Heaven and Hell (53 page)

“Have courage,” he said, spreading his dark wings. “The time has come for us to take flight.”

With a few strokes of his wings, Abaddon bounded into the dark, featureless sky. Serena was surprised at how little motion she actually felt. This journey reminded her of her first journey beneath angel’s wings, although there was less fear this time. Still, it was over a minute before she had the courage to open her eyes.

She was thousands of feet above the fiery sea and still climbing, flying eastward into the darkness. She could hear the rushing wind around her; sense the growing coolness of the air. She was unsure as to how fast they were traveling, for Abaddon seemed to be shielding her from the howling gale, yet she suspected that they were moving very fast indeed.

“We will be traveling well above those places frequented by the demons that patrol these skies,” explained Abaddon. “There will be none to interfere with our sojourn this day.”

“What are we going to see,” asked Serena, gazing at the infernal seascape below.

“The City of Sheol, a congregating place for satan’s minions as they try to seduce the whole of humankind. It is over a thousand miles distance, it will take us some time to arrive there. I will do my best to keep you comfortable until then.”

Again Serena looked at the fiery sea directly below. So high were they that Serena saw the fires as a blur of pulsing, amber luminance stretching from horizon to horizon. Yet even from this lofty vantage, it brought back terrible memories. How many still suffered in its broiling vastness? She looked forward and to the left to see towering clouds, aglow from the tremendous electrical forces at work within their turbulent depths. It was an acid storm, viewed from a perspective that she had never imagined.

The storm was alive with blue white bolts of lightning coursing through, below, and around the yellowish white clouds. Below the cloudy mass, rains of acid and glowing blue sulfur fire fell in thick sheets to the sea. The thunder grew in volume and the lightning in brightness as their journey carried them closer, uncomfortably close, to the roiling maelstrom far below and toward the black, featureless firmament far above. Serena was certain that she could smell the acrid sulphurous stench as they flew past the storm’s outer fringe and toward the blackness beyond.

Beyond the storm, the seascape was an expanse of amber beneath a black velvet sky. There was no turbulence, only the steady stream of air around wings that beat with a slow rhythm. Serena’s initial fears faded. She was in the arms of someone who cared for her, someone she trusted. She finally relaxed. For a while she scanned the vista below her, then the beat of Abaddon’s wings and the rushing of the air lulled her into a dreamless sleep.

When she opened her eyes, she sensed a change. Abaddon’s wings were still; they were gliding. Far below, she saw what appeared to be an abrupt end to the glowing sea, as if they had reached the end of this world and were about to fly over the edge. But no, there was light some distance beyond the sea’s edge. She had flown by night on a jet plane several times during her life. This looked like the lights of a great city, viewed from far off. Yet, there was more to this place than a pattern of lights on the ground; she could see the traces of glowing vapors rising from it, swirling above it, stretching high into the sky like some otherworldly aurora.

“Did you have a pleasant rest?” asked Abaddon, glancing down toward her.

“Yes,” Serena said, still a bit groggy. “I guess I haven’t been very good company for you. How long have I been asleep?”

“Not long, less than an hour. We are almost at our destination. It lies straight ahead, beyond the sea of fire, on the Continent of Darkness. It is the most unholy place in all of Hell.”

“Is it a city, a city where demons live?”

“Not exactly, though many spend most of their existence here. It is a city, though not the kind you are familiar with. The City of Sheol is a bridgehead in the spiritual war for the souls of humankind. It is the place where demons gather to begin their ghostly journey to Earth, there to tempt and torment humans.”

“But I thought everyone in outer darkness was stuck here.”

“Their bodies are, but their spirits, their essence; that is another matter. Long ago, satan realized that he had to find a way to reach out of this realm to Earth. He couldn’t allow himself to be confined, to leave humanity in peace; no, that was unthinkable. He knew that he and his angels were physically chained to this place, but they could still reach out with their minds. All they had to do was to find a means of focusing the power of their thoughts, projecting their minds into the living universe. What you see before you, this city, if you will, is that means. It lies at a point where the barrier between this world and your Earth is the weakest. It draws upon the hidden energies trapped within this world, and that radiated by the fiery luminary it circles.”

The network of lights that Serena had seen from a distance was growing closer. It was vast, many miles across. She could see tiny dark figures swirling around its many luminaries, coming and going like moths around a light bulb on a sultry summer night. No, not moths, but demons, countless thousands of them.

“At any given time, there are tens or even hundreds of millions demons in this place, seeking to travel to Earth to undermine all that is good and noble about humans, to pit your kind against one another, to place enmity between you and God. It is a campaign orchestrated by satan himself, to his precise specifications. In so doing he brings even more of your kind to this place, subjecting them to whatever horrors he sees fit to bestow upon them.”

Abaddon flew to one side, toward the very edge of the city of light. As he drew closer, Serena could see this place for what it truly was. It was not a city of houses, streets, and shops, but an intricate network of crystal pillars, supporting glassy lintels that spanned the distance between them. Here and there tall shimmering archways and lofty towers of black obsidian broke the checkerboard pattern of glistening glass. In the midst of it all were countless demons, standing and kneeling, supported by their black bat-like wings. They were motionless, like so many vulgar gargoyles.

Abaddon pirouetted, sweeping away from this gathering place of evil and the swirling demons above it, moving across the dark rocky plains beyond. He turned once more, and touched down on solid ground. He unfolded his arms to allow Serena to take her first steps upon this dark domain. It was actually cool here, unlike the torrid realm of eternal daylight or even Abaddon’s island. The only light radiated from the city. Gone was the bow of blue across the horizon, so far were they into the realm of eternal night.

“We will travel on foot from here,” explained Abaddon.

