The Lost Book of Chaos: How to Divide the World (The Secret Wars of Angels 1)

by Thomas, J. D.

  But now was not the time to worry about how he had missed the man’s presence, so he quickly put his fingers on the noose and pulled his chin off the rope. As he let go, he gasped for air, filling his lungs to the point that it felt like his head was going to explode.

  Judas fell down from the branch but managed to land on his feet, his vision still partially black from the long duration of having no air. But even as he landed, his legs buckled and he toppled backwards.

  He was breathing hard, but he was alive.

  Now, to take care of the other problem. It took only a few seconds to recover his vision, and the first he saw was the figure of the white robed man looking down on him.

  The man, whoever he was, did not appear to be any bigger than Judas in terms of size and weight. That was good sign. But the man did not attack him. Instead, the white robed man extended a hand in a gesture of helping him up. It was obviously a trap, but Judas would not fall for it. Instead, Judas intended to use it to his advantage.

  Judas gripped the man’s hand with both hands, and heaved, putting all of his weight in one pull so he could send the other man off balance. He planned to hit the man’s stomach with a knee as the man fell down.

  To his surprise, and despite all his effort at heaving the man down, the white robed man stood firmly and did not fall. In fact, it didn’t seem like Judas moved the man at all. Not even an inch. It made him think of pulling himself against a sturdy tree; instead of the man going down, Judas was now the one standing up.

  Judas cursed silently.

  Something was wrong with his senses lately, what with the voice in his head, him not sensing this man come close, and now this. Maybe he really was going nuts. After all, how could a man not budge after such a pull?

  He looked in wonder at the man’s arms, as it was thinner than his own. Where did this man's strength come from?

  The gaze of Judas followed the man’s arm, and as he looked at the man’s face, Judas gave a small cry of surprise. Suddenly, a chill ran down his spine. The man’s face was not the face of an ordinary human. It was the face of a young man, but like Shemyaza, there was an ageless quality about it.

  Judas, suddenly, felt afraid.

  Seeing his surprise, the white robed man calmed him down. “Do not fear,” the man said. There was something strange about the man's voice, but Judas couldn't quite put a finger to it.

  “I am Gabriel,” the white robed man continued, “an angel, and I was sent here to meet you.”

  Judas wanted to groan.

  Excellent, he had just tried to attack an angel. Judas had no doubt that was what this person was.

  “I did not mean to—” Judas stammered. “I did not know.” If he had known that the man was an angel in the first place, he wouldn’t have tried anything like that.

  “I am sorry for trying to attack you,” Judas said. But the angel did not seem to be offended.

  The angel was pale skinned, with red lips, and a clean face without a mustache or beard. With a youthful face, the angel probably did not need to shave. In fact, if the angel wasn’t male, Judas would have described Gabriel as beautiful. Despite the young face, Judas had the impression that the angel had lived more years than him—especially the angel’s eyes that wore an expression that spoke of inhuman wisdom.

  Gabriel’s wore his pale white hair tied at the back, and he wore plain white robes that fell to his feet. The angel was not muscular, but Judas guessed that the angel’s immovable strength did not come from muscles alone.

  “Have no worries,” Gabriel said. This time Judas realized what was strange about Gabriel's voice. Gabriel's body and looks were that of a young man, but his voice was deep and authoritative. “You’ve done no harm to me.” True, even if he wanted to, Judas probably wouldn’t be able to do anything against such a powerful being.

  “You look like you've been through a lot,” Gabriel said, as the angel looked Judas up and down. At that, Gabriel extended his hand towards him, though the angel's hands did not touch him. Gabriel muttered a couple of words.

  Power radiated outward from Gabriel's hand, it was a warm energy that engulfed the body of Judas. In a moment, the warmth was gone, but Judas felt energized.

  “Hmmm,” Gabriel said, surprised. “You took more energy that I expected, you must have been really drained. Even your spirit appears drained...”

  Judas didn't know how to explain. It must have been the serpent bracer, draining his energy when he used its powers.

  “Is that some kind of healing power?” Judas asked.

