“Not without me, though,” Michael said.
A moment of silence went by before Michael spoke again.
“The butchery is over, but the rebellion still lives,” Michael said. “However, as long as Luciel lives, as long as they don’t know where she is, and as long as I remain the only one who knows where she is, the rebellion will be kept at bay.”
Raphael, Gabriel and Uriel nodded their understanding. Michael’s move was a wise one indeed.
“I intend to form a new inner council,” Michael continued. “And you three will answer to no one but me.”
“You honor us truly, Michael,” Gabriel said.
“I’m afraid it’s the other way around,” Michael said. “I’ll also promote every angel to archangel starting… now.”
Across the realm, every angel saw golden bracelets appear on their dominant hands. Celebrations and congratulatory messages followed. At least, there was a moment of joy in the seriousness of the situation, as well as hope for a better and brighter future.
“Wow, Michael,” Raphael stood up and applauded.
Gabriel and Uriel joined him and Michael nodded.
“You still haven’t heard the best part yet,” Michael said.
Raphael, Gabriel and Uriel looked at Michael, wondering what else he had in store for the angels. Suddenly, they felt their bodies tingling at an etheric level.
“How…” Uriel asked and trailed off.
“By Celestia!” Raphael and Gabriel exclaimed.
They felt the metamorphosis. They and every archangel in Celestia felt it as Michael released the vibrations into Celestia. Unfortunately, and unbeknownst to Michael, it was the dawn of a new cycle in Lemuria and the cosmic changes of the dimension amplified Michael’s release of this vibration of transmutation to the rest of Lemuria. As such, even the archangels in Hell Realm experienced a similar transmutation of their essences that resulted in every archangel in the dimension receiving an esoteric upgrade.
“Go on, try it!” Michael encouraged his closest and most trusted of friends. “You know what to do.”
The trio regarded one another with excitement and friendly caution. Who would go first? How would it feel?
“What are you waiting for?” Michael prompted. “Go on! Do it!”
Raphael heaved his shoulders and met Uriel’s gaze. Uriel shrugged.
“Count to three,” Gabriel said. “One, two, three!”
And the trio summoned the archangel battle flame for the first time ever!
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
OPPORTUNITY COMES A-CALLING
MAZIEL WAS ON Spawn Sanctuary duty as usual, while the rest of Celestia was engaged in more important work, like rebuilding. Worse still, everyone was now an archangel. On what merit? Surviving the war? Maziel shook his head. This was unbelievable! He had to work and work extremely hard for cycles before he got promoted. Now, there were younglings spawned moments before the war, who had been promoted to archangel. This was unfair. This was unjust. This… This… Maziel gritted his teeth. Luciel was right after all. Michael ‘testing him’ for the position of guardian to the Spawn Sanctuary’ and everything in between was just a ruse. Michael was a sham! The whole thing was a sham!
Maziel summoned his wings, flapped them twice but did not dismiss them. His genius mind moved in several directions. Maziel even dared to believe he was the most intelligent creature in Lemuria. It was a good thing that Celestia did not appreciate his level of intelligence. Well, maybe they did not appreciate it because they COULD not appreciate it. If Celestia could not appreciate his genius, Hell Realm would definitely be no better. Be that as it may, Hell Realm did have something that Celestia did not have: leadership opportunity, the kind that did not involve Michael in the mix.
Maziel was convinced he wanted more out of his existence. Being a guardian to the Spawn Sanctuary was honorable but beneath him. His ego would not let him settle for anything less than a leader. Celestia was not completely out of the picture, but going at Michael right now was suicide, with or without the battle flame of an archangel. He was not ready for that. Yet, that did not mean he will never be ready. There are many paths to one’s dream and the best path was not always the shortest one. The best path was the smartest one.
Maziel would go through Hell Realm. He knew the obstacles he might face over there; from Luciel’s generals, Zukael and Malichiel, to every other creature with a similar ambition for leadership. Nothing wrong with a little competition. Competition was good for the situation. Competition bred chaos and out of the brewing chaos, a new, one-archangel order would arise. Maziel dismissed his wings and made up his mind. The moment had come to make that one-way trip to the other side and be brandished forever as another traitor to Celestia. There was just one thing he had to do before he left Celestia.
