In Rebellion (Archangel Jarahmael and the War to Conquer Heaven, Book II)

by John J Higgins

  Luciferael continued to watch from his vantage point as Damiel's half legion dropped out of the First Heaven and arranged itself similarly on another set of storm clouds to the east. Luciferael admired his rebel army assembled like this, the sun above the clouds reflecting light off their wings, shields, and weapons. It was a magnificent site especially how its brightness was contrasted by the dark storming clouds that provided the base for their assembly.

  Beelzebael waited for Luciferael's descent to the clouds to take the lead for the advance. The three Dominion scouts returned up through the clouds just as Luciferael came upon Beelzebael.

  “Tell me, what did you see?” asked Luciferael as the three scouts bowed before him.

  “Nothing much different my lord, except that there appear to be fewer Angels encamped around the pyramid than before.”

  “Splendid! We will overwhelm whatever Angels are there and then find any stragglers.”

  Luciferael thought about how easy this was going to be, now that Michael, Ariel and Jarahmael were all gone. None of the other Archangels who were loyal to the Almighty had a great deal of prowess in the art of war. They would most likely run and scatter when they saw his rebel armies advance.

  Luciferael said to Beelzebael, “I would have thought that Gabriel, Uriel, or Raphael would have come up with some plan, but it looks like we have caught them napping. It's a shame that lord Sammuael isn't here to participate in the final battle. But his sacrifice in removing Michael and Ariel will not be forgotten and he will always be remembered in the glory of defeating the Almighty's legions of Angels.”

  Luciferael then took the horn he had on a belt around his neck and blew loudly, signifying the advance for all of his legions. The legions moved as one single unit as they dropped down in formation through the storm clouds, spreading out as they did so in order to surround the loyal Angels’ army around the pyramid from above. The cloud cover was difficult to see through and as they dropped down they found themselves in the middle of a falling rain storm. They had trouble keeping formation in the darkness and Luciferael commanded that they all brightened themselves up as they dropped so they could keep order in their ranks.

  Luciferael wanted to form his rebel Angels into an ironclad net that would drop from above, ensnaring all of the loyal Angels below once and for all, and he needed to keep his rebel Angels in the proper formation to successfully surround and capture the loyal Angels. The cloud cover was thick and the drop through the clouds took a few minutes. From the ground below, it looked as though balls of fire were dropping simultaneously with the rain from the skies, making it appear that the skies were raining both water and fire.

  As the rebel Angels broke through the last of the cloud cover, Luciferael and his rebel Angels fanned out further to encircle the encampment from above. Arms at the ready, the rebel Angel legions created a large lighted circle as they dropped, with the reserves and Potentate Angels descending at a slower rate, staying higher up in the sky. The Virtues shot glowing arrows from their harps at the encampment below. The arrows exploded as they hit their marks, causing explosions of flying earth. The rebel Virtues watched their effect as they continued to descend, preparing to launch a second volley. The Cherubim Angels had slowed their lead down to allow for the Virtues to continue their bombardment to soften the defenses below. There would be time enough for the Cherubim to fight hand to hand when the time came.

  Shortly after the second volley exploded on the ground and the rebel Cherubim were about five hundred feet in the air, the loyal Angels’ counterattack began. A legion under the control of Uriel counterattacked Luciferael’s legions high up in the air from the west, while Gabriel's legion came in at the same altitude from the north. They had remained concealed in the storm clouds, having been warned by scouts that Luciferael's rebels had moved out of the First Heaven onto the Earth.

  Simultaneously, Michael and his legion poured up and out of the pyramid, striking straight upward into the center of the rebel Angels’ encirclement maneuver, and causing a great deal of confusion within Luciferael's army. His rebel legions were now being attacked from three directions simultaneously, from the east, from the north and from below. It was now Luciferael who was encircled, both from the inside and the outside of his position. And this time the loyal Angels in Michael's legion had real weapons, part of the cache taken from the Sixth Heaven days before. They rose up and began fighting ferociously with Luciferael's and Beelzebael's legion.

