War of Wings

by War of Wings (ARC) (epub)

  He was escorted closer and focused his attention on the smaller cave. Every few seconds, thick smoke escaped from its opening. A dark, heavily scaled tail was barely visible from the blackness of the cave, but it was part of something massive. Abbadon wasn’t lying—the leviathan was real.

  At the head of a rocky platform next to the cave elevated at two hundred feet was Satan. Below him spread a multitude of demons. Gabriel peered at the fallen angel high on his podium of rock and ice, and his heart dropped again. This army was much worse than he expected. The blackness of their condensed bodies made them blend together like a large shadow. He felt sick.

  Satan turned his blazing eyes on Gabriel and smiled a wicked smile before addressing the sea of demons below. “Welcome, everyone! We have a glorious visitor! Please welcome Gabriel the archangel.” As always, he spread his large, powerful wings for dramatic effect. An eruption of hisses, moans, and cheers filled the cave and vibrated off the icy walls.

  The demons walked Gabriel past the entire crowd and up to the front of the icy ledge Satan stood upon. When they finally stopped, they left Gabriel alone in the front. He could now hear loud breaths from the nearby cave on his right.

  “I have come to deliver a message to you,” Gabriel called up to Satan.

  “Please do, archangel.”

  “The creation of man is soon to come. Man will be a being created in God’s image but will have free will. He will reside in the Garden of Eden here on Earth.” Gabriel did not understand His plan, but God intended to place these naïve beings in the midst of all the demons on Earth. They would have free will to make decisions just as the angels did. Gabriel continued, “Man will rule over all the Earth. Man will rule over the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, all the wild animals on the ground, and all the small creatures that creep on the ground.”

  Satan acted totally unsurprised. “And why do you think God would banish us to this place and then place His most vulnerable creations in our midst? Isn’t God supposed to be merciful and benevolent? Seems pretty cruel to create something and then leave them among us, doesn’t it?” All of the demons erupted in laughter.

  Gabriel didn’t know what to say. He had no answer to that question. He paused briefly. “I do not pretend to know God’s plans. I am here as His messenger. God is just; therefore, I know He has his reasons.”

  “Of course, you do not know, archangel. God never reveals His reasons. He has His angels follow blindly, just as you do now coming into our domain. Are you even safe here, Gabriel? We will rule his new creations before it is over.”

  “No, they will be above you.”

  “That is what God tells you, but He already knows what will happen, right?” Satan’s wicked smile surfaced again. “If He loved them the way you believe, He would keep his precious new creation somewhere far away from me. It is a game to Him, and He toys with you the same way He is going to toy with them.”

  “God would never toy with me or any of His creations. He gives us free will to make our own decisions. I choose to follow Him.”

  “Why did He send you here then? I already knew what He had planned, and He knows that.”

  Gabriel paused again and thought of Arrayah. “I do not know.”

  “I’ll tell you why. To make you suffer. There is someone I want you to meet, Gabriel.” Satan turned his attention to the cave below him, and Gabriel did the same. Gabriel concentrated on the thick smoke and deep breaths. The leviathan was real, and this was where it resided. It couldn’t be her though. It couldn’t be Arrayah.

  Satan looked up. “There was once a beautiful virtue angel named Arrayah who helped me get to where I am now. That angel has become something so much more beautiful, so much more amazing.”

  Gabriel’s vision swam, and he felt he could throw up. He knew where Satan was going with this.

  Satan continued, “It is because of her I know exactly what we will do to win this war. I know exactly how to rip the heart and will out of God forever!” The demons cheered, and when they did, the leviathan roared so loudly the cave shook and icicles rained from the ceiling.

  Gabriel dodged an icicle that landed right by him. It was impossible for someone so beautiful to transform into something so large and vile, he was sure. It had to be impossible for any angel for that matter. But where could the creature have come from? Gabriel knew God didn’t make the leviathan. It occurred to him that pride was the antivirtue of humility, and humility was Arrayah’s virtue in Heaven. How prideful did Arrayah become? It had to be a coincidence—they were opposites.

