by KT Webb
They arrived just outside the professor’s office. Dorian knocked on the door. It opened within seconds, and Dorian was pulled into a tight bear hug.
“Ah, Dorian! It is so nice to see you again. It’s been far too long.”
“The pleasure is all mine, Imaan. How are you, old friend?”
“I’m doing well. I was surprised to get your email!”
“Well, I find that I’m in desperate need of your help. This is Nora, my granddaughter.”
“Your granddaughter? I think we need to talk.” Imaan winked and gestured for them to follow him.
Once they were seated Dorian began to ask his questions, but Imaan stopped him. “I think it’s time you tell me why you haven’t aged a day since we last saw each other.”
Dorian and Nora exchanged a look. Dorian knew he could trust Imaan, and it was time to start letting more people in on the secret they’d kept for so long. He launched into his story, with Nora filling in bits and pieces as he went. By the time they’d finished, Imaan was staring between them with wide eyes.
“So what could someone like me possibly help you with? Certainly you’ve lived through all the things I’ve studied!”
Dorian was momentarily taken aback by the ease with which Imaan accepted the radical story he’d just heard. He shouldn’t have been surprised based on the course of study his friend had dedicated his life to.
“I need to know about the jinn. Where did they come from?”
“According to Islamic belief, Allah created three intelligent species: angels, demons, and humans. Iblis was a demon who held a high rank and was allowed to worship Allah with the angels. Iblis refused to kneel before man when Allah commanded it. Allah cast him out of Jannah, or paradise, and banished him to Jahannam, or hell.
“Iblis begged for Allah to grant him a reprieve until the final judgement. Allah agreed to delay his punishment until then. He became known as Shaytan, or more widely known as Satan. His name was Iblis. He made it his mission to corrupt man to prove that he was better than what was created from clay.”
“So Shaytan is a jinni?” Nora asked.
“Yes. Jinn is another word for demons.”
“And demons are evil.”
“Not necessarily. Jinn and humans were both given free will. They can choose to either be good or evil. Therefore, demons as a whole are not evil.”
“Well, that explains Joe,” Nora whispered.
“Joe?” Imaan queried.
“Joe was an angel, but we think that he and a few others became jinn.”
“Hmmm, an interesting thought. According to the Quran, angels cannot sin, but we all know that legends can be misinterpreted. Which reminds me, the Quran also says that Allah created other things that are beyond human knowledge. I don’t suppose that would be you, Dorian?”
Dorian laughed and nodded. “You may be right. Imaan, this has been enlightening. You’ve helped us immensely. We may call on you again for assistance, would that be alright?”
“Absolutely.”
They bid him farewell and disappeared before his eyes. When they were back in the library, they told Kerr and Romulus what they’d learned.
“I think it best I speak with Joe about this Jinn business. If he really is here to help, he should be willing to tell us what he knows,” Dorian said as he got up to go in search of their new ally.
The others made a move to follow him, but he stopped them with a wave of his hand. “I don’t know that a group approach will help this time. If he’s going to be part of our family, we don’t need him thinking there will be an intervention every time we want to ask him something. I will fill you all in after I speak with him.”
He found Joe and Whitley in the front sitting room playing a game of Go Fish. They laughed freely together before noticing Dorian leaning against the doorframe.
“Hi, Dorian! You want in?” Whitley asked, holding up her cards.
“Maybe later, but first I have a few questions for you Joe.”
“Sure. Anything,” Joe said as he placed his cards on the table.
“You did have a three, you cheat!” Whitley accused with a giggle.
Joe grinned and shrugged his shoulders. “Oh, you meant that three!”
Dorian shook his head and came to sit in the wingback chair opposite the couch. Whitley rose from her place on the floor and began to make her way to the door.
“Wait! Dorian, is it alright if Whitley stays?”
“Of course. Whitley, please join us,” Dorian said with a smile.