“But won’t they recognize me?” asked Serena. “After all, I’m human, they’ll be able to tell, even if I am wearing this cloak.”

“No they won’t,” replied Abaddon, leading her forward. “As I mentioned before, it is within my power to cloud their minds. In you they will see another fallen angel, not like themselves, but like me. They will not challenge us so long as we do not interfere with the tasks set before them by their master. We shall not wander into their city of power but view it from the outside. To wander within would be to expose ourselves to satan’s minions. There, I could not guarantee you that I could shield you from them.”

It was difficult for Serena to see where she was going. The only light around her, the glow of the crystal city, cast long harsh shadows on the rocky ground. Yet if not for its luminance, she would have been in total darkness.

“The Continent of Darkness is a land of perpetual night, as the name implies,” Abaddon said as he helped Serena cross the rugged landscape. “You saw it on the globe I revealed to you several days past. It is a vast land, bordered on all sides by the sea of fire. Here, a few miles from its turbulent shoreline, the conditions are warm enough. In this region, the sea of fire lends some measure of warmth to the vast dark realm.

“The farther into the depths of this vast continent one goes, over its high rugged mountains, and across its barren valleys, the more severe the climate becomes. In its deep interior, its frigid breezes rival those of deepest Antarctica. There, amid the unimaginable cold, satan has doomed countless numbers of your people to a cruel and sadistic fate. I shall not speak of the specifics, for they are all too gruesome to imagine. Hell is a realm of vast contrasts, and satan uses them to his advantage.” Abaddon motioned toward the city of light. “It all starts here. From this place satan dispatches his hordes to confuse and mislead humanity.”

Within a few minutes, they stood at the very threshold of the metropolis. Here the black porous volcanic rock gave way to a floor of shimmering obsidian, from which the crystal columns towered. They rose some 20 feet into the dark sky, flooding the landscape with eerie pulsing luminance. Abaddon pointed to several demons kneeling just beyond the columns.

“These soldiers of satan might remain motionless for months or even years at a time. Without their inner essence, their spirits to guide them, they are empty shells.”

Serena watched them carefully. Even in their helpless state, they had a ghastly aura about them. “What can their spirits do on Earth? Can they actually possess a person, take control of them?”

“In some cases, it all depends on the individual. There are those who say that satan and his minions may not enter a body uninvited. That is not as true in the natural sense as it is in the spiritual sense. The spirit of a demon must first surround an individual. From there he can influence their thoughts, sow the seeds of ideas into their minds. If those seeds take root, they might not need to bother further with that person, for he is already beginning to travel the road to perdition on his own. It is like a weed planted among the grain; it will grow and multiply on its own, choking out all that is good about a man or woman. In the end, only the weeds survive, and that individual is ripe for satan’s harvest.”

“But stories of demonic possession, are they true? Is there such a thing?”

“Yes,” Abaddon said. “Though it is easier for a demon to enter into the body of an animal, some demons trick the possessed human to open up to them. They promise them all manners of things. If the house of their soul is empty, unfilled by God’s Holy Spirit, they might indeed come to reside there for a time, usually just long enough to bring destruction upon their human host and those around him.”

“In other cases, they might linger, dominate that body, using it as their own. They might use that individual to do unspeakable things, perhaps to lure whole nations to their doom. Still, such things are relatively rare. A demon does not have the time to dedicate himself to one person for an extended period. He must be about the destruction of others.”

Abaddon pointed toward a winged demon descending into the great metropolis not far away. “Watch carefully and learn.”

The demon landed just within the outer ring of columns that formed the boundary of the city, folded his wings, and proceeded to a place prepared for him, an open cubical surrounded by four towering crystals topped with square transparent lintels. The entire structure glowed with a green pulsing light.

The demon knelt in a peculiar fashion, leaning forward, supporting himself on his large leathery wings. He lowered his head and his arms went limp at his side. The crystals around him grew in brightness, even as glowing, swirling vapors emanated from all parts of his body. The vapors gathered about him, then shot skyward and out of sight. The form of the demon became motionless, apparently lifeless, like the others around him.

“His essence is on its way to Earth,” announced Abaddon. “It will not wander randomly, but has a specific mission. It will attempt to destroy the eternal life of someone upon your green world. It will try to wreak as much damage as possible before returning here for another assignment. Such is the eternity of a demon, to forever seek to destroy. What a pointless existence.”

For a time the two stood there quietly, watching the greatest tragedy in the universe unfold. Then they heard footsteps. Both Abaddon and Serena turned to see a demon approaching them, walking just beyond the threshold of the city.

Serena gasped quietly at his countenance. He was robed all in black, with a hood drawn over his head. What she could see of his face was ghastly. Though his facial features were somewhat human, his eyes were like those of an insect—large, amber, and segmented. From his narrow lips, a pair of long menacing fangs protruded. He was the very essence of nightmares.

“Most unusual,” Abaddon said. “Rarely does satan post sentries around this place.”

“Who are you, what are you doing here?” demanded the demon, in a thundering voice. Though this creature spoke in a dialect of the tongue of angels, Serena had learned enough of it to understand his meaning.

“Say nothing,” whispered Abaddon stepping toward the being before them.

“I am waiting,” roared the demon.

“And you can go on waiting, for all I care,” responded Abaddon, showing not the least trace of fear. “We are not here to cause trouble, unless that is what you desire.”

“You speak bravely,” retorted the demon in a taunting tone. He turned to Serena, who struggled to retain some measure of calm. “And who is your silent companion?”

“That is none of your concern,” Abaddon said. “Why don’t you dispense with the charade, we are unimpressed.”

Quite abruptly the demon’s form changed to the aspects with which Serena was more familiar, a dark human-like face replaced that which had preceded it. “I will ask again; what is your business here?”