The Third Heaven: The Rise of Fallen Stars

by Donovan Neal

  Jerahmeel smiled as he surveyed his deftness and quickly remembered that the Hall of Annals contained the tomes for all things. Quickly, he ran towards a bookcase looking frantically for the creature’s tome.

  Even the Zoa have a tome. If I can but find it, perhaps—yes––just maybe.

  He pulled book after book off the shelves, searching frantically, and sighed a sigh of relief when he saw the volume.

  Suddenly his feet left him, and he fell with a thud as a tentacle wrapped itself around his leg and lifted him dangling into the air. Like a wrecking ball beheld by the end of a crane, Jerahmeel was swung headlong into the stone stable, and it broke in two with his fall. Books flew everywhere, and the hiss of the Zoa vibrated in his ears. Jerahmeel groggily opened his eyes to see three of the beasts fighting to be the first to devour him. He lifted himself to the ceiling with his great wings, and the creatures slammed into each other in their attempt to capture him.

  Jerahmeel moved lower to the ground: the projection now in full view of the Cliffs of Argoth. He then flew within mouths reach of the creatures to draw them to follow him. Hissing, they did, roaring and lumbering to devour him. Jerahmeel reached into the wall and disappeared to the other side.

  Lucifer’s assigned guard over the waypoint concentrated to keep the Ladder he had created from closing when he saw Jerahmeel suddenly fly straight towards him with a giant book in hand and appearing from nowhere tentacled creatures running after him. The guard panicked and tried to move, but it was too late. Jerahmeel had grabbed a hold of him, and a Zoa had grabbed them both. They rolled over one another and toppled off the cliff of Argoth, and the guard screamed as they all plunged into the swirling Abyss below.

  ********************

  “Behold, Astarte; Heaven falls before us!”

  Ashtaroth, who with sword in hand cleaved at foes whom just days ago, he called brethren, frowned at the destruction and bloodshed before him. He huffed as he fought alongside Abaddon as the citizenry of Heaven came as a flood to stop them.

  “Nay, Abaddon. Lucifer would not approve of this scale of dissolution. He would find another way!”

  Ashtaroth swung his sword at an angel and brought it hard into its chest, smashing its stone; it turned to powder before him.

  Abaddon laughed and reveled in his freedom to destroy and then took pause as creatures he had never seen came galloping on tentacles with mouths filled with razors. Like a herd, they felled everything that stood before them. Tossing angel after angel behind them and ripping to shreds those that carried the mark of Lucifer.

  “Lo. See the handiwork of our brethren for they bring beasts to deter us!”

  “They fight with beasts because we have become as beasts. Look about you! Our city burns, Abaddon, and the golden streets run blue with our blood!”

  Abaddon turned to Ashtaroth and spoke. “From the day I was called DESTROYER, this ceased to be my city. Let it burn, Astarte. Let them all burn, for they watched El consign me to burn and be eaten alive for eternity. They are all but kindling for my wrath.”

  He eyed the new creatures that moved towards them and pulled open his breastplate to reveal his cracked God stone. He removed a shard, spoke angel speak, and tossed it into the sky.

  “See now the true meaning of the ‘broken stone’… and tremble.”

  Ashtaroth and the other generals watched as the shard pulsed in the air and grew dark. Giant globules of black separated from it: one, three, then nine, and suddenly it burst and millions of locust like creatures filled the sky and cast a shadow over the great city.

  The shape of the locusts was like unto horses prepared unto battle, and on their heads were crowns like gold; their faces were as the faces of men. Each creature had hair as the hair of the human female El had created. Their teeth were as the teeth of lions. Each held a breastplate of iron, and the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle. Their tails were like unto scorpions, and they had power to paralyze and torture all that they attacked.

  Abaddon commanded them to strike at all who bore not the mark of his Lord and to attack the oncoming Zoa.

  They descended upon the Zoa with ferociousness and stung them and anyone bearing not Lucifer’s mark. The people writhed in agony and cried out in pain, for El to save them.

  Smug with satisfaction Abaddon mocked the tormented, “Yes where is that God who would save you from me? El, has abandoned you, yet you refuse to bow! Refuse to surrender!”

