Michael gave the final instructions for the archs to command their own respective columns of angels and crush every warrior angel who had decided to revolt against God and their peaceful, loving and harmonious existence.
He told them he had been instructed to kill the evil angels’ physical forms. God would then expel their souls from heaven, relegating them to a much lower existence. There they could either dwell forever with Lucifer or, over thousands of years, relearn the true path of love and wisdom before they could one day be forgiven and re-enter heaven as a soul.
Uriel asked Michael, “What if we or our warrior angels are killed?”
“If our physical bodies are killed our souls will remain dormant and we will be revived by God once the battle is won but if we are killed and the battle is lost then this could spell doom for the universe!” Michael replied. “God will destroy the evil regardless but He will have to start all of His work again. Lucifer has become pure evil, which can only result in the toppling of the angel hierarchy and the destruction and enslaving of every soul in heaven. We simply cannot allow this to happen!”
At the same time, Lucifer was instructing seven of his own best warriors and field commanders to show no mercy and kill every angel in their path.
“Do not let any of your warriors retreat and if they do, kill them yourselves!” Lucifer said. “Once this battle is over we will ensure all of our enemies are dead and I will make sure even their putrid souls are dead, too.”
“This is going to be fun,” one warrior said.
“I’ve been waiting for this for a while,” another said.
“Yes,” Lucifer said. “From now on I will be known as Satan; I am God’s adversary.”
He paused. “The seven of you are my arch demons. God has seven warriors directly underneath him and so shall I. We will have our revenge but no one kills Michael; he’s mine. You are in command of your respective columns. You had better not fail me! The commanders of the columns are thus: I will have the first on eastern flank. The second will be Asmodious and Da-en. The third, Lilith. The fourth, Molloch. The fifth, Balan. The sixth, Ahriman. And the seventh will be Sammael’s.”
Satan sat, looked up to the sky and cursed God. “Your days are numbered!” he said. He then adopted his non-physical form. As he did, the ground shook.
From his soul he emitted a dull light, which filled all of his warriors with pure hatred and evil. He took all the loving light power he had been granted over thousands of years and converted it into its opposite; he then used it to flush out any goodness that was left in his warrior angels.
His warriors were drooling. Their once-beautiful features were changing, turning them into hideous, frightful creatures. Satan had bent them on pure evil and filled them with hate. His power to do so was incredible. They were now looking forward to the fight; they wanted the carnage they knew was to come.
Michael, meanwhile, hugged each of his friends and asked God to bless them. “Gabriel, you are the trumpet bearer; we will wait for your blast of the trumpet before we advance our columns. Good luck!”
“You too, my friend,” Gabriel replied.
Michael knew Gabriel’s column was going to be situated to the far western side of the valley so Gabriel would have the best view of all the archs. He also knew from a millennium of training and friendship with Gabriel that he was an excellent tactician.
None of the angels were to take flight unless they were ordered to because they would be fighting hand to hand with swords and spears. If they stayed on the ground not only could they not be attacked from underneath but they would be spared the risk of falling, if injured, from a height that may kill them.
The angels knew if Satan’s army took flight and pelted them with spears from above their shields and rock-hard wings would block the majority of the projectiles. Then the enemy would be one weapon down and they would have to fight with swords.
In readiness for battle, Satan adopted his physical form. His angelic body had changed into a hideous dragon-like creature black and red in colour. He carried a trident. His wings had turned red. His face filled with rage. In a voice that was so loud it could be heard by the archs who were miles away on the other side of the valley, he shrieked, “ATTACK!”
Gabriel watched as the opposing army advanced towards the columns of the other archs. He knew blowing the trumpet would propel the columns straight into a phalanx of aggressive warriors, so he waited until Satan’s columns ran straight into the central archs’ columns. He planned to withstand the first charge and fight them off for a time until he made the angels advance.
Satan’s army ran straight into a line of a thousand angels, backed up by hundreds of rows behind them. The fighting and clashing of swords was intense. Angel after angel fell to the ground; both good and evil were fighting fiercely.
Michael closed his eyes in despair as he watched the angels from Raphael’s, Luke’s, Metatron’s, Uriel’s, Amitiel’s and his own columns get killed but had faith in Gabriel’s tactics and the archs’ fighting prowess.
Though Satan was becoming more and more confident, he had forgotten that side effects of evil were a lack of discipline and a hatred of any form of authority. His warriors started to break ranks, each seeking his own glory. Some of them broke away from the warriors they were fighting beside; a few even took flight. As Gabriel had predicted, the angels in flight started throwing their spears down on top of the columns but the injuries they inflicted were minor because of the angels’ shields and protective wings.
The evil angels who had taken flight now had only swords to fight with. Michael unsheathed his sword and used it to point to Raphael, at the rear of the column closest to him. As Raphael looked back, Michael pointed with his sword to the sky. Raphael passed the message on to the other archs, who were all at the rear of their respective columns. Leaving the majority of the army on the ground, several thousand good angels took flight from the rear of the columns to engage the demons. The airborne demons were obliterated within minutes and Satan’s army was in disarray and falling back. Satan screamed out, “RETREAT.”