  Cerebriel succeeded in transporting a large portion of the weapons through the pyramids. He was continuing to move his Cherubim troops from Occidentus to Aegyptus, and depending upon how well the battle progressed, he would determine whether to continue to reinforce the Angels at the Aegyptian pyramid, or allow them to pass through to the next pyramid and join with Jarahmael in the Garden of Eden pyramid.

  As Luciferael was being attacked on three sides, the Archangel Ariel took on Luciferael’s supporting legion under the command of Damiel. Ariel had his legion race past Damiel's partial legion of rebels, making it appear that the loyal Angels were in a panic and were beginning to rout from the battle, easy pickings for the rebel legion. Ariel’s maneuver was really a decoy designed to lure Damiel and his rebel Angels away from the main force of the rebels. Once Damiel’s half-legion began to pursue, Ariel's legion adjusted its speed, staying just out of reach, drawing Damiel’s rebels further and further away from any support available from Luciferael’s rebel army. It was not long before Damiel found his partial legion totally separated from the others.

  Rather than cutting through the loyal Angels’ ranks as he had predicted, Luciferael found himself and his legions surrounded as the loyal Angels were fighting on his flanks and preventing his legions from overwhelming the forces on the ground. Beelzebael and his legion could not even get to the ground, as they were being repelled by the loyal Angels who had poured out of the pyramid. The fighting was now down to the use of swords as they clashed wing to wing.

  Luciferael was surrounded by lesser Angels fighting him, Beelzebael not far from him in the same predicament. He needed some of the Potentate Angels to assist him so he could use their power to magnify his own, but they had been separated from him. The only ones he knew he could reliably find were the ones held in reserve by the other half of Damiel's legion still remaining in the First Heaven. In the confusion of the fighting, Luciferael attempted to get one of his Cherubim guards to contact Damiel for reinforcements, but he was caught by surprise.

  Out of the rainy mist below, Luciferael saw Michael ascending towards him with a group of armored Cherubim surrounding him. They were headed straight towards him and Beelzebael.

  “Michael is alive and free!” Luciferael called over to Beelzebael.

  “Sammuael must have been destroyed in vain!” Beelzebael yelled back over the noise of the battle.

  The two rebel Archangels fought harder as they began to ascend backwards, heading towards the safety of the First Heaven. All the while they tried to keep their troops from flying off in a panic. Luciferael needed his rebel Angels to keep in formation as they retreated upwards with the hopes of regrouping once they got back out of the skies over the Earth and into the safety of the First Heaven, where they had started from not long before. If their formation fell apart, it would make it much easier for the loyal Angels to cut off and seize whole groups of rebel Angels and destroy Luciferael’s army.

  Gabriel and Uriel's legions were pounding the upper flanks of Luciferael's legions in the Earth's skies. This caused the lower Orders of the rebel Angels to begin to panic and flee back upwards towards the First Heaven, leaving a vacuum, with none of the rebel Angels to protect Luciferael's escape route. The line of rebel Angels holding back Uriel and Gabriel's legions only barely held until Luciferael and his retreating legions could shore them up. They then headed back towards the First Heaven in unison, taking casualties all along the way up.

  In the meantime, Ariel was busy as part of the concerted counterattack. Ariel
's legion's ruse of retreat that triggered Damiel's half legion to pursue them had worked. When Damiel's contingent was out of the sight of Luciferael’s main fighting force, Raphael's legion slipped in behind Damiel's rebel Angels, cutting them off from retreat back to Luciferael's rebel army. At that point, neither Luciferael nor any of his other legions would be able to save Damiel and his rebel Angels by coming to their aid. Damiel was now cutoff and outnumbered by Ariel's legion in his front and Raphael's legion in the back, giving Damiel no choice but to surrender.

  Chapter 40

  THE UNEXPECTED

  Jarahmael had returned to the Garden of Eden the night before with a group of Cherubim reinforcements from the loyal forces stationed on the Earth. They stayed hidden in the pyramid, awaiting the first sign of Luciferael's attack. That news came the next morning when Cerebriel came through the portal in the pyramid with a group of his own heavily armed Cherubim.

  “Lord Cerebriel!” Jarahmael called out, delighted to see his friend. “What a pleasant surprise! I did not expect you to personally come with more reinforcements.”

