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  "It is with a heavy heart that I report the Withering hath come and even now assails my people. A plague of such destruction that it leaves its victims without sanity. To wit, I know the Seraphim have balms to soothe this disease, but alas, the Schism hast kept our people at bay. I seek reconciliation on my people's behalf in hopes of healing, and to this end, I have sent emissaries to the Seraph seeking restoration. And lo, my ambassadors have passed beyond the veil of Grigoric sight and I am no longer able to tell of their welfare. For this cause, I adjure thee to take me to Nephanos in the land of Aesir that I might determine the plight of my people there, and mayhap if El wills, seek reconciliation that there be no more division. For to set foot in the land of Aesir will incite war, but pray tell, if the King of the Ophanim be my witness and intercedes on my behalf, I might gain an audience and forego possible war. Therefore, I plead with thee on behalf of my race, if thou might do this thing, great Eladrin. Wilt though ferry me to Aesir on the hope that our three races might once again be one?"

  Eladrin rose from his thrones. His gears creaked and hummed as a machine that revved to life. The four faces became stern and Michael backed away, unsure if he had offended the king.

  "We are honored to know the Chief Prince seeks reconciliation for all people. We will escort thee to the realm of Aseir, but know that your presence may not be welcomed for it was thou who stood with Lucifer's deception. Nephanos may not forgive what was done in deceit to his people, but if thou seek to confess thy transgressions to thy brother that he might forgive, and come to the altar and lay down thy gift to appease, then yea, Michael of the Kortai, I will ferry thee to Aseir."

  Michael bowed in thanks. "All that I am, yea even to the laying down of my life, will I give in service to the king to save my people, if he will but answer my petition. Thank you for agreeing to my request. When do we leave for Aesir?"

  Eladrin turned a gear within his great circular body and when he did so, a great light flashed, and Michael and Eladrin were no longer in the throne room, but atop a cliff that overlooked cities made of fire. The vault of heaven reverberated with visible echoes, while Seraph, Malakim griffins, and horses with flaming chariots roared across the skies.

  "The thing is done. Behold, the land of Aseir."

  Michael looked over the fiery plains and beheld a battalion of Seraphim menacingly flew in attack formations towards their position. Michael put his hand on the hilt of his sword, swallowed hard and looked hopefully at Eladrin. "Pray for me, my friend, and pray that my efforts bear fruit. For if I fail, if the King will not hear my cause, I am afraid that my aims will only have hastened Heaven to find herself once more at civil war."

  Eladrin hovered scanning the Seraphim soldiers ascending towards them, and his four faces each nodded nervously.

  Chapter Twelve

  The Second Death

  Deep in the bowels of the Earth, Yeshua opened His eyes, and when He did He smiled, for he beheld the faces of those He so longed to see. David and Moses, and a host of others surrounded Him as He laid with His back on the ground.

  "Master?" queried David said, kneeling over Him. Yeshua's eyelids fluttered open and beheld the throng.

  "It is good to see you, my son," Yeshua said. "I've waited many days for this moment. It is very good to see you indeed."

  Yeshua then stood to His feet and all that surrounded Him immediately bowed. Multitudes upon multitudes of the righteous dead...men, women and children from every race and tongue fell on bended knee. As far as the eye could see, row after row of onlookers lowered themselves in a human wave for all knew the Son of God had finally come.

  The Lord touched the heads of those immediately in His presence and spoke. "Rise, my children."

  Moses looked upon his lord and reached out to gently touch the Master's nail pierced hand.

  "My King," Moses said through quivering lips, "what have they done?"

  Yeshua replied softly. "Only that which hast been ordained. Fear not, for all is well."

  "But Lord how is it that thou art here?" Abraham said.

  "Will thou at this time restore the Kingdom, Lord?" David said.

  Yeshua lifted His hands in abeyance, seeing they were full of questions and spoke to the spirits of His children in Paradise. "Hear my words, and let all take heed. For all of you have desired a better country and hath waited by faith for me to come. Know that ye shall see the fruit of thy desire, for soon we shall depart this place and you shalt take thy number in my kingdom. The Father hath prepared for thee a city and is not ashamed to have you call Him God, for by faith hath ye quenched the mouths of lions, been warned of things not seen, and have condemned the world, warning them of my coming. You have by faith sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country. Thou hast looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God, for you have seen this promise afar off, and shall see it to thy face."

