by Steve Alten
Lilith’s dark complexion pales to a ghostly white, the pupils of her azure eyes flaming to vermilion. The once-sensuous mouth deforms, twisting… distorting into a hideous vertical orifice. The purple labia-like lips widen, the grotesque grin chilling Jacob’s blood.
Moving toward him, the she-demon allows the straps of her nightgown to fall, then she steps out of the garment, exposing her vile sex.
Jacob swoons, unable to focus, the nexus whirling in his head.
She leaps for him, driving him backward as if he were struck by a sledgehammer. Straddling his chest, she claws at the remains of his body armor as he struggles to regain his breath, the slit of her hideous mouth pressing closer to his face, revealing multiple rows of tiny, razor-sharp black teeth.
Jacob dry heaves at her sulfuric breath. He grabs her throat with his right hand, attempting to keep her groping face away, while his free hand fights the claw at his groin, frantically attempting to prevent the rape.
From his isolated isle of calm, the consciousness that is Michael Gabriel feels the sudden disturbance within the nexus. A sense of dread overwhelms him as he registers waves of energy and senses the struggle so close to his protected domain.
Devlin abandons Dominique, moving as if in a trance toward the shoreline of the lake, whose waters now radiate an emerald tinge. ‘Hear me, Father. Send forth your demon sentry. Empty the pit of Babylon and reveal the Gates of Hell, so that I might release thee!’
Dominique crawls toward Jacob, distancing herself from the Seraph. ‘Jake? Jake, wake up!’
Jacob is pinned beneath the thick roots of the calabash tree, thrashing wildly, as if in the throes of a horrible nightmare.
The sound of a heavy gong tolls in the distance.
The village of the Fallen Ones empties, its members slowly making their way to the shoreline of the metamorphosing lake.
Jacob’s mind screams as he struggles in vain to keep the Succubus at bay.
Lilith’s face is hideous, taking on the proportion of a Gorgon. Amoeba-like mealworms crawl from porous openings along her flesh, releasing a putrid secretion and inhuman pheromones.
Jacob flings his head from side to side, gagging at the stench. Physically outmatched, mentally exhausted, pinned to the earth, he finds himself overwhelmed by a presence whose sheer force of will threatens to tear his own consciousness apart.
A bloodcurdling scream bellows from his throat as scalding-hot mucus drips from the Abomination’s naked loins.
Let me die, please God, I’d rather die -
Jacob cannot turn away as the Succubus increases her chokehold, a thousand icy pinpricks puncturing the fabric of his existence as he somersaults within her sulfuric lather, every cell in his body screaming for mercy.
And then he glimpses a shadowy figure appear from the hazy periphery, moving toward them through shimmering phase disturbances.
Father…
Michael Gabriel grabs the Abomination by her throat and flings the startled Succubus into the peripheral mist and out of the nexus.
Jacob crawls on his hands and knees into his father’s warming embrace.
The two exhausted Gabriels hold each other, feeding off each other’s energy as they stare into the haze, waiting for the she-devil to return.
Father… we have to leave the nexus.
I can’t son. Not until the Nephilim have been freed.
A baritone growl.
Two pinpoints of scarlet mark her eyes, and the demon reappears… smiling her wicked vertical slit of a smile. One Hunahpu… finally lured out of your cage. You and your son’s aura will allow Devlin to wedge open the Gates of Hell.
She disappears into the haze.
Jacob feels ill, as if he has just stepped off a precipice. Dad, what does she mean? Is Lucifer really coming?
Mick whispers into his son’s consciousness, There is no Lucifer, Jacob, there is no Hell.
But evil The Devil is man’s creation, son, not God’s. Evil is the human residue of free choice. Hell is a self-imposed prison in the spiritual realm. This purgatory… none of it is real, it was all created from the demented subconscious of Devlin Mabus and the tortured minds of the Nephilim. My own anger, my own self-loathing imprisoned my tainted soul within its walls… until I felt your love. But I chose to stay… to help the Nephilim. To allow them to bathe in my warmth.
Then I must kill Devlin and Lilith.
You can’t, Jacob. They’re already dead.
What?