Hell Realm required so much work, which he would address once he became leader. However, while Maziel was not averse to welcoming other non-Celestial creatures from other realms, he preferred to replenish Hell Realm with creatures of his kind and for that, he needed the Zarark. He would find a way to work the Zarark and if he succeeded, at least Celestia would not be able to spawn more younglings, but most of all, Celestia would be at his mercy. Maziel then turned around and prepared to enter the Spawn Sanctuary.
“Hello Maziel,” Kaziel greeted and stepped towards Maziel.
Maziel froze in mid-step and cursed silently.
“Hello Kaziel,” Maziel said as he forced a smile and turned around.
However, Maziel’s smile disappeared when he saw the look of confusion on Kaziel’s face.
“What were you trying to do?” Kaziel asked.
“I just wanted to take a peek inside,” Maziel lied. “Curiosity.”
“But no one but Michael is supposed to go inside,” Kaziel rebutted.
“True. But like I said, I was just curious,” Maziel lied again.
“I should inform Michael,” Kaziel suggested.
“Of course, Kaziel,” Maziel agreed. “And when Michael gets here, you’ll see there was no need to fuss about anything.”
Kaziel eyed Maziel as he weighed his options. Finally, he decided to play it safe and let Michael make the judgement call.
“Hello Michael Sir, this is about the Spawn-” Kaziel said but never finished his telepathic message as Maziel summoned a sword and severed Kaziel’s head.
Maziel knew what was coming in the next moment. He would have to come for the Zarark later. As such, he teleported to Hell Realm, escaping Michael by a blink of an eye. Maziel felt terrible for turning Kaziel into an innocent victim of a war that was bound to happen down the line. Celestia would be on extreme alert and this was the domain of Raphael, now called ‘The Ruthless’. Maziel was now in Hell Realm, one of the banished and a part of the rebellion. The affairs of Celestia were no longer his prerogative. He had a vision to see through and nothing was going to stop him. As a part of the rebellion, Maziel needed a new name. It was easy for him to choose a name for himself, a name to honor his first victim in his ultimate quest.
“Fancy seeing you here, Maziel,” Calamiel, a former archangel said.
The two clasped hands. Maziel noticed how strong Calamiel’s grip was.
“I don’t remember you being this tough, Cally!” Maziel remarked.
“This place has its ways of affecting one,” Calamiel replied. “By the way, the new name is Pazuzu. Got one for yourself yet?”
“Kazuk,” Maziel replied, taking Pazuzu by the elbow. “How about you show me around.”
Pazuzu smiled. She slid her elbow away from Kazuk’s hand and swung her arm around his shoulders.
“The present and future pleasure are all mine, old lover,” Pazuzu said.
“The future sure looks promising… old lover,” Kazuk replied.
COMMON ERA
Kazuk saw his opportunity and seized it! As soon as Beelzebub and Luceefa headed for Earth Realm, he teleported away before any demon could give chase. His perfect plan was crumbling to pieces, warranting t
he initiation of Plan B. He appeared in front of Michael’s incarceration chamber and worked his magic. Michael fell out of his confinement and needed a few moments to heal himself. Kazuk cautiously bent over to have a closer look at Michael and was greeted by Michael’s death grip around his neck. Michael slowly rose to his feet as he lifted Kazuk in the air. He summoned his sword and was about to end Kazuk but Kazuk signaled to Michael to stay his hand.
“Before you end me, you might want to listen to what I have to tell you!” Kazuk pleaded telepathically and Michael listened.
When Kazuk finished talking, Michael dropped Kazuk to the ground and called out to Uriel as he teleported away.
