by Jorge Silva
He let out a long sigh.
“Let’s go find Dad.”
His mother let him pick her up and Gabriel opened his wings to fly.
“Are you an angel?” she asked, without any sign of the surprise that he would have expected. He wondered if it was because of exhaustion.
“Something like that,” he replied, as he flew towards the last place he had seen his father.
“I always knew that you were special. You don’t know how happy it makes me to know that you’re alive.”
She closed her eyes. “How incredible the love of a mother is”, thought Gabriel. The impact of dying, of knowing that all humans wandered Hell for eternity, none of that had seemed relevant to her. Her son was alright. That was all that mattered to her. Now she could rest.
Given the speed with which they cut through the air, it didn’t take long for them to reach the place where his father had taken shelter. Gabriel descended and steadied his mother on her feet. She had gotten a bit dizzy, something that he recalled happened to her on planes.
His dad had stood up as soon as he’d seen a winged being approach. When he saw his ex-wife, he ran to her. Gabriel knew that it had been too long since they’d seen each other. The divorce seemed of little importance now that they were dead.
His father hugged them both tight. The three of them cried for a long time. They were together again. Even if it was in Hell.
Gabriel sensed Lucifer’s presence, but he didn’t want to turn away from the hug with his parents. He didn’t want to see Her and remember his duty. Not yet. For a few moments, which he wanted to extend as long as possible, he wanted to be a child again. He wanted to forget that only he could free the humans from Hell.
But She couldn’t wait anymore.
“We can’t postpone the Apocalypse any longer. You saw for yourself that Yahweh is taking away my children’s right to eternal life.”
Gabriel met Her gaze, but he didn’t let go of his parents. Even though it was covered by fire and destruction, this was the place of human souls. The place where loved ones found each other again beyond death. And no one, not even God, had the right to take that gift away from them.
“What’s your plan?” he asked Lucifer.
“You should strip yourself of your human soul, so that the Phoenix may return. If his powers aren’t limited by matter he will be able to take us all to Purgatory. Only then will the dead be able to leave Hell, and I with them.” Lucifer raised her arm pointing to Gabriel’s parents. “They are safe here for now, and I will protect them when we go to Otherworld. The only thing remaining is for you to leave behind your humanity in order to initiate the Apocalypse.”
Gabriel recalled the sermon Uriel had made in the Temple of the Light.
“The angels think that you’re going to Otherworld with an army, to fight.”
Lucifer closed her eyes for a moment.
“I hope that won’t be necessary, but if they hurt even one of my children in Purgatory they will know the fury that I have held in my soul for millennia.”
“But how do we confront God, the archangels, and the celestial hosts?”
Lucifer took a moment to reply.
“We’ll have to find allies, but that will be useless if you’re not willing to free yourself of what makes you human.”
Gabriel’s mother dried her tears on her forearm and put both hands on her hips.
“What do you mean about my son relinquishing his human soul?”
Gabriel and his father looked at each other, terrified. His mother didn’t know that she was speaking to Lucifer, creator of all humanity.
“He will lose all of his memories and abandon his body forever. All that will be left is the soul of the Phoenix,” She replied, lowering Her head.
“Over my dead body.”
Lucifer smiled. Gabriel couldn’t discern if Lucifer was annoyed by his mother’s tone or if She found it amusing that someone dared to speak to Her like that.
“It’s an expression. I understand that I’m already dead.”
She grabbed Gabriel by one arm and her husband by the other.
“We’re finally together, and you want to separate us. Forever.”
Gabriel had always thought that he was willing to sacrifice himself for his parents. When his father had died there were many times that he had felt like he would have preferred it if he were the one to have passed. Now that he knew the torments that awaited his mother and father in Hell, he knew that he should be willing to do anything to protect them. Even so he couldn’t help but hesitate now that he understood the sacrifice. It embarrassed him to admit it, but it was the truth.
It hurt him to think that if Lucifer’s plan worked, his parents and all of humanity would be together in Otherworld. Everyone but him.
“I understand the suffering I’m asking of you. I understand how much it hurts. You are Gabriel’s mother, but I’m the mother of all of you. It was I who created all humans, sacrificing half of my soul.”
“Mother? I don’t know who you are, or what you are, but you’re not a mother. A mother would never sacrifice her children.”
Gabriel saw Lucifer’s eyes begin to glow subtly. Perhaps he should stop his mother now, before it was too late.
“You wouldn’t sacrifice one child to save billions of them? All of those who have lived, all of those who live now, all of those that will live?”
Gabriel’s mother was silent for a few moments.
“Not even then.”
Lucifer turned around.
“When one minute passes in Hell, less than a second will have passed in Heaven. You have time to make your decision.”
Lucifer had barely flown away when Gabriel’s mother turned and hugged them again. Gabriel asked them both to sit down and began to talk. He told them all that he had experienced. About the Phoenix, the Seven, his visits to Purgatory and Heaven. He spoke of how God had turned Paradise into Hell and how His goal was to destroy humanity.
“I can’t believe that God would want to destroy us. How can you be sure of that?” said his mother.
