by Donovan Neal
Enoch did as commanded and took the coal, and it was cool to the touch, and he placed the coal as bidden within his mouth and when he did, great heat seared him, and fire flared from his mouth but he swallowed the coal, and it became cool in his belly and was sweet to the taste, and no longer burned. And then the Lord God spoke.
"Enoch, welcome, I have taken thee that ye might not see death. For there is much I must show you, that ye might go down to speak my word in the last days. Because thou had no fear of death, death shall seek to take thee. But I will give thee power and you shall be a witness to me. And shalt prophesy a thousand, two hundred. and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth. Thou art an olive tree, and a candlestick and shall stand before the God of the earth. And if any man will hurt you, fire shall proceed out of thy mouth, and devour your enemies; and if any man will hurt thee, he must in this manner be killed. And I give unto thee power to shut heaven that it shall not rain in the days of thy prophecy; and I will give thee power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as thy will. But know that when thou shalt have finished thine testimony, the beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit shall make war against thee, and shall overcome thee, and kill thee. But even now I have taken thee from Satan, as he will now mark thy seed, and we must make ready that we might save man. For many days hence, Satan will move to destroy thy people that he might find a route to Heaven, and once more cause harm to the realm immortal. But he hast been thwarted even from the beginning, but many a nation and people must rise and fall that a vessel might be prepared. I leave thee with Argoth. He will show you the things past and things that are, and when ye have readied yourself I will show thee things to come."
Enoch looked upon the Lord curiously, and replied to the Lord, "What am I to prepare for?"
"To fight angels, my son." And then the Lord spoke to Argoth. "Escort Enoch to the Hall of Annals, give him access that he may traverse the Zoa, and leave no area unturned. For Enoch has but a few days to learn what lies therein."
Argoth spoke to Enoch and said, "This way, Adamson."
Enoch followed Argoth as the two existed the throne room, and Michael looked on as they left, and then spoke to the Lord. "Argoth does not like this assignment Lord. I surmise he doest not respect to tutor Enoch as thou has commanded."
The Lord smiled as he watched the duo step down the crystal steps. "No.,” the Lord said chuckling. “He does not like it, my son, yet there is much he will learn from Enoch, and they will be good for each other."
Michael smiled, "Why do I perceive that Argoth and not Enoch is the one who is truly being prepared?"
The Lord returned his son's smile. "You perceive well, my son...you perceive well. Yet behold, and stand witness."
"To what, my Lord?" said Michael.
"I summon the Adversary to give report."
*********************
Satan was wroth over Enoch's access to Heaven, and cried out to God, "The way of the Lord is not equal! For the Adam has yielded in following me. Do you acknowledge my title to Adam's birthright? What say you, or doest the Lord of all creation changeth? Wilt thou allow Adam to worship me? Or wilt thou move to usurp my claim and bear witness to thy respect towards the man?"
The moment Satan finished speaking the words from his mouth, a great Ladder formed and ripped him from the Earth and hurtled him to where he stood at the Gates of Argoth. And he smiled, for the Lord had heard his rage and his tumult, and gave heed to allow him access to walk within the realm. And when he had stepped foot from the Ladder, two Ophanim were immediately set before him, that he could not move forward without destruction, and Metatron and Talus walked up the steps to greet him.
Talus spoke for the duo. "If you step but to the right or to the left, the Ophanim will bring you to dissolution, are you clear in your purpose?"
Lucifer grinned. "Ahh, my dear brother, I trust that you do not hold yourself to account for the deeds done; you have always been slow to hear and quick to act. It was in your nature from the day I gave your stone to El."
Talus winced at the remark, and Metatron observed that Talus broke eye contact with Lucifer, bit down on his lip and his shoulders drooped, and immediately he set himself to speak.
"Are you clear in your purpose, Satan?" demanded Metatron.
Lucifer glanced at Metatron with a dismissive nod and waved his hand. "Yes, yes, young one, I am clear. Take me to El; that is why you are here is it not? Complete thy charge."
