Daystar

by Darcy Town

  “That cannot be. I do not feel as powerful as Him. I have stood in His light, it far surpasses mine.” Lucifer bared his teeth at the fire. “If we are equals then where is my strength? Why am I blue and He gold?” Lucifer surged with power and his wings expanded. “Where is my light?”

  Michael stared at his hands, the hands that glowed like Lucifer’s did. He dropped to his knees, despairing.

  The fire surged with renewed strength and Lucifer lost consciousness in the heat and light. The sun took on mass.

  ***

  Dahlia stared into the sun. She felt Lucifer’s flagging strength in her heart. She blocked tears, unable to think of that. She was running out of time. The sun grew brighter in the sky. She shouted, “Raphael!”

  Raphael appeared on the other end of the sunshade. They nodded to one another. Dahlia plunged her hands into the surface as Raphael did the same. They concentrated together and the material shifted and changed. They opened a massive portal into Hell. Warmth spilled out in a red glow onto the planet below. All the fighting between Earth and the portal ceased as allies and enemies stared into the gaping maw of Hell.

  Dahlia ground her teeth and looked to Gaea. “Go. Do not dally here any longer; this area will not be stable soon. Get to the planet, Gaea.” She held her daughter’s gaze. “If you happen to find Gabriel on the way, find out what the fuck he wants, promise it to him as my proxy, and get him to help Paimon build me a new sun.”

  Gaea nodded, jumped off the surface, and soared to the planet. Helion’s angels flocked around her, an escort back. Dahlia watched her go. She looked to Raphael. “Are you ready?”

  Raphael jumped and landed by her side. “Yes.”

  Dahlia turned her face to the planet. “TRANSITION TO HELL IMMINENT, ENERGETIC SHIELD DROPPING SHORTLY.”

  Dahlia blinked against the light as the sun began to supernova. She held back tears. “I am sorry.”

  “Why?” Raphael grinned and twisted her fingers. “We’re one in the same. Like this, BFFs.”

  Dahlia managed to smirk. “If we survive this you will be your own again.”

  Raphael stuck her tongue out. “Stop your justifications and eat me already.”

  Dahlia hooked a finger at her. “Come here.”

  Raphael hugged Dahlia. Dahlia kissed her lightly on the lips. Raphael faded and surged into Dahlia. Dahlia’s skin turned black, marbled with streaks of red and gold. Dark flame and shadow wreathed her head as a halo. Her body shifted at the edges, no longer solid.

  Raphael’s gifts became hers again. Dahlia surged with a energy unrivaled in this realm, but for the power that came through the sun. She looked to the star. She waited, unwilling to swallow the planet whole before she absolutely had to.

  Gaea soared towards Earth. Space changed behind her. Heat and warmth flooded out of Hell and brushed everything in its path. Gaea understood then, what Dahlia proposed. A haven for Earth in Hell.

  Gaea focused her thoughts on the planet like her mother had asked. Hell’s heat touched the creatures on Earth. Ifrit and Ra were relieved of some of their burden. Winter dropped away as the temperature climbed. Gaea frowned. She wondered what the price was for Dahlia to do such a thing. There must be a reason for her to stall before going through with it.

  Gaea streaked green through the hellish sky. Paimon and Furcas flew on the far side of the planet, staving off waves of angels. They had heard Dahlia’s message and positioned themselves and their angels close to the shield, waiting for the transition to Hell.

  Breathers dove for Gaea, their wings and chests brightening as they prepared to spit and shoot fire. Gaea could not afford them any attention. Helion’s angels rose to meet them, erasing each with their silent touch. Still more came. They flooded the area between her the planet, obscuring it from her vision.

  Gabriel flew to Gaea’s side and matched her speed. “You came above again.”

  She eyed him. “Yes, I had to.”

  He frowned. “But I told you not to. I warned you of the consequences.”

  “I had no choice.”

  He searched her expression. “Do you return now? Will you defend yourself against those that will come for you?”

  “I am heading that way, but I cannot fight anyone. I must concentrate of life there. I must not waver. If the others fail, I am all that they have left to keep them alive.”

  Gabriel tensed. “Then you give me no choice, Gaea.” He unsheathed a sword.