“I think that God isn’t how we imagined Him. He isn’t omniscient, all powerful, or eternal.”
His mother kept insisting that Gabriel should not relinquish his humanity, even if it was the only way to save them all. She understood well what that would mean, that if he decided to do it, the Phoenix would remain and her son would disappear forever.
“There has to be another way. Why do you have to sacrifice yourself like that?”
Gabriel’s father stood up. Though free of matter his back was somewhat stooped. His soul had gotten used to hiding from the fire that fell from the sky.
“I don’t think that you understand,” he said. “But that’s because you just got here. I’ve been here much longer and I grasp that it’s necessary for someone to save us.”
His ex-wife stood up and she kissed him on the lips. The stoop of his back lessened slightly.
“I understand perfectly. I understand that we’re together again. A second chance. And together we’ll find a way to improve our situation.”
She turned to her son, who she had thought she’d never see again.
“But we won’t lose Gabriel forever,” she said, while her eyes fixed on the white wings of her son, and she extinguished an ember that had fallen on them.
His parents asked him to tell them everything one more time. They wanted to find a way to save humanity without having to lose their son to do it. It was his father who raised his hand, stopping the tale.
“In Heaven there exists a library where everything that has happened is written down?”
“At least that’s what Uriel said. Everything that has happened to the subjects of Heaven is recorded there.”
His father stood up and put a hand on Gabriel’s shoulder.
“You don’t know the reasons that God could have for all of this. I think that you should return to Heaven and look for the scrolls that talk about Him.”
He
didn’t know if his father’s idea would work or not, but he agreed. Gabriel couldn’t sacrifice everything without being sure that there wasn’t another alternative. If there existed some other way to save humanity from Hell, one that didn’t require that he disappear from Creation, it was worthwhile to look for it.
He had spent his whole life trying to get away from his parents, to be free and independent. But now that he had them back he didn’t want to be separated from them again. He felt they were the only people in Creation that he could really trust.
Before he left, Gabriel used his sword and dug out a cave in a hill for his parents, who were shocked at the skill and strength of their son. He made it deep enough that they would be protected from the flames, but shallow enough that they would still have light.
He hugged them as he had never done before. Even though his parents couldn’t imagine such a thing, going to Heaven meant an enormous risk to him.
“We’re proud of you,” his father told him, while he ruffled his hair.
He flew off in search of Lucifer, before his parents could see his tears. It would only have made it more difficult for all of them.
He saw Her from a height, weaving her way through the souls of Her children. She tried to console them, to give them hope. For thousands of years She had told them of the Apocalypse, of the resurrection of the dead, of the Phoenix that would save them. Today they saw him, cutting through the sky on his shining wings, and they knew that their creator had spoken the truth.
“I’m returning to Heaven,” he said, once he had landed on the ground.
Lucifer looked at him with resignation, her eyebrow raised.
“Sometimes I understand how Yahweh feels about freedom.”
“I need to go to the Library.”
“You’ll risk being captured by Yahweh, just to read something?”
Gabriel thought that it would be better not explain his objective. What would She think if he confessed that he wanted to know more about God before making a decision?
“I don’t have any other options,” he replied simply.
Lucifer approached him.
“I won’t try to dissuade you. Just remember that a second in Heaven is an hour here. Don’t make your parents suffer in Hell any longer than necessary.”
She kissed him on the lips. Gabriel opened his eyes, wide in surprise, only to close them again, as he wrapped Her in his arms and wings.
“I have waited a long time for the Archangel Gabriel. The time that I spent with him was the best of my existence,” She said, caressing his face. “Please, come back.”
Gabriel knew that Lucifer had kissed him for the Phoenix that he carried within. She wasn’t interested in the human. In fact, She wanted to be rid of him.
Even still, he returned to Heaven smiling and with his cheeks on fire.
It was his first kiss.
18
When Gabriel opened his eyes he was in the Library. He was now an expert at crossing between the Realms, anchoring himself in a memory and going towards it. It hadn’t been difficult to call to mind the place where he had read about Azrael’s betrayal.
An angel crossed the threshold, alerted to his presence by the sound of Gabriel knocking over some books with his wings. It was the second time that he’d seen the librarian. Even though he looked the same as all the other angels, each one a fragment of Michael’s soul, identical reflections of his spirit, he recognized something that distinguished this one from all the rest. He was the only blind angel that Gabriel had seen in Heaven.
“Are you looking for something in particular, Master Gabriel?” he asked in a servile tone, recognizing his soul without needing sight.
Gabriel thought about his father’s plan.
“I would like to read the scrolls that you have about Him.”
The librarian was silent for a moment.
“Given that He has existed since the beginning and is always present in the existence of His subjects, all of scrolls in this Library are about Him.”
This time it was Gabriel who took a moment to respond.
“I understand. Then I would like to read the first record that you have about Him.”
The librarian made a bow and then a murmur began to emerge from his throat. A few seconds passed before Gabriel realized that it was a song.
The very structure of the Library began to change. The corridors moved and the shelves reordered themselves. After a few minutes, the librarian took a scroll from one of them.