  Gabriel shook his head.

  “I merely transferred my energy to you,” Gabriel said, “the energy in turn is used by your own body to heal.”

  Judas felt good. So good. As if he had woken fresh from a good night's sleep. All the sores in his body were gone. He wondered if...

  Judas started removing the bandages on his arms. However, when he looked at his hands, there were still two gaping holes in the middle—where the nails had pierced his hands.

  “I thought these would heal too...” Judas said, thoughtful.

  “Unfortunately,” Gabriel said, “that wound has already healed and closed up. So even if your body regenerated itself...”

  Judas nodded, understanding.

  “Though there are ways to heal anything back to it's original state,” Gabriel said, “But come, we must hurry.”

  Gabriel motioned for him to follow. Judas hurried along. Gabriel took long strides, and though the angel appeared to exert no effort, Judas had to jog to catch up.

  “Where are we going?” Judas asked.

  “Our ship is waiting nearby,” Gabriel answered.

  A ship.

  “Our ship?” Judas asked, wondering. They were in the middle of the desert. There were no seas or rivers “nearby”. What kind of ship was this?

  “Yes,” Gabriel said, “not far from here.”

  Judas followed, keeping his scepticism in check, considering all that he had recently been through.

  To his disbelief, Judas gawked at the ship. But it was such a strange, small ship, and he doubted if ‘ship’ was the right word to use for it.

  The ship that Gabriel referred to seemed to be made of black metal and it lay flat on the ground. It had no sails to propel it, not that he could see. The metal ship was circular in shape, and it was not very big, probably only two strides in one diameter and only two or three hand spans thick from top to bottom.

  “What kind of ship is it?” Judas asked, curious.

  “This is a merkavah,” Gabriel answered, and when Judas seemed puzzled the angel continued, “It is a small ship that can take us to the main ship, which is a farther distance.”

  “It sails on land?” Judas said.

  “Watch,” Gabriel said. At the angel’s gesture, the metal merkavah glowed underneath, burning bright orange like a furnace. The merkavah rose a few inches above the ground and made a whirring sound.

  Judas watched in amazement.

  Curiosity getting the better of him, he peered below the merkavah to see how it floated and if anything was supporting it underneath, but there was nothing below it. The air below it simmered in the heat, distorting the view on the other side.

  Gabriel stepped on top of the merkavah and as he did, his image and the floating merkavah began to fade into nothingness. The whirring sound vanished.

  Judas stopped, confused.

  Where had Gabriel gone?

  The angel and the merkavah had vanished totally

  Judas turned and looked around, perhaps Gabriel had moved very fast and disappeared, that was indeed possible. But there was no sign of Gabriel in all directions.

  Then as if to answer his question, Gabriel reappeared again at exactly the same spot, and gestured for Judas to come and climb the ship.

  Judas tried to steady his trembling hands. He willed his feet to stop shaking. With that, he carefully stepped on the small ship, and when he did, his feet seemed to melt an inch into the metal. He put his
other foot on the ship, and the same thing happened. He tried pulling his feet off, but they were fixed in place.

  He was trapped!

  “Relax,” Gabriel said, chuckling in a fatherly way, “It's so you don’t fall off.”

  Judas nodded.

  “Does this ship make you disappear?” Judas said.

  “Yes, so ordinary people won’t see us going about,” Gabriel said. “Otherwise, people would be celebrating miracles every day.” That made sense, though Judas thought miracles would be welcome.

  “When you say 'us',” Judas said, “who else do you mean?”

  “The Twelve Legions of Sky Jerusalem,” Gabriel said.

  Chapter 15 – How To Divide The World

  “Sky Jerusalem...” Judas said, disbelieving. He had been looking for it all along and had found little to no clues. And now, an angel was here to bring Judas there.

  Twelve legions... If Judas remembered correctly, a legion was about six thousand soldiers, that meant...

  “There are seventy two thousand of us angels,” Gabriel finished.

  “Seventy two thousand,” Judas echoed.

  He couldn't quite get the number in his head.

