by Roy Bright
Judas walks up to the side of her. “For you, yeah, but for others not so much.”
“So it was used as a weapon?”
He looks up and away for a moment, his mouth open as though searching for the right words. “It’s complicated. The Ark is a communication device straight to the Almighty. And when bestowed on those he felt just and worthy, it could also be used to channel His power, to accept His holy wrath and discharge it upon those who stood in the way as enemies of the White Kingdom.
“Why?” she says, furrowing her brow.
“Why what?” Judas replies.
“Why kill everyone? It was used against men, yes? Not demons. Why couldn’t my Father have shown himself to them, brought them into the light?”
Judas takes a moment to pick his words carefully. He sighs. “You have to understand, sweetie. Back in the day, your Father was pretty pissed off. He was going through a ‘I’m tired of my toys’ phase. You remember your lessons on the Canaanites?”
She nods.
“Well, they had pushed one too many buttons, as they were truly a terrible people that shared more allegiance to Lucifer than the Father with their ways, and over time it had begun to annoy Him. Following the Exodus, and the imparting of the Commandments to Moses, the plans for the Ark were given to the prophet in a vision who in turn instructed Bezalel and Oholiab on how to construct it. And so in time they returned to claim the land promised to them, and the Ark was the great weapon at the forefront of their campaign – and boy, did it lay waste to its enemies.”
“The Divine lightning,” she says, turning back to the Ark and admiring it.
“Yeah. It split men in two, burned them, boiled them, and generally kicked ass.”
“So what happened – why was it buried away, lost?”
“Because it is a power that men should not possess, and once this had come to be realized something had to be done about it, that it was understood His creations should be brought around with love, kindness, and understanding. During the war between the Israelites and the Philistines, He started to see that absolute power corrupts absolutely and that if his children were to fight among themselves then they should do so without his help. It was a sort of revelation that he was tipping the balance where it should not be tipped, and so he simply stopped talking to the Ark and its power faded. The Israelites were defeated and the Ark was captured. From that point no person could use it – many tried, believe me – but it was sealed by a power greater than anything humans could understand. In the end, it turned out to be nothing more than a wooden casket covered in gold and was kept as a trophy, passed around through time.
“How do you know all this?” she asks, her eyes wide.
“Because, many, many years ago, I was tasked to find and move it to a secure location – namely here.”
“You’ve been here before?” says Uriel, his tone one of surprise.
“Yeah.”
“Then why didn’t you know all along where the Book and Seal were?”
“Because I didn’t know; it seems they had been put here just after I left.”
Charlotte shakes her head. “I don’t understand.”
“The man who came to me with the mission, a Rabbi named Avraham Hutner, had convinced me that we needed to find the Ark and secure it as he had been having terrible visions of a darkness finding it and using it for its own evil ends. I had no reason to distrust the man and the cause was just, so I agreed.” He barks a harsh laugh. “It’s clear to me now that he must have been a descendant of one whom Barachiel entrusted the Book and Seventh Seal to and that the mission, albeit an important and worthy one, was not the sole aim. Opening the Ark and hiding the Book and Seal within it was also his goal. Clever man.” He smiles.
Jophiel steps forward. “The Ark opened for you?”
“Yes, Joph, it did.” He admires it. “When we dropped it here, Avraham said we needed to open it to confirm that the Tablets were still inside. The opportunity to do so had not presented itself prior, it tends to be difficult when you are trying to get it off a Nazi train in 1939, and so we eventually secured it, brought it here, and opened it. Well, I opened it. For some reason the lid slid off for me and me alone. I guess at some point I was distracted, and Avraham slipped the Book and Seal inside before I closed it.”
“Interesting,” Jophiel says.
“Incredible, more like,” comes Charlotte’s excited reply.
Judas nods, his eyebrows raised. “It’s a great story and someday I will tell you about it in detail, but right now we should hurry. Let’s do what we have to and then get out of here.”
Her smile slips and she nods, getting back to business. “So we open it? Now?”
He nods. “We open it.” He walks up to the Ark and grabs the sides of the two golden angels atop the lid and this time instead of sliding the lid off he just lifts it as though it weighed nothing at all.
From inside the Ark shines a bright and golden light, and a warm blast of air rises from out of it.
Placing the lid onto the ground with care, Judas looks at the other members of the group in turn for a moment and then steps forward to the glowing casket. He reaches into it, attempting to place his hands inside and feel around for the prize they seek but he cannot as an invisible force prevents him. He struggles against it, the pressure of doing so evident in his face as it turns red from the effort. Breathing out hard, he retracts his hand and looks back to his companions, puzzled.
Uriel points at it. “Were you able to reach inside last time?”
“No,” he says, shaking his head. “I never did. I just slid the lid back and had a look.”
“Then let me try,” Uriel says, stepping forward. He tries to reach in, but is greeted with the exact same problem. He withdraws his hands and then tries again, putting more force into it but the outcome is the same. He looks at Judas and shakes his head.
Judas looks at Charlotte. “You try, sweetie.”
