Realm of the Dead (21 page)

Ares wiped the gravel from his face and grinned in satisfaction.  "I will most assuredly enjoy killing you."

With a roar, he rose from the floor and flew headlong into Eskalion's twirling staff, oblivious to the pummeling of Chittim wood that smacked his face. Forward he came, enduring rapid-firing smites to his cheeks. But Ares would not be stopped or denied as he pressed onward as the concrete blows hammered his face, neck, and chest. Eskalion, seeing that Ares would not be stopped by his actions, bellowed and stomped his foot into the scorched floor of Hell. A wave of concussive force traveled across the ground like a concentric groundswell that flowed over Ares, raising him into the air, tumbling in a suspended form of stasis.

Jerahmeel saw Ares floating in the air, and with a wave of his hand, the bubble that surrounded Ares froze over, totally encasing the angel in ice.  The bubble solidified and crashed to the ground, shattering into a thousand shards. Ares rose groggily from his frozen enclosure and Zeus turned around to examine that which was behind him, and as he did so, shards of ice sprayed him.  He covered his eyes. Jerahmeel attacked, kicking the Harrada square in the chest, sending him reeling through the air and crashing into Ares knocking both to the floor.

Eskalion raised his eyes to Turiel and Iblis who yet battled in the form of vapor. Eskalion threw his staff to Turiel, and Jerahmeel froze the air around Iblis, solidifying him. Turiel caught the staff and batted Iblis' head, sending him reeling into Ares and Zeus as they struggled to rise, causing them to be pummeled into the ground as Iblis fell atop them. Turiel tossed Eskalion's staff back to him and floated to where the trio huddled in pain, as both Eskalion and Jerahmeel floated toward Lucifer's henchmen. The three then formed up around them, each raising their weapons to bring them down on their dazed adversaries when a voice sounded.

"Enough!" Lucifer said.

Jerahmeel turned to see that Lucifer was now aglow in light that raced in mesmerizing patterns over his body.

"You have come here to destroy my Kiln, have you not?  See now what you have combed the Realm of the Dead to see, and know the futility of your cause."

Lucifer waved his hand and when he did so, the chamber flooded with brilliance as a circle of light raced around the center of the floor.  A circular opening revealed itself on the floor and the floor rock retracted into the walls. The hiss of steam and heat eddies escaped with a sizzle and screams and howls roared into the air.  A horrific choir of moans raced up the walls of a gaping mouth lined with circular rows of teeth, and the familiar veins of Hell's tendrils flailed in the air as though released from a cage, and Jerahmeel watched as a pedestal with a figure sprouted from the center of a yawning mouth now roused from its sleep.  Molten lava scurried to reveal the physique of the angel jutting from the depths of a mouth lined with the living, screaming remains of angels and spirits of evil men.  Higher and higher the pedestal rose, like a mountain within a mountain.  The fiery hollow burned white hot, and the more it rose in the cavern, the easier Jerahmeel could see who lay atop what could be nothing but a Kiln.  A kiln that Talus was absorbed into, fused together as one entity. A kiln that suckled on the revealed beating heart of his friend.  And Talus, head of all Arelim, one of the seven spirits that once stood before the presence of God, screamed. His cries blasted the air in waves of anguish insomuch that even the hearers felt pain. His figure was skeletal and his flesh had so fallen from him that his innards could be seen. Muscle, nerves, and worms crept over him, entering and exiting his body at will, feeding Hell as carrion drifted over the remains of a living carcass.

Jerahmeel gaped upon the living nightmare that raised itself as a tower before him, facing an unthinkable realization he had never considered. Talus, the brother he loved and had come to rescue, was now one with the Hellforge.  

The Prince of House Harrada dropped his weapons to the ground, his mouth agape and eyes bulging at what he saw. A suffocating despondency slowly rose in his chest as he collapsed to his knees and moaned in despair.

*   *   *

Eskalion slumped on the ground, gawking, his mind in shock, for Lucifer had fused Talus' body into the living rock that was Hell herself.  His arms were coiled with Hells tendrils as worms scurried across his exposed torso.  The granite-like rock of Hell absorbed his abdomen. His legs, once visible, could no longer be seen.  Leathery wings, once awesome with beauty, were shredded, and tattered strips now were strewn across each span.

Turiel and Eskalion beheld Jerahmeel's reaction and realized their mission to destroy the forge would also kill Talus, paused in their advance.  And Lucifer---Lucifer watched with smug satisfaction that their awe gave them hesitation. And whilst the three were lost in grief and distraction, Lucifer lifted his hands and a great light appeared above them, blinding them to everything they surveyed, and they covered their eyes as the brilliance was like a searing heat and they stumbled as men blind.

