The Third Heaven : Apocalypse of Kings

by Donovan Neal

  Henel James sat with Enoch and Elijah against the western wall of the Temple. Their small hovel surrounded by barbed wire and concrete barricades to prevent anyone from getting near them.

  He glanced at his phone and table. He was amazed that none of his devices ever discharged. Their battery life never extinguished. He was fascinated by these two men. Brave, or stupid he wasn’t fully sure. But they were not afraid of Leto. They were somehow protected from harm. And while he stood in their proximity, he seemed protected too. So he reported and shared with them the ways of the 21st century.

  Henel had explained to Enoch many of mankind’s myths. Engaged in conversation during the worlds holiday season he found that Enoch was most intrigued by the world’s playful belief in Santa Claus.

  A man who in one night could allegedly travel the world, and in the span of the same; visit the children of the planet and leave presents under decorated trees.

  Yet unlike the myth of Santa Clause: Henel knew that whatever Santa Clause was…Gabriel was no myth. A being he watched on his IPad as he sat next to Enoch and Elijah. Watched in fascination as CCTV cameras, and cell phone footage and satellites around the world tracked the celestials movements as he delivered a word from what Henel knew was God.

  “Show us what your mirror sees,” said Elijah.

  Henel sat down between the two men and the three watched as Gabriel the Prince of all angelic messengers delivered the words of his King to the entire world in under an hour. Worlds that reverberated through television, radio and satellite. Words that preempted favorite television shows and displaced radio stations such that whatever frequency was tuned Gabriel’s voice was the sound that was heard.

  Words that proclaimed a universal call…to repent. For it was delivered unto Gabriel first of all that which was also received of the twelve apostles, how that Christ died for man’s sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures. And the head of house Malakim made it especially clear to those within the seat of the Beast’s throne in Brussels that they heard this message loud and clear.

  And when Gabriel completed his course around the Earth he landed atop of the obelisk in the Piazza San Pietro in the heart of the Vatican. His shinning visage plain for all to see. And many of the people resident looked in awe and pointed to him.

  Bishop Abadi had just completed his signing of the transfer accords with Pope Clement and the two had come to a platform prepared just outside of St. Peters square. Italian police patrolling the area noted Gabriel’s presence and raised their weapons to fire. While security guards near the Bishop took defensive positions to protect him.

  Suddenly all looked upwards to the sky as circular openings parted the clouds and prismatic rainbow funnels fell crashing to the ground. Several beings upon gryphon-back with spears landed in the courtyard, and they formed a circle around Gabriel. For the prince of house Malakim’s personal guard followed their master. His speed such that they now materialized in a vain attempt to keep up with their leader.

  Seven angels strong were they upon steeds from heaven and the Shekinah illuminated upon them all.

  News crews from around the world were on site to witness Bishop Abadi and Pope Clements signing of the Human Affirmation of Faith. Tens of thousands filled St. Peters Square. Cameras clicked to capture the moment and thousands raised their cell phones to videotape and to stream live to internet. Where before chanting and the singing of praise had filled the emporium: cheers that the Earth would now live under a united and single religious faith.

  Now stood a celestial being in defiance to man’s renunciation of anything God other than himself. Now stood a being to confront the veracity of those who would dare propagate this lie. A being by name of Gabriel that now opened his mouth to speak.

  “I come in the name of the Lord of Hosts whom you have forsaken,” said Gabriel. “Though given space to repent you yet fawn over a creature that is neither God, angel nor man. An abomination… nay a beast who would set himself up as God. But alas, your proclamations are nothing and your gesture in vain. For has it not been foretold, and are ye yet without hearing? Why do the heathen rage and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and against his anointed, saying. Let us break their bands asunder and cast away their cords from us. He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision. Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath and vex them in his sore displeasure.

  For the Earth is the Lord’s footstool and this building before me naught but a house of brick and stone. But the Earth shall be full of the Lord’s Glory and this place… your temple: will no longer be!”

  Gabriel then fell from the obelisk and landed upon the ground and when he did, He slammed his staff into the earth and a fissure opened from where he knelt and sprinted across St. Peter’s Square towards St. Peter’s Basilica. The ground shook and onlookers wobbled and fell on their hinds, while terror gripped the populace as the great dome cracked, and like a walnut imploded on itself. Pillars and glass, wood and steel, stone and flesh mingled together in a chorus of screams and explosions that jettisoned dust and debris racing out in every direction. Grey clouds of cinder rose into the sky and the crashing and groans of beams and steel collapsing over one another ended with Gabriel and his guard floating over the morass of wreckage that now littered the square.

  Henel, Enoch and Elisha watched on a small iPad as Gabriel and his angelic guard slowly ascended. Watched as the angel spoke one word that echoed in repeated refrain as the image of him grew smaller and smaller as he floated away into the sky into the beyond.

  “Repent!”

  ✽✽✽

  “Babylon is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication!” An angel flew overhead Brussels yelling.