Nodding, she steps up to the Ark and holds out both hands in readiness but then pauses, clenching and unclenching and then wiggling her fingers. She looks back at Judas and he nods. She eases her hands into the blinding, golden light, and then laughs at the relief of being able to do. She feels around inside.
Behind her, Judas smiles. He should have known that this task was hers and hers alone to complete, that no other would be blessed with the power to reach into the artifact. She was the only key this lock would respond to. His smile drops a little. This thought should have come to him before any other. So why did he not think of it? Why did he think that he would be the one to retrieve the items from within? He looks at the ground for a moment, concerned. What’s happening to him? He has not been this way for some time, not since before she came into his life. He hunches his shoulders. For the first time since carrying Ikazuchi, he feels its weight upon his back. Was Gabriel right? Has it been a terrible mistake to wield this weapon? Then another concern occurs to him. Are they doing Lucifer’s work for him? He looks around and back to the way they came in and frowns, then turns to Charlotte. This might be a mistake, he thinks to himself. The thought makes him feel uncomfortable and he shakes it from his mind. No time to think of such things, not now when they are almost at the end of their quest. Charlotte will secure the relics and then they can be done with this place for good. He cricks his neck from side to side, and again feels that something is not right. He feels odd. He looks back up at her as she brings something out of the Ark and turns toward him. In her hands, she holds a large piece of stone and an even larger book. He smiles then takes a step to her. “Okay, sweetie. You got ’em. Great. Now let’s go.”
She doesn’t answer.
Noticing that her eyes are closed, concern grows within him and so he moves closer to her.
Without warning, she opens her eyes and a blinding, golden light bursts out, knocking Judas and the angels to the ground. Charlotte opens her mouth and emits a piercing scream that shakes the cavern, causing dirt and small pieces of rock to fall
onto the ground.
As fast as it happened, the event ceases and the room falls into a much lower state of illumination, with the source of the light coming from Charlotte herself.
As he gets to his feet, Judas sees that in her outstretched arms and hands she no longer holds the Book and Seal. Around her swirls a golden light. Her eyes are closed once more and her shoulders heave from her labored breathing. He looks around at Uriel and Jophiel as they get to their feet.
“What happened?” Uriel asks.
“I have no idea,” Judas replies without looking at him, instead walking toward Charlotte. “Are you okay?” he asks, his arm outstretched to her.
Her eyes snap open and she takes a sharp intake of breath, then breathes deeply a few times.
“Where are the relics?” Jophiel asks with concern in his voice.
She takes a moment to answer and then, without looking at him, says, “Within me.”
Judas frowns. “What do you mean, within you?”
“They are now a part of me,” she says, looking down at him. “And we have a new mission.”
Judas flaps his arms and tries to speak but he cannot. He does not understand what is happening. “You need to help me here, sweetie. What’s going on?”
She walks toward him and places a hand on his shoulder. “I will explain soon enough, dad. But first, we have a serious problem to deal with.”
He frowns at her once more. “Problem? What problem?”
She places her hands on the side of his head and they emit a soft glow.
He breathes in sharply and closes his eyes.
“Do you see?” she says, removing her hands as he opens his eyes and looks at her. “They are almost here.”
Fifty-One
Tears spill from Sarah’s face onto Abigail as she holds her in her arms. Her sister’s breathing wheezes, rapid and shallow, and her face has turned ashen gray, with the light in her eyes dimming. She has lost too much blood, and despite pressing down hard on the two deep wounds in her chest in an attempt to prevent more blood loss, she knows that her little sister is dying. She looks up to see Gary standing behind her. “Help her,” she screams. “Please help her.”
Gary looks at an army medic, who has just finished examining her.
The soldier shakes his head while curling a stethoscope around his neck. “She’s lost too much blood and her lungs are punctured, amongst other serious things. Moving her would be a problem as this is too severe, she needs an operating theatre, right now and we’re not equipped to deal with this.”
Gary then turns his attention to Michael. “What the fuck are you waiting for? Help her.”
Michael shakes his head. “I cannot. I do not possess the ability.”
Gary strides toward him, blazing with anger. “Who does? God? Then get him down here right fucking now. Do not let this child die.” His eyes fill with tears as the words leave his lips, the understanding of the situation stabbing into his mind. He looks into Michael’s eyes and for the very first time he sees despair. His heart sinks and more tears flow. “Michael. Please do something.”
He has no words. There is nothing he can say. He shakes his head.
Gabriel’s voice causes them to turn around. “He can’t, and for that I am truly sorry. The only one who can doesn’t even know that she has just received the gift. Besides, she and the others are about to face the greatest battle that they have ever known. She cannot help.” Gabriel eases people out of the way and kneels next to Sarah and Abigail, then places his hand on the young girl’s forehead. “I am so, so sorry child.”
She looks at him, terrified. She swallows hard and her pale lips quiver. She purses them together and then opens her mouth, taking in a large breath that whistles out of the holes in her chest. A tear spills from her eye. “I don’t want to die.”
