The Salvation of Gabriel Adam (The Revelation Saga)

by S. L. Duncan

  Now that the ringing had stopped, Gabe heard the commotion from the tunnel. The hissing and the chattering of teeth. Thousands of red eyes in the darkness.

  Micah stood at the ready, the Gethsemane Sword aglow. Its flame flickered in her eyes as she looked back at Gabe. Afarôt’s attention, however, had been drawn to Lilith and Magus.

  “It is over, Healer,” the woman said. “The veil is forever pierced.”

  The man beside her seemed to be in a trance, his face blank and eyes lifeless.

  Gabe wanted Afarôt to stand up to her, to slam her with his wit, but instead he took one look at the rising light in the pit and slumped. The roar from the darkness converging in the tunnel grew louder. At the edges, smokelike shadows flowed across the curvature of the tunnel, creeping steadily toward Micah. Defiant, she took a step forward, both hands on the hilt of the blade. Its light appeared to beat back the hissing, chattering demons. Their red eyes grew agitated, like a pack of wolves held back by a torch.

  “You know what happens next,” Lilith said.

  Afarôt looked again at the pit.

  Gabe could see it, too. A portal. Orange and red flame swirled around a black eye, like a hurricane. A wind rose from the deep, its heat unbearable. He rolled away to avoid being burned.

  Across the chasm, his father lay against the wall, unable to raise his voice.

  The ground shook again, and a shower of rubble and debris rained down on the island. Gabe covered his head with his hands but felt the sting of rocks striking his back.

  “Afarôt?” Micah shouted at the edge of darkness.

  Gabe looked to see the light of her sword flicker like a candle burning the last of its wick.

  “Afarôt,” she said again. “What’s happening?”

  Gabe could hear the panic in her voice as the darkness in the tunnel thickened and crept closer like molasses.

  “Where there is total darkness, there can be no light,” Lilith spat. “Where there is one realm, there cannot be two. And now you must endure what we have in our private hell. Here, you have no power over us. Only the power of the darkness endures.”

  Gabe looked at his father, whose head motioned to the east entrance.

  To Simon.

  The wind rose around the island, pushed from below, until Gabe was engulfed by a wall of flame. Gabe rolled to the center, as far as he could from the heat.

  Through the curtain of flame, he saw Micah’s sword finally flicker out. Afarôt looked at his hands as if trying to call some remnant of his ability. His skin began to gray as age spread over his body, his youthful features disappearing into those of an old man.

  Gabe felt the light inside himself clinging to the last of the power given to him by the ring.

  The column of flame crashed against what was left of the Hagia Sophia above. Gabe lifted his hand, and with the last of his abilities, let loose his light. It streaked across the space between him and Lilith.

  Caught by surprise, she deflected the bolt at the last moment, the light ricocheting into Simon. His body spun, landing sickeningly against the wall behind her.

  Gabe watched as the realization of what she’d done struck her.

  Simon lay on his back, his body contorted. He coughed, choking on his own blood, which sputtered from his mouth as he gasped for air.

  Lilith’s monstrous scream shook the room. She walked to Simon’s side and whispered something to him as his body continued to twitch and writhe. Slowly, she stood and faced Gabe.

  Her face changed, her beauty fading, shifting into something less alive. Her eyes burned bright and orange, her body exchanging its lithe grace for muscle and bone, which pushed at her skin, threatening to tear through.

  She leapt at the wall, crawling like an animal with unnatural speed before she dropped to the island. Lilith landed, a predator, her hands razor claws. Without saying a word, she grabbed Gabe by his shirt and threw him across the abyss. He landed hard against the chains on the far wall and nearly fell on top of his father.

  Lilith launched herself to their ledge. She strode to Gabe, her back hunched, strong, as her claws grabbed him again by the shirt and drove him into the ground.

  Gabe smelled the stench of decay on her breath.

  She said nothing as her bright orange eyes observed him hungrily. Behind her, the fire retracted into the pit, and the Hellgate filled with shadow that moved like liquid, like oil.

  Smoke slithered out of the dark lake and flowed toward Simon’s body.

