by Donovan Neal
A hundred angels winced, drew swords and raised their weapons to unleash death on those who participated in the travesty, but Azaziel raised an arm and shouted, "Stand down this moment! The Lord's words were clear...we do not interfere." The angel guard gruffed in frustration.
Yeshua recovered from the blow and lifted His head to speak. "If I have spoken evil, then bear witness of the evil: but if well, why smitest thou me?"
Annas grew frustrated, "I have heard enough! I see He holds no regard to the office before Him. Very well. Take Him to Caiaphas and tell him our concerns are warranted. The Sanhedrin will, by this time no doubt, be assembled and prepared to try Him." Annas then had Him bound and delivered unto his son-in-law, Caiaphas the high priest.
The guards marched Yeshua to Caiaphas as directed, and thirty members of the Sanhedrin assembled with him – the highest religious authority in the land.
Khorset spoke to Azaziel, "Grigori scouts state that there are but twenty-three members needed. Why so many?"
Azaziel looked at the assembly. "No doubt, these are they who already oppose the Lord, and the seated must be extra members now stacked against Him. This is but a formality." Azaziel pointed at the entrances to the building and round about. "Take up positions to the north and south wing. Make a perimeter so the Horde knows we will destroy them if they breach it."
Khorset bowed. "As you command Lumazi."
Azaziel eyed the men and listened as they began their deliberations. Yeshua stood before them with hands tied behind His back, resigned, somber, steadily gazing upon those who would sit in judgment over God. Next to Yeshua stood the Chief temple guard and he proceeded to announce the court.
"Before you, High Priest stands Yeshua of Nazareth. He hath stood before thy father-in-law, and was sent here for judgment. These are gathered to bring testimony of His guilt, and we submit this man's innocence to your wisdom."
"Call your witnesses," the Chief Priest said.
The temple priest then paraded witness after witness who spoke. One after another was brought in and spoke about how Yeshua declared this or was seen doing that. But with each witness, others countered or even denied what previous witnesses had said. Caiaphas wrung his hands and paced while members of the council grumbled that perhaps this was not a good idea, while others whispered concerns that the Pharisees would object to their desire to simply condemn Him and be done with it. After a parade of false witnesses that lacked sufficient testimony to condemn Him, a frustrated and tired Caiaphas spoke.
"Have you no other witnesses to bring before this counsel?" he quipped.
The temple guards led two men into the assembly and the place was astir. Caiaphas called for order. "What testimony dost thou bring?" he said to the trembling man.
He straightened and spoke with authority, pointing at Yeshua. "This fellow said, I am able to destroy the temple of God, and to rebuild it in three days."
A ripple of murmurs stirred the congregation.
"Order! Order!" Caiaphas said.
The other fellow nodded in agreement. "It is true. I also heard Him say He is able to destroy the temple."
The council erupted in gasps and whispers.
"Does He think to upturn the fathers?" one said.
"He is a Roman sympathizer!" said another. "This place is the dwelling place of God. How dare He!"
But Yeshua stood mute before them all and stared at Azaziel, who stood next to the High Priest with a hand on his sword, ready to cut him down if the Son of God gave the smallest nod.
Azaziel fidgeted as he watched and thought to himself. The fools had no concept of who stands before them. The crowd stirred to further agitation.
"This is not good Lord...not good at all," Azaziel said to the Lord.
Yeshua stood silent.
The High Priest silenced the raucous crowd, and peered into the Son of God's eyes and spoke. "Answerest thou nothing against which these witnesses speak against thee?"
Yeshua continued to hold his peace. And the High Priest answered and said unto him, "I adjure thee by the living God, that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ, the Son of God."
When the High Priest invoked God, Yeshua looked up and met the mortal's eyes. "Thou hast said. Nevertheless, I say unto you, hereafter shall ye see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of Heaven."
Caiaphas's eyes grew wide with rage as scarlet crept up his neck and over his face. The veins in his temple bulged as he rent his clothes in a frenzy, shouting, "He hath spoken blasphemy! Out of His own mouth hath He condemned Himself. What further need have we of witnesses?"
