Lucifer and all of his kind rejoiced at this. It meant that not only would they be able to surprise their victims, but also that the Sons would not be there to interfere. They remained deathly quiet as they made their descent, gathering ever more speed. In a matter of moments they were less than five hundred metres from the gathering and ready to torture the life out of them.
As he accelerated, Ham saw Ariel from behind and prepared to teach her a lesson that she would never forget, the embarrassment of her rejection still fresh in his mind. Masias identified Cindy from behind, knowing her as intimately as he did. Jezebel saw two spirits from the rear that looked just like Rachel and Sarah and she set course directly for Rachel. Lucifer chose a petite looking female spirit well away from Jehovah and his parents. They closed to a hundred metres by which time each devil had selected a target.
They rejoiced that they were going to be able to launch a surprise attack, but as they closed to within fifty metres Father, Mother and Jehovah each turned, looking straight at them. This stunned them in their descent in the same way that an escaping prisoner is stunned by a prison siren. Father then spoke a single word and immediately there was a brilliant flash of light as the brightness of the Kingdom was fully restored to the state that it had been in prior to Lucifer’s very first acts of rebellion.
The Kingdom, itself a living organism, had suffered appreciably under the weight of the dark deeds that had been waged upon her. Every dark deed, every evil thought, every unkind word, every selfish gesture had troubled that perfect place and had gradually darkened it. While it still glowed brilliantly around Father and Mother’s abode, it darkened as you moved away from their habitation. This had the effect of dulling the brilliance of the entire Kingdom. What had once been brilliantly bright and white, had become far less so.
This had afforded those doing dark deeds the luxury of living in the darkness that they had created. It also meant that they could visit the brighter locations, and avoid the brightness thereof, by spending most of their time looking back at the regions where there was less light, in the same manner that humans avoid looking directly at the sun. When Lucifer, and those responsible for almost every single one of those dark deeds, had left the Kingdom to fight the Sons, the sphere had begun to recover and, with a single word, Father had accelerated the healing process such that the Kingdom returned instantly to its former glory.
Whilst away from the Kingdom, on account of their rebellion against God, any light remaining within each member of the rebel force had been completely lost. This only magnified the impact that the regeneration of the Kingdom had upon them. The effect on Lucifer and his army was immediate and severe. The light blinded and shocked them in the same manner it would someone who was travelling rapidly towards a dormant sun, only to have that sun become fully illuminated immediately upon their arrival.
Heat did not emanate from the Kingdom in the same way it does a sun, but to say that the light burned those benighted souls was not far from the truth. It blinded, shocked and burned them and each devil screamed and ascended away from the Kingdom even more quickly than they had come, never to return. The Kingdom would never be darkened by their type again, and it was a huge relief to the organism.
Upon hearing the screeching of the devils, each of the spirits who were gathered at the council turned to see them retreating in pain and panic. They wondered about the meaning of this thing, as they had expected Lucifer and his forces to be engaged in battle with the Sons of the Morning. The fact that they were not, and the Sons had not yet returned, did not appear to bode well. Rachel, Sarah, Cindy and the rest of the loved ones of the Sons immediately feared the worst and gathered close together weeping. There was one who had very good reason to weep.
105 tears
The Sons of the Morning had been complete in their victory. Despite being hugely outnumbered, they had soundly beaten their enemies in battle but, due to their own honourable natures, they did not expect that the enemy would fail to keep their covenant. Nevertheless, the deceit of their opponents in no way lessened the critical role that they had played.
Not only did they squarely beat their enemies, but by bravely leading away Lucifer’s forces they had allowed the Kingdom time to be cleansed of evil. This regenerative process, duly accelerated by their father, had completed the defeat of the devils who could no longer endure a pure kingdom of glory.
Notwithstanding this great victory, when the Sons returned a time later, it was clear that something was very wrong. As they descended towards the Kingdom they appeared to be nurturing something or someone, and upon landing they did not look like a group of warriors who had just been victorious, being gathered sombrely around one spirit. Word soon spread to Cindy that the fallen spirit was Kieran.
Cindy was devastated and wept as she rushed to be with him, the crowd parting to allow her passage to her beloved. She feared the worst but it was worse than she expected. When she reached Kieran he did not even recognise her. His eyes were open but he looked right through her.
‘Kieran my love, what is wrong?’ she whispered, her voice shaking.
‘Wrong?’ said Kieran vacantly, not comprehending.
‘Don’t you remember? It’s me Cindy, my love!’ she said through her tears.
‘Love?’ he said without feeling or meaning. As one who didn’t understand the concept would say it.
‘No, you must remember me Kieran. I’ve only just found you, but it feels like I’ve known you forever. What have they done to you? Please come back to me!'
As she said this she did something very unusual and pushed herself within Kieran's spirit in a manner similar to the way in which attacking spirits entered a potential victim. Her intention, of course, was not to afflict Kieran, but rather to understand what he was going through and to see if she could help him in some way. Once inside him she felt the intense suffering that he was experiencing.
Suddenly, images of her own personal sufferings, those that had been utilised by Masias to maximise Kieran's torture, filled her own mind causing her to suffer some of his burden. As this occurred, however, she did not focus on her suffering, rather she focused on her aim of providing relief to Kieran. With Kieran as her focus, her personal pain was bearable and over the course of the next few moments she felt some improvement in him and a little of his life force returning.
