The Seventh Door

by Bryan Davis

  Darcy jumped into the truck. Tires spinning, she zoomed between Tamiel and Matt. She opened the passenger-side window and screamed, “Get in! Hurry!”

  While Matt struggled to his feet, Arramos shot another fireball, a much smaller one that fizzled before it reached the truck.

  Tamiel raised a hand. “Your Excellency. We still need these two humans. Please do not kill them.”

  “That witch nearly blinded me!” Arramos roared. “I have a pellet lodged in one eyeball!”

  “We must exercise patience. Remember the goal. Rest and allow your fires to regenerate.”

  Arramos lowered his neck and scowled. “I still have plenty of firepower left. I have not yet tapped my reserves. Yet, I will restrain myself, but not for much longer.”

  Matt climbed into the truck. Every part of his body either ached, stung, or felt like it was on fire. The self-healing gift had been working, but it needed to kick into a higher gear. Passing out would be disastrous.

  When he closed the door, Darcy shifted into reverse. “I’ll get a running start and head right for Arramos.” As she backed the truck, she twisted her neck to see through the rear window. “If he flies out of the way, I’ll bump the back of the pole hard enough to break it.”

  “Just don’t hurt Sapphira.”

  “Matt. I’m not stupid.” She winked and pushed a button to roll up his window. “Hang on.”

  She shifted to drive and slammed down the gas pedal. The truck roared ahead. Arramos blasted flames at the tires, then grabbed Tamiel’s shirt with a foreclaw and flew with him over the truck.

  The tires exploded, and the truck skidded to a stop. To the rear, Arramos whipped his neck back to launch another blast.

  “He’ll ignite the gas tank!” Matt shouted. “Get out!”

  They threw their doors open and leaped. Matt rolled through the grass, scrambled on all fours to Sapphira’s pole, and looked back. A thin stream of fire slashed through the truck’s gas hatch.

  When Darcy joined Matt, he whispered, “Help me cover her.” Kneeling, they both wrapped their arms around Sapphira and the pole, their backs to the truck.

  The roar of fire heightened until it spiked to a thunderous explosion. A wave of heat blew across Matt’s back, neck, and scalp. He cringed at the scalding surge. Darcy let out a soft moan, while Sapphira whispered, “Take courage, friends. It’s almost over.”

  Seconds later, the heat eased. Matt looked at the two women in turn. “You okay? Darcy? Sapphira?”

  Darcy nodded, the ends of her hair singed.

  “I’m all right,” Sapphira said. “But be wary. Tamiel is crafty. He convinced Arramos to spare you a moment ago. There must be a sinister reason.”

  The truck, still in flames, had blackened on the exterior. Arramos lay on his belly, heaving rapid breaths. Tamiel watched the smoldering heap from afar, as if waiting for Arramos to get his strength back. “I think he just doesn’t want us to escape,” Matt said to Sapphira. “He’s keeping us here to do something for him. He knows we won’t leave without you.”

  “And we haven’t found the sixth key yet,” Darcy said. “He wants us to get it.”

  “A key?” Sapphira looked down at her chest. “When I was leaning over, I noticed a key on a necklace. Someone must have put it on me after they knocked me out.”

  Darcy pulled a thin chain around Sapphira’s neck and lifted a key from behind her battle tunic. It looked just like the other five, though it didn’t yet carry a luster.

  “Take it away a few steps,” Matt said. “If it glows, it’s the right one.”

  Darcy lifted the chain over Sapphira’s head and, keeping her stare on Arramos and Tamiel, walked slowly backwards.

  Matt covered his eyes as well as Sapphira’s. “It’s blinding. Just protecting you.”

  After a few seconds, Darcy called, “It’s safe.”

  Matt lowered his hands. Darcy walked toward them with the necklace. A brightly glowing key dangled at the bottom, though its dark blue aura diminished as she drew closer.

