Read In Exile (Archangel Jarahmael and the War to Conquer Heaven, Book III) Online
Authors: John J Higgins
SHOCKWAVE
The shock wave from Cain’s murder of his brother Abel was so profound that even Jarahmael felt the shift, secured upon that rock in Hell, beyond the torture that was already being inflicted on him. As the shock wave passed through the rest of Hell, the rebel Angels let out a roar of excitement. It was exactly what Luciferael wanted.
Luciferael saw this as a great opportunity to convince Jarahmael to reveal the location of the Almighty’s Books. Sammuael always wanted to go and have the opportunity to torture Jarahmael. It gave him immense pleasure watching his former nemesis suffering on that large rock. But that was not the approach Luciferael wanted under these circumstances.
After some thought, Luciferael decided to send Mephistophael. He might have better luck with this stubborn loyal Archangel. After a brief discussion with Mephistophael, he was sent over to speak with Jarahmael, dismissing the carnabus as he landed beside the Archangel. He walked over to Jarahmael, changing his demeanor to one of compassion as he moved even closer and reached down to touch Jarahmael’s forehead, removing any pain Jarahmael felt from the injuries inflicted on his body.
“I am here to help you, my former brother Archangel,” Mephistophael said as he looked into the impaled loyal Archangel’s blue eyes. “Still haven’t told us anything, I see, stubborn, oh so stubborn!”
Jarahmael felt some relief from the physical pain, for the first time in many years.
“I want to offer you the chance to reveal what we want to know about the Almighty’s Books. I am not sure you could feel the shock wave that came across this universe before, or the screams of delight that came from my colleagues.”
Jarahmael just stared back at Mephistophael, refusing to let him see any of his emotions or feelings.
“I know you cared about the Humans, Lord knows you sacrificed yourself for these worthless creations of the Almighty. Do you remember the brothers that were the offspring of Adam and Eve, who have also become the brothers to your son Enoch? That ‘free will’ creation of the Almighty has backfired once again. The older boy now grown into a man became jealous of his younger brother Abel, over a woman. To make a long story short, the older one, Cain, I believe is his name, made a deal with Luciferael for the woman and some power on that dustbowl known as Earth. As part of that deal, Cain killed Abel earlier today, murdered him with a weapon that Beelzebael gave him and trained him in using. Thanks be to Luciferael, finally the Humans are being destroyed, not by the Almighty but by themselves. How ironic is that, my former brother?” Mephistophael smiled as he told Jarahmael all the details.
“Don’t you see, Jarahmael, these creatures are not worth your suffering? They don’t even care about themselves?” Mephistophael paused again and waited. “Still no reaction?”
Mephistophael was growing impatient once again with a lack of response by Jarahmael despite the pain they had been inflicting upon him. Perhaps a different approach would be more effective. Maybe Jarahmael would try to protect Lillith once again.
“The time is coming that we will begin to torture Lillith, my friend. It will not be pretty either. You need to speak to me, tell me what you know about those Books. Again, I am sure if you provide us with the Books Luciferael will forgive everything and you can go on with your life with Lillith if you so desire. But if you don’t help us we will convince Lillith that it is best for her to stay here with us. She is here of her own free will and we will convince her to create more hybrid offspring, and this time it will be with us, the rebel Angels. As you know, if she does all of this with her own free will there is nothing the Almighty or the loyal Angels can do to save her. They, like you, will be powerless to save her from this wonderful but torturous paradise. The choice, once again Jarahmael, is yours and yours alone.”
Tears were rolling down Jarahmael’s eyes despite all his efforts to stop them. Why the Almighty had allowed the Humans to be exposed to the powers of these evil and destructive Angels, he had no idea. He wished he could move throughout the Universe with his full powers restored by the Almighty. But he knew that the Almighty had deserted him, and there was no use in even trying to communicate or ask for help from the Almighty. He would struggle on, and just hope that at some point there would be the right opportunity for him to extricate himself from this place and get the tools he needed to take on the evil ones.