  And another angel followed, saying with a loud voice, “If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: And the smoke of their torment will ascend for ever and ever: and they have rest neither day or night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receives the mark of his name.”

  Chancellor Leto Alexander, elected leader of the Commonwealth of Men looked out his office window to see the celestial aliens scaring his people with their macabre messages and was incensed.

  He smashed a porcelain figure in his office and threw a globe at his security guard. He wrung his fists tightly and spoke aloud.

  “Father can you not stop this angel from speaking? Why have you not released the Horde to combat this upstart?”

  Lucifer stood in the shadows of his creations office and his invisible to the eye. He watched his child’s tantrum and replied. “No.”

  “No? No!” cried Leto. “You let Gabriel and his forces waltz unto this planet at will and he destroys the center of worship for my people! No? Where is the recourse for such an act? By whose authority does he thinks he can destroy without provocation the property and people of Earth? And you say stand there and say “no”.”

  Lucifer was only slightly visible. Allowing the wavelengths of light to encircle his body so that only his shape could be seen.

  The King of Darkness replied, his voice was smooth and in even pentameter when he spoke. “We must endure this sleight for now. There will indeed come a time for retribution. This incursion is but a celestial slap on the wrist. We have yet to fully provoke El enough so that once more he would breach history and leave Heaven to come to the Earth. Patience my son. When you have reached the apex of your power… when you can house all that I am—all of my power. Then you will be ready to ascend and battle with angels themselves: until then you will do nothing sav
e I tell you. Am I clear?”

  Leto smarted from his father’s words and his face flushed red in anger.

  “As you command, father.” He gritted. “But I grow eager to return this destruction upon him and you mentioned that approach to El requires sacrifice. There were three things you mentioned to bring sacrifice: fire, wood and blood? We posses the fire of the God-stone. And was not the kindling my act at the Temple Mount combined with Abadi’s and Clement’s union? So where then is the lamb for a burnt offering? You said we require a sacrifice to approach El. Where is this sacrifice?” That will allow me to strike back at Him?”

  Lucifer came out of the shadows and allowed himself to be seen by his son. His voice was operatic and light bounced off of his person. He smiled as he stared at his son; his mind filled with plans upon calculated plans. He touched the cheek of his creation and spoke.

  “Ah my son, when this temple is destroyed. I will raise it up again after three days, and then my child; then we shall smite the Godhead.”

  ✽✽✽

  And I beheld, and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabitants of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels, which are yet to sound!

  Selaphiel of house Harrada stood in for Jerahmeel as head of his house. He stood with a trumpet and lifted the great instrument to his lips and when he did the fifth angel of judgment blew. And Jerahmeel lifted himself from the porch of God and flew to the Maelstrom. As he flew his countenance changed, he became like a star and the key which he carried glowed white hot and turned to fall within the midst of the Maelstrom and the head of house Harrada stood atop the entrance to the Abyss: sealed by the hand of God himself. He swallowed hard knowing what lied within was responsible for the destruction of Heaven itself. A scourge of terror that nothing but Charon or God himself could withstand: the Destroyer.

  The winds of the Maelstrom circled over the bottomless pit. The cage that God had used to contain Abaddon.

  The prince of house Harrada could barely hear as the howling winds screamed their screeching songs of dissolution. For he stood in the center of the great transparent stone standing atop the seal that barred access from one dimension to another. The null that contained the last vestiges of the Void. The only area of Creation left undeveloped by God. Jerahmeel thought this was a fitting place. A place for things to be lost and forgotten. A place for Creation’s deformity to be hidden from itself and Abaddon was angelic deformity run amok.

  Jerahmeel’s eyes looked upon the surrounding valley and noted the winds; rip rock from the towering canyon's walls. For the Seal of El was miles long in every direction, and the winds raced in circular fashion around the great stamp as Jerahmeel stood in the gale's center. Yet in this section of the realm that separated eternity from time, in this piece at the cliffs of Argoth, there was quietness. The quiet in the eye of the storm. For God had removed sound from having a voice in this place. And nothing could be heard save Jerahmeel’s own breathing. Jerahmeel blew out several quick breaths and reached towards his neck to grasp the key to the bottomless pit.

  Jerahmeel pulled the great brass key from the necklace which hung from him and knelt down to the insert it into the lock of the prismatic seal created by El.

  He turned the key into the lock and with a twist and he heard the click of the tumbler mechanism inside. Startled to hear sound at all. He backed away to see the winds of the Maelstrom had stopped as if time had summoned the great gale to a halt. His eyes darted back and forth as he took several steps backward. The sound of giant gears and levers filled the air and the prismatic seal then lit up the area. Jerahmeel covered his eyes to prevent blindness. And as a clock that counted down the white light of the mile long seal dissipated to reveal a barrier beneath the original seal. The seven primary colors that comprised rainbows were now concentrically aligned around the area. Red was the furthest away with Jerahmeel standing atop a circle of violet. Across the circle was seven mechanical locks with giants claps that hitherto fore were not seen.

