by Mark Romang
Maddix popped back to his feet and slashed wildly at his opponent. The Eden sword pounded against Zarkien’s thigh, causing the demon’s leg to wobble. It was a punishing blow that caused Zarkien’s leg to smolder, but not enough to turn the tide his way. Maddix tried not to show it, but he was in awe of how lightning fast Zarkien could move.
They circled each other for several moments, limping from the strikes to their legs, and looking for openings. “You almost had me there on the ground,” Maddix said warily.
“It is only a matter of time before I…” Zarkien’s words were abruptly cut off. A pike tip protruded out through his chest and armor breastplate.
Stunned by the unexpected events, Maddix watched the impaled Zarkien being lifted high up into the air. Michael the archangel held the other end of the fifteen-foot long pike. The leader of Heaven’s armies slammed the other end of the pike—with Zarkien still skewered to it—into the ground. The pike swayed back and forth but held fast in its upright position.
“Now light the pike with your sword, Andrew,” Michael commanded.
Maddix stepped forward and held the Eden sword up against the wooden pike. Flames immediately raced up the war weapon and caught Zarkien on fire. Unable to move, Satan’s top general screamed in agony as fire engulfed him.
Michael looked up at Zarkien. “That should send a message to your troops that defeat is imminent.”
“Looks like a flaming shish kebab to me, Mad Dog,” Coleton Webb said as he walked up with Spencer. Maddix saw Eleazar trot up right behind them.
Michael faced them. “I have gathered you saints for a reason. You must return to Heaven at once. Jesus sits atop his stallion. And the saints have mounted up on their horses as well. Riding to earth as part of Christ’s heavenly army is a privilege you shouldn’t miss.”
Maddix looked around. There were still plenty of demons, and the battle still raged. The fighting had spilled over the side of the mountain and into the Valley of Jehoshaphat, or the Kidron Valley as it is presently called. “But you are still outnumbered, Michael.”
“It doesn’t matter, Andrew. When the demons see Jesus descending from the clouds they will flee like the cowards they are.”
“Samson is around here somewhere.”
“He will be found and taken back to Heaven along with you four,” Michael said urgently.
Maddix glanced one more time at the battlefield. “There is an Ultra-Orthodox Jew on the mountain you need to know about, Michael. This Jew is acting as a medic and attending to the wounded and dying. He is also reciting scripture and pleading with the dying Jews to confess their sins to Christ and accept him as the Messiah. I heard one of the fallen call him by name. His name is Ari Fabish. The demons have taken notice of him. Ari needs protection.”
Michael nodded. “I will assign a trio of my bravest angels to protect Mr. Fabish. Now you saints must go at once. There is only a short time left for you to travel back.”
Maddix smiled when he saw their transportation appear. Five of Michael’s fastest fliers walked up. They would be hitching rides on the angels. “Do you have your chain handy, Michael?” Maddix asked as he grabbed hold of his winged transporter.
“Don’t worry, Andrew. When the appointed time arrives, I will have my chain.”
****
The transporting angels knew every shortcut, portal and wormhole, and they used the best ones. The beauty of the Milky Way galaxy became a psychedelic blur to Maddix. A vivid kaleidoscope of blue, red, green and yellow colors flashed by him. Maddix crouched low on the angel’s back between its wings, and rode the angel like a jockey riding a thoroughbred.
Maddix could sense they neared Heaven. And as exhilarating as the colorful ride atop the angel’s back was, he couldn’t wait to return to his eternal home. Maddix felt joy behind Heaven’s walls. He felt contentment there. Most of all, he felt accepted. And the feeling of acceptance never ebbed.
God loves me so much that he wants to spend eternity with me. And a long time ago he put on human skin to make that happen.
Maddix smiled. An exciting thought gained momentum in his head and pushed aside all other thoughts. He kept thinking of the heavenly army all lined up and in formation. Hundreds of millions of saints, his brothers and sisters in Christ, all of them sitting astride white horses, all of them eager to follow the King of kings into battle.
I want to be a part of that, Maddix thought.
They left the second heaven and entered Heaven’s airspace. Maddix could see the city of God shimmering in the distance, glistening like a giant golden nugget. With no time to waste, the transporting angels didn’t slow a bit. They came in hot over the city.
And the angels knew just where to go. Maddix could see the stables now. And he could see a massive gathering of people—Heaven’s entire population. As they got closer he could see that every saint sat on a white horse. Each saint wore a dazzling white robe. The scene looked just as he imagined it, only better.
And then he saw Jesus.
Maddix felt his heart quicken. Jesus also sat on a white horse, a big stallion. And Jesus also wore a white robe, only blood spattered much of it. Even from a distance Maddix could see Jesus’ eyes glowing like hot embers.
The Son of God wore a determined look, a triumphant look, the kind of visage a king wears after quelling a threat to the kingdom, or after destroying a powerful army. Another horse stood next to Jesus. Maddix easily recognized the rider sitting on this horse. King David looked intense and powerful, and ready for one more campaign.
