by Leo Ndelle
“State your business, traitor!” Palubiel commanded.
“I will not speak with one of your status,” Luceefa replied with spite.
“Then be gone or I will end you where you stand,” Palubiel ordered.
Luceefa knew Palubiel meant every word she spoke. It was courageous and noble of Palubiel to put up a show in front of those under her command. Luceefa was certain Palubiel knew that she, Palubiel, was no match for her at any level. Still, Palubiel’s attitude was cute, to say the least. She admired Palubiel for her sense of leadership, though. In a way, Palubiel reminded her of the era when she still went by Luciel. She saw the same thirst and lust in Palubiel’s eyes, as well as Palubiel’s loyalty to Celestia. It was unfortunate that a great talent like Palubiel’s was being wasted in Celestia.
And why did the alarm not go off? This was odd. Luceefa had counted on making a bold, defiant entrance into Celestia and she expected Raphael to show up. It was always music to her psyche and ego watching Raphael writhe and fume with savage rage while being completely unable to exact his intentions on her. It was a shame that she had to settle with dealing with his protégé for now. Perhaps it was also wise not to disrespect Raphael’s protégé. Palubiel was not an inner council member, but if it so happened that Palubiel and her entourage ended her, Luceefa, then there was no telling how joyous Celestia was going to be. Michael would not be pleased with Palubiel, but that would not matter, especially since Michael might be getting replaced by The One at any moment.
Luceefa calmed herself and decided to focus on why she came to Celestia in the first place. If she was going to die, let it be in battle and by no one else’s hand but Michael’s. Only he was worthy of that privilege; not Raphael and certainly not Raphael’s protégé. Luceefa met Palubiel’s gaze and smiled mischievously.
“I will not repeat myself!” Palubiel barked and summoned her sword.
Every angel and archangel present summoned their weapons as well.
“I believe my approach may not have been the best,” Luceefa said in a polite, professional tone of voice.
Palubiel glared at her as a final warning and every angel and archangel raised their weapons, desperate for Palubiel to give the order.
Luceefa raised her hands in the air in surrender.
“Alright,” she said. “I apologize for any disrespect I may have shown towards you and your brethren, Palubiel. I seek safe passage for something that can only be handled by your superiors.”
Palubiel dismissed her weapon but the others still had theirs at the ready.
“You can give me the message and I will pass it along,” Palubiel retorted.
“As you wish,” Luceefa said. “I have the Zarark and I have an offer for you. How would you like to proceed?”
Palubiel flinched at the mention of the Zarark and the others gasped. She also noticed that Luceefa spoke to her as if she was addressing someone else.
“You lie, outcast!” Palubiel exclaimed.
“I am many things, Palubiel,” Luceefa spoke with visible exasperation. “But a liar is not one of them.”
Luceefa stepped towards Palubiel and loomed over her to intimidate the much smaller-framed archangel. She was not surprised when Palubiel did not react at all to her petty tactic.
“We have a guest with us right now,” Luceefa continued as her eyes bore into Palubiel’s in disdainful defiance. “A cherub. He was the one housing your Zarark when Kazuk orchestrated its disappearance. He gave it to us as a sign of good faith and a small price for our hospitality.”
“You vile, dishonorable-” Palubiel spat.
“You’ve done well, Palubiel,” Raphael’s voice interrupted Palubiel telepathically. “Bring her to us. We will take it from here.”
“Yes, sir!” Palubiel replied telepathically.
Palubiel stepped closer towards Luceefa and glared at her. She was desperate to slice the smirk off Luceefa’s face.
“Better do as you’re told, Palubiel,” Luceefa spoke with scornful derision.
Palubiel flared in her eyes and mouth but as soon as she did, she realized she had to set an example for the rest of her team. She had to show both emotional and physical strength, despite Luceefa trying to get under her skin. Thus, Palubiel dismissed the flames in her eyes and mouth.
“Remain on high alert everyone!” Palubiel ordered.
“Aye, madam!” her subordinates chorused.
She took Luceefa by the elbow and pulled Luceefa forward.