He noticed that Joe seemed to be much more comfortable around Whitley, and the two had formed a fast friendship. It may be helpful to have Whitley present for this conversation.
“Joe, what do you know of the Jinn?”
Joe’s eyes widened, and a look of disbelief crossed his faintly scarred face. “I haven’t heard that term since Absalom died.”
“I need to know everything you know about the Jinn.”
“When we, the Maladies, first began to disobey the Creator, we had no idea the path we were putting ourselves on. At that time, we thought we were just rebelling and acting on the things we wanted. When the Creator first banished us to the Underworld, we thought that would be the end of us. But soon the souls of the people we had whispered to started joining us in that horrible place. We started absorbing their souls, and we grew stronger from them. The others, mainly Malice and Rage, discovered that they could whisper again. The more souls they absorbed, the further their whispers carried and the more people they corrupted.”
I am not proud to admit that I joined in on the whispers and encouraged them to dive into the depths of alcoholism or drug addiction. Those souls bore my mark upon them and belonged to me when they died.”
Dorian listened patiently and watched Whitley for her reactions. She appeared to be taking it well and accepted what Joe had done in the past.
“Eventually, we grew tired of the same thing day after day and wanted to return to the world. We began trying to break free by throwing our energy at the smooth cave walls. It didn’t do anything. Our prison held firm. That went on for centuries, until one day someone blasted through the walls of our prison.”
“Absalom,” Whitley whispered.
“Yes. He had felt our power. When he burst through the stone wall, all of the energy we had thrown at our prison hit him full force. He was thrown backward and didn’t move. Avarice had approached him to see who it was. At the time we thought he was an angel. We quickly realized he was something else entirely. We were disgusted that we had been replaced, and when Absalom came to and told us that the Immortals worked closely with the humans, we became angry. All we had ever wanted was to be trusted enough to interact with the Creator’s most valued creation.
“Absalom seemed to be changed by absorbing all that negative energy, and he began to formulate a plan. We agreed to go along with his plan because we wanted to be free of our prison. He told us we were bound to him because he had freed us and his power was stronger than ours. We resisted at first, but we found that he was right. That was the first time we heard the term Jinn.”
“My understanding is that the jinn are spirits that corrupt the soul. Islamic people fear them and avoid them at all cost. But jinn can choose to be good rather than evil,” Dorian told them.
“Yes. Absalom had a vision for the future. He would become Iblis.”
“Become Iblis?” Dorian was in shock.
“Who is Iblis?” Whitley asked.
“In the Muslim tradition, he is Satan. According to legend, he was born of smokeless fire.”
Whitley breathed. “But I thought he already was Satan.”
Dorian shook his head. “No. The concept of Satan as we know it is mostly born of folklore and scary bedtime stories. He is used as a cautionary tale, a way to get people to follow a certain religion. Iblis is so much more. Iblis was the purest darkness, the devourer of souls. He was the only true foe that has been said to threaten the Creator. Centuries ago, there wa
s a battle raging between the Creator and Iblis. Long before any of the Old Immortals were alive. All I know is from books and the legends of man. The Creator doesn’t speak of it.”
“It was when I was still Josiah, a proud servant of the Creator. You know the creation story of course. Well, it didn’t exactly happen in seven days. Our days were much longer than the blink of an eye we call a day now. One day now would not have even equaled a millisecond in those days. We got to watch all the wonders of the Earth take shape. It was the most humbling experience of my life. Sadly, it wasn’t enough to save me later on.” Joe paused for a moment as he choked back tears of regret. “As the fifth day came to a close, the Creator shared his plans to create man. Now that he had made such a beautiful world, he wanted someone to care for it and appreciate it firsthand.”
One of my brothers, Lucifer, was the Creator’s right hand. He loved our father more than he loved himself; we all did. But, his love and devotion began to resemble obsession as he witnessed all the beautiful things the Creator had made. When Adam took his first breath, Lucifer saw the light in our father’s eyes grow brighter than ever before. Lucifer grew jealous. The creation of Eve was too much for him.”