  He bent over and tried to catch his breath, which came harsh and pained with the extreme cold. His head was light and his neck was heavy. “Please don’t let it be her. Please God,” he whispered.

  “I think you and Arrayah knew each other a long time ago, Gabriel. Do you remember her?” asked Satan. He knew Gabriel remembered her. He knew exactly how Gabriel felt about her. Gabriel didn’t answer him.

  As the demons continued to cheer, Gabriel caught his breath, rose up, and slowly walked toward the leviathan’s wicked tail. It swayed back and forth.

  “There is one thing we will destroy, Gabriel, to defeat your God. The Liar calls it love. Love is weakness!” screamed Satan. “Love is the sickness that made us blind all those years! We followed the Liar in Heaven because we thought we loved Him. We will take that away from Him now. We will do it one by one if we have to.”

  Gabriel kept walking, and as he did, demons moved out of his way. He had to have hope she could be saved no matter what she had become. He had to have faith. Without it, what did he have left?

  Satan kept talking. “Since God doesn’t seem to think we are of any worry to Him, we’ll have to prove Him wrong. I mean, what does He think we’ve been doing down here?” Satan spread his wings again with a loud snap. Gabriel glanced up and saw infected scabs running the length of those wings that had never healed from the burns. “If God wants to create a new being in His image, so be it. I’ve waited so long for these children of His to come. We will control them. They will never love Him the way we did. It is my time.” Satan gestured toward the crowd. “It is our time. We must take our powers to the next level. Those of you who have been assigned to the seven antivirtues, it is time to delve deeper. Below me is the leviathan, proof of what can happen when you do your job! The leviathan has taken pride and created something incredible by running away from humility. The rest of you must learn from leaders like this one. Abbadon, Belial, Pegasus, and Asmodai are ready. It is our time!”

  The ice cave reverberated with the horrific, screeching cheers of the demons. Shutting them out, Gabriel walked right up to the tail. It was covered with iron-like plates so close together that not even air could sneak through them. It looked impenetrable. Gabriel’s heart thumped powerfully in his chest. He could no longer take it.

  “Arrayah! Is that you in there?”

  The uproar of the demons’ cheers silenced.

  Gabriel again addressed the beast that breathed heavy smoke from its cave in the wall. Its breaths seemed to be getting shorter and faster. “Arrayah, it’s me, Gabriel. Is that you?”

  A thick, wide plume of heavy smoke poured from the black cave.

  “I’ve finally found you after all these years, and I want you to know I will never give up on you. I don’t care who or what you have become! I know who you really are.”

  There was no verbal response from the creature, but it began to stir and swing its tail rapidly.

  “I know you can hear me. I will never give up on you! I know God will one day give another chance to all of those who want it!”

  An epic roar sounded from the cave, shaking the entire area. Out of the hole emerged the ferocious leviathan, and the demons scampered away, leaving Gabriel alone to face the monster. It was a giant, serpent-like creature with two segmented wings and four thick legs. Its black body was covered with scales, its charcoal underbelly thick with armored plates, and its hot-black eyes stared straight through Gabriel
. It was like nothing he could have imagined. The leviathan blasted gray smoke right at him, and he was engulfed in its cloud.

  Satan laughed from high above. “You are still a pitiful archangel, Gabriel. Your time is up. After all these years, she still wants nothing to do with you! Greet your love! Look at her now! Look at your ray of hope before she consumes you!” His laughter continued to echo through the cavern.

  Gabriel stared through the cloud to see the leviathan stand up on its hind legs. It was massive. Its wings stretched so wide they slammed into a group of demons over a hundred feet away, knocking them down. The leviathan came down on its forelegs, pummeling the ice below and sending a crack rippling through the surface of the frozen pond. It landed with its neck lowered and its head close to Gabriel. Its pitch-black eyes met Gabriel’s once again.

