The Third Heaven Series Boxed Set: Books (1-3)

by Donovan Neal

  "Eskalion, they come more swiftly than we can move. We will not make it," Turiel said.

  "We will not fail," Eskalion replied with a pant.

  "I found it!" said Iblis. "I found the opening! Hurry before it closes!"

  Jerahmeel saw the chute that pulsed open and closed. A living valve of some sort that led to depths unknown. He shouted in gruff exhaustion. "Where does it lead?"

  "Anywhere is better than here," cried Eskalion. "Hurry!"

  Rolling waves of beastly eyes pursued like a flowing, moving river of teeth with brimstone eyes. The cavern bristled with the smell of ash and rank air.

  Jerahmeel looked back and saw what few of his kind had ever seen...the decayed and half-digested remains of men and angels, alive yet dead, partially consumed and now part of the river of lava that chased them. Mouths, eyes, hands, and feet, wings and beautiful scales of Elohim rose and sank within the hissing mass of magma and a sea of eyes. Jerahmeel turned as he followed Iblis who now scooted down the chute. The head of House Harrada grasped the edge of the chute and prepared to slide down the slimy cavity when his eyes beheld the manifestation of his fears. Unable to slash through the falling tendrils of Hell, Eskalion and Turiel fought to free themselves while enveloped by fiery coils that lifted them aloft into openings in the ceiling and they vanished from view.

  "ESKALION, TURIEL!" screamed Jerahmeel. But it was too late. And the corridor became awash in the hissing, consuming remains of angelic and human flotsam that reached out to add Jerahmeel's flesh to its own.

  Jerahmeel panted. A tear streamed from one eye and he grimaced in frustration as he forced himself to look forward and slid down the chute into the darkness.

  * * *

  Ashtaroth flew into the lower chambers of Hell and passed a long corridor that held his master's trophies. On one side were the heads of enemies Lucifer had defeated in battle and on the other the heads of those who had challenged him for the leadership of the Horde. An intimidating warning to all who approached to be mindful of those who had gone before them who thought they could challenge the God of this World. For Lucifer had leashed the prison of El itself, and by his side, he commanded Charon to do his bidding. The master's message was clear. To challenge his authority was do so at the risk of dissolution.

  Ashtaroth did not relish telling his master that a new challenge awaited his lord.

  Ashtaroth found Lucifer standing as expected before the Hellforge. When Lucifer was not tormenting his favorite captive, he was tracking the doings of Yeshua and cursing as the Son of God unraveled his works. Here he schemed how he might undo the Godhead. For the Hellforge was located within the center of the creature Hell, and she had submarined herself deep into the core of the Earth; mixing her celestial blood with the planet's terrestrial lava, for beneath continental shelves and the shift of tectonic plates, the beast had made herself home.

  Yet even here Lucifer was restricted, for unknown to him the souls of both the righteous and unrighteous dead El had caused to dwell. And situated beyond the power of even his master sat a realm that was whispered as Paradise. A chamber within Hell itself surrounded by the creature---even protected. For when the retreat from Satan's reach was discovered hiding amidst his own abode, Lucifer conscripted minions to devise means to cross the bile-filled chasm that Hell itself raised to prevent the two groups from crossing. So even at the heart of Hell, and in the midst of Lucifer's storehouse to create weapons to combat the Almighty. El placed within His wayward son's view a reminder that He was always near. An ever present yet subtle reminder that He was a power to be reckoned with and that power was His alone. For the ever-present view of righteous men who were able to see his unrighteous works, vexed Lucifer to no end.

  Ashtaroth found his master at the Forge and bowed low.

  "My liege, there is word that we have been breached."

  Lucifer looked upon Talus who hung suspended from the center of the Forge. His stone, and that of a great many others, powered Hell to create weapons and creatures, pieced together from the millennia of angels and men who lined her veins. Lucifer watched in silent glee as the new Kiln stitched a fresh creation.

  "Behold, Ashtaroth. Behold the beginnings of the downfall of El. For you have arrived in time to see the culmination of my many days work, and the beginning of the end of the Alpha and Omega."

