by Mark Romang
Lucifer lifted his hands up. Instantly the crowd grew mostly silent save for a few isolated murmurs. “My fellow angels, it gives me great pleasure to see you again. It has been too long since we’ve last conversed. I have missed the comradery.” Lucifer was careful to address the condemned as angels instead of demons. He wanted their compliance to come willingly. “I come to you in peace. And I come to you with no pretense.”
Sick-sounding laughter rang out at his last statement. Lucifer ignored the raucous outburst and kept on. He began to pace the stadium floor. “I’m sure you’ve all been following the events on planet Earth. The Tribulation has reached the halfway point, and the Great Tribulation is about to start. And as you all must know, the war drums are pounding. According to the prophecy written down by John in Revelation 12, it is now time we take up our swords and bows and lay siege to heaven.”
A demon on the front row stood up and left his seat. He started walking toward Lucifer with a fixed purpose. “Why should we do your bidding, Lucifer? You tricked us into joining your revolution, and it didn’t go well for us. We were banished from Heaven. And then when you demanded we take human wives and impregnate them in an attempt to ruin the human race with Nephilim, look at where we ended up. We are all doomed to sufferer here in the darkness with no hope of seeing light again.”
Lucifer reigned in his anger at being interrupted and looked at the demon approaching. The demon’s name was Angrial, and he pretty much lorded over Teredel like a ruthless prison warden. At this moment Lucifer recognized his authority was being challenged, and he couldn’t allow the uprising to happen. Lucifer lifted a hand and pointed at Angrial. Out of his uplifted hand flowed a terrible and dark energy. The dark energy struck Angrial’s muscular chest and sent him tumbling end over end into the crowd. Demons scattered to avoid a collision. Angrial crashed hard against the stone seats, but immediately stood up and grabbed his throat with both hands. Unable to breathe, he sputtered and gasped for breath.
Lucifer dropped his hand, stopping the dark energy from flowing out his fingers. Angrial slumped down into a seat and started breathing again. Lucifer began his speech to the vast crowd once more. His voice boomed out. “I understand you may not want to obey my wishes. But I also understand that once a prophecy starts it cannot be undone. Whether you want to or not, you are all heading into battle with me.”
Lucifer clasped his hands together behind his wings and began to pace. He so longed to allow his angel of light disguise to shine forth. But if he did a dazzling luminescence would light up the stadium and damage the eyes of all the demons. They’d been living in utter darkness for so long a radiance of such magnitude would surely destroy their weakened vision and render them blind.
“I know what you’re thinking. You fear the outcome and wisely so. We cannot defeat the superior forces of Heaven. Countless legions of heavenly angels combined with all the saints will eventually wear us down. But I have come up with a bold plan to help us delay our doom. While a pitched battle ensues, a select few of you will enter the inner sanctuary where the seven bowls of judgment are stored and take the seventh bowl.
“As you all know the outpouring of the seventh bowl marks the end of the Tribulation. Jesus will not return to earth until the Tribulation period has ended. So we must at all costs acquire this seventh bowl. I don’t want to be thrown into the abyss. I dread falling through that bottomless pit. And I know everyone here doesn’t wish to be thrown into the Lake of Fire. As terrible as your suffering here in Teredel is, it pales to the suffering you will endure in hell’s flames. So we must delay the Second Coming and keep the Tribulation going. It’s our only hope.”
Lucifer looked at the chastised Angrial slumped in his seat on the front row. “Angrial, come here.”
The big demon stood up and walked toward Lucifer once more, only this time he approached warily. Lucifer spoke in a lower voice when Angrial met up with him. “I need you on my side, Angrial. You control this mob. They listen to you because you are their leader. If you fall in step with me they will follow. Do I have your allegiance?”
Angrial looked at him sullenly. His eyes, once blacker than obsidian, had decayed while in the darkness. A silver hue covered his irises and pupils. Angrial bowed down onto one knee. “My loyalty is for you only, Lucifer,” he said. “Whatever you ask of me, I will give.”
“Will you form an army with all the tribes in this stadium and lead the troops into war against the heavenly angels?”
