by Donovan Neal
Black finger like clouds reached down to grapple Charon and appendage after swirling appendage dropped as tentacles from the sky and touched the ground. They howled and wailed dissolution to all that would dare cross their path.
Xercon motioned with his hands and with a thought commanded the funnels to collide with anything that walked the trail of Charon.
And so they did.
Screaming wrath and destruction, they squalled as they hammered Charon. Winds ripped trees from the ground, and loose shards of quartz rose and darted towards the Warden of Hell. The twin sisters of wind waltzed around each other; launching shrapnel of wood, metal, and flesh as missiles. Their impact was ferocious and Charon stood as a nail hammered into the embracing arms of the earth. The cracking of great oaks and the roar of winds gone mad filled the air. Blackness from the immense clouds masked the eyes, as fine grains of sand ground flesh. Rain and gale torrentially beat structure after toppling structure to powder.
Charon’s tentacles of rusted metal flayed in the tempest winds and with his great legs, he stood trapped, snared deep in the ground now turned to glass blasted by wind and quartz.
Xercon satisfied that his minions of air and water had pummeled the warden into submission, raised his sword and dove to fall upon Charon from the sky, and like lightning from heaven, he plummeted into the morass of rain, smoke, and the rage of cyclones gone amok, and fought to battle Charon in hand to hand combat.
Thus, the angels of the line watched in hopeful anticipation that a prince of the power of the air might slay the Warden of Hell; looking on as the very forces of the troposphere were unleashed on their behalf.
Deep at the base of the supercell of vortices, they fought as streaks of lightning bulleted across the city and smashed Athor and the land roundabout. Thunder burst the eardrums of angels who watched the shimmering outline of the two titans gripped in mortal combat.
Like a hurricane feeds off the waters of the mighty sea, the south wind churned and lifted buildings, trees, and boulders and threw them against Charon. Smoke billowed from the center of the struggle, and suddenly without warning fire exploded, and like a pebble tossed in a basin of tranquil water. The ripples of the shock wave rocketed through the land. Buildings flung outward in all directions, flung aside as trash. Smoke and debris filled the city and covered the angels of the line as each one looked to see who would survive the havoc of wind and storm gone mad.
Slowly the gusts subsided, and the roaring columns of cyclonic air slowed, dissipated, and lifted themselves into the sky. The rain stilled its torrential pour to a wimpish drizzle, and buildings, trees, and debris fell from the cleared sky and crashed to the ground.
Angels at the line strained to peer through the smoke and fire: to see a lone figure that stood at the center where cyclones and lightning once played.
Cacian peered through the hazy veneer of black smoke and trembled as he saw the shadow of he who marched towards them; his tendrils flailed with the familiar sound of rusted chains. Chains that now dredged against ground now turned to glass. Charon dragged the charred body of Xercon. And his captor’s muffled screams filled the air. Cacian watched in fascinated horror as the maggots of Hell burrowed through Xercon’s mouth and ears; watched as Xercon struggled to breathe as the worms filled his lungs. His body aglow now torched with the fire of Hell’s flames.
Like the morning dew that settles across a valley, fear fell over the soldiers of the line.
Cacian looked to make out the boneless features of the myrmidon of Hell. Charon’s fleshless skull expressed no emotion. Yet the pace of his quickened gait made clear that one sentiment governed his march ever closer toward his foes that remained.
Rage.
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Lucifer made his way quickly from the central city towards the northern gate. His eyes darted nervously to each citizen, and he wondered if any suspected what he had planned, but each bowed as was custom when he passed. It was a normal thing for the Prince of Heaven to exit Jerusalem to depart for Earth. Lucifer traveled closer to Heaven's entry gates and ruminated to himself on the task that lay before him.
For the forces of Heaven not to overwhelm his strike force, he must hold the waypoints shut. There could be no Ladders into Heaven while his campaign was afoot. The Kingdom of God must be cut off from the rest of the multiverse. To accomplish this end, he must somehow usurp the guard at each of the four gates; then, with his own hands, he would cripple Heaven.
Finally, his feet brought him to the pearled walls of Heaven and the post of Deramiel, guard of the northern gate.