  Fire erupted from a chute in the ceiling and from it lowered a glowing shard of rock. The gem pulsed and dark illuminated beams of jet black shadows poured from it. It glistened as though tears beaded from it, and smoke and ash floated from the charcoal-like rock.

  "What is it?" Ashtaroth said in wonder.

  Lucifer stretched forth a hand and the stone floated into his palm. His cheekbones raised to reveal a slow emerging smile and his fingers curled over the smooth rock. "The greatest device of destruction ever made. It is a combination of Kilnstone and living cadmium beams that undergird Heaven. It is a seed, and as thou knowest, so much can come from such a small thing."

  Lucifer chuckled at his own wit and turned to look at the chasm that separated Paradise from the rest of the underworld. He walked to the edge of the great canyon and whispered in angelic tongue to the stone, then threw the black gem across the chasm into the darkness.

  In the gloom, it smote the great canyon wall, and a singular, radiant beam of light then divided and branched in all directions. A rumbling shook the ground, lightning streaked from across the gulf to the foot of Lucifer, and a booming thunderclap echoed through the depths. The Prince of the Power of the Air blasted the silence with a shrill cackle to the inhabitants of Paradise across the way.

  "Behold, Moses, and give heed, oh David. Let Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob give ear. The lot of you, Sons of Adam have thought yourself safe from my reach these many days. Believing yourself to have safe harbor, shielded behind a creature that El hath made to consume my kind alive, yet here I stand. Standing in defiance to your Hope! Why? Because El will not dare come here to rescue you. For if I held no claim to thee, would you not even now ascend to the Father? But alas, He hath fed you lies. There is no power that can you save thee from my hand for I am a sure coming wave that will descend upon thee. Behold the work of my hands and tremble!"

  Immediately the ground shook and rock jutted from the sides of Paradise and when it did, several of the righteous were knocked off their feet. They watched as a towering spire of trigonal black crystal erupted from the ground. A spire fifty cubits high. It swayed when it reached the top of its summit then fell to its side collapsing under its own weight. The black crystal shattered into pieces and the pieces crawled across the ground to join themselves one to another, dividing as they clawed across the ground in grinding and screeching lunges creating, even more, crystals. Clumps grew and formed a great span and its width was such that one could walk upon it. The crystalline bridge lunged outward across the gulf, growing slowly as it followed the trail of lightning that stopped at Lucifer's feet. The once mighty prince of Heaven then smiled and spoke aloud to the inhabitants of Paradise that they might hear.

  "Know that I will bridge this gulf and when I do, I will harvest your souls made in the image of God, and you too will feed my Forge and light the fires of Hell. I will ascend from the pit of this place. And with El's own power, resident triune in his righteous image. I will with Hell, and Charon, once more stretch out my hand and make the Father bleed, and the shadow of my image shall reach throughout all creation."

  David, Noah and a host of others looked on in defiance, but Hezekiah, former king of Israel, spoke aloud what was on many of their minds. "He will breach the gulf in time. What then will we do?"

  David looked at his younger descendant, then placed his hand on Moses' shoulder and spoke for all to hear. "I do not fear this braggart, for the Lord my God hath said unto my God, sit thou here at my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool, for I have slain the bear and the lion, and who is this uncircumcised stench of foul air that would defy the armies of the living God? For he wi
ll fall...not by our hand, but by the Lord's. Alas, do not succumb to fear, for the Lord our God is with us."

  David then knelt in prayer, and all of Paradise followed his example and knelt with him, and they prayed that El would rescue them from the hand of the enemy.

  Lucifer watched from afar and smirked. "Pray to El...intercede to thy God, for it matters not..."

  "My Lord," interrupted Ashtaroth "Forgiveness, but what is thy command concerning the breach?"

  Lucifer folded his arms and turned to his servant and frowned. "It is of no consequence. Talus's capture hath evoked the expected response from Heaven. Yet tell me, who hast surrendered themselves to folly that they would dare enter my house?"