It took a minute or two for the order to retreat to filter throughout his army as its members had scattered all over the valley. Eventually they retreated but as they were regrouping where they had formed, the ground started to shake. It was the deafening noise from Gabriel’s trumpet. The long, low note struck fear into Satan’s demons, and for good reason, as the angelic army was advancing.
Michael’s army stayed together like a well-rehearsed, synchronised and unstoppable formation as they descended on top of the demons. As quickly as the demons tried to regroup, they were cut to pieces. As they became cut off on ground by a cliff face, some of them tried to take flight but angels from the rear ranks of Michael’s army took flight also, killing them in the air. To Gabriel, who watched from the ridge on the flank, Michael’s army looked like a tidal wave of warriors crashing into the beach. As half of Michael’s angels advanced on foot, the other half took flight and came crashing into the remainder of Satan’s army.
Only a handful of Satan’s army was left but Satan himself was a warrior of incredible power. He killed angel after angel as they bore down on him and his remaining fighters.
Michael, realising the battle was won, looked over at Gabriel and pointed backwards. Gabriel was confused, as he knew this signified retreat, but didn’t question his friend’s order. He gave two loud blasts of his trumpet to order the retreat of the warrior angels.
Though Michael knew he could win the battle there and then, he did not want any more of his angels to go through the pain of physical death. As his army retreated he rose high in the air and signalled for the other six archs to do the same.
The valley below was scattered with thousands of dead angels and demons. Only 30 of Satan’s demons remained standing, grouped in a tight bunch. The seven archangels flew down towards them. As they landed about 50 metres away, all the archs but Michael ran in to fight.
Only Satan and M
ichael didn’t fight; they just stood and stared at each other fiercely. Gabriel engaged Sammael as the other archs battled the rest of the demons. The archs were fighting so quickly and intensely that it looked to Michael as if each one was engaging up to five demons at a time and killing them with ease. It didn’t take long for the archs to dispose of the remaining demons; the demons’ fighting was amateur compared to theirs. Only Gabriel and Sammael were left standing. Gabriel’s swordplay was accurate and aggressive. Sammael tried repeatedly to advance on Gabriel but every strike he made was parried and countered. He was always on the back foot and fighting in retreat. After a spectacular fight, Gabriel plunged his sword straight through him and did not even stay facing him to see him fall. He simply withdrew his sword, knowing he had administered a fatal blow, and walked away.
Once the job was done, Raphael, Gabriel, Amitiel, Uriel, Luke and Metatron flew backwards and knelt on one knee in a line as a mark of respect and love for their leader Michael.
As Michael walked parallel to them only Gabriel looked up. When he was about to pass, Gabriel asked, “Can I take him?”
“Only if I lose, my friend,” Michael replied.
Though Satan’s best warriors and arch demons had been killed earlier in the battle and he knew he was now on his own, Michael was making the fight fair for him and giving the dragon his last chance for revenge before his expulsion from heaven.
Satan was drooling from his hideous mouth as he stared at Michael.
Michael unsheathed his sword, saying, “Look what your pride has done! You have lied and deceived thousands of angels to rebel against heaven just to satisfy your greed! You have become the only source of evil the universe has ever known!”
Satan replied, “I would gladly sacrifice all of them again to rule. None of them or you means anything to me. I am going to kill you slowly, you pathetic soul. I’m surprised you’ve got the courage to fight me one on one!”
With this, Satan charged at Michael, his trident and tail trailing behind. He worked up speed with his demonic wings as Michael stood in readiness. Satan thrust his trident straight at Michael but Michael ducked and swiped upwards, cutting Satan’s hand and forcing him to drop his weapon of choice. Satan then pulled out a sword from under his wing and the sword fight began.
All of Michael’s ability was being tested, while the other archs looked on nervously. A few times, when the fight looked as if it wasn’t going Michael’s way, Gabriel went to rise and help his friend but then settled himself and remained on one knee as he knew Michael would not want it.
Before too long, Michael’s fighting prowess shone through as his eyes began to glow brighter than the brightest blue. As his eyes grew brighter he became faster. The clanging of the two swords was rapid. Michael eventually defeated the vicious dragon by dropping to the ground, spinning his right leg around 360 degrees and, with his heel, knocking Satan’s feet out from underneath him. Michael stood on his throat, holding him down. Satan used his wing to knock Michael’s sword out of his hand but Michael kept firm pressure on the dragon’s neck. He then pulled out his spear, which was strapped to his back, and pointed it at the dragon’s chest. His eyes returned to their normal blue as he said, “I’ll leave your fate up to God.” He then plunged the spear straight through the dragon’s chest.
As Satan’s physical body lay dying he uttered to Michael, “You think this is over? This is just the beginning.” Michael took his foot off his throat and rejoined the other archs as Satan took his final breath.
