by James Somers
Sitting inside the Berghof, drinking scotch from stubby crystal tumblers, the last thing either Adolf Hitler or Josef Mengele had been expecting was the shimmering distortion that rippled the air before the far wall like the disturbed surface of a pond. However, the next event easily beat out the portal construct for least expected occurrence.
Adolf Hitler, in full military dress, leaped out of the air at the portal to stand before them. He began to speak quickly. He also changed his appearance.
“Lucifer?” Adolf asked, looking down at the scotch left in his glass and then up at the angel who had just been disguised as him.
“I’m offering you one final opportunity to prove yourself to me, Adolf,” Lucifer said. The portal still shimmered in the air behind him like the surface of a pool.
Mengele stood dumbfounded, unable to speak.
Behind the angel, the portal began to do something. Adolf realized someone else was about to come through. He couldn’t figure out what was going on.
Lucifer grinned at him, and the portal behind simultaneously changed color from almost clear to an angry red. Someone passed through like they had been diving into a pool. The portal, suddenly charged with a different sort of energy, crackled with what appeared to be red lightning.
The energy conducted to the woman as she passed through the membrane. She cried out in pain and then hit the floor before them with a heavy thump. A weapon—a sword he realized—skittered across the floor from her hand. The weapon came to rest at Adolf’s feet.
He started in surprise as recognition dawned upon him. “Malak-esh!”