The War in Heaven (Eternal Warriors Book 1)

by Vox Day

  Chapter 24

  The Light of Truth

  And Joram turned his hands, and fled, and said to Ahaziah, There is treachery, O Ahaziah.

  —2Kings 9:23

  When Christopher came too, he found himself still lying face-down on the marble floor. He rolled over, and looked up to see that the dome over his head was cracked and ruined. Large chunks of marble had been gouged out of it, and when he turned his head, he saw a large piece had fallen right next to him, nearly crushing his skull. He shuddered at his near escape as he stiffly, painfully, struggled to his feet.

  The first thing to meet his eyes was the Dawn Prince, and he cried out with horror when he looked up and saw the terrible changes in the Son of the Morning. The Dawn Prince didn’t look like a golden king anymore, he was scary, like a demon on a Megadeth cover. His reddened eyes blazed with an insane fury that was frightening to see, and his cracked, bleeding face was filled with rage.

  “I will tear Heaven down to its foundations, then I will smash the foundations! I will drain the fire from every angel that still stands against me, then vomit it forth that I not be polluted with their feeble spirits! I will destroy everything He has created, everything, and not until all Creation is shattered and scattered upon the winds of Chaos will I begin to build a new world, a new universe, a new creation without the stink of the Ancient of Days!”

  Christopher blinked and wished he had a place to hide as the Prince shook his fist at the shattered dome and turned to Kaym.

  “How dare He? How dare He!”

  “I do not know,” the fallen angel said slowly, choosing his words carefully. “But I know this. He is a fool, to choose You as his adversary, Great Prince.”

  Adonai Lucere nodded, mollified, but only for a moment. Then He raised His hands to His face and felt the broken, hardened leather of His ruined face. It was almost too painful to watch. His long fingers probed the deep furrows of His lined cheeks, and the bestial thickness of His jutting chin. He softly stroked one of the curved horns that had burst through the skin of His forehead, leaving two trails of blood oozing down the sides of his face. Then, as He fell back on His throne, dark tears welled up in His suffering eyes as He howled at Heaven.

  “Thou hast destroyed My world, and broken My temple, but why didst Thou need to steal My beauty!”

  The Prince’s wail of anguish was so loud that it caused the Courts to shake. Christopher’s ears were ringing, and the sentries outside the Hall of the Morning rushed in, thinking He was under attack.

  “Go now, all of thee, go!” the Prince commanded in between heart-rending sobs.

  “But where shall we go?” Kaym asked, his brow furrowed with concern. “We cannot leave thee!”

  “Leave Me!” the Prince howled, crazed with grief and fury, and white flames erupted from His mouth, enveloping Kaym in a scorching blanket of fire.

  “No!” Christopher screamed, appalled beyond belief. “Kaym!”

  His face seared black with horrible burns, Kaym stumbled back and he would have fallen if Christopher hadn’t caught him. He shouted for Melusine, and with her assistance, helped the stricken angel out of the Hall of Morning, now lit by a different kind of dawn. As they hurried from the destruction of the Hall, Christopher heard the Son of the Morning crying bitter tears of rage and sorrow for the shining beauty that was His no more.

  The Fallen army was a great and terrible sight. Well over half a million angels were gathered together, each filled with enough power to make the foundations of Heaven shake and tremble. They were arrayed before the walls of the Arx Dei in a vast panoply of wings and weapons, auras and Aspects, more colorful than any rainbow.

  But all their glittering array was outshined by the Shining One. He appeared in all the brightness of his former glory, as if that terrible moment in the Hall of Morning had never happened. His face was pure and white, unmarred by a single line or wrinkle, much less a scar, and his golden eyes were bright with pride and confidence as he surveyed his mighty legions.

  “Spirits of Air, Spirits of Fire, I welcome thee here! Spirits of Earth and Water, thee art well come! Know that on this day, We are as one, for We are angels of a new age, spirits of a new day dawning!”

  The cheer that answered him was wordless, but it was approving, and Heaven shook before the thunder of hundreds of thousands of angels lifting their voices in praise of the Dawn Prince. It was awesome, and Christopher himself yelled so loud he thought his lungs would burst.

