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

by John J Higgins

  As soon as Dubriel left, Raphael turned to Cerebriel. “Wasn’t your instruction to Dubriel about protecting the boy a violation of the non-interference commandment Cerebriel?”

  “I do not care what Michael thinks about the interference if that occurs. I will take my chances with the Almighty if it ever comes to that. He is the child of my best friend and I owe Jarahmael that much.” Cerebriel responded with conviction in his voice.

  “I am going to act as if I did not hear that course of action, my dear Cherubim,” Raphael said, his face and body relaxing. “All right, now we must return to our search.”

  Chapter 47

  LOST

  The cliff side mansion where Jarahmael had found Lillith pregnant years before looked undisturbed from the sky as he circled above the mountain, far from where his cave had been. He wanted to be sure that he was not flying into any surprises. There were no Angels around that he could see and the ground in front of the entrance seemed undisturbed, grown over in part by the local flora. He had again searched across the Earth for the entrance into the Underworld, the place where Luciferael and his legions must have taken Lillith immediately after the battle in the mountain valley a number of weeks before. In desperation he returned to Lillith’s old palace constructed by Luciferael and his minions before the birth of Enoch to see if there were any clues there.

  Jarahmael still kept his guard up as he descended down to the entranceway. He touched down softly, and looked around carefully. He was well aware that rebel Angels could fly and land here undetected, having done so himself. He walked inside the palace: nothing seemed out of place in the main room, it was in the same condition as he and Lillith had left it, a bit in disarray as they had been in a hurry. But a coating of fine dust confirmed the lack of use as it blanketed the upper surfaces of the exposed furniture and seats.

  He stood still after touching down, staying silent and listening. He did not hear anything. After a few moments he took a few steps towards the hallway that went deep into the cave, the backbone that spun off the rooms further back in the mansion. Still he heard nothing, but began to get a feeling that he was not alone within the cave. He went slowly to one room after another and stood in the hallway, waiting to hear if there was anyone else there with him.

  He searched for some indication as to where Lillith had gone when she had left their mutual home with other Angels on the day of the most recent battle. As he went through the mansion, he recalled the first time he had seen it when he had whisked the pregnant Lillith out and away from here. This mansion remained stark; there was not a lot of warmth that came off its design. Lillith never wore many clothes so there were not a lot of clothes lying about. Nor was there a lot of furniture or treasures. Luciferael and his Auxilium did not provide her much when they built this place for her. As he thought about it further, Lillith was never much interested in a lot of “belongings,” she preferred simple, open spaces and not a lot of things. Enoch, too, was like that, he did not gather a lot of play things in their house. The walls were plain and bare, with a glazing of melted rock in various colors along the walls, floor and ceilings.

  The arrangement of the rooms in this mansion was the opposite of the one he built for her. The smaller rooms were up around the surface in this one, while in Jarahmael's the larger rooms were on the higher levels near the surface. This gave Jarahmael the ability to fly directly into the house without worrying about clearance when he landed. He would not have liked living in this mansion, that much he knew.

  As he continued to search room by room, he had a growing sick feeling in the pit of his stomach. His feeling of dread became worse when he thought of the possibility that Lillith could have been taken upwards into the Heavens by the loyal Angels. Either way she would be out of his reach. Would he ever see her again? Searching the Earth seemed futile, because what set of Angels would accompany her to another place on the Earth? They resided either in the Heavens or in Hell. He was the only one who remained on the Earth, unwelcome in Heaven and subject to capture and imprisonment or worse in Hell.

  He moved deeper into one of the upper rooms as the sun was setting. The entranceway faced the sun and he was bathed in a reddish hue as he took a break and sat in one of the chairs that faced the west. He closed his eyes as he absorbed the waves of light from the sun. It felt good, the distant star beaming its power upon him. He remained sitting with his eyes closed until the sun set, thinking about Enoch and Lillith and the time they had spent together these past few years.

