Chapter IV

The air looked dirty, now; the lights dimmer, and it was colder than before.

THE ARMY OF SHADOW Angels, stood silent, large spears and sharp swords hinting at the violence they could initiate if given the signal. Mavet raised his chin, taking a breath through his nose. He wanted to remember every element of this. All eyes were on him, and except for a few falling stones and bits of broken glass, there was no noise other than the lonely hum of a floodlight that had not yet fallen from the ceiling. The Shadows had come, and with them an achingly cold chill.

Deegan clapped his hands together very slowly,

Clap . . . clap . . . clap.

“Strange,” Deegan said. “Normally, something like this happens, and everyone would be texting. OMG. ROFL. LMFAO. But I look around, and . . . nothing. Odd.”

Still, nobody spoke. The Angels that had come to capture Mavet were unsure what course of action to take, as they were now the ones surrounded by an overwhelming force of monsters. Sariel, their leader, knew that they had better stay calm, and protect Uriel. Old debts and settling scores was out of the question, now. They would be lucky to escape this encounter with their lives.

If they died down here . . . it was forever.

God had stipulated that when they take form on the earth plane, and interact in human affairs, they have no divine protection. The reason for this is that whenever free will is exercised, or infringed upon, from the outside, the consequences are dire. Even the Angels are allowed to choose their path. But if they impede the exercise of free will - such as the divine miracles we hear about from time to time - they are taking a great risk. Intentions may be pure, but then .•. the graveyards are full of men with good intentions.

Mavet cleared his throat. “Uriel, as the most respected member of our audience, I want to let you in on our little secret. I hope that you will go back . . .” he looked at the other Angels briefly, “with your friends, of course, and tell Michael that there are other considerations that now have to be made. I’m sure that he will understand, given the changing landscape that you have now witnessed.”

“This means nothing,” Litock said sharply, paying little mind the significance of the predicament they were now in.

Mavet raised his eyebrows cautioning Uriel, “You had better put a leash on that one. I’m trying to be sociable about all of this.”

Uriel turned to the young Angel, “Litock, your heart is in the right place but—”

“The forces of heaven will destroy each and everyone of you. Your souls will be ripped apart and spread throughout the cold black universe,” Litock spat.

Mavet’s eyes raised up a bit, signaling one of the Shadows. “I will ask you one last time, Rookie, not to interrupt. Please let the adults talk.”

Litock took a quick step forward, his hand rising up with the sword, to strike but it was short-lived. Before he was able to fully draw back the shiny blade, the tip of a five-pointed arrow burst through his throat, having been shot from behind by one of the Shadows.

Litock’s face contorted as he stopped in his tracks. His eyes were large and scared, locked in a deathly grimace as he tried to breath. A dark, nearly black, blood bubbled out of his throat, covering his chest and dripping down the point of the arrowhead. The sword slowly lowered towards the floor as his free hand reached for his throat, locking around the exposed shaft of the arrow.

Suddenly, all of the Angels knew that there was no way of escape through violence. To fight would be suicide; little more than a lesson in futility.

Slowly the other Angels laid their weapons down on the dust-covered floor. Deegan walked over to Litock, now on his knees, preparing for the darkness. Deegan kneeled beside him, with a hand on his shoulder to comfort him. “I bet nobody printed this on the job application.” He stood up, addressing the other Angels.

“We could have you all killed, right now. It would take no more than the snap of a finger. But that is not our intention. We are here to pass on a message. So please, if you all could . . . be good little kids, and listen to your former brother.” With that he nodded to Mavet.

Mavet proceeded, “What you are now faced with is a third choice. No longer must a soul go to Purgatory and wait, God only knows how long, for his Grace. Nor do they have to choose between Heaven and Hades. I believe that many souls will feel that neither God, nor Lucifer, have their best interests in mind. We will wait, in the shadows, so to speak, for the End of Days. We will be preparing for the Great Battle.”

“Are you challenging God and Lucifer?” Uriel asked.

Mavet walked towards him, appreciating the tact and honor of the Angel, and the history they had shared together. Uriel was a good Angel . . . a pure soul. He knew, probably more than any other Angel, that the future was not yet written. Despite the religious teaching in the Bible, the Qur’an, the Torah, and the myriad other religious documents . . . nobody knows who will win the battle between Heaven and Hades.

“Uriel, my oldest teacher, and friend. I would never disrespect you by offering you a place at our side, because I know that you could never accept. But I will always respect you, and honor our time together in Heaven. Unfortunately, the Great Battle that will soon be fought will determine how the universe is run for the rest of eternity. To me, that seems to be an enormous consequence for our political differences.”

