by Mark Romang
Maddix also wondered if the manna was still working. He couldn’t see any demons, but could sure smell them. If his eyes couldn’t penetrate the spirit world he was doomed.
Lord, open my eyes. Show me the enemy. Reveal their positions. Maddix continued his furtive tack, skulking in a southerly direction. The dark sandstone walls on either side of him seemed to move toward him, crowding him into a trap. Underneath his night-vision goggles his eyes bulged wide. His nerves were strung tighter than a guitar tuned to F sharp.
A handful of raindrops pattered his tactical helmet. Maddix trembled. Cold chills spider-walked up his back. The waterfall had drenched his upper torso. Despite wearing a wetsuit, his teeth chattered uncontrollably. Sloshing through shin-deep, sixty-degree water didn’t do his core temperature any favors. The Virgin River tributary covered most of Perdition Canyon’s floor and sabotaged his attempts at stealth. Dry land was a rarity down here.
Maddix left the waterfall behind him. Just ahead the slot canyon hooked to the right. He would have to enter the new direction blind, at the mercy of whatever beast lay in wait. Ultimately it didn’t matter. A demon stepped around the bend and faced him.
Maddix gasped. It was as if he’d never left his flashback. Adramelech loomed over him. He looked even bigger and more powerful now than he had only moments ago when Maddix had visited hell. This is how David must have felt when he faced Goliath, he thought.
The big demon leered at him. His blood-red eyes glowed in the murk. A smirk stretched his mouth. Bluish lips curled back over jagged teeth that resembled broken glass. An aura of evil filled the canyon. Maddix realized in this instant that the battle he had last night with the two demons was but a tune-up for tonight. He was in for the fight of his life and for his soul.
“The success you experienced last night will not be repeated,” Adramelech declared in a booming voice.
Maddix didn’t know what to say. What could he say? He wiggled the Eden sword and it erupted into flame. Intense light flooded the canyon. The flames flickered and danced on the sandstone walls. But Adramelech remained unfazed. He stood his ground.
“My name, Adramelech, means ‘king of fire.’ I do not fear the Eden sword. But I do covet it. And you will give it to me, Andrew.”
Maddix noticed for the first time the sword in Adramelech’s right hand. Its tip was pointed down toward the ground. It was a large broadsword at least four-feet long, maybe longer, and it was neon blue. The shimmering blade reminded him of a lightsaber. “You already have a sword, a fine one by the looks of it. You don’t need mine.”
Adramelech took a step forward. “Oh, but I do. A mortal has no right to possess such a weapon as the Eden sword. You have two options, Andrew. You may lay it down and walk away and go free. Or I will enter your body and take it from you forcefully.”
Maddix backed up. “Your two buddies said the same thing last night until I stuck them with it.”
Adramelech laughed. A maniacal laugh dripping with contempt tumbled out his sneering mouth. “I can see that you’re different than most humans, Andrew. You’re a man of war, courageous and skilled in fighting. But you can’t possibly defeat me. The demons you battled last night were inexperienced fighters. The outcome will be different this time, much different.”
Maddix looked for an opening but saw none. He knew one thing for certain; he had to find a way to fight the demon on dry ground. The water handicapped him, slowed him down too much. And he had to attack first. He might not survive Adramelech’s opening salvo if he waited to counter. “I think you need to go back to hell and take the dogs for a walk. They must be getting restless.”
Adramelech took another step forward. “The dogs don’t need a walk. But they do need to feed. You will provide a tasty meal for them.”
The rain sprinkles making their way into the canyon depths suddenly intensified. Cold rain mixed with hail pelted Maddix. The Eden sword hissed and fluttered. He glanced right and left. The canyon wall on his left provided a ledge about three feet wide and a dozen yards long. It hung just over the water. Maddix moved slowly toward it, almost imperceptibly while keeping his eyes locked onto Adramelech.
“You wish to fight me on the ledge. It won’t make a difference, but if you wish to make your last stand here, why not?”
Oh, Lord, this demon can read my thoughts. How can I gain the advantage when he knows what I’m about to do before I do it?