  Gabriel didn’t flinch as hot, noxious smoke erupted from its nostrils all over his face. Instead he reached inside the chest plate of his armor and pulled out a dried-up red rose. “I know who you are, and I didn’t forget our plan. I have planted roses all over Heaven. I know you better than you know yourself. You don’t belong here, Arrayah. Do what you want to me, for I forgave you a long time ago. I rose up once, and now it’s your turn to do the same.” Gabriel placed the rose carefully on the ground next to its feet. He stood there waiting. A few seconds passed, and the leviathan puffed up and inhaled deeply.

  “Gabriel, wait!”

  He still knew the voice after all this time. It was Arrayah. But her voice didn’t come from the leviathan in front of him. He turned around to see a swarm of demons racing after a charred female. They were stumbling and staggering like they were wounded.

  “I haven’t forgotten either, Gabriel!” she yelled.

  She broke free and ran toward him. It was undoubtedly Arrayah. Her beautiful eyes were gone, and her long, flowing hair had become ash, but the sound of her voice sent a tingling wave through his body. All his memories of her came rushing back so powerfully that he felt a surge of energy all over. He jumped up and with a mighty thrust of his wings headed for her. Calmness and joy overtook him and his surroundings became irrelevant. She was all right. She still had hope, and that was all he needed to keep pushing.

  “Saraquel, no! Gabriel, watch out!” Arrayah shouted, pointing behind him.

  Gabriel turned around as the monstrous beast let out a deafening screech and raised its head up toward the roof of the cave. The leviathan spewed white-hot flame from its mouth. Gabriel jumped behind a tall block of ice and the fireball turned it instantly into a pool of water.

  He was shocked to hear the archangel’s name, but the giant plates on the demon reminded Gabriel of Saraquel’s scaly skin as he watched the beast move forward. Its jagged features confirmed that it was a hideous transformation of the archangel from long ago. He couldn’t help remember beating him senselessly on the battlefield. All those years ago, Saraquel’s armor had said Ab uno disce omnes—from one learn all. It wasn’t a reference to God after all. How could Satan be so powerful, and what caused Saraquel to become this monster? What could be learned from an aberration like this? He had so many things in his head he couldn’t keep them straight, but only one thing mattered now. He turned toward Arrayah. They had to get out of there.

  Arrayah didn’t get more than a few hundred feet before a demon from the crowd clutched at one of her deformed wings and yanked her backward. He restrained her and covered her mouth as the group chasing her caught up. Gabriel jumped back into the air as the leviathan drew another breath, and Satan dove off the platform above and bolted to meet him with a black sword drawn. Demons were closing in on him from every direction, and even if he reached Arrayah, they were surrounded on all sides. It was over. There was no escape. He flew forward, knowing he would be incinerated in a blast of flame or cut down by Satan’s sword. God, you said you would protect me. Now would be a good time.

  At that moment, a brilliant white angel came hurtling through the cave, weaving between jagged spires of ice with wings fully outstretched. Gabriel felt a rush of heat behind him as the fireball burst forth, and he saw Satan’s upraised sword swinging down toward his wings as he passed. Then Michael crashed into him at top speed. The flame passed so close that it singed his armor, and he felt the razor edge of Satan’s sword pass between the trailing tips of his feathers. He and Michael plummeted toward the base of the closest wall, smashed through spikes and columns of ice, and plowed through a crowd of demons in their path. They struck the wall and crashed to a stop. Gabriel barely regained his senses before he saw another burst of flame headed straight for them. He shoved Michael backward just hard enough for the flaming ball to sizzle past between them and into the wall of the cave, causing more spears of ice to plunge from the ceiling. The screech of demons filled the cavern as dagger-like ice pierced through six of them on the ground.

  “Let’s go, Gabriel!” shouted Michael.

  “No! She is here, I’m getting her first!”

  “We’ll have to come back for her! Come on!”