  He rose again and finished searching the upper half of the mansion. Then he turned in the hallway and took a stairway to a deeper level. As he stepped down the stairs he thought he heard something from deep below him. Not good, he thought to himself. Perhaps the sound came from the entrance into Hades that he had been looking for ages ago, shortly after he violated the Almighty's commandment.

  He saw a darker shadow scurry along the back wall of the room he was in, a large cathedral burned into the rock. He watched the shadow as it darted back and forth. Had he been seen? But at least it wasn't coming at him, where he would have to defend himself.

  He could only tell that the shadow was smaller in size than him. Only one way to find out what this creature is, he thought. It finally rested in the left corner of the room. He could barely make out its shape in the darkness. Jarahmael sprang across the room and captured it by enveloping it in his wings. At first, the creature struggled, but once Jarahmael got it firmly grasped in his arms, he held it out from him and using his internal ability to light up the room he was able to see the creature. It was a female form but Angelic in a way. Her face was cold and harsh though, angular, not soft and beautiful as most of the fallen Angels had once been.

  Holding the creature steady, he asked, “Who are you? What are you doing here?”

  The creature struggled a bit more when he spoke to it. She answered, “My name is Nataly and I was a creation of Luciferael when he was the Prince of the Heavens.”

  “I have never seen you. Are there more of your kind?” Jarahmael asked, shocked that there was another race of creatures he did not know about that inhabited the Earth.

  “Yes, I am part of a number of races that Luciferael created when he was in charge of the Heavens and the Earth,” she answered, looking at him as though he was ignorant of something that he should have known.

  “Where have you been living?” he asked, probing her further.

  “We were created on the Earth but moved to an underground place called Hades. Part of the new realm of the lord Luciferael. It is great place but nowhere as beautiful as Hell, a greater achievement formed even deeper in the Earth, now home to lord Luciferael. Who are you anyway to ask me such questions? Let go of me!”

  “I am an Archangel and I will ask you whatever questions I like!” he responded in a firm tone as he tightened his grip on her arms.

  “Well, if you are an Archangel how did you not know about Hades and Hell? You do have the same appearance as Sammuael, Beelzebael, and the others, but they know all about these things,” Nataly asked, looking at Jarahmael suspiciously.

  “I don't know,” Jarahmael answered. “It seems that there is a lot I don't know, especially when it comes to Luciferael and his followers.”

  “We were direct creations of Luciferael,” Nataly stated. “He made a number of forms of life similar to me, and we are destined to rule mankind. Luciferael hates the Humans and the Simians. He wants them permanently enslaved or even better, destroyed. Abominations created by the Almighty!”

  Jarahmael ignored the comments about the Humans and Simians. He wanted more information from this creature so he continued to probe. “What sort of life forms?” asked Jarahmael. “Do they all look like you?”

  “Luciferael made a variety of my kind,” Nataly answered. “Luciferael told us of the abominations that the Almighty created, the Humans and the Simians, and that the Almighty also likes to experiment with his creations. So does our lord Luciferael, he continues to create.
We will continue to reproduce as will the new creatures. Eventually there will be so many of us that we will one day conquer the Earth!”

  “Did you ever see the dinosaurs?” asked Jarahmael.

  “Oh yes, he was proud of those creatures too, but he told us that they would have to be destroyed to make room for more of us.”

  Jarahmael looked closer at Nataly's face. It did have a beauty to it, despite a coldness behind the crystal blue eyes. He could see that the lower part of her body was snake like. Reminded him of Serpentalia, except she had wings, too, like an Angel.

  Jarahmael just had to ask. “Do you know Serpentalia?”

  “Of course. He is my mate,” she responded. “He gets angry when I fly up here. He doesn’t have wings, you know,” Nataly answered with a bit of a gleam in her eye.

  “Yes. I know Serpentalia,” answered Jarahmael, thinking of what he looked like. This creature standing before him, though, was at least intelligent.

  “What are you doing up here?” asked Jarahmael.

  “I had come up to take some items before Lillith returned,” she answered defiantly.

