride on the very seat of his throne and said, ‘I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the Mount of Assembly, on the heights of the sacred mountain. I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’ And that was it. He had spoken it. Lucifer had done the unthinkable. He became the first in all creation to sin against the creator.”
“The Almighty, being the same yesterday, today, and forever, holy and just, could only do one thing at this point: judgment. For spoken pride against the Lord is a great sin. The Lord activated the hourglass of ‘Present.’ A blue ray shot out of the hourglass, filling the entire area with a glow that froze the rebel forces in place. A silence fell over the whole of heaven as the Lord then activated the hourglass of ‘Past’ to turn back all the damage and return heaven to the beautiful city it was before the war.”
“Archangel Michael was summoned to the throne. He was commanded to destroy Lucifer’s throne and cast him down to the earth and out of heaven. So as he threw Lucifer, the Lord engaged the hourglass of the ‘Future’ and tore open a rip in space-time and held it there long enough for the rest of the rebels to be unfrozen and blown into the rift to follow Lucifer to his fate. The war in heaven was over, and the Almighty had won. The Lord changed the name of Lucifer to Satan. He took away HIS grace from him and the rest of the fallen, and their very looks dimmed into darkness. Satan was driven mad, out of his mind with hatred and a lust for the death of all creation, but especially for Adam and Eve. He had a new goal. If he could not be lord of heaven then he would take Adam’s place and be lord of earth and of all things on, above, and below it. Heaven did not fall to him, but could Adam and Eve? God gave his new creation dominion over the whole planet and told them not to eat the fruit from the tree of knowledge in the center of the garden. Satan knew if he could only get them to eat this fruit from that tree then they would have sinned against God, and their relationship with him would be broken just like his. When they sinned, then their power over the earth would be forfeited to him. He was the firstborn of creation. He would become the prince of this world, his to rule, his to ruin; after much time had passed, Satan tricked Eve. She picked the fruit and ate it. She offered it to her husband, and of his own free will he ate the fruit. A sin was committed against the Lord Almighty by his most beloved of all creation. Death came into life in physical form. God and man separated, a gap that one day would be bridged by the very death of God’s own precious son, the Messiah.”
“For now a place was needed to send the spirit/soul of the righteous dead of man until that blood sacrifice and redemption of man could be made. The Council of Host chose to use the compartment they had built next to the prison of Hell. Today it is called the Bosom of Abraham, the place where the dead saints of God waited until the human surrender of the Christ on the cross. That action would then grant everyone who accepted the gift of salvation, offered through Jesus, access to heaven if they so wanted. Some, as you can see, stayed, but most went up to their new home. After much time had passed and the earth was vastly populated, the Lord appointed 12 so-called ‘Old Testament’ saints to the council. Men like King David, Moses, and Noah. It was then that the council decided to hide the portal ships somewhere within the Bosom of Abraham. Not wanting temptation to grip any angel into going after the Trinity Throne. The angels that were left on Iconium continue this day to build the great city of the New Jerusalem for a newly restored planet earth.”
“Today Lucifer is restrained by the Holy Spirit and has limited, but deadly, powers. Gezon is out there, and he wants it all for himself. He will stop at nothing to get to the Trinity Throne. Then there is Infernal Maximus, the son of Lucifer, and he wants his daddy’s job in the worst way. Remember this, Jasper, evil begets evil, and their very nature is to fight for power to rule. In the end, they will destroy each other before ever conquering good. The Lord put this whole battle on pause for you, Jasper, waiting for the day to come when you, like the young shepherd boy David, would take a step of pure faith and turn some of humanity back in his direction. You, as unlikely
as it may seem, have been chosen to win a battle for the Lord. So, Jasper, are you ready to lead?”
chAPTER twenty-six
Edinburgh was the last name Lester read on the computer screen right before the power died. “They went to Scotland. If they think they are safe in that outdated, oversized church they now call a palace, then they are as foolish as they are overconfident.” Lester hated waiting in the dark. It had been hours since they successfully pounded down the vault door in the sub-basement chamber of Jasper’s family manor. Nothing was working, but they knew where the kids had zipped away to, and that was a mark in the plus column as far as Lester was concerned. “We will let them think they are safe and sound, and when we need to pick them up we will know right where to go to collect them.”
“How will we get the slide working again? We’ve got to have it in order to complete our second job.” Ned was doing his best to sound intelligent but no matter how hard he tried, even his possessed mind was too simple to process and compose solid thoughts.