“You’re coming with me!” Palubiel said and teleported away with Luceefa.
They appeared at Michael’s domain and Palubiel knocked on the door.
“Bring her in,” Raphael said and Palubiel obliged.
“I’ll take it from here,” Raphael spoke calmly.
Palubiel beat her chest once and teleported away.
“You are getting soft, Raph,” Luceefa teased. “Or maybe it’s just Palubiel’s irresistible charm?”
“Why are you here?” Eliel asked as Raphael glared at Luceefa.
“I see a new face,” Luceefa mocked as she turned her attention towards Eliel. “Tell me something, mighty one, have you ever ended an existence before?”
“Would you like to be my first?” Eliel asked.
“Not yet, promised one,” Luceefa replied, hoping she was not pushing her luck with this angel of promise.
“What do you want?” Gabriel demanded.
“Mind if I sit down?” Luceefa asked rhetorically and summoned a seat, but Michael overruled her summon and the seat disappeared.
“Okay,” Luceefa said. “Here’s my offer. I’ll return the Zarark to you in person and you will leave us alone. The first war left us all terribly scarred-”
“You must be so proud of yourself!” Drusiliel interjected with disgust.
“And, I prefer to not have a repeat of history,” Luceefa continued, ignoring Drusiliel’s comment. “You still considerably outnumber us, obviously. You want your Zarark back. We, of Hell, have no use for it because we can’t use it. Hell and Celestia want peace. Hence, why I am offering Celestia this deal; a chance to have peace once and for all.”
“You do realize that if you give us the Zarark we could still just go ahead and decimate you all, right?” Gabriel asked.
“Of course, Angel Obvious!” Luceefa replied with sarcasm. “But you see that archangel over there,” she pointed towards Michael, who had been quiet ever since her arrival, “he has more integrity than all of you combined. His word is all I need and we will have accord. Whatever your fearless leader says, you do; like the loyal errand boys and girls you are!”
Michael studied Luceefa’s body language. None of his inner council members, including him, believed a word Luceefa said. She was definitely up to something; but what? He had to find out. They had to find out. But how? Maybe Luceefa did not even have the Zarark, or maybe she does and really does not know how to operate it. But what if she really did have the Zarark and had found a way to operate it? This was the worst case scenario of all these possibilities. There was only one thing left to do. Celestia had to attack Hell, whether Hell had the Zarark or not. For every moment Celestia wasted, Hell regained its strength in numbers and who knows what else. Damn it! Michael cursed in his mind. Luceefa was playing mind games with them.
“Why?” Uriel asked.
“Why what, Uriel?” Luceefa asked in return as she turned to face Uriel.
“Why the sudden generosity?” Uriel said. “We know what you are and what you want. You being here is merely a distraction. But to what end? That’s what we want to know.”
“Your distrust in me is valid and understandable-” Luceefa replied.
“Thanks, Outcast Obvious!” Uriel cut Luceefa off and Gabriel chuckled. “We can do this for much longer but I have neither the moments nor the energy to spare entertaining your stupid mind games. I will not insult my intellect like this. You think you’re so wise but I know better. You only feel that way because I let you feel that way. You come here, thinking you ca
n dangle claims of owning the Zarark and we’ll just fold our wings and kiss your feet. Sorry, Luceefa, you have been locked up for too long. This is a new Celestia and you don’t want to mess with us much longer. So, I will ask you once more: why are you here?”
Michael suppressed a smile, Raphael grinned visibly and Eliel blew Uriel a kiss from across the table. Gabriel and the rest of the inner council members reacted in various ways that made Luceefa burn with rage. She summoned her wings, flapped them several times to calm herself down before she dismissed them.
“So are you just going to stand there and pout or are you going to answer Uriel, outcast?” Drusiliel taunted.
“I will answer,” Luceefa replied. “Both sides lost too many during the first war. I have already explained this to you but you do not believe me.”
“Can you blame any of us?” Gabriel scoffed.