  “Why would you do that?” Jarahmael asked, while his eyes looked around where she was standing to see what, if anything she had collected so far.

  “Because she will be Luciferael's consort from now on,” she answered. “And once she is back in that position, I will never be able to get some of the things I want out of this palace.”

  “How do you know Lillith?”

  “She is being held in Hell. Luciferael and his colleagues have captured her,” she answered. “Lillith had gotten away a few years ago, kidnapped by an Archangel, supposedly had offspring.”

  “You know how to get to Hell, Nataly?”

  “Yes, of course, doesn’t everyone?” she answered, looking again at Jarahmael as though he did not know anything important.

  “I would like to go find Lillith,” he stated. “Can you show me the way?”

  “What is it worth?” asked Nataly, her eyes looking all around the room at the furniture and items that remained.

  “Why, you can have everything that is in here if you like,” said Jarahmael.

  “How can you give me things that don’t belong to you?” she asked.

  “Well, if you are sure Lillith is in Hell she won’t need these things any longer will she? I am sure she won’t mind.”

  “Yes, I saw her fly in with Sammuael and Beelzebael yesterday. That’s why I came here today. The entrance between Hades and the mansion here was blocked off after she was kidnapped. The rebel Angels did not want any of the loyal Angels finding their way down into their realm. They were particularly concerned about Archangels like you. They said that your kind were very deceptive and jealous. That your kind would try to take over if you ever able to get down to Hades and Hell.”

  Jarahmael laughed. “Nothing could be further from the truth!” But he could see by her turning her head sideways and keeping eye contact with him that she did not believe a word he was saying.

  “When can you show me the way to Hades and Hell?” Jarahmael asked.

  “As soon as you move the items I want to a cave I have on the other side of the mountain range.”

  “And your word is good?” asked Jarahmael. “If you lie to me I will come for you and destroy you!”

  “Of course!” she answered, a funny smirk passing quickly across her face.

  Jarahmael did not like this expression that shot across her face. But he did not how to access Hades and Hell; she was his only hope, as only Luciferael and his colleagues knew where the entrance was, but maybe these strange offspring did too. And he remembered it took him a long time to find Lillith the last time. If he wanted to find Lillith quickly, it was worth the risk.

  “Show me what you want to take then,” Jarahmael said.

  Nataly went from room to room pointing out items such as chairs, some sculptures, a bed and some cabinetry made of stone that she wanted.

  Jarahmael took out the Crystal Prism that he always carried with him and aimed it at the items Nataly selected. The items were all absorbed into the crystal and were now ready for transport.

  Nataly smiled broadly with that snake-like mouth of hers, delighted that she was going to get what she wanted.

  “Show me where you want me to take these things,” Jarahmael said.

  Nataly said, “Great! Follow me!” and then she took off flying heading north, her figure shimmering as the light from the moon reflected off the snake scales along the top of her body.

  As she had taken off, Jarahmael noticed that smirk again, a look that he felt he had seen before. But the die was cast and he took off flying after her.

  Chapter 48

  MEMORY WASHING

  As the Cherubim search party led by Cerebriel and Raphael continued to look for Jarahmael across the mountain ranges, Cerebriel took his leave of the main body and headed back towards Adam and Eve’s cave. There were still a couple of hours of daylight left and he wanted to be in position. Raphael would join him later after the Cherubim guards returned to the Heavens after the day’s search for Jarahmael and Lillith ended.

  When Cerebriel arrived, he motioned for his four Cherubim guards to fly over to him. “Have you seen any signs of Luciferael’s rebel Angels watching the child Enoch?”

  The first guard, a large burly Cherubim, spoke up and said, “We haven’t seen any of the rebel Angels, my lord Cerebriel, but we have noticed some strange movement of leaves in a couple of the trees overlooking the fields where the children were playing.”

  “Great!” replied Cerebriel. “They are probably staying invisible as they monitor the children and Adam. Can you show me?”