The transporting angels finally decreased their flight speed and set them down gently near the edge of the crowd. Sara Maddix—his wife while he lived on earth—had five horses roped together and waiting for them.
Sara smiled at him and Spencer. “You boys better saddle up. I think we’re about to leave for Earth,” she said.
Maddix grabbed the saddle horn of the horse nearest him. He put his left foot in a stirrup and pulled himself up. “You look beautiful on a horse, Sara,” Maddix said as he settled into the saddle.
“You look handsome yourself, Andrew. And so do you, Spencer,” Sara continued.
Spencer pulled his horse up alongside Maddix. “Hey, Dad, is that Joshua up ahead of us?”
Maddix looked in the direction Spencer indicated. He nodded. “I believe it is. And that’s Gideon not far away from him.”
“And Esther and Mordecai are right next to Gideon,” Sara pointed out. And I think that’s Ruth and Boaz just ahead of them.
Webb reached over and touched Maddix on the arm. Maddix turned and looked at his old friend, a man who had fought alongside him in wars both as a mortal and an immortal. “Hey, Mad Dog, have you noticed anything peculiar about us?”
“Other than we’re riding horses that can defy gravity and travel through space…not really, C-Dub.”
Webb laughed. “Look at your waist. None of us have our weapons anymore. I don’t have my scimitars. You don’t have your Eden sword. And Spencer doesn’t have his bow and magical quiver.”
Maddix glanced at his waist. His bronze scabbard was gone, and with it the Eden sword he kept sheathed inside. “I guess we don’t need our weapons anymore. Maybe we’ve fought our last battle.”
Webb nodded. “And these robes we’re wearing are dazzling white, purer than pristine snow. We wouldn’t be wearing them if we were going to get all dirty and blood-spattered.”
“Jesus is going to win this battle all by himself. Today, he is the ultimate weapon of mass destruction. We’re just along for the ride,” Maddix said.
“You said it, buddy. Jesus is bringing the battle to Earth. And he’s bringing it from the sky.”
A murmur rose up from the crowd. “We’re leaving!” someone cried out suddenly. “The gates have opened!” another voice shouted.
The horses in front of them began to move. Maddix lightly clicked his heels on his mount’s belly. The powerful horse responded to his gentle urging. And they moved forward. One step closer to t
he great and dreadful day of the Lord.
****
The thundercloud had grown massive. The cloud seemed to take up most of the sky, and it promised to unleash a fearsome storm at any moment.
Still hovering in place inside the cloud, Thorgus waited patiently to join up with the heavenly host. To pass the time, he had been singing praises to God ever since he’d successfully poured out the seventh bowl judgement.
An intense glow suddenly brightened the dark thunderhead. Thorgus turned to face the direction from which the glow came. He saw another angel hovering in the sky. The sun was to his back and added even more radiance to his glowing form.
Thorgus watched the angel open his mouth and begin to speak in a mighty voice. The angel called to the birds of the air, beckoning them. And birds of every species came flying in from all corners of the earth. The birds soon filled the sky and the thundercloud. Ravens surrounded Thorgus.
The angel in the sun spoke again to the birds. “Come, gather for the great supper of God, to eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all men, both free and slave, both small and great.”
Chapter 53
Downtown Seattle—that same moment
Standing outside on the second-floor dining terrace of the Westlake Center Mall and overlooking Westlake Park, Gretchen peered through binoculars at the spectators gathering near the execution stage.
“Tell me, child, have Nathan and Brooke made it beyond the barricade?” Mary asked. Without one of Nathan Banks’ homemade RFID tags, Mary and Gretchen had to distance themselves from the crowd, and the dining terrace afforded them a good view of the park and the stage.
“Not yet. They haven’t made it to the chip reader yet. There are a couple of people ahead of them.”
“Oh my, I don’t know how much longer I can take this. The suspense is killing me.”
“Okay, Brooke is stepping up to the reader. She’s lifting up her wrist….and she’s walking through. She’s safe. I see Nathan at the chip reader now. And he’s through as well. They both made it,” Gretchen said. “I can’t believe it worked. Nathan is a genius.”
Mary patted Gretchen’s shoulder. “The hand of God is upon us. His Spirit is at work on our behalf. We should never doubt his provision.”
“It isn’t always easy to keep the faith, Mary. Often it is the hardest thing to do, especially when things are going bad.”
“Yes, that is true. But after we make it through the testing we can look back and see how God has carried us through the difficulty. This will give us faith for the next trial, and the one after that. Little by little our faith grows. Sometimes the key to growing faith is having a long memory.”
Gretchen looked over the rail directly below them. “I hear someone preaching, Mary. Do you hear it? The voice sounds like it’s right below us.”
Mary smiled. “That would be Jacob Akkerman. Like I said yesterday, Jacob always shows up to preach on the streets during an execution.”
“He is very brave to do so.”