“No,” Luceefa replied. “But what I do expect is for you to think about the losses on your side in case there’s a second war. Yes, you will wipe us out, but we won’t just stand idly by and let you decimate us. My question now is,” Luceefa placed her hands on the table and leaned forward towards Michael, “are you ready to sacrifice all those innocent ones in the name of spite?”
Michael held Luceefa’s gaze. He said nothing. His instincts insisted there was more to Luceefa’s visit than meets the eye. But what was it? Distrust was not enough. Michael wanted to know why she was really there. He wanted to know her true intentions. So far, their approach had been one of aggression; a knee-jerk reaction, for obvious reasons. It was time to use a different strategy. Everyone had turned their attention towards him, eagerly awaiting his final word. Michael heaved his shoulders, leaned forward, relaxed his features and gave Luceefa a look she had not seen in so long; one she thought she would never see again.
It was the look of pure desire, pure longing and pure love for her. It was so strong and hypnotic that it electrified the entire domain. Michael knew Luceefa was feeling it too. He noticed her features soften and her eyes closing partially like they always did whenever he gave her that look. It was a reflex action that only he could summon in her. For a moment, there was no leader from Hell. ‘Luceefa’ was a distant memory from another existence. For a moment, they were two archangels madly in love with each other once again and everything was back to the way it was before the rebellion.
“Why are you here, Lucie?” Michael asked softly.
Luceefa flinched at the sound of that name. She had not heard that name said in that voice in so long. She opened her mouth to speak but no words came out.
“You have no intentions of returning the Zarark to us, do you?” Michael asked in the same hypnotic voice that made her weak to the core.
Michael leaned back in his seat as Luceefa jerked back to reality.
“You’ve just been stalling,” Michael stated. “You have the Zarark and you have found a way to use it. You coming here was to buy yourself some moments while you continued to work on it. You could’ve just stayed in Hell and kept your mouth shut. But no! Lucie just had to come here and show off. Lucie just had to come here and rub it in our faces. Well, on behalf of Celestia, thank you for letting us know. Looks like you become more stupid with the passage of cycles.”
Luceefa opened her mouth to say something but Michael silenced her with a wave of his left hand. She was angry beyond measure. How could she fall for such base trickery? She had looked utterly weak in front of Michael and his entourage.
“I will let you return to Hell,” he continued. “I would rather end you on the battlefield than to soil my domain with your filth.”
“How did you know?” Luceefa asked angrily.
“There’s more than binds us than our shared history,” Michael replied.
The tainted Shemsu essence, Luceefa thought. Damn wings! She cursed.
“See you soon, Michael!” Luceefa spat and teleported back to Hell.
“By Celestia! How did you do that?” Gabriel exclaimed, asking what was on everyone’s mind.
“Raph, get your special task force ready to address whatever they might have spawned using the Zarark!” Michael commanded, ignoring Gabriel’s question.
“Aye, Michael!” Raphael affirmed.
“Gabriel, you are in charge of retrieving the Zarark!” Michael continued. “Do what you must and bring it back. At least, we now know where it is.”
Gabriel affirmed.
“Uriel, stay back after everyone leaves!” Michael ordered.
Uriel affirmed. She had a strange foreboding that she was in deep trouble.
Michael then rose from his seat and summoned his sword in his right hand. His inner council stood up and summoned their weapons as well. They extended their weapons towards the center of the table. Michael met each inner council member’s gaze. They all saw his rage! They all saw his fury! And most of all, they all saw the crumbling of the last wall that held their leader back! They saw a leader who made Raphael, The Ruthless, look like a sweetheart. This was a version of Michael no one had ever seen, or experienced.
“Brothers and sisters,” Michael began his speech, “here we are once again! You know the drill! We have been there before and we survived. But this will be different! Take no prisoners! And end every single former angel and archangel! Is that clear?”
There was a thunderous and very excited affirmation, even from Eliel. Raphael was already feeling euphoric, knowing that finally, he was going to make Luceefa and her rebellion feel the full force of his hatred and rage towards them. Michael nodded towards Raphael. Raphael raised his mace in the air and crashed it into the floor. The Realm of Celestia rocked with the sound of war alarms and every angel and archangel took up position as they had rehearsed during countless drills.
