In Exile (Archangel Jarahmael and the War to Conquer Heaven, Book III)

A NEW PLAN

The Archangel Luciferael and the Angels who followed him had lost the Rebellion and were cast out of the Heavens. Sent to a new realm deep within the Earth, stunned and exhausted, they collected in an area where the stone was hot, but solid and surrounded by molten rivers. It was a huge area, smoldering in shades of violet, red and orange, uninhabitable for most creatures that walked the Earth. But for the Fallen, the heat energy was welcomed as it restored their strength by converting the heat into light energy as they rested.

“I hate the loyal Archangels Michael and Jarahmael,” declared Luciferael. His body and facial features highlighted in dancing shades of red and orange from the fiery rock all around him, emphasizing his rage. “They thwarted our takeover of the Heavens and the Universe.”

“Yes, my lord Luciferael. We almost succeeded and would now be basking in the light of the Heavens, if it had not been for their treachery to our kind. They should have joined with us, rather than fought against us. I am more outraged at Jarahmael than Michael though!” stated the rebel Archangel Sammuael. “Jarahmael had captured me when he infiltrated the Heavens and released Michael and the loyal Archangel Ariel. He kept me locked up in that Crystal Prism of his along with my Cherubim guards.”

“We never should have trusted him when he said that he was joining our side on the first day of the war,” said the fallen Archangel Beelzebael.

An awkward silence followed Beelzebael's remark as the fallen Archangels all knew that Luciferael himself had welcomed Jarahmael into their ranks, trusting him in the beginning of the rebellion.

Another of Luciferael’s trusted Archangels, Suriel, broke the silence. “I wish Jarahmael really had perished when he led the attack against the defense of the Fourth Heaven. His disappearance was clearly a trick.”

Luciferael arose, ignoring the awkwardness. “Jarahmael does have a weakness though.”

“Lillith, my lord?” asked Mephistophael, another of Luciferael’s trusted rebel Archangels.

“Yes, he is in love with her,” responded Luciferael, and he started to pace as he thought.

“We can use her to get to him,” added the Archangel Mammonael. “She is made of earthen flesh and you were able to trick that other female Human, Eve, so easily, my lord.”

“We left Lillith in the First Heaven, in the Garden of Eden, didn't we my lord?” said Beelzebael, his voice growing in excitement.

“Yes, in fact, she requested that I give her the pyramid in the Garden of Eden for her palace. She told me she didn't like the Heavens much and preferred the Garden of Eden. Must be some sort of attraction of these creatures with the Earth itself of which they are made,” Luciferael said in disgust.

“Did any of you see any of the loyal Angels assigned to keep us back out of the Heavens as we were being cast down?” Luciferael asked, looking around. He noticed for the first time that they were all reddish in hue, the molten rock reflecting off of them and making them looking dark but surprisingly handsome.

“There were some armed Cherubim who collected around the entrance into the First Heaven as we passed through,” said Damiel, the last Archangel of Luciferael’s trusted Auxilium. “But I couldn't tell why they were standing there, my lord.”

“If I can get to Lillith before Jarahmael does, perhaps we can grab her and use her as bait to capture him,” Luciferael said.

Luciferael stretched his wings in anticipation. “It should be getting dark on the surface. Beelzebael and Sammuael, come with me. Let's see if we can't get her out of the Heavens and away from Jarahmael. The rest of you,” he said, addressing the other fallen Archangels, “see about organizing the rest of the legions that have been cast out along with us. We will need some palaces down here at least for now. No point in being uncomfortable even if we are outside of the Almighty's Heaven!”

“Any particular design, my lord?” asked Mephistophael.

“The Seven Heavens above were our design and were very comfortable for us, were they not?” asked Luciferael.

The members of his Auxilium all nodded in agreement.

“Then replicate the Heavens, our palaces and the structures here. In fact, dig even deeper here, I would like all seven levels deep within the Earth. Make our homes at the deepest level. The Almighty wanted creativity, we shall show Him that we can be creative in ways He never dreamed.”

“Halls and Cathedrals in each of the levels similar to the Heavens, too?” asked Mammonael.

“Yes, why not?” responded Luciferael. “Make them grander, and fill them with the heat energy from the depths of molten rock.”

“A throne room in our deepest level, too, my lord?”

“Yes, of course. I need some place to hold court and to rule from! It, too, needs to be grander, a shrine to our battle against the Almighty and His orderly universe. We need to create chaos in the Almighty’s universe and our seat of authority in our own throne room should reflect that as our new goal, chaos and destruction!” Luciferael exclaimed as his voice grew in excitement.

“As you wish, my lord. It shall be grander than anything in the Heavens. We will carve each of these subterranean levels deeper and grander than the cloud structures in the Heavens. We shall make them into deep pits, one after the other.”

“Luciferael and the Seven Pits of Hell. I like the sound of that!” exclaimed Luciferael. “Let’s do it! We shall look over what you build when we get back. Mephistophael, you are in command, I expect the rest of the Auxilium to assist while I am gone. Beelzebael and Sammuael, let’s go get Lillith.”

Luciferael and the other two fallen Archangels sprang into the air and began flying upward and then circled in the cavern. Soon they felt some cooler air coming down towards them. Flying up into it, they found themselves emerging through the gaping mouth of one of the active volcanoes and into the cooler skies of the Earth. It took a couple of minutes until they found their bearings, as the sun was setting and the ensuing darkness followed close behind them as they flew around the planet.

