Heaven's Night

by Harry Aderton

  I stared once again at the simple illustration. Emotion filled my throat. ‘Hell’ he had called the lower spheres. Another word for misery. It was fitting.

  “How many more spheres do you think the fallen will conquer?” I asked softly.

  “Who can say? You asked me earlier how I could destroy the spheres. I tell you truthfully, I did not. They did. The collective consciousness of billions of fallen souls. They believed so strongly in the illusion of chaos, the illusion of duality, that they made it real. They turned the spheres into hell, not I. I simply introduced the concepts but they allowed it to happen and dominate. They chose and believed. They continue do so.”

  “Is there no way to stop them?” I cried out in anguish.

  “None. And I will use all my strength, my will, every resource, and everything in my power to ensure it continues. That is how important my work is. That is how strongly I serve God. I will destroy anyone who attempts to stop me. And when God forcibly stops me to end my actions, only then will I know my task is done and I have served Him to the fullest. That will be a good day. It is a day I yearn for with all my heart. In the meantime, I must continue.

  “But I can tell you that I need help in my task. There is too much for me to do. Mephistopheles saw the truth of it all when I revealed it to him. His aid and insight have been invaluable. But I need help still. I need you, Sariel. We are brothers. No one can understand me like you, especially after all you’ve been through. Tell me you understand what I do. Tell me you understand why I do what I must.”

  “I understand,” I lied. I was surprised how easy the words came to my lips, although I should not have. I had grown accustomed to sin.

  “Thank you,” Lucifer exhaled slowly. His eyes began to tear. I should have felt shame for lying to him so. I felt nothing but disgust.

  “There is a threat to your cause,” I said after a moment, throwing caution aside and gambling everything on my next words. “My son will be your downfall.” I held my breath, waiting for the explosion from the unhinged Archangel before me.

  He simply nodded. “Perhaps. Tell me why you think so?”

  I breathed again. “I think you know. My third vision. It was of him, my son,” I improvised. Lying came easily once I realized I no longer cared. “You asked me if I knew the meaning of my visions. I do. It revealed that he would undo this duality you created. You know this as well as I. I saw the fear in your eyes after I described the vision to you.”

  He leaned back, scratching his chin thoughtfully. He appeared so much like my brother of old. But I no longer saw him. In my mind’s eye, I only saw the beast he had become.

  “What do you propose?” he asked.

  “Help me find him. Once I do, I’ll hand him over to you.”

  “And how do you suggest I help you do that?”

  “Tell me where Requel is. I’ll speak to her, make her reveal the whereabouts of my son.”

  “Interesting,” he said, clasping his hands behind his back and began to pace. “But why should you do this for me?”

  “Not for you. For God. I believe you are right, Lucifer. If He did not will your work to be so important, then half the spheres would not have fallen. I need no further proof. I just needed to open my eyes.”

  He smiled. “Perhaps we can help each other after all.”

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  “Do you know what happens when angels die in the astral plane?” Lucifer said as he walked beside me.

  We strolled down a long corridor in his palace. A day had passed since I told Lucifer all I knew about Requel, where she died, when, and how it happened. He passed the information to a messenger and promised it would be extremely valuable.

  “No,” I replied.

  “Their souls do not perish but their bodies do. Quite interesting, don’t you think? Their bodies of light can die as if made of flesh, especially those with harsh exposure to the coarse vibrations in the lower spheres. Other bodies simply vanish when they perish, but that is not as common, and those are typically relegated to the newly fallen with limited exposure to the coarse vibrations. But individual souls? Each incarnates into a body of a creature in the physical plane.”

  I stared in disbelief. “How is that possible?”

  Lucifer smiled, amused. “One of the many mysteries uncovered.”

  “But Mephistopheles claimed the creatures on the physical plane have no souls,” I said, recalling my brother’s words in the temple ruins on the sixth sphere. “He said the creatures there have a God given collective soul, ruled by Nature, with a limited, primal intelligence led by instincts.”

