Realm of the Dead (11 page)

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Jerahmeel and the rest of the team followed Iblis into the digestive tract of Hell, careful not to touch the surface floor. White glowing maggots covered the cavern and hissed within pulsating flows of lava.  Like a river streamed with human remains, Hell digested the fallen angels before their eyes.

Steam sizzled through the vent as they entered, only to mask the moans of those under judgment.  Cries of anguish and the stench of rotting flesh baked into the nostrils and ears of the group.

"Talus is in this?" asked Eskalion.

"No," replied Iblis. "He is without a doubt deep in the center of the creature.  The bowel.  For within, Lucifer hath built the Hellforge away from the prying eyes of Grigori and Heaven.  For whom but the mad would ever attempt entry into the prison El hast designed?" 

Turiel laughed, "It would seem that we too are foolish to undertake such a task."

Iblis moved with caution between falling clumps of cooling lava that fell from the ceiling. Eyes protruded from the ceiling, the pupils of which dilated and followed their movements.

"Think of it," Iblis said, "just think of it. Lucifer braved Hell to release Apollyon from this creature's grip.  What audacity, to believe he could not just enter the Lord's prison, but escape!  He saw this beast untamed and ready to consume." Iblis beamed as he continued. "Is it not impressive to know that our kind had the power to circumvent God, to move beyond His constraints? Can you not understand why many followed him?"

Eskalion huffed in disgust. "When your false god can create life and the air we breathe, then perhaps he might scratch the toe of El's power. Until then, I will stand with my God."

Through narrow channels the group flew, careful to avoid the floor, walls, and ceilings. 

"There are eyes in the ceiling," said Jerahmeel. "Eyes that watch us."

Turiel looked up. "Indeed, yet something seems amiss. Is it just me, or do they seem to be multiplying?"

All glanced above them, and as water boils so too did eyes bubble to the surface of the lava both above and beneath them. Slowly the organs popped into being, then with each passing moment, more came into view, compounding and reproducing, each searching for something, each eye looking in various directions, swiveling in all angles, scanning the duct in which the quartet traveled

"Intriguing," Turiel said. "The creature does not realize that we are within it."  And upon those words, the tome that floated aside of Turiel's body began to be inscribed by his pen. And as the thoughts of Turiel were translated from mind to pen, and from pen to page, the tip of the instrument glanced the ceiling.

The eyes of the entire cavern then locked onto glowing deep red, and widening to twice their size.

Iblis motioned for all to stop and fear covered his face. Turiel misted, and all took notice that all eyes of the cavern now tracked their movement.

"If you value your life, do not move," Iblis whispered. 

All floated, as anxiety crept through the group, each muscle taut to move as little as possible. Jerahmeel held his breath as he looked about, and it was then that when he thought they were safe, that Turiel reached to touch the creature.

"Nooo!" Jerahmeel cried, but it was too late.  Turiel wailed out in agony as his hands burned and he fell screaming into the boiling lava. The eyes grew and tracked him and immediately began to fall from the ceiling. More eyes surfaced from the floor in a tidal wave of lava, angelic and human limbs. A swelling upsurge that now trailed them to consume them alive. Hell was hungry.

"FLEE!!" Iblis screamed.

Eskalion rushed to Turiel, hoisted him over his shoulders, and the four fled into corridors of darkness, flying in single file following Iblis in desperate hopes to escape.

Jerahmeel panted as angelic endorphins pumped through his body as he and the group scrambled to escape the touch of the quickly converging glowing one-eyed creatures. Michael had told Jerahmeel about the living immune system of Hell, but nothing could prepare him for the reality that now pursued them. For Carrion-eating, disease destroying antibodies viewed their presence as nothing more than a contagion to be destroyed.

The one-eyed, lava-like antibodies swarmed the cavern with flaming tentacles that unraveled from the ceiling like vines in a jungle. Their stinging touch, sending needle-like pain into those who failed to dodge the lowering limbs.

Iblis batted away steaming tendrils. "Hurry this way!"

Jerahmeel, sword drawn, sliced at the falling appendages that sought to entwine them.   Faster they flew, and from every wall, from the floors and roof of corridors, glowing eyes opened and plopped to the floor in a slow march, as lava overran all things. Eskalion dared not look behind him, as Turiel groaned while he flopped over his peer's shoulders as he ran. His pen and stylus hovered just beyond him, writing ceaselessly in the air.

