Enoch Primordial (Chronicles of the Nephilim) (5 page)

“Who are you?” asked Enoch.

The
larger, stronger angel spoke first, “We are Gabriel and Uriel, the archangels from the throne of Elohim.”

“Elohim?”
Enoch had heard of the name. His tribe descended from the line of Seth that had worshipped this god as the creator of all things. But when the dispersion had occurred and his ancestors had settled in the city, they were visited by the gods of Shinar, and this Elohim faded into obscurity. An abstract blurred memory of a distant unseen deity seemed impotent in the real presence of the pantheon with its Four High Gods, Anu, Enlil, Enki, and Ninhursag, and their mighty signs and wonders.

“Everything you worship is a lie,” said Gabriel.

Uriel looked at Gabriel. “That is a little shocking, Gabriel. Do you not think it would be wiser to ease him into the truth, instead of slamming him over the head with a mace?”

Gabriel rolled his eyes. “
Very well.” He turned back to the speechless Enoch.

“You might want to close your mouth,” Uriel added
to Enoch who snapped his gaping mouth shut.

“Enoch ben Jared, the living God is calling you to bear witness to the truth that has been suppressed in unrighteousness.” Gabriel looked at Uriel as if to ask, is that good enough for you? Uriel
nodded cautiously.

In the fold of archangels,
Uriel ranked as a black sheep, one marred with spots as well as an off-color. He always seemed to see things from a different perspective than the others. This caused him to always interrupt discussions and provoke delays. It made him the butt of jokes. He could not help it. He did not seek to stand out of the crowd. Elohim made him that way. Uriel sometimes called it a “curse,” but only in jest. Elohim knew better and had his purposes. In a way, it made Uriel feel special. Perhaps his nature was not all that undesirable.

Uriel
stood a bit shorter than most archangels, maybe by half a cubit. His stature became another source of relentless teasing about strength and ability. The mockery nudged Uriel to work harder than all the rest, to prove that he was as good as any of them. The teasing sharpened his wit and words, as if to compensate for his lesser physique.

Enoch
’s dumbfounded stare focused on Gabriel, until Uriel spoke.

Uriel said to Enoch, “Elohim is the true and living God, the Creator of the universe. He has chosen you as his
representative to proclaim judgment upon the gods and upon their giant progeny, the Nephilim.”

“You call that subtle?” muttered Gabriel under his breath.

“More lyrical than you will ever be,” quipped Uriel. He turned back to Enoch. “Terror is about to break out on all the land, and Elohim has commissioned you to reject the gods of Shinar and become his prophet.”

Enoch
could not decide which was more difficult to accept, a confrontation with two archangels or the inane banter that kept distracting them from their message. He shook himself out of his stupor. Nothing he had just heard made sense to him. “Excuse, me, what did you say?” asked Enoch.

Uriel repeated the words like a mother with an unruly child who
would not listen, “Elohim wants you to speak for him.”

“Are you crazy?” said Enoch. “I have been a diviner priest for Utu the sun god all my life. The pantheon of gods has been good to me and my family. Now, I am supposed to condemn them all to their faces?”

“And the Nephilim,” Uriel reminded him.

Enoch persisted, “The Nephilim are demigods. They have strength and
powers unmatched by humans. The first prophecy I make will be my last. They will execute me on the spot.”

Gabriel
ignored Enoch’s protest. “Trust in Elohim. Rahab is coming upon this city.” Rahab was the name of the sea dragon of chaos, the creature of destruction that swam the waters of the Abyss. People invoked her name when they wanted to express foreboding disaster of total annihilation.

“Bring your family and loved ones to the mountains of Aratta in the north. In the volcanic lands of Sahand you will find your distant ancestor, Adam. He will teach you what you need to learn to fulfill Elohim’s calling upon your life.”

Enoch protested again, “How do I know you are telling the truth? I have never heard from Elohim before. How do I know I can trust him?”

The angels knew
the question was reasonable. Gabriel had prepared for it. “This very night, your city will be besieged and your king will die. When you, Enoch, son of Jared, are offered the opportunity to be king, know this: If you accept, you and all your family line will be executed to clear way for a new regime.”

Uriel completed the prophecy. “If you choose to escape the city with your family, you will be protected by — well, yours truly.” He
could not pass up the opportunity for a touch of wit.

Gabriel thought
Uriel’s wit lessened the urgency of their warning. He reiterated, “Do not accept the offer, Enoch. It will be deadly.”

For the first time in his life in the presence of his father, Methuselah sat quiet. He was stunned. Of all the crazy dreams and visions his father had experienced throughout the years, this one was different. It hit Methuselah more like the truth than anything ever had. He thought that was strange, because he was not the mystical type. But this time,
he just knew
it was true
.

