The Great Gate

by J R Dahl

  Inside the compound the countdown had reached two minutes. When that happened, the racks automatically began the lowering procedure. As they began to lower, the jarring movement brought the slaves out of their comatose haze. They could now see that they were being lowered headfirst into boiling vats of water. They cried out in terror as they squirmed and tried to free themselves from the shackles of the racks.

  The Seberian ran and jumped with supernatural speed and strength through the broken window of the command center. He landed just behind the Leviathan soldier and quickly took out his legs with a sweeping kick. That gave the Helienders just enough time to get through to the control panel as they scrambled to shut down the execution.

  “Hurry up!” yelled one the soldiers; he looked out to see the slaves only two meters away from the tops of the vats. He also saw his fellow Helion soldiers finally overpowered by the Leviathan. They pulled the soldiers from the places where they had been taking cover. The Leviathan effortlessly threw them across the room and beat them until they were unconscious. The Leviathan then took the Helienders and tossed their unconscious bodies into the vats of boiling water.

  The Seberian could sense the murder that had just taken place. With one powerful movement he reached down and ripped the amulet from the chest of the Leviathan that he was fighting.

  The unholy power immediately left his body as he lay on the floor crying out in pain. The Seberian turned to see an immense amount of red mist pour out of the vats where the Helienders had just died. He alone could see it, and it was a sobering reminder of what would happen to the slaves if they were not successful in this mission.

  The Leviathan soldiers in the chamber down below now turned their attention to the control room and began to make their way across the room. At the same moment three more Leviathan poured into the command center.

  “Pull the bypass release lever,” one yelled to the others.

  The Seberian ran across the room at lightning speed and intercepted two of the Leviathan as they tried to pull the manual release. They all pulled blades and engaged in a two versus one sword battle. While they were locked in a blazing-fast hand-to-hand battle, the two Helienders tried to hack the system and shut down the lowering mechanism. The third Leviathan, however, jumped over all the others and landed in the back corner of the room directly in front of the long, rusty release lever.

  The Seberian watched from the corner of his eye as the Leviathan grabbed hold to the lever and began to pull down.

  Suddenly a singing of a flying metal object flew past and a heavenly blade imbedded itself in the wall beside the lever. The Leviathan looked down to find that the flying blade had cut off both his arms before he was able to pull the lever. Once the momentary shock wore off he fell backward and screamed in pain.

  Out in the main chamber the angel flew through the air with the two demons close behind. They weaved in between the upper portions of the slave racks as the demons sent balls of fire from the ends of their blades, each one just barely missing the angel.

  As the hand-to-hand combat continued inside the command center, one of the Leviathan landed a massive punch to the Seberian’s face, which sent him flying backward and slamming into the control panel. That gave the Leviathan a split second to get away and grab the lever.

  As the angel flew through, dodging deadly fire from the demons, he raised his bow and pulled back an arrow. Just then one of the demons caught him by the boot, pulled him back, and slammed him against the wall. Pieces of wood and portions of the wall went flying in every direction from the impact the angel’s body.

  The demon ripped the bow from his hands and released an incredible barrage of punches that the angel frantically worked to block.

  Inside the command center the Leviathan soldier pulled the lever and the racks were let free. The slaves and the racks began to free fall. The angel broke free from the demon’s blade attack and grabbed hold of two of the nearest slave racks. Each one held thirty people. He struggled to lift them as the slaves inside where only centimeters from being immersed in the boiling water.

  The other racks fell into the vats. The slaves screamed in anguish, but their voices were quickly drowned as their heads hit the water.

  “NO!” cried the angel, as he could only watch them die.

  As they did the red mist completely filled the room. The collection chamber pulsated with power and lit up the ceiling.

  As the demons drew near, the angel grabbed two cables from each of the racks that he was holding and tied them together. He then carried them all in his left hand, pulling a second sword from its sheath with his right. His powerful wings beat with tremendous force as he tried to lift them higher above the vats. His eyes burned with white light as the demons attacked in from opposite sides. The white of his eyes intensified as the battle continued and he held off the attacks of both demons.

  The remaining Helion soldiers looked on in heartache and fear. The Leviathan soldiers grabbed them and threw them through the window of the command center and onto the main chamber below. All the Helienders grouped together as the Leviathan slowly gathered around them.

  “Now it’s your turn,” sneered one of the soldiers as they closed in.

  The Seberian continued to battle one particularly powerful Leviathan back in the command center. When the execution happened the Seberian could not only sense but also see the Leviathan’s speed and power increase.

  In the midst of battle the Seberian closed his eyes while continuing to defend against each blade swing of the Leviathan. With eyes closed he called out to God for help. When he reopened his eyes the light blazed even brighter, his strength increased, and he pushed back the Leviathan.

  With a strike so fast that the enemy couldn’t even see it the Seberian ripped the amulet from his chest. The Leviathan dropped to his knees as he cried out it pain, but before his knees could touch the ground the Seberian had jumped through the window and landed beside the Helienders. He pulled a second blade from its sheath and took a defensive stance as the Leviathan slowly closed in on the Helion force.