"Simpletons, you have yet to grasp the degree of both the Father's failure and your own."  Lucifer flicked his wrist and tendrils descended upon them and restrained them that they could not move. Each was raised off the ground and suspended just above the floor of the cavern.

Zeus and Ares and Iblis walked back toward their master. Lucifer then floated toward Jerahmeel and whispered in his ear. "Thy ability to see my devices hath always been a burden to me. Forgive me as I partially relieve myself of it."

Then Lucifer grabbed Jerahmeel by the face and with his own hands, felt the contour of Jerahmeel's closed eye, lifted Jerahmeel's right eyelid and gouged the eye from its socket.

Jerahmeel shrieked in pain, shaking his head left and right. "Arrgh! Curse you Lucifer!  God curse you to eternity!"

Lucifer smiled and held the bloody eyeball of Jerahmeel in his hand, staring at it longingly. "Thou seest with old eyes.  Now, behold the vision I wish to cast upon you.  See the world, Jerahmeel. See the cosmos as I see it." And when Lucifer spoke, Hell's ceiling became opaque, and Lucifer allowed the sounds above to be heard by them all.  Behind the scene of Talus lifted and infused in the new furnace were pictures of Yeshua splayed across the walls and ceiling of Hell. Jerahmeel and the party watched as the Son of God fell under the weight of a crossbeam of wood.  A crown of thorns pierced His brow, and both flesh and garments were bruised and tattered. Through throngs of humans who encouraged His death, and others too afraid to interfere, Roman guards marched Him to His execution. Jerahmeel watched with one eye as his Lord collapsed beneath the beam outstretched upon His shoulders. Lucifer smiled as he observed the procession.

"I will leave thee in the hands of my guards, for I must see Adam complete the work I have long desired to see. Despair, Jerahmeel. Despair, and see the world thou and the Host have fought to save, and mankind pass judgment on the Creator's kingship over them. See with the one eye that remains, for when the life of Yeshua goes out, I will return and take thy remaining eye and leave you in eternal darkness with the image of Yeshua spread upon a cross, a lasting image sealed for all time.  Goodbye, brother."

Lucifer then floated away, laughing as he departed, ascending into the plane of the physical realm.

"Lucifer!!" Jerahmeel screamed.

Anguish and rage filled Jerahmeel, and he continued to cry aloud after his ascending brother. His screams echoed throughout the corridors and carried aloft upon the winds of Hades. Anguished cries of despair, cries that merged into the wails of her denizens. One more lone cry of woe added to the millions of screams that rang throughout her walls.

*   *   *

The sky was overcast in Jerusalem, as was Azaziel's spirit. No prayer covering protected the region for it seemed all of Jerusalem sought the death of the Lord.  Azaziel wept at a distance as Yeshua entered alone into the spiritual wilderness comprised of evil men, daemons, and fallen angels...a multitude elated to see the Lord of Creation struggle in human flesh to carry a cross.

For six hundred and fifty yards, Yeshua walked past men and women hecklers while a small cadre of Roman soldiers went before Him.  One, in particular, carried a titulus; a sign that announced Yeshua's crime as being "King of the Jews." Alone, the Son of God strode upwards toward the place of the Skull, force marched to the cackling cadence of humiliating barbs and the gawking eyes of men and women who mocked and spit upon Him. As He advanced amidst the throng, His bruised and battered body a walking effigy that represented the disappointment of evil men who, like the ancient Israelites of old, wanted a king like the other nations of the world. A king other than God, and once more, the King of the Universe submitted to the will of His own creation's rejection.

As God in the flesh acquiesced to the evil of men, each step testified to the love within the breast of the Almighty, nevertheless, a breast scorned by the unseen spirits who had rebelled against God.  Therefore, for one thousand, nine hundred and fifty feet, Yeshua followed Simon the Cyrene to Golgotha, the hill – the place where He would embrace Death. 

And when the entourage of death reached their final destination, Simon the Cyrene laid the wooden crossbar on the ground. The patibulum beam that would extend the outstretched arms of the Lord.  The one hundred and twenty-five-pound plank of splintered wood hit the rocky ground with a thud, and the Roman soldiers, satisfied with Simon's work, shooed him away. And the Cyrene did as he was bidden lest he further provoke the soldier's ire. 

Azaziel and his soldiers watched from afar while Grigoric scouts of both the Heavenly Host and the Fallen penned in their tomes.

Argoth and Michael also watched from the Hall of Annals as more and more of the Horde poured in from regions round about to see man accomplish what rebellious Elohim themselves could not achieve... the death of God. Satan attended in person, celebrating his evil scheme of orchestration that was finally coming to fulfillment.  After years of planning and waiting, patiently biding his time, and moving against every counter of El, to help bring about the outcome that he lusted after for so many years. The death of his maker.

