The Symphony of Death

by Matthew Newson

  “Ha!” I said. “This from the man who just spent a half hour of his pre-wedding primping time rattling off an entire monologue about vile and evil beings and their recent attempts to kill you.”

  “You got me there, I guess.”

  “But about the roses, I didn’t mean to bring up anything painful, I just want your big day to be perfect. That’s my only concern, brother.”

  “Its fine, Paul. The pink roses were my idea.”

  “Why?”

  “Ever since I saw pink roses in Jesus’s garden right after I found out you were The Man Wrapped in Darkness, I began to enjoy them again. Now they remind me of the good times I had with my mom, and all the love she and Jesus have for me. The sight and smell of them lift my spirit when I’m having a bad day.”

  “I’m really happy for you, brother. Also, I have the ability to turn your tux pink if you want me too.”

  “Now you’ve gone too far, Paul. Let’s go. It’s time for me to get married.”

  Alec took his place at the front by the priest as the service started. I walked down with Tiffany’s maid of honor and took my place next to him. Alec and Tiffany decided to have a small service since Alec didn’t have any family, and I was his only close friend. They also didn’t want to make a big media spectacle out of it, so they had the service on the grounds of the Williams Estate. Tiffany’s side of the room was comprised of her many family members, and Alec’s was made up of the house staff that he considered to be like family to him, along with three individuals Alec had never seen before.

  James walked up to Alec with tears in his eyes, and a smile of pride on his face. My father had the same look when I married Faith.

  “Alec, I just wanted to tell you before the ceremony started how proud I am of you. I remember when I had dropped you off that day at the boarding school, and how my heart broke as I drove away, but I never stopped praying for you. I’m so proud of the man you’ve become, and I know if your parents were here, they would be proud of you too.” James pulled Alec in for a hug.

  James hugged Alec like a father would his son.

  “James,” Alec said. “As far as I’m concerned, I’m wrapped in my true father’s arms at this moment.”

  “You are my son, Alec. You always have been, and you always will be. Now, when are you going to give me some grandchildren?”

  Alec paled. “One thing at a time here, Dad.”

  “Just don’t wait too long, son,” and then James turned and took his seat in the front.

  As we waited for Tiffany, a twinkle of light appeared near the back and then dissipated like a handful of tiny diamonds in the sun. Alec’s mom came in and took a seat on the front row. She mouthed the words I wouldn’t miss this for the world. I love you, son.

  Tears streamed down Alec’s face. “Paul, for the first time I finally feel like I have a real family.”

  “You deserve it, brother, and by the way, no one here but us can see your mom over there. So, don’t start talking to her or you’ll look like a crazy person.”

  “Shut up, Paul. Hey, who is that lady with the two young boys with her sitting on my side of the room? I’ve never seen them before. Do you know who they are? I hope they aren’t some kind of wedding crashers, or a reporter using children to sneak in here and get pictures for some tabloid.” He glanced my way. “What are you smiling about?”

  I couldn’t help but smile as I stared at the most beautiful woman I had ever seen.

  “I do know who those people are,” I said.

  “Well who are they?”

  “That’s my wife Faith and our boys Isaiah and Jeremiah. They’re my plus one—excepts it’s three—and they have wanted to meet you for a long time. My boys said they’re looking forward to getting to know their Uncle Alec.”

  “How are they here? I thought they were in Heaven.”

  “They are. They’re only here for you today. They wanted to celebrate with you. You shouldn’t be so surprised with this stuff by now. The Bible says we are surrounded by the great cloud of witnesses.”

  Alec smiled and waved at Faith and the boys who smiled and waved back at him.

  I quickly leaned in. “Again, you know you and I are the only ones who can see them, right? You look like squirrel bait waving at open seats.”

  Alec’s face turned ashy gray. “Are you serious?”

  “No. Not at all. I’m messing with you. Sorry, but I couldn’t resist. You really need to loosen up. Do you want me to go and get your grandfathers decanter?”

  “Wait? I thought you said to lay off the hard stuff.”

  “I did. I’m still messing with you. Man, you’re making this way too easy.”

  Alec looked like he wanted to hit me. “I swear, if you weren’t some kind of all-powerful immortal being, I would punch you in the face right now, Paul.”