  Lilith watched and then leaned in, smelling Gabe. Again, she smiled. “Mastema will eat you, piece by piece, archangel.”

  Gabe’s father made a sound and moved toward Lilith, his body broken.

  She smiled again, forming her hand like a knife, and moved her claws toward Gabe’s father’s stomach. He looked at her, his face twitching as he refused to give her the pleasure of a scream.

  Through his grunting, Gabe heard the skin break, and his father made a gurgling sound as his guts tore open.

  She grabbed him by his face with her bloody hand. “However, you are not worthy of him,” she said to Gabe’s father. “You are merely scraps for the dogs.”

  Her arm moved in one effortless arc, and Gabe’s father flew across the chasm, landing next to Micah. Afarôt hobbled to his side and kneeled, holding his father’s hand.

  Lillith stood, leaving Gabe sprawled on the ground as she walked to the ledge. “You did well, dear boy,” Lilith said, facing Simon as she began returning to her human appearance. “But it was not enough.”

  Simon’s body convulsed as the shadow lifted him, gripping his mangled arms and legs and stretching him into the shape of a cross. The shadows flowed over Simon’s crimson-soaked flesh and slipped into his open, bloodstained mouth. His head tilted back, and a roar boomed from the body, too loud to be human. Simon’s clothes stretched and tore, his body doubling in size.

  Gabe grabbed the wall and, with all he had left, pulled himself to his feet.

  Lilith looked over her shoulder and motioned to Simon’s body, imploring Gabe to look. “Soon, my love will arrive, and together we will free our children. We will free all the children of the Fallen.”

  Across the cavern, Micah and Afarôt were nearly overcome by the darkness. They huddled together, both comforting Gabe’s father, trying to stop the bleeding. Micah caught Gabe’s eye, in hers a look of defeat as she stood to face the gathering horde with her extinguished blade.

  Lilith turned back to the eastern entrance. Simon’s body no longer resembled what it had been moments ago. “There is no justice, Gabriel,” she said. “Though we rise again, you will never know our misery. To be locked in darkness for an eternity. A world of decay and rot. A world without embrace.”

  Coldness radiated into Gabe’s body from the ring. It seemed to steal away all his strength. His body was shutting down; he could feel it—the sharp pain fluttering in his heart, the heaviness of his breath. Without the light inside, there was nothing for the ring to strengthen.

  “There is decay and rot here,” he said. “Look around. Look at what you are doing. You are trading one hell for another. Think of all the lives you are destroying.”

  “Do you know how we found passage into this realm? Through the darkness in humanity. Darkness seeks darkness. The one Septis took? A man who exploited countless innocents. Children. The worst among you provide a vessel to fill with our kind. You invited us. It was not we who broke the seal between the realms. It was you. We are merely here to widen the entrance.” Her gaze drifted skyward, to the gaping wound in the Hagia Sophia above. “We will have freedom. And our love will flourish once more. We do this for that very reason. For love. We do this to be reunited with our children.” Her gaze cut to Gabe. “And nothing in this world or the next would prevent me from trying to be reunited with my children.”

  The Hellgate brimmed over with its smokelike shadow, an undulating, living lake. Much of it rose, escaping into the world through the gaping hole in the dome above. Gabe’s legs
gave way, and he dropped to the ground. There was movement to his side, something in the darkness. He felt fear rising as it moved toward him.

  Demonic shadow, Gabe realized. Just like what was tearing Simon’s body apart.

  It struck like a viper at his hand, and the burning cold of electricity shot through his arm. He screamed from the pain, and Lilith turned. Any light he’d held inside disappeared in the shadow’s bite. Whatever he’d known of happiness or love was swallowed in the moment, lost to the darkness that flowed into his hand. Hatred, anger, and darkness constricted him from the inside.

  It was turning him, changing him. He could feel it eroding his soul.

  He watched as the black made its way toward the ring. When it touched the band, the darkness reacted as though it had been electrocuted. Energy rebounded into the shadow, and it recoiled, as if contemplating this new prize.

  Like a wolf to blood, it dove back at the jewel, determined to get more. The jewel glowed darkly, filled with the energy and essence of all the demons bound inside.