  “Know that on this very day, thou hath a new god. Heaven is fallen, and soon the King of Heaven shall also fall from His mighty throne. And though it falls to Us, as thy head, to claim that throne and bear its awful weight upon Our shoulders, know that We are but a symbol. Know thou, when thou bowest before Us, the god thou worshippeth is thee!”

  Again, the legions roared their approval.

  “We say to thee now, look on Us and tremble, for We are all that thou art and all thou shalt someday be. Are We not beautiful? Are We not glorious? So shalt thou be, if thou wilt only will it so. The King of Heaven hath said to thee, thou art the Bene Elohim, the sons of god. So doth he claim thee! But We say to thee, thou shalt be called El Zahavim, the golden gods! Only thyself shall thou worship, and do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law!”

  The Shining One spread his arms, and a spectral radiance began to glow between them. It was a miracle, of sorts, for Christopher saw his own face reflected there, his true face, but shining in the fullness of a perfected glory. It startled him, until he realized that each angel was seeing a different vision, a picture of their own idealized self.

  “Bow down and worship Us, thou who would be gods!”

  And Christopher, like every other angel in the Army of Light, bowed before the Son of the Morning. He worshipped his own image as he worshipped the great and lordly prince of angels who promised him perfection even as He Himself was perfect.

  The mass ecstasy was incandescent, and it was not long before he heard a Seraph, who, intoxicated by the vision of his own godhead, lifted up his voice and sang.

  Who can compare to thee

  O shining lord

  What can compare

  To thy promised Word

  Thy glory and majesty

  Always shall be

  Golden embodiment

  Of thy beauty

  Other, lesser voices joined in with the singer as he chanted a mantra of praise and thanksgiving to the Dawn Prince. Soon the whole assembly was singing, the angelic army suddenly transformed into a heavenly chorus of voices filled with power.

  We praise thee

  O Shining One

  We glorify thee

  Great Golden King

  Adonai Lucere closed his eyes and threw His head back in a divine rapture. This was the moment He had been waiting for, to have His Godhood acknowledged by all the angels of Heaven. It was the pinnacle of his existence, one that would be surpassed only at the moment He took His place upon the majestic throne of Heaven.

  And, He thought with satisfaction, that moment was at hand. Surely the King of Heaven could see that his beautiful Light-bringer was now truly a god, proclaimed and acknowledged by nearly all the angels in Creation. Even he would call Him Adonai Lucere, a Bright, Shining God wholly worthy of all praise, glory, and honor.

  “You have not the right, Lucifer!” he heard a voice break in on His exultant reverie.

  Blasphemy! Adonai Lucere’s disbelieving eyes snapped open and took in a small, slender figure standing before the open gates of the Arx Dei. He did not recognize the angel, which confused Him, for He knew the face of every angel that existed, that ever had existed, in Heaven.

  The strange angel’s skin was dark, a deep bronze, and his hair was long and white. He did not have wings and he was not beautiful, with features broad and indelicate. His eyes were intense, though, flashing redly with all the fiery scarlet of the setting sun. Nevertheless, he held his head high and he showed no fear despite the vast army standing before him.
r />   “You have not the right,” he blasphemed again.

  “I… what didst thou say?” Adonai Lucere said in stunned disbelief. “We are the Shining One, the Prince of the Courts of Light and the Son of the Morning! We claim the Eternal Throne in Our Holy Name, and Our claim hath been witnessed by all the Hosts of Heaven!”

  The strange angel didn’t seem impressed, though, and pointed a slim finger at Him as he flayed Him with a barrage of withering scorn.

  “I said that you do not have the right, Lucifer. You are less than a jest, you are three-in-one, a charade, a myth, and a lie. And you delude yourself, O Prince of Vanity, because you were the first to believe your own foolish, prideful lies.”

  Adonai Lucere gasped. The unbelievable effrontery, the sheer rudeness, left Him speechless. Fortunately, before His silence had time to linger, Baal Chanan stepped forward and spoke for Him.

  “Who are you, who dares to speak so to the Son of the Morning?” he demanded.

  “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. I am not Created, but I am the great I AM. I am the truth just as he is the lie, for while he is the Son of the Morning, I am the Son of God, the Lion of Judah, the bright Morning Star. And I tell you truly, one day I will sit at the right hand of the Father.”

