In Exile (Archangel Jarahmael and the War to Conquer Heaven, Book III)

by John J Higgins

  “I have met with the Angels of the Orders of the Virtues. We have been up most of the night discussing how best to handle this violation of one of the Almighty's commandments to an Archangel.”

  Cerebriel knew that he would have to speak up and try to convince Michael and the Virtues that Jarahmael was still doing the Almighty's will when he had communicated with the Humans. And he needed to do it now, before Michael continued with his speech. For as soon as Jarahmael was condemned by Michael, only the Almighty Himself would be able to reverse the decision. But there were good and reasonable grounds for Jarahmael violating the commandment. Accordingly, Cerebriel flapped his wings and took flight, hovering in the air to get Michael's attention. Cerebriel could see Michael was surprised that he was being interrupted and it took a few seconds for him to realize that he was being challenged.

  “If it pleases my lord Michael, I wish to speak in defense of Jarahmael. He and I have been assigned by the Almighty to watch over the Humans, as you recall.”

  Michael did not continue his speech but stopped and Cerebriel could feel him glaring back at him for being interrupted. Cerebriel watched Michael look around the room as he tried to gauge the reaction of the rest of the loyal Angels. Cerebriel did not take his eyes off Michael's and continued.

  “Jarahmael and I discovered that Luciferael and other rebel Angels were interacting with the two Humans, Adam and Eve, over the past few days.”

  Another murmur of disapproval went through the assembly of Angels.

  “You all heard their prayers asking the Almighty for forgiveness and to return them back to their home in the Garden of Eden. You may not be aware that their prayers stopped because of the interference by Luciferael and possibly other members of his Auxilium. Jarahmael and I had investigated why the Humans stopped their prayers for forgiveness to the Almighty. We discovered that Luciferael appeared in front of Eve and convinced her that the Almighty had already heard their prayers and was going to return them. Luciferael and at least one of his rebel Angels did that on two successive days.”

  The sound of disapproval rose higher from the assembly after hearing that it was occurring repeatedly.

  “Jarahmael took that into account when he decided to speak with the Humans,” Cerebriel continued, the assembly now was reacting positively to Jarahmael’s actions.

  “You were with him when he spoke to the Humans?” Michael interjected.

  “No, my lord Michael. He had sent me back up into Heaven and he said he was going to follow me shortly.”

  “Did you know he intended to speak with the Humans?” Michael asked, his eyes locked onto Cerebriel's face to see if he was lying or telling the truth.

  “No, we had discussed it, but I thought he agreed that we should not contact them directly without first speaking with the Almighty or with you, my lord.”

  “That was the proper thing to do,” Michael answered. “Have you spoken with Jarahmael since yesterday?” asked Michael.

  “No, I was waiting for his arrival last night and when he had not returned, I expected to see him here in attendance this morning,” answered Cerebriel.

  Cerebriel watched as Michael looked over at where the Order of the Virtues was seated and saw that they nodded their head in agreement with Michael’s glance.

  “Thank you for telling us this, Cerebriel. But it will not change our decision. It is clear that Jarahmael knew that he should not have contact with the Humans, yet he decided to do so anyway. It is also clear that he knew the danger in doing so, as he had sent you back here into the Heavens so you would have no direct involvement, and no exposure to punishment for violating the Almighty’s commandment. In doing so, he clearly knew that his actions were not permitted.”

  “But someone needed to intervene. . .” began Cerebriel, but he was cut off quickly by Michael.

  “That was not a decision to be made by either you or Jarahmael. Do you not think the Almighty knows what to do under those circumstances? Do you know better than the Almighty or me?”

  “But neither you nor the Almighty were there!” Cerebriel retorted.

  “Do you question the Almighty’s awareness of what is going on with the Humans, the Heavens and the Earth?” Michael continued.

  “No, my lord,” answered Cerebriel, realizing that he was engaged in a losing argument. “But there are circumstances, circumstances that demand justice, and that need to be dealt with immediately.”