"Eskalion, they come more swiftly than we can move. We will not make it," Turiel said.

"We will not fail," Eskalion replied with a pant.

"I found it!" said Iblis. "I found the opening! Hurry before it closes!"

Jerahmeel saw the chute that pulsed open and closed.  A living valve of some sort that led to depths unknown.  He shouted in gruff exhaustion. "Where does it lead?"

"Anywhere is better than here," cried Eskalion. "Hurry!"

Rolling waves of beastly eyes pursued like a flowing, moving river of teeth with brimstone eyes. The cavern bristled with the smell of ash and rank air.

Jerahmeel looked back and saw what few of his kind had ever seen... the decayed and half-digested remains of men and angels, alive yet dead, partially consumed and now part of the river of lava that chased them.  Mouths, eyes, hands, and feet, wings and beautiful scales of Elohim rose and sank within the hissing mass of magma and a sea of eyes. Jerahmeel turned as he followed Iblis who now scooted down the chute. The head of House Harrada grasped the edge of the chute and prepared to slide down the slimy cavity when his eyes beheld the manifestation of his fears.  Unable to slash through the falling tendrils of Hell, Eskalion and Turiel fought to free themselves while enveloped by fiery coils that lifted them aloft into openings in the ceiling and they vanished from view.

"ESKALION, TURIEL!" screamed Jerahmeel.  But it was too late. And the corridor became awash in the hissing, consuming remains of angelic and human flotsam that reached out to add Jerahmeel's flesh to its own.

Jerahmeel panted. A tear streamed from one eye and he grimaced in frustration as he forced himself to look forward and slid down the chute into the darkness.

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Ashtaroth flew into the lower chambers of Hell and passed a long corridor that held his master's trophies.  On one side were the heads of enemies Lucifer had defeated in battle and on the other the heads of those who had challenged him for the leadership of the Horde.  An intimidating warning to all who approached to be mindful of those who had gone before them who thought they could challenge the God of this World.  For Lucifer had leashed the prison of El itself, and by his side, he commanded Charon to do his bidding. The master's message was clear.  To challenge his authority was do so at the risk of dissolution. 

Ashtaroth did not relish telling his master that a new challenge awaited his lord.

Ashtaroth found Lucifer standing as expected before the Hellforge. When Lucifer was not tormenting his favorite captive, he was tracking the doings of Yeshua and cursing as the Son of God unraveled his works. Here he schemed how he might undo the Godhead.  For the Hellforge was located within the center of the creature Hell, and she had submarined herself deep into the core of the Earth; mixing her celestial blood with the planet's terrestrial lava, for beneath continental shelves and the shift of tectonic plates, the beast had made herself home.

Yet even here Lucifer was restricted, for unknown to him the souls of both the righteous and unrighteous dead El had caused to dwell.  And situated beyond the power of even his master sat a realm that was whispered as Paradise.  A chamber within Hell itself surrounded by the creature---even protected.  For when the retreat from Satan's reach was discovered hiding amidst his own abode, Lucifer conscripted minions to devise means to cross the bile-filled chasm that Hell itself raised to prevent the two groups from crossing.  So even at the heart of Hell, and in the midst of Lucifer's storehouse to create weapons to combat the Almighty. El placed within His wayward son's view a reminder that He was always near. An ever present yet subtle reminder that He was a power to be reckoned with and that power was His alone. For the ever-present view of righteous men who were able to see his unrighteous works, vexed Lucifer to no end.

Ashtaroth found his master at the Forge and bowed low.

"My liege, there is word that we have been breached."

Lucifer looked upon Talus who hung suspended from the center of the Forge.  His stone, and that of a great many others, powered Hell to create weapons and creatures, pieced together from the millennia of angels and men who lined her veins.  Lucifer watched in silent glee as the new Kiln stitched a fresh creation.

"Behold, Ashtaroth. Behold the beginnings of the downfall of El.  For you have arrived in time to see the culmination of my many days work, and the beginning of the end of the Alpha and Omega."

Fire erupted from a chute in the ceiling and from it lowered a glowing shard of rock.  The gem pulsed and dark illuminated beams of jet black shadows poured from it.  It glistened as though tears beaded from it, and smoke and ash floated from the charcoal-like rock.