  Tamiel strolled toward them, followed by Arramos, who shuffled weakly. “Congratulations,” Tamiel said. “I assume you removed the drug tab from Sapphira’s neck, though you did it earlier than I had expected, which nearly upset my plans. Yet all is now well. You have successfully redeemed six keys from their corrupted habitats.”

  “Okay,” Matt said. “At the risk of asking an obvious question, what are we supposed to do with them?”

  “Retrieve the keys from where you have hidden them, put all six on the ring I provided, and press them together. Then I will give you further instructions.”

  Matt glared at him. “Look, I get the whole go-on-a-mission-to-save-the-world thing, and we helped some people, but now that I know you don’t have my mother, I’m not doing anything you say until you prove there’s a good reason for it. And don’t give me that line about hurting my father. I figured out that you made everything silent to keep me from talking to your Sergeant, if there was really anyone there at all.”

  Tamiel nodded in an admiring way. “I have underestimated you far too many times. You are truly insightful. I also noticed that you have already emancipated the poor, unfortunate slaves here, likely including a means to penetrate the fence. You are clever, indeed.”

  “At least clever enough to ignore flattery from a forked tongue.”

  “Touché, Matt. I will get right to the matter at hand, and I provide this explanation only because I need your cooperation. Otherwise, I would have killed you long ago.” Tamiel spread out his arms. “This entire compound was constructed at this site for the express purpose of creating this exact scenario. As I am sure you discerned, what was occurring here is perhaps the lowest form of cruelty. Murdered innocents are spiritually freed from their oppressors, but here women and children suffered daily pain, squalor, and cruel humiliation with no hope of escape. You might call this compound the capital of corruption, if I may mimic Abaddon’s alliterative ways.”

  “Agreed so far.” Matt nodded. “Go on.”

  “As the song of the ovulum weakened, corruption grew widespread. And where corruption abounds, correction must eventually take place. The Bible states that in the last days, when evil flourishes, a special person will open the abyss.” Tamiel arched his brow. “Shall I quote the relevant section?”

  “Will it matter?”

  “Not to me. Again, I am laboring through these details because I wish to convince you that you need to cooperate. Not only that, your mother is intimately involved.”

  Matt heaved a sigh. “Go ahead.”

  “Must you?” Arramos asked, now looking stronger. “That book is an offense to my ears.”

  “I will quote only the relevant portion.” Tamiel’s irises turned reddish, matching the sun’s tainted hue. “And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from Heaven unto the Earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit. And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit. And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power. And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads. And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is . . .” He smiled through a dramatic pause. “Abaddon.”

  Chapter 19

  THE SEVENTH DOOR

  Matt clenched his teeth. Tamiel wanted him to react to Abaddon’s name, but giving this monster the satisfaction would be like drinking acid.

  Tamiel’s eyes returned to normal. “For centuries prophets have wondered who this star might be. Since it fell from Heaven, many assumed a fallen angel, but I rejected that notion. Fallen angels worked to bring about the behavior that incited wrath. Why would one of
them be chosen to deliver it? That duty would be given to someone who possessed purity of heart, someone who has the moral authority to unleash due punishment. Of course, I immediately thought of your mother. As the purity ovulum who was once in Heaven and then came back to Earth, she is a star fallen from Heaven, a perfect fit. Although the text uses masculine pronouns, it is mere semantics based on Greek noun gender. In reality, the star could easily be female.”

  “So that’s the prophecy,” Matt said. “That’s why you’re sure she’ll come.”

  “Indeed.” Tamiel lifted his brow. “So now I hope for your cooperation. If you acquiesce, the people who have committed these horrendous acts will receive justice. I needed you to collect the keys, and now I need you to convince your mother to open the seventh door.”

  Matt took a deep breath to keep his voice calm. “I figured out why you needed me to get the keys. Someone like you couldn’t do it.”

  Tamiel smiled in an unpleasant manner. “Someone like me?”

  “Right. Corrupt to the core. Despicable. Evil incarnate. A buffoon who doesn’t realize that he will eventually be fodder for Arramos’s flames.”