CLEANING UP
Cain saw that he had made a very large mess killing his brother by using the blade, there was blood all over the ground. What to do with the body? He had not thought that through, and had hoped, perhaps naively, that there would be no remains left once life had left his brother’s body. Now he had a terrible-looking corpse, one that he could not leave lying in the field. How was he going to explain this?
Fortunately for Cain, the old Simian had followed him, and walked up beside him.
“You did a great job! What are you going to tell your family and what are you going to do with the body, young master?” he said as he looked around at the scene.
“I don’t know, Simian. I expected the body to disappear! Do you have any ideas?”
“You certainly don’t want your family to find the body. You will have a lot of explaining to do then. They will get very angry with you. You can always bury the body in the ground and hide all of this, like planting a seed only deeper,” he said as he used his hand to point down and circled around the area where Abel bled. “Yes, the best thing to do with the body is to bury it, put it under ground. Tell your family that Abel decided to leave, that he ran away from here. Here, I will help you with his body.”
“You are old and walk with a staff! How can you help me?” asked Cain.
“Watch this!” the old Simian said as he lifted the staff above the ground next to the body and moved it back and forth across the Earth. As he did so quantities of dirt moved along with it, digging a hole in the ground.
“That’s a relief,” Cain said as he stood by and watched.
Neither the old Simian nor Cain could see Enoch approaching from behind them. He was coming to see how his two brothers were doing, thinking he could help them finish off the day’s tasks before they all had to return home to dinner.
Enoch saw Cain and the old Simian nearby, looking like a bird picking at seed on the ground the way his beak-shaped hat moved up and down as the old Simian continued to move the dirt.
Then Enoch saw a bloodied foot and leg and instinctively began to run towards the scene. He could not help but cry out when he saw what appeared to be Abel lying on the ground covered with blood.
“Abel, are you all right?” Enoch called out, and he was soon upon the old Simian and Cain.
Cain moved in between Enoch and Abel, blocking Enoch from getting to Abel’s body.
“Stop right there, Enoch. You are not to see this!” Cain yelled back at him.
“Abel, can you hear me?” Enoch yelled louder, trying to get past Cain.
“Back I tell you!” Cain yelled at Enoch, drawing out the blade he had just used to kill Abel.
Enoch took a step back. He did not know why Cain had a blade like that, or why he would point it at him. He was just trying to help their brother, who was clearly in bad shape with all of the blood over his body.
Enoch then tried to move to the side around Cain and succeeded in getting close to Abel’s body. But then he found himself standing with Cain at his back with the blade and the old Simian in the front of him with a staff that he was raising and beginning to point at Enoch.
Enoch had heard that Adam’s staff had special powers to it, and although this was not Adam’s staff he feared that this one could also discharge a violent lightning strike and he did not want to be standing in front of it. But he also knew that he was trapped and it would only be a second or two before he was struck either from the front with some form of discharge from the old Simian’s staff or by the blade that Cain still had in his hand. And with his brother Abel lying on the ground covered in blood, he was most likely dead at one or both of these Beings’ hands.
PROTECTION
Faumiel had taken over Enoch’s protective detail earlier that day. Cerebriel had a number of the loyal Cherubim rotate their shifts and assignments to guarantee that Enoch remained safe from Luciferael and his rebel Angels. All the loyal Angels had felt the shudder of death that resulted from Abel’s murder and Faumiel immediately moved to tighten the circle to protect Enoch. He did not know the cause of the shudder in energy that had passed through the Universe at the time, for this was the first time a Human was murdered and it was sure to set off another chain of events that no one had experienced before.
What Faumiel did know was that as soon as he felt the shudder through his mind and body, Enoch felt it too. Faumiel knew Enoch was half Angel, so he most likely felt some of the effects as if he were a full Archangel. But Enoch did not even have rudimentary teachings about who he was, or much about Archangels so he could deal with this situation. Faumiel needed to stay on top of Enoch and now. Faumiel immediately sent one of his three guards to bring back reinforcements of additional loyal Cherubim, as there could be major changes afoot with the rebel Angels again.
