Enoch Primordial (Chronicles of the Nephilim) (6 page)

A loud trumpet call filled the skies and the Rephaim looked around. The earth trembled. Thunder cracked the sky.

Yahi
pan gasped, “The war cry of Anu!”

The bonfire in the distance flared up with supernatural vigor. They heard the sounds of battle, the sounds of weapons of war.

“It is the pantheon,” said Thamaq. “They found us.”

Everyone turned to see a group of four Nephilim fleeing on the streets. Hot on their tails
stormed one of the gods, though they could not tell which one. The god dove and tackled the Nephilim like a group of pins in a sport. The fugitives tried to get up and defend themselves, but the deity sliced through them with his strange scythe-looking weapon as if they were blades of wheat in the wind.

Methuselah
could not believe his eyes.

T
he god looked up and saw him. Methuselah went white. He looked behind himself. Thamaq and Yahipan had already vanished. Young Edna held onto her mother, kneeling on the ground where she had fallen. Next to her, Enoch clutched his wife Edna.

The god walked toward them, joined by another
. Methuselah realized it was Anu followed by Utu. Utu called out, “Methuselah! Thank the stars you are alive. Where is the priest-king and your father? Are they alive as well?”

He was the sun god, patron of the city
, thought Methuselah.
He should have better knowledge of the whereabouts of his servants
. Methuselah stepped aside.

Utu saw Enoch
cradling his beloved wife in his arms, weeping.

Methuselah said, “Thank you for saving us.” He limped over to young Edna
, and knelt down beside her. He held her in his arms as she held her mother’s lifeless body in hers. He was close enough to extend his hand to his father. The three of them were united in their grief. Their loved ones were all dead.

The gods approached them. Anu said, “I am sorry for your loss.”

Utu followed up with, “The pantheon will make sure your loved ones make it safely through the Abyss into Sheol.”

That was not much comfort
to Enoch. What he knew of Sheol did not reassure him. Sheol was the land of the dead, the netherworld, from which no one returns. It was said that the mouth of Sheol was never satisfied and the shades of the dead rested on a bed of maggots where the worm does not die.

Anu said, “The Gigantomachy has been suppressed. Their rebellion is averted.”

Enoch did not care about the rebellion. He did not care about the gods. He did not care about anything anymore. His Edna was gone. Now, only his son Methuselah kept him anchored to this earth.

Only a
few hundred citizens of Sippar were saved by the gods from the rampaging Nephilim. Similar scenes of debauched giant uprisings and anarchy had played out in other cities of the plain. Pazuzus, the grotesque flying messengers, had been used to spread the madness to other cities. Unfortunately for the mobs of giants, that same source of news found its way to the pantheon, who responded with swift justice from their lofty height on Mount Hermon. Many of the giants were killed, but some of them surrendered quickly to their procreators, and were incarcerated for further interrogation and later execution.

Anu, Inanna, and Utu had arrived and called a gathering to make an announcement. The surviving citizens
assembled before the palace. Though Sippar was Utu’s city, Anu was chief deity, so he was traveling the circuit of cities making appearances at each one to inspire hope and unity. He spoke with a fatherliness that moved Enoch’s heart. Methuselah and Edna were not so easily enamored.

“People of Sippar, we stand before you today with shared sorrow and deep regret.”

Inanna stood behind Anu, taking note of the dance of verbal artifice displayed in his elocution. She listened with a mixture of awe and resentment, but she listened and learned from this master of rhetoric.

Anu continued, “This Nephilim rebellion, this
Gigantomachy
, has wrought great destruction throughout the cities of our rule. We have all suffered great loss. And I want to assure you that on behalf of the pantheon of your gods, I feel your pain.”

Disgusting
, thought Inanna.
Is he shedding a tear? He has actually mustered up a reptilian tear from within the stone cold rock of his soul.

The people before them listened in resigned silence.

“The divine council has convened and deliberated on what is to be done for justice to be served on these criminals and degenerates. After much soul wrenching we have come to a most painful yet necessary judgment.”