“I will lead them, Lucifer. They will fight with all their might, as will I.”
“I knew I could count on you, Angrial. Your great courage will inspire the others.” Lucifer often used flattery to get what he wanted. But he was always careful to make the flattery sound genuine and believable. Stroking egos came so easy to him, as did lying.
Lucifer felt an insistent tap on his shoulder. He turned and saw Zarkien standing there. A concerned look shimmered in his top general’s eyes.
“Master, I have detected an illumination in the stadium. It is a faint glow, but a glow nonetheless. The glow comes from the northern end,” Zarkien said. He pointed toward the illumination.
Lucifer fixed his gaze on the stadium’s northern end. The stadium’s sides stretched for six-hundred yards. But six-hundred yards was nothing for his eyes to zoom in on. Lucifer focused on the illumination. For a split second, shock halted his breathing. He recognized the captive, a heavenly angel by the name of Mithellius. He turned back to Angrial. “Why is one of God’s angels here in Teredel?”
“Mithellius was discovered spying on us. We captured him and bound him.”
“Then we must go to war as soon as possible. Don’t waste time forging new swords. Sharpen the swords you have now and pick up your bows. God will send a rescue party to find his precious angel. And they might already be on their way now.”
Angrial nodded soberly. “I will start organizing the troops now.”
“What about me, Master. Will I go to war?”
Lucifer put a hand on Zarkien’s mighty shoulder. “You are a great warrior, Zarkien. But I need you to go back to earth and monitor events there in my absence. And find Nathan Banks. His programming skills are needed for the next phase.”
Zarkien nodded. “Nathan Banks has evaded us so far. But his good fortune cannot last. We will catch him.”
“I am thinking we need to use human assets to find Mr. Banks. And I think you know who I have in mind for this task.”
“But Master, are you sure you want to use him? He might kill Banks, rather than bring him to us alive. You know how unsettled his mind is.”
Lucifer nodded. “His depraved mind is what makes him so lethal. And he is an expert tracker. If he can’t find Banks no one can.”
“Very well, I will make finding Nathan Banks my highest priority.”
Lucifer smiled. “I knew you would see it my way, Zarkien.”
Chapter 5
British Columbia
The deer meat sizzled and popped on a spit hanging over the campfire. Tanner and C.J. sat close to the fire, mesmerized by the cooking meat. Unlike most days, where glumness and fear marked the twenty-four hour period, the acquisition of fresh meat brought them not only life-sustaining food, but also hope and encouragement.
“I don’t think I can wait for it to cook any longer,” C.J. said, eyeing the partially-cooked meat.
“I know. I don’t think I can hold out much longer either. Let’s try it,” Tanner said and moved the stick serving as a cooking rack away from the campfire. He laid the stick holding the deer loin down on a flat rock and pushed the meat onto the rock with his knife. “It smells fantastic, C.J.”
“I know. It smells even better than Mom’s roasted turkey on Thanksgiving Day.”
“I wouldn’t go that far. But it’s close.” Tanner sliced the deer loin into two equal portions. “Lord, thank you for providing us with this deer. Sustain us with this meat. Amen.” C.J. reached over and stabbed one of the pieces with his own knife and be
gan eating, ignoring the hot meat burning his tongue.
Tanner picked up his piece, blew on it briefly and bit into it. The meat was just a notch above rare, and though it lacked seasoning, Tanner thought he’d never tasted anything so wonderful. After he’d swallowed three large bites he looked over at his brother. He laughed at the sight.
C.J. paused between bites. “What’s so funny?”
“You look like a Barbarian. There’s bloody meat juice running down into your beard.”
C.J. smiled. “Well, we are basically savages. The way we live, it’s like we’ve turned our back on modern civilization.”
“We’re a little uncivilized now, I’ll give you that. But I wouldn’t call us savages,” Tanner said. “I like to think of us as survivors.”
C.J. tore off another bite and chewed the meat rapidly. “Okay, but I want to be more than a survivor. I want to fight back against Henrik Skymolt’s one-world government. So call me an anarchist or a revolutionary. Either term fits me better.”