Then, Michael spoke the words Raphael and the rest of the senior archangels in his inner council had been waiting to hear for so many cycles.
“Let there be war!”
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
LINE UP
BEELZEBUB TELEPORTED TO Luceefa’s domain to update her and Metatron on his meeting with Keerim. No one was there. He assumed they were still busy trying to work on the Zarark. Did something terrible happen to them? He would wait a bit before trying to reach out to them. He summoned a seat and relaxed in it. That did not last long as he stood up from the seat and restlessly paced back and forth. He was both worried and impatient, but luckily, Luceefa appeared in her domain.
“How did everything go?” Beelzebub asked.
Luceefa thought Beelzebub was asking about her trip to Celestia, but she recalled he had already left to meet with Keerim before she went to Celestia.
“Resounding success!” she replied.
Luceefa then updated Beelzebub on everything that happened up to her return from Celestia.
“By Hell!” Beelzebub exclaimed. “How did that go?”
“I wanted to stall while Metatron continued spawning,” Luceefa replied.
Luceefa narrated everything that happened while she was in Celestia. She was unwilling to admit that she went to Celestia out of a dire need to gloat and rub on Michael’s wings the fact that SHE, not Hell, had the Zarark. In hindsight, she should have just kept her mouth shut. Too late now! Celestia was surely coming for THEIR Zarark. Luceefa wanted to smack herself across the face.
“And he just sensed it out in you like that,” Beelzebub muttered as he rubbed his chin pensively. “I wonder how he did it.”
“I don’t know, but I think he used our shared, tainted, Shemsu essence,” Luceefa explained, as she desperately tried to hide her embarrassment.
“They’ll be on us anytime soon, sister,” Beelzebub tried to change the subject. “We should get ready.”
“Yes, we should, brother,” Luceefa concurred. “Metatron should continue spawning as we take on Michael and company, until enough hellspawns are made to tip the scale in our favor.”
“Excellent,” Beelzebub agreed. “Alas, I’ll have to join you later.”
Beelz
ebub gave Luceefa an update of his own. He outlined his chat with Keerim as well as a plan of action for their attack on Earth. He was pleased to see how happy she was with this update. It was not entirely what they had hoped for, but at least, Keerim would create an entrance in the auric shield around Earth.
“I should thank Keerim personally,” Luceefa said.
“Good idea,” Beelzebub concurred and they teleported to Keerim’s domain.
Words of gratitude were exchanged briefly.
“Unfortunately, I must get my realm ready for war,” Luceefa extended her arm towards Keerim. “I hope to see you again when your mission on Earth Realm is complete.”
“We will see,” Keerim replied clasping forearms with her. “Good luck to you.”
Luceefa nodded, kissed Beelzebub on the cheek and teleported away.
“Are you ready?” Beelzebub asked Keerim.
“After you,” Keerim replied.
The Beast and the cherub teleported towards Earth Realm. They hovered above Patrick’s auric barrier for a few moments. Keerim could see it clearly, but Beelzebub could not. Keerim crouched over the barrier and placed his hand on it. A pale, violet, energy form spread outwards to about two meters in diameter from his palm. He maintained contact on the barrier until the pale, violet energy form burned through the barrier like fire on a piece of plastic. Keerim then stood up and glided through the opening he had just created in Patrick’s auric shield around Earth.. He gestured for Beelzebub to follow his lead. Beelzebub hesitated at first before slowly floating through the opening as well. Then, The Beast and Keerim made their way towards Earth Realm.
***
“Your diatribe with Luciel, what did you mean by those words?” Michael asked Uriel when it was just the two of them left in the domain.
“I… I don’t understand your question, Michael?” Uriel stuttered but Michael shot her a glare that made Uriel shudder.
She had only seen Michael glare at her like that once before, the first instant flames spewed from his eyes and mouth. What was he going to do now?.
“’You only feel that way because I let you feel that way’,” Michael paraphrased. “What did you mean by that statement?”