  Tamiel shot out a hand and grabbed Matt’s throat. As he squeezed, fangs extended over his bottom lip. “Your usefulness is wearing thin, Charles Reginald Bannister. If you wish to survive, I suggest that you choose to act in a civilized manner.”

  Barely able to breathe, Matt glared at him. Pressure built inside his head, ready to explode. Finally, he nodded and squeezed out, “If my mother approves.”

  “Good enough.” Tamiel shoved him backwards. Darcy caught him just in time to prevent a fall.

  Matt lifted himself out of her arms and caressed his throat. “It sounds like opening the door would hurt a lot of people. My mother wouldn’t do it, even if they deserve what they’ll get.”

  “She will once I explain the alternative.” Tamiel waved an arm toward the eastern horizon. “As we speak, several nations are hurling accusations at each other regarding the nuclear explosion that has immobilized this country and sent a shock wave of fear sizzling from coast to coast. The world is on the brink of nuclear war that will slaughter billions of wretched humans. Although the vast majority contributed to the looming catastrophe by participating in the corruption, precious innocents will burn in agony without any idea why they would suffer such torture.”

  “So you’ll tell my mother that opening the door will prevent a nuclear war? How is that possible?”

  Tamiel’s cocky grin reappeared. “It is not merely possible, Matt. Opening the abyss will certainly prevent a war. The creatures that emerge from the pit will see to that. Humans will not be able to continue their petty bickering when they are suffering to the point that they are begging to die.”

  “But if she doesn’t open it, there’s no guarantee of a nuclear war. I mean, who would want global annihilation? They’d be crazy to start it.”

  “My singular detonation will lead to others.” Tamiel withdrew his phone and tapped the screen a few times. “My phone still works, so satellite receivers and relays must be up and running on generator power. If emergency-broadcast radio stations are also operational, I should be able to provide an update.”

  Arramos, his eyes now bright and fiery, lumbered closer and looked over Tamiel’s shoulder.

  Seconds later, a voice emanated from the phone’s speaker. “When the president determines his course of action. According to sources, Russia, China, India, and North Korea have responded by mobilizing missile-carrying submarines and readying their ground-based ICBM weapons. Other reports claim that Israel has also readied its nuclear arsenal. With tensions this high, the slightest provocation might start the most dreaded event in history— global nuclear war.”

  Tamiel turned off the radio and looked at the screen. “We have arranged to provide that provocation in approximately fifteen minutes. One of my agents will deliver an urgent communiqué to the U.S. president indicating that Russia has launched twenty missiles aimed at various locations, including Washington, D.C., and a supposedly secret command headquarters for land-based missiles. If that location is neutralized, the U.S. will be hard pressed to respond at all.

  “Also, my agent has already infiltrated the computer warning system with software that will affirm his claim, including ground reports from CIA that eyewitnesses have verified the launches. That should topple the first of many destructive dominoes.”

  A shiver crawled up Matt’s spine. The beginning of the end of the world was now only minutes away.

  Darcy laid a hand on Matt’s back and whispered, “I don’t think he’s bluffing this time.”

  “I agree.” Trying to slow his rapid heartbeats, he nodded at Tamiel. “Okay. You’ve proven your point. But my mother’s not here. She can’t open the door.”

  “We can still begin the process by revealing the seventh door.”

  “Where is it?” Matt asked. “You never gave us the password to find the address.”

  “That’s because the seventh address is the same as the sixth. I didn’t want you to learn that until this moment.” Tamiel nodded at Matt. “You may enter REFICUL to see the final address and the label I assigned. Don’t worry. It’s not as, shall we say, descriptive as the one I chose for the sixth address.”

  Matt scowled. “Forget it. I’m not playing your game.”

  “Pity. One of your novel’s characters would have played right along.”

  “Just get to the point!” Matt growled. “You’re wasting time!”