“Some revolution. We’ve vandalized a few of the chipping kiosks. Big deal.” In a barn where they spent a night several months ago they found a brand new can of black spray paint. Ever since then in every small town or village they came to C.J. spray-painted Skymolt is the devil onto the chipping kiosks.
“I’d do more if I could, Tanner. If I had explosives and knew how to use them I would blow up every one of them.”
“You would likely just blow yourself up. And I know for sure you would get arrested. And then you would have to decide between taking the mark and living in jail, or refusing the mark and being executed. Not much of a choice if you ask me.” Tanner watched his twin brother drop a water purification tablet into a beat-up plastic bottle filled with water from a stream they came to hours ago. They were running low on the tablets. Fortunately they didn’t have far to go to reach their father’s bunker. Inside the bunker were two pallets of bottled water, as well as filters to purify stream water.
C.J. screwed the cap onto his water bottle and set it to the side. The water wouldn’t be safe to drink for another thirty-five minutes. “But there’s got to be something we can do to fight back. Even if we make it to the bunker, I don’t know if I can live in the ground in hiding for the next three and a half years. I would go crazy.”
Tanner nodded. “Listen, C.J., if Henrik Skymolt is really the Antichrist, then that means Satan is living inside him. And the only way we can truly defeat Satan is to live godly lives and show nonbelievers who haven’t already taken the chip, how to become Christ followers like us.”
“Well, how are we going to do that out here in the wilderness?”
Tanner shrugged. “I don’t know. This predicament is our own fault. We should have listened to our parents when they warned us about being unsaved when the Rapture comes. But pride and stubbornness blinded us to the truth.”
C.J. nodded glumly. “We knew all about God, but we didn’t really know God.” C.J. popped the last bite of his deer loin into his mouth and chewed contentedly. “But on the bright side, I’m sure glad you didn’t miss that shot, Tanner. This deer is one tasty animal.”
Tanner smiled. “I wasn’t sure at all that I hit it. And we’re lucky we found her.” He and C.J. tracked the deer for an hour before losing the trail. But they didn’t give up and continued to randomly hunt for the wounded doe for another two hours before stumbling upon her in a dense thicket just before sunset.
C.J poked at the golden-orange coals underneath the pyramid of blazing wood. The wood popped and sizzled and flames shot up. “I never asked you this, Tanner, but how do you think you would’ve performed at the qualifier had the Rapture not taken place?”
Tanner shrugged and bit off another bite of meat. “I think I would have crashed in the slopestyle.”
C.J. frowned. “No way. The slopestyle is your best event.”
“After my last practice run the day before, I decided to change up my jumps. I was going to try a quad-flip.”
“Are you serious? You were really going to do a quad-flip? Man, Tanner, you’re so different on the slopes. Most of the time you’re mild-mannered and conservative. But on the slopes you flip a switch and turn into a wild man. A quad-flip? That’s hardcore.”
“You bring out my wild side, C.J. And you make me brave.”
C.J. positioned another log on the fire. “And you temper my impulsiveness. If you didn’t I would get into all sorts of trouble. Together we make a good team.”
Tanner mulled over his brother’s words for a moment. Everything that once seemed so important to him didn’t matter now. And all the countless hours practicing their snowboarding tricks and dreaming of the X Games and Olympics didn’t count for anything. A sudden movement in the sky caused him to lift his head. He smiled at the sight. Pale green and pink streamers danced and cavorted across the dark sky. “Look, C.J.,” Tanner said and pointed up. “The northern lights are visiting us tonight.”
C.J. looked up at the suddenly colorful sky. “We haven’t seen them in weeks. But we used to see them all the time when we were farther north.”
Even though Tanner knew the scientific explanation for the Aurora Borealis, and understood that collisions between gaseous particles in the Earth’s atmosphere with charged particles from the sun’s atmosphere cause the eerily colorful displays, he liked to think God was being creative and painting the sky. The northern lights always made him think spiritual thoughts. “It’s going to be okay, C.J. No matter what happens to us over the next three and a half years, we’ll be okay. The Holy Spirit is living inside us now. Henrik Skymolt might take our heads, but he can’t touch our souls.”