A six foot gap separated them. Adramelech raised his glowing sword. Maddix felt his breath catch in his lungs. The ledge beckoned only a foot away. He kept his eyes locked onto his foe and made his way to the outcropping. Adramelech crowded him but made no attempt to strike. Maddix pivoted slightly and stepped up onto the ledge, leading with his left foot. He settled onto the narrow ledge and waited.
With stunning speed and grace for such a big creature, Adramelech leaped onto the ledge that served as their makeshift fencing floor. The demon assumed the en garde position. Maddix followed suit, pointing his right foot forward, his back foot sideways and bending his knees to crouch in a slight squat. He held the Eden sword in his right hand and extended it. He didn’t for a minute expect Adramelech to adhere to any of the formal fencing rules and was prepared to chuck them when things went south. “I’m curious, why did you leave Heaven to follow Lucifer. What lie did he say to you that convinced you to give up all you had and turn your back on God?” Maddix didn’t really care what caused Adramelech to go rogue. He simply wanted to distract him, make him lose focus and leave an opening to exploit.
Adramelech cocked his enormous head as if remembering an important detail. His red glowing orbs scrunched. “The uprising was in the works for a millennium. Every detail was meticulously choreographed. And it almost worked. The battle for Heaven raged for seven thousand human years. Millions of angels joined our side.”
“But Lucifer’s coup failed. And God booted all you rogue angels off his holy mountain. And now you wage your desperate war against unsuspecting humans,” Maddix said, fixing his eyes on Adramelech’s torso, plotting his striking points. He couldn’t look the demon in his eyes for very long. It was too terrifying. It was as if Adramelech could look directly into Maddix’s soul, to the very essence of his being.
The shimmering tip of Adramelech’s sword circled the air. Raindrops and hail clattered off the mystery blade. “Why stay on the losing side. Use your powers for good. Stop harassing people and start helping them,” Maddix suggested.
“My fate is irreversible. I cannot earn my way back into Heaven. You know this more than anyone,” Adramelech said just before lunging.
Maddix threw back his off-hand to maintain his balance, stepped forward with his dominant foot, extended his back foot to generate force, and performed all these moves simultaneously in less than a second. He aimed the flaming Eden sword for Adramelech’s stomach. But it was only a feint. He wanted to plunge the blade tip deep into the demon’s chest.
Adramelech parried his feint with amazing quickness. His lightsaber-like sword clanged downward onto the Eden sword with a sweeping motion. The blow’s violent force spun Maddix 180 degrees on the ledge and nearly tore the Eden sword from his hand. His back exposed to Adramelech’s fury, Maddix reacted quickly and pivoted on his left foot. As he turned he grabbed the hilt with both hands and whipped the flaming sword to his left at a chest-high angle. His shoulders and legs followed the Eden’s sword’s trajectory.
His sword connected with Adramelech’s just before he would have been gored in the heart. Their swords stayed linked together for only a split second before Adramelech withdrew his sword and backed up. He resumed the en garde position.
Breathing fast and furious to the point of hyperventilation, Maddix followed suit. He faced Adramelech, who looked poised and self-assured that victory was imminent. Maddix flicked his left hand up to his brow and pushed up his night-vision goggles. The bright flames billowing off the Eden sword and the deluge of raindrops rendered the goggles almost useless. For the first time Maddix r
ealized the water rising in the slot canyon. The sluggish water was picking up speed and turning frothy. And it lapped higher up the ledge.
“You’re a foolish man, Andrew. You should have taken my generous offer.”
“I don’t negotiate with demons,” Maddix said just before he lunged. Their swords collided with a metallic crack. Kaleidoscope bursts of light and flame shot up the canyon wall. The bone-jarring impact knocked Maddix off-balance. He tripped on the ledge made slippery by rain and nearly fell back into the pothole. Adramelech took advantage and charged forward, slashing his sword right and left. Maddix righted himself just in time to parry. But Adramelech kept charging forward and smashed bodily into him.
Maddix sprawled backwards and, with the demon on top of him, splashed into the pothole. He took a deep breath right before going under. The pothole was shallow; only three feet of water at its deepest point. Maddix hit his head as he crashed onto the rocky bottom. The hard hit filled his vision with twinkling stars. Momentarily blind, an all-consuming panic overrode his wooziness and he tried to rise. But a force indescribably powerful held him under.