Enoch
’s voice vibrated with anxiety. “How do I know this is true? I mean, this Elohim has never shown his face to me all these years, and now all of a sudden, I am told to leave everything and follow him? It is bizarre.”

“Are you moonstruck, father?” said Methuselah, a common insult in the city of the sun god. “After all these years of your wild and unbelievable dreams, you question
this one — now
?”

Enoch retorted, “And you now are the gullible true believer? Or is that just your habit of being contrary and impulsive?”

“I am not being contrary. I cannot explain it. I just know it is true.”

“You
cannot explain it,” repeated Enoch. “Well, now you know how I feel, and what I have been trying to tell you all these years.”

Methuselah said, “
Have you not often said you would like to meet our forefather Adam? To learn of our history? Here is your opportunity to do so.”

“I was being sentimental, not literal,” snapped Enoch. “I
cannot just walk away from Utu. He has been my god all these years. He has provided for us.”

They heard the front door shut
. They suddenly noticed that Edna was not with them anymore. She had gotten up and must have left their chambers.

Enoch called out, “Edna?”

No one answered him.

“That is strange,” said Enoch. “
She has never done that before.”

Methuselah guessed
that his mother believed the prophecy, more than the “sage” who had received it. She was probably making preparations to leave the city, preparations that included Methuselah’s young friend, the other Edna, and her parents. She had discussed the possibility with her son in the past.

“She is warning others,” he surmised.

“What others?” challenged Enoch.

“Edna and her parents?” offered Methuselah.

“How does she know about this girl of yours?”

“She is not my ‘girl,’ father,” said Methuselah. “
I have told mother all about her. She knows we are close, and she is going to help them. She will go after Edna’s parents first, to bring them to the palace.”

Methuselah’s mother
already knew that young Edna was in love with her son. She had spent long hours talking with the girl. Mother Edna had been a young lower caste girl once and had fallen in love with a young Enoch as a royal apkallu in training. So she did not have the qualms that either of the men had. They always took so much longer to see these things.

Methuselah replied simply, “We should prepare the family to leave. Mother will be back before long.”

“Son, we must have confirmation.”

“What else do you need to be — ”
A knock at the door interrupted Methuselah. Enoch opened the door to a servant messenger.

The
man was pale and trembling. “My lord, a riot has begun in the city. The Nephilim are on a rampage, destroying everything in sight and capturing citizens.”

Enoch
could not believe his ears. “They are taking hostages? What ransom can the palace possibly give them that they have not already extorted out of us?”

“
They have been demanding justice. Some say they are taking their anger out on the poor citizens.”

“Holy Utu,” said Enoch. “My Edna is out there.”

Methuselah’s throat went dry. He also knew what other horrors awaited the women. “Where is the city guard? Have they done anything to hold them back?”

“The city guard was the first to be taken out,” the messenger
wailed.

Enoch said, “Where are the Rephaim? Enmeduranki?”

The messenger shook his head. “Nowhere to be found.”

That
did not make sense to Enoch. They would be the first to coordinate action to protect the citizens. He knew the priest-king truly cared for his people and the Rephaim did not tolerate rebellion.

“The gates of the city have been locked,” said the messenger. “No one can get out. For some reason, the Nephilim have stayed away from the palace area.” The palace and its riches were always the ultimate goal in these revolutions. “Justice” usually meant theft, plunder, and destruction.

Enoch dismissed the messenger. He turned to Methuselah. “I have to get Edna, but I do not know where she is.”

“My Edna will know,” said Methuselah. “She can lead us
there.”

Enoch
nodded reluctantly. “You go find the servant girl. I will spread the word to the family to gather in the underground passageways and wait for us. I will meet
you
in the courtyard. Your little friend can lead us to her parents and our Edna.”

They ran out the door.

Enoch
had been accused of being so spiritually minded that he lacked practicality, but it was not true. He had arranged various positions of responsibility in the palace area for his extended family. He had given each a code and procedure to follow should any kind of disaster arise, be it a siege of the city or a revolt from within. This revolt fulfilled the second contingency.

He would not have to gather everyone himself. He
need only contact a couple of them and they would pass along the information through their prescribed channels. All of them would follow various prepared routes to meet in the secret passageways below the palace, created for this very purpose. Down there, they could weather the danger in the city above. They even had food stores which stayed well-preserved in the cool and dry environment.

Young Edna
had no such preparation. In the harem, they would probably be the last to hear about the tragedy unfolding outside their palace walls.

Methuselah made his way across the courtyard to the small harem building at the distant end of the palace area. He could hear the screams outside in the streets. He could not imagine why the giants had not breached the palace gates. He glanced over his shoulder. The glow over the walls of the palace told of buildings burning throughout the city. It was as bad as he had expected.