  "Grigoric scouts report the head of House Harrada leads a party through the veins and that Iblis guides them. Undoubtedly to the Forge."

  Lucifer snickered. "Undoubtedly. You will not interfere with their coming. Let them come. Hell will see to their dissolution."

  Ashtaroth nodded. "As you command my king, and if Hell does not?"

  Lucifer's grin turned cold, and his eyes narrowed, "Then you will prepare to mount more heads upon my trophy hall for I shall see to it."

  Chapter Eight

  Entrapment

  Yeshua stood before the tomb of His friend Lazarus, watching the eyes of those who scoffed at the possibility that hope could triumph over Death. A thousand eyes of angels, whose station were at all times to stand as minister to the Son of God. Also, the Horde was very aware of Yeshua's disruptive presence, and those who despised the Son of God marked Him who had thrown them from their home. For all hovered as a spectral cloud of witnesses, invisible, to the human eye, watching with bated breath and anxious anticipation at any action that God in the flesh would take.

  None had long to wait.

  With swollen eyes and a face streaked with tears. Yeshua knew that the time to reveal the power of He who vocalized creation was upon them, and eternity wrapped in the flesh spoke to the blackness of an open tomb.

  "Lazarus, come forth."

  The words of God reverberated across space and time, and past the dimension of life and death. The power of God smashed through the barriers that separated the realms and reached into the underworld to find Lazarus speaking to his peers amidst the righteous dead. Lazarus' spirit was then plucked from his place and rose from the shining realm of Paradise.

  Lazarus traveled through corridors of blinding light and watched as a great whirlwind raged before him. Shredding gusts of wind rode upon the backs of screams that could be heard from a creature that lay trapped therein. A great hand parted the impassable hurricane and lifted him through the cyclonic gale, pulling him further into the corridor of light. His spirit traveled through earth and rock, he saw his corpse shrouded in linen. He lit upon it spreading himself over it. His spirit united with his flesh and entered the empty shell. His chest rose and fell with shallow breaths as his heart began to once more pump oxygenated blood through his frame. His muscles turned soft as rigor mortis fled from his cells. Through linen covered eyes, Lazarus knew that he dwelt again in the land of the living. And upon the order of his King; hobbled bound from his stone seat in grave clothes and stumbled from the darkness of his tomb into the light of day.

  And when Lazarus had come forth, many fell to their knees in shock. Others gasped and all were amazed, for a man, dead four days in a sealed tomb, now stood before them wrapped in burial cloth.

  "Loose him and let him go," commanded the Lord.

  Several men timidly approached the mummified body and loosed the bands of linen that swaddled him. When Lazarus's face was revealed, he smiled and immediately his sister Mary, ran to her brother, embraced him, and wept.

  Lucifer had come to the surface to see on a report that Yeshua had plucked a soul from the clutches of Paradise.

  Enraged, Lucifer said, "I also have this power over life and death."

  Lucifer, the Host, and the Horde watched that within their midst Yeshua and the humans basked in joy that a member of their kind had been freed from death.

  Azazel's soldiers hovered over Yeshua and surrounded Him, waiting for the least provocation from the enemy or a command from their king to engage, yet none came. Yeshua paused in the celebrations of reunion with His friend, while He and Lucifer exchanged glances and their eyes locked upon one another.

  The Prince of Darkness' cold eyes narrowed and nostrils flared in venomous contempt, but the Son of God returned His creation's gaze, staring the angel down. Lucifer's slowly drew his sword from its scabbard and all the surrounding Host and Horde drew theirs. Two armies poised in a silent, invisible tension, each ready to take up arms upon their leader's command. Lucifer's hands clenched and unclenched at the hilt of his blade, while seconds ticked between them all. Each wondering in the moments that passed, if open conflict would spill over into the realm of men. Each curious if pretense could finally be shed and mankind drawn into open war.

  Yeshua raised a hand smiled to His wayward son. Raised his hands as if to order all to stop, and all swords returned to their sheaths by force. Shock and fear dressed the daemons' faces for the Son of God had with impunity made their weapons of no effect.