  Septis. Cold pulled at his mind.

  More shadows slithered toward him, fighting each other to get to the ring. They are attracted to it. To the dark energy inside.

  With his remaining strength, he ripped his hand away, breaking the shadow’s hold, surprised that he was able to do so. It retreated into the lake but rose again, redoubling its speed and effort.

  He felt the ring on his finger. The jewel pulsed, sending jolts of pain into his arm. Without his own light, the darkness bound in the ring was seeping into him faster than ever before.

  Gabe looked across the cavern to Micah. To Afarôt. To his father, and then to the ring. It thirsted for the energy surrounding the cavern. If darkness is the absence of light, perhaps light is the absence of darkness.

  In the distance, Micah turned from the wall of red-eyed demons and looked at Gabe. He smiled gently at her, knowingly. She seemed to understand and shook her head, objecting.

  His last great hope was that what he was about to do would be enough for her to escape. But Gabe could see no way out for himself.

  He gathered his strength and stood again to take his final steps.

  CHAPTER FIFTY-SIX

  The sound of Gabriel’s shuffling feet drew Lilith’s attention to the boy. She thought he looked sickly. Pathetic, really. His grimacing face was pale and glistening with sweat from his suffering. He held his palm out, the Ring of Solomon’s jewel pointed at her.

  The poor thing. Her thoughts drifted in the euphoria of the dark energy swirling around the open portal. It was overtaking the boy, eating away at whatever light remained inside him. She saw it in his graying eyes, which were drained of all hope.

  But this was expected. After all, he was not made for this new world.

  “Why do you bother?” she asked. “It is over, dear. The Seven Vials are spent. The veil between the realms is open again. It has begun here, in this room, but the darkness will burrow through this world and escape into a new night. The time humanity has left is dwindling. Soon, one realm will consume the other. And there will be nothing left for you to fight for.”

  The boy’s gaze cut across the chasm. To Micah. He raised his palm and pointed it at Lilith.

  “Put down your hand, dear. Without light, your ring has no power to bind.”

  “I know,” he said and coughed. A trickle of blood appeared on his lower lip. His palm opened, a shining band glittering on his finger, revealing the engraved jewel of Solomon’s Ring.

  For a moment, Lilith felt the pain of embarrassment for him. The little rock shone with a fading light, dimming as the seconds passed. “Like you, the heirloom’s time has passed. It can no longer bind me to its stone. You wear a mere trinket.”

  She formed her hand in the shape of a knife, her regrown claws pointed at Gabe, and took a step toward him. Lilith felt something rush by her face from behind, blowing her hair into her vision.

  Bewildered, she stopped her advance.

  Something else rushed by, causing her hair to whip into her face.

  Gabriel stood firm, his palm opened, the ring’s jewel pointing at her. Its faint color had faded to a swirl of deep green and black. A stream of smokelike shadow flew around her, then another, and twisted into the ring, disappearing into the jewel. A darkness formed behind the boy’s eyes.

  Lilith turned to see a tide of dark energy crash down upon them. It rushed around her, between her legs and through her hair, all of it caught by the jewel.

  The pressure shifted in the space between the boy and her, and the temperature dropped. Rubble fell from above, and the ledge shook as the shadows danced around them.

  Gabriel’s eyes turned black, and the hum of energy in the air frightened Lilith. She looked through the passing shadows to Simon. The possession was beginning to fail, the dark energy drawing away from the ritual.

  The boy had to die.

  Gabe felt the rush of dark thoughts in his mind. Hatred filled him, burned inside. He realized how weak and pathetic he’d been and felt his body reignite with raw power as the ring fed the dark energy into his cells.

  He heard the welcome whispers and the chattering of teeth.

  Blood filled his mouth, but he didn’t care. The world had lost all color, and he embraced the darkness like a drug he never knew he craved.

  “Gabriel,” a voice shouted from across the Hellgate, drawing his attention away from the ring. Micah stood over his father, and a conflict rose inside Gabe, as if he had forgotten what he had meant to do.

