Where All Souls Meet (17 page)

Eden's nostrils were filled with the scent of flowers and the same white golden light suffused her vision. For the first time since she had been tossed down into the pit, she felt relief from the heat in Natalia's warm arms. She didn't understand why Natalia was still here. Eden's heart was filled with such joy that this was not the case she gave a cry of happiness and wished she could hug her, but she felt uncomfortable touching Natalia because she appeared so glorious. She was frightened of marring her perfection.

"Natalia," Eden said. "You… you… You said I wouldn't see you anymore. Did you get back up to heaven in time?"

Natalia gazed at her with kind eyes. "I meant it was the last time I would see you before the world changes. The true end of mankind is near, but God wanted to save as many people as possible from falling to what is now truly hell, the fiery sea. This was a warning of what it will be like when the end actually comes."

"You mean the end truly is coming?" Eden asked.

"It will come, but it will be different than this," Natalia said. "God will let the end come when He decides it's right. There are changes still needing to be made for humans."

"But how did this happen?" Eden asked. "How are you still here?"

"I never left your side, Eden," Natalia said. "When I said I would have to make sacrifices, it was the fact I would have to watch you suffer so much. God never left the world. God made the choice to let the gates of heaven close, but He always had the power to open them again. The guardian angels never died and the angels never left Earth or Purgatory. We silently watched you, and you, Eden, have made me so proud. You have made God proud too. You have done well and have carried His burden in His name."

"So this whole time…" Eden frowned at her hands. "I didn't save anybody."

"Don't say such things," Natalia said. "Many souls will change their ways before the end of Earth comes. This is not
nothing
. You watched an evil soul fall into the sea of fire where he will burn for all eternity. After all he has done, you still wanted to save him. Because of you, millions of evil souls will escape a horrible fate. They will escape Satan, and — uh!"

Suddenly, Eden and Natalia were jerked downward rapidly. Eden screamed as Natalia tightened her grip on her.

"What about me?" Satan's five heads asked in unison.

Down below, Satan had somehow increased in size and had reached them, though they were heading quickly into the air. He held Natalia by a slender, tan ankle and ripped her downward and out of the air, Eden along with her. The two of them hit the ground with a
thud
, and Eden let out a shriek of pain.

Satan glared down at Natalia, who lay on the ground with her white dress twisted around her legs.

"You are not taking the girl anywhere," Satan growled. "You have not seen my full strength yet. The power of God? I will show you true power."

With an inhuman, ear piercing scream that made Eden shriek right along with him, Satan raised his hands up to the sky. He grew bigger until there was not enough room for him to stand upon the patch of ground. Instead he stepped back into the fiery magma. He became a hundred and then two hundred feet tall. The swelling magma made waves which lapped onto the side of the patch of ground where Eden and Natalia lay because of his added weight.

"Oh, no," Eden said.

Natalia gazed at her. "Do not despair, Eden. God is watching out for us. Always. No angel or good human soul will ever be lost to Satan and hell. God is just and He will ensure it."

Satan reached down and seized Natalia by her leg and held her up in the air where she writhed and screamed.

"Puny angel," Satan said. "Who has the power now?"

Then Satan grabbed Natalia's soft, downy, wing and ripped it from her back. Natalia screamed in agony as Satan dropped the wing into the lake where it was consumed by the magma. As Satan reached toward Natalia's other wing there was the sound of whistling throughout the air. Eden was momentarily dazzled by a great white light far brighter than she had ever seen before. Something massive landed to her right; it took her a moment to see clearly.

It was a male angel with curly golden hair and bright eyes. His clothing was of red wine silk with threads of gold spun into it. He had an immense sword which brushed the ground, though the angel was probably twenty feet tall. He had a wingspan of ten feet by ten feet, and his feathers were so white Eden swore they created their own light. When he offered Eden his hand she took it and was shocked as comforting warmth filled her. He smelled so wonderful Eden could have shut her eyes and basked in the perfume all day. She could not name the scent, but it was similar to incense, sweet but pure.

"Are you all right?" the angel asked her, his voice deep and booming but gloriously beautiful.

Eden, unsure of what to say to such an incredible being, nodded.

"Good," the angel said. Then the angel leered at Satan instead. "Remember me?"

Eden saw fear flicker across Satan's many faces. The angel bent low into a crouch and then shot upward using his powerful legs and large wings. With his mighty golden sword extended, he ploughed his blade straight into Satan's stomach. Satan let out a growl and staggered backward. Natalia fell from Satan's grip. The male angel caught her in his arms and flew her down to the ground where she kneeled at his side.

"God will heal," the angel said. He turned and shot after Satan again.

This time, the angel flew straight toward Satan's shriveled head and extended his sword to drive the blade into his eye. Satan brought up his hand and moved to grab the angel, but the messenger of God was too fast and twirled out of his way so quick he made a circular pattern of light. Eden tore her gaze away from the wonderful, powerful angel, fell to her knees, and touched the gaping, though bloodless, hole in Natalia's back.

"Are you okay?" Eden asked.

"Yes," Natalia said. "Michael is right. God will heal."

"
The
Michael?" Eden asked. "The
'cast Satan out of heaven'
Michael?"