The great pearled gates towered before him, a massive structure of whitish black pearl, and ivory with a wall 24 feet wide and a thousand cubits high. Two solid gold doors latticed with drawings of two silver lions’ heads, stood regally etched as living portrayals and roared the praises of God whenever the gates opened. Set between the gates with a flaming spear was Deramiel: ever vigilant to guard and watch over the bridge that connected Heaven with the rest of creation. Lucifer had always thought it curious that God would station guards at the entrance to Jerusalem. For Heaven had no adversaries and the Elohim were the pinnacle of creation.
Lucifer knew that El’s thoughts transcended more than just the present but easily penetrated all possible futures. Lucifer conjectured in that moment that God had anticipated his plan and knew that the city itself would one day be besieged by its own. His mind raced in nervous anticipation as he approached Deramiel.
How to circumvent the Almighty? Would Deramiel turn to our aid?
He would not leave such decisions to possibility. No, he would assure the completion of his plan even if it meant his brother's demise. Thus, Lucifer plotted the destruction of Deramiel as he elucidated kindness from his mouth.
Deramiel recognized the Chief Prince as he approached. “Hail Lucifer Draco, Prince of Heaven,” Deramiel said. “How fares the Archon of Earth?”
Deramiel also was of House Draco, one of Lucifer’s own kin. Their affinity ran deep. Surely, Lucifer thought. He will come to my cause.
“All goes well my friend,” Lucifer replied. “I have come with urgent word and am in need of thy strength to assist in that which is to come.”
“The High Prince in need of me?” Deramiel said with a puzzled look on his face. “Why in El’s name would you have need of me? Speak Lumazi and it shall be done.”
Lucifer replied. “There has been counsel among the chief houses concerning the creation of the man. The Royal court is now split in its allegiance to El. Even now, I have come to learn that two of the great houses: Arelim and Issisi are in open conflict in the outskirts of Jerusalem. El Sabbaths and has left a divided council over the service to man. I but seek to maintain the word of our Lord whilst he rests, for all seek their own and not the things, which are El’s. Therefore, I now come to thee ‘watcher of the way,’ for I have no man likeminded that I might attend to this affair and who will naturally care for our state.”
Deramiel's eyes lowered as if sadness would overtake him; then he spoke. “If El is on Sabbath, and the court’s leadership is divided, then Heaven itself is at risk. What would you ask of me, my Prince?”
“Indeed,” replied Lucifer. “As the center guard over the northern gate, you hail the others if anything seems amiss to you. Yet of all the guardians of the gates of Heaven, thou art the only Draco and are chief guard; thus brother, thy House Lord and Prince calls on you now to stand by me and uphold the word of El. I have forces on Earth that will rally to our cause to assist with the quelling of the feud that now roars unabated in the way. Perhaps we might yet quell the division that has stirred Heaven to fight against herself. Those that are against us number more than those who are for us; thus I require your aid, but we must move quickly and quietly to bring them low, or else all that El hast spoken and our house has done to uphold his word will be lost.”
Deramiel bowed to his Prince. “El’s will be done. What would thou have me do?”
; Lucifer looked at him and replied, “Go to and secure the eastern wall. Tell the gate captains that there is a disturbance at House Talus, and the court requires all officers of the realm to appear at Talus' grounds and to render aid and quell the disturbance.”
Deramiel bowed. “But my Lord –– please be not angry with thy servant. If I leave who will watch the eastern wall? For Heaven hast no appointed guard but I. To abandon the word of El, to 'Be still at this gate', would leave Heaven without a watchman on the wall.”
Thoughts quickly raced through Lucifer’s mind, and he looked upon Deramiel with sadness and said, “I fear El hath left us no choice, for Heaven dost battle against herself. And lo, wherein thy sight doth danger lurk? There is nothing but thee and I that stand here at the gates. There exists no adversary in thy sight, yet furlongs away in the burbs past the Elysian Fields, two of the great houses bring dissolution to the realm. If it seemeth good in thy sight to question thy Prince’s wisdom while El himself Sabbaths, then stay. And if it seemeth good to thee to stand idle while thy brothers raze each other in dissolution then stay, but know this. Although I might command thee as high prince, instead I would adjure thee by the love of God, that thou not stand idle whilst thy brothers fall. Fear not, for thy post, shall not be without guard. I will stand in thy stead and be a watchman on the wall until thou hast returned. I will not fail thee, and all shall be well.”