  She gulped. “You always have a choice, Gabriel.”

  He shook his head. “No, I do not.”

  She had no energy to spare battling him. “I cannot fight you, Gabriel. I give you a fight and my energy wanes, things will weaken and die.”

  Gabriel stared at his blade. “I know you cannot fight me, Gaea.” He looked to her, his green eyes luminous. “That is why I have no choice.”

  Gaea pleaded, “I know you may have your orders from Him, but please do not harm me, Gabriel. I ask not for my sake, but for all those innocents below. Please.”

  He dove in and grabbed her. He wrapped his arm around her waist, holding her tightly against him. Gaea trembled, but he made no move to do anything but carry her. Gabriel looked into her red eyes. “Take off my armor, Gaea.”

  Gaea blinked. “What?”

  “Un-strap it, take it off, and put it on.”

  Gaea frowned. “Why do you ask me to do such a thing?”

  Gabriel waved his blade at the angels that fought around them. “You do not fight and your focus is elsewhere. You make yourself vulnerable to all. What else am I supposed to do?” His brows furrowed. “Do you know what I have been ordered to do?”

  Gaea trembled against him. “You are the contingency plan I must assume.”

  Gabriel nodded. “I am to kill you if the supernova fails.” He pointed to the wailers and breathers. “They believe that I hold you even now so that I will follow through on that plan, as I must because of Dahlia’s move to place Earth in Hell. It is why they stay their power. Your death is mine to dole out.”

  Gaea shook her head. “Gabriel, please—”

  “Gaea, my armor is made specifically to repel attacks from my own kind. Please take it off of me and put it on while we still have time. Shortly they will realize I have no such intention and if I have to fight my own kind, your own kind, and defend you with my body, I think it only logical that I will fail on one or all of those fronts. So, take my armor off and put it on, it will resize to fit you. I designed it for this purpose.”

  She gaped. “Why?”

  His lips twitched up into a smile. “Though I have no doubt you despise me, which I accept, I remembered when we first met. You had a song, though you had not a consciousness then, and because of hearing it, I have been captivated with you for some time. I just forgot.” In speaking, he found it easier as he went. “Regardless of your ire towards me, I know I will be able to admire your planet from afar for some time if you continue to exist. Therefore, for the duration of this battle, I wish you safe.” He looked back into her eyes. “Understand?”

  Gaea shook her head. “But I thought you must obey His orders?”

  “Must I?” Gabriel frowned. “Lucifer freed me from that compulsion a very long time ago, as he did with all the others.”

  “But this is your plan that is ruining us!”

  Gabriel grinned. “Indeed. Do you think Paimon will be proud of me?”

  Gaea was confused, but she took his breastplate off. “I have no idea. I do not understand the logic of this plan. Whose side are you on? What do you want?”

  “A side? Life I suppose.” He corkscrewed through the air. “My own side as well, I want life to continue for selfish reasons.”

  Gaea took his greaves and slipped one on. “I must admit, I still do not understand. Your plan is threatening extinction of all life below and yet here you are working counter to your own plan.”

  He nodded. “Of course. If my plan had not seemed foolproof to Him He would have never gone through with it. So
when I pitched it I was filled with all intentions of killing you, it was unpleasant for me, but I resolved myself to the gruesome task. But now, with Him distracted I am free to null and void certain aspects that I do not like without Him being the wiser. I am commander in this battle you know.” Gabriel smiled. “I am very smart.”

  She sighed. “Gabriel.”

  He gazed at her fondly. “Yes, Gaea?”

  “I think you are very insane.”

  He grinned. “Thank you.”

  Gaea remembered what Dahlia had asked. “Gabriel, what do you want? Dahlia has given me her proxy. She needs you to help Paimon rebuild a sun.”

  Gabriel nodded. “Yes I thought that might happen, but I cannot do that now, not while you remain threatened. What do I want? If I succeed and keep us both alive…will you fly with me again so that we may talk on things without the pressure of a battle?”

  She gaped at him. “Did you just ask me out on a date?”

  He frowned. “I am not familiar with that term, but I do request a talk between us two, a span of time shared together.”