The trio walked with the Ophanim overhead, and all those who saw them bared their teeth, and hissed at Lucifer, and spoke, "Why is he here?" Jeers and taunts quickly followed. Lucifer smiled a playful grin, and his arms swung confidently as he made his way to the Mountain of God. But the more he viewed the city, the more his heart sank. He sighed when he saw the smoke that still arose from the Elysian Fields, and rubbed at his chest in pain. As the company made their way up the steps to the palace, the Seraphim boomed their chants of holiness, and Lucifer for a moment remembered the regality that was his home. Thoughts of remorse and regret invaded his mind, wishing that none of the conflict had happened, that time could be turned back. He steeled himself, pressing forward his thoughts consoling him that one day his actions would be vindicated. Then he entered the throne room.
The Lord sat high and lifted up, and His train filled the temple, and all the Lumazi stood as the Ophanim hovered to the sides of Lucifer as guard, and God shown as Triune, and the Spirit of God Hovered, over the Father, and the second person of the Godhead, Yeshua, walked away from He who sat on the throne. Enoch was escorted by Argoth back into the throne room and Yeshua took up next to Enoch with his hands on his shoulders and the duo stood behind a rail as if they were on trial. Argoth and Michael settled behind Yeshua as guards watching Lucifer closely.
Lucifer’s eyes grew wide in shock and disdain when he saw him.
"Speak thy words, Satan," commanded El.
Lucifer was for a moment afraid, but when he saw the wound he had inflicted on El, he became emboldened. "You have spoken that you are just, yet before us stands Adamson, who walks not just the realm immortal, but stands before the throne itself. You have taken him from me. Did not Adam and the Eve heed my word? Did he not forfeit his blood to me? Do you deny me my right to rule?"
The thing which Lucifer said grieved the Lord. And the Lord said unto Satan, "The thing is as you have said. Behold, all that he hath is in thy power."
"Then why then am I denied Adamson? If I stand as the god of this world, then his blood is mine. Even now, his flesh oozes with the plague of sin, you cannot deny it! The corruption of sin runs through his veins. He is a sinner, and hast violated thine law! His every action is a testament that his kind is worthy of naught but destruction. His seed is mine, his will is mine - his flesh is mine!"
Yeshua who stood before El said unto Satan, “The LORD rebuke thee, O Satan, even the LORD that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee. Is not Enoch a brand plucked out of the fire?"
Lucifer smirked. "He is mine, El, his soul belongs to me! I demand his life, for he is Clayborn, and the Clayborn's blood is mine!"
He that sat on the throne said to Satan, "Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine; and the soul that sinneth shall die. Enoch hath walked in my statutes, and hath kept my judgments, to deal truly; he is just, he shall surely live," saith the Lord GOD. “Though it is indeed appointed unto men once to die, Enoch shall for a season abide with me. You may have him at the appointed time. Yet know this, I will give power to both he and another to testify as a witness against thee, and they shall serve as two olive trees, and candlesticks, which shall stand before the God of the Earth. And if any man will hurt them, fire will proceed out of their mouth, and devour their enemies. And they shall have the power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy, and power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will shall this power be give
n them. This I have spoken, and this I shall do, for I am the Lord thy God."
Lucifer's mouth dropped, and he exclaimed, "You would give the Son of Man, power over Earth and angels?"
El replied, "Lo, there will come a day when I shall give his kind power to tread over serpents and scorpions, and nothing shall by any means hurt them. Now go while it still pleases me."
Satan stormed from the throne room furious but turned to shout back at El. "Because you can swear by no greater you have sworn by yourself. But know of a surety that on the day that Enoch walks the Earth again, I will have his life and he shall surely die." Lucifer then turned his back to God, and Metatron, Talus, and two Ophanim escorted him back to the waypoint until he Laddered to the Earth below.