  Struck with awe and excitement, Judas was caught off guard as the ship blasted off. Had it not been for the metal surface that held his feet in place, he would have fallen off, because when the ship started moving it sped faster than a horse. Even comparing this to a horse was an understatement, he could barely recognize the ground with the speed that the black merkavah travelled.

  The winds rushed loudly against his ear, and he felt his hair and face being blown backwards.

  Going to Sky Jerusalem was good and all, the only problem was...

  “Can I do one more thing before we continue?” Judas shouted so he could be heard. With how fast this thing moved, they would be able to catch up to Arcana and Varak. Gabriel stopped the merkavah. Judas tipped a bit forward, but the black metal held the feet of Judas in place.

  “What is it?” Gabriel asked.

  “I owe two people my life,” Judas explained, “and now they are in danger.”

  Gabriel looked thoughtful. Judas feared Gabriel would decline, and if the he did, Judas could do nothing about it.

  “Very well,” Gabriel said.

  Relief filled Judas.

  Judas pointed to Gabriel the place where he had left the dagger and amulet that Judas buried. Judas wondered if Gabriel would recognize the blade of the Zohar, but he didn't have much of a choice. He had to save Arcana. He would have to deal with any problems that arose from Gabriel meeting Arcana. Judas knew that Arcana was running away from all angels, but this was an angel who worked with his Master after all. Gabriel could be trusted.

  As the ship moved forward, Judas wanted to learn more about Sky Jerusalem.

  “What do seventy two thousand angels do?” Judas asked, raising his voice. The view below passed them quickly, they were pretty high up far above the foliage of trees.

  Gabriel slowed down the Merkavah, so they could talk and the howl of the wind in their ears wouldn't get in the way.

  “We watch over the Earth and the people,” Gabriel answered. “Each angel is assigned a different area of the Earth, and each angel watches over different groups of people.”

  “So all these seventy two thousand,” Judas said, “they protect all people? I mean, I know there's several times that number of men and women in the cities alone, let alone the other Kingdoms.”

  “True,” Gabriel said, “You can imagine how difficult it is for us to manage everyone. So we have a system of prioritization—we put higher priority on protecting those who live the righteous way of life.”

  “And who are the righteous?” Judas asked.

  “Anyone who shows compassion,” the archangel said.

  “So you are not particular,” Judas began, “with what belief, religion, faith, or lack of faith of the person that you protect?”

  “No,” Gabriel answered. “Occasionally, we provide guidance and set up new religions, new systems of belief, but it all means the same thing—compassion for one another.”

  Judas was thoughtful.

  “But why set up different religions?” Judas said, “Why not just one? Wouldn't it be simpler?”

  “We are bound by the Covenant Of Confounding,” Gabriel said. “That means we are required every 49 years to introduce new languages, new religions, and new belief systems.”

  “Why?” Judas said.

  Gabriel didn't immediately answer.

  “Unity under a single tyrant is dangerous,” Gabriel said, a hint of pain in his voice. “Power, when concentrated in one person or leader can easily be abused.”

  Gabriel wore a distant look on his face, as if recalling something from very long ago.

  “Once,” Gabriel continued, “The world was almost destroyed because of unity. Two thousand years ago, Marduk, the angel tyrant, once ruled the Earth and led a revolt against Sky Jerusalem. In his desire to conquer not only Earth, but also Heaven, he assembled the angels and humans of the Earth to build his own Sky City—The Tower Ship Of Babel.”

  “You know this story,” Gabriel said.

  “I am not sure I've heard of it,” Judas said.

  “The story of the Tower of Babel,” Gabriel explained. “But the war raged on until the time of Sodom and Gomorrah. Those two cities were destroyed as a result of the war.”

  “But,” Judas said, “wasn't Sodom and Gomorrah destroyed because of their wickedness?”

  “They were wicked because they followed Marduk who was also wicked,” Gabriel said, this time, a hint of anger was in his voice. The angel assured Judas it wasn't because of him. “When the angels of Sky Jerusalem fought back,” Gabriel continued, “we destroyed Marduk's cities one by one. Marduk's cities in Mesopotamia, in Sumeria, in the Sinai Peninsula, we destroyed them all.”