“This is more than mere politics, Mavet,” Uriel argued. “This is the fight of morality verses sin, love against hate, the . . . the purity of free will and universal responsibility.”

Mavet nodded, “Two sides of a semantic argument. Nothing more. And that is the problem. God, when he could have simply exercised just a bit of flexibility with Lucifer and the others, decided to cast them from Grace. How much are we to be punished just for wanting to be loved by him? How much do we now suffer if we go against his will. And then . . . in an instant,” he snapped his finger, “it’s all gone. No love, no morality, no ‘voice’. Just the silence. So the penalty they pay is being sent away from Heaven . . . forever. What kind of a God does that?”

Mavet made a tight fist and then opened his hand slowly, “What kind of supreme being wields his power like an angry child? They say our God is not a jealous God. The say he rules with a loving hand. Does he? The propaganda says that a soul will burn in the eternal pits of Hell if he chooses Lucifer, but we both know that is not accurate.”

Mavet turned to Deegan, “Are there even ‘burning pits’ in Hades?”

“If there are, I have never seen them,” Deegan quipped. “And believe me, if there was such a thing, I surely would have felt it.”

Mavet took a few steps, his eyes staring up at the cracked and crumbling ceiling of the Vault. “So you wait for God, or go to Hell. But what if you believe in neither Heaven nor Hell? What do you do when you don’t want to spend eternity with the sanctity of Heaven, or the ravenous desires of Hades? What is your choice? Perfection or pestilence?”

Mavet took some time before he continued speaking. He didn’t want to leave Uriel confused about their position among Heaven and Hades. “Uriel, I want you to take this message back to Heaven. I want you to tell Michael, and God above him, that we will find our seat at the table among God and Lucifer. When Lucifer’s sword is found, and innocent blood is spilled, we too will participate in the Great Battle. We will be a third choice for lost souls that want nothing of Heaven, nor of Hades. We will be waiting, and we will be watching.”

“The earth is no longer a playground for God and Lucifer’s soldiers,” Deegan said, addressing the Angels loudly, “Until the End of Days, the earth is off limits.”

Mavet’s face grew taught, and his words were firm and cold, “For the first time in human history, there will be free will on earth. No more divine intervention . . . from Heaven or Hades. If a baby falls off a high rise . . . too bad. If a priest touches a little boy . . . tough luck. The laws of physics and human emotion are all that will dictate the course of humanity.”

“And,” Mavet warned, “if any soul that is not a part of this place is discovered here, interfering in any way . . .”

Deegan finished the thought, “He will suffer a most prolific death. It will make the ‘Spears’ incident seem pleasant by comparison.”

“I’m sorry it has come to this, Uriel,” Mavet said softly. “The earth is our home now. We will let them make their own choices . . . and so will you.”

“And what will Lucifer say to all of this?” Uriel asked.

“I believe that he saw this coming. Lucifer can count. He knew there were Angels that left Heaven, that didn’t end up with him in Hades. Lucifer . . . the light bringer. He, I believe, is much wiser to such things than you give him credit for. But that’s not a concern of ours.”

Mavet turned and started walking toward Sariel. The Angels cleared a path for him. He and Deegan made their way out of the now broken circle of Angels. Without looking back he spoke, “Pass on my words, old friend. I shall not look forward to the next time we meet.”

As quickly as they had appeared, the army of Shadow Angels melted back into the darkness, Deegan and Mavet among them. The universe was a different place now. Everything had changed. In the blink of an eye . . . trepidation had replaced security.

Uriel approached the fallen Angel, as the rest of the Angels walked to his side. Litock’s life faded. His body began to darken and burn, turning quickly to ashes and in little fits and swirls the fine black dust lifted away into the air. All that was left of the Angel was his sword. Uriel slowly picked it up, looking into the blade as if it might tell him some secret; some answer he could use to fix all of this. But it was just a sword. A sharp tool used for cutting at life.

Uriel stood, with the sword in his hand, its sharp edge in his thoughts, wondering if at some point they had gone astray. Was there any other way this could have turned out? Did they send Mavet to fulfill the wishes of God, or to fulfill his destiny?

He looked around at the other Angels, all of them quiet and somber, lost in their thoughts. “Let’s go back home.” Uriel’ s eyes glanced at all of the chaos and destruction. It looked like a tornado had gone through the Vault. Hundreds of square meters of wreckage. It was a grim foreshadowing of what earth would look like when the Great Battle ensued. “We have much to do. War is on the horizon. There’s no stopping it, now.”

And moments later they were gone.