I killed them long ago, back in 2012, when they attempted to use Tezcatilpoca to return to Earth. I entered the serpent’s nexus to greet them. They tried to trick me, but I saw through their ruse and killed both of them.
But -
God will not allow evil to enter His spiritual domain. So angry at God was Lilith that she refused to accept His terms. She and Devlin created their own netherworld, entrapping the confused, guilt-ridden souls of the Nephilim within its borders. Here, they can coerce and torture them, keeping them clear of God’s embracing light while Devlin, using his pure Hunahpu lineage, feeds off their energy to forge his own version of Hell.
Why are the Nephilim so filled with guilt?
Because they survived Earth’s holocaust when so many others died. It is my aura that soothes their souls, just as you soothed mine. Yours was a beacon of love… and love is God’s light. Lilith dampens this light, feeding it to the Nephilim in small morsels, crediting its energy to Lucifer so as to keep them under control.
Then the Nephilim… they’re dead as well?
Yes. They perished long ago, when they attempted to cross over into the spiritual realm.
Do they even know they’re dead?
No. Neither does Devlin or his mother. They’re absolutely convinced they’re on a mission to resurrect Lucifer. Now, only the truth shall set them free.
But why… why are Devlin and Lilith so convinced they can open up the Gates of Hell?
Devlin can feel an energy surge coming, but it is not our combined presence in this purgatory that he feels.
The supernova?
Yes. Devlin’s Hunahpu abilities allow him to tap into these forces. Even now, his mind is channeling energy, his subconscious giving life to a demon sentry.
Father, what happens when Sirius goes supernova?
Energy levels will spike, and Devlin’s consciousness will give birth to Lucifer-at least his concept of Lucifer-created from the fabric of his own wounded mind.
Then this whole thing… it could actually become a self-fulfilling prophecy?
Not could, Jacob. Remember, humanity is stuck in a time loop. The deed has already happened before.
Are you saying man’s concept of the Devil came from the future?
Looping back into the past… a frightening paradox. With each journey through the wormhole, the equation becomes more muddied, and mankind drifts farther from God.
Then the past… it will repeat itself again?
The moment the Guardian reenter the wormhole, as they are preparing to do even now. Once more, man’s future will deliver the Devil into man’s Garden of Eden.
Dad… this is all my fault… my selfishness pushed Lilith away, my moment of weakness gave Devlin life.
It’s not your fault. Like me, you were simply a victim of circumstance.
So was Lilith. So were Manny and Evelyn, and the billions who perished back on old Earth. Dad, I have to stop this insanity… I have to end this once and for all!
How?
By defeating Devlin. By saving the Nephilim.
You can’t defeat Devlin alone, and I cannot leave the nexus to help you.
There’s another way I can succeed, but I need your help. Can you distract Lilith… keep her away from me?
I’ll try. But the sentry, it would take both of us to I’ll handle the sentry, you worry about Lilith.
Devlin stands before the lake’s edge, his batlike wings twitching at his sides.
The silvery waters churn, then swirl, pulling in a pow
erful counterclockwise vortex. Within seconds, the once-placid liquid has become a raging whirlpool, its eye draining, inhaling the contents of the maelstrom to reveal – a massive orifice… the third mouth of the serpent.
‘It’s the portal, the portal into Hell!’
Devlin’s subconscious reaches across dimensions of time and space, tapping into the chaotic energy of the red supergiant, unleashing a monstrous ball of crimson flame, which belches upward from the serpent’s hyperextended jaws. The expulsion of energy causes the shoreline to rumble beneath Devlin’s feet, sending the frightened Nephilim bowing in fear.
The lining of the serpent’s throat radiates an emerald green hue as it slowly morphs into a rotating funnel of energy.
Father and son link minds, summoning Lilith, whose hideous presence reappears along the periphery of the mist.
I love you, Father.
I love you too, son. Now go.
Jacob’s mind slips out of the nexus.
Michael Gabriel turns to face his eternal enemy. It’s you and me now, cousin. My son has given me his strength… and I promise you that none of those who were born in the light, begotten in the light, will ever be yours!
Jacob opens his eyes.
