by Donovan Neal
Exquisite tonal notes swept the land as though the crackling of flames were choirs ablaze in harmonies of tenors, baritones, and bass.
Great horse-like steeds of fire galloped across the skies. The Malakim Griffins and Aithons flew overhead. Some had wings as eagles and others did not, but all flew and left trails of fire in their wakes. The three visitors could scarcely pull their eyes away.
The chief captain of the guard escorted them through the city gates, and across the public squares, the populace was filled with Seraphim. The Burning Ones were aptly named, but unlike the Elohim who were as varied as the snowflakes of the Earth, the Seraphim were the same physical appearance, for Enoch could not tell one from another.
"Beautiful..." Enoch muttered aloud, and his mouth gaped as he stared at the views round about him.
The captain of the guard smiled. "All of Aseir is beautiful, Adamson."
Enoch realized he was gawking and replied, "My name is Enoch, and might I be privy to your name?"
The captain motioned them to a shining temple, and replied, "I am called Sherkanim, and am captain of the King's legions."
"It is an honor," replied Enoch.
Gabriel and Metatron also replied, "We, too, stand honored. We hope audience with your king will allow us to break bread in fellowship."
Sherkanim smiled delighting in the thought, but when he caught himself doing so, he made his face expressionless. "That is for the King to decide," he said.
The citizens of Ashe stared at the foreigners, pointing at each as they ogled with curiosity. Some reached out to touch them. Gabriel and Metatron smiled and allowed the people to handle them as they looked at them in wonderment.
"Why do they stare at us?" said Enoch.
Sherkanim continued to lead them up the final walkway to the temple. "It has been many days since the Schism. Some have forgotten what angels look like. Others were not created until afterward. To many, the Elohim are a thing of wonder and awe, and for some...fear. Some had even believed that Elohim no longer exists since none has passed underneath, through, or over the mountain in many ages."
"And you Sherkanim...what of you?" Enoch said.
"Our histories say El banished them beyond the mountain. Banished them because one of their number by the name of Lucifer, genesised evil. Nothing comes over the mountain now but Ophanim, and nothing comes under but the Zoa and the Mists, the dread fog that we must constantly keep at bay. Thou, human, art only the second of thy kind to walk these lands."
Enoch wanted to query further but Sherkanim had stopped at the temple, an imposing structure. The building's walls were an enormous bluish flame. Diamonds and crystals lined its floors, and everything solid, from the doors to the windows, seemed held by invisible flames that somehow floated in place.
"We are here," Sherkanim said. He then faced the people who had assembled in the courtyard, took his spear and raised it high for all to see, and made annunciation.
"Hail King Nephanos! Keeper of the Living Fire, Appointed by our Lord and Sovereign, El Almighty! All hail King Nephanos!"
Everyone knelt on one knee. Enoch looked at Gabriel and Metatron, who motioned him to kneel and he did so. The temple doors opened and great plumes of smoke entered the courtyard, creeping out as dark clouds toward the people, and a tall figure similar to the Seraphim exited the Temple. The creature had six wings and stood twenty cubits tall, muscular like all the other Seraphim, but upon his head was a crown of fire, similar to Michael's crown, but within the flaming circle was a jewel that shone as a star.
Enoch noted that all the Seraphim floated when in the presence of their king and covered their eyes with two of their six wings. And Enoch, being curious, as to the king, looked upon Nephanos and caught his gaze.
"A human...and two Elohim," the king said.
He waved his hand and a small whirlwind of fire formed around the trio. The embers were cool to the touch, and Metatron watched as butterflies of living flame floated over his hands. Amused, he opened and closed his hands as though to catch them, but the whirlwind twisted upwards and the embers nestled within the Seraphim king's waiting palm and disappeared. He sniffed his palm, then recoiled. His eyes bulged, and he took a step back as his muscles became rigid. Immediately, the guards raised their spears towards the three foreigners as if to protect their king.
"The Elohim have the plague and are infectious...the human is like the other and cannot harm us. Take the angels to be burned. The human, however, may remain."