Lucifer placed his hands on Deramiel’s strong shoulders, looked him straight in the eye, smiled, and spoke. “You believe in God, believe also in me.”
Deramiel reluctantly but subserviently turned to go and said, “As you command my prince.”
Deramiel raced off to the northeastern section of the wall to accomplish his Lord's will.
Lucifer watched him go and stood as a sentinel to guard the gate of Heaven. Lucifer smirked when Deramiel was out of sight, pleased that his plan was coming to fruition. He turned towards the bridge of Heaven and recited the words that would allow him to open the city’s waypoint into the realms.
A causeway to allow the forces of Abaddon, and Lilith to penetrate the city.
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Lilith walked towards Raphael and lowered himself to whisper into his ear.
“I will take your tome my Prince and use its knowledge against you. Yes, I will leave you alive in knowledge that there is quickly coming a day that at my name, you shall bow, and with thine own tongue, thou shalt confess that I am thy Lord. Yes, to bring dissolution to thee would rob me of this pleasure. Thus, I will await you in Heaven. Follow me that mine wish might be fulfilled.”
Lilith gloated at Raphael and rose to speak to Michael. “Archon I take my leave of thee. I go now to lay waste to thy home. Until we meet again –– oh wait, Abaddon would you like a word with Michael before we depart?”
Abaddon quickly walked closer to Michael and towered over the archangel of Heaven. His claw-like hand unsheathed, and Abaddon slowly ran his talon across the cheek of Michael’s face.
“Ah, my prince I leave thee a token of my love for thy God in thine own flesh.”
Michael looked at him and stared deeply into his eyes. “Thy fealty to Lucifer will be thy undoing. Walk in thy calling ‘Destroyer’, but know the end is not yet thine.”
Abaddon angrily dug his claw deep into the epidermis of Michael’s face and gouged a piece of flesh from his cheek. Michael grimaced in pain and let out a scream of anguish as angelic blood poured from his wound and raced to color the floor blue.
Abaddon smiled at his handiwork, looking on with glee as Michael held his palm over his wound, and glared at him in pain.
Abaddon turned to go and recited the ancient tongue to summon a ladder. He and Lilith stood in a bubble of power as the Elomic command to part the heavens peeled back to reveal the stars, and in the distance the eastern jasper gate to the great city of Heaven, and Michael could see that Lucifer stood at the gates.
An explosion shook the house and the walls quaked around them.
“Goodbye Prince of Heaven,” said Lilith. “We go to confront the God King.”
Suddenly the prismatic funnel of light and heat from a Ladder spread through the room, rocking the foundation of the house. Michael rose to his feet, raced towards Raphael with his bound hands, and jumped to cover his friend. The walls collapsed to the floor, and the ceiling quickly followed.
With his great wings unfurled to protect both him and his brother. Michael huddled with Raphael. The constructed quartz buckled around them. The sound of timber and glass filled the air, and then the room went black.
********************
“What have we to do with the house of Issi, and who shall take up my cause?"
Ashelon’s death cry pierced the campus grounds of Talus. His lament for vindication traveled through the air and captured the ears of Heaven's citizenry. Like a siren that warned of an impending storm so too did his lament draw notice from the host of Heaven, and as one man, each angel paused to consider.
It was a moment never to be repeated in all the days of Heaven. A day when angels would reflect on whether to follow a cause apart from El’s. Clarity of consciousness spread through the masses of Heaven, a rally to answer a question: whom this day would one serve? Like wildfire, the violence that raged in the courtyard of Talus moved as a pandemic across the topography of the Third Heaven as Arelim struck down Issi, and Harrada engaged Kortai.
Jerahmeel and Gabriel had worked tirelessly to clear and repair the damage caused by Apollyon’s earlier rampage, and like all of Heaven, they heard the death cry of the anguished angel ring throughout the air.