  “No! Thou art nothing!” Adonai Lucere lost His temper, and the air about him began to crackle with angry electricity. “Look at thee! Thou art small and ugly and dark and… and nothing! We are the Shining One! Do you see this host? To Us the host hath bowed, to Us the world hath bent its knee! I am the Son of God, not thee! Is there even one who would bow before thee?”

  “Oh, you will, Lucifer,” came the confident reply. “One day, you will indeed.”

  With this impudent assertion, anger rippled like a tide through His loyal legions. The wingless one’s words sparked angry whispers and impassioned murmurs that grew louder with each passed-on repetition. Soon the whispers rose into loud, hate-filled shouts, as angel after angel howled for Him to punish this lowly blasphemer.

  With great difficulty, Adonai Lucere controlled Himself. Should He respond, He wondered, or would it be better to act as if these ridiculous and reprehensible accusations were beneath Him?

  But before He made up His mind, there was a commotion near the front of the legions as a huge black figure forced itself through the ranks. It was Abaddon, armored in his terrible rune-inscribed carapace, wearing the fearsome Aspect of the Destroyer. The Dawn Prince smiled. Abaddon towered over the little angel like a massive god of destruction, and his giant sword, Soulthirster, with its ivory handle of chaosbone and eerie, flickering ebon flames, looked like it could account for the wingless one all by itself.

  “Name yourself,” He heard Abaddon thunder. “I am Abaddon, the Destroyer, and I would know what you are called before I send you beyond in the name of Adonai Lucere, the Shining Lord of Heaven.”

  The legions cheered lustily and He raised his hand, casting a ray of light that illuminated the giant warrior and demonstrated His favor. He caused the golden light to dance and whirl with fey abandon, lighting first one dark sigil, then another.

  He frowned when He saw that the wingless one was still not impressed, either by His champion or His artistry.

  “I have many names, Gog Sheklah. But for the present, Kherev Elohai will suffice.”

  The Sword of the Lord? Adonai Lucere almost laughed. Kherev Elohai didn’t look like a weapon so much as a mortal’s dining tool, especially compared to Abaddon. Still, He did not like that this Kherev knew Abaddon’s real name.

  “Sword of the Lord?” Abaddon echoed His disdainful thoughts. “Are you the Champion of the King, then?”

  “In a manner of speaking, yes.”

  “Then where is your weapon?”

  “I need none.”

  Abaddon flourished Soulthirster, and the dark flames leaped with hungry anticipation.

  “That’s true. I’m told one can visit the Beyond empty-handed just as easily as not.”

  The legions roared with laughter, and Adonai Lucere Himself had to grin, though not for the same reason. Abaddon did not have a way with words, and He knew that His champion was completely serious. Any humor on the Destroyer’s part was wholly inadvertent.

  Abaddon’s opponent didn’t see it, though.

  “I warn you, Gog Sheklah, you come against me with a dark Aspect and a darker blade, but I come against you in the name of my Father, the Almighty God. Repent of your pride and your false god, and you shall be spared the flames of your destruction.”

  “Destruction? I am the Lord of Destruction! Let the Circle be joined!”

  Abaddon spat, and a circle of fire erupted immediately around the two champions, great and small. The unholy blaze burned blue and green with the hot force of the Destroyer’s anger.

  But even through the hissing of the flames, the Prince heard Kherev laughing softly.

  “There is no circle that could contain Me, Gog Sheklah. I am the beginning and the end.” He glanced at the flames leaping madly about him, licking at him, eager to taste his soul. “Be still.”

  The flames disappeared almost as fast as the smile from Adonai Lucere’s face. The cheering legions fell abruptly silent.

  The silence was broken by Abaddon’s rage-filled shout, as, goaded beyond reason by Kherev’s casual exhibition of power, he leaped towards the wingless one, bringing Soulthirster down in a brutal stroke that looked like it would cleave Kherev in two.

  But Kherev calmly raised his hand, and the mighty weapon was deflected away with such force that it was buried to the hilt in the golden streets of Heaven. The dark flames flickered feebly, as if in protest, then winked out.