Gabriel and Metatron tightened the grip on their weapons and started to rise in self-defense, but Enoch read their body language and motioned for them to pause.
He then rose to his feet. "I am Enoch..."
The guards shoved him down and King Nephanos spoke.
"We know who thou art, Enoch. We know thou art the Candlestick of the Lord. Fear not. Thy companions will not be harmed. But too much exposure to the Withering will sunder my people. These are infected, and they must be purged before it spreads. The Burning will not harm them."
Gabriel and Metatron lessened in their anxiety, and Enoch attempted to shove the guard's hands off him. Nephanos nodded his head and the guards released them all.
"I am the anointed of El, and rule this land at His will," he said. "None shall be harmed...yet."
Gabriel eyed Nephanos, and Metatron noted that Nephanos eyed Gabriel as well. "I would hear what the Lumazi Gabriel would say. It has been a long time, Malakim Prince."
Metatron whispered to his brother. "He knows you?"
Gabriel responded. "Aye, and I him." Gabriel then spoke aloud to Nephanos. "It has indeed, King Nephanos. It has indeed. Know that we bring thee no harm."
Nephanos harrumphed. "That remains to be seen, for thou hast entered my domain in defiance with our accord, agreed by our Lord El. Moreover, thou comest bearing the Withering. You will be purged of this plague, and upon your return, you will explain why I should not exercise my covenant rights and grind your clan into the dust."
Gabriel bowed. "As thou sayest, great king."
Nephanos nodded and Sherkanim and several guards escorted the two angels away. Enoch stared after them in anxiety, but Gabriel smiled and nodded.
"Do what thou hast been called to do. We shall return."
Nephanos then spoke. "Candlestick, come walk with me, and we shall have words."
Enoch swallowed hard and walked up the temple steps with the king, and the head of the Seraph people escorted him into the temple. The flaming structure was latticed with the colors of the spectrum. When the two had moved into an inner court, the king spoke, "Enoch, thou comest with two Elohim. How doth a human come to travel with Elohim?"
Enoch looked up at the towering king and replied, "I am on assignment by the Lord, for the Lord God came to me and said I must find the man, Elijah, and that he must be brought back to Michael that his people might be healed. And to this end made I petition and asked several to accompany me. Two thou hast seen, and one is not, taken by Zoa in an effort to bring me to the shores of Aseir. Therefore, I beseech thee, great king, have you seen my masters servant and may I see Elijah that I might be about my Lord's business?"
Nephanos nodded. "You said the Lord said this to thee?"
Enoch nodded.
"Hmm, surely, those that accompany thee have shared with thee, the story why their kind hath been shut off from Aseir?"
"I have been told by the Chief of Eyes, Argoth, that..."
"Argoth?" the king said. "When I last saw the temple, Raphael was Sephiroth. What hath transpired that Raphael is no longer head of the Grigori?"
"Perhaps great king there is much we might know from one another. But Raphael is no more. He was destroyed in an attempt to bring the truth of Lucifer's treachery to light. He now rests with those that sleep in the Lord."
Nephanos frowned and his black eyes cast downward as though he were recollecting times past. "I am sorry for the Grigori's loss. Please expound to me those events that have transpired since the Schism.
We have no Grigori here and are cut off from the happenings on the mount. I have many questions and I ask thy forgiveness, for I asked if thou knew of the events that left the Seraph sealed behind the mountain."
"Indeed, I do," Enoch said. "They say that long ago there were three races of Heaven, all were one in unity and worked to the ends of the Lord, and Lucifer, jealous that he was not first in worship, challenged thy kind who were adept in all manner of music and craftsmanship to contest to determine who in Heaven was the greatest. And that through traffic, guile and duplicity, he obtained one of thy own seven trumpets, and with them sang a melody that the Ophanim concluded was first in the ears of all present. The winner was to be banished behind the veil, sealed, and to provide a tribute to the temple of God. There now remains four of thy people, who in accordance with that ancient accord, serve as witness to El's holiness, and to thy people's wager, but El was wroth in what Lucifer had done and took from him the trumpets received in guile and restored them to thy people with promise that He would, one day with the same trumpets announce judgment upon his son. And that He sealed all the Sons of God behind a barrier and set up the boundaries thereof, each to remain in their respective habitations. This is what the Elohim have told me."