Dozens nodded, and the crowd roared. Caiaphas continued. "Thou who doth stand as wisdom and guide for our people, behold, ye have heard His blasphemy with thine own ears. What think ye?"
"He is guilty of death! Death! Death! Death!" they chanted while pumping their arms.
Azaziel and his angels unsheathed their swords, churning in rage toward the humans, but Yeshua lifted His head and inhaled hard, signaling them to stand down. All looked to Azaziel and stood round about in anxious tension, churning in rage towards the humans. Yeshua then smiled, and when He did so, members of the lower council of the Sanhedrin came down from their seated places and one by one walked past Yeshua. Some spit in His face, others buffeted Him; and those angered the most smote Him with the open palms of their hands, mocking Him. "Prophesy unto us, thou Christ. Who was it that smote thee?"
Azaziel and his comrades cringed, but stood silently as the guards led Yeshua away until the whole of the Sanhedrin could assemble. And as soon as it was day, the elders of the people and the chief priests and the scribes came together, and led Him into their council.
"Art thou the Christ? Tell us," Caiaphas said.
And Yeshua said unto them, "If I tell thee, ye will not believe. And if I also ask you, ye will not answer me nor let me go. Hereafter shall the Son of Man sit on the right hand of the power of God."
Startled reactions echoed throughout the room, and gasps of amazement escaped the mouths of those assembled, and then said they all, "Art thou then the Son of God?"
Yeshua's answer was succinct. "Ye say that I am."
Incensed, one of the elders said, "What need we any further witness? For we ourselves have heard from His own mouth," and the multitude paraded Yeshua to see Pilate that they might have Him executed.
Azaziel lowered his head, shaking it in disbelief, watching as his King was once more bound, and taken by the humans to Pontius Pilate, the Roman Governor of the region.
The Prince of Issi and his angelic warriors witnessed in silence the travesty of justice that played out before them. Both he and a thousand angels held fast to Yeshua's side, agonizing over man's mistreatment of his creator.
Azaziel and his soldiers watched in growing irritation and resentment as the throng dragged Yeshua before Pilate, who then sent Him to Herod. And Herod displeased over Yeshua's failure to entertain him, sent him back to Pilate. All proceedings held illegally, all fallacious, and all unfair. And the more the angels watched what the Son of God allowed to befall Him, the more angered they became.
When the morning was come, the chief priests and elders of the people took counsel against Yeshua to put Him to death and delivered him to Pontius Pilate, the governor.
Then when Judas, who had betrayed Him, saw that Yeshua was condemned, he repented himself, and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders saying, "I have sinned in that I have betrayed innocent blood," they replied, "What is that to us? See thou to that." And Judas cast down the pieces of silver in the temple and departed and went and hanged himself.
Disheveled, weary, and abused, Yeshua stood before the governor, and the governor asked Him, saying, "Art thou the King of the Jews?"
And Yeshua said unto him, "Thou sayest." And when he was accused of the chief priests and elders, He answered nothing.
Then said Pilate unto Him, "Hearest thou not how many things they witness ag
ainst thee?" And He answered him never a word, insomuch that the governor marveled greatly. Now at that feast, the governor was wont to release unto the people a prisoner, whom they would. And they had then a notable prisoner, called Barabbas. Therefore, when they were gathered together, Pilate said unto them, "Whom will ye that I release unto you? Barabbas, or Yeshua which is called Christ?" For he knew that for envy they had delivered Him.
And when Pilate set down on the judgment-seat, his wife sent unto him, saying, "Have thou nothing to do with that just man: for I have suffered many things this day in a dream because of Him".
But the chief priests and elders persuaded the multitude that they should ask for Barabbas, and destroy Yeshua.
The governor answered and said unto them, "Whether of the twain will ye that I release unto you?"
They said, "Barabbas!"
