In the Beginning (Archangel Jarahmael and the War to Conquer Heaven, Book I)

by John J Higgins

  When they had been in the presence of the Almighty earlier in the day, they felt a physical warmth from Him as they were bathed in His love. Now that they were alone, Adam could not take his eyes off Lillith, and they continued to feel that same desire generated between the two of them. Adam soon discovered that when he touched Lillith strange and wonderful things happened to his body. His heart beat faster, and he felt stronger, more alive. His belly had a strange sensation, exhilarating yet demanding, a hunger that needed to be satiated.

  Looking into Lillith's blue eyes, he could see that she was getting excited too, her body moving closer to his, as he felt her physical warmth radiating from her soft skin against his. He became even more excited as they embraced, and he felt her body soften and begin to submit to his. Instinctively, they knew how to join together, and waves of passion passed over them and between their bodies. They experienced many levels of joy and learned to enjoy these feelings of love. Afterwards, they finally fell asleep, exhausted but satisfied.

  The next morning they awoke with the sunrise and wanted to keep exploring their new bodies and world. The Garden was exquisite, and the wide variety of fruit-bearing trees, plants and other edibles kept them busy as they ventured along its paths.

  As the day progressed they began to experiment with using their voices to communicate with one another, calling one another by name, forming words, and simple sentences. Exercising this part of their minds allowed the divine spark of the Almighty placed within them to develop and expand their ability to think.

  Adam watched as Lillith approached one of the streams that passed nearby their hut. She looked beautiful as she began to enter the water, its current running over her legs and more and more of her body as she went in deeper. He followed her into the water, feeling the sensation of the cool water against his skin, providing him with yet another joyous experience. Splashing about, he watched as Lillith lay backwards into the water and began to float with the current downstream, the sunlight making her face glow white in the blue water.

  He had trouble keeping up with her as he tried to walk through the water, and soon decided to lay back himself and float along just as she did. He soon caught up with her, as the current moved his greater mass along faster, and they floated along together for a while before eventually coming to a place where the streams crossed and intersected.

  They both climbed out of the water and watched as the streams collided, one stream headed in one direction, another headed back. There were fruit trees all around and Lillith gathered the colorful berries for the two of them to eat. Adam and Lillith then found a large tree where they could lounge in the shade as they ate and tasted the various delights that the Garden provided.

  Chapter 11

  DINOSAURS AND SIMIANS

  A few days later, Michael, Raphael and Jarahmael left the Throne Room as a separate group after the morning ceremony. Luciferael was once again headed towards the outer reaches of the Universe, with the Potentate Angels in tow. The Almighty had once again given Michael the assignment to check on the progress of the development of the Earth in secret, and had been told to bring along Raphael and Jarahmael to assist him.

  "Michael, have you seen these new creatures?" Raphael asked as they began flying down through the Heavens.

  "Only from a distance, flying over them," Michael said

  "I was surprised that the Almighty did not have Luciferael and his Auxilium fly down here to Earth to check on these new creatures," added Jarahmael.

  "Seems to me that Luciferael does not care much about the Earth other than what his dinosaurs and reptiles are doing!" said Michael as he glided more steeply to gain speed on his descent.

  The other two Angels changed their courses too, although it took them a couple of seconds more to catch up to Michael.

  "It's all for the best," said Raphael. "Now that we have begun creating all these warm blooded creatures, they can function better whether the sun is out or not."

  "I take it as an honor that the Almighty has trusted us with this task. Luciferael now wants to deal with the grandiose and huge things in the Universe. Those things are nice, but I think there is far more beauty and elegance in the smaller and more intricate creations," Michael said.

  "Well put, Michael," added Jarahmael. "So tell us, what have you seen of these creatures?"

  "They are hairy creatures, and walk on two legs like us. They are limited because they have no wings, nor any means to fly. They communicate by some simple language and hand gestures. Although I have seen evidence of them drawing crude pictures in the caves where they stay," Michael answered.

  "Have they seen you?" asked Raphael.

  "Heavens no! I think that I would scare them. We are nothing like the other creatures they have seen on Earth. Remember, the Almighty has given us explicit instructions that we are to keep out of sight or turn invisible so that they don't know we exist."

  "That instruction confused me," said Jarahmael. "Especially when the Almighty has the Principalities and Dominions building structures in their midst."

  "Yes, Jarahmael, but that is why the Almighty assigned the Cherubim to keep all the creatures away from the construction sites by building walls of celestial fire around them. I wasn't sure what celestial fire actually was when the Almighty told Cerebriel of the Cherubim to use it to keep all the earthen creatures back from the construction sites. I saw some of it the other day when I was flying over the Earth. You will see it soon enough," Michael said, altering his course to slow them down, now that they were entering the Earth's atmosphere as they came through the gateway of the First Heaven.

  Michael and the other two Archangels had reached the skies over the Earth first, but the other Orders of Angels were not far behind. It was still dark where they were entering the Earth and they would not be seen by the creatures down below.

  "Now pay attention to the Cherubim," Michael said as they banked upwards and hovered in the sky where they could watch as the other Orders of Angels came through.