***
Luceefa and Beelzebub grinned at the anticipation of a very satisfying kill or killings. Shi’mon and his team braced for an attack, though they knew they had no chance of survival against two archangels, when one was tough enough for them to handle. These were not just any archangels. These two were The Beast and Lucifer, two of the most dangerous creatures in Christian mythology and dogma. But just when Shi’mon and his team were about to charge at Lucifer and The Beast, there was a blinding flash and a loud explosion. When their eyes adjusted to the fading brightness and the ringing in their ears died down, an even more impressive sight stood in front of them.
“And so we meet again,” Beelzebub sneered.
“Father?” Cahen and Marissa said in unison but dared not approach the flaming archangel for fear something might happen to them.
Miriam was shocked to speechlessness. Yehuda, however, spared a moment of humor.
“He doesn’t look anything like the painting in your house, does he now brother?” Yehuda said to Shi’mon.
Shi’mon glared at Yehuda and Yehuda’s grin vanished from his face.
“Do you remember my promise, Luciel?” Michael asked Luciel
Shi’mon and his team sought shelter behind Michael.
“Of course, Michael,” Luciel replied calmly and flames spewed from her eyes. “But you never should have come alone.”
“Who said I was alone?” Michael asked.
There was a second blinding flash, followed by a loud explosion. When their eyes adjusted to the fading brightness and the ringing in their ears died down, Team Shi’mon witnessed a second, flaming archangel standing next to Michael. Shi’mon smiled and in his smile, his heart was torn asunder with renewed grief as he remembered Patrick, his protégé and son, bragging about how he had beheld an archangel in the flesh. Luceefa and Beelzebub, however, gasped in shock.
“This cannot be!” Luceefa screamed in rage as Eliel and Michael nodded at each other.
Beelzebub opened his mouth to speak but had nothing to say.
“Pleased to finally meet you, Eliel,” Shi’mon said telepathically.
“And you as well, mortal,” Eliel replied. “How fares Patrick?”
Shi’mon’s silence was laden with deep pain and sorrow.
“I am very sorry,” Eliel said. “He was a good man.”
“I always keep my promises, Luciel,” Michael said and summoned his sword.
Eliel, Luceefa and Beelzebub did the same.
“This ends right here, right now!”
And the creatures of Earth Realm gaped as the four archangels charged at one another.
THE END OF PART THREE
AUTHOR NOTES AND CONTACT INFORMATION
Thank you so much for reading Celestial Crisis, Book Four of The Soulless Ones. I hope you enjoyed reading it. Follow me on social media.
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Please also take a moment to read a sample of Book Five of The Soulless Ones, titled The Cosmic Spark. Enjoy!
BOOK FIVE
THE COSMIC SPARK
HOW DO YOU free a prisoner? Is that supposed to be a trick question? Or maybe it was a rhetoric question? I mean everything has a purpose. But what, pray tell, is the purpose of your question again? Even I cannot seem to fathom any purpose for this misplaced set of words strung together to form such a very stupid sentence. How do you free a prisoner? Really? Forget it! I will not even indulge you. But not so fast, my dear friend; not so fast! You will indulge me and you will indulge me NOW! Do want to pretend you do not know why; just like you are trying to pretend you are not as excited as I am about this perfect opportunity spread before us? Are you trying to pretend that you do not see how everything just got a lot better than I originally planned? Please tell me I do not speak the truth and I will certainly excuse myself from this insane venture of yours!
But The Scribe knew the purpose of the question he was asking himself. It was just one of those episodes in which he talked to himself as if he was more than one entity in a single form. He cursed as he watched the Necheru Deni, who was Lunok, the fallen Shemsu, snoring in his sleep. Teammates, they had become. Best friends, they had become. Brothers, they had become. But tonight, this very night, the fallen Shemsu had become the perfect opportunity and The Scribe, the perfect opportunist. The Scribe had waited until the fallen Shemsu had grown into adulthood before he had started the slow and tedious process of tapping into Lunok’s subconscious for information about the Shemsus. He proceeded with extreme caution; he had to avoid the risk of causing Lunok to awake to his true identity, given that there was no record anywhere of any creature ever falling to a realm of lower vibrational frequency before.