  The locusts were as a cloud that moved throughout the city.

  Ashtaroth looked at the suffering of those before him and noted even the Zoa stopped and convulsed in agony on the streets. The creatures grew limp and motionless against the onslaught, but Abaddon watched in glee, watched as angel after angel pleaded with him to make the pain stop. Each tormented soul prayed and cried out to El for relief. The locusts landed on each man and stung them over, and over, and the whole of the city was filled with screams and wails.

  Ashtaroth beheld his brethren and was moved with compassion. He turned towards Abaddon and said, “Retract thy army! We cannot rule if there is none to obey!” He pulled at the arm of Abaddon to make him look at him. “For the love of God Abaddon, stand down!”

  Abaddon turned towards him wroth, and struck Ashtaroth across the face, and he fell into the ground.

  “You would adjure me by the love of God! Me? Do not ever touch me! I tolerate you because Lucifer tolerates you.”

  Ashtaroth rose from the ground, spit blood, and glared at Abaddon. “We are all but servants to our Lord King. We bear his mark, and his will is to subjugate the populace not to destroy it.”

  Abaddon laughed. “Then our master’s plan is flawed. And you are a fool Astarte; there can be no subjugation without destruction.”

  “Stand down!” Ashtaroth warned once more. “Or be removed from thine office.”

  Abaddon laughed. “And who do you think will follow you, Astarte? Will you remove me? Only the God King commands me, and you vassal are not he.”

  Ashtaroth’s brow grew tense, “Then you leave me no choice.” and he turned to the army of warrior angels behind him.

  Ashtaroth raised the crescent seal of Lucifer for all to see.

  “By order of his majesty Lucifer, Son of the Morning Star, whose seal I now bear. Abaddon is hereby relieved; he is no longer in command. Arrest him. If he resists—kill him.”

  Many paused, as Abaddon stood at the head of the army. With this new displayed power to summon a swarm of angelic locusts many were afraid to move against him.

  He laughed.

  “You see Astarte— you possess authority but lack the might to enforce it.”

  He then placed his hands on his hips and chuckled. “Now all of you obey me, or you too shall likewise perish!”

  Ashtaroth looked at the indecision and hesitation of those he commanded and then looked at Abaddon who haughtily laughed at him. Without warning, Ashtaroth threw himself headlong into Abaddon, and kicked him in the jaw knocking the giant Arelim to his knees, and pummeled him until Abaddon’s face hit the ground.

  “I speak for Lord Lucifer! No one defies his will! I said arrest him!”

  Emboldened, Ares rushed with several others to bind Abaddon with chains of iron, but Abaddon struggled to his feet and flung his apprehenders to the side. More immediately came to subdue the great angel.

  “Enough!”

  Abaddon then spoke the words to open a Ladder, and those who held him attempted to cover his mouth and silence him, but to no avail. The multitude that followed looked in horror as a giant funnel cloud opened above Abaddon. All fled to escape, but it was too late, for as the vortex of the Ladder touched down and disintegrated his captors. It blew those in the immediate vicinity back, and all crashed hard into buildings and walls. The vacuum of the Ladder retracted, and many fell screaming as they were lifted and sucked into the burning whirlwind.

  The smoke cleared, and Ashtaroth emerged climbing from under debris and ru
bble. He looked over the army and lo, friend and foe alike had been vaporized in the wake of the Ladder’s blast. The great city smoldered, and a third of it had been destroyed. Stone, wood, and angelic debris fell from the sky as spire after city spire was in flames, and explosions rocked buildings.

  Ashtaroth looked at Abaddon in disgust and spoke so that all nearby might hear. “You are hereby deemed traitor to the cause of Lucifer. Let Heaven herself spit you out, and know of a surety that you have no country, no home. You are in league with no one. You are the Destroyer, and you will not be allowed to live.” He spoke to the warriors near him and said, “Kill him.”

  Upon command, warriors of Lucifer attacked Abaddon, and he fought them with sword and with brute strength, picking up angels and using their bodies as a shield to protect him against the horde that now attacked him.