Her eyes remain open but the light goes out in them.
Abigail Fisher dies.
Sarah screams. She looks up to the sky and screams harder than she ever has done before.
To her side Isaac sinks to his knees and tears flood down his face as he takes short, sharp breaths, unable to process the shock.
Everyone around them bows their heads. A woman throws her hand to her mouth and starts to cry.
Sarah squeezes her little sister close into her and buries her face into her hair. Her shoulders shudder as grief takes over and she calls out her name again and again.
“I failed her,” Gary says, staggering on his feet, tears rolling down his face. He wipes them away as disbelief gives way to anger.
“We all failed her, Gary,” Nathan says, placing a reassuring hand upon his shoulder.
Gabriel stands, dispersing the crowd around them. “This family deserves a moment. Let them have it, please.”
Sarah lifts her head and looks at Isaac, the action bringing him back into the moment and he scrambles over to her on his hands and knees, wrapping himself around them both.
After what feels like an eternity, Sarah looks up as Gabriel places a gentle hand on her shoulder. “It’s time my child. We have to go. She has to go.”
“I’m not leaving her,” she says in a small but determined voice.
“I’m sorry, but she is not to stay here. She has a place to go where the highest honor awaits her.” He cups her face and she closes her eyes, leaning into his touch. “Please. Allow me to take her to where she belongs.”
Isaac looks up at him. “Where?”
Gabriel smiles at them both. “To Him. To be at His side.”
Tears spill down their faces once more, but they know. They understand what Gabriel is saying. Their sister is to be taken to Heaven to be with God. And although their hearts are broken under the weight of pain and grief, they know that this is right. That it feels right.
Sarah reaches out to Isaac and takes his hand, then leans forward and kisses Abigail’s forehead one last time.
Isaac does the same.
“Thank you,” Gabriel says, as he reaches down and with the greatest of care, takes the child from her lap.
People gather round him once more. Michael, Raphael, and Raguel flank Gabriel then place their hands on his shoulders and bow their heads.
Gabriel’s trench coat transforms into wings and he spreads them wide. He looks down at Abigail and then rises into the air, the other angels’ hands slipping off his shoulders as he does. He looks upward and a portal appears with a wide beam of light stretching down toward him. He ascends into it and takes Abigail into Heaven.
Watching her all the way, Gary makes the sign of the cross, then closes his eyes and says a silent prayer to her. He then helps Sarah and Isaac to their feet. “We have to go,” he says, his voice soft and comforting.
Sarah leans into him. “Yeah,” she says, her voice broken and cracked. She takes her brother’s hand. “Everything has changed. We have to go.”
Fifty-Two
Planting a hand on a stone pillar to steady herself, Charlotte grabs at her chest. “Oh God,” she says, and her eyes glisten as tears swell within them as the knowledge of Abigail’s passing telepathically hits her. She looks at Judas who lowers his head, then reaches out and places a hand on her shoulder. She blinks back tears and pushes herself off the pillar and strides forward, her face contorting into a grimace of anger.
Uriel lowers his gaze, “We shall avenge you, child. This I promise.”
They walk out of the Basilica and follow the walkway to the steps that lead up to the building.
Within the chamber below, Uriel had attempted to create a portal to transport them out but had been unable to, as the area was under the influence of a very powerful Thŭramré, the most powerful they have ever encountered, even more so than at Barachiel’s castle and one that even Judas cannot break this time; forcing them to make their way out on foot the same way they had come in. And now, at the top of the stairs, they understand why. Below them, motionless, are all of the dead bodies that they had passed, reanimated and numbering in their thousands. Behind them st
ands a large force of demons with Malphas at their head, grinning.
“Welcome,” he shouts, outstretching his arms. “What a beautiful night for your deaths. Thank you so much for getting what I need and bringing it to me so that I needn’t traipse through this awful place.”
Charlotte takes an angry step forward but is stopped by Judas who grabs her arm.
Malphas chuckles. “You need to do the math, little girl. You are but four.” He indicates around. “And we are many – we are Legion.” He roars with laughter.
Judas steps forward. “No more talk, Malphas. This is not why you are here. Let us be done with this.”
A cockiness oozes from Malphas. “As you wish, Iscariot.” He slams his staff into the ground and the reanimated dead charge, murderous in their intent.
Uriel braces himself. “Here they come,” he shouts.
Judas glances at Charlotte. Among other pieces of information, the connection they shared within the Ark’s chamber has imprinted the next stage of her evolution within his mind and he knows what she is now capable of. With absolute calm, he whispers, “Charley. Light them up.”
Taking a couple of steps forward, she plants her left foot down, lifts her arms into the air over her right shoulder, and throws them toward the creatures. A fierce and crackling electrical pulse of Divinity bursts from out of them and sweeps toward the rampaging reanimated horde. It connects, disintegrating everything it touches, devastating their foe. It sweeps through and over them like a tsunami, and they stand no chance. The pulse is so powerful that it also reaches the first line of demons and they too succumb to its might, only this time they explode rather than turning to dust.