They located one of the unfinished pyramids in the continent of Kinnaeus and cautiously approached it, swooping over it silently and then slowly corkscrewing down to the entrance, watching all the time for any signs of any loyal Angels or guards. On their descent they noticed Simians parading their way back into their caves nearby. They seemed to have come back out from hiding and were celebrating after Luciferael had lost his bid to take over the Heavens. Luciferael could feel the anger and rage bubbling into his veins as he thought of those creatures of mud celebrating his defeat.

Landing gingerly on the entranceway into the unfinished pyramid, he turned to Beelzebael. “You are familiar with these pyramids?”

“Not particularly, my lord, but remember the loyal Angels have been able to use these for transportation and hiding themselves. We should be able to figure out how they work, if the loyals could,” Beelzebael said confidently.

“Yes, I am sure we will figure it out, my lord,” said Sammuael as he began to lead the way down the main hallway to one of the passageways. He turned when he noticed an inscription in Angelic script that showed the passageway led to the pyramid at Aegyptus. “Here, my lord. Here is the passageway to the pyramid at Aegyptus. Let's see if we can find the one to the pyramid in the Garden of Eden.”

The three Archangels split up and looked at all the passageways in the pyramid, but could not find any that indicated it went to the Garden of Eden. They came back together near the passageway that went to the pyramid at Aegyptus.

“We did not find the Garden of Eden passageway,” Sammuael said.

“Do you think the Almighty would have closed up the passageway to the Garden of Eden already?” Luciferael asked.

They all stood there for a few moments, and then a smile came across Beelzebael's face.

“Of course, that's right,” Beelzebael said.

“What do you mean?” asked Luciferael.

“Now I remember. The day after Adam and Eve were cast out of the Garden of Eden, the glorious day we started our war for freedom, the Almighty assigned Angels to block off the passageways from the pyramids so they could not be used as a transportation system by the two Humans. But there were also rumors that only one of the pyramids could be used to gain access to the Heavens and that was through the pyramid at Aegyptus. It has a two-way passage between Aegyptus and Eden.”

“Weren't they supposed to close that off though?” asked Sammuael.

“Yes, they were,” responded Beelzebael. “But they must not have!”

“How can you be so sure that they did not?” asked Sammuael.

“Because both Jarahmael and Michael used the pyramid in the Garden of Eden to launch their attacks against us in the First Heaven,” Beelzebael responded.

“Jarahmael was missing for a time, having faked that he was destroyed a few days before,” Sammuael continued.

“Yes, but lord Luciferael don't you remember? Jarahmael's Angels and Cerebriel’s Cherubim were fully armed with weapons from the Sixth Heaven. They did not have those weapons when we began our rebellion and closed off the upper Heavens to the lower Heavens and the Earth. They had to have brought the weapons through the pyramid somehow to outflank us in the First Heaven that day. It explains how the Angels who had been trapped on the Earth with Michael were armed with weapons, too,” Beelzebael added.

Luciferael grew quiet, and then said, “Now that makes a lot of sense. I never understood how they could have come at us from the flank in the First Heaven when my troops were still in position at the gateway. Why, we even had that part of the First Heaven searched before the attack began and they saw nothing out of the ordinary, certainly not an armed Angelic force waiting to attack!”

Sammuael began to speak. “But I don't—”

He was cut off by Beelzebael. “We need to move. This means we have further to travel to get into the Garden of Eden and then further to travel to get back here.”

“Yes!” agreed Luciferael, “let’s get to the pyramid at Aegyptus and then if we can, we will travel to the pyramid at the Garden of Eden, retrieve Lillith and get back down here.”

Sammuael was not done and began to try to speak again.

Luciferael just turned and looked at him with a disproving expression. “Let the thing with Jarahmael go, Sammuael. I agree with Beelzebael. It's the only thing that makes sense. Now let’s get moving.”

The three Archangels walked down the passageway, each one of them following the instructions on the wall and called out, “Peto! Peto! Peto!” This allowed them to pass into the portal and transported them to the pyramid at Aegyptus. Once there, they searched the hallway in the Aegyptian pyramid and found that Beelzebael was correct: there they found the passageway to the Garden of Eden. It had a large stone block off to the side at the ready to be moved and to block off the passageway altogether as per the Almighty’s instructions. That confirmed that the loyal Angels had not finished the job of securing the pyramid.

Luciferael had never paid much attention to these structures. The pyramids were just another piece of creation that the Almighty was wasting time on developing for the Humans, he thought as he passed by the passageways. The passageway and portal was most likely still operational. He would have rectified that if he had won the war. He had intended to destroy the pyramids or find another use for them once he took over and either destroyed or enslaved the Humans at the end of his conquest.

“These things would have made great burial chambers for the dead Humans and Simians,” he said aloud.

“Yes, my lord, they would have,” agreed both Beelzebael and Sammuael as they walked down to the portal.

“Who knows, maybe they can have a good use yet!” Luciferael said, smiling as he thought of what he would have done to the Almighty's prize creations. “Now let's hope we can get to Lillith before Jarahmael or the other loyal Angels find her.”

“Here, this way! We go down this passageway. It should take us right into the Garden of Eden if it has not been blocked on the other end,” Beelzebael said as he took the lead and walked down the passageway ahead of the other two.