  “That may be so Cherubim, but the delay of a day or a week would not have mattered here. Remember these Humans are already sentenced to death!” Michael answered, making sure he stressed that Cerebriel was but a Cherubim and not an Archangel despite Jarahmael’s affection for him.

  “Accordingly,” Michael continued, “Jarahmael is banned from the Heavens. He may wander the Universe and the Earth but he is not to be allowed back up here in the Heavens. The Virtues and I discussed this at length. If Angels are allowed to violate commandments of the Almighty without consultation, chaos will ensue and we have already had enough of that with Luciferael and his rebel Angels. Now let us continue with the rest of things we need to discuss.”

  Cerebriel stopped hovering and returned to his seat. He knew that there was little he could do to help his friend now. He had hoped to be able to prevent any of this punishment from occurring. His thoughts were interrupted as Michael continued.

  “Last night we discovered another consequence of the rebellion by Luciferael and his rebel Angels. The Virtues and I had been meeting up here in the Throne Room discussing the fate of Jarahmael when we discovered that the Book of Creation and the Book of Life had been stolen from the Throne.” Michael pointed down to the Throne where he was seated.

  “We wanted to consult the Books to resolve the issue with Jarahmael, but when we opened up the Throne, we discovered two books that were supposed to be the Book of Creation and the Book of Life.” As Michael was speaking, he arose and opened up the Throne and pulled out what appeared to be two books.

  “I know what you are thinking, we thought exactly the same. That the Books were here safe and sound. The truth is otherwise, for when we opened the Books we found that they were fakes composed of the floor materials from down here fashioned to look like pages,” he said, pointing towards the floor. “And they do not contain any writing, except for the covers,” Michael said as he opened the pages the Books and rifled through them, holding up the blank pages for all to see.” And then he continued.

  “We know that Luciferael and his rebel Angels had taken over the Throne Room during the rebellion. He must have been able to get the Books out of here during the war or before we overran him and cast him down to Hades,” Michael said as he took the fake books and placed them back into the Throne.

  “You may ask—why can't the Almighty replace the Books? The simple answer is that the Books reflect the controls the Almighty put in place for this Universe and a replacement book will not have all the same information that made the Books effective. They will also be affected by the preexisting Books if they are used. Right now Luciferael could control this known Universe, using the information within the Book of Creation. And the Book of Life would give him powers over the Humans and their yet to be born offspring. If Luciferael has these Books in his possession, he could start another war and could succeed.”

  This thought made the assembly of Angels cringe. No one wanted to go through that again.

  “We must find those Books and return them here to the Throne,” Michael concluded.

  Right after the morning ceremony ended, Michael selected Cerebriel to lead a search party of Cherubim down onto the Earth. Accompanied by Michael, they went searching for either Luciferael or one of his fallen rebel Angels. It was a difficult mission to try to find what happened to the Book of Creation and the Book of Life. Cerebriel thought it to be a wasted trip. Finding, much less capturing, either Luciferael or one of his command rebel Angels would not be easy. And if they had the Book of Creation, their powers would be growing daily as
they learned the use of the book.

  “Where do you think the entrances to Hades and Hell are?” asked Cerebriel as he turned to speak with Michael.

  “I do not know. I was only given the power to cast them out of Heaven. The Almighty only told me that Luciferael and his army of rebel Angels were to be confined in their own realm deep within the Earth, after they lost the rebellion. It was to be a large place under the Earth, one in fact that Luciferael had in mind for placing all of us, had we lost the war. It was the Almighty's sense of justice, to place Luciferael and his rebels in the place they intended for us.”