Joe was silent for a few moments. He closed his eyes as though lost in a painful memory. Dorian wanted to prompt him to continue, but he didn’t want to startle him.
“What did he do?” Whitley asked gently.
“For some reason, historical accounts have glossed over the things that happened and jumped right to the seventh day. My best guess is that man didn’t truly know what was going on in Eternity. Lucifer could not bear the sting of the Creator’s apparent rejection. He jumped. He was the first angel to leave Eternity. He flung himself from the top of the mountain and into the world. The fall changed him. He wasn’t an angel any longer. His anger and sins manifested themselves on his body. He was hideous and terrifying, and he turned the sixth day into the bloodiest battle in history.” Joe took a deep breath before continuing, “The sixth day became the time of man. The Creator wanted man to live and thrive. But Lucifer posed a threat. He had become something different. He had become a monster, and he made it his mission to corrupt and destroy everything beautiful in the world. He gave himself a new name to shed his former identity. There were countless battles between Eternity and Iblis. Many angels and men died. The Creator was able to save only a fraction of the life he had created. The world had become a desolate and desperate place. The time came for the Creator to take matters to the extreme.”
Dorian and Whitley were hanging on every word he said. Dorian had no idea what the Creator could have done that was so extreme.
“I don’t know exactly what he did. But he changed everything. We had fought over and over again for what must have been centuries, but it was all in the sixth day. The Creator blocked us in Eternity and faced Iblis alone. We could observe the fight but were unable to help. It may have gone on forever, or it may have ended in a single moment. All I truly remember is that suddenly we were back to the moment Adam was made, but Lucifer was gone. Everything I’ve experienced since that day has been a do-over for the world. No Lucifer, no Iblis. It was almost like the Creator hit the reset button.”
“You’re saying things didn’t go as planned so the Creator called a Mulligan?” Whitley asked.
“Basically, yes. As far as we knew, Iblis was dead. The threat was gone. And from the moment we started over, the seventh day began. As far as I know, we’re still in the seventh day.”
“So knowing all that, Absalom was trying to become Iblis? How did he even learn about him?” Dorian asked.
“That would be our fault, I believe. When he absorbed our energies, I think he saw it all. He saw and understood where Lucifer was coming from when he jumped. And I believe from that moment he began to seek out ways to bring Iblis back in himself. But Absalom is dead. The Evolved took care of that threat,” Joe said.
Dorian nodded. He hadn’t known how dark the plans were that his brother made. The idea that his hatred brought him to the point of actually trying to become that which mankind most feared, and the only enemy that could destroy the Creator through his people, was too much for Dorian to process.
“Wait, Joe, you said Iblis is born of smokeless fire?” Whitley interrupted Dorian’s thoughts.
Joe nodded.
“Like a volcano . . .” Whitley whispered.
Dorian immediately stood. “No. I cannot believe that.”
“What else could have burst from Old Faithful looking for all the world like a demon? It’s got to be him. He’s been reborn. Somehow, he has become Iblis,” Whitley finished.
Dorian was shocked. Instinctively, he knew Whitley was right. Somehow, Absalom was back; he was different, but he was back. For the first time in millennia, an enemy could destroy the Creator.
Chapter Nine:
Kerr
After Joe told them about Iblis, Kerr started to see the pieces fall into place. The man he’d seen in his vision allowed Rage to corrupt him, and Avarice to nudge him. He was jealous of his victim’s wife so he killed the man.
Kerr was looking forward to accompanying Dorian and Nora to get more answers about the origins of the Maladies. Joe seemed tense and guarded after he revealed the plans Absalom had made all those years ago.
As he lay in bed with Nora sleeping soundly next to him, he tried to convince his brain that it was time to go to sleep. Just as he thought he had finally won the battle, something would spring to mind and send him off on another tangent. He climbed out of bed and looked out the window.