Dark energy pushed at his chest. Evil cloaked him like a body bag. Even though Adramelech was an enormous demon, he was still a weightless spirit. But Maddix felt as if a skyscraper sat on his chest. He couldn’t move. Wickedness crushed him. Adramelech’s laundry list of trespasses smothered him. His soul wept for salvation.
Maddix still held the Eden sword in his right hand. His brain screamed at his arm to drive the sword into Adramelech’s side. But he couldn’t move any part of his body, and his outstretched arms lay uselessly still. He couldn’t even wiggle his fingers. He was going to die bearing the colossal weight of Adramelech’s sins.
Terror saturated his brain, filling its every crevice and fold with macabre images, black and white snapshots of Hades and the damned souls inside it that chant incessantly for Jesus to save them. But it wasn’t the cavalcade of disturbing images or the unspeakable malevolence pinning him flat that horrified him so. It was the fear of failure that terrorized him to the point of madness. Death approached him. It would take him momentarily. And then Adramelech would possess the Eden sword.
Above all else Maddix wanted to complete the mission God designed him for. Surely there was more to it than this. Surely the resistance didn’t end here. Not like this.
All at once a bright orange flash hit the water and Maddix felt the dark burden begin to ever so slowly levitate off his chest. The crushing encumbrance stopped pushing him down so much. And then an ear-splitting shriek from above the surface suddenly pierced his ears. The otherworldly shriek could mean only one thing. Adramelech felt pain.
Maddix ignored his protesting lungs, resisted the urge to surface. He had a feeling it wasn’t safe, that he would suffer the same sort of agony beleaguering Adramelech. He had an idea what caused the bright orange flashes. He planned to wait a few more seconds until he no longer saw them and deemed it safe to surface.
Maddix counted off a few more seconds in his head. The orange flashes were less intense and seemed farther away now, yet the demon’s shrieks remained just as strident. I have to act now, he thought, while Adramelech is distracted.
Maddix bolted up from the water. He sucked in a big gulp of air and looked around for Adramelech. He found his nemesis back on the ledge and cowering against the canyon wall a dozen or so feet away. Sara and Webb were dousing him with their flamethrowers.
Maddix stepped up onto the ledge. Rain fell in waves, stabbing the canyon floor like volleys of spears. Hail as big as golf balls bounced off his tactical helmet. The shelf hung no more than three inches above the rising water. He knew he had to act fast.
The Eden sword had gone out while under the water. Maddix wiggled it around but it wouldn’t flare up. Oh, Lord, please don’t let this happen. Make it light up. He waved it around more vigorously, and as he did he noticed he no longer heard Adramelech shrieking. He looked up and saw the demon looking at him. Partially on fire, Adramelech’s grand wings sizzled and popped. Undefiled hatred brimmed in his red eyes. Maddix looked over at Sara and Webb. They stood on a giant boulder about twenty yards away.
“We’re all out of fuel, Mad Dog. It took all we had to get him off you,” Webb called out.
“You need to take him out quick, Andrew. A thunderstorm is flooding the canyon. We only have a few minutes to get out,” Sara added, her shaky voice nearly swallowed up by the thrumming rain.
Adramelech stepped away from the blackened wall. A tiny flame flickered from his earlobe. Before the flame caught his flowing hair on fire he snuffed it out with long fingers that resembled eagle talons. “Now you’re all mine, Andrew. Your friends can’t help you anymore, and you’ve used up the sword’s magic,” he growled.
Maddix shook his head. “The God who created you lives inside me. He will fight for me.” As soon as the words left his lips the Eden sword flared to life. A six foot flame consumed the double-edged blade. Maddix waved it around like a torch. Adramelech stood his ground, but didn’t advance. He held his sword out in the attack position.
Maddix lunged, feinting once more for the demon’s rock-hard belly, but then at the last moment dropped the blade and slashed instead at Adramelech’s left knee. But he wasn’t fast enough. Maddix whiffed at moisture laden air. The big demon leaped high and deftly completed a backflip like a gymnast, landing a few feet back from his original spot on the ledge, unharmed.