  The throng cheered, and Daniel, the former prime minister to the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar, bowed and spoke to his Lord. "But my King, thou art here. Will we not at this time lodge in our Father's house?"

  Yeshua smiled. "Soon, my son, for there is yet an enemy to be undone." Yeshua looked about.

  The Lord then spoke aloud. "Dismas, where art thou? Come here and let me see thee."

  From somewhere in the massive sea of humanity, various ones moved as one man made his way through the throng. And as he approached the Son of God, others spoke aloud wondering who the man was that Yeshua inquired by name to see to his welfare. The Jewish male of nondescript station meekly walked and stood before the King of Kings, looking upon his Lord. He immediately cried and kissed the Lord's feet, and would not be consoled. The Lord then knelt down and lifted him to his feet.

  "Did I not tell thee that on this day thou shalt be with me in Paradise?"

  Dismas, the thief who hung by the side of Yeshua on the cross, then replied, "The thing is as thou hast said, my Lord, but what of the other fellow?"

  The taunting voice of Satan echoed from Hades over the gulf for Yeshua, and the sound carried the melodious tune of temptation.

  "Surely, the Son of God hath no fear of me, for who am I but a dog to our Lord? But these, the spirits of righteous men...are not Elohim, not the Trinity.

  "Will the Son of God give His life for sinful men and not these who are the righteous dead? Come to me, Yeshua. Come and I will mayhap spare these vagabonds whom thou hast let settle in Paradise, but if thou forbear know this, if thou do not surrender, the bridge will soon be complete. Who then will stop my march across the gulf to reap thy beloved image and use their spirits to fire my kiln?"

  The Son of God's brow hardened and His eyes grew stern. "Come Dismas...and behold the judgment of the Father on those who would deny the Son."

  Yeshua then made his way through the multitudes and all parted for their King, each lightly touching Him as he passed, blowing kisses, and bowing before the God of all things.

  And after a great distance, Dismas followed Yeshua to the edge of a great gulf. They looked across the way, and what they beheld was horror, for fastened into the cavern walls were angels with shredded wings, appealing for mercy. Some were strung by their necks and splayed out, eaten alive by maggots that peeled the flesh from their bones. And men...scores and scores of men...men of every rank and station...men from every tongue and hue, and men from all birth enfolded within the walls, cocooned and screaming, Moaning as their teeth were set on edge as flames and maggots ate their extremities, but for some their pains were expounded upon as Lucifer had assigned specific daemons to their souls. And his daemons were adept in their skills, flaying men, and even to the opening the bellies of women who had surrendered their young to human sacrifice. Dismas watched as their bellies healed within the flames, and the daemons slashed them open again, repeating the process in gruesome perpetuity.

  And men whose lust for all things carnal had their organs of sex pulled from their bodies, but within the Realm of the Dead, the spirit did not die. Ala
s, they felt the pains of flesh amplified, and those whose entrails were torn from their bowels were then forced to eat their own organs. Vomit and putrid masses of blood and phlegm reigned across the chasm. Screams, moans, and wails carried themselves as floating notes of sheet music across the gulf, into the ears of the righteous dead who stood on the other side. Yeshua took in the sight and frowned, for He knew that in this place, Adam was never meant to dwell. He then found what he had searched for and pointed across the way that Dismas might see.

  Dismas followed the finger of the Lord, and lo, raised upon tendrils of burning phlegm, was the man Gestas, who also had been crucified with the Lord. Dismas was moved in such abhorrence that he sought to avert his eyes, but the images of what he saw could not be erased from his mind for Lucifer took special delight in Gesta and would gleefully see the fruit of Gestas's sin and arrogance fully bloom in his domain. For the Prince of Evil held Gestas suspended over the floor. Daemons with knives of angelic origin slashed, jabbed and stabbed him as with a bayonet; and they removed pieces of his flesh and ate it before his eyes, but the flesh grew back so the torture had no end.

  Yeshua turned His head from the sight. He scanned to find the one man in all of creation who had joined himself with the cause of Lucifer...he who had allowed Lucifer to possess him...he whom the Lord had supped with and given love...the only man to have washed His feet and yet betray Him for thirty pieces of silver. Alas, the eyes of the Lord found he whom His soul had loved...Judas.