Satan’s physical body had been killed and his soul rose out in plain view, although this time it wasn’t a giant spectacle, it was merely the size of any other angel. The archs gathered around as another seraph appeared to speak of Satan’s fate. The seraph was gigantic and as soon as he appeared, as he was speaking for God, the archs bowed down. The seraph said, “Satan, as you now like to be called, you have committed the ultimate in blasphemy against our Lord. You have filled your soul with hate and evil and then used your power to infect others. Your lust for power has driven you to become the first and only true source of evil that has ever lived.
“Instead of praising the one who created you and bestowed love and power upon you, you decided you wanted more. Heaven is a place of pure love and there is no place for you here any longer. You are to be expelled to hell and the earth plane.”
Satan replied, “I would rather be there than here and I know your God is planning to create human beings and place them on earth as well. I am going to turn every single one of those pathetic souls against Him. I am going to tempt, influence and hurt every one of them and the best thing about it is they’re going to blame Him for it. They’re not going to even know for sure that I exist. In my non-physical form I am going to destroy everything He creates.”
“God has given you free will to do what you want but remember this, dragon,” the seraph said. “Everything you have, you have because God has allowed you to have it. He could destroy you at any time.”
Satan screamed. “I HATE HIM AND ALL OF YOU FROM THE DEPTHS OF MY SOUL.”
Gabriel spoke. “Know this, dragon: God has allowed you to continue to exist in non- physical form and he will give the humans free will to choose as they will. You can use all your lies, deceit, greed and filth to influence them but you will never adopt physical form on earth. If you use your power to allow your demons to take physical form on the earth plane then so will we! We will gladly kill your evil, lying, blaspheming heretics again and again.”
As soon as Gabriel had finished his warning heaven’s surface opened up and Satan and all his demons were expelled as fast as lightning.
CHAPTER 2
Brisbane, Australia.
It was a normal Sunday for Jim Nolan as he sat in church with his wife Melinda and two children Scott and Rebecca. The only difference between this Sunday and every other Sunday was that he had an overtime shift at the precinct starting after church so he was dressed in his police uniform. Jim was a Special Emergency Response Team cop and had been in for 15 years. Before, he had been an S.A.S. operative with the Australian army so he had seen more than his fair share of action throughout both of his careers.
He and the other 40 or so people in the congregation listened to the minister intently, their curiosity piqued by his sermon.
“Satan has made life on earth almost unbearable for some people,” the minister was saying. “He has tempted and deceived us into thinking we are the masters of the planet. Some say his greatest trick was convincing mankind that he doesn’t exist. That way we think that every evil deed that is done on earth is purely us, when in actual fact his poison runs through all of us. We can’t see him but he is real, my friends.
“Our minds and souls are like antennas and his influence is like a giant radio transmitter. His evil infects every one of us! The only difference is some people can resist him more than others. Just as we must train our bodies physically to be healthy we must also train our souls to be healthy and church is a gym for our souls. Everybody loses faith at some time in their lives but we must remember there is a silent unseen battle going on for our souls. The Lord wants us to turn to Him but He created us to make our own decisions and decide which paths to follow.
“Satan is more obvious in his tempting; he encourages us to defy what is right and follow his evil ways. Every evil deed that is done on earth is a result of him and he laughs and scoffs at us when we do things against the Lord. He knows his time isn’t long so he wants to do as much damage as he can. He knows he can never hurt the Lord so he wants to hurt the Lord’s most loved creation and that’s us, I’m afraid. The only defence we have is our faith, my friends.”
Jim walked out of church holding hands with his wife. He settled his kids down in the back of the car and made sure they were buckled up correctly. He then pulled out of the church car park and started driving home to drop his family off before heading to work.
“How did you find the sermon?” Melinda asked Jim.
He
replied, “It was all right except, I don’t know… I mean, well, I see a lot of horrible things being done almost every day and it seems a bit convenient.”
“What seems convenient?”
“Blaming all evil on a devil or a deity. It just gives people an excuse to take no responsibility for their actions, you know what I mean?”
“Not everyone has it as good as us though, honey, so who are we to judge?” Melinda replied.
“Well we don’t have to judge but I think we have a responsibility to at least teach all these drug dealers, murderers, thugs and robbers a lesson.”
“Wouldn’t that make us no better than them?”
“No,” Jim exclaimed. “I don’t think so; my favourite saying is, the only thing evil needs to thrive is for good men to do nothing!”
Melinda leaned over and whispered in Jim’s ear, “Your favourite saying is, can you fetch me another beer please, honey, the game’s on.”
Jim pulled into the driveway of his middle-class suburban home. His kids jumped out, yelling, “See ya dad, have a good day.” Melinda got out, walked around to the driver’s side window and leaned on the door.
“What time do you think you’ll be finished?”
“Probably about 6 or 7 tonight, these ritual killings that are going on at the moment are driving the captain insane.”
“Yes, I saw on the news, didn’t some cop on the south side get killed?”
“Yeah, I didn’t know him but it was pretty horrific apparently.”
ARCHANGELS FURY Page 2