When he
reached the harem building, he dashed into the private chambers. He passed by maidens beautifying themselves and trying on their dresses for tomorrow’s Sacred Marriage rite. Screams of surprise and offended modesty rose up as Methuselah looked around wildly hunting for Edna. Losing his way amidst the clamor and buzz around him, he stumbled upon a girl in an elaborate white dress flattening out its ruffles.

“Excuse me, miss,” said Enoch.

She turned, and he lost his breath. He beheld a vision of a stunning young beauty with flowing locks of golden spun hair. It bothered him that the gods got the choicest of the women.

“Where is Edna?”

The beauty glared at him with incredulity, exotic make up accentuating her every breathtaking feature. “Are you mocking me?”

“
I am sorry, what?” he replied.

“Are you that thickheaded?
It is me, silly,” said the girl.

It
hit him like a ton of mud bricks. This gorgeous vision of feminine transcendence frowning at him was none other than the transformed presentation of his immature scrawny little boyish girl Edna. His little Pedna. How could he have never seen her this way before?

He stumbled back a step and almost fainted
. He knew at that very moment that he would never be happy in this life again until he married this goddess. This was the very first time he had really truly
finally
seen her. And his entire life changed in that instant.

“What is wrong with you?” Edna giggled.

Methuselah shook it off. He would have to deal with this later. Right now, he had to save her life.

“Edna, do you trust me?” he said.

“Yes, of course.”

“Then trust me this once completely, and do
exactly as I say. The city is in danger.”

“What?”

“I will tell you on the way. Take off this outer dress. We must leave now. No questions asked.”

She obeyed and pulled it off. Her tunic underneath was
better suited for running. His eyes found it quite agreeable.

She did trust him, with all her heart and soul.
She let him lead her out of the building toward the courtyard. He told her about the riots and the giants and the hostages as they ran. It was all horrific, but she was a tough girl. Methuselah realized she was the kind of person you wanted on your side when all Sheol broke loose. She would not scream in fear and shake like a brittle titmouse. She would want to join the fray.

“You need to tell me where your parents live. My mother went to
get them, to bring them with us. But now they are all three caught up in the middle of it.”

“
I will take you there,” said Edna.

“I want you to stay here,” said Methuselah.

She looked him square in the eye. “You will not be able to find your way,” she said. “You do not know the city streets, and you certainly do not know the shortcuts. You will get lost, plain and simple. I am not letting you go alone. I want to be with you.”

He
stared back into her eyes. He sometimes questioned whether he should have taught her how to debate so well. But she was right, so it was a good thing he had done it.

For the first time in her short existence on this earth she saw the
expression of a man who would give his life for her without a thought.

In
her eyes he saw the look of a woman who would die by his side rather than be alone. That is, after all, what she had trained for all those years.

He grinned. “
Pedna, let us kick some shank.”

Throughout Sippar, the streets lay eerily empty. Enoch, Methuselah, and Edna slinked through the shadows, trying to stay out of sight. The screams had died down, sporadic and at a distance. Fires burned all over, but they did not see any giants or people.

“This is not a good sign
,” said Methuselah.

She
responded, “My parents have a secret hideaway in the floor. I am sure they would have hidden there at the first sign of trouble.”

“Is there room for a third person?” asked Enoch.

“Yes,” she said. “They always figured me into their plans.”

“Utu be with them,” prayed Enoch as they continued on.
Or should it be Elohim?
he thought.

Ahead of them, in the center of the city, they could see the glow of a huge bonfire.
The giants had congregated there with the hostages. The trio needed to pass the gathering to get to the sector where Edna’s parents lived. They slid past homes demolished by the smashing strength of the Nephilim. They shuddered at the degree of damage. Whole houses reduced to rubble, the streets littered with household items and furniture, small fires everywhere. But not a sign of life.

They made their way through the cluttered back alleys that Edna knew so well
. They avoided the central bonfire. They were almost to her parents’ street, when curiosity got the better of them. They decided to turn back and take a look. A gap in the wreckage gave them a better look at the open space.

The
debris in the town square had been cleared away and piled up with wood from the marauding. Nearly a hundred of the giants stood around like a gang of miscreants.

Vomit arose in Edna’s throat
. They could see a crude line of cages full of weeping, pleading humans. Other humans were strung up from poles, and still others were encircled and taunted by groups of Nephilim. But the ultimate atrocity playing out before their eyes was not one of torture and rape, but cannibalism. The Nephilim were eating their captives one by one. Some took the time to impale the victims and roast them over the flames. Others had no such civility, eating the poor humans alive and drinking their blood. The hostages were not being held for ransom at all. They were being held for food.

Tears filled Enoch’s eyes. He knew the giants were a rowdy community and sometimes got in trouble for their violence, but he
had not realized that they were capable of such barbarism. His entire view of the world had turned upside down.

