by Donovan Neal
* * *
Nephanos had watched Sherkanim's officers escort Gabriel and Metatron away. However, the chief of the guard hesitated, turned to his Lord and waited to be acknowledged.
Nephanos took note but said nothing. Moments of silence passed between them and Sherkanim stood at attention, waiting for the glance that he knew would allow him to speak.
Nephanos sighed, then spoke to his waiting servant, "We've have known each other for many eons, you and I, yet you still stand in my presence captain after being dismissed--why?"
Sherkanim fell to one knee. "My king. Since our birth as a people, El hath always intended that all of Heaven's children be one. Never was it in His heart the schism that now exists between us. Yet due to our hardness of heart, He hath allowed us to stay behind the mountain of Heaven. And while idle in our solitude, we have silently awaited El's bidding to rejoin the Ophanim, and Elohim, and once more be one. Is it not possible that these emissaries are a sign from El that the time for reunification is before us? And lo, a new race stands on our grounds, these...Humans. Therefore, I ask my king to reconsider this course to dismiss the heralds from the throne room of God."
Nephanos nodded. "I have heard thy petition. If the angels are in such dire straits as they proclaim, then the Chief Prince will come, bend the knee before this throne and submit himself to my pardon. Then we shall be one. Then offense can be forgiven."
Sherkanim lowered his head further and glanced upward, careful not to look at his master. "Oh great king, did we not barter with the Deceiver? Hath, we no culpability for what has befallen us? We cannot blame Lucifer alone for what hath transpired. And what of his war now against the Godking Himself? Will we stand idle and watch as he schemes to bring down the fall of God? My king, I beg...."
Nephanos stood, and raised his hands. "Silence. Thou speakest out of turn, Capitan. Do not presume to lecture me on how to rule for thou hast spoken beyond your station. Now go to and see to your duties while I see to mine."
"My apologies, my king. It shall be as you command." Sherkanim then touched his forehead to the ground in obeisance, scooted backward until he was far enough from his lord to stand, bowed, and turned to leave.
Nephanos communed with his own thoughts, as he watched his servant depart his presence and when Sherkanim was gone, Nephanos walked to the rear of his throne, past a door to his inner chamber. He opened the door and rest his eyes on instruments of the finest craftsmanship, each stamped with the flaming symbol of Camael. His glowing hand glided over each trumpet in a light caress.
"I have not whispered into your innards the breath of my fire for many days now. Not since my betrayal at the hands of the Deceiver. Not since my brother made me stand in proxy to wear this accursed crown."
Nephanos then lifted the token of kingship from off his head and threw it across the floor. As it toppled to rest, a faded God-stone gleamed atop...a stone that no longer sung a song asking to be...a stone silenced from begging its maker to shape it to his will.
The King of the Seraphim sat in a chair and rocked, then placed a tortured head in his hands and murmured his growing anxiety. "Did Prince Gabriel recognize me? I cannot allow him to leave the city and reveal my identity." The king's eyes darted back and forth. "No one must know. For if the people were to see the truth..."
Nephanos stood and paced within his private chambers, and grew increasingly agitation as he eyed both the crown and the instruments assembled before him. In a gesture of frustration, he swatted several flutes and lyres to the floor and hunched over the table where they had been displayed.
"Nephanos, my brother, what were thou thinking? When Lucifer and I conceived the plan to upset the balance of power, when we created the trumpets, we could have unleashed their untapped power and ruled all! But no, instead of siding with thy own brother, instead of taking what could have been ours, thou didst reveal my sin to El and left me here to taste the burden of power. And after all this time, after all, these years, for what? To teach me the weight of ruling? To make me eat the bread of my lust? I am not thee, brother. For mine is to craft songs to lift our kind to worship and exaltation. Together, Lucifer and I would have melded light and sound and made the universe tremble. But no! Now I must take on this false persona, for I, Camael, the greatest of our kind, must be resigned to play 'king.' While true power sits on a mountaintop among the heights of the clouds, here I stand to rule within its shadow. And what of you? Thou hast chosen to go off and yelp in obeisance every time someone enters the presence of El. And what of these angels before me now. Is this thy doing, brother? To convince me to submit to El and once again unite our people? Is this your feeble attempt to bring me an olive branch? Pssft. I will see your emissaries destroyed, and their purposes brought to naught."