  “Don't get too excited, Jarahmael. Luciferael's attack has begun. We still have a lot of work to do!”

  “What's all this?” Jarahmael said with a smile as he pointed to a steady stream of Cherubim Angels coming through the portal and all properly armed.

  “It’s your plan, Jarahmael. Gabriel told me of it while he visited the Occidental pyramid yesterday,” Cerebriel answered with a slight grin on his face. “It’s a good plan. I could not have thought of a better one myself!”

  Jarahmael just smiled and turned to Gaardrael and the Angels who had been in the pyramid with him from the day before. “It’s time! Take those tools and blast through the entranceway so we can get out into the Garden of Eden and into the First Heaven.”

  Blasting out was much easier than filling up and disguising the pyramid’s entranceway. It was accomplished in a few brief moments with the tools they intended to use for weapons. As they moved out beyond Eden, Jarahmael noticed Faumiel and his contingent of Cherubim came pouring out of the pyramid after Cerebriel's troops came through.

  “Faumiel! You made it too!” Jarahmael said, happy again to see him.

  “Yes, my lord Jarahmael, and here are some of the weapons that you arranged to get out of the Sixth Heaven for your detachment of Angels. I thought these would come in handy for your mission.”

  “Yes, they will!” Jarahmael acknowledged, as he indicated to his own Angels that they should arm themselves properly.

  “How many Cherubim were you able to bring?” Jarahmael asked Cerebriel.

  “About an eighth of a legion, Jarahmael. Lord Michael wanted to be sure that there were enough fighting Angels available on the Earth to hold Luciferael back.”

  “Less reinforcements than I hoped for,” said Jarahmael, hiding the disappointment in his voice and adding, “Understandable, very understandable.”

  Cerebriel called out to the Cherubim to form ranks. Gaardrael copied Cerebriel with his Guardian Angels, but because they were inexperienced, he also made sure his Guardians formed their ranks close to where he and Jarahmael were standing. Jarahmael observed the Cherubim’s ranks, admiring how good they looked armed. Armed for our cause finally, he thought to himself.

  Jarahmael motioned for Raziel, Gaardrael, Cerebriel and Faumiel to come closer. “As you know, I am hoping to cut off Luciferael and his rebel Angels' escape route back up into the Heavens. But I was hoping for more loyal reinforcements. With the number of troops we have now, if he does retreat with most of his army intact, we will be greatly outnumbered.”

  “What are you thinking?” asked Cerebriel.

  “I don't want Luciferael to have access to the pyramid portal system or to give him any indication it still exists. Last he knew, the Almighty gave us instructions to destroy its capabilities. Let’s count on him believing we succeeded. But nonetheless as a precaution, Raziel, I am going to ask you to return to the Aegyptian pyramid and find out how the battle is waging on Earth. As soon as Michael can spare some additional loyal Angels I want him to send at least a legion back up through the pyramid here to protect it.”

  Raziel asked, “What if the battle ends badly and lord Michael cannot hold the pyramid in Aegyptus?”

  Cerebriel answered for Jarahmael, “Then it will not matter because Luciferael will have control of both pyramids anyway and we will have most likely lost the Earth as well as the Heavens.”

  Jarahmael then spoke. “Assuming that lord Michael and the others will thwart Luciferael's attack, we shall remain up here in the Heavens. Michael should be able to begin to push Luciferael’s rebels back up through the Heavens. Since we have so few troops, rather than close off the entrance way to the First Heaven as we originally planned, I want to move back up through each of the Heavens ahead of Luciferael as he retreats upwards. We will release whatever loyal Angels are captive in each of the Heavens and hopefully form another full legion from among them to battle the rebels. We shall ultimately assemble up in the Seventh Heaven and form a line of resistance there. With lord Michael and the other legions pushing Luciferael back up through the Heavens, we shall have Luciferael caught between both of our armies. He will then have no place to run nor any place to hide.”

  Jarahmael then spoke directly to Gaardrael. “Lord Gaardrael, for now we will have to leave whatever Angels of yours who are captive in place here. I see Luciferael has left a part of a legion guarding the entrance to the First Heaven. We will move directly up in the Heavens and start freeing the Angels starting with the Potentates in the Second Heaven. One by one we will move our way back up to the Seventh Heaven.”