C.J. nodded. “I just worry about Brooke. I wonder if she’s been broken, if she’s taken the mark. I don’t think our sister has it in her to survive in the wild like us.”
“Hopefully Brooke has made it to the bunker by now, and is getting it ready and making it homey for us, putting a woman’s touch on it.”
“Is it possible to make an underground bunker homey?”
Tanner shrugged. “If anyone can, I know it would be Brooke.”
Chapter 6
Teredel
He only lived on earth for a short time—less than forty years—but ex-Navy SEAL Andrew Maddix made the most of his time on the planet. He traveled the world many times and lived an exciting and adventurous life.
As a member of SEAL Team 8, Maddix routinely parachuted into hostile places in the dark of night to fight tyranny, and fast-roped from Blackhawk helicopters into terrorist-controlled villages to rid the world of misguided jihadists. He did it all in the name of freedom and liberty, and any other synonym one could associate with independence or free will.
Because of his unique skillset, and despite his current residency in Heaven, Andrew Maddix still found himself going on special op missions. And he considered his current mission to be his most dangerous one yet. He traveled in a desolate realm forsaken by God, cloaked by utter darkness, and filled to every corner with mankind’s greatest enemy.
Fortunately, like his time on earth in the SEALS, he didn’t go it alone. His teammates were highly skilled and well-suited for the task at hand. He counted it as a certainty they would accomplish their mission objectives. And yet somehow, despite the fact he was now an immortal, a saint who lived and walked on golden streets and served and worshipped Jesus in person, Maddix felt dread. Teredel had a way of dredging up fear. Its very name conjured terror.
As Maddix understood it, Teredel was once a region of Heaven where the angels lived, a place of indescribable beauty. But now Teredel served as a prison, a temporary holding place until the demons were sentenced to the Lake of Fire, with no chance at receiving parole.
Maddix treaded stealthily on the parched ground. And just like on a SEAL mission in enemy territory, he worked hard at keeping his presence a secret. He wore a dark, hooded cloak over his dazzling white robe, the very robe awarded him upon his entrance into Heaven. His teammates wore identical camouflaging cl
oaks.
All around him Maddix could hear whispers in the dark, subliminal messages sent out from the demons languishing in the dungeons. Their silent obscenities and threats made the air feel heavy, like if you breathed in too much of it too quickly you might just suffocate.
But not only was the air dark and heavy, it reeked. Sulfur fumes burned his nostrils. Brimstone gave off a stench like nothing else.
Maddix kept his eyes peeled, half-expecting an ambush to take place any moment. Not all the demons in Teredel live in cells with heavy, eternal chains holding them fast. As Michael briefed him at the start of the mission, some demons roam free, rogue spirits aimlessly wandering to nowhere in particular, nomads drifting around in an accursed land.
Maddix gripped his sword tighter, ready to launch into violent action if an enemy sprang up from a hiding spot. From the moment he entered Teredel, Maddix kept his body poised for action, his muscles coiled to strike. This constant readiness didn’t fatigue him; his muscles no longer suffered from lactic acid buildup when exerted like they did when he lived on Earth. He could exert himself indefinitely and never grow tired. Immortality had its benefits.
Yet though he kept his mind on high alert, he also kept his mind on Heaven and on God, his power source and deliverer. All good things come from God. It was this way on earth, and it’s this way in the spirit realm also.
Maddix looked ahead, allowed his eyes to rest on Michael, who took the point. Although they traveled in zero-light conditions, Maddix could still see his surroundings thanks to the lambskin goggles he wore. The angels he traveled with didn’t need any visual aids to see in the dark. But the three other saints in the rescue party wore the same goggles as his.
During his stint in the SEALS Maddix frequently wore night-vision goggles and used infrared, thermal-imaging monoculars during training exercises and operations. But although what he wore now was primitive and nothing more than a lambskin band with narrow slits cut into it, the goggles worked remarkably better than the complex devices he once wore. Supernatural power easily trumps manmade engineering and technology every time.