  “Hmm, we know that Luciferael would not be giving us a great place, but there is a large expanse where Hades and Hell could be placed and occupy space. Finding the entrance is a whole other story, as there are many places where it could be. There are mountainous caves, underwater caves, volcanoes, deserts with ever shifting sands, and holes that drop down straight into the Earth itself. We also know that Luciferael and his rebel Angels have appeared in the area where Adam and Eve have been living. Let's start there first,” said Cerebriel. He hoped that by being near Adam and Eve that they may be able to find Jarahmael, now that he had been banished from the Heavens.

  “Be mindful of the Almighty's commandment of no contact with the Humans,” Michael warned.

  “How could I forget, my lord Michael?” Cerebriel responded, bowing down deeply in exaggerated deference.

  They turned invisible and landed near where Adam and Eve's cave was located. It was early morning and although the morning ceremony had brought light into the Heavens earlier, the sun was finally rising in the east and waking up the Humans. Looking inside the cave, Michael and Cerebriel shot one another a glance. Slipping outside quickly and out of earshot, Michael became agitated and said to Cerebriel, “They have fire! How did that happen?”

  “They did not have fire the last time I was down here,” Cerebriel responded, surprised as well.

  “Either Luciferael and his group gave fire to the Humans or your friend Jarahmael did. Whoever did this is the one who has access to the Books.” Michael turned, looking off into the distance. “Now we need to see if we can find Jarahmael as well while we are down here.”

  “Yes, my lord,” Cerebriel responded. Could it be possible that Jarahmael would have access to the Books? Could he have taken them from the Seventh Heaven? Cerebriel did not know enough about Jarahmael's movements during the rebellion. He did know that Jarahmael was behind the rebel Angel lines for a good portion of the rebellion. But why would Jarahmael conceal that he had the Books from him, or Michael, or the Almighty? No, it had to be Luciferael or someone from his camp who had access to the Books.

  Michael continued, “Let’s search the neighboring area for caves and entrances that could lead to Luciferael's new realm. The Almighty referred to the region as Hades and Hell. From my understanding, Hades will be where Adam and Eve's souls go after their bodies die. The Almighty expects that's what will happen to the souls of their descendants as well. Hell is to be Luciferael’s private world. The Almighty has told me there is much more to that, but He will tell me when the time is right.”

  Cerebriel and his squad began flying from one potential location to another that could be an entrance to the Underworld. They also kept their eye out in case Luciferael or some of the other rebel Angels were on the surface of the Earth, and where they could capture them.

  They spent that whole day looking. But they were unable to locate the entranceway to Hell, nor did they find Luciferael, nor Jarahmael, nor the Book of Creation, nor the Book of Life. Exhausted from the search, they returned back into the Heavens, Cerebriel saddened that his friend was missing and banned from the Heavens.

  Chapter 17

  AN AGREEMENT

  Lillith was sitting in one of the rooms of Luciferael’s palace in the Seventh Pit of Hell, eating a piece of fruit from a branch of the Tree of Life that she had planted in the corner of the room. As good as the fruit tasted, it reminded her of her home and made her sad. Luciferael’s palace was not a place she liked, magnificent in its own way with the colored walls and beautifully encrusted with those shiny rocks called diamonds. Even though the temperature in the Underworld became more elevated the deeper one went, Luciferael’s palace remained cool and vibrant, not humid and stuffy hot as the outside of the Seventh Pit of Hell. That was one of the reasons Lillith remained in the palace.

  There was some ruffling of Archangels’ wings, a distinct sound because their wings were larger and more full-length than the wings of the other species of Angels. As Lillith looked up to see who it was that had arrived, Luciferael strode into the room, his wings tucking along the sides of his back as he entered, with Beelzebael a few steps behind.

  “Good morning Lillith,” Luciferael said as he walked up to the raised platform that held one of his thrones and sat upon it. Beelzebael nodded to her in greeting as he walked past to one of the lower chairs that sat on the right side of Luciferael.

  “Good morning Luciferael and Beelzebael,” she said as she got up and curtsied before them. She was not able to move as easily as before, as her pregnancy was advancing along and she could feel her slighty expanded belly.