The Lord then looked upon Enoch and spoke, "Return to Argoth my son, for there is little time, and much to teach thee before you are released to confront the Enemy."
Chapter Three
Pollution
El has gone too far. I rot on this speck, limited to the court to accuse, whilst Enoch lives and breathes Heaven's air. Lucifer was furious that a descendant of Adam was able to walk the grounds of Heaven.
"Ashtaroth, attend me now!"
Ashtaroth hastened into his Lord’s presence, and bowed, as was custom.
"El has committed sacrilege, for man hast stepped foot in the realm immortal. A man stands in the court of El!"
And Ashtaroth was taken aback by what he heard. "Then what you have prophesied is true. El will have the man to displace Elohim, and Jerusalem will be filled with the Clayborn!” Ashtaroth doubled over in grief that another would occupy their home. "What is thy will, my Lord?"
"El values the blood of the man. It speaks to him. I will, therefore, give him man's blood. It will run as rivers in the sand. El believes that through the man he will raise a champion that will bring me low. But his plans will never come to fruition. I will see the man come to dissolution before the spawn of Adam ever 'crushes my head.' Go, therefore, and tell those who hath made their home in Shinar to take of themselves the daughters of men, and lay with them. We will implant within the race of men our seed and bleach from man's blood all traces of the divine. El will be thwarted, for he will never raise a man from polluted blood against me, for man's seed will be my own. Lucifer laughed. "For Man himself will be my Kilnstone and the womb of Eve oven to my children. And when they are strong I will have an army of Nephilim, for we shall deform the image of El with our kind and lift ourselves on the backs of our children's children and smite Heaven, and eject El and all others from our home, and their recompense shall be upon their own head.”
And for the first time Ashtaroth was fearful, for Lucifer was consumed in his lust to usurp God and enslave mankind. "You then plan to use men as soldiers to sunder El? But how can such a thing be? Adam's kind cannot move into the realms apart from becoming spirit. Indeed, man knows not the true nature of that which lies beyond what he can see. How can an army of men invade the realm that we might reclaim our home?"
Lucifer smirked. "Man shall never set foot in the realm immortal, and he that abides there now, I shall rip his sin-plagued body in twain and Enoch shall be ejected as we were to the four corners of oblivion when I am done. No, man is but fodder for my plan. For El loves, and His love will compel Him to come down and see the plague of sin which vexes His people. And when He comes down, we shall strike at Him and remove the stench of His rule from the heavens and the Earth. In His weakness, we shall be made strong. When our children grow, we will erase the memory of man from the Earth, and our new family will enter Heaven, and we shall retake our home. Now go."
Ashtaroth bowed to his master and spoke. "Let not my Lord be angry with his servant. Would you mix us with the humans to create abomination? When the others hear of this they will surely rebel against thee. Surely El will see, and seek us to destruction. Have we not moved the Almighty enough? Wilt thou provoke Him to wrath even further? The host is repelled by the Clayborne."
Lucifer stood and walked to Ashtaroth, who cowered as his Lord approached. Lucifer then bent down and picked Ashtaroth from the ground and held him in his grip, and spoke.
"You would be mindful to fear me over El. You have pledged yourself to me. Depart ever from my service and I shall give you, even more, reason to fear." Lucifer released his hold and Ashtaroth fell to the ground, gasping for breath.
"I meant no offense, my king. My Lord is indeed powerful, yet who will do this thing? To be bold enough to mar the image of El?"
Lucifer grabbed Ashtaroth and smiled, “There are several of our number who will obey me in this thing. You shall seek out 200 of our people, and bring me Semjaza. I have eyed his desire to lay with the human females. Tell him his Lord would see his desire quenched. Approach him on my behalf as he will take lead on the seeding."
"As you command, my Lord." And Ashtaroth bowed and left the cave.