Pilate saith unto them, "What shall I do then with Yeshua, which is called Christ?" They all say unto him, "Let Him be crucified," And the governor said, "Why, what evil hath He done?"
But they cried out the more, saying, "Let Him be crucified!"
When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult was made, he took water and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, "I am innocent of the blood of this just person: see ye to it."
Then answered all the people, and said, "His blood be on us, and on our children."
Pilate then released Barabbas unto them: and when he had scourged Yeshua, he delivered Him to be crucified. The soldiers of the governor took Yeshua into the common hall and gathered unto Him the whole band of soldiers, and they stripped Him and put on Him a scarlet robe. And when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon His head, and a reed in His right hand: and they bowed the knee before Him, and mocked Him, saying, "Hail, King of the Jews!"
And they spit upon Him, and took the reed, and smote Him on the head, and after that, they had mocked Him, they took the robe off from Him, and put His own raiment on Him, and led Him away to crucify Him. As they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name: whom they compelled to bear His cross.
Grigoric scouts hovered in sorrow and relayed the news back to the Kingdom, and Argoth watched with increasing realization that El's vision, a vision He had given His servant Michael so many eons ago, was now coming painfully to pass before his very eyes.
Chapter Ten
Crucifixion
Iblis rushed headlong into flaming tendrils that hung from the roof of Hell's gums. Burning acidic bile slid down the creature's walls and dropped as mucus from her ceiling. The darkness grew greater until nothing could be seen. No fire...no lava...just the pitch black and stifling humidity hung about him, and nothing but the echoes of screams and groans and the sounds of his own beating wings could be heard. What little light available to him was given off by the fires that crackled off Hell's lanky coils as he flew deeper into her intestinal tract, and away from Jerahmeel's party.
Panting in exhaustion his mind reeled with self-loathing and contempt.
You are a lecherous traitor...a traitor to God, to Lucifer and to yourself. Your cause, only to see to your self-preservation. How thou art fallen from the being you once were!
The Issi's mind toyed with him, waylaying him with condemnation, deprecation, and guilt.
Thou hast abandoned God...again...to save thyself.
Iblis flew through tendrils, pushing them aside, careful not to touch the floors or walls to alert Hell. Pressing forward, ever onward, no longer certain of his destination. Awash in self-pity his heart's abundance moved him to speak his woe aloud.
"Where should I go, and who would have me now? I am cast off from both Heaven and Hell...envoy to no one, and a member of no house." He stopped his flight in the flickering dark and sobbed when something moved in the black.
He wiped his eyes and gained his composure, straining to see between shimmers of light and blackness, intuition alerted him that he was not alone. He turned to his rear, then quickly to his left and right, peering deep to eye what accompanied him in the murk. And then a voice spoke to him.
"Have no fear, little one. I will not harm you--yet."
"Who art thou? Show yourself!"
The voice's tone changed to one of sadness.
"I am hurt Iblis. After all, that we have been through together, I would have thought you would have recognized me by now."
A light then shimmered before his path and the flaming tendrils moved away from the presence of a large Harada that occupied the room. His Elomic armor was imposing and his eyes glowed with the crackle of lightning, and Iblis stood in terror, realizing he had walked straight into his former captor – Zeus.
"I have been watching you since you arrived back on Earth. I will report to Lucifer that I have secured thy information, but first, you will tell me what I need to know or I will watch you succumb to the sands of Time and thy life shall float as a vapor before my eyes." Zeus then waved his hand and Iblis was caught as a fly in a web of temporal power.
Iblis tried to run, tried to fly back to the group, but the trap held fast. Caught in a bubble of slowed time, his every movement were but centimeters in the direction he desired to travel.
Zeus floated next to him and spoke. "You forget that I am the master of Time here. I can leave you here and return in a century and you would have found yourself moved but one foot. Just imagine, a century of running in the dark of Hell's intestine, clamoring for an escape that does not exist. Thy cries for help never finding escape from the temporal vacuum that now exists around you. But your actions are predictable, so I offer thee a choice...a choice to live, or to die while Hell suckles upon thy stone."