  “That’s all you want? You’ll help Paimon if I agree to spend time with you?”

  “I will help Paimon regardless of whether you agree. A chat between us is not a condition of your survival and I would not want you to agree to such a thing under duress. If you desire me to help Paimon, I will, once I am sure you are no longer in danger.”

  Gaea leaned her head against his bare chest. “You have got to be kidding.” She bit her lip. “All right, if that is the case I need to focus now, Gabriel.”

  He helped her into his gauntlets. “I understand. We can discuss this later. Please continue to armor yourself. I will shortly need to focus on killing things as I am aware that you will need to focus on keeping things alive.” He stared at the skies. “I do hope my brother does not come seek me out while I am performing this task. That could make things rather awkward for all parties involved.”

  ***

  Andy clapped and cleared Heaven’s angels out of the space before them. He looked over his shoulder at the solar shockwave. “Shit. We are down to minutes before that wave hits us.”

  Berith held on to Andy and Azrael tighter. “What will it do to us?”

  Andy followed Belial. “For you and me? I cannot imagine that much, as we are light and fire ourselves.”

  Berith looked towards Apple. “But for them of Hell?”

  Andy made a face. “It might be bad news, but I’m not an expert. Could be nothing at all.”

  Berith glared at Apple. “She is pregnant.”

  Andy nodded. “So I surmised.”

  Berith eyed him. “Did you know?”

  “No, dude! I would have told you.” Andy called to Belial, “Pick up the pace, Belial!”

  Belial waved. “We’re almost there, Andes!”

  “We are?” Andy squinted into the darkness ahead. “Where’s the moon, where’s Earth? Are you sure?”

  Apple looked back and avoided Berith’s gaze. “Dahlia’s opened up a portal to Hell. It is between us and Earth, so we can’t see the planet.”

  Berith fumed. “Nice of you to tell us that! It’s good when we keep each other informed of important things. Communication is the basis for working well together!”

  Apple made a face. “Would you rather I stayed behind in Eden and twiddled my fucking thumbs! I am not a cripple!”

  Berith snarled. “You are pregnant! You should have not put yourself or our child in danger!”

  Apple flung her hands out. “Don’t know if you noticed, Berith, but everywhere is in danger. Dire fucking peril and calamity are any place you look and I would rather face that at your side where you could defend me and our child if necessary than by myself far away from you!”

  Berith snapped his mouth shut.

  Andy nodded and spoke softly, “She does have a point.”

  Berith grimaced. “Shut up, Andy.” He raised his voice, “You still should have told me!”

  “So you would act irrationally and not even listen to me? No thanks!” She turned from him. Apple and Belial’s angels smirked at Berith.

  “You are not in peak condition!”

  She looked over her shoulder. “My mother fought beside my father every single time she was pregnant and the lot of us turned out damn hardy!”

  Berith screwed his mouth shut and looked away. “I don’t care.”

  Apple rolled her eyes and turned away. “Fine pout, real mature of you.” Her blood angels laughed at Berith and flipped their long black hair.

  Belial turned around and sailed backwards on her surfboard. “Andrealphus, what is our plan now?”

  Andy spoke over Berith’s mutterings, “We find Dahlia, and get our new orders. Did you guys know she was planning this?”

  Apple shook her head. “No.”

  Belial turned around and swept up and over the lunar wall Dahlia put up. She skidded to a stop as Dahlia came into view. “Whoa!”

  Dahlia looked up. She was black flame from the waist down. Her six wings were no longer solid, but smoke streaked with undulating rainbow-hued dust. “Oh good. Apple and Belial, I need you.”

  Andy and Berith caught up. Andy gaped at Dahlia. Berith ripped himself from Andy’s grip and wrapped Apple in his arms. He looked to Dahlia. “Did you know she was pregnant?”

  Dahlia blinked. “No, not really top of my list right now, Berith, but congratulations.” She pointed to Earth. “We are going to Hell.”

  Andy laughed then covered his mouth. He looked serious. “All of us?”

  Dahlia shook her head. “No. Paimon needs to stay out here and build me a new sun, and he will need protection. Andy and Berith, you will stay with him.” She ground her teeth and made sure they were paying attention. “We really need Gabriel as well. So if you happen to see him, get him to help us by whatever means necessary.”