  Lucifer stood before the former disciple and gently caressed Judas' face for the Lord to see. The Devil smiled, as he saw the Lord from across the gulf and nodded to his former master, then lifted the terrified Judas by the scruff of his neck. Hell's tendril scrolled down from the ceiling and snaked around the traitor's neck. Judas squirmed, kicking against the air, purple face gasping for air as his hands pulled in vain against the arm that suspended him for all in the Realm of the Dead to see. And Judas was then beset by tendrils that pulled his arms, legs, and neck, and stretched him so that his bowels emptied and he split limb from limb, and the torso fell in heaping bloody slabs before Lucifer.

  Lucifer's eyes narrowed, and a grin found his face. "Again!" he said. The Lord of Darkness then touched the key that made Hell his slave, and when he did so, the remains of Judas crawled toward one another, and the maggots of Hell scurried across the flame and phlegm-filled floor to carry the head of the traitor. The undead carrion reattached his limbs, and Judas inhaled and breathed again, but only for a moment as Hell lowered a sole tendril to wrap around his neck, and lifted him once more. More vines entwined his arms and legs, and once more stretched him wide until his eyes bulged and burst into white bleeding pustules of blood. His body ruptured into pieces and fell afresh in blood-soaked chunks to the floor.

  "Again," Lucifer shouted while he glared at the Lord.

  Yeshua turned away and spoke to those who had watched the horrors with Him. "They who abide within Hades have their reward. Now, come, we have little time."

  Lucifer watched the righteous dead depart from the edge of their side of the gulf and grinned in salivating anticipation to handle the Son of God. Waiting for his chance to drape His broken spirit within the realm of fire and brimstone, and mount the Son of God's body as a throw rug beneath his newly formed throne.

  And Judas...Judas watched in tearful remorse as Yeshua left him to the mercies of his true rabbi. His pitiful screams echoed as a hymn into the ears of the Devil, just before his body burst anew into bloody chunks.

  * * *

  King Camael sat down on his judgment seat. Raised high upon a platform of multicolored flame, it overlooked the populace who assembled on command of their king. Before him lay a transparent tube which Gabriel and Metatron would enter for the Burning.

  Eyes gawked and many gasped as all knew the duo had left Aseir in good will, yet now stood near the cylinder that would incinerate them to ash.

  Questions bubbled throughout the crowd, whispered inquiry of why the angels were being put to death. Sherkanim escorted Metatron and Gabriel to the entrance and stood with a spear in one hand and the Horn of Malakim strapped to his waist.

  Enoch and Elijah sat as Camael's guests, to the left of the king. With downcast faces, the humans looked desperately at Sherkanim, seeking a sign that what they were about to witness would somehow be stopped. Sherkanim met their eyes briefly, then darted his gaze away.

  The king then stood and raised his hands to silence the raucous crowd.

  "Citizens of Ashe' and people of Aseir, behold, a new thing doth dwell among us. For several days ago there came to us, humans. Creations of El only made known to us by our fellowship with the Ophanim. Nevertheless, upon command of El did I hearken and send our great chariots to ferry the one named Elijah to our shores."

  Camael waved his open hand toward Elijah, smiling at the grizzled prophet of God.

  "Not long after, we received a visitation from another human and two Elohim from beyond the mountain. And not just any angels, mind thee, but two of the acclaimed Lumazi. Angels who stand before the Godking Himself! And these came to petition us for assistance in a cause that plagues their people...a cause which their leadership hast brought upon their own head...a cause for which we could not provide balm to ease. And though they broke the sacred agreement between our peoples, my hand did show restraint, for I did not smite them where they stood. Nay. Instead, they were lodged a fortnight and allow to petition thy king? Yea, and who were even then released with food to journey home in peace.

  "But, once again the Elohim have trafficked in deceit. Once again our people are victim to the schemes of those who would practice duplicity and guile, for stolen from our own chambers by these selfsame souls was one of the acclaimed horns of judgment. An instrument known that upon its blowing, would signal the end of all things and invoke the Lord's wrath. And these two who stand before you, are each judged by your king for its theft. Who would be so brash as to steal such a weapon of destruction? Therefore I am burdened to ask what punishment should be levied against those who would incite terror against the realm? What punishment should be given to ones so vile that they would invoke our people to war? I say that there can be but one penalty for such crimes...only one response to such a transgression. Death!"