  When Abaddon saw that all of Heaven arrayed itself against him, he summoned his legion of locusts, and the wasp-like creatures that had just attacked those without the sigil of Lucifer now attacked indiscriminately all that moved.

  Ashtaroth’s face grew grim as he entered the fray, and took up his sword to destroy him.

  ********************

  Gabriel looked down at his hands. The powdered dust of stones he had shattered from the chests of his fallen brethren covered them, hands that had spilled Elomic blood. He surveyed the scene about him, and tears poured from his eyes, at the carnage that strife had ravaged on the Elysian Fields. The gryphons of Malakim filled the skies; the manna fields burned and its lush soil turned upside down.

  The groans and screams of the battlefield echoed across the golden hued skies and a fog of dust and flame settled above the Elysian Fields for as far as the eye could see. Gabriel saw angel after angel locked in armed and unarmed combat, each combatant locked in fury to the dissolution of the other. The cracking of bones, the ripping of wings, the shredding of throats, and the smashing of stones all joined in a cacophony of sound. Row after row of Elohim clashed using the powers given them by El to bring to naught one another. Gabriel wondered how they all had arrived to the point of self-genocide.

  “I take it, Gabriel that my brethren and the Arelim did not take well to your touching me?” said Sariel who slowly regained consciousness.

  “Forgive me, brother, for I would not let you harm our brother nor would I see harm come to you.” Gabriel replied.

  “Then you have bested me in obeying the Lord. Your act has brought me shame, but it was a noble act, and it is I who am sorry for the hurt I have caused.”

  Sariel viewed his brethren locked in combat, Arelim fighting Issi and Malakim.

  “We must find Talus,” said Sariel. “Only the three of us can end this folly.”

  Sariel rose to his feet, and he scoured the landscape. “Do you see him, Gabriel?”

  “Aye, to the hills in the eastern edge of the forest.”

  Sariel followed the path of Gabriel’s fingers and saw in the distance Talus encircled by powerful Arelim guards, watching the battle that encompassed the fields of manna.

  “We must go to him,” said Sariel.

  Gabriel looked at him as if he was mad, “But he will of a surety attack us.”

  “Perhaps, but we must seek reconciliation or risk a wider war with the other great houses. The burning of the fields must have caught the attention of those within the city by now.”

  Gabriel motioned to the gryphons guards that encircled them and they lifted themselves into the air, an entourage to provide escort for their leaders as they flew over the battlefield, towards Talus and his guard.

  The guards of Talus came to attention, and with wings unfurled, they covered their master and prepared themselves to battle the incoming wave.

  “Stand down.” said Talus. “They mean us no harm.”

  The guards of Talus relaxed and kept a watchful eye on the giant gryphon riders that descended with their trident spears and landing just feet away. Sariel and Gabriel walked from the midst of them to approach and Talus moved his guardsman aside to greet them.

  The three stared at each other in silence until Gabriel spoke for them all. “This conflict must end, or Heaven herself with be brought to naught let alone the multiverse of El’s creation.”

  Sariel eyed Talus warily. “I agree the blood spilled between our houses must end here before it reaches beyond the fields of Elysium.”

  Talus looked at his brothers and said, “I could have descended upon you with my forces well before you greeted me here, Gabriel.”

  “You could have tried, brother.” Gabriel replied.

  Talus smiled. “But instead I chose to remain and wait to see what thou wouldst do. When I saw no intent to do me harm, yet you still protected our brother, I was brought low and ashamed by thine example. Therefore, I sought to recall my people from battle, to have them stand down, but to no avail, for the battle hast taken a mind of its own. Vengeance and blood are all that consumes my people now. They seek to remove the stain of Apollyon and the disgrace he has brought on our name.”

  Gabriel replied, “How can such a thing be done?”

  Talus looked upon the battlefield of Elysium, now drenched in Elomic blood. He surveyed the might of Heaven unleashed, the very ground beneath them scorched. “They seek to eliminate his memory from the minds of those who remember.”

  Sariel interrupted, “They cannot destroy the entire lot of Elohim!”