Soul wrenching
, thought Inanna. She must remember that word.
It gave the humans the impression that we have a conscience
.

“The giants have become an unruly elite of privilege and power
,” Anu proclaimed. “They have conspired in revolution and have proven themselves unworthy of their status and authority. As of this day, the gods have removed the giants from leadership over you, and their organized activities have become illegal. The surviving Nephilim will no longer be allowed to congregate, and the Rephaim are considered outlaws for their conspiracy in the riots. They will no longer reign over you. Any giants that are found outside the employ of the palace or temple authority are considered criminals and will be executed. We gods have remained too distant and aloof from our people. But we will now leave our heavenly abode in the cosmic mountain and will reside in the cities of our patronage. We will protect you and shepherd you with our undivided attention.”

The people murmured to one another. Enoch thought,
Could it be true? Could the gods come and dwell amongst us?
This seemed to make Elohim further distant in his invisibility and removed presence.

The
plan repulsed Inanna.
These stinking organisms of bone, flesh, and excrement are loathsome
, she thought.
Elohim displayed his true incompetence when he created such foul parasites in his image — his despicable image that the gods had sworn an oath to desecrate
.

Anu
’s voice carried out over the crowd. “Some Nephilim who were captured have expressed remorse for their part in the uprising. Others did not join in. In our grace, we have chosen to accept these few loyal ones back into the fold of our mercy. We will brand them with tattoos of our ownership, and employ them only as our bodyguards and special forces. Those who escaped their punishment into the desert or wilderness will be hunted down and brought to justice.”

The crowd of humans broke into spontaneous applause. Methuselah did not. He
thought about how he might track down Thamaq and Yahipan and kill them.

The noise made
Anu pause. It created a nice dramatic effect. He raised his chin in the air to display a superiority of leadership that inspired confidence in his subjects. He was masterly.

He rode the crest of the wave. “But good people of this fertile crescent, we will need your faith and your fortitude to help rebuild your cities, and create temples for your gods. To seek a progressive future where everyone will give their fair share and everyone will be taken care of from crib to grave.”

More applause rang out from the people. He inspired them, refilling them with a sense of hope.

Inanna chuckled to herself.
These ignorant hairy insects have no idea that their fair share is complete and total servitude to the god of the city-state. They were born to be slaves and they will be slaves — from crib to grave
. Inanna and the other gods had discovered the universal economic law from time immemorial: whatever you tax you get less of, and whatever you subsidize you get more of. By heavily overtaxing wealth, she could decrease the amount of private wealth and therefore lessen its power. By subsidizing poverty with government welfare she would increase poverty and thus dependency upon the state. Human nature was such an easy thing to exploit when you understood how it operated.

“It is with a heavy heart that I must inform you that your priest-king Enmeduranki of Sippar was killed in the riots.”

Murmurs and a few cries could be heard from the crowd.

Anu
had not finished yet. “We will appoint a new priest-king to establish a royal line that will administer the will of the gods.”

That will relieve us immortals from the contemptible millstone of governmental bureaucracy
, mused Inanna. The gods would do as they pleased and make the mortals cover their tracks with treaties, covenants and other obfuscations.

Anu concluded his soaring inspirational speech, “So, now, my people
, go back to your homes, gather your survivors, nurse your wounds, and rebuild your houses. Soon we will work together for a new world of hope and of change, freed from the suffering you have endured.”

The crowd applauded. Anu reached back and held up the hands of Inanna and Utu as their champions.

Enoch, Methuselah and Edna quietly slipped out of the back of the crowd.

“Lord of the sun, Queen of heaven,” Enoch humbly offered as he bowed before Utu. The god sat on the throne of Enmeduranki. Beside him stood Inanna, left behind to finish the royal appointment process with Utu. Anu had discharged his duty of making an appearance at Sippar and was off to the other cities to repeat his rhetorical performance. Inanna lusted for the supreme power of the high god, but she certainly did not envy his responsibilities of political pandering required to maintain an awed worship from the citizens. She would prefer to smite them.

Enoch had been summoned to their presence and he waited respectfully for them to speak.