Zeus touched the floor and the room came alive with eyes from ceiling to floor. Then he expanded the temporal field and the tendrils that reached for Iblis slowed to an infinitesimal crawl.
"See? Some of us hath the power to traverse Hell without harm. Yea, we must be cautious, but in the end, she is but a beast. A beast who, with Charon, is even tamable. But you...well needless to say I do not need Grigoric sight to know what will happen to you. For Hell now is aware to your presence, and when I close the temporal field that now holds the creature at bay, I will be long gone...and you, while you..you will be soon gone." Zeus laughed.
Iblis's eyes locked in terror on the centipede-like eyes that rose from the floor...eyes that now fixed on him. Acidic salivating tendrils suddenly reached to snatch him into Hell's clutches. Zeus laughed as he circled him and smiled. "Wouldst you like to go with me and tell me where I might find Jerahmeel? For I know he seeks the master's weapon and Lord Talus."
Tears began to stream from Iblis's eyes, frozen in a microscopic march of time as they slid down his face: tears of surrender.
"Yes," he whimpered, trapped like a fly in the web of a towering spider.
"Very good," Said Zeus. "I so much enjoy our times together. Come, let us go."
Zeus then took Iblis into his arms, exited the hallway, and removed the temporal barrier around the area. Hell immediately flooded the chamber with eyes, magma and flaming tentacles that reached for occupants no longer there, and Zeus grinned as he took his escaped captive, prisoner, once more.
* * *
Enoch paced intently before Elijah. "He hast lied!" he said.
Elijah listened intently allowing Enoch to finish his explanation. Waiting for him to calm down.
"The king is none other than the traitor who collaborated with Lucifer. He is not Nephanos!" Enoch muttered to himself, almost oblivious to Elijah's presence. "And the people – the people think he is Nephanos, but if indeed he is not Nephanos, where is the true king?"
"The real issue is how to confront this treachery," Elijah said. "How to reveal the ruse. Hast thou heard anything about your friends? Are they unharmed?"
Enoch waved his hands in exasperation. "They are captive in a hold unbeknownst to me. Our host tells me that they await execution...execution for a crime they did not commit. Pssfftt. Gabriel and Metatron woul
d never steal. It is beyond their imagination to do so."
Elijah stroked his beard. "And of this thou art sure? Angels are not beyond the temptations known to man."
Enoch harrumphed. "I have known Elohim. I have seen the renegade, Lucifer, firsthand when he sent his assassins and Charon to destroy me and my family. I have also noted angels are a most honorable people, and though there is a host of them on Earth arrayed against our people, Gabriel and Metatron are not so. I would stake my life on their honor."
Elijah nodded. "That is good to know, for it yet may come to that."
Enoch looked at his peer curiously. "What do you mean?"
"I have been in the company of the Seraphim for many a day now and have studied these people. It would seem thy time in Heaven was to learn from the angels, whilst I was being tutored by the Seraphim. Thy devotion is akin to my own for them. They are, as you say a great people. Their passion for El is hot and ignites all that you see. They are desire, and yeah even lust, but in a sanctified form that serves El. This I have learned whilst among them. It may be that to unite our brethren we must be prepared to lay down all."
Enoch considered Elijah's words. "El commanded me to bring you back to Michael and the heavenly city."
Elijah nodded. "And the Lord Yeshua hath made known even before thy coming that this false king's time hath been weighed in the balance and found wanting, for I was commanded to accompany you to the heavenly city."
Enoch sat down, clasped his hands and wrung them as he spoke aloud, "What is it that you propose we do?"
"We will offer Camael one last space to repent," Elijah replied. "I will tell him El has commanded me to go to the heavenly city and see to Gabriel's people."
"And if he refuses to release you?" Enoch said.
"Then we will know that he is false, but to secure our plan, thou must acquire something that will expose him. You said that when you were with Camael blew into one of the instruments, and when he did so, the rest glowed and sung as well?"