  Berith looked at her. “You are splitting us up?”

  Dahlia nodded. “Yes, I would not ask if I had a choice.”

  Andy glanced at Belial. “What is the plan then?”

  “I am pulling the planet into Hell to protect it from the supernova. Paimon needs to clear the air here and jumpstart a sun. He needs to start as soon as I leave. Apple, I need you and Belial to remain inside Hell with Earth. With Paimon and Furcas staying here I lose my two planet defenders. The shield around Earth will drop away once we enter Hell.”

  Belial looked to Earth. “But there are a lot of angels. The two of us won’t be able to stop all of them.”

  Dahlia nodded. “I know, but you will be able to keep the majority off of the surface. That will need to be good enough. I…I could attempt to destroy them myself, but my attention is already split. I cannot afford to divide more.”

  Apple formed two blades of blood. “We can do it.”

  Berith stared at Apple. “Why can’t we just teleport to another star? Why must we split? Surely the universe is big enough that we can just move and move again if threatened.”

  “Have you taken a look at the universe recently?” Dahlia pointed towards space. The Archangels looked and went quiet. No stars dotted the sky; there were no comets, no planets, it was darkness.

  Andy frowned. “But the light…we would still see it even if the stars were put out.”

  “You are not looking into the depths of space, Andrealphus. The line of existence, the very end of our universe is quickly approaching the borders of our solar system, there is no place for the light to travel through, it is gone. Everything is gone. He unmakes this place.”

  Berith frowned. “What is the point of Him doing that?”

  “For the reasons you stated. We would have no escape.” Dahlia looked grim. “He has been taking the heavenly bodies apart to fuel his destruction of our sun, an action which Lucifer had been stalling.” She stared in the direction of the sun. “But Lucifer has been overwhelmed and He will continue to take apart everything, giving us no options. This place will be cold, dark, and uninhabitable soon if He has Hi
s way. Nothing will exist here.”

  Belial raised her hand. “But if we make a new sun, will He not just destroy that too?”

  “His attention will mostly be on Hell once we transition and elsewhere…He will perhaps notice you, but I imagine He will think your actions foolhardy if He sees you at all. But that is not the case. I need a fucking star to return to guys. Paimon must do this.”

  Apple frowned. “What prevents Him from destroying that one too?”

  “Lucifer, I hope.”

  Berith looked to the sun. “You said he was overwhelmed.”

  “Overwhelmed yes, but he has not died.” Dahlia touched her chest. “I can feel him faintly. He will rise again.”

  ***

  Lucifer floated in a bath of light and heat, suspended unconscious. He was tossed in flame and fire as the shockwave of the supernova raced at enhanced speeds towards Earth.

  Michael could no longer hold on to him; having pulled him out of the direct flame, he lost his link to his older brother. Michael turned to where Earth should be. His consciousness wavered. He was pulled back to Heaven leaving the Primangel alone in a rapidly emptying universe.

  Lucifer tumbled unaware of anything around him. He was immersed in His power. Thoughts and sensations that were not his flickered in his consciousness. Lucifer saw things and heard His words as if he were on the other side of a door, listening in.

  Lucifer dreamt the dream of God.

  ***

  Furcas cleaved through bodies and heads with ease, swinging his disks of sharpened gems like a helicopter. Paimon ducked under the blades. “You got Dahlia’s message?”

  “No dear, I’m deaf.” Furcas grabbed Paimon and wrenched him to the side, giving him free space to attack.

  Paimon made a face. “Just checking.”

  Furcas gave him a peck on the cheek. “Thanks.”

  Paimon squinted. “Hey, Berith’s coming.”

  Lightning arced around the pair, obliterating their enemies. Berith looked grim; Azrael was asleep on his shoulder. He shook his brother awake. “Piggyback ride?” Azrael nodded and moved to Berith’s neck. Berith pulled his swords out. “We have new orders.”

  Paimon looked at Earth. “We have ours. We’re defending this place when the planet’s energy shield fails in Hell. Are you guys here for that too?”