“The kids will activate the slide once again. It is in their human nature not only to be curious, but to act upon that curiosity and explore. Besides, Jasper has a rescue mission, and he will not let his hero ego rest for long.”
“Boss, you really understand these humans…I wish I was more like you.”
“Well, Ned, just stay close, and you might learn something. Here is my plan. After the slide powers back up, we force our way on. It cannot shut down if we are already aboard, so we need to stand ready to force those doors open the very second it comes back online. Then, by selecting a destination point at random, we will ride the slide, as futile as it will seem, until we locate the away point Gezon has charged us to find. Then we report back, and then we get those kids. So get comfortable, because now we wait.”
Their demonic power wasn’t able to activate the slide. Much time had passed when, out of nowhere, a power surge of heavenly proportion came trumpeting through like lightning. The chamber was glowing like a Christmas tree. The pearl glass door spoke its status as the doors turned red. Lester and company forced the doors open, and a new group of passengers boarded. Upon entering, Lester, Ned, and the demonic goons simply levitated upward. Their feet didn’t touch the floor, nor did their bodies come into contact with the sides. These travelers had done this before and wouldn’t become ill from the experience. A bath of orange lava swirled quickly around the tube, shooting them away from the manor.
The lava slide transport took them to location after location. They got on, they got off, like a bunch of children at a theme park riding their favorite rollercoaster over and over again. Each time one of them would stay behind to hold the door open so the slide was forced to stay and wait. Finally they found what they had been searching for. Lester proudly patted himself on the back for having chosen this particular away point. He did not hesitate to let Ned know that he was taking credit for the find.
They walked forward for a few moments. Lester went first with Ned at his side. The goons were misting in and out of darkness behind them in what could only be described as excitement. They came to a stop. They found what they had been looking for and stared in awe of this sight, all the while immersed in the luminous glow of a blue light. Lester commanded the goons to leave and tell Gezon the cave had been discovered. They misted into darkness and disappeared.
Lester turned to Ned and said, “Come with me, Ned. We have very little time to scout this area out.”
“Yes, yes, yes, we will seek and find,” Ned said eagerly with drool dropping from his chin like a rabid dog.
“Calm yourself, my friend.” Lester spoke with a cool, even voice. “We must not make a mistake and risk the wrath of Gezon, but if we do this right, then our reward will be great.” The two of them began to move off into the blue light.
chAPTER twenty-seven
Tuesday Morning – Heaven; Pearl Gate #2 – North Entrance
No matter where you are at in heaven, when you become still, you can hear the name of the lord whispered upon the wind. It touches your skin so softly and yet you feel it deep within your soul. You surrender to the bliss, believing it will never end. You hold in this moment the perfect peace that passes all understanding. The harmony of heaven, the ebb and flow of wind, joy, music, silence, and eternal life has been in a perfectly balanced state for just over 2000 years. The last disturbance came at the death of God’s own Son on the cross. All of heaven cried out that day, and none will ever understand what truly happened except for God, the creator of the universe, when HE looked away from all that he had made and the great wall of pulsating light behind his throne went out. Darkness filled the Mount of Assembly for the very first time. Great peals of thunder echoed across the expanse of all heaven. It didn’t last very long and soon the light had overcome the darkness. The balance was restored and so it had been ever since…until today.
A voice spoke forward from a dark, misting cloud outside of the gate. “You know why I have come. You know what I am here for. The lines have been drawn here and no further. The second rebellion starts with you, Jayla. Are you ready?”
“Lord Gezon, with all that I am and all that I have, I give myself to you. For your purpose, for the glory and honor of your name, I put forward myself as a sacrifice unto thee.” Jayla, the beautiful and diamond-shimmering gatekeeper, pulled open the doors of heaven and stepped out onto the edge of its threshold. Four dark shadows, goons, slipped past her and quickly disappeared beneath the streets made of gold. A rumble filled the ground below and heaven experienced a quake. All became still. A bolt of lightning flashed across the sky behind her. No noise, not even a whimper of thunder, it was missing. Another bolt, then another, again and again, still silence.