  The angel began to lose his grip as he still held sixty of the slaves from falling to their deaths. The demons continued to attack him from both sides, but he amazingly was able to defend each sword strike. The demons enjoyed the red mist as it poured into the demons bodies. The angel could see that their speed and power increased as the mist continued to fill the main chamber.

  Chapter 7

  At the portal the angels were still locked in battle with both the Leviathan soldiers and demons. Satan and all his soldiers received a boost of power from the execution on the planet Larm; the red mist welled up inside them and poured from their eyes, ears, and mouths. This gave them a definite speed and power advantage. The Leviathan soldiers attacked with even more boldness and power. That distracted the angels long enough that the demons were able to give some deadly blows. A few of the angels were lost as some were stabbed through the heart while others had their heads removed by flaming demon blades. They could heal from all other types of wounds, but these two were deadly.

  Back on planet Larm the Helion soldiers gathered what weapons they could find as the Leviathan closed in.

  The demons continued to attack the angel with increased speed and power until one of them cut the inside of his left arm very deeply. That caused him to lose his grip on the cables. Seconds later the slaves cried out in anguish as they hit the boiling water. In seconds their cries were gone, but they were replaced by the roars of the two demons and the Leviathan soldiers.

  “No!” cried out the Helienders, hope draining from their faces.

  The Seberian used the fact that his enemy was distracted by celebration and knocked four of the Leviathan unconscious when he shot them with Lonan’s electric rounds. That pulled the Helion soldiers back to reality and gave them a chance to escape.

  “That door over there,” yelled the Helion commander, pointing to a door at the end of a hallway on the outer edge of the main chamber. Th
e remaining seven Helienders opened fire with electric rounds as they ran for the door. They hit just a few of the Leviathan as they ran toward the exit. The rest dodged the rounds and ran in pursuit.

  As the Seberian also ran toward the door he grabbed one of the Helion backpacks and opened it up. Inside was an explosive charge. As he ran he started the timer. Two Leviathan where catching up to him and about to catch him when two electric rounds that where shot from the far side of the room took them out. The Helion soldiers were providing cover fire from the door as the team tried to evacuate.

  As the Seberian ran toward the door he looked up at the angel still working desperately to fight off the two demon attackers. They swirled through the air like tornados. The Seberian passed underneath them, and they locked eyes. His look seemed to ask, “What can I do?”

  The angel yelled down, “Go! I will hold them off.”

  Then something happened that no one had anticipated: The Leviathan soldiers that had been shot with the electric rounds began to wake up far sooner than had been calculated. The concentration of the red mist and its power had shortened the length of time that the rounds had an effect on their bodies.

  As they left the building, the Helienders also set charges that they pulled from their backpacks. They threw them into a side room that was filled with advanced electronic equipment. When they all exited the building, they found their shuttle waiting just outside the door and their fighter escort hovering up above. The Seberian was the last to jump through the shuttle door as the main engines fired and they lifted away from the building.

  Just as they began to fly away from the compound the angel was overpowered and thrown to the floor. They pinned him down as one of the demons raised his flaming blade to strike a deadly blow. Just then the main chamber was filled with flames as all the charges exploded.

  As the shuttle flew away, the Helienders could see Leviathan soldiers running from the building, flames engulfing the compound.

  Back at the portal to heaven the angels and demons continued in their battle while the demons had a definite advantage. The Leviathan soldiers that had been knocked out by the electric nets were now awake and rejoined the fight.

  “We need to give the men more time. I think it’s time for re-enforcements,” said Tekel as he flew to the small clearing in front of the door in the mountain. He thrust his sword into the ground and knelt beside it. He extended his arms out to his sides and then with tremendous force clapped his hands together against the flat sides of his blade. He did that three times, and each time the blade acted like a tuning fork and sent shockwaves through ground.

  Moments later the side of the mountain in front of him started to shake and crumble. All the dirt on each side of the door crumbled as two massive angels immerged from under the mountain. They stood seven meters tall and were made completely of stone. They shook themselves off and stretched as if they had been sleeping for hundreds of years. God had stationed these angels here as guardians of the great gate. They had been buried to stay hidden and to not draw attention to the door.

  “I’m sorry to awaken you, my brothers, but we need your help,” said Tekel as he flew up into the air to speak with them. “As you can see, the fallen one and his minions are trying to pass through the gate.”

  The angels nodded their heads and shook all the rubble from their bodies. They extended their massive stone wings and pulled their swords from their sheaths. Their blades and their eyes both lit up with blinding-white light. Electric current pulsated over the surface of their blades. They each gave out a roar that echoed across the planet.

  “We are ready,” they said in deep, echoing voices.

  Tekel flew up into the air above the battlefield and yelled in an unusually loud voice: “Everyone stop, NOW!”

  As he said this he plummeted downward and punched the ground. The impact was so great that it created a violent earthquake. All the Leviathan fell to the ground and the angels and demons fought to regain their footing. He then flew back up into the air to address the battlefield.