As this was occurring, the crowd of spirits parted a second time as Jehovah moved towards Kieran and Cindy. He watched the scene tenderly for a moment before calling Cindy out, to which she responded immediately. Cindy’s soul was of such quality that when God called she immediately responded. She exited Kieran weeping, still terrified for him and not in the least bit concerned about the things that she had just suffered.
'Cindy, you have done a very brave thing that has prepared Kieran to receive my assistance,' said Jehovah gently. Putting his arm around her he whispered ‘Do you have faith that I can heal him, Cindy?’
Cindy had prepared her whole existence for this very moment. Every good choice that she had ever made suddenly became crucial. Every positive emotion, every virtuous choice, each act of kindness, now contributed to the answer she gave. The answer was a single word which could not have been more important. Cindy's faith was a crucial ingredient.
‘Yes,’ she said.
Releasing Cindy and moving close to his wounded brother he whispered, ‘Kieran, it is Jehovah.’
When Cindy was within him, his countenance had begun to brighten slightly and his expression became slightly less vacant. As Jehovah spoke to him, a flicker of recognition flashed across his face.
‘Have faith in me and you can be healed,’ said the Master.
‘Healed,’ said Kieran, this time with a little more feeling and some recognition in his tone.
Jehovah rested his spirit hands on the exterior of Kieran’s spirit head and commanded him to be whole. The effect was immediate. The vacant look entirely departed and Kieran recognised all those who were gathered anxiously around him.
‘What just happened to me?’ he asked, in a manner that made it evident that his full faculties had returned.
Cindy immediately threw her arms around him, crying tears of joy, while Kieran continued to look a little bewildered It was clear to all that he had been completely healed and, as a consequence, there was great rejoicing. Rejoicing for the healing of Kieran, joy on account of the safe return of the Sons of the Morning, relief that Lucifer and his forces had been defeated and could not return to the Kingdom.
Despite this, there wasn’t a single spirit within the Kingdom who did not shed tears of sorrow over the coming hours as they thought upon all those who had chosen to support Lucifer and Jezebel’s plan. With one third of the spirits in the Kingdom having fallen, there was not a single spirit that didn’t know someone who had made the wrong choice.
106 the damned
Lucifer and the other devils travelled hundreds of kilometres from the Kingdom before the brilliance of that sphere ceased to hurt and blind them. Having ceased their retreat, the gravity of what had just occurred began to dawn upon them and there was much weeping and wailing. It suddenly became clear that their parents' prophesy had been fulfilled. By their rebellion they had precluded themselves from ever returning to the Kingdom. Such was their darkness that they could no longer abide a kingdom of glory.
In these terrible moments every foul emotion was felt. There was anger felt by some, acute sorrow by others, and others felt complete despair. There were those that felt hard done by, as they almost always had, and always would. There were those that wanted revenge and sadly there were even a few who wanted forgiveness, but were no longer eligible for it.
Only one devil had a clear head. He had seen this as a possibility and knew what their next move must be. It was he who had studied the earths most carefully. It was he who had held a very small portion of the material back from even his most faithful, so that only he was privy to it. It was he who knew of the opposition that was present on every earth and delighted in it. It was, of course, Lucifer and he spoke clearly and confidently.
‘Why are you cursing and crying, lamenting and wailing? Don’t you know that the battle has only just begun?’
This statement captured the attention of all of his followers, who all thought that the battle was over, and that they had already lost.
‘What do you mean, Lucifer?’ asked Jezebel spitefully.
Lucifer ignored her dissent and continued buoyantly.
‘Do you not remember all of the deeds done on every earth that we studied? Who do you think inspired such deeds?'
There was silence as no one knew the answer to that question. It had never occurred to them. They had just delighted in the acts, never considering the why.
‘I will tell you who inspired those deeds. It always has been, and always will be, the sworn enemies of Father and Mother.
‘Within every Kingdom there are always those who have been wronged as we have been.
‘There are always those who rebel against the injustices that they have suffered. It is these spirits who rightfully oppose our parents and thwart their evil plans.
‘Now, knowing this, do you really think that we should stay here feeling sorry for ourselves?
‘I will answer for you, we absolutely will not!'
Lucifer was very animated as he delivered this short discourse, flying from side to side, as if encompassed within a small fish bowl, barely large enough for him.
‘I will tell you what we will do, we will go down to the earth that has been created for us and we will ensure that our parents suffer for what they have done.
‘In the process we will also repay those stupid spirits who didn’t vote with us. When those spirits are born into mortal bodies it is obvious, from each earth that we have studied, that we will have great power over them. Yes, many will listen to us.
‘We will ensure that the deeds done on this earth are worse than have ever been performed before. Such will be the suffering of their children upon this earth that Father and Mother will wish that they had never cast us out.
‘It was Father that brightened the Kingdom so that we couldn’t return to it; I saw him. He will regret the day that he ever did that to us.
'We are their children too; how dare they think that they can just expel us!'
With this stirring speech Lucifer turned a weeping and lamenting rabble into an energised army that were shouting with excitement, determination and indignation.
Having done so, he led them to earth to wait impatiently for their enemies, and while they waited, their fury, and the extent of their wickedness, knew no bounds.
The beginning…
PREMORTAL SERIES
coming in 2017
‘THE FALL’ – the war continues……
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