"What is it?" Ashtaroth said in wonder.

Lucifer stretched forth a hand and the stone floated into his palm.  His cheekbones raised to reveal a slow emerging smile and his fingers curled over the smooth rock. "The greatest device of destruction ever made.  It is a combination of Kilnstone and living cadmium beams that undergird Heaven.  It is a seed, and as thou knowest, so much can come from such a small thing."

Lucifer chuckled at his own wit and turned to look at the chasm that separated Paradise from the rest of the underworld.  He walked to the edge of the great canyon and whispered in angelic tongue to the stone, then threw the black gem across the chasm into the darkness. 

In the gloom, it smote the great canyon wall, and a singular, radiant beam of light then divided and branched in all directions.  A rumbling shook the ground, lightning streaked from across the gulf to the foot of Lucifer, and a booming thunderclap echoed through the depths. The Prince of the Power of the Air blasted the silence with a shrill cackle.to the inhabitants of Paradise across the way.

"Behold, Moses, and give heed, oh David. Let Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob give ear. The lot of you, Sons of Adam have thought yourself safe from my reach these many days. Believing yourself to have safe harbor, shielded behind a creature that El hath made to consume my kind alive, yet here I stand. Standing in defiance to your Hope! Why? Because El will not dare come here to rescue you. For if I held no claim to thee, would you not even now ascend to the Father? But alas, He hath fed you lies. There is no power that can you save thee from my hand for I am a sure coming wave that will descend upon thee. Behold the work of my hands and tremble!"

Immediately the ground shook and rock jutted from the sides of Paradise and when it did, several of the righteous were knocked off their feet. They watched as a towering spire of trigonal black crystal erupted from the ground. A spire fifty cubits high. It swayed when it reached the top of its summit then fell to its side collapsing under its own weight. The black crystal shattered into pieces and the pieces crawled across the ground to join themselves one to another, dividing as they clawed across the ground in grinding and screeching lunges creating, even more, crystals. Clumps grew and formed a great span and its width was such that one could walk upon it. The crystalline bridge lunged outward across the gulf, growing slowly as it followed the trail of lightning that stopped at Lucifer's feet.  The once mighty prince of Heaven then smiled and spoke aloud to the inhabitants of Paradise that they might hear.

"Know that I will bridge this gulf and when I do, I will harvest your souls made in the image of God, and you too will feed my Forge and light the fires of Hell. I will ascend from the pit of this place. And with El's own power, resident triune in his righteous image. I will with Hell, and Charon, once more stretch out my hand and make the Father bleed, and the shadow of my image shall reach throughout all creation."

David, Noah and a host of others looked on in defiance, but Hezekiah, former king of Israel, spoke aloud what was on many of their minds. "He will breach the gulf in time.  What then will we do?"

David looked at his younger descendant, then placed his hand on Moses' shoulder and spoke for all to hear.  "I do not fear this braggart, for the Lord my God hath said unto my God, sit thou here at my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool, for I have slain the bear and the lion, and who is this uncircumcised stench of foul air that would defy the armies of the living God?  For he will fall... not by our hand, but by the Lord's. Alas, do not succumb to fear, for the Lord our God is with us."

David then knelt in prayer, and all of Paradise followed his example and knelt with him, and they prayed that El would rescue them from the hand of the enemy.

Lucifer watched from afar and smirked. "Pray to El...intercede to thy God, for it matters not..."

"My Lord," interrupted Ashtaroth "Forgiveness, but what is thy command concerning the breach?"

Lucifer folded his arms and turned to his servant and frowned. "It is of no consequence. Talus's capture hath evoked the expected response from Heaven. Yet tell me, who hast surrendered themselves to folly that they would dare enter my house?"

"Grigoric scouts report the head of House Harrada leads a party through the veins and that Iblis guides them. Undoubtedly to the Forge."

Lucifer snickered. "Undoubtedly. You will not interfere with their coming. Let them come. Hell will see to their dissolution."

Ashtaroth nodded. "As you command my king, and if Hell does not?"

Lucifer's grin turned cold, and his eyes narrowed, "Then you wilt prepare to mount more heads upon my trophy hall for I shall see to it."