The Shemsu’s psyche was proving to be extremely difficult to penetrate, while The Scribe lived as a Necheru. However, it was no surprise. Two Necheru years later, The Scribe was still unsuccessful, but he was persistent and had nothing but time. Time… The Scribe thought. What an illusion! Tonight, like any other night in the past two Necheru years, was ‘the night’, but a positive attitude could only get one so far. The Scribe leaned forward in his seat and just stared blankly and mindlessly at the peaceful, sleeping form of Lunok. How do I get to you, Shemsu? The Scribe asked himself. How?! He shoved away his mounting frustration and focused on the task at hand. Let us give this another try! The Scribe thought. The Scribe leaned back in his seat, closed his eyes and immediately went to work.
The Scribe projected his essence just above Lunok’s Necheru form. He held his essence in that position until he simulated etheric signature resonance, which was the synchronization of vibrational frequencies of two or more esoteric signatures of different entities. It was a very difficult and almost impossible feat to achieve. Keyword: almost. But The Scribe knew he could only hold on to the Shemsu frequency for a very short time without sounding off some internal alarm in Lunok. So, he had to act fast and he had to be smart about it. As soon as etheric signature resonance was established, The Scribe went to work. He felt the connection and relaxed as much as he could. He had to lower the vibrational frequency of his essence to sync with Lunok’s Shemsu vibrational frequency because it was easier for his essence to handle the synchronization compared to Lunok’s essence.
The connection was different this time. For the briefest of moments, The Scribe lost his entire entity and for the briefest of moments, he was a Shemsu. For the briefest of moments, The Scribe was Lunok and everything Lunok knew, The Scribe knew. Finally, it was a successful mission! The Scribe had infiltrated the deepest recesses of Lunok’s subconscious and what he saw made him a very happy entity. He used the last iota of his conscious self to contain his excitement, lest he become too carried away and miss this golden opportunity. He was ready to exit but, before he took his exit, there was one more thing to do. There was something he had to borrow, not steal. So, he reached deeper into Lunok’s psyche and made a temporary copy of the item he wanted to borrow before carefully terminating the etheric signature resonance. He then teleported to his Necheru domain and resumed Tanki’s form.
A few Necheru months later, The Scribe visited the realm of interest he had seen
in Lunok’s subconscious. The realm had a variety of lifeforms on and in it. Thunderous creatures fed from the gigantic shrubbery and trees, while others ran for their lives as other gigantic carnivores tried to make a meal out of them. The avian specimens were also a sight to see, but The Scribe had only one thing of interest on this realm. He located the esoteric signature of interest and teleported to the location.
The Scribe stood above the location of the source of the esoteric signature. So it is true! He thought. He took his sweet time descending into the earth, as if pulled by the ever-growing strength of the esoteric signature. At a certain level during his descent, the copy of the object he made from Lunok’s psyche glowed and burned into his essence. Now he knew he had arrived. He searched around and found nothing until he recalled that he had to use a Shemsu vibrational frequency and not the vibrational frequency of this realm. As soon as he made the switch in vibrational frequencies, he found what he was looking for.
“Pleased to meet your acquaintance,” said The Scribe telepathically.
Two pairs of red orbs glowed in a dark, viscous energy form.
“Who are you, creature?” demanded The Darkness.
“A friend,” The Scribe replied.
The dark, viscous energy stopped moving and the red, glowing orbs dimmed.
“How did you locate me?” asked The Darkness.
“Through a mutual friend,” The Scribe replied. “I made a copy of his part of the key to your prison while he was asleep.”
The Darkness remained still and radiated an aura of caution and curiosity.
“What do you want, creature?” The Darkness asked.
“I have a proposition for you,” The Scribe said.
“And what could you possibly have that I need?” The Darkness scoffed.
“A way to set you free,” The Scribe replied.
It was more about the power The Darkness felt pulsating from The Scribe than the tone of The Scribe’s telepathic voice that convinced The Darkness that The Scribe was not joking. This creature was a being from a dimension much higher than Asah, and if this being could even make a copy of Lunok’s key, then this being must be telling the truth.
Celestial Crisis Page 35