  Gabriel turned back toward Arrayah, but Michael grabbed hold of his wings as hundreds of demons swarmed at them. They jumped up and flew backward, kicking at the demons’ wiry hands as they gained enough free space to separate them by a couple of feet. Satan was hovering over the crowd, skeletal wings beating, pointing at the archangels and shouting orders to the demons. They covered the floor and filled the air so thickly that Gabriel could no longer see Arrayah. There was no way to get to her. Gabriel screamed in frustration, kicking back one demon after another that clawed at them, and he still would have tried if Michael had not taken hold of his arm and physically dragged him toward the exit. He resisted a moment longer, trying to make her out in the sea of black, but she was gone once again. He turned away.

  With a host of demons clutching at them in the air and more pounding after them below, they tore across the cave. They flew near the opening, and Gabriel saw it would be too narrow for them both to pass through, but there was no time to slow down. He retracted his wings for an instant, letting the momentum carry him forward, and rammed his shoulder into the ice as he and Michael passed through. A boulder of ice broke away, crushing several demons below them. He heard their bones crushing like kindling. He shot his wings back out and kept flying as thousands more swarmed out of the cave after them.

  Directly behind the swarm was the giant leviathan, crashing through the opening and driving its way through the small demons. It was shooting enormous bursts of fire and lighting hundreds of them up in flames. Gabriel and Michael dodged the fire that streaked through the sky after them, flying at speeds the demons could not match. All of them, including the leviathan, pulled up as they reached the edge of Earth’s atmosphere, and as Gabriel arrowed through it and into space, he knew that they, at least, were safe. He heard Lucifer’s voice scream, “Have your God send his Son down here if He dares.” He kept flying, with only sheer force of will preventing him from turning back around.

  After putting hundreds of miles behind them, Michael apparently decided it was safe and slowed down. He turned to his brother.

  “What were you thinking, Gabriel?” Michael yelled.

  “I saw her, Michael! She’s down there! She wants to be forgiven!”

  “What were you going to do, Gabriel? Did you really think you could get her out of there all by yourself? Did you think any of this through? God only sent you to deliver a message!”

  “I want to help her! We can help all of them!”

  “God won’t allow her back in Heaven even if you did save her! None of them can come back. Do you want to stay down there forever?”

  “Yes, if I have to!”

  Michael looked at him with disappointment. “Don’t become one of them, brother. God has a plan for us. Please keep your head and heart straight. His plan is bigger and better than ours will ever be.”

  Gabriel turned away, wordless. They soared for thousands of miles up through the cosmos without uttering another word. It was a time
for Gabriel to calm himself and gather his thoughts. He needed it. So much had happened so fast. Finally Gabriel turned to face Michael with an unwavering, confident stare that Michael knew all too well.

  “I will save her, Michael.”

  “You have to let her go.”

  “Never.”

  “She can’t be forgiven. They don’t even want to be forgiven, or they would have asked God to before they were cast down.”

  “She does.”

  “You don’t know that, and it doesn’t matter either way,” Michael said.

  “If God is a forgiving God, then who is to say He won’t forgive the fallen?”

  “They made their own choice, Gabriel. There is no hope for them. You must accept that.”

  “That is the difference between you and me. I believe God’s forgiveness is limitless. I have hope for her. I have hope for all of them.” He looked back to the beautiful blue world receding into the distance behind them. So much promise there. When he spoke again, it was with hard-earned wisdom. He could feel the truth of it. “Some see a hopeless end while others see an endless hope.”

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  This manuscript has grown over the span of four years. During that time, I have accumulated many debts, made many friends I will cherish for a lifetime, and grown not only as a writer but also as a human being thanks to some very special people.

  Travis McElroy has been my brother, hero, and best friend for thirty-two years. Although he is harder to get ahold of than the president, I am forever grateful to have had such a perfect leader to make mistakes I could learn from. I want to thank him for all of his financial, emotional, and organizational support as a partner but, most of all, for always believing in his younger brother and never giving up on me. I thank him for giving me the idea to write a story about the fall of the angels and teaching me what being a man means. I simply could not have done much in life without him. I love him from the bottom of my soul.