Ashtaroth then gathered two hundred of the fallen to do the bidding of their Lord and there were many questions about the thing, and some were hesitant to touch a daughter of Adam for the Clayborne bore the image of God. Indecision took hold and Semjaza spoke to the multitude that were tasked with the deed. "Fear not, nor be afraid, for have we not seen that the daughters of men are fair. We shall move to take them at our leisure, and lay with them and they shall give rise to our offspring. For have we not learned from El, that we too can give life after our kind?"
"And what of El?” said one. "Will not El move to lay waste that which would blur His image in the earth?"
Semjaza replied, "What shall the Almighty do that hast not already been done to us? Where can He lower us than this mote of dust where we dwell? But nevertheless, I fear ye will not agree to do this deed, and I alone shall have to pay the penalty of a great sin. Would you leave thy brother to obey Lucifer alone?"
And they all answered him and said, "Let us all swear an oath, and all bind ourselves by mutual imprecations not to abandon this plan, but to do this thing.” Then sware they all together and bound themselves by mutual imprecations upon it. And they were in all two hundred, and were assembled on the summit of Mount Hermon, and they called it Mount Hermon because they had sworn and bound themselves by mutual imprecations upon it.
And it came to pass when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose. And they came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.
And they called their offspring Nephilim, and these grew to be faster and stronger than all about them, and they were as giants. They stood towering twelve feet, and men feared them and the Fallen gave to their sons knowledge of war and fashioned for them weapons of angels that they might bring low all manner of resistance against them. And the children of the Fallen grew and lorded over the sons of men, and made slaves of them and bred their women to fulfill their desire, and tutored men in the ways of evil and angelic lore. And the giants were tyrants and oversaw men as masters and man became corrupt and grew in great cities, and he spread across the face of the earth, and wherever he settled, a Nephilim commanded.
And Lucifer was pleased, for all men were wayward from the purposes of El, and his children would in time overtake man to destroy El's image from the face of the Earth.
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Jerahmeel returned from shift duties and found Michael in the meeting room of the Lumazi, the meeting chambers where Heaven's governors held council to manage the affairs of Heaven. Jerahmeel entered and saw that Michael had changed the room. All the seating had been removed, and round about where tables that held maps and models of the landscape of the second heaven, and Michael was leaned over a table, lost in thought.
Jerahmeel studied his brother. Michael's eyes darted over representative pieces of armies, pouring over maps and moving pieces that represented the forces of heaven scatter
ed across galaxies, and positioned his men to stand as buttress wherever Lucifer raised his head.
Michael, distracted and lost in strategy and tactics, did not notice Jerahmeel staring at him.
Jerahmeel cleared his throat. "Ahem..."
Michael looked up. "Hello, brother, what can I do for you?" He then quickly returned his eyes gazing intently at maps and the topography of various galaxies.
Jerahmeel continued to stare at him and said nothing.
Michael looked up at him, and they stood locked in gazes of rumination, and neither moved their eyes from another. Michael finally softened his face and looked away from the images that lined the walls, and sat on a table.
"Yes, I know," Michael said, waving his hand as if to shoo Jerahmeel away.
Jerahmeel walked over to the table of maps and looked at the images that displayed battles on multiple fronts both on earth and in galaxies far away. He frowned when he saw a legion of Harrada, his own people, do battle to keep a star from going Nova while forces loyal to Lucifer worked to disrupt the star’s core to send a disruption of gravity that would unlock an Archon from the gravity well of a dying star.
"The war wages across all of space and time,” said Jerahmeel. “Only eternity remains inviolate."
"Aye," Michael replied. “But for how long? How long before Lucifer finds means to return to Heaven?"
"Lucifer cannot return. El would surely destroy him."
Michael harrumphed. "Perhaps, but El could have destroyed the Adversary already, and instead chose to let him live. To remain in exile—why? I sometimes do not understand El, Jerahmeel. He has to know that his act could very well embolden others to raise up arms against him. What if El can be injured further? What if... what if the Godhead can be killed?"