  Cerebriel and the four legions of his Order came through and divided, heading separately in the four directions of the Earth. Cerebriel continued to drop directly downward as the others flew a bit more deeply into the darkness.

  Michael admired the Cherubim with their Angelic heads but animalistic winged bodies; they were the strongest and most physically powerful of all the Angels. And the Cherubim, rather than landing directly on the ground below, encircled the building sites where the Principalities and Dominion Angels had already landed. As the Cherubim flew in the circle around these sites, huge tumbling waves of fire sprang up, forming a round wall all around the site. From above it looked like the areas were burning.

  Jarahmael asked, "Doesn't that make these areas more obvious to the creatures below?"

  "Follow me and I will show you." Michael angled down to land outside the circles of celestial fire.

  As they got closer to the ground, the fire itself vanished and appeared to be nothing but more landscape similar to the surrounding areas.

  "How is that possible?" asked Raphael. "You cannot even see what is behind the wall."

  "Yes, nothing looks out of place or out of the ordinary!" added Jarahmael.

  Michael pointed off into the distance where there was a herd of large animals running towards the protective yet invisible wall of celestial fire. "Watch!" he said to his two companions.

  As the herd approached the wall, they suddenly turned and changed direction, running parallel to the wall.

  "How did that happen?" asked Jarahmael. "They should have run directly into the wall of celestial fire."

  "There is something about the celestial fire," said Michael, "that repels the creatures made of the Earth. They will not cross over the fire, yet they do not know it is even there."

  "Amazing," added Jarahmael.

  "It is a good thing" added Raphael, "especially if the Almighty wants to keep all this construction secret from the earthen creatures."

  Michael then walke
d directly into the wall of fire. "We are invisible in here, so none of the creatures can see us. I wanted to show you something. Follow me."

  "Can't we make ourselves invisible without the wall of celestial fire?" asked Jarahmael.

  "Of course," responded Michael. "We are still Beings of Light. All we have to do is change our light wave frequency and no earthen creature can see us or feel our presence. We can walk through anything made of the Earth if we are at the right frequency. But I also know that this wall goes close to one of the cave systems that the new creatures live in. This way you can watch them and we can talk freely, as they cannot hear what's going on inside the protective wall."

  They walked on for a bit observing the landscape around them.

  "This planet is beautiful!" said Jarahmael. "All the vegetation that is growing here is in so many different colors and shapes."

  "Yes, the Almighty has done a wonderful thing with this planet," added Raphael.

  Soon they had come upon a settlement of the new creatures that were awakening from their night's rest, the sun beginning to climb up out of the horizon.

  Here were the creatures, much smaller than the Archangels, barely breaking five feet tall. They had a great deal of hair over their bodies; the only exposed skin was a small patch in the face area.

  Jarahmael commented, "These creatures look a lot like those creatures you attempted to make on the first day we were creating life forms on the planet Michael. The ones that Luciferael did not want."

  "Yes," said Michael, "the Almighty decided that He wanted to develop this species further, regardless of Luciferael. He purposely made their minds bigger and they can speak to one another. The Almighty confided in me that they remind Him of us, the Angels. Eventually He wants some form of more advanced thinking creatures here on the planet." Michael thought for a second about revealing the existence of Lillith and Adam to Jarahmael and Raphael, but decided that he best ask the Almighty about it first.

  "But didn't that upset Luciferael?" asked Jarahmael.

  "I think that's why the Almighty has been doing this quietly. The Almighty doesn't want Luciferael and his Auxilium to become jealous," Michael responded in a hushed voice, sharing the knowledge entrusted to him by the Almighty.

  The sounds of the Principalities and Dominion Angels beginning to work rose behind them, the noise itself also contained within the ring of celestial fire. They turned to watch for a minute and saw the Guardian Order of Angels from the First Heaven arriving to assist the others build. Michael thought that the lowest Order of Angels were not much taller than these Simian creatures, far shorter that any of the other Orders of Angels who were at least nine feet tall. But although the Guardians were not as tall, they still had that glowing beauty that radiated from the Beings of Light.

  With their backs toward the earthen landscape outside the protective wall of the celestial fire, and distracted by watching the Angels work on the structures, a terrified scream from one of the Simians made all three of them spin around.

  Much to Michael's horror, he saw a band of predatory dinosaurs descending down upon a group of the Simians. The smaller creatures tried unsuccessfully to fend off the attack using sharpened sticks. From what Michael could see, two of the Simians were grabbed by the dinosaurs' mouths and were gruesomely torn apart and quickly swallowed in a couple of gulps by the dinosaurs. The other Simians were running, retreating towards the cave, and as the Archangels watched, one of the defenders of the Simians was cut across the arm by the sharp claws of a dinosaur.

  Despite the Almighty's command to remain hidden from the Simians, the brutality of the dinosaur attack sickened all three of the Angels, and they instinctively took action. In unison, the three Archangels flew out of the celestial fire wall, condensing themselves so that they had earthly mass. Michael went right through the front of the band of dinosaurs using the silver tips of his wings as a cutting weapon, decapitating the four lead dinosaurs, and causing the rest of the band to stumble over the bodies as they did not have enough time to stop or change direction.