Camael laughed, and his eyes glazed and sparked, and he stared longingly at the dormant Stone of Fire in the crown that was on the floor.
And unbeknownst to him, standing hidden outside his doorway was Enoch, having entered the king's chamber in hopes to gain an audience. He stood with his hands over his mouth, horrified, shocked that the King of the Seraphim was none other than the traitor, Camael!
* * *
Jerahmeel and Iblis covertly wound through tunnels and corridors lined with Hell's villi.
Jerahmeel looked in the dimness and noted that they saw no servants of Lucifer, but the air echoed with groans and screams of distant angels caught in the creature's digestive tract.
"Why have we not seen any of Lucifer's servants here?" Jerahmeel said.
Iblis moved carefully around a dangling tendril, watching where he stepped so as not to awaken and bring attention to Hell's consciousness.
"There are sections of the creature where none venture. Because all fear to travel through the beast without authorization from their master, Satan. Hell is not as tamed as Lucifer would have the Horde believe. She is too vast to be entirely restrained. She merely tolerates the presence of those that indwell her. If Lucifer were not able to control her with the Keys of Death and Hell, she would devour us all. I have garnered enough travel through her to know the way, but Lucifer ever changes the path to the forge, forcing the creature to alter her innards to the central bowel. There are some areas that would be easier to travel, but we would encounter much resistance."
"Is there no other option?" Jerahmeel said, stepping gingerly.
"We could travel areas that are not constricted by Lucifer's leash, but we risk the beast's hunger. All paths are perilous and fraught with danger."
Jerahmeel pondered the decision when he paused.
"Hold, do you hear that?"
Iblis stopped his advance in the dimness. "Nay Prince, but we should not stand idle or our presence will be detected. We must keep moving."
Jerahmeel squinted his eyes, as though narrowing them would somehow enhance his hearing. He tilted his head slightly and strained to hear. "Hmmph. Perhaps it was my imagination. You are right. We should keep mov..."
A faint scream floated on the air.
"I hear it," Iblis said. "It sounds like Turiel...below us. It sounds like he is in battle."
Jerahmeel pulled two axes attached to the small of his back and exercised his authority over the cold in El's name over what little water could be evidenced in the cavern. He withdrew the heat from the cavern and slowly the temperature dropped; Iblis could see his breath, and the rivers of lava in the chamber cooled and slowed their incessant march across the floor as muffled screams continued from below.
"If we go to his aid, we will die," said Iblis
"And if we do not, he most assuredly will," Replied Jerahmeel. "We cannot leave him in this place. Fear not. We will find the Forge."
Iblis nervously eyed the cavern, watching for signs that Hell had noticed a change in her internal organs. His anxiety increased with each passing second.
Run, his mind whispered to him, his thoughts battling in silent conflict.
Abandon the cause of the Forge. Iblis then put his hands to his te
mples and proceeded to rub from his mind the erosion of logical thought and the ever encroaching madness of the Withering. Iblis could feel it getting stronger. He shook himself and watched as Jerahmeel continued to summon the elemental forces of nature to his cause and watched as the lava came to a stop, and ice crystals on the walls and ceilings.
Run...the voice urged again. The floor crusted over in ice. Jerahmeel satisfied by his work slammed the hilt of his axe into the ground. Cracks creaked across the floor and wound themselves under the duo's feet until the ground collapsed with the sound of shattering glass. Jerahmeel and Iblis fell through and landed on the level below. They stood to their feet to see Eskalion and Turiel encased in flaming tendrils. Insulated in the creatures siphoning grasp, maggots crept over them. Jerahmeel instantly leaped to their defense. The Prince of Harrada touched the flaming lattice around Eskalion to freeze it and snapped the now brittle strands apart. Eskalion coughed up blood and maggots escaped his mouth, no longer protected by the warmth generated by their host's body. As they squirmed down his flesh, Iblis and Jerahmeel brushed the creatures aside and crushed them underfoot.