Thus, Yeshua, clear in mind and purpose, allowed His creation to handle Him as they stretched Him out on a patibulum of splintered wood.  Seven-inch iron nails were given to a soldier, while the Lord's feet and arms were held in place in preparation for His body's impalement on the cross.  A soldier forcibly grabbed His wrist and placed a nail near His median nerve.

The eyes of both Heaven and Earth watched in tense anticipation.

Argoth turned his head as the hammer raised. 

Azaziel wept, wondering where he had failed the Lord. 

Lucifer watched with gleeful anticipation, his eyes wide and a smile spread across his face as stretched leather, but it was Michael – the appointed Chief Prince of Heaven, who stoically watched the vision given to him so many ages ago by the Lord come to pass. 

A human hand raised the hammer into the air, reached its apogee, then in a downward stroke pummeled an iron spike into the soft skin of the Word made Flesh, the clanging of which filled the air.

The Lord howled in agonizing pain as His flesh, reacting as designed, set His nerves on fire. The shock of His pain radiated through His arms and unlocked corridors of dormant pain receptors.

In Heaven, the Virtues spoke aloud. "Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him."

Blood splatter misted into the air as the Son of God's cries of agony cracked the ears of those listening.

Mary, the mother of Yeshua, sobbed from a distance, wailing with outstretched arms toward her oldest son whilst her companion, a woman Grigoric records would name Mary Magdalene, consoled as best as she was able the woman whom El had made privy to carry His son.

An exuberant mirth manifested in the evil smiles of daemon inspired men as the audience chanted...men who acquired more satisfaction from the unjust execution than the wrongful release of a convicted murderer through the manipulation of Governor Pilate's clemency.

Again, the clanging strike of iron against iron punctured the cool air...a sound that marked the methodical killing of the Son of God, and the perfection of torture on effective display by the Roman Empire.

In Heaven, the Virtues once again spoke aloud as they wafted around the throne. "Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him."

Pain, agony, and love cried out from the cross.

"Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do!" Yeshua cried.

The Romans who nailed Him, mocked Him and who took His robes gambled amongst themselves to see who might have it.

The people stood beholding, and the rulers also with them derided Him, saying, "He saved others; let Him save Himself if He be Christ, the chosen of God."

And the Lord heard the hecklers who beheld Him in contempt, yet did not return evil for evil.  The Genesis of all Creation fighting against suffocation, enduring unknowingly to all who watched, the rod of God on the world's sin, that one day He might once more be in communion with His beloved mankind.

Fear kept those who might otherwise speak against the travesty before them, in silence.  The need for self-preservation a more palpable immediate concern than the altruistic value to defend the innocent.  And aside from the cries of a few women and those of a tearful mother whose Son's life was fleeing before her eyes, none dared to interfere; for the Romans were staunch in their duty to the Empire and prevented any from drawing near.  Efficient, and as merciless as well-oiled machines of death, they were swift in the execution of their duty.

Amidst the cries of wailing women and the jeers of taunting men were two thieves who also were executed.  One hung on each side of the Lord, and one of the malefactors that hung next to Him, railed on Him, saying, "If thou be Christ, save thyself and us."

But the other answered and rebuked him, saying, "Dost, not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds: but this man hath done nothing amiss."  And he turned from the other and said unto Yeshua, "Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom." 

And Yeshua said unto him, "Verily I say unto thee, today shalt thou be with me in paradise."

And while the God in flesh allowed Himself to be fastened with nails of iron to a cross, God the Father looked down upon the actions of both men and His Son. The Virtues floated in their cloud-like fashion and words emanated from their invisible and fragrant mouths. "He hath put Him to grief."

And the Realm of the Dead was also privy to the happening in the land of the living, and Jerahmeel, shackled whilst in the realm of the unrighteous dead, could no longer view the scene projected upon the walls of Hades. 

Zeus stood guard over his captive, noted Jerahmeel's repugnance, and grabbed Jerahmeel by the scruff of his neck. 

"Oh yes, dear brother," Zeus said.  "Thou shalt surely watch the fall of God in the Earth."  Zeus grabbed him by his cheeks and turned Jerahmeel's face to look up into the realm of men. The Harada then held his eyelid open to witness the torture of God by Lucifer's marionette of men.

Thus, in 33 A.D., a great cloud of witnesses marked time, making note that on that day in Grigoric history, God, the eternally existent one – died. For the Creator of Heaven and Earth yielded Himself to the abuse of men and angels, all that He might save mankind from sin.