Natalia nodded at her. Eden gazed in awe at the archangel. As Satan screamed at the sky with his fists flailing, Michael came at him faster and faster, sword whirling. Satan swiped at Michael in an attempt to bat him out of the sky again, but Michael drew his knees up to his chest at the last second and then used Satan's own hand to propel himself forward. With one swift movement, Michael sliced at Satan's hand head and the Lord of hell fell backward and screeched.

As Eden watched the gorgeous Michael, someone tapped her shoulder. She spun around and saw two beautiful angels looking at her, hovering just above the fiery magma. One of them was a skinny female with short red hair, freckles, and glowing green eyes, and the other was a man with tan skin and chocolate brown eyes.

"We will get you out of here," the female angel said.

"But what about…" Eden glanced over just in time to watch Michael knock Satan into the lake of fire.

"It's not your job to defeat Satan, Eden," Natalia said. "Let God worry about him. He knows what He's doing. It was your job to help as many people as you could, and you did so. Your duty is done."

Eden moved hesitantly and nodded at the angels. The female grabbed Eden around the waist as if to be carried into a threshold of a new home. Despite the angel's thinness, she acted as though Eden weighed nothing at all. Then again, she was a soul. The male angel scooped up Natalia in his arms and carried her the same way, and the two angels took flight.

With the hot wind whistling through the angels' wings, Eden gazed down as the war scene grew more and more distant. She could still see a choir of angels flying at Leviathan all at once, dodging past his breath of fire, and forcing him down into the sea of magma where he let out high-pitched screeches. To her right, three of the dragon's heads appeared close to falling into the sea of fire as their necks drooped and cuts covered their faces.

Eden felt cool air billowing in from somewhere as the angels flew farther and farther away. The embattled angels became dots and the massive monsters heaps of shadow. She gazed toward the glowing light from whence the sound of angels' hymns poured. The two angels flew into the golden light, and the next thing Eden knew, she was surrounded by cool air and the distant lands of Purgatory. It was as if hell had just evaporated. There were no dragons, no Leviathan, and no Satan. There was no unquenchable heat, teeth-grinding pain, or worms.

Best of all, there was no more loneliness. She no longer heard Donovan's screams of pain. Eden was so relieved when the female angel released her from her grasp, she tumbled to her knees. She buried her face in the soil and smelled the sweet smell of earth.

She turned her head and glanced at the three angels. The male released Natalia. Cringing, Natalia rubbed her damaged wing.

"Thank you," Eden said. "Thank you
so
much. How long was I in hell? How long did I..."

The memory of the inferno she escaped made her want to never move again.

"You were there a little under three hours," Natalia said, "but you will never, ever go there again. You have done your duty and have repaid your sins."

"But why?" Eden asked. "Why did God put me down there to begin with?"

"He wanted to show you what you saved people from," Natalia said. "He wanted you to see the horrors of hell so you would know by saving so many people from being thrown into the pit of fire, you have accomplished something so great words cannot describe it. Keeping people from going to hell is not something to be taken lightly, Eden."

"I understand," Eden said, staring at her hands. She felt strangely numb.

"Do you truly?" Natalia asked. "Without you, Yuri would have continued his path of anger and would have eventually been cast into the lake of fire. Now he will go to heaven. In fact, he would be there already, if he wasn't waiting for you."

"What?" Eden gasped. He waited for her, which warmed her heart. And had she truly saved him from hell?

"Do you see now?" Natalia asked.

Yuri, be cursed to such a fate? She imagined him walking the endless plains, sucked in by his own misery and anger. The idea filled her with such sadness it made her want to cry. Even if it was just to save him, she would have done it all over again.

"Your mother as well," Natalia said. "She was on the verge of being blotted out of the Book of Life and being put in the Book of Death."

"Book of Death?"

"God has two books," Natalia said. "The Book of Life is for those who go to heaven and the Book of Death is for those to be cast into hell when the world ends. God knows everything."

Eden was silent. So she had saved her mom and good friend from being cast into such a horrible place. Now she understood she had done something more important than she had realized. She had worked to save her friends. Maybe the gates of heaven had never truly been locked shut and God may not have needed her to save the world, but hell was so much worse than anything she could have imagined. Saving even one soul was worth it.

"My dad…" Eden frowned at the ground. "Will he survive this? Will he be cast down?"

"No," Natalia said. "Your father loves you. His love will save him.
You
will save him."

"What do you mean?" Eden asked.

"God has a gift for you, for enduring hell without cause," Natalia said. "You love your father and have always honored him. Would you like to speak with him one last time before you go to heaven?"

"Can I…" Eden blinked. "How is it possible?"

"To God, anything is possible. He has already healed the Earth. Now, he will do the same for your father." Natalia extended her hand to her. "Come."

"But your wing," Eden said. "Shouldn't you get it fixed?"

"I have all the time in the world," Natalia said. "I do not need my wings for this. God will help us get to Earth and will show you the way."

Eden nodded slowly.

"Oh, I almost forgot something," Natalia said. "This is for you. I think you'll find good use for it. It still has one life to save."

After digging into her robe, Natalia pulled out Eden's wooden cross. She handed it to Eden who took it from her, dazed. The cross felt warm in her hand.

"I lost this," Eden said. "How did you get it back?"

Natalia didn't respond. Eden tucked the cross in her pocket for safe keeping.

Suddenly, rays of warm, gentle light shot down from the sky and Eden shut her eyes and felt as if she floated. It was almost like she was being hugged. She realized what the feeling was. She was going home.