Eskalion's eyes fluttered. "Turiel...trapped..."
"We have him," said Jerahmeel. "Iblis, see to Eskalion. I will free Turiel."
Iblis nodded and helped Eskalion to his feet while cautiously watching the floors and ceilings.
Run...his mind begged him.
Turiel thrashed within the warm, life-sucking blanket Hell had made for the redactor, and Jerahmeel froze the tentacles and snapped them off. Turiel settled to the floor and fell into Jerahmeel's lap. Slowly, he gained his composure...just as the floor moved.
Iblis nervously backed away from Eskalion, his eyes darting all about the room. As the two rescuers frantically moved to get the party going.
"Jerahmeel, behind you!" Iblis screamed.
Tendrils of flame lowered from the ceiling and openings appeared on the floor, as eyes upon eyes looked upon the group and noted that angel flesh walked freely within the cavern.
Jerahmeel took his axes and twirled them over his head, swishing the air, cutting the approaching tendrils into pieces.
"RUN!" Iblis screamed.
The eyes that followed them turned red and the march of one-eyed cells with teeth now turned to pursue them. Hell was conscious of them now, and she would not let them escape. Iblis pressed hard, flying through an exit, and Eskalion and Turiel quickly followed with Jerahmeel bringing up the rear. Through each corridor, more eyes seeped out of the walls, and lengthy tendrils extended themselves to capture the intestinal quarry.
Iblis turned left, and when he did Turiel spoke, "No, turn right. I remember this from Hell's tomes."
Iblis paused, in a quandary. "But if we go that way we will surely run into the patrols of the Horde."
Turiel was insistent, "Turn left, now!"
Iblis noted that the march of red eyes had multiplied and Hell now followed their scent with dogged persistence. Desirous to be anywhere but where they were, Iblis and Jerahmeel looked into each other's eyes, and in that moment, Jerahmeel knew the Iblis who had earlier helped the cause of Heaven was no more, for the Withering had taken its hold. Iblis' eyes bulged, fearful of the march of the centipedes of fire, and with the look of a madman, sheered off to the right.
"Iblis!" screamed Eskalion.
"Let him go. The Withering has him," said Jerahmeel. "Let's get out of here – quickly now."
The group headed left as Turiel instructed, and Jerahmeel looked back to see Iblis slip into the dark.
* * *
Camael called Sherkanim to him and spoke. "Are the Elohim packed and settled to return under the mountain?"
"Aye, my king. They are prepared to be escorted to the edge of the Mist Gate."
"Good. To show my benevolence, you will give them this token. Place it in the sack's mouth of Gabriel."
Camael handed his lieutenant a long box wrapped in ancient Issi cloth, and within it, unbeknownst to Sherkanim, was one of the seven trumpets of judgment from Camael's inner chamber. Sherkanim received the box and awaited further instructions.
"Now go to and fill their sacks with food, as much as they can carry, and give them fire from thy hand for it will keep the Zoa at bay."
And Sherkanim bowed to his lord and did as instructed. As soon as the morning was light, the angels were sent away and when had gone a half day's journey out of the city, and not yet far off, Camael said unto his steward, "Go up. Follow after the Elohim, and when thou dost overtake them, say unto them, wherefore have ye rewarded evil for good? Why hast thou taken the token of El's covenant between me and thee? And whereby El had given to settle dispute between our peoples? Ye have done a great evil in so doing."
And the steward overtook them, and spake unto them these same words, and they said unto him, "Wherefore saith my lord these words? God forbid that thy servants should do according to this thing. Behold, that which is in our sacks' mouths. We brought nothing into the realm other than what was ours, and we take only that which we have by permission. How then should we steal out of thy lord's house, and especially the token of covenant between our people?" And Gabriel said unto Camael's steward, "With whomsoever of thy servants it is found, let him die, and the other be my lord's bondmen."