  “Sure, my lord. I have been keeping an eye out on that section as I was afraid they could be spies with evil intent to capture Enoch or one of the other children. Or possibly be an advanced guard to lead rebels in another attack here on Earth.”

  “Good work Kandrael! Let’s all draw our weapons and turn invisible. Kandrael, give us the signal when we have surrounded the tree.”

  “Certainly, my lord,” Kandrael answered as all of the four Cherubim bodyguards and Cerebriel turned invisible and flew over to the tree.

  They did not land, but remained hovering around the tree when Kandrael turned visible, his sword pointing between two branches. The rest of the Cherubim turned visible having surrounded the tree all with weapons drawn and aimed at that particular spot. Cerebriel then took things a step further and reached out and whispered into the empty space.

  “I know that you are there, rebel Angel, and that you have been sent by Luciferael directly or indirectly. I want you to take a message back to your lord. And that message is, if he or any other rebel Angel touches or harms this boy Enoch, I will assemble my full legion of Cherubim and personally find the entrance to your Underworld to fight you and any others involved. By the time I am through, I will make sure all of you are bound and unable to leave the Underworld again and there will be no peace or redemption for any of the rebel Angels.”

  Silence answered Cerebriel in return, although all of the five Cherubim Angels could feel a wave of uneasiness come out of that open and empty space.

  “If you are not gone by the count of three, I will bind this space, so you better go now!” Cerebriel drew his sword and moved it closer and closer to the edge of the open space.

  The other four Cherubim did the same as they moved in closer and closer. Then, just as each of the four Cherubim were almost penetrating the actual invisible space, there were the sounds of a flurry of Beings of Light. Then swiping his sword through the empty space, Cerebriel felt that his message was delivered and the boy Enoch should be left alone.

  “Good! Whoever was there appears to have gone.” Cerebriel then addressed the four invisible and loyal Cherubim who were assigned to protect the child.

  “I want you to keep up surveillance on this child and protect him if necessary. Let me know if anything strange occurs. Thank you for wor
king on this difficult assignment. Continue protecting this hybrid child and those Humans around him. I also want you to focus on what has been going on with the Humans and their offspring. I want to know immediately if anything suspicious occurs. We will need all the time we can get to do battle with these rebel Angels. Kindly let me know if anything further develops.”

  The Cherubim guards remained with Cerebriel and continued watching over the Humans until later that night when Raphael came and sought Cerebriel out. As soon as they saw the Humans in Adam’s cave were all asleep, Cerebriel sent the Cherubim back to their positions at a distance from the cave while Raphael and Cerebriel moved forward and entered the cave.

  Once inside the cave, Cerebriel and Raphael stayed silent, surveying the room to make sure everyone was asleep. Reassured that all were asleep, they moved across the floor, and touched each one of the Humans, cradling their heads as they removed the memories that Enoch was the son of Jarahmael. Cerebriel tried to remove Enoch’s memories at first, but he discovered he could not remove the child’s memories because Enoch was Half-Archangel, and Cerebriel was from a lesser Order of Angels. It was up to Raphael to deal with Enoch, and he moved over and put his hands around Enoch’s head. Raphael searched Enoch’s mind for any memory of the Book of Life or Book of Creation. After a short time, he looked over at Cerebriel and shook his head, indicating that Enoch had no memory of the Books.

  Then Raphael continued to hold Enoch’s head and after a few attempts he was able to succeed in removing Enoch’s memories. No one had ever tried to remove memories from an Archangel before, it had only succeeded on the Earth creatures. Cerebriel felt sad that Enoch’s memories of his father would be removed as well, but it was the only way to be sure the boy would be safe. Even if the rebel Angels captured Enoch now, he would have no memory that would be of benefit to them.

  Once they were done with their task, the two loyal Angels confirmed once more that the memories had all been altered and left as quietly as they had entered. Cerebriel waved to the Cherubim bodyguards as he left with Raphael, indicating that they should remain watching over the cave. For now at least, Cerebriel felt Enoch would be safe.