The War in Heaven (53 page)

No, he couldn’t think like this. The latter days would not be as the former; however, they would be no less glorious. If he played it right, today might well be the last great battle of this war. There might be more battles, but this would be the formidable one, the one that shaped the destiny of men and angels.

For hours, David and the others had remained in the cool hyperspace tunnel. From time to time they had experienced visitations from other elders including John, Matthew, Paul, and Thomas. All gave them encouragement, rousing their spirits for the battle to come. But now the time had come to depart. There was a battle to be won.

“Arise,” proclaimed Enoch, he who had never known death. “Now is the time to go forth and claim the victory which has even now been placed before you.”

David paused—perhaps he wouldn’t use his weapon. No, it had served him well enough up to this point. He hoped that his viewpoint would not be seen as a lack of faith. He powered it up.

In unison, the saints moved forward. They all materialized within a few seconds of each other. They had emerged into a sea of demons searching for humans that they figured would be little more than moving lumps of still charred flesh.

There had been some humans, though few, who had not escaped the fireballs, humans who had either not comprehended the message or didn’t perceive the danger despite the warning. The demons had been busy immobilizing them before they fully regenerated when the others who had found sanctuary materialized in their midst.

There was hardly a second of hesitation before the saints attacked. A mixture of bright white particle beam fire and the bright yellow radiance of the God-given weapon of the saints filled the air.

The demons were confused and completely surprised. They were still weak from the exertion of generating two fireballs in rapid succession to offer up any meaningful resistance. Within the course of 15 minutes, tens of millions of demons had perished, reduced to little more than soot and smoke.

With renewed determination and a more focused mission in mind, the saints were on the move once more. Only this time they were far more deadly—an unstoppable force bent on Satan’s defeat.

Tens of thousands of the saints gated away, materializing near the northern edge of Zion where they offered assistance to the angelic army, which had finally managed to stem the advance of Satan’s forces. Within an hour, the demonic forces were in full retreat, amid losses running in the tens of millions.

From the roof of the Hall of Angels, Satan watched his armies fall back on all fronts. The war was over and he knew it. He could not retreat back to Hell, and a retreat to another plane of Heaven would only delay the inevitable. Reports coming in from all over painted the same story—he had been defeated. If the most pessimistic estimates were to be taken literally,
he had lost somewhere between 30 and 50 percent of his forces within a matter of hours. With defeat inevitable, some of his forces scattered into the countryside, while others formed an ever shrinking circle around the Hall of Angels.

Satan sat alone in his throne room where he had been for the past hour. With word that General Krell had fallen in battle, came the realization that he was virtually alone. All of the other members of his war council, save Governor Molock, were gone. He couldn’t go out like this. What would the universe be like without him?

“My lord,” announced a voice from the doorway.

Satan looked up to see Governor Molock. He looked at him with a blank stare and said nothing.

“My lord,” repeated Molock. “Michael and his forces are almost upon us…we must flee.”

“Yes, governor,” replied Satan, his voice strained and distant. “I had assumed as much.”

“My lord, you told me to inform you when all was in readiness,” announced Molock.

“Yes, of course,” said Satan, rising slowly to his feet. He retrieved a sizable box from aside his throne. “Let us be on our way, then.”

Satan and Molock made their way down the hallway to the gate room. Molock seemed stressed, in a hurry, yet Satan continued at a somber pace. Along the way, they finalized the last details of their plan. Neither of them had thought it would come to this. They walked into the gate room where several hundred demons awaited them. Some held boxes not unlike their master’s.

“My lord, we might be able to hold the gate open for twelve minutes, no more,” said one of the demonic technicians. “That doesn’t give us very much time to get our people through. What are your orders?”

Satan turned to his minions. “Our plans have changed. These are my new orders. We are going to Earth, my brethren. I want you all to take on a human form before you enter the gate. I cannot be sure that you will be able to do so afterward. Nor can I guarantee you how many of your powers you will retain. For the first time in millennia, we will walk on the surface of Earth in physical form, and not merely as spirits. That form must be human if we are to blend in among their people. We will travel in twenty-six teams, each sent to a different region of the globe. We shall bring about a dark age the likes of which humankind has never known. They shall know in their hearts that Satan and his minions walk among them.”

The group stood at attention about the master, focused on his every word, even as the sounds of battle beyond the walls of the Hall of Angels grew ever louder. They had already been fully briefed by Governor Molock. They really didn’t need this pep talk.