Nephanos brow became hard, and his fiery forehead visibly wrinkled over Enoch's words and replied, "You have heard the story as given by those who used deceit and trickery to obtain advantage. Now know the truth of it, and consider, for of all the Sons of God, it was we who brought music to the court of Heaven. It was we who in our very movement, like some of the Draco, created melody by mere motion. The trumpets were not mere instruments. They were tokens given to us by El Himself, and as the Elohim's Kilnstones kept them alight, the Trumpets were our people's gift from El, and with them, we could make any music in the mind of the Almighty. With them, we could create instruments of such beauty. We, Adamson...we were the living instruments of El, created to bring warmth and hymns, but Lucifer eyed anything that was preeminent over him. Any praise that was not lifted to God, Lucifer expected to be lifted to him, and thus he coveted the power to bring Heaven to song, to lift crowds to adulation and sought means to steal God's gifts. Thus, he eyed our people and found Camael."
Enoch looked intently upon Nephanos. “Camael? I have not heard of this name from the Grigori."
Nephanos nodded. "Camael is my brother, for not all celestial people are birthed from a kiln, Adamson. Some are like the Virtues and are but the residue of God's breath, but we are His voice, manifested as fire. His living word. We are the Seraph and are birthed from the breath of the Lord! And as one flame would ignite another, so we have come to be. Where you see fire on the plains of Aesir, you see the Seraph, a multitude who burn in holiness and worship of our God.
And Enoch marveled, for Aesir, and the eddies of flame that were her meadow were sprawled across the entire land. "So everywhere I see flame in the land..."
"Yes, Adamson, you are seeing my people at rest. Therefore, the moment you didst step through the portal of Limbo and thy feet touched the land, we all knew that one, not of us, dwelt in our realm. What thou seest is but the form we take in thy midst, but we are as the flames that sit before the Lord. The flames that the Elohim sit behind. We are fire. We are the Burning Ones."
Nephanos and Enoch entered a room, and it was decored with all manner of furnishings, and the place was aflame in colors of blues, and in the room was instruments of every imagination, from the flute to the harp, to the cornet and cymbal – gilded with the finest golds, made from every conceivable stone, and the temple was filled with instruments. Enoch walked the length and breadth. When he touched a flute, it turned to fire and echoed melodies of sweetness, and musical notes took the form of colored smoke that wafted through the air. Excited, Enoch touched a lyre and strummed it, and the song was sweet, and the room changed color as it responded to its song, and such was every instrument within the room that all exhaled music the likes he had never heard. Branded into each was a symbol...a sigil similar to what he had noticed with the Elohim.
"All the instruments bear the same stamp," Enoch said.
"Yes."
Nephanos walked over to the lyre that Enoch was near and strung it. And when he did, it lit aflame and the music was even more powerful than when Enoch strummed it. And Nephanos extended himself so that his body became as fire and touched over each instrument and lifted it from its place. Immediately all the instruments came to life, and the sound was the likes of which had never been heard. The room glowed in colors that changed and flickered, and melodic notes bounced off walls, and the room erupted in orchestral praise. For a moment, Nephanos was changed, elated to be the celestial conductor of instruments that hearkened to his command to wash the air with praise, and all the city took note that within the temple music could be heard.
Nephanos stopped himself and when he did so, all the instruments settled back into their places, and the melody that emanated from each became as a fading memory.
"Each instrument that thou seest is from Camael, the greatest artesian noted among our people."
"But..."Enoch said, "didn't Camael betray your people to Lucifer?"
"Camael..."Nephanos paused, "Wanted something more. For when interrogated for his misdeed, he confessed that he saw in the light that Lucifer created tonal notes to create a sound, unlike anything he had ever heard. There was discordance in him...a tonal quality that fascinated Camael, and Lucifer seduced him that he might create sound from light. So he crafted seven trumpets, trumpets that echoed the heart of the angel Lucifer. Trumpets that when blown, would usher in such judgment upon the recipients that could make one the ruler of all that he surveyed."