Mary nodded. “Let’s listen to Jacob for a moment. His words always stir me.”
****
“Blow a trumpet in Zion; sound an alarm on my holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of the Lord is coming; it is near, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness!
“To anyone listening who hasn’t taken the Antichrist’s mark, I urge you to confess your sins now to the Lord before it is too late, before he returns to earth from the sky, leading his heavenly army of saints.
“Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied about these people when he said, ‘Look! The Lord has come with countless thousands of his holy ones. He will judge all people and convict everyone of all the ungodly things that they have done in such an ungodly way, including all the harsh things that these ungodly sinners have said about him.’
“Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Jesus said in Mark 8:35, ‘If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake and for the sake of the Good News, you will save it.’
“I beg you not to delay your decision. Time is running out for all people to surrender their life to Christ. God will not delay much longer. St. Peter wrote: But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the works that are done on it will be exposed.
“The Lord replied to Habakkuk: ‘Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald may run with it. For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false, though it lingers, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay.’
“When John was caught up to the first heaven, Jesus said to him, ‘Behold I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end. Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates.’”
****
“You were right, Mary. Jacob sure knows how to preach the word. He is bringing it,” Gretchen said. “And look at the sky. It’s getting so dark. That black thundercloud is shaped like a pillar. And it’s enormous. I bet this cloud can be seen all over the planet.”
Mary looked at the sky hanging low above the tall buildings. Like the scripture Jacob just quoted, it was a day of darkness and gloom. “Child, I do believe this is the day the Lord will come back. I really do.”
Gretchen put an arm around Mary. She looked down at the stage and the UWC officers and government officials milling around it, as well as the burly executioner standing atop the stage with his axe. “I sure hope you’re right about that. Otherwise, Tanner and C.J. won’t be with us after today.”
Chapter 54
There were no seats inside the barricade. So they stood in the middle of the bloodthirsty crowd.
He knew he probably shouldn’t, but Nathan Banks lifted his head up. He wore a gray-and-black hoodie, and tried to keep his head down as much as he could to avoid detection. After all, he was a prison escapee, and authorities were surely looking for him.
Somewhere he imagined a room with a bank of monitors displaying security feeds, and UWC officers studying each monitor, searching for rebels and fugitives like him.
But Banks couldn’t help it. The turbulent sky drew his gaze like a magnet attracting iron.
It wasn’t even midday. Yet the sky had darkened so much in the last few minutes that streetlights had flickered on.
Brook squeezed his arm. “Here come the prisoners,” she mumbled.
One by one, six prisoners climbed out the back of a prisoner transport van. Four men and two women. They wore hand cuffs and leg irons, and shuffled awkwardly toward the stage.
The crowd roared. Someone behind them yelled out derogatory names. Whether the crowd received compensation or not, their enthusiasm seemed genuine to Banks.
“There’s Tanner. He looks remarkably calm,” Banks said, his voice nearly drowned out by the hostile crowd. He’d spent the last few minutes trying to console Brooke, to keep her calm. But there were no words in any language that could comfort her, or neutralize the grief strangling her heart. She could lose both her brothers in one terrible day, and within the hour.
“He looks scared to me.”
“I wonder why they don’t use guillotines?” Banks wondered aloud to himself. He hadn’t intended Brooke to hear his musing. But somehow she heard him over the din.
“A guillotine would be too merciful and too clean. They want a mess. It’s how Skymolt sends a message. It’s how he crushes uprisings.”
Banks leaned over and whispered in Brooke’s ear. “So did C.J. ever let you in on
his plan? And are you involved in it?”
Brooke nodded. She spoke her reply into his ear. “It’s going to be a shootout. C.J. only wants me to join in if things go south.”
“I don’t want you to get involved. I know what’s going to happen if you do,” Banks whispered back. He took her hand in his. “Look, I know this is lousy timing, but so be it. I might not have another chance to say it. I love you, Brooke.”
She looked up at him. Her aquamarine eyes teared up. “I Love you too, Nathan. I have from the first day I met you.” She brought her lips up to his ear. “I prayed for you every day while you were in prison. I prayed that God would take care of you and not let you suffer, and that he would liberate you one day.”
Banks smiled at her. “I appreciate that. Whatever you said worked.”
The crowd erupted to a fever pitch all around them. But the boisterous crowd didn’t cheer for the sweet moment he and Brooke just shared.
Banks adjusted his focus toward the stage. UWC officers were manhandling a prisoner up the steps and onto the stage. The officers jerked the prisoner around so he faced the crowd.
Tanner Mason surveyed the crowd. The crowd jeered and shook their fists at him.
Brooke buried her head in Banks’ chest. He held her tight as she struggled to stifle her sobs. Banks said a silent prayer. Don’t let her scream, Lord. Please don’t let Brooke cry out.
Chapter 55
Special Agent Nick Loomis couldn’t remember feeling so nervous. Sweat beaded his brow and rolled down his sides. If ever there were a dead man walking, it was him.