From behind Adramelech, Maddix saw Webb sneaking up to the ledge. He had something in his hand. Maddix stayed on the offensive and extended the Eden sword, then withdrew it. He performed this maneuver several times, doing his best to distract the demon with mini lunges and feints.
Webb was up on the ledge now, right behind Adramelech. He crept undetected and stealthily, using SEAL skills he never forgot. Maddix tried not to give away Webb’s position with his eyes. He heard a popping sound and then a sizzle. A brilliant pinkish-red light suddenly filled the air behind Adramelech. Maddix smiled inwardly at Webb’s cleverness. Webb shoved the burning signal flare deep into Adramelech’s unfurled wings. And then in a flash, he scurried back to the boulder where Sara spectated.
Adramelech finally noticed his wings were burning. He turned his large head. Maddix didn’t wait. He attacked, faster this time. The Eden sword plunged into Adramelech’s ribs. Rib cartilage crunched like potato chips. Adramelech screamed and turned. Shock filled his fiendish eyes. But the shock quickly morphed into rage.
Maddix realized he hadn’t driven the Eden sword deep enough into Adramelech’s body to finish him off. He would need to withdraw and try again. Maddix took one step rearward and then pulled back with all his strength. The blade squished out from the demon’s belly. Silver-black blood spewed out from a gaping wound and onto the ledge in a torrent.
His wings on fire, and bleeding badly, Adramelech took two quick steps forward. He struck at Maddix’s lower ribs, and then leaped high into the air. It all happened so fast. Adramelech performed his signature move.
In midair the demon ascended and spun. Advice from Gabriel repeated in Maddix’s head. Michael says Adramelech always feints an attack to the lower right torso before committing a flunge. And then when he’s at the apex of his leap he spins and slashes at his opponent’s head with his sword. When he does this he leaves himself exposed.
Maddix squatted down low. Adramelech’s sword harmlessly carved the rain-filled air over his head. Maddix exploded upward, generating power from his legs, and thrust the Eden sword deeply into Adramelech’s sternum. This time the Eden sword plunged completely through the demon’s torso. Only six inches of flaming blade divided Adramelech from Maddix.
Adramelech’s head lolled backwards. His mouth gaped open. He screamed. And then he flew straight up in the air. Up, up, and up he rocketed through the narrow slot, taking Maddix with him. The silver-black blood gushing from Adramelech’s chest splashed down onto Maddix, splattering his tactical helmet.
Maddix thought of le
tting go of the Eden sword. But it was too late for that now. He was too high up and couldn’t survive the drop to the canyon floor. Wherever Adramelech was going, he was going with him. Maddix’s legs smashed into the canyon walls as they gained altitude; the coarse sandstone ripped his skin. He felt lucky he hadn’t yet banged his head or ribs on the sandstone’s knobby outgrowths. But that would surely come.
“Cody, I need you to blast a demon heading up out of the canyon. Do you copy?” Maddix panted.
“What’s your coordinates, Andrew?” Kyle Miller asked calmly.
“I can’t tell you exactly. I can’t get to my GPS. We’re somewhere near the middle of the canyon.”
“What do you mean ‘we’?” Miller asked.
“I’m attached to the demon,” Maddix rasped, knowing how stupid his words must sound to Miller. He couldn’t make a guess as to how fast he and Adramelech flew. He didn’t want to know. But it felt fast, like he was hitching a ride on a rocket ship. He looked down at the canyon floor rapidly disappearing. He could barely make it out. “We’ll be out in a few seconds. You can’t miss us.”
“Okay, we’re hovering in position, Andrew,” Miller said calmly into the radio.
Near the top of the canyon opening, the burning flare wedged in Adramelech’s wings cast light onto a stunted tree growing sideways out the canyon wall. The gaunt and twisted sapling looked as spindly as Charlie Brown’s Christmas tree. But the homely tree looked like a life preserver to Maddix.
He timed his leap the best he could. And when he was just below the scraggly tree he let go of the Eden Sword’s hilt and grasped for the tree’s main branch. The tree bent sharply down under his weight but held fast. Maddix looked up and watched Adramelech shoot out Perdition Canyon. “He’s out, Cody! Do you see him? Look for the pinkish-red light!” Maddix shouted into his mike.