  “Of course,” Gabriel said, “Marduk fought back. The angel tyrant used the Forbidden Weapon to destroy many of our cities too. The war desolated the Earth, leaving behind an evil radiation. Eventually, with the help of your forefather Abraham who led the Cavalry of Sky Jerusalem, we pushed back Marduk and his people. Then with Marduk defeated, we had to deal with the kings who sided themselves with the tyrant king. We offered them peace, but when they refused, we...”

  Gabriel wore a sad expression.

  “We destroyed them all,” Gabriel said, sighing deeply.

  “What is ra...di...yay...shun?” Judas asked.

  “Radiation is not visible to the normal eye,” Gabriel said. “You can think of it as an evil wind. A wind that is carried over throughout all the world, and anything it touches dies, while those that do survive die slowly, their nails and teeth falling off. This is known as radiation sickness.”

  Judas nodded. “Like an invisible plague?”

  Gabriel nodded.

  “We won the war,” Gabriel said, “but our victory was short lived. The war had desolated the Earth. As a result, the world experienced severe famine. Not to include the fact that many lands were no longer arable, because the radiation had damaged the land itself.

  “Thus,” Gabriel said, “we guided the survivors and Abraham's tribes to Mitsrayim, the land you now know as Egypt. Mitsrayim was one of the few surviving cities that was left untouched by the radiation. We led you there, so you could survive for 400 years, enough time for the radiation to wear off.”

  “We sent Joseph,” Gabriel said, “the youngest son of Abraham to pave the way ahead, so by the time Abraham could get there, Joseph had already placed himself as a leader among the Egyptians. For one hundred years, you lived as respected citizens of Mitsrayim, and their citizens welcomed you as brothers. Egypt was a haven for you. Where the world experienced famine, you experienced abundance there.”

  “But when Joseph died,” Gabriel said, “and the Pharaohs who knew Joseph also died, no one protected you anymore. The next generations forgot the brotherhood between Abraham's people and your people.”
>
  “In that time,” Gabriel said, “unfortunately, you experienced slavery. We tried influencing the pharaoh's, but they would not listen. Worse, a group of angels took hold of Egypt, and another group of angels sought to take it away from them. War erupted between the angels, and Egypt was caught in the crossfire.”

  Gabriel turned to Judas. Judas couldn't believe that Gabriel's eyes were teary.

  “We are sorry,” Gabriel said, bowing humbly, “that you had to experience such hardships in Egypt.”

  Judas was dumbfounded. An angel was bowing to him. He hurriedly asked Gabriel to stand. Judas did not deserve it. And besides, Egypt had happened so long ago.

  “Do you see now the burden that we carry?” Gabriel said.

  Judas nodded.

  “This,” Gabriel said, “is why we continue protecting you. For you are the Children of Abraham. Because Abraham and his cavalry stood by our side in the Great Battle, we have promised him that we would watch over you.”

  “Can you see now why we must divide you?” Gabriel said.

  “I still...” Judas said, shaking his head.

  “If humans and Earthborn angels are united,” Gabriel said, “an angel tyrant, or a human tyrant, will once again rise. If there is only one nation, the tyrant will have absolute power and no one can challenge him. Even if that tyrant rules with justice and he doesn't abuse his power, what of the next generation? When the just King of the world dies, his children... Will they also rule the world with fairness? Or will they succumb to bickering and senseless power struggles?”

  Judas was beginning to see now, though there was still a tiny piece of doubt.

  “Thus there is a need for division,” Gabriel said. “Because of that, there are seventy seven provisions for Confounding. The most obvious to you would be language, religion, culture, beliefs, kingdoms, classes, education, technology, faiths, spiritualities, scriptures, visions, dreams, prophecies, and so on.”

  Judas wanted to know what the other provisions were, but he was curious of one other thing.

  “You said you protected the righteous,” Judas said, “but what about the wicked?”

  Gabriel sighed. Judas felt a sense of tiredness in Gabriel's eyes.