For hours, the life of Yeshua flowed from Him.  Crimson stained His head where a mockery of a crown perforated His skull.  His wrists and feet were colored in the deepest maroon. Hands that had made fishes and loaves, and feet that had walked on water now hung from beams of splintered wood.  Splinters that embedded themselves into the ripped flesh strewn from the Lord's back.  His face bruised from the pummeling of the Roman soldiers, His body a lacerated mass of rouge and scarlet. A coagulated, living corpse whose remaining blood pooled at the foot of the cross. A dying witness for all of Heaven and Earth. A testimony of Lucifer and man's verdict of God's reign over him. A testimony forever to be noted in the annals of history that God so loved mankind that He came down from Heaven and surrendered Himself to the pinnacle of man's evil. All that He might restore mankind to a relationship with Himself.

For hours, the breath of life wafted away from the Lord. The shallowness of His breathing caused small areas of His lungs to collapse. His body in instinctive response fought to gather the rich warm air, and Yeshua pushed up against the prickling wood of the cross to open His lungs and gulp life-giving air once more.

The sun seemed to stand still, unwilling to march in her route through the galaxy. For every hour that Yeshua's lungs decreased in oxygen, carbon dioxide increased as the chain reaction of laws that governed human flesh caused acidic conditions in the flesh of the Lord.

Fluid slowly built up in His lungs, compounding what all Heaven saw as the inevitable, and when El noted that the final burden of sin was laid upon the bloodied back of His Son, even He was moved with compassion to stretch forth His hand to save. 

Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him, for the Holy One had elected to leave Heaven to endure the pain, suffering, and shame, that mankind might be once more purchased into reconciliation with God. And the sin was such that El could no longer view the visage of His beloved Son, for, in the eyes of God the Father, Yeshua became shrouded in, and eclipsed and marred by the sins of the world.  A bloody cloak of the ugliness that was humanity, horrifically naked and gory as a testimony to Adam's actions so many years before.

And as the Lord saw His offspring bleeding out and splayed upon the cross, He remembered His beautiful creation, His former love of Lucifer, the wars fought, and lives extinguished... the covetousness, greed, and murder that Lucifer and the Horde had waged. 

From the fall of Adam to the death of Abel, the sons of Noah and the downward spiral that Adam and his children recklessly marched towards because the thoughts of mankind were only evil. And in the midst of His anguish over the blood that streamed down the bruised cheeks of His broken boy, God looked into man's future and beheld those who would be partakers of Life – the few who would surrender all to experience His love, and His thoughts turned to the approaching sun of a new day where there would be no more tears, and where the lion would once more lay down with the lamb; and when He saw the glory that was set before Him, He withdrew His presence and turned from His only begotten Son.

And it was about the ninth hour that Yeshua cried out with a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?" which means, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

And when all of Heaven saw that God had turned His back on His own Son, that separation existed between He who hung on a cross and He who sat on the throne: it was in that moment that the Host saw the depths of God's love for mankind.  A collective epiphany came over all. If El did this for those who were flesh, how much more would He do for His sons in the Spirit?  And in that moment Heaven understood that man's estrangement from God was now reconciled and Adam's kin could return to their former place El had always destined for them.

Before the eyes of Heaven did God show the depth of His love. For when man was yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly, and many such as Azaziel took note, for they had seen the ways of mankind and noted that scarcely for a righteous man would one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die, but in fascination, Azaziel beheld that God commendeth His love toward mankind, in that, while man was yet a sinner, Christ died for him.

And Yeshua, fading between consciousness and unconsciousness, and resisting the fleshy urge to release Himself from the searing pain, empty of the need for self-preservation; the Son of God – the Shiloh, elected to breathe His last breath into the Earth he had created and spoke.

"It is finished."

The Lord then bowed His head and surrendered the ghost.

Lucifer crowed in jubilation as he floated near the bowed head of the God of the Universe, and slid his hand graciously against the still warm cheek of the Lord and whispered, "Now, Yeshua, whose head doth hang smitten underfoot? All for naught didst thou prepare a body. And for what? To be but refuse for me.  For when this flesh decays, thou shalt be sealed as any other man within my realm, and who then will deny me?  And why? All because thou lovest the Clayborn.  See how foolish it is to hold such a love."  The Betrayer then turned to the Horde that gathered to watch the spectacle and spoke aloud for all to hear. "Behold!" he roared. "GOD is D E A D!"

And the minions cheered amongst themselves as a throng of unruly children, clamoring in gleeful praise.  They sang and raised their hands in buoyant elation, that Lucifer, Son of the Morningstar, had finally through the hand of mankind, killed Shiloh.

The heavenly legions looked upon their Lord's body in disbelief and anger. A quiet hung throughout the realm. Quiet that a member of the Trinity had died at the hands of His own creation. Quiet, as confusion and fear propagated in the minds of heavenly angels that perhaps God was not as all-powerful as they had believed.  Quiet because God had shown that He loved the children of Adam more than life itself.  And the cumulative thoughts were more than Azaziel could fathom and he cried out in anguish.