  Jarahmael stopped and hovered between the remainder of the band of dinosaurs and the fleeing Simians, his wings flapping slowly as he stayed at eye level with the attackers, his body glowing ever more brightly as he radiated light energy back at the huge predators, blinding them.

  Raphael swooped down and enveloped the injured Simian, whose wound was gushing blood.

  Michael flew upwards after his deadly pass had decapitated the lead dinosaurs and then banked back downwards, heading towards where Raphael's red tipped wings formed a protective tent over the injured Simian. As Michael approached from above he could see a quick flash of light from beneath Raphael's wings and soon the flow of blood from the wounded Simian stopped.

  Landing near them, Michael said to Raphael, "Will the creature be all right?"

  "Yes," Raphael answered, "the wound looked worse than it was. I was able to stop the bleeding by binding the skin back together with my light energy."

  When Raphael stood up again, the two Archangels could see the frightened creature looking up at them, frozen in fear and not able to move.

  "We should leave the creature here," said Michael, "but I am afraid that once Jarahmael moves out of the way, even though those dinosaurs are blinded, they may come to eat the creature relying upon their sense of smell. Now that I have already destroyed some of Luciferael's dinosaurs, I may have to destroy the rest of this band of predators."

  "There is only one solution then," Raphael said, gently picking up the wounded creature and then flying off, headed in the direction of the caves off to the east where the other Simians had retreated.

  Michael caught up to him while they flew and both landed in the entrance to the cave side by side. "I won't have you get into trouble alone, Raphael. I am already involved and will be the one to answer for destroying those predators."

  Raphael nodded in agreement with Michael and carried the wounded creature inside. The rest of the Simians were huddling back against the wall of the cave, their eyes filled with fear, their bodies trembling. Raphael gently placed the creature on a rock in the center of the cave, but noticed the wound had begun bleeding again from moving him.

  The wounded Simian was the leader of the group hiding within the cave, and Raphael noted that his muddy brown eyes were still fierce from his fighting instincts. It took a minute or so before he calmed down enough so that Raphael could treat his wound. All the while the Simian kept making a sound that Raphael thought must have been his name.

  His name sounded like "Guline" to Raphael, and he could hear the rest of the group begin to chant the Simian's name. Raphael knew that it would be best to treat him if he was unconscious and unable to feel pain. Raphael then placed his hand on Guline's forehead and transferred some energy into his mind, placing the creature into a sleeping trance. Then using his right hand he shot a larger dose of his light energy into the wound, cauterizing it and stopping the bleeding for good. The skin healed a bit, and Raphael wished he had the Book of Creation with him so he could heal the wound faster. But he knew that the wound would now heal, even if it took a while.

  Raphael stepped back and saw a female of the species step forward to tend to the wounded Simian. She uttered what appeared to be her name as well, "Noriem," and took over the care of Guline. Raphael noticed that she had the courage to come up to the two Archangels while all the others stayed huddled towards the back of the cave, not daring to come any closer. Although he sensed fear from her, she was determined to assist her mate. Seeing that the Simian was in caring hands, Michael said to Raphael, "It's time to go!" Raphael nodded in agreement, and they decided to leave before they had further contact with any of them.

  The less contact the better, Michael thought.

  Jarahmael was still hovering in front of the rest of the dinosaurs, the heat he was generating keeping them back. The dinosaurs were not giving up, screeching and tumbling into one another, and still trying to move forward even though they wer
e now permanently blinded by his bright white light.

  Michael flew up to assist Jarahmael. "What do you want to do about these dinosaurs?" Jarahmael asked as his wings flapped up and down slowly.

  "I don't think they will be much danger any longer, as they can't see."

  "But they can smell!" said Raphael, as he flew up and joined them.

  "Those Simians in the cave did have some means of protecting themselves," Michael added, hoping not to get the three of them further involved.

  "Yes, but it didn't seem to help them much, did it?" Raphael argued.

  "All right, as much as I dislike having to destroy the rest of them . . . there is a molten pit of hot lava back there a bit. Let's drive them backwards into it," Michael said.

  Raphael flew alongside Jarahmael on one side, and Michael did the same on the other side, all three radiating a wall of energy. The three white lights grew brighter and hotter as they moved slowly towards the five remaining dinosaurs. The dinosaurs had no choice but to move backwards from the radiation until one by one they fell into the churning molten pit, screaming as they hit the fiery lava.

  Once the deed was done, the three Archangels moved the decapitated dinosaur carcasses and threw them in the pit. Once all the evidence of the attack was destroyed, the three Archangels flew back to the construction site and returned to hovering just on the protected inside of the wall of celestial fire.

  Michael turned to them and said, "We cannot tell Luciferael about what happened here, at least not until I speak with the Almighty about it."

  "We need to speak to the Almighty regardless, as these dinosaurs will kill off all the Simians if we are not careful," Raphael said, looking back at the cave through the wall of celestial fire.

  Jarahmael added, "I think these dinosaurs won't let any other creature live safely on this planet. It's a limiting approach to the creation. I wouldn't discuss this with the other Archangels either. Especially Luciferael's Auxilium, they will tell him immediately."