The moment felt familiar, but this time it wasn’t just Whitley he saw sitting in the grass outside. Whitley and Joe sat looking off in to the distance. Kerr wasn’t sure if he should join them or try to go back to sleep, but in the end his insomnia won out.
A few minutes later he took a seat on the other side of Whitley. “Couldn’t sleep either?”
“Nope. I had some weird dreams. It’s like there’s something on the edge of my consciousness and I can’t quite reach it,” Joe told them.
“I keep hearing the Old Immortals. There’s something they want me to know, but I have no idea what,” Whitley said.
Kerr understood what they meant. He just couldn’t shut off his brain long enough to fall asleep. He remembered the last time he and Whitley sat out on the lawn late at night. By connecting their minds, they shared a vision that shed some light on their mission.
“Let’s try something. Maybe by connecting our minds we can help each other. Like when you shared that vision with me, Whitley.”
“Can’t hurt to try.” Whitley nodded as they shifted positions until they were sitting in a triangle. They placed their palms together and closed their eyes.
Instantly, Kerr felt a surge of energy rush through them like an electrical current. When he opened his eyes, it was as though he was witnessing something through Absalom’s eyes.
“What do you mean you can’t find him?” he asked with a discordant growl.
“Master, we’ve looked where you said he would be,” Avarice told him with a bowed head.
Absalom sat on the edge of a crumbling stone bench. He shouldn’t be hiding out in an abandoned turn-of-the-century church. He should be restoring balance. His life mission had been to restore the balance that was disrupted long ago. The world was hanging on the edge of destruction because of the Creator.
It was quite simple. The Creator had hit the reset button to fix his mistakes before, but now he was too in love with humans to do it again. Absalom saw the unfairness in the banishment of the angels who now served him. Only Absalom saw the opportunity to slowly undermine the Creator’s plan.
“I know he was last in Minnesota. You’re not looking hard enough.”
The Maladies cowered at his raised voice and the shimmering heat that surrounded him. They were afraid of him, and he was pleased. Without fear, there would be no respect, and there was no doubt they respected his leadership. His faithful servants did not u
nderstand the full extent of his plan when they agreed to follow him in exchange for their freedom. Angels were only good for one thing: following orders. They had been made to fawn over the Creator, which was ultimately their downfall. When man was created, the angels simply weren’t as important to the Creator as he was to them. They continued to look to him, only to find him looking in the other direction. Some of those mindless drones had accepted the change and continued to follow the leader, despite his indifference to them.
Lucifer had been the first to see through the ludicrous idea of angels becoming the protectors of mankind. He saw the father he was fully committed to turn his back on him without a second thought. He wasn’t placated by the idea of being an errand boy for the Creator. The day Absalom learned about Lucifer was the day his perspective shifted.
Absalom saw the possibilities available to him and decided he would take full advantage of them. The Creator had grown too comfortable in his place at the top of the mountain. That was alright with Absalom; he wasn’t interested in taking anyone’s place. He was interested in a new world order. He didn’t want to be worshipped or fawned over. He didn’t even want to be feared. He wanted total control.
The mistake the Creator had made was allowing all of his subjects to make their own choices. It was messy and disorganized. Absalom was going to make the decisions for anyone remaining after the Evolved finished their absurd mission to beat him.
“Master? What should we do about Chaos? We’ve found her,” Malice asked.
“Hmm, well, my first thought would be for you to GO GET HER!” Absalom was finally understanding why angels were only good as followers. They couldn’t make their own decisions.
“Of course, master. And what of your plans for announcing your existence to the world?” Pain inquired.
Absalom smiled. “Oh, that will be most unpleasant for them. I plan to go for maximum devastation. We’ll start small, but I’d like to move on to bigger things as we move forward.”
The Maladies had no idea what he was planning, but his faithful servants were going to support him no matter what he decided to do. Every religion warned about the end of days, but Absalom planned to make those stories seem like utopia in comparison to the terror he would bring.