  “That was true. For untold millennia that was true. However, that was before the war.”

  I stopped in mid-stride, stunned. “Are you saying that Requel’s soul incarnated into a creature on the primordial plane?” The words chilled me.

  Lucifer stopped alongside me. “That is exactly what I’m saying.”

  I swallowed, my mouth suddenly dry. How far had this war reached? How much damage had it caused? “That is insane,” I said softly.

  He shrugged. “It’s true, however. Souls incarnate into a newborn creature and live bodily again. Sometimes we see them in a higher life form, like a thinking animal or perhaps a biped. Other times it could be nothing more than cockroach or a slug. I believe their life form is determined by how far they’ve fallen in this plane. Quite unusual, is it not?”

  “Can we find her?”

  He threw me an encouraging smile. “Of course. We’re heading to my collegium now, where we’ll be able to locate her. It’s still a little ways.”

  The corridor branched several more times but I took little notice; my thoughts were somber, my mood morose. The thought of Requel as a creature disturbed me greatly. But we are not our bodies, I reminded myself. The thought held little comfort.

  “What life form would you suspect she took?” I asked after a while.

  “A higher one, I would suspect. She was a high level soul, after all, and she hadn’t fallen far when she died, else her body would not have vanished. Determining what life form and where she is, however, will be a little difficult.”

  “And what happens to those souls after their incarnated bodies of flesh die on the primordial?” I asked, suspecting I already knew the answer.

  “Why they’re incarnated back into the astral plane, of course. If they incarnate into one of my Circles of Hell, they would be a demon or a wingless.”

  My mind reeled at the implications of what I was hearing. “So you’re telling me that when a fallen dies, it begins this cycle of birth and rebirth, from a primordial animal to an astral demon then back again?”

  “It appears so. Amazing, is it not? In the beginning, when I first began the war to introduce the concept of duality, bodies did not die. They were scarcely hurt. After the first of the spheres fell, I noticed bruises on their bodies. After the second fell, their bruises increased to wounds and torn wings. It wasn’t until the third fell that they started perishing. It was quite unusual, to say the least. I was most perplexed.

  “Shortly thereafter, demons started appearing. The mystery deepened further. Mephistopheles took it upon himself to discover the meaning of this puzzle. It was only then that he realized a fallen and a demon could be the same soul encased in a different body. It was quite the revelation. His experiments tracked a soul of a fallen through the ether after he killed it in the astral; watched its life as it grew into a creature on the primordial; then tracked the soul back to the astral in the form of a demon. God’s plan is ever inventive, to be sure.”

  “So how do the fallen react to this truth?” I asked.

  He smiled knowingly. “The fallen do not know, of course. It’s far easier this way. Let them continue to live their lives, gorge themselves on the flesh of demons, not realizing that when they die, they will ultimately become a demon for a fallen to feast on. Ironic, isn’t it?”

  “You said ‘if they die’. The cycle hasn’t begun for the fallen yet?” />
  “Apparently not. The fallen are still angels in astral bodies, although a perverse version of whom they once were, hence the blackened wings for example. They are quite immortal in these fallen astral bodies, as far as I can tell. Should their astral forms perish, however, the cycle of birth and rebirth, as you so eloquently put it, begins.”

  “How long does this cycle last?” I asked.

  He shrugged. “Mephistopheles has traced souls that have incarnated from astral to primordial and back again dozens of times already. It doesn’t have an end that we have seen. We have noticed, however, that one’s actions in this plane or the next determines what sphere or life form they incarnate into. For example, a fallen who is especially vicious will incarnate into a crab or an insect and back into a demon that is feasted on. One that is newly fallen tends to incarnate into a higher life form, such as a mammal or a biped, and return as a wingless, sometimes with memories of their past. Most intriguing.”

  I recalled my first Akashic vision of the snake eating its tale endlessly. Was there a connection to this cycle?