  “Men of creation, hear me now! Until this point we have shown you mercy, but no more! If you do not abandon this attack and march off this battlefield, you will die. I know you can hear and understand me. The enemy has not taken control of you fully. You have been warned, and you are responsible for your own actions. Whatever he has promised you is a lie. He is only using you for his own evil purposes. You have the choice to walk away from this evil path now. If you do not, you will perish. The choice is yours.”

  Satan flew up into the air and hovered above the Leviathan on his side of the battle field. “Don’t listen to this fool. Beyond that door lies power, riches, and glory. Follow me and we will take it by force.”

  All the human Leviathan stood to their feet and cheered. They picked up their weapons and charged the angels once again.

  The angels’ eyes all burned in unison with the same intensity. As the wave of Leviathan soldiers hit their ranks, they did not hold back. They killed each of the men that attacked them quickly and with great ease. The demons then also rejoined the fight. They were still filled with great speed as the red mist continued to well up inside them.

  The stone angels raised their swords and pointed them at Satan’s forces. They released massive bolts of lightning from the tips of their blades, which took out hundreds of demons and Leviathan soldiers at one time.

  Chapter 8

  Maginon stood in the center of the command bridge as his soldiers operated the ship from their workstations.

  “Sir, we’re nearing the planet Helion and starting our deceleration out of light speed,” reported the fight commander.

  Moments later all the Nemaron carriers slowed and came out of light speed. As they did, the planet Helion came into sight. Maginon looked out the window and gazed at the planet with a lustful grin. His ten invasion carriers remained in defensive positions on all sides of the command ship as they continued to draw nearer the planet Helion.

  “Launch long ranger fighters,” ordered Maginon.

  “Yes, sir.”

  In the hangars of all the Nemaron carriers, Leviathan soldiers marched in formation as they loaded onto the troop transport shuttles. In other hangars the fighter shuttles finished loading fuel and fired their secondary engines, which gently lifted them from the deck of the hangar and into a hover mode.

  Inside the cockpit of the fighters the Nemaron pilots strapped themselves in as they received a transmission from the command ship.

  “First wave long range fighters launch immediately. Repeat, first wave fighters clear for launch.”

  Within seconds twenty heavily armed Nemaron fighters launched from each of the carriers. Once clear of the larger ships they fired their main engines and rockets toward the planet Helion.

  On the command bridge Maginon watched as his fighters spread out across the surface of the planet and created a defense grid to prevent any Helienders from escaping.

  “As soon as they are in range, fire the catalyst missiles,” ordered Maginon.

  “Yes, sir,” replied one of his soldiers.

  Moments later catalyst missiles launched from tubes on the front of the command ships. Each ship fired two missiles that sped directly toward the base under the mountain. They spread out evenly as they passed through the atmosphere. The Nemaron fighters had stopped and were hovering just outside the outer atmospheric layer. They watched as the catalyst missile raced toward the Helion stronghold. Once the missiles had reached the base, they stopped and hovered one hundred meters above the surface of the planet.

  From the outside, the mountain looked completely uninhabited. All hangar doors and hatches were closed and covered with cloaking holograms. But deep inside the mountain all the people of Helion barricaded themselves in their bunkers.

  In the war room Averine, Kilgron, and Cloin watched on large monitors the Nemaron command ships drawing closer. They could see the catalyst missiles as they came to a stop and hovered far above the base.
>
  “Sir, their catalyst missiles have entered our atmosphere,” reported one of the woman Helion soldiers.

  “Send out a warning,” replied Kilgron.

  All throughout the base the people heard the warning. “Attention, prepare for impact. Repeat, everyone prepare for impact.”

  On the bridge of the Nemaron command ship Maginon grinned as their craft drew closer to the planet’s surface. “Activate catalysts,” he ordered.

  “Yes, sir.”

  Moments later all twenty of the missiles exploded simultaneously. The explosions were not very large, but the shockwaves were. The entire mountain shook as if a tremor had crept from the depths of the planet. The hydro-cells buried deep in the center of the mountain continued on without any problem.

  Everyone inside the mountain base shook and struggled to maintain their footing. The lights went off and on for a few seconds and then everything settled and returned to normal.

  “We’d better get down to the hangar,” said Averine. She turned and walked toward the door, Cloin following her.

  “Averine. Be careful,” said Kilgron. It pained him to see her go. He wished there was some way that he could keep her out of the battle and inside the base.

  She stopped and turned back to face her father. She smiled as she replied, “Yes, sir.”

  He forced a smile and then tried to clear his head as he turned his attention back to the monitors in the command center. “Launch air defense. Send up the fighters,” he ordered.

  On the surface of the mountain large, tubular ports emerged from under a thin layer of dirt and twigs. They extended out from the center of the mountain until they were several meters above the ground. The mouth of the tubes opened to reveal the oscillating lights moving up the inner surface of the launch tube.

  Inside the mountain pilots continued loading into the cockpits of their fighters, which were then mechanically loaded onto a conveyer that rolled toward the inside end of the launch tubes.