  “That’s a little violent don’t you think. I’m going to pray for Jesus to forgive you, and soften your heart. Who have you been hanging out with? You have picked up some very violent tendencies.”

  Alec shook his head. “Okay, as soon as this is over, I’m telling your wife, and I’ll let her be the one to deal with you.”

  I looked over at Faith who returned my big loving smile with a glare, and mouthed the words knock it off. “That’s not funny, Alec. I don’t think you need to tell her. I believe she already knows.”

  “Serves you right, now shut up they’re playing that weird song.”

  “Dude... You mean the Bridal March? Wow.”

  Tiffany rounded the corner in an elegant white dress, and even though she wore a veil, you could see her beauty as it showed through. Her train filled the aisle as she slowly walked down with her father by her side, and Alec began to cry all over again. I teared up a little as well for my brother who had come so far and endured so much. He had lost his mother on his tenth birthday, the only parent who ever showed him any love. Then he was treated as less-than by his father all his life.

  But as I watched Alec and Tiffany say I do and the room erupt in shouts of joy, I got to watch my brother finally get his happy ending.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Lucifer

  Hell

  “YOU LIAR! YOU’RE NOTHING but a filthy liar, and I can’t wait for the day when you’re tossed in here with all of us,” David shouted.

  He continued to curse me as I walked away from the pit. I returned him to with his daughter, Rachel, whose turn it was now to torture him. As I walked away, I motioned for a group of my demonic guards to repeatedly stab them with spears from outside of the pit for my amusement.

  I was, after all, in desperate need of something to cheer me up in my disheartened state.

  The Man Wrapped in Darkness made a complete fool of me when he severed my head—for all the spirit world to see, no less. I was instantly cast back to Hell, and I immediately retreated to my fortress, and deliberately stayed away from all of my minions. I had to shed my skin several times before the wounds of my defeat were fully healed. When I emerged from my palace fully restored, I had to release all of my wrath on the occupants of Hell so none of my followers would dare try and attack me.

  However, after that, I still experienced the spirit-crushing pain of defeat as I walked back to my throne. It seemed that in spite of all the lovely torturous sights, there was nothing that could lift my spirit. I was surrounded by countless souls of The One’s followers who my demons and I had personally deceived who were being now mercilessly tortured day and night, but none of it lifted up my countenance. I knew I needed to come up with some way to make The Man Wrapped in Darkness and Alec suffer for what they had done. Because of their actions, I had lost my hold on the Williams Industries, The Man in White, and now Death was lost to me as well.

  Those two needed to be dealt with quickly for me to save face, but nothing came to mind. If I had to be completely honest with myself, there was nothing in me that wanted another confrontation with either of them ever again. I couldn’t risk losing repeatedly on a scale that
big in front of my followers. I hoped The One would leave my other sources of revenue on Earth alone for the time being.

  So, it seemed my best strategy was to wait and bide my time until one of them stepped out of The One’s protection long enough to be killed by me.

  As I ascended the stairs made of human bones to my throne, I shuddered to think about what Death had become. He had completely regressed back to a mindless killing machine who attacked anyone he pleased. He was a mere shadow of his former self, forever destined to don that hideous appearance until the end. The worst part of all was he had lost the ability and desire to create the lovely music he had once composed. The very same music that had once brought me such joy and peace when he played it was all gone now, never to be played again. When I visited him after what had transpired, I found he had destroyed all his instruments and burned all his sheet music and paintings. The worst part of all was how he treated me with such hostility.

  As I entered his domain and saw it in ruins, Death growled at me seated in a darkened corner. “Leave now! I won’t be a part of anymore of your idiotic plans. From now on I work alone, and you can have the souls of those I claim when I’m done with them.”

  “Death, please tell me, what happened to you?” I asked.

  He slipped from the shadows and into the illuminated center of the room and stood menacingly in front of me with his scythe. “I trusted you is what happened to me! You said we could usurp The One’s plans for The End times, but you were wrong. Now you stand before me with not even a mark on you from the battle, and I have been punished because of our failure. I knew I should have told you to get out the moment you walked in here with your grand scheme of using a man-made machine to defeat The One. Everyone knows there is no stopping The One once he has determined something to be the way he wants it to be.”