The steward replied, "Let it be according to thy words; and may ye be found blameless,"
Then Metatron and Gabriel speedily took down their sacks to the ground and opened them. And the steward searched, beginning with Metatron, and when nothing was found he searched the belongings of Gabriel, and the box, covered in Issi cloth, was discovered and Camael's servant opened the box and a trumpet of judgment was found therein.
Then the two angels rent their clothes and wondered aloud how such a thing could be, and Sherkanim noted that the box was the gift from the king and he spoke on this wise: "Surely there must be some mistake, for these men hath been honorable and true in their dealings."
The king's steward replied, "My orders are clear. My king requires the return of these to face judgment, and as first in the king's guard, thy duty is also clear."
Sherkanim was troubled by the words, and could not argue his duty. He turned and took Metatron and Gabriel into custody, and escorted them back to the city. Gabriel and his brother came to Camael's house, for he was yet there, and they fell before him on the ground, and Camael said unto them, "What deed is this that ye have done? Know ye not that such as I can certainly divine?"
And Gabriel said, "What shall we say unto my lord? What shall we speak or how shall we make our innocence known? The Lord God hath found out the iniquity of thy servants, and behold, we are my lord's servants,"
And Camael said, "God forbid that I should do so, but he in whose hand the cup was found shall surely die, and the other shall be my servant for such a grave trespass as to incite war between our peoples and to dishonor the name of El by robbing El's token to our folk."
And when Metatron heard those words, he became wroth, for without cause were they accused and he knew in his heart that they were innocent. The head of house Draco unsheathed his sword in the presence of the King of the Seraphim, and immediately Sherkanim and the king's guard subdued him, and Gabriel pleaded with him to stand down, saying on this wise:
"Wouldst thou unleash the trumpet's powers against us, that our people be ground to dust? We must bear this thing, for it is thankworthy if we for conscience sake towards God endure grief and suffer wrongfully. We shall take this patiently for this would be acceptable to God. El sees all and He will vindicate us."
And Camael was wroth that weapons were raised in his presence and rose to his feet. "Behold what thou hast done, and still I show my restraint in destroying thy people. You, who have trespassed into the forbidden realm. You who were received kindly and even sent on thy way unharmed. And now what is this, that even as the Burning hath shown us, that Elohim have lowered themselves once more to steal and raise false indignations, thou darest to raise arms in mine own house? Verily, I
say unto you that for this, you will at three days hence be set afire with the same flames that ignited the Kiln and thou shalt surely die. Take them away!"
And Sherkanim obeyed with lowered eyes, saddened that all hope seemed lost and that his people would yet stay concealed behind the mountain. Saddened that he must personally see to the death of two honorable angels, and he slowly began to suspect the actions of his own king.
* * *
Azaziel and his band of angels watched as the guards led Yeshua to the house of Annas, one of two high priests recognized by the people.
"This is a travesty!" an angelic soldier said. "Are we just supposed to stand here and do nothing? It is an outrage!"
"Hold your tongue!" said Azaziel. "Annas is speaking."
Annas paced before Yeshua, then encircled Him, eying Him up and down. A smugness came over his face.
"Dost thou you understand why you are here?" said the high priest said.
Yeshua spoke not a word.
"Silence? It matters not. Because you see, Nazarene I happen to remember you. Oh yes, for it was during my time as high priest prior to my son-in-law, Caiaphas that you drove out the money changers from the temple. I must admit you created quite a stir that day and caused me many a problem. And now – now, here you stand before me. How befitting." The former high priest smiled as he continued his wolfish pace around Yeshua, examining him.
"I have heard thou doth raise men who would defy the laws of our people, and that you teach others to no more honor the faith of our fathers. Moreover, that we ought not to even keep the laws of our fathers! Some say thou dost set thyself even above Moses. Is this true?"
Yeshua sighed, "I spake openly to the world; I ever taught in the synagogue, and in the temple, and in secret have I said nothing. Why askest thou me? Ask them which heard me what I have said unto them."
And when He had spoken, one of the officers which stood by the Lord struck Yeshua with the palm of his hand, saying, "Answerest thou the high priest so?"