The dark swirling mist began to take human form. An open hand shot out from the cloud, with the rest of the body slowly solidifying behind it. “Hand me his location.” Gezon’s voice was commanding yet smooth as seduction silk. Jayla bowed her head slightly in submission and placed a piece of rolled parchment into Gezon’s grasp. He opened it slowly and read with clear satisfaction and a most evil smile across his face. He placed the scroll into his body, and it was consumed by the darkness. He raised his right hand toward Jayla. “Are you ready to fall?”
“I am.”
“Take my hand, Jayla.”
Jayla, of her own free will, reached for Gezon. Her dazzling glow began to fade in that very instant, and her grace was gone. A black swirling mist appeared below her feet and began to rise over her body. The rest of her countenance dimmed. She closed her eyes as she was overcome by a different kind of power. Gezon leaned in and kissed her on the lips, the kiss of death. Jayla opened her eyes; they no longer glowed with the golden light of heaven but rather the cold jet black of evil. “Where do we go from here?” she asked her new master.
Gezon smiled. “To a cave where some old friends are waiting to be awakened.”
Jayla looked directly into the face of Gezon and saw the image he was sending to her: at first fire, then mole-men tormented into slave labor in the caves and in the background, a giant machine washed in a brilliant blue light. Gezon’s eyes pulsed red for a brief moment, sending a shock wave of power through Jayla. She liked it and she wanted more, much, much more. The dark mist swirled around them both, their human forms dissolved and together they descended toward the earth.
chAPTER twenty-eight
Teddy was worn out from the group walk and said he wanted to rest up a bit before starting dinner. Jasper’s intuition told him otherwise. Great Grandpa was indeed hiding something, and that something caused him to separate himself from others for many years. What had he done? Was it a shameful act?
Abbadorn escorted Jasper and Thunder back to the lava slide. He instructed them on how to access the angelic power within them, and soon they were floating on air while in the lava slide. This made Jasper very happy. The thought of being hurled out of control wasn’t one he pondered fondly. They took a little test run and rode the lava slide all th
e way to Egypt. Exiting the lava slide chamber and went up to the surface. It was nighttime on this side of the planet. Jasper could see a familiar triangle-shaped object and looked to Abbadorn with a wild-eyed smile. “Are we in Giza? Is that the great pyramid and the Nile River just beyond?”
“It is. Come sit in the sand with me as we gaze up at what is unquestionably one of mankind’s crowning seven wonders.” Abbadorn plopped down and patted the sand nearest him. “I need to ask you a question.” Jasper was eager to comply with the wishes of his newest friend. Thunder, of course, was close by, his tail swatting in the night’s soft breeze. He was so happy to be a horse again.
“Jasper, what do you think about spaceship sightings?”
“Odd question to lead off with, but I’ll play along. Up until a few days ago I would have said that UFOs were all unreal, and the people who claimed to see them, delusional. However, in light of what I now know, spaceships are not only real, but some were even built by angels.”
“Good answer. So if I told you that most spaceship sightings these days are nothing more than demonic manifestations designed to confuse people would you believe me?”
Jasper nodded his head slowly but still was wondering where this conversation was taking him.
“Alien life exists in limited form in the physical realm but fully in the spirit realm where all life will one day exist. There are different dimensions, and on earth these dimensions collide. So now you should also believe me when I tell you about giants. After the fall of the angels came the fall of man, and it was a terrible time on earth; humans began living with the fallen angels. Satan took a female human companion, as did many of the fallen, and she bore him a son that he named Infernal Maximus. Sadly, she died after giving birth to the half-demon, half-human monster. In the matter of a few years there were thousands of these half-breeds. A few years later there were twice as many. They became their own race called the Nephilim, and Infernal Maximus was their leader. Power-hungry and just as mean as his daddy, Infernal Max was a force that every being feared. Being supernatural offspring, each Nephilim grew to be a giant. They had only one purpose in life: to increase the wickedness of all those around them under their rule. They never hesitated to display powers, powers that caused everyone to fear them, and they used it to control the masses, enslaving them all. They could heal the sick. They could move the ground below and cause the fish to fly out of the sea to land at their feet. They could snap their fingers and kill an entire herd of sheep or wipe out a village of human rebels. But for all their mighty powers, nothing could change the physical fact they were just too big and dense, and their large bodies made for very bad swimmers. Infernal Max was the only one not destroyed by the great flood that was sent to drown them all during the time of Noah.”
Jasper: Purple Flamingos Fly at Midnight (Jasper - Purple Flamingos Fly at Midnight Book 1) Page 16