“As you now know,” said Utu, “Enmeduranki was killed in the uprising. We are required to appoint a new priest-king to take his place. Because of your wisdom and experience in the workings of the palace, we have chosen you, Utuabzu, to be the new priest-king.”

For a sun god
, Inanna thought,
Utu was rather dim and unimpressive
. She could not wait to get out of this insignificant city and catch up with Anu to maneuver for some more influence.

“I am unworthy of your grace, my lord and lady,” said Enoch.

Inanna could not bear the pleasantries of royal etiquette. She cut in, yet again. Utu’s face took on a tight lipped expression of irritation.

“Prepare your family for a coronation tomorrow morning. We will meet in the palace courtyard beforehand to brief you on the procedures. Let us be done with this.”

“It is an honor of great magnitude, you majesty,” said Enoch.

“Move along, move along,” spit Inanna.

Enoch responded obediently, scurrying back to his residence in the palace.

• • • • •

“This night?” asked Methuselah. Enoch had arrived back at his quarters and was hurriedly packing bags.

“Yes, we are leaving now
! Gather only what is necessary. We will meet the family down in the secret passageways and we will take the lesser desert path to the mountains of Aratta,” said Enoch.

“So,
you have changed your mind. I was right, then?” said Methuselah with a touch of sarcasm.

Enoch stopped
packing and turned to look at his son. “Methuselah, this is no time for laughs. The gods just appointed me to the position of priest-king. Tomorrow is the coronation, and the entire family is required to be there.”

Methuselah wiped the smile off his face. He remembered the vision his father
had told him, how the archangels had said that Enoch would be offered the position of king and then executed with his family to facilitate a total regime change. He shut up and quickly gathered his things together.

• • • • •

It would not take long to mobilize the fifty or so
family members in the passageway below the palace. They had stayed there since the Gigantomachy uprising, so they were ready to leave at a moment’s notice. Enoch explained everything to them.

T
hey exited the tunnels a half mile from the city. They would make their way across the Tigris and up into the Zagros mountain territory. They had some onagers to carry the young children, women, and elderly of the tribe. They would have to test their limits with a brisk pace to get as far from the city as they could before daylight.

Enoch knew that the gods would hunt them down as soon as they discovered
the family was gone. They did not stand a chance, but he had to try. He had no other choice. Stay and certainly die, or run and probably die.

When Methuselah arrived
at the gathering point with Edna, Enoch frowned. Methuselah stared him in the eye and said, “Would you prefer she marry the gods?”

Enoch
stubbornly refused to answer as they moved on through the passageway. His son was right. After all Edna had been through with them, he should not have even raised the question. He would apologize for that later.

They had taken only a few paces when
Edna pulled Methuselah aside and spoke to him in a whisper. “You might want to talk to me before implying romantic intentions in public to your father.”

“I was referring to saving you from the Sacred Marriage.”

Edna studied his face, regathering her thoughts. Then she took the chance of vulnerability, “So did you mean what you said when we were attacked by the Rephaim?”

“We were about to die, Edna,” he complained. “I said whatever came into my mind.”

She could not believe it. This stubborn onager was too scared to admit his feelings after all they had been through. But he had left an opening and her strategic training prepared her to take it.

“So,
you are saying that at the moment of facing death, your love of me came into your mind?”

Methuselah walked on silently.

What was it with men? Why could they not just say what they felt?

“Poozela, just promise me one thing,” whispered Edna. “If we ever face certain death again, please do
not
say you love me unless you intend to admit your love to the world should we survive that certain death. I do not think that is asking too much, do you?”

“
Very well, Pedlum,” he said, “I promise. Now let us go.” They were behind the rest of the family.

Pedlum was a new nickname, adapted no doubt from Pedna into a more flowery affection. It was the tiniest hint that he was starting to break. Edna shivered with glee.

“By the way, happy birthday,” Methuselah added as an afterthought. He traipsed on.

She had forgotten. In the midst of all this
terror, she had turned sixteen. It seemed inconsequential in light of the world ending and everything.

But he
had remembered. He did remember.