  Christ shook His head in silent warning. This was not the day to do battle. The King of Darkness sneered with bared teeth, he pouted in anger, turned from his God's gaze and motioned for his soldiers to follow. The Horde obeyed, and lifted themselves to the skies. Yeshua looked on as His rebellious children soared to parts unknown. All with malice to do evil to the world of men.

  Celebrations continued that Lazarus had been raised from the dead. And the man now raised from the dead, and having seen the true nature of reality, could also see that surrounding them all were thousands of angels, both elect, and fallen; everywhere the eye could see. He looked to Yeshua, who shook His head again in a silent cue to say nothing, and many Jews believed on the Son of God that day, but some looked upon the Messiah with disdain and reported the miracle to the Pharisees.

  And from the moment of Lazarus's resurrection, Lucifer plotted to have Yeshua killed, knowing that he himself could not touch God in the flesh. He sent spirits to sow fear and envy to Israel's religious leaders while Lucifer gathered the chief priests and Pharisees to the council.

  "What do we?" a Pharisee said. "This man doeth many miracles. If we let Him alone, all men will believe on Him and the Romans will claim both our place and our nation."

  One of them, named Caiaphas, being the high priest that same year, said unto them, "Ye know nothing at all, nor consider that it is expedient for us, that one man should die for the people, that the whole nation perish not." And this spake he not of himself: but being the high priest that year, he prophesied that Yeshua should die for the nation; And not for that nation only, but that also He should gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad, and from that day forth they took counsel together to put Him to death.

  And Lucifer stood in the balcony of the council with his lieutenants and beamed, knowing he would use mankind to assassinate the Eternal God who had the audacity to walk the Earth in mortal flesh.

  * * *

  Eskalion and Turiel emerged from within a floor of Hell. The tendrils had grasped them earlier, now released them and receded into the ceilings, retracting into the great darkness beyond. Beneath them, the opening from which they entered shut, the sounds of the hissing lava and the bulging eyes dissipated with its closure.

  "Are you alright?" asked Eskalion.

  "Aye, I have been burned, but it looks worse than it appears."

  "Very well then," said Eskalion. "We need to keep moving."

  "Agreed," said Turiel.

  Turiel floated into the air and Eskalion stood to his feet. "Surely the creature had us. Why release us here?"

  Turiel shrugged his shoulders "Why, indeed, my Arelim friend. Why, indeed? Nevertheless, I see a light ahead. What say you we venture toward it?"

  Eskalion strained to see in the darkness. "I see no
thing but black upon blackness. What light do you speak of that you see?"

  "Perhaps it is only attuned to my Grigoric eyes alone that I am able to make out its existence. Yet if there is a light ahead, let us avail ourselves of it," Turiel said. "Here...take my hand and follow."

  Eskalion did as he was bidden and took Turiel's hand. They floated following a light that was just out of Turiel's reach; a light that seemed to direct them deeper into the chamber.

  "Do you think Iblis and Jerahmeel made it?" asked Eskalion.

  Turiel was silent for a moment, fixated on the light that now slightly pulsed. "I hope so. I truly hope so."

  "Earlier in the lower halls...why did you touch the walls? What were you thinking?"

  "I am sorry, it is as if something called out to me. Something good and beautiful. I cannot describe it. There were lights within the walls, they called to me."

  "Lights? Called to you? You mean you could hear them?"

  "No, not with my ears, no. But with my eyes...it beckoned to me."

  Eskalion grew increasingly nervous. "And there is a light that you see now that we follow?"

  Turiel nodded in the darkness. "Aye. It is beautiful. I do not understand why you do not see it."

  Eskalion released Turiel's hand. "Turiel, I think we should stop."

  "For what? I can clearly see that an object now resides in the room. It seems to be a pedestal...yes. I see it clearly now. A pedestal, and there seems to be a book atop it."

  Suddenly, red circular runes appeared on the floor beneath Eskalion's feet. More of the circles then filled the floor, each one containing ancient Elomic glyphs. Light slowly crept into the room all around Eskalion. Light that revealed that the walls had eyes.