He is lying on his back, the binding roots of the calabash tree having loosened around his neck and limbs. He pulls himself out from under the thick bonds and sits up, transfixed by the unearthly emerald light pouring out of the fifth-dimensional pit.
The porous ground oozes as Devlin’s followers dance and jump along the shoreline.
Rising out of the orifice, dripping globs of silvery ooze, is Devlin’s demonic biped, the one he has fought countless times in the holograph suite, the one who has tortured him in his childhood dreams. Powerful limbs, heavily segmented and smooth, propel its angular, heavily muscled body across the lake’s receding waters.
Devlin greets the sentry his own subconscious mind has created, directing it to the calabash tree. ‘Slay them. Slay them all!’
The silicon demon trudges up onshore, its powerful segmented arms lashing out, its scalpel-like fingers slicing limbs and torsos of the scattering Nephilim.
The ash-coated beings cry out, blue-tinted plasma gushing from their wounds. Panicking, the throng pushes one another aside, desperate to move out of harm’s way.
‘Jake!’ Dominique rushes over, handing him the sword. ‘Are you all right? Where’s Mick?’
‘Guarding the nexus.’ For the first time in fourteen years, he embraces her tightly. ‘I love you, Mom. I’m so sorry. All these years
… I never showed you the love you gave me.’
‘Shh… I love you.’
‘I love you, too.’ Tears stream from his eyes. ‘Stay back… stay close to the tree.’
‘Jake, what are you going to do?’
‘Fulfill my destiny.’
Dominique starts to say something, then gags, the noxious fumes of Devlin’s sentry causing her mucous membranes to sizzle. She cowers behind the alabaster tree, pressing the seal of her nostril hoses tighter.
The demon faces Jacob, its two pupilless eyes blazing burned yellow, staring right through him. The cruel slit seems to smile as if in triumph, allowing a black goo to dribble from its anthropomorphic mouth.
The being’s poison-tipped sickle-shaped claws slice the air, warning Jacob away from the calabash tree. Jacob tightens his grip on the sword.
Suddenly a gray blur-moving at him with unfathomable quickness-as the creature launches its attack.
Jacob ducks-the demon’s razored claws whistling past his scalp, as the Hunahpu warrior rolls forward and whips his sword around and down, slicing through the back of one of the being’s thickly muscled legs.
The creature cries out, swearing in an incomprehensible language.
Jacob regrips the sword in both hands. For over a decade he has fought a holographic simulation of this being within the nexus. Now, every instinct in his body tells him to remain free of the higher dimension.
The demon circles slowly, biding its time. Mustard yellow ooze gushes from its wounded leg as it plans its next bull rush.
Another blur of gray-the being’s bladed fingertips slashing through the carbon-dioxide-heavy air.
Jacob parries the blow with the blade of his sword, then, executing a flawless pirouette, he whirls around and hacks through the being’s left arm, just above the elbow.
The wounded demon howls in its native tongue, cowering off-balance as the Hunahpu launches his own attack, his sword cutting the air in blurring waves of unyielding figure eights, the sizzling double blade hacking through silicon flesh, the mustard yellow pus spraying both combatants as Jacob mercilessly shreds torso and limb.
A flutter of wings, followed by a warning shout from Dominique.
Jacob wheels about and drops, stabbing upward, catching Devlin in the abdomen as the Seraph assails him from above.
Devlin flies off, landing awkwardly several feet from the edge of the glowing pit, clutching his ruptured flank.
‘Jake!’ Dominique points.
Blue-tinged blood is gushing from beneath his body armor along the left side of his rib cage, the sentry’s talons having shredded flesh and muscle.
‘Stay back!’ Jacob sucks deep lungfuls of air from his mouthpiece, trying in vain to fight off the effects of the poison. He is lathered in blood and sweat and yellow phlegm, his muscles trembling.
Eyeing Devlin, Jacob turns to the mutilated sentry groveling by his feet. Bellowing a guttural warrior’s cry, the Hunahpu raises his sword and, with a mighty two-handed downward chop, cuts off the demon’s hideous head.
Devlin snarls by the edge of the pit but does not attack.
The frightened Nephilim continue to inch toward the calabash tree by the thousands.