  Remember, said Coren’s voice in his head. Remember what you fought for in the Ark. Yourself.

  He looked back to the ring and then to Lilith. Gabe opened his palm as wide as he could and willed the ring to take in more. He could feel the energy chip away at his soul, at his being.

  A storm of darkness engulfed them, all of it streaming into the jewel.

  Gabe heard a whistle in his ears, the darkness inside boiling over. His arm seized with pain, the ring so cold on his finger it burned his arm. The high-pitched scream grew louder, unbearable. He found himself wishing for relief, for quiet and peace.

  For death.

  Lilith fought to get to him, to offer him what he now sought, but the force of energy streaming up from the Hellgate, trying to force its way into the jewel, formed a barrier between them.

  Gabe’s arm shook uncontrollably. He closed his eyes, ignoring the pain and Micah’s screaming, and sought only an end.

  Not much longer now.

  CHAPTER FIFTY-SEVEN

  Lilith struggled to reach the boy. She saw him slipping out of consciousness, held up by only the deluge of dark energy rushing into the jewel. The hum in the air had turned into a deafening rumble, louder and louder until there was no sound at all.

  A light brighter than creation itself bloomed on the boy’s finger. The room seemed to inhale and then release. Bright energy—light—rapidly expanded in a bloom of warmth, throwing Lilith and Gabriel apart. She felt herself fly through the air, over the chasm, and land on a hard, wet surface.

  Momentarily stunned by the impact and bewildered as to how there could be so much light in the presence of darkness, she looked up to see Simon’s new body rising. He looked at her, and in his eyes she saw recognition.

  Mastema, she thought and smiled. The resurrection is complete.

  A blue light glowed over her shoulder, but she could not tear herself away from the gaze of her lover. The world seemed to slow. His face changed, the joy of reunion disappearing, replaced with horror.

  Lilith felt a searing, quick pain at her neck and saw a flash of blue pass before her eyes. The world rose and blurred, and somewhere she heard an anguished cry.

  Confusion gave way to a hollowed understanding as everything spun upside down. She saw Micah finish her swing, the sword she held alight with flame. A curtain of black fell over Lilith’s vision as her eyes fixed on the last image they would ever see: her headless body falling to the floor.

  The r
inging in his ears was gone. Gabe lay on the ledge, unable to move. His arm was stretched out in front of him, and on his finger, he saw the scarred indention where Solomon’s Ring had been.

  Already, the pain in his muscles and the sickness in his gut were leaving his body. He could feel his heartbeat slowing, his breathing becoming shallow.

  Across the gulf of the Hellgate, he saw Afarôt working on his father. A bluish-white glow lit both their faces in the darkness. Micah stood over Lilith’s body with the Gethsemane Sword alight and faced the man at the east entrance.

  Mastema, Gabe thought. The man stood with more presence than Simon had, his clothes torn from a newly structured physique. His face twisted in anger. A cry became a roar, as though from a great beast, and sent a shockwave rolling through the underground.

  Afarôt’s powers momentarily ceased, and Micah’s sword was extinguished by the blast. All the red eyes blocking the way burned out with a howl.

  The ground shook.

  Afarôt pulled Gabe’s father to his feet.

  He’s alive.

  Mastema staggered and dropped to his knees. His hands rammed the ground, as if to beat away the memory of his dead wife.

  Rubble fell from above, smashing the ledge near Gabe’s face. With all his effort, he managed to roll to his side.

  Micah had her sword extended toward the transforming man, backing away to Afarôt, who pulled Gabe’s father toward the tunnel. Micah stopped and ran toward the edge of the Hellgate. What was left of the darkness filling the pit sloshed angrily below, the sides of the pit crumbling and cascading into its depths.

  She glanced at Gabe and to the surrounding structure.

  Gabe shook his head. “Run,” he said, his voice hoarse and cracking.

  Mastema roared again, Lilith’s headless body now in his arms, and the ground shook like an earthquake.

  Something cracked above. The sound of metal screeching and wood cracking filled the space. One of the great marble pillars from the Hagia Sophia broke away and fell through the gaping hole in the ceiling.