"Wait," said Enoch. "Are you saying that Camael crafted weapons? Instruments of war?"
Nephanos turned from Enoch. "Yes. Camael exchanged the trumpets for the Stone of Fire Lucifer stole from the Kiln. With the Stone of Fire, he could create the most powerful and destructive taratantara sounds that, if unleashed in the company of the Kilnstone, could have brought Heaven to ruin."
"But why?" said Enoch. "What profit could be gained by such an exchange?"
"Is the thing not known? For the oldest of all sins is but covetousness," a gruff voice said as a muscular weathered man of fifty entered the room wearing a leather girdle and a garment of camel's hair. He bowed to the king and then looked at Enoch as though examining him. He bent his face toward Enoch and sniffed. "You don't look a day over fifty. You must be Enoch. The Lord said you were coming."
Enoch laughed, for after his long journey he had finally met Elijah.
* * *
Sherkanim and his guards marched Gabriel and Metatron into a large, cylindrical, transparent chamber with two doors attached at each end. The two angels walked in and noted that members of the Seraphim pressed their faces against the exterior chamber to observe them.
"You will not be harmed by the burning, but know that we must remove from thee the contamination of the Withering," said Sherkanim.
Metatron spoke as the captain turned to leave. "How is the thing done?"
Sherkanim turned to face the duo. "No other foundation can be laid than that which is laid by the Lord. He is the form, from which all things of substance and truth and reality come. If anyone would build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, or stubble, his work shall be made manifest, for within the confines of this pyre shall it shall be declared. The fire shall reveal the truth of it, and here, Prince of Draco, shall the fire try thy work of what sort it is. If thy work is revealed as true, then, ye shall receive honor. If, however, thy work is burned, ye shall suffer loss, but shall thyself be saved. The fire shall tell the truth of thee. These whose faces now look upon thee shall serve as judge and witness to any dross that weighs you down, and shall see to its removal. Now steel thyself, Elohim of God, for this will not be pleasant."
Sherkanim closed the vaulted door behind him and the locking mechanism turned. Sherkanim stood on the exterior of the c
hamber across from them, separated by the transparent barrier.
Gabriel looked at him and nodded.
"Let the burning begin," the Seraph commanded.
Immediately, flames lit amidst flames, erupting with a whooshing rush around the cylinder. The heat rose, and the faces of those pressed against the glass slowly disappeared behind the fog that now clung to its surface. Their faces morphed and transformed into hazy blurs of eyes as they stared at one another, and the room grew whiter, hotter until nothing but white could be seen.
"What is happening?" said Metatron.
"I think we are being judged," replied Gabriel.
Both angels looked up at images that materialized above them, and when they did they could no longer see one another, but their thoughts and memories were on display for all to see. Projections on the glass displayed ghostly emergences of mirth and solidarity between Elohim princes and portraits of pride in doing the will of El. The two smiled as they watched and reminisced fondly. The scenes changed swiftly and Metatron in one scene contested with others of his kind in feats of strength and games that made his friends cheer.
The Seraph watched as the Elohim worshiped before El, and legions of their kind erupted in choruses of praise, songs, and acts of dance and displays of reverence toward the King of Kings. Gabriel smiled as he too thought fondly of Heaven, the city, and his command of the Malakim, for his people spanned the cosmos, and he orchestrated their comings and goings that the word of El be spread abroad the universe. Countless numbers of his people rode on griffin-back to see that not one word of El faltered.
The room grew dimmer and dark clouds hung oppressively obscuring all, and Metatron grew anxious.
"Gabriel...what is happening?"
Gabriel's face turned somber as before him, his memories now displayed images of danger, violence, death, and loss. His flight from his brother Talus to escape his rage, and the unflattering scenes played without censor before all. The Seraphimic witnesses saw his battles to destroy his kindred as they launched themselves into madness, touched by the rage that had infected Talus. "The clouds of evil memories hath invaded."