“The Library is now synchronized with the moment that you requested, Master Gabriel,” he said, as he passed him the scroll.
Gabriel saw that it was sealed with black wax, stamped with a circle. He tried to break the seal to read the contents of the scroll but it was impossible.
“I can’t open it,” he said to the librarian, placing it back in his hand.
The angel touched the seal with his fingers and pulled them back in surprise.
“This is only the second time I’ve laid hands on a scroll sealed with this symbol. Only He can open it.”
He returned the scroll to Gabriel, who lowered his head. It seemed that no matter what he did, everything led to the same end. One way or another he was going to have to have an audience with God.
“When was the first time?”
“Long ago, Master Raphael asked for a record that was also protected by this seal.”
Gabriel put the scroll into his tunic and he prepared to leave. He would go look for the Archangel of Restoration. Something told him that he should avoid going through the doors of the Throne Room. After all, each time that an archangel entered there, nothing good came of it.
“I’ll return the scroll as soon as possible.”
“Oh don’t worry, Master Gabriel. There are infinite copies of every book and scroll.”
Infinite wasn’t an exaggeration in this case. It was in the small details that Gabriel was reminded that he was no longer in his world.
He descended to Purgatory and flew over it, searching for Raphael’s subterranean refuge. Fortunately, the Realm of Yahweh was the size of a city. He didn’t need more space than that for one hundred and forty-four thousand angels.
Though it was small in size, its dangers were enormous. Suddenly Gabriel felt a terrible blow to his back, one that made him fall to ground with alarming speed.
When he regained his feet, he saw Cerviel with his giant hammer. Uriel was by his side with her rapier only centimeters from Gabriel’s throat.
“We were waiting for you,” said the Archangel of Dominion, as he slung his hammer over his shoulder.
“Did you think you could come and go from Heaven as you pleased?” asked Uriel, pointing her rapier at him. “Once His audience with Ramiel has ended, we’ll take you before Him. He has a strong desire to speak with the Phoenix.”
Lucifer had already warned him of the danger, and that it was impossible for Her to come to his rescue. Still, there was someone who could help him here in Purgatory.
Azrael appeared from nowhere, and attacked Uriel, causing her to pull her rapier away from Gabriel to block the flaming sword.
Gabriel came forward, calling forth his shining weapon. He placed his back to Azrael’s and felt the heat of the fire that emanated from his hand. One day he would have to ask Azrael how he always managed to show up just when he needed his help.
They both remained unmoving, their eyes fixed on the archangel they each had before them. A few steps from Azrael stood Uriel, with her rapier pointed directly at the Archangel of Death. In front of Gabriel the Archangel of Dominion grinned, and letting the head of his gigantic hammer fall, caused the ground to dent where it landed.
Uriel threw herself at Azrael. With the point of her rapier she tried to penetrate his guard, making use of the impressive speed that characterized Light. Gabriel took a step toward Cerviel and turned to see the Archangel of Death barely managing to block and dodge the attacks, without a single break to allow him to strike his opponent.
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br /> Remembering that Azrael was still injured from their earlier battle, Gabriel opened his arms and wings and summoned a sphere of protection that repelled Uriel’s subsequent attacks. But he knew that she wouldn’t give up easily. He saw the Archangel of Light rise off of the ground, opening her eyes once she was above them.
Every time that he had seen Uriel, she had always had her eyes closed. He had wondered what she would look like with them open. For an instant he was able to perceive that they radiated a light more potent than the sun of the human Realm, but he immediately needed to bring his hand to his eyes. Blinded and dazed by the brilliance, he lost his concentration, and the sphere of protection disappeared.
He sensed Azrael, who apparently hadn’t been affected by the Light, launch himself at Uriel. Gabriel, still blinded, called forth a sphere of protection once more. He barely finished forming it when Cerviel’s giant hammer crashed against it. Apparently, Cerviel had been waiting for the Light to open her eyes in order to attack. Gabriel had to put a knee on the ground to continue resisting the strikes from the archangel, who raised his hammer time and again to fracture the sphere.
The Light had finally faded and Gabriel was able to see where Azrael fought against Uriel. Still in the air, Azrael launched a flame from his hand towards Cerviel, who had to step backwards to avoid being charred from above.
Gabriel was about to fly to protect the Archangel of Death with his sphere, but before he could get off the ground he saw the black silhouette of the Archangel of Dominion move towards Azrael. Taking up his hammer in both hands, Cerviel swung and struck the archangel, who, not having his feet planted on firm ground, was thrown back meters despite having blocked the strike with his sword.
The Archangel of Dominion descended again, striking his hammer against the ground a few steps from Gabriel’s sphere. He hadn’t missed his mark. As a result of the tremor generated by the blow, Gabriel lost his balance and, to avoid falling flat on his face, he placed both hands on the ground. The sphere disappeared in that moment.
Uriel took advantage of the opportunity and descended. She tried to skewer Gabriel where he had fallen. She stabbed at him while he rolled from side to side, trying to get enough distance from her to stand up and call forth his sword.