“I shall lead the first group,” continued Satan. “Our destination is the City of New York on the continent of North America. It is the financial center of the Earth, it shall yield unto us great wealth that we shall utilize to further our plans. Governor Molock will lead the second team to Europe to breed unrest among its people. The rest of you have your assignments. Establish yourselves as quickly as you can, utilize all resources at your disposal. I expect us to be fully networked within a year. Remember, nearly ten million of our brethren still roam the Earth in spirit form. Make contact with them; make full use of their services. With our superior knowledge and wisdom, we should easily be able to dominate this pathetic world.”

A particularly large detonation shook the room. Their time was indeed short.

Satan scanned his minions one final time. “We will try to get as many of our people through as possible. The time has come. Open the gate.”

The area within the great ring took on the form of a dark foggy tunnel. They were ready. Satan took on human form—that of a middle-aged man in a dark cloak and business suit—and entered the tunnel followed by a steady stream of his minions who also took on the form of human men and women.

As the minutes passed the exodus became ever more hurried and chaotic. Few relished the thought of living on Earth in human form, but it beat the alternative by a large margin. The demon technicians did everything they could to keep the gate open for as long as they could. It was nearly 14 minutes later when they themselves joined the exodus fleeing through the gate. Thirty seconds later, the corridor to Earth was severed, leaving several thousand of Satan’s minions adrift for eternity between worlds.

The remaining demons did the only thing they could, they turned to fight their last battle. Seven minutes later, that battle had spread to the gate room itself. Five minutes after that, it was over.

It was several hours later when the archangel Michael stepped into the gate room. The beaten demonic warriors had already been removed to a place of confinement, and the captured angels and humans within the great compound were being released.

“Our captured brethren were being held in unimaginable conditions,” reported one of Michael’s lieutenants, shaking his head sadly. “They were shackled together and thrown into the lower levels like garbage. They were piled to the ceilings in the resting rooms and the corridors. I cannot even begin to estimate how many there are or how long it will take us to get to all of them.”

“Make it a high priority,” said Michael, who had turned his attention to another of his lieutenants.

“They used the ring to escape,” said the second. “There is no way to tell how many of them went through before their power faded.” “Where did they go?” asked Michael. “Earth,” replied the lieutenant.

“Then we will hunt them down there,” announced Michael. “I will alert our brethren on Earth about their presence. Still, it may take a very long time for us to find them and bring them back to justice. The Father has ordered that all of Satan’s minions who have not already perished face judgment. There will be trials convened within the judgment hall starting in a few days. I suspect that those judged guilty will not be cast from the Father’s presence as it was in the first war, but will face total annihilation. At least I pray that this shall be so.”

That thought brought a smile to the lieutenant’s face. “At long last, the Father is going to destroy our enemies. It is long overdue.”

Gabriel shook his head. “No, my friend, you do not understand, it will not be the Father who passes judgment upon them, but His children.”

The smile vanished from the lieutenant’s face. “His children? You mean the humans?”

“Exactly,” confirmed Michael. “The Father shall convene the trial, He shall carry out the sentences Himself, but He shall not act as the judge. That honor shall fall to the humans. And it shall not only be the demons who are judged, but us as well.”

“The humans will judge us?” asked the lieutenant. “They are but children. I have always thought of them as such.”

“They are children no longer,” replied Michael, they are the sons and daughters of God. We are to treat them as we do His firstborn.” There was a moment of silence between them. “It was they who saved this day. Were it not for them, Heaven might well be in Satan’s hands by now. The saints are just. I feel confident that we shall find favor in their eyes. But the Heaven we
knew is changing, my friend. No longer will we be the guardians and tutors of humanity, these sons and daughters of God. We will be their trusted servants. It is our destiny, and I suspect that it is not such a terrible fate. It is, after all, what we were created for.”

Four days later, the council chamber of the angels in the great City of Elesia was packed with both angelic and human leaders alike. It was a sort of conference call with their counterparts in Refuge, at the far pole of the universe.

“We will be meeting with Cordon and his people in five days,” said Abaddon. “It still seems strange to me to be negotiating with one of Satan’s minions. I cannot say what will come from it. Cordon and his lieutenant, Rolf, seem very different from any demons we have had dealings with; still, I have my doubts. We are to meet with them on the Plains of Sardon. Supposedly they are setting up a meeting place for us.”

“Do you really trust them?” asked Gabriel.

“To a certain extent,” replied Abaddon. “I don’t think that they are going to ambush us or take us prisoner at the meeting, if that’s what you mean. I trust Cordon to be civil, diplomatic, and even honorable. Still, our positions are worlds apart. I suspect that we will both be doing a lot of compromising before the process is complete.”