As Enoch ran towards the field that was farmed by the two stepbrothers, Faumiel and one of the other guards flew forward, remaining invisible, to see what caused the original shock wave. As Faumiel drew closer he saw a sight he had never seen before. Thantos, one of Luciferael’s rebel Angels, was pulling out a soul from the body of a Human lying in the grass field below them. Faumiel had thought Thantos was destroyed in the rebellion. The last time Faumiel had seen him, Thantos had been struck in his chest and head by one of the lightning bolts Faumiel had cast during the rebellion. That could explain why he was covered in that black shroud.
Faumiel saw Thantos pull the soul out with a quick jerk. It was a transparent copy of the lifeless Human body that lied below, there was a glow that came with the removal of the soul, leaving the corpse look even more drained. Abel’s soul, despite the glow still maintained a blank and stupefied stare. It was clear to Faumiel that Abel’s soul did not have any idea of what had just happened. There had been talk in the Heavens about what would happen when the Humans would die. It was a task that none of the loyal Angels wanted as an assignment. The Almighty and Michael decided to give that task to Luciferael and his rebel Angels. They would deal with the Humans as they died, housing them in Hades. The rebel Angels would then be responsible for the safekeeping of Human souls until the Almighty found a way to redeem them all from their sins.
Faumiel looked again at Abel’s corpse with its blood all over on the ground.
What a terrible fate,
he thought. Cain and this old Simian moved in and started to dispose of the body. Burying the body from what he could see.
Thantos shot out a chain that bound Abel’s soul by wrapping around it and then began to rapidly fly away from the scene, pulling Abel’s soul behind him. The soul barely acknowledged what had happened to him, although he began to mumble. Enraged by the scene he saw below and disregarding any prior agreements made with Luciferael, Faumiel knew he had to act quickly before the soul was taken away. Acting impulsively, Faumiel indicated to his companion to draw swords as they rushed to intercept Thantos, cutting the Human soul free from him. Thantos would not be taking this murdered soul back with him to the Underworld.
In the meantime, Enoch had arrived at the scene of the murder and was yelling back and forth with Cain. During the shouting match Enoch pushed himself past Cain and was now standing between him and what appeared to be an old Simian. Faumiel watched most of this unfold while finishing stealing Abel’s soul from Thantos. Concerned about Enoch’s safety, Faumiel quickly handed over control of Abel’s soul to his companion Cherubim.
“Take this soul upwards into the Heavens, do not stop until you are safely in the First Heaven. Seek out Gaardrael, tell him to assemble a legion and guard the entrance into the First Heaven and keep this soul safe. Suggest he take Abel’s soul to what is left of the Garden of Eden.”
Faumiel then changed directions and headed back towards the scene of the murder. Still from a distance away, he saw Cain and the old Simian moving in for the kill. He would not get there in time to save them from murdering Enoch.
To his relief, he saw his other loyal Cherubim guard become visible and push Enoch out of the way as he drew his sword to protect the hybrid Angel.
Enoch was safe finally
, he thought,
neither a Human nor a Simian would be able to fight past a seasoned Cherubim guard.
Then there was a bright flash, an explosion of light that made it appear the old Simian was blown apart from within. To Faumiel’s horror, he saw that the old Simian was not an Earth creature at all, but that it was Luciferael himself, and with an energy surge from the staff in his hand, the Cherubim guard was blown backwards, out of reach to help Enoch. Luciferael then focused on the Cherubim guard and moved forward, sending more energy blasts his way.
Luciferael’s distraction and wrath aimed at the other loyal Cherubim gave Faumiel the chance he needed to swoop in, grab Enoch by the wings on his back, and lift him skywards along with him. By the time Luciferael had discovered Enoch had been taken from him, Faumiel was halfway to the gateway into the First Heaven, and Cerebriel and a full legion of loyal Cherubim were passing them by, armed and ready to defend against any Angel who would be a threat from the Earth below.