Jacob drops to his knees, Dominique catching him as he collapses. ‘Jake, no… oh God, please-’ She clutches his dying form to her bosom. ‘Jake, don’t leave me.’
Unable to speak, he points feebly to the trunk of the alabaster tree.
*
Michael Gabriel’s mind is drowning in an abyss of evil, the Abomination’s scarlet eyes dragging him deeper into her icy soul. Her whisper echoes into his consciousness. The battle is over, cousin. I shall drain your life force, then carry First-Mother’s carcass over Hell’s threshold.
An eternity of pent-up emotions explodes from the depths of Mick’s crumbling being, piercing the walls of his protective domain-‘Dominique!’
The whisper of her name reverberates in her mind like a tuning fork.
Jacob rasps, choking on his own blood, ‘Free him.’
She lays her son’s head down gently and stands. Grips his sword in both hands. Staggers to the calabash tree, its glow fading fast – and thrusts the blade into the trunk with all her might.
The Siren’s scream echoes in Mick’s mind, and suddenly the haze lifts.
The Succubus is clutching her side where a stream of black ooze sprays outward like oil. She wheels around, her demonic vermilion eyes spewing hatred at Mick.
No! Impossible!
Michael Gabriel smiles triumphantly. Never underestimate the power of love.
Another wound bursts open, this one in her throat. She flops on her back, gagging on her own excrement – as an eternity of shackles are stripped from Mick’s being.
*
The heavenly glow of the calabash tree increases its brilliance as white bark melts into gobs of mucuslike goo.
Thrashing about within this rapidly liquefying mound are two figures. One is Lilith, her pale flesh gushing an oily excrement; the second is Michael Gabriel, his torso held from behind, the Succubus’s fingernails digging into his back.
‘Get off my man, bitch!’ Dominique lashes downward with the sword, severing Lilith’s arms at the elbows.
Devlin circles overhead, but refuses to get nearer to the painfully brightening light.
Dominique drags Mick’s lifeless form from the tarry ooze. ‘Jake, he’s not breathing!’ She
removes her mouthpiece and forces it past her soul mate’s blue lips and into his mouth.
‘Come on, Mick-breathe!’ She shakes him, then starts mouth to mouth, but is unable to resuscitate him.
‘Oh God, no… not after all this.’ Removing a pony bottle of air from her exoskeleton, she straps it over Mick’s face, then begins CPR – as a second white light appears at her back, its unearthly glow warming her skin.
Dominique turns. Her jaw drops open, releasing the regulator. ‘Jacob?’
The brilliant light-force that is Jacob Gabriel rises from his deceased physical form, casting a heavenly glow throughout the spiritual dimension.
En masse, the Nephilim gravitate toward the source.
‘Like moths to a flame…’ Dominique whispers.
The energy from Jacob’s soul bathes their skin, miraculously washing away the gray soot, revitalizing their flesh. Limbs are restored, the torturous orbs dropping from their rejuvenated bodies.
Dominique’s mind is in a daze. And then Evelyn Strongin’s words, spoken so long ago, are whispered into her consciousness.
There is a Hell, Dominique, but it is not a real place. Those who enter the afterlife possessing negative energy reside in their own self-imposed Hell. Judgment, blame, and guilt can distort or destroy one’s own sense of self. Unless we allow love to purify the darkness of our souls, Hell can be a very forbidding place.
‘Love…’
Tears of joy pour from Dominique’s eyes as, one by one, the lost souls of New Eden’s colonists, held so long within their self-imposed purgatory of guilt and shame-smile… then disappear in a blink of heavenly white light.
Devlin hovers above the melee, flapping his wings, screeching at the top of his lungs. ‘No! Get away from him! Leave him be!’
The remaining Nephilim push in tighter, desperate to embrace their newfound savior.
And then they are gone, all but Jacob, who moves toward her, bathing her in his loving light.
The alabaster ooze from the calabash tree melts like snow as it is kissed by Jacob’s angelic glow, restoring Lilith’s earthly beauty, healing her wounds.
Jacob kneels by Lilith. Touches her face.
Lilith opens her eyes, now filled with a childlike innocence. She looks up at Jacob and smiles.