  “Very well.” Tamiel gestured toward Sapphira. “If our Oracle of Fire opens the portal that will unveil the seventh door, she can forestall the nuclear war. I had hoped to simply threaten her by killing the resident slaves one at a time until she acquiesced. That would have enabled me to avoid this tedious explanation. Since I don’t know where you have hidden the six keys, I cannot kill one of you as a way to persuade Sapphira.”

  Matt gave Darcy a furtive glance. She averted her eyes. If she had not managed to hang on to her three keys in spite of the commotion, she would have let him know by now.

  “So . . .” Tamiel crouched next to Sapphira and shook one of her chains. “I have to resort to appealing to your innate sense of mercy. If you choose to open the portal, and Bonnie follows by opening the seventh door, people will suffer but not as terribly as they would in a nuclear war. Those who are servants of God will not be harmed, so the innocent will not suffer at all. I’m sure Abaddon will enforce that obligation dutifully.”

  Sapphira’s eyes blazed like cobalt flames. “How dare you appeal to my sense of mercy! You feed on suffering. You relish death. You enjoy misery.” Her brow dipping low, she growled. “And you talk of mercy, you foul beast.”

  “Here is mercy.” Tamiel slapped her face. “It is merciful that I don’t torture you further to force you to acquiesce!”

  Darcy leaped and clawed at his eyes. He slammed the back of his hand against her face and knocked her away. She flew several feet and sprawled on the grass.

  Matt lunged at Tamiel, but Arramos blasted a torrent of fire, blocking him. Holding up his hands to shield against the scorching heat, Matt backed away. “All right! All right! I get the point!”

  When the jet turned off, Tamiel bowed toward Arramos. “Thank you, Excellency. I appreciate the help, though I could easily ward off the boy.”

  “Maybe next time I will let you try.” Arramos snorted a plume of sparks. “Do not underestimate a furious opponent.”

  Matt crouched next to Darcy and laid a hand on her back. “Are you all right?” She didn’t answer. When he leaned closer, she winked at him, then closed her eyes again.

  Sapphira glared at Tamiel, a red handprint on her cheek. “Unchain me. I can’t create a firestorm unless I’m free.”

  Backing away from Sapphira, Tamiel withdrew a key from his pocket and tossed it toward Matt. “You may do the honors.”

  “Coward.” Matt snatched the key from the gro
und. He walked to Sapphira, bent low, and whispered, “Are you sure you should cooperate? He could be lying about that agent talking to the president.”

  “He’s not lying,” she whispered. “Watch him. When he lies, he rubs a thumb and finger together. While they were holding me in another place, he did it a couple of times, and he also did it while pretending to talk to the sergeant on the phone. It’s like children who cross their fingers to excuse a lie.”

  “I didn’t notice, but I’ll keep an eye on him.” Matt unlocked Sapphira’s four manacles and helped her rise.

  As she massaged her wrists, a breeze kicked up, making her snow-white tresses flutter on her shoulders. She rotated in a slow circle and gazed at her surroundings, but her eyes seemed to focus far, far away. “I sense something familiar on the other side of this portal.”

  “You are quite perceptive,” Tamiel said. “The abyss lies on the other side. It is a path to Abaddon’s lair, the valley where he keeps those souls Elohim deems needful of resurrection. Bonnie passed through there, as did her father, Billy, his mother, and a few others.”

  “And I’ve been there as well.” Sapphira straightened and inhaled deeply. “I’m getting my strength back, but I still can’t create a firestorm big enough to open this portal.”

  “I understand.” Tamiel looked at his phone again. “You have eleven minutes to recover. If I don’t contact my agent by then, he will push the first domino.”

  “But I’m not sure I’ll be strong enough by then,” Sapphira said. “You’re the one who drugged me. Are you going to allow your own actions to destroy your chance to gain this world before it’s reduced to a ball of char?”

  “My dear Sapphira, if I were to delay my agent, I would have to tell him to await further contact before pushing the domino. If something were to happen to me during the ensuing time, I wouldn’t be able to contact him. That’s a vulnerability I wish to avoid.”

  “What are you afraid of? I tried to set your clothes on fire a few minutes ago, but I couldn’t.”