Suddenly, behind them, they heard the snap of wood and the sound of stumbling and grunting. They dropped to the ground and slid beneath some wreckage. About fifteen cubits away
, a drunken Naphil relieved himself in the open. Not all the Nephilim were at the bonfire. Stragglers wandered the streets and back alleys. The trio would have to be extra careful.

The Naphil belched and then without warning, projectile vomited into a pile of rubbish. The commotion
gave Enoch, Methuselah, and Edna the opportunity to slip away without being seen or heard.

• • • • •

T
he Rephaim leaders Thamaq and Yahipan were not at the palace or coordinating a military response to the riots because they had been the ones who betrayed the militia guard. They had been the ones to lock the city gates, and they had been the ones to instigate the mob riots of Nephilim. They had planned this entire drunken orgy of bloodlust. They had now gone off to a dark corner of the city to celebrate. Bloodshed made them delirious with carnal desire that they acted out on each other.

After they had finished their depraved deed, they donned their royal robes and started back to the bonfire. Only a
few streets from the scene of Nephilim atrocities, they heard a noise from one of the homes. They slipped up to a window and peered inside. An older couple climbed up from a trap door in the floor amidst a pile of debris. Smirking to each other, the Rephaim positioned themselves near the door, ready to trap these renegades. But they paused at a sight they had not expected. Someone they knew very well followed the older couple from the hiding place: Edna, the wife of Enoch the apkallu.

Their smirks turned to broad grins. What a lucky surprise for them, and what an unlucky surprise for these poor leeches. They burst in the home
.

T
he would-be fugitives gasped and backed into a corner. Edna picked up the remains of a chair and brandished it as a weapon.

Thamaq laughed and brushed it aside as though it were nothing more than a feather. He grabbed Edna by the throat and pinned her against the wall
. Then he seized the other woman with his free hand.

As Yahipan subdued the old man, Thamaq
glared at Edna. “What are you doing here, wife of Enoch? You should have stayed safe in the palace.”

She struggled
in his suffocating grasp. “Why are you doing this?” she choked out. He ignored her question. He leaned in close. “I have long fantasized about consuming your corpse.” Thamaq opened his mouth to bite off her head.

H
e did not get to chomp tonight. A knife flew through the air and penetrated his cheek. He dropped the wench to the ground. clutching his wound in pain. He pulled out the blade with a wince of pain. He looked for the source of the stinger.

Enoch
stood a knife’s throw away. Just behind him, panting from running, appeared young Edna in her virginal tunic, now soiled with the dirt of the city.

It confused
Thamaq. It did not make sense, all this royalty out of context in the tenement district of the city.

Yahipan
felt no such confusion or hesitation. He immediately started for the little rodent to squash him with impunity. But he did not think ahead. He did not consider there might be a third party lying in wait.

Yahipan
rushed toward his prey. The hidden Methuselah struck out with his knife and sliced the heel tendon of Yahipan’s right foot.

The Rapha
screamed in pain. His leg gave way, tumbling him to the ground with a large thud. He carried the old man in his arms, and used him to cushion his fall. The impact of the giant’s body crushed the life out of the poor fellow.

“FATHER!” screamed Edna.

Methuselah shot a glance in her direction. He did not see Thamaq focus on him. The Rapha threw his captives to the ground and jumped for Methuselah. He swatted the human with such force that it jettisoned Methuselah a good fifteen cubits into a wall, knocking him senseless.

W
hen Yahipan fell forward, he landed within arm’s reach of Enoch and Edna. He grabbed them both in his iron vise grip. They were not going to break free from this monster. Thamaq brought the stunned Methuselah over and threw him down next to Edna. All three of them looked up into the eyes of fate ready to crush them.

“I love you, Edna,” muttered Methuselah.

“I have always loved you,” she replied.

“
Is that not precious,” snorted Thamaq. “Maggots in love.”

“SON OF SHEOL, THIS HURTS!” screamed Yahipan. “I want that little worm Utuabzu.
I am going to eat him alive.”

Thamaq motioned forcefully for Yahipan to wait as he mused over their prey.

“Let us not be hasty, Yahipan. Consider what we have here. The royal apkallu and his apprentice son. Here to save the family of a sacred virgin with whom they have committed treason against the gods.” It would indeed be considered treason to steal away a virgin betrothed for the Sacred Marriage rite to Utu.

“I would say that was a deed punishable by death, would you not agree, Yahipan?” said Thamaq.

Yahipan nursed his wounded tendon. His every word came out filled with venom, “I think they deserve a fate worse than death. I am going to violate you apkallus first and make you watch what we do to your little lovebird here.”

Enoch swallowed.
This was the end. He saw Enmeduranki’s priestly jewels hanging from Yahipan’s neck, and he knew the priest-king’s fate. A fate that would soon be their own. The three held hands and prepared to meet the gods.

And meet the gods they did.