  “Nay.” replied Talus, “They cannot, but as a mover of stars, we can diminish the numbers of Heaven. Therefore, we must quell the horde before they do the unthinkable.”

  Gabriel said, “They would not be so foolish!”

  “I know not what my people driven mad by anger and hubris would do, Gabriel. I only know that a Ladder formed outside of a waypoint would bring dissolution to multitudes, to friend and foe alike.”

  “Then speak to them through me,” said Gabriel, “before pride and anger gives way to further destruction. Perhaps if they see us together, if we were to speak as one man, then madness might give way to reason, and the horde might be stilled.”

  “Look about you Gabriel," said Sariel. “How can we communicate to so many?”

  Gabriel looked and saw the swells of angels over the fields were as sand upon the seashore. They covered as far as the eye could see, and the foodstuff of angels, the source of Heaven’s provision, was destroyed. Gabriel’s face frowned, a tear flowed down his cheek, and thoughts of despair began to flood him. Quickly, he shook himself from despondency and said, “Take my hand, the two of you, and rise with me into the air”

  Clasping hands, Gabriel, Talus, and Sariel took to the skies with their guard’s surrounding them. They moved towards the throng, and when they had settled over the midst of the battlefield, Gabriel took his horn and blew to recall the Malakim riders that had come to their master’s aide.

  The blow from the Trumpet of Israel was recognized, and immediately the Gryphon riders took to the skies to depart. All in combat took notice that the skies filled with the creatures and their riders, and those who had been fearful of the Malakim spear; relief flooded them.

  The Malakim came towards Gabriel, and the sky filled with their steeds. Gabriel reached to his brothers’ chests, placed his hands on their stones, and motioned for them to touch his stone. When they did, they became as one being, and Gabriel spoke so all could hear. When his lips moved so too did the lips of his brethren, and they spoke as one man.

  “Mighty host of God, thou who hast moved stars and carried the voice of El throughout the corners of the heavens…legions, hear me! Cease and desist and lay down thine arms, for look about you and behold what your anger has done to Heaven; see what your rage hast wrought!

  "For pride hast laid waste to reason, and strife has eaten at our souls: and to what end? That we might destroy each other for no cause? This is not why El hast made us; this is not what El would tolerate. These are not the acts of a child towards his father. We are Elohim, and we were created for more than this.”


  The host paused to weigh the words spoken, and warily eyed one another. Weapons slowly lowered, and fists gradually unclenched. Hands, once raised in battle, now offered handshakes of peace. Gabriel and his brethren smiled, for they had quenched the rage that hovered over the throng; a sigh of relief came over them all.

  The sky then turned red in the distance, and bright lights engulfed the city of God. The booming sound of thunder cracked ears, and shockwaves rocketed across the plains. Sonic tidal waves of force slammed headlong into the mass of angels assembled in the field and all were blown back by the blast.

  The concussive gust smashed into Gabriel and his brothers, and they fell hard to the ground. The rush of debris and manna leaf sliced cheeks, and the heated wind ruffled hair. Gabriel, sore from his fall turned towards the direction of Jerusalem. Fires and black acrid smoke lifted high into the air and the despondency filled him, as he knew the unthinkable had happened. A Ladder, no hundreds of Ladders, flashed throughout the sky, and Jerusalem burned.

  He rose to his feet and spoke to them all. “I will not stand here and fight amongst my brethren while treachery seeks to destroy our home. We will face this threat, and bring it to naught. Come, therefore, and we shall smite those who would do such a thing.”

  Gabriel lifted himself, and Talus and Sariel followed him into the air. The three great houses trailed their leaders into the sky, and those that could fly flew, and those that raced along the ground galloped, a mighty army of thousands upon thousands bent to exact vengeance on those who would defile their home.

  ********************

  Michael moved gingerly through the foul smelling intestines of flame. Arms and wails of devoured souls clawed at him, as Hell’s teeth bit, repeatedly, into angelic flesh.

  Hell was different somehow, larger, more ferocious in her attempts to smother Michael, but he held the keys to Death and Hell, keys that would if he commanded, force her to regurgitate any and all he desired. He was a deputy of Charon now, a guardian to the souls that lay therein, and she would obey him.