“In El’s name,” said Jerahmeel, “go to, and look to the house of Talus!”
Gabriel nodded in acknowledgment and with a flash of light was gone. The Leopard of Heaven raced towards the quarters of his brother, and the ground moved as a blur beneath his winged feet. Hazy shadows of Heaven’s citizenry zoomed past him, and in the distance of the multicolored grass that was Heaven’s carpet stood the house of Talus.
Gabriel could smell the perspiration in the air, and the ground reverberated with the heavy pounding of angels trampling and wrestling on the ground. Gabriel came to the manicured lawns of house Talus, his eyes looked upon the countryside and with each batting of the eye, he beheld as angels wrestled one another in a death grip of bloody combat.
Each Elohim was lost in rage and offense; interlocked in a choreographed dance of fists upon beaten skulls. Wings whirled in acrobatic movements of evasion, and gusts of wind lifted up dirt high into the air as throats were slashed. Bones cracked as the concussive force of tackled bodies echoed across Heaven’s tundra.
Yet Gabriel had not come to partake in madness. He came to see his brother Talus. Great drops of sweat fell as pearls from his muscular frame, and with determination of purpose; Gabriel darted amongst the enraged combatants. He dodged and weaved past blow after evaded blow from angels who were oblivious to his presence.
Suddenly a wave of energy traveled across the lawn, and the energy signature of the pulse was unmistakable. A Prince Lord was in exertion. Faster now the Leopard of Heaven ran, quickly he darted between torn wings, leapt over torsos, and ran closer to the center of the blast’s origin. Traveling between the hordes of angels, he stopped to gawk at the sight that now stood before him.
Talus and Sariel grappled with one another, arms interlocked, each using knee and elbow to buffet each other as two rams might butt heads. Blood spurted from large gashes torn from the wounds in each angel's flesh. Lacerations drained as water from a faucet, and from Sariel’s face hung flesh torn by his brother's assault.
Gabriel looked and saw that neither cared for the destruction that raged about them. His ears burned with the sounds of hate. Verbal assaults filled the once peaceful air of Heaven. Hatred rose as leaven into the sky and was palpable. Like a lanced boil of evil, it seeped into the corners of the realms now that El’s presence had withdrawn. His influence so powerful a force that it kept in check avarice an
d hubris, for in His presence was fullness of joy.
But alas, the glory of God had departed. The Almighty was seemingly asleep to the goings on in His realm. Now new sounds filled Heaven. Heaven was now void of God’s influence for the first time, and the silence of sanctification wrought nothing but violence in its wake.
“Let the Arelim bleed,” cried one.
“Dissolution to the House of Sariel and his lackeys,” was the retort.
In that that instant, Gabriel knew that madness had infected Heaven, madness as viral as the flesh-eating bacteria that lined the orbs on a million worlds, a bacterium of madness that exchanged reason for hate. Gabriel then knew what he must do. He and Jerahmeel must restore the soundness of mind to the horde, or oblivion awaited them all.
Gabriel watched as Sariel grabbed Talus by the chin with his left hand and used his right wing to knock the prince backward. The Prince of all Arelim staggered seemingly surprised that a species other than his own could yield such power. Quickly he rose to his feet, his cloven hooves firmly positioned on the ground for support. Sariel sensed an opening and leapt forward to press his attack. Wings arched back as he dove as a bird of prey with taloned hands outstretched. His hands purposed to smite his brother quickly and remove the stone from his flesh. However, the task would be denied him. Gabriel launched his nimble frame into Sariel’s body and slammed deep into his chest.
Sariel soared backward against a wall and smashed through brick, pearl, and mortar. Crystal and all color of precious pearls fell from the crumbling wall.
Quickly Gabriel turned to face his brother Talus.
“Ahh welcome my dear brother Gabriel! It does my heart well to see that you have come to my aid. Of course, our brother must be shown the error of his ways. Come and we shall dispose of him together! What say you?”
Gabriel cocked his head to the side and looked upon his brother as he would upon a stranger.