  “I am not allowed to operate in my fullest until The One breaks the fourth seal, and the voice of the fourth living creature calls me forward to ride on my pale horse. Now, due to my overstep because of you, I have been cursed to the lowest level of my existence. But I find it to be liberating as I can strike terror in all who look upon me. Do me a favor and get out before I decide you’re worth it, and send you to see your old friend, Reviler.”

  Then Death turned his back to me, a defiant act he knew I considered to be the highest form of disrespect. I saw red when he did, and I had been disgraced for the last time. After my last defeat I wasn’t going to be treated like that by anyone, let alone any spirit being. I stormed toward Death with my sword drawn to teach him some manners and remind him who ruled The Second Heaven. As I drew close, Death quickly spun and closed the gap between us as he swung his giant scythe. The blade slid through the air effortlessly and down across my chest, and then he brought the blade back up through my chest again. I dropped my sword and looked down, and saw the large X he carved in my torso. As I stumbled to the ground, Death grabbed me by my throat and dragged me through the room toward the exit. I was too injured to stop him or put up any kind of fight against him. I’d forgotten how fast he moved in a fight.

  “You come into my home to try and get me to go along with another one of your plans that are always doomed from the start. Knowing that I’ll be the one who will have to suffer the consequences when it inevitably fails. Your track record is pathetic. Every plan you’ve had against The One has come up short every time.”

  I struggled against his bony iron grip. “How did you know I was going to ask you to help with my next plan?”

  Death tightened his grip around my throat. “Please, Lucifer, or should I call you Satan? You’re not worthy to use your angelic name any longer. I have known you for a long time, and you only come here when you want something from me. You care only about yourself.”

  I was angered by the use of my fallen name, and Death knew better than to call me by it, and he saw rage in my eyes.

  “Oh, what’s the matter? You didn’t like that, did you? How about Little Horn or Beelzebub? What’s this, you don’t like being called by those names either? Please, you don’t have any power over me, and you’re in no position to be making any demands.”

  Death continued to berate me as he dragged me to the ledge just outside of his domain and held me over the edge by my throat, and delivered a few well-placed punches which kept me from retaliating.

  “This will be the last time you come here and ask anything of me. You and your kingdom only exist because of the work I do to continually feed it new souls every day. Without me, you would have no power and no authority.”

  Then Death pulled me in close. “Without me you’re nothing, and don’t you ever forget that or come back here again. Now, to Hell with you, Lucifer.”

  He cast me out of The Second Heaven and back down into Hell. Luckily, I was able to slow my descent and perform a controlled landing, and fortunately no one saw what had transpired between Death and me.

  As I sat upon my throne, I carefully contemplated my next move. I dwelt upon my situation as one of my fallen angelic brothers, Cyrian, flew in and knelt at the bottom of the stairs.

  “What do you want?” I said.

  Cyrian looked up at me with his orange sunken eyes. “Lucifer, it has happened.”

  “What has happened?”

  “The anointing has finally been placed on a new individual. The One is raising up a new prophet for his kingdom.”

  This could be just the thing I needed to turn around my losing streak. Alec and The Man Wrapped in Darkness would have to wait as I set my sights on my new target to win him to my side and use his new anointing for my own ends. If he refused to join me, I would destroy him before he could come into his full potential. When I had finished with the new prophet, I would return my gaze to Alec and The Man Wrapped in Darkness. By then, they would have relaxed their guard and believe I had given up my pursuit of them.

  When the time was right, I would destroy both of them.

  Coming Fall 2020

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  Dedication

  I’d like to thank, Jesus, my Lord and Savior, for giving me this book, and the others in the series. My editor, Carla, for taking the time to teach and guide me on this journey. Without you, none of this would have seen the light of day. Finally, my wife, for her unending encouragement to keep going, and for always being there for me.

  I’d also like thank you, my readers, for joining me on this journey through the world of The Man Wrapped in Darkness.

  About the Author

  Matthew Newson is excited to jump headfirst into making his writing a career with his first series. He calls the great state of Texas home where he juggles his days between a full-time position, his family, his church, and writing. His passion for writing stems from a desire to bring the spiritual world to the fictional page. He enjoys a strong battle scene with epic clashes of light versus dark.

  Connect with Matthew Newson Books at

  www.matthewnewson.com