  “What if I just take my small contingent and try to free my captured Guardian Angels as you move up to the other Heavens?” Gaardrael asked.

  “Too risky at the moment. That would give our plan away. Luciferael would realize that we are already here and it would not take long to find out we are a small band, and tremendously outnumbered. He would move first to capture us, and then discover that the portal system in the pyramids works and he could use it to his own advantage to access the Earth below as well.”

  Jarahmael then spoke to Raziel. “Lord Raziel, will you make sure that the captive Guardian Angels get released as soon as you return with reinforcements?”

  “Yes, Jarahmael, as you wish. Don't worry, lord Gaardrael, we will get your captives released,” Raziel said reassuringly to Gaardrael.

  Despite the reassurance, Gaardrael still looked concerned, but he also agreed that it was a better plan.

  “Any more questions?” asked Jarahmael. “Let's move then. Silently please.”

  Jarahmael's group of Angels flew quietly up towards the Second Heaven, flying further east to stay out of the view of the remainder of Damiel's legion. Fortunately, their attention was focused on the entrance to the First Heaven from the Earth below. Jarahmael's contingent was ascending far enough away that they were not seen by any of Damiel's Angels. As Jarahmael flew upwards, he looked down at the Garden of Eden and he had a strange feeling about Lillith. He dismissed it as missing her because of their history together in that paradise. He knew that he was now on his way back to her. He would be able to protect the Seventh Heaven once he gathered all the captive loyal Angels and she would be safe with him there.

  When his contingent arrived in the Second Heaven, they found that few of the Potentate Angels were missing. Jarahmael was surprised because he had witnessed Luciferael use the Potentates to amplify his own power. He could see that Abrackus was back in the Second Heaven, which surprised Jarahmael even more.

  “Greetings Abrackus!” Jarahmael said to the multi-glowing orb.

  “Greetings Lord Jarahmael, is the battle over?” Abrackus responded.

  “Not that I know of yet,” responded Jarahmael. “I have come to collect all the Angels that remain loyal to the Almighty and move us up to the Second Heaven as the war rages below. How did you know the battle has begun?”


  “Most of us Potentates were rounded up by the rebel Angels and ordered to go with them. Our numbers were then split. Some went with Luciferael as he entered the Earth's skies through the gateway to the First Heaven. Others, myself included, were then held back in reserve by the half of Damiel's legion that remained in the First Heaven. They were awaiting the signal that the Earth had been secured. We were then all supposed to descend down upon the Earth and use our stored powers to deal with any loyal Angel defenses.”

  “How did you wind up back here in your Heaven then, Abrackus?” Jarahmael asked.

  “As soon as Luciferael entered the Earth skies and left only a small force of his Angels to guard us, I decided that we would just move ourselves back into the Second Heaven. I am not afraid of Damiel's legion, especially after it was divided up. And as I am sure you know, I am still loyal to the Almighty. Luciferael is not an equal to the Almighty, although his ego is larger than that of any other ten Angels combined, even including Luciferael's other Angels who serve him.”

  Jarahmael looked at Abrackus without blinking and said to him, “My group here is composed of all Angels loyal to the Almighty. We could use your help, for as you can see our numbers are small and we are now trapped behind enemy lines. I intend to collect all the captive loyal Angels in the Heavens and form another small army up here to battle Luciferael when he comes back, vanquished or victorious. I cannot just simply surrender to him.” Jarahmael then looked at him expectantly, “Will you kindly join us, Abrackus?”

  Without hesitation Abrackus replied, “Certainly. The Potentates who follow me are loyal to the Almighty. We are here to serve Him. That is not to say that we have not had our own number of rebel Angels. We have lost about a third, those who followed Salmac and Gaap. They remain with Luciferael and his legions right now attacking the Earth. Those of us who have been loyal have been in a difficult position, as we could not fight Luciferael's legions on our own. Despite having much power within us, our spherical forms do not allow us to fight, for as you see we have no arms to hold weapons, or legs to run. We are but stores of Heavenly energy for the other Order of Angels to be able to tap into.”