  “How have you been feeling?” Luciferael asked her, staring intently at her as though he was reading her mind.

  “Not so well, my lord Luciferael.”

  “Is it because of your physical condition?” Luciferael asked, all the while not caring much about the new life within her. He was having enough trouble getting rid of the Humans and Simians that were already on the planet, much less new ones, and immortal because of their parentage at that!

  “Yes, in part, my lord. But I also need sunshine and air, water, and other creatures to keep me company!” Lillith exclaimed.

  “Not to fret, Lillith. I have a proposition for you,” Luciferael said, watching her reaction closely.

  “What is your proposal, lord Luciferael?” she asked.

  “I will have my Angels build you a palace that stretches from the ceiling of the Underworld to the surface of the Earth where you can go enjoy those things. I will have them build it so it is not easily detected by the Almighty and the loyal Angels, but you have to remember to be careful to stay hidden as they will destroy you if they find you!”

  “That would be wonderful, my lord,” she answered, smiling with joy at the prospect of having access to the world outside of the Underworld.

  “There are some other conditions though.”

  “What would they be, my lord?” Lillith asked, now looking worried about what she would have to give up so she could have her baby and give it a safe life.

  “Not much really, Lillith. I will let you have full access to the Earth for the next seven years so you can bear and begin to raise your child.”

  “What happens after the first seven years, my lord?” she asked.

  “After the first seven years, you must return here to the Underworld to live,” Luciferael said.

  “Forever?” she asked.

  “Yes, but only until we reconquer the Heavens,” Luciferael answered. “Then you would have total freedom throughout the Universe.”

  Luciferael turned to Beelzebael who was seated below him. “Why don’t you explain the other term, Beelzebael?”

  Beelzebael explained, “Oh and one other term, just a slight inconvenience for you. It does seem that you do well overall being pregnant, you know, with child. We would require that you give all of the members of the Auxilium offspring, just as you are doing for Jarahmael.”

  Lillith stayed silent in thought. Then she asked, “And what if I refuse?”

  “Well, in the most simple form, you shall not be allowed back up on the surface of the Earth ever again. And the child you bear will be destroyed.”

  “But my child is immortal, my lord Beelzebael. You cannot change that!”

  “Actually we can, Lillith. We have given this a great deal of thought. You may not know this, but we were taught how to create st
ars and planets in the beginning of the Creation. That required that we travel to the far reaches of the universe. Those little twinkling lights you see at night from the skies on the Earth? Well, we can travel there, Lillith. The stars are at very great distances from the Underworld and the Earth. Even from the Heavens.” Beelzebael then stood up from his chair and by circling his arms created a model of the solar system and universe that allowed Lillith to see with her own eyes the distances and things he was talking about. Beelzebael then looked over his shoulder at Luciferael to make sure his speech and demonstration were meeting with his approval. Luciferael nodded and Beelzebael continued.

  “And when you get close to each of those twinkling lights they are much, much larger than the sun that rises over the Earth and provides it with both light and warmth. We would take your child to the stars that are the furthest out from the Earth and fling the child into the churning mass of heat that makes up these stars and gives off all that light and heat. So even if your child’s flesh was not totally destroyed, the child would be tormented forever in the cauldron of burning gases, with no means of escape. So yes, for all practical purposes your child would be destroyed.”

  Lillith stood there looking at the smaller scale stars that were floating around the model Beelzebael created out of thin air and hung her head down as the threat sunk in. Tears began to fall off her face onto the floor below.

  Luciferael and Beelzebael smiled, due in part to the genius of Luciferael’s plan and in other part due to their feeling of revenge aimed at the Humans and the effect it would have one day on Jarahmael the traitor.

  Eventually Lillith raised her head the stream of tears still flowing off her face. “I see I have no other choice, so for the sake of my unborn child I will agree.”

  “Wonderful!” Luciferael said, hopping off his raised chair, embracing Lillith and holding her in the air for a moment.