  “And you think Requel is now on the primordial?”

  “I do. Or she died in the physical plane already and is now incarnated in one of my eight circles.”

  The thought of Requel as one of the demons for slaughter turned my stomach. “I refuse to believe that. I would have felt her if she were here. She would have reached out to me.”

  “Ah, my dear Sariel, I failed to mention that once souls incarnate into fresh bodies, whether on the primordial plane or here in the astral, most lose their recollection of prior lives. One simply doesn’t remember. It’s as if the slate of the mind has been wiped clean.”

  I recalled the frightened and memory deprived wingless I had first encountered in Iobel’s underground sanctuary on the second sphere. A thought struck me: Were demons locked into the sphere they were born into? Is that why the wingless turned to dust when we attempted to transport them to the ninth sphere? If Requel was trapped in a demon’s body on a lower sphere, she could not be spirited away to the safety of a higher sphere. Or could she? I simply had too many questions and not enough answers.

  “What purpose does this cycle of birth and rebirth serve?” I asked.

  “Mephistopheles has been wondering the very same thing. Here we are.”

  We stopped at a towering door that rose and tapered to an arched point. A sign over the top simply read, ‘Collegium’. He touched the gilded handle and it swung open.

  The room inside was massive. We stepped onto a white marble floor, our footsteps echoing loudly. Twelve statues lined the huge chamber, each precisely resembling the members of our family of Archangels. The towering sculpture of me stood alongside the door. His face radiated peace, harmony, and faith. I felt the urge to tear it down.

  At least fifty stone slabs were arranged in neat rows throughout the room. Each held a body of a demon in various stages of dissection. Dozens of fallen were speaking in small groups or scribbling notes on parchment. One of the note takers looked up from a particularly gruesome body of a demon that appeared to have been flayed. The note taker gave me a friendly nod as he strode towards me.

  “Hello, Sariel,” said Mephistopheles. “We meet again.”

  * * *

  “You can unclench your fists, Sariel,” said Lucifer. “Mephistopheles isn’t your adversary. None of us are.”

  I relaxed and flexed my fingers. I hadn’t known I had balled them.

  “Lucifer tells me you’ve finally come around to our way of thinking,” said Mephistopheles cheerfully. “It appears he’s done a much better job of explaining our work than I did.”

  “Perhaps,” I said. “Or it could be that I am more inclined to listen since our last meeting. Much has happened since then. Either way, I apologize for any unpleasantness when our paths last crossed.”

  “Why, Sariel, apology accepted.” Mephistopheles flashed me a grin.

  On impulse, I reached out and embraced him. My gesture of affection caught him off guard. He paused for the briefest moment before embracing me back warmly.

  Oh Requel, I thought, as I hugged my brother. I will do anything to get you back, even sink to this lowest depth.

  Lucifer laughed and clapped me on the shoulder. “I do believe our brother has returned to us, Mephistopheles. We shall have to think of a new and appropriate name for him.”

  “I can’t wait,” I said. The thought sickened me.

  “Come.” Mephistopheles led us away from the gruesome displays. I followed him through a door and into a study.

  The large room had a row of tables piled with scrolls pushed against the back wall. On the walls, charts and maps hung at odd angles, overlapping one another. A rather large oak desk and chair occupied one end of the room. The desk, unlike the rest of the study, contained items arranged in perfectly neat rows and stacks.

  He led us through another door into a small parlor. Several couches lined the walls arranged around a table laden with refreshments of water and fruit. I poured myself a glass of water. The fruit looked delectable, but who knew what it truly was in Lucifer’s world of illusion. I picked up a piece of melon and inspected it.

  “It’s fresh, I assure you,” said Mephistopheles.

  I tasted it. It was divine. I had been too long since I tasted real food. “Delectable.”