  An exploding sound was heard as a clasp gave away and sprung open and when it did so the colors of seals slowly dissipated. Red disappeared first, and then orange followed hard after. Yellow vanished, and then green chased in pursuit. Each color collapsed into the depths below, concentric rings imploding upon themselves.

  Four colors and their respective clasps remained and Jerahmeel felt the shield that separated him from the Abyss shake underneath him. The three remaining locks strained and creaked as if buckling to contain that which lay underneath; when suddenly the blue color of the seal faded until but two colors remained. Groans and the collapsing of metal could be heard from below him and Jerahmeel lifted himself into the air, following the inner voice that told him to vacate the area. Higher he lifted himself into the golden sky of Heaven. Higher to escape the plumes of smoke that rose hard after him. He looked down to see the final clasps of indigo and violet fall into the darkness of the Abyss. It’s gapping black mouth uncapped in all its destructive fury. Jerahmeel’s ears popped as the pressure changed instantly and he heard air filling the hollow vacuum that was the yawn of the bottomless pit.

  And there arose a smoke out of the pit, smoke as of a great furnace; and the sky and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke from the pit. Ash and embers of flame bloomed all around him, and Jerahmeel felt the Abyss roar to life. The gravity well of the universe pulled to capture him and the winds of the Maelstrom sprinted to encircle the uncirculable and the great eater of all things thundered to life and pulled to swallow all within the jaws of its onyx mouth. Jerahmeel suddenly fell careening into the deep. Instinctively he summoned a ladder and without fail a prismatic funnel reached for him and pulled him from the clutches of the cyclone that now stood unchecked. The funnel turned and arced towards the cliffs of Argoth and Jerahmeel landed safely at the way-point on the cliffs edge. Talus, Michael, Gabriel, Metatron, and Azaziel each raced to Jerahmeel’s side having watched their brother from afar. The federal head of several angelic houses stood on the canyon looking out at the Abyss and the Maelstrom now fully alive. Ash and great plumes of celestial smoke now jetting from its dark center.

  Azaziel looked upon the sight in awe and spoke, “I thought nothing could escape the Abyss: that its hold was too strong; save a ladder or divine intervention by God himself?”

  Gabriel replied as he also watched the erupting scene before them. “It would seem my brother that we will now add the Destroyer to that list.”

  And as if on cue; a great roar ushered from the dark. A familiar sound not heard since the end of the Descension.

  The roar of the emerging Abaddon.

  Chapter Ten

  A Rise to Power

  Abaddon the angel of legend rose from the Abyss.

  Smoke, ash, and flaming embers erupted into the sky as if from the smoke of some great furnace. The sky darkened by reason of the smoke which blackened the sky as giant claws ascended from the dark. Arms and legs pushed themselves unto the black of the accretion disc that surrounded the entrance to the bottomless pit. Each limb straining against celestial forces that pulled all things within its gravity well. The maelstrom whirled and whined in its fury. But it was the roar of Abaddon that filled the skies. A roar filled with both anguish and anger. A roar that cried of freedom from the black and the eternal fall that was the bottomless pit. And like Leviathan of old or an ancient dragon of men’s nightmares: the first angel to murder rose from his prison and stretched his wings. And with his rising three words echoed through the air.

  Three words that made the whole of Heaven itself shake.

  “Pain!”

  “Agony!”

  “Lucifer!”

  Abaddon then opened his mouth to announce his freedom and once more; a great roar echoed across the realm of Heaven. Towering spires of transparent gold and adorned with stained glass windows; shattered as the mighty angel Abaddon rose from the depths. And with his ascens
ion followed lava, fire, and a tornadic cloud-army of fiery locusts. An unholy black swarm of biting angelic insects. Maggots that had entered the bottomless pit were now freed and fully developed, each having grown fat on the emaciated flesh of the now insane angel.

  Insane from his solitary confinement and his endless plummet in a chamber of deprivation; ever buffeted by the darkness and the gnawing of his own bitterness and rage. Rage that manifested in the open bloody lesions of his flesh where maggots of hatred germinated ad infinitum. Flesh that held demonic carrion and whose worms died not.

  Maggots which had now transformed and grew from pupae to larva to winged, locust-like monstrosities. For the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle; and on their heads were crowns like gold. Their faces were as the faces of men and they had hair as the hair of women. Their mouths were rowed with teeth as lions. And they had breastplates as of iron; their wings were as the sound of chariots of horses running to battle. And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five months

  And for those who had just been raptured and yea all of humankind that now lived in Heaven watched as the great angel Abaddon lifted himself on fiery wings surrounded in a moving cloud of fiery locusts.

  Many gawked at the sight. Multitudes of the redeemed began to understand the wisdom of El in locking angels away. Incarcerating those whose powers for destruction and desire for retribution on God’s creation could not be allowed to roam free. For before the eyes of all: now stood a menace to existence itself.

  And one word escaped the lips of King David who watched with the apostles and the rest of the host of saints. One word that encompassed the collective mood of all.