  Adonai Lucere saw Abaddon stare in disbelief at his empty hand, then at his extinguished sword. It was beyond understanding! With His help, Abaddon had made Soulthirster from the power-laden bones of one of the great lords of Chaos. It was an awesome artifact, with all the incendiary power of more than a score of suns, and yet Kherev had parried it with nothing more than an empty-handed gesture.

  “Who are you?” Abaddon whispered, as he stared into the intense red eyes of his enemy. “How can this be?”

  “I honor My Father and you dishonor me,” came the quiet answer. “But you have no power over me.”

  Abaddon wavered, and for a moment, the Prince feared his champion would humiliate Him by submitting to the enemy. Don’t do it, he silently urged the Destroyer. Strike him now. Strike him now!

  Kherev Elohai must have heard His thoughts, for he shook his head sadly.

  “Amen,” he said, just as Abaddon hurled a black thunderbolt at his midsection.

  Even when he replayed the memory in his mind, Christopher was never able to figure out just what exactly had happened that day before the Fortress of God. He didn’t see the one called Kherev move, but Abaddon’s thunderbolt didn’t seem to hurt him at all. But he did see the Destroyer pause, though, as if surprised that his opponent was still there.

  But Abaddon never got a third chance, because as Kherev pointed at the golden bricks beneath the Destroyer’s feet, the street burst open with a Heaven-shaking crack. The mighty fallen angel spread his dark wings and tried to fly upwards, but to no avail, as the yawning chasm sucked him down into the depths like a giant inhaling a mosquito. Christopher heard him bellow once, angrily, then the chasm closed and the Prince’s champion was gone, banished in a heartbeat by a simple gesture.

  A groan of shock and dismay went up from the watching legions, but it was quickly drowned out by the melodious harmonies of angels singing. It was the Choir Invisible, unseen, but not unheard. They sang a song without words, conveying an air of victory that was ominous and frightening in the aftermath of Abaddon’s fall.

  “Save us, Great Prince!” he heard angels calling out to the Dawn Prince.

  “Fools,” Adonai Lucere replied angrily. “Cowards! Canst thou not see that he is bluffing? He is alone. Thou art legion and he is but one. Attack him now! Destroy him!”

  “But he
destroyed the Destroyer, the mightiest of us all,” Baal Phaleg shouted in protest. He was clearly shaken by Abaddon’s untimely demise.

  “It was a trick, thou dunderhead.” Adonai Lucere’s voice was sharp, and Christopher wondered if the Dawn Prince was afraid too. “We command thee, now, in Our Shining Name, attack that accursed pretender!”

  But the cause of all this commotion smiled and raised his hands above his head, and lifted his voice in a joyful chant that blended magically with the wordless tune of the unseen singers.

  Open their eyes, Lord

  O let them see

  Thy power, thy glory

  Thy eternal majesty

  As Christopher watched, worried, Kherev Elohai began to glow as if someone had switched him on. His dusky face brightened, slowly changing from bronze to gold to a bright white light that was as pure as it was impossible to look at. Christopher could feel the glow rushing over him, but it was a heat that warmed instead of burning, it was a warm embrace, not a scorching assault. It was terrible, smothering, and he felt as if he was being sucked in against his will.

  In desperation, he glanced back at the Dawn Prince, and for the first time, he saw the Shining One outshone by another. The Dawn Prince looked duller by comparison, smaller, somehow, and uglier in the white light that engulfed him. His shadow cast a form over the legions that was deformed and twisted, wrong. It was like the golden rose of morning being overwhelmed by the bright radiance of high noon.

  “No!” the Son of the Morning screamed. “No! No!”

  As the Dawn Prince shrieked his protest, Christopher watched the self-proclaimed Son of God draw himself up before them. He grew taller and broader, getting bigger and bigger until he dwarfed Baal Chanan, Baal Phaleg, Lord Belial and all the greatest lords of the Fallen.

  “Begone, false Light-bringer!” he commanded loudly. “The darkness of thy shadow shall not touch Heaven again except by permission of My Father. As thou wert bright before, so now will thy spirit be one of darkness. Now begone, Satan, and all thine Host with thee!”