  Horrified gasps spread throughout the crowd as many placed their hands over their mouths in shock and dismay. As the murmur grew, fiery faces contorted into gestures of confusion, anger, sadness, and rage.

  "How dare they!" roared some.

  "But did we not witness them as pure?" others said, confused.

  Camael smiled and again waved his hands in an attempt to bring calm.

  "Aye, we have indeed been deceived. Twice now our brethren have manipulated us to acquire their own ends. Perhaps we have been too long behind the mountain! Perhaps we have been too long-suffering of those who had earlier stolen from us. For how long shall we permit angels to take advantage of our restraint? How long must we endure the disrespect to our culture that again we find ourselves victim to deceitful schemes? Schemes that have resulted in Heaven's three peoples divided. Nay! As thy king, I cannot stand idle and allow such an offense to go without an answer." The king then shouted to his guard. "Sherkanim!"

  The king's chief immediately snapped to attention.

  "My king?"

  "Prepare them for the Burning," commanded Camael.

  Sherkanim jabbed the hilt of his spear into Metatron's back to shove him forward into the chamber of burning. Another guard opened the tubular furnace doors where the fires raged within.

  "Wait!" Enoch cried, jumping to his feet. Fury emblazoned his face until the veins pulsed on his neck. "Will not the king of so great a people do right? Wilt thou be so quick to condemn, that the accused not have room to retort? Or is there no justice this side of the mountain of Heaven?"

  Camael frowned. "Do you think my sentence extreme, human? That our matter is without cause? Very well. Never let it be said the king of the Seraph is un
just. I will permit the condemned to speak." Camael nodded his head and motioned for Sherkanim to allow Gabriel to come forward.

  Sherkanim pulled Gabriel by the iron cuffs and whispered into his ear.

  "Give the people cause for abeyance, for let it be known that none are thirsty for war."

  Gabriel nodded in acknowledgment and smiled for the small act of kindness. Metatron watched his brother ascend the furnace platform steps that he might plead on their behalf. The crowd stilled as he surveyed them. Every eye cast toward the platform whilst others peered through windows from the flaming buildings that comprised the city, and the whole city quieted to hear his words.

  "Hear me, great people of Aseir. Hear one who stands as a mouthpiece for God, Himself, for it is I, who when summoned, gives annunciation upon El's command. Moreover, it is a task my people and I have always taken seriously. To speak only that which El hast commanded us to speak. To do only that which we see our Father do. We, are they, who go to and fro throughout the Earth and gives the word of God to prophets and kings. We are they who traverse the heavens to assure the word of the Lord never touches the ground, and now I stand before thee – a messenger of God accused of crimes – guiltless of transgressions that my brother and I did not commit. We are all one family in Heaven. The Ophanim, the Elohim, and yea, the Seraphim, albeit one family torn asunder by an act long ago.

  "Thou art the living flames that wander this side of the mount...the flame that our God hath given flesh. I know that what I see before me now is merely the silhouette of thy true form. A humanoid form given to the eyes of those who abide in your presence. For indeed thou art living fire and as formless as the clouds. And I know that to commence with the Burning, thou must assume the fires here within the furnace. It is you who must enter the holes cut therein, and with thy own flesh, together form the fires that would consume me and my kinsman alive.

  Know that we do not desire to die, but we do not fear death. This thing that the king doth in judgment for alleged misdeeds is not a trifling matter. Before one takes life that originates from El, one must be sure that El sanctions such an act, for precious in the sight of the Lord are the death of His servants, and know that the Lord will not hold him guiltless who does them harm. For though, thy king decrees our death – thou art the fire that would kill us. It will be you who puts us to the fire. You who causes our dissolution– not he. But have ye not already tasted the fires that burn within us and found us true? Have ye not seen the remnants of the Kiln that animates our stones and the flames that is our lot? When we submitted earlier to your judgment, did we not come forth as pure gold? And having tasted of the fire that ignites our stones, have we in anything moved in such a manner as to bring disrepute to the One True King? Therefore, what manner of men must we be, that in such a span of time to have turned so quickly from the path we have held since creation? To abase ourselves so, that we would do both ye and ourselves this dishonor? Nay, brethren, we are guiltless of this thing.