  “I wouldn’t have it any other way,” said Mephistopheles, moving to a couch beside me. Lucifer sat on the armrest of another. “Fresh fruit suits the likes of us better than the meats found in the local markets. I bring it in myself since there aren’t too many left who can open portals to the higher spheres. Speaking of the higher spheres, where is my daughter whom you stole from me?

  I stopped in mid-bite knowing this moment would come. “She is safe.”

  Mephistopheles grinned. “I’m sure she is. But no matter, we shall not discuss it further and ruin this perfectly enjoyable moment. I’m certain she’ll turn up in good time.”

  I raised my eyebrows at the sudden dismissal of the topic. If anything, I would have expected him to demand that I return her at once or at least provide him the location of her whereabouts. I pushed aside my suspicions and let it go. If he didn’t want to discuss the child then neither did I.

  “So tell me, how do we find Requel?” I asked.

  “It’s quite clever, actually.” Mephistopheles eyes lit up. “Did you recognize any of those scholars in the other room studying the demons in various stages of dissection and decay?”

  “Should I have?”

  “They were the same scholars that dwelled in the Akashic Halls. A more learned group you’ll not find anywhere. It didn’t take much to convince them to take on a new topic of study. We’ve devoted the last few decades deciphering the mysteries of reincarnated souls and the physical plane and the relationships between the two. Fascinating stuff, really.”

  “From what Lucifer has told me, the connection is quite strong,” I said.

  “Indeed, far stronger than you can possibly imagine,” said Mephistopheles excitedly. “Did you know we have perfected our calculations to the point that if we know precisely when and where a fallen or demon dies in the astral, we can predict within an acceptable degree where they will be incarnated in the physical plane?”

  “Interesting. How does one come about such knowledge?”

  “It wasn’t easy,” said Mephistopheles. “Once we realized that such a connection existed between the planes, we knew that God would have created a pattern to explain it, perhaps even map it. We had to kill thousands to prove our theories. It was tedious work. We tracked their souls until we discovered the proper formulas. It opened up an entire new science for us. We call it astralogy.”

  “And how does this new science work?”

  “We’ve discovered that parts of creation, both physical and astral, are bound together and influence each other as if they were two sides of a coin. There is a balance there, a rhythm if you will. When an event happens in the astral, it is re
flected in the celestial heavens of the physical plane by the positioning of the stars and planets in relation to one another. An event can be as trivial as a death of a fallen or as cataclysmic as the fall of a sphere. It doesn’t matter which – to the universe each is of equal importance.

  “When an event occurs, a subtle vibration and energy is released. If we can measure these vibrations and energies in the astral, we can map it to a corresponding vibration of those captured events in the physical and pinpoint when and where a corresponding event took place.”

  I shook my head, perplexed, and looked to Lucifer for help. “Don’t look at me,” Lucifer said, holding up his hands. “All I hear is nonsense.”

  “Don’t you see?” said Mephistopheles, exasperated. “If we know precisely when and where Requel died, which we know already, we can apply our celestial formulas to determine her vibrational resonance and how much energy was released. We can then map it to the subtle oscillating vibrations and spectrums in the physical plane as given off by the celestial bodies to pinpoint when she was born and most likely where. From there, we can trace her vibration and energy, which remains constant, to the source. We can locate her.”

  “Good,” I said dismissively, uncaring to hear any more. “How do we begin?”

  “We already have.” He smiled. “My scholars have found her.”

  * * *

  I paced in Mephistopheles’ parlor, my patience all but gone. Requel. They found her. But what now? How do I get to her? How do I help her?

  “Steady, brother,” said Lucifer sitting on the couch, spearing a melon wedge with a dagger. “Mephistopheles will return soon with more information. These things take time.”

  “A curse on time!” I scowled, slamming my fist on a table laden with scrolls. They bounced and rolled off. “I’ve waited far too long already. I need to see her again. I don’t care what she’s incarnated into. I have to go to her.”

  “And you will. A word of caution, however. The physical plane is not be trifled with. It is vastly different from what you and I are used to.”