The Children of Eternity (3 page)

“I think we need to do as he says,” said Jerry, turning toward Christopher. “You can stay with us until this is all over.”

Yes, that was probably the smart thing to do, and Christopher knew it, but he wasn’t about to bow to the wishes of an unholy enemy of God. “But I live with the angels, in a house not far from here, over in the next meadow,” Christopher objected. “I was raised by the angels. They’ve been very good to me.”

“You keep poor company,” noted the other demon, stepping forward, “very poor company indeed.”

“You
did
live with the angels,” corrected the first demon. “The house you speak of has been burned to the ground, and the angels who have poisoned your minds with their lies have been vanquished or have fled. Don’t worry; none of the human children living there have been harmed, at least not seriously. Accept your friend’s offer and remain with him until this war comes to an end. It will make your life far less complicated. In time, you will learn to accept us.”

“I reckon that the quality of life here in Heaven has just dropped a whole lot,” said Jerry, almost under his breath.

“I’d be careful of my attitude if I were you,” said the second demon, glaring at the youth.

Christopher’s confusion, and yes, his fear, was beginning to subside. It was being replaced by a new emotion—anger. It was not the kind of anger that simply lashed out at people who might have displeased him. This was a different type of anger, a righteous anger against evil and injustice, and the ultimate sort of evil was standing there right in front of him. “Those angels at the mansion didn’t do anything to harm you. You had no right to hurt them or threaten my friend.”

“I had every right,” snarled the first demon, “and I’ll go on hurting them. The angels who follow Michael and Gabriel are our sworn enemies. In time, they will either accept our master, Lucifer, or they will be all the sorrier for their stupidity. Perhaps we will lock them away in Hell for a thousand years, separated from the love of the Father; or even better, throw them into the Great Sea of Fire to suffer for as long as the sea roars.

“Such will be the fate of those who oppose us. As for your friend, he needs to be careful how he addresses us. His attitude could be taken the wrong way. Those who choose to side with the angels will meet the same fate. So stay out of this war, boy.”

In that moment, Christopher’s anger overflowed, yet it was a controlled overflow, deliberate and planned. “You’re going to lose this war, and do you know why? Because you have no heart. You’re a dried up husk of what was once an angel. I’m not going to stand by while you hurt others.”

“And what are you going to do, boy?” snarled the first demon. “We are a great and powerful race. I’ve personally tortured ten thousand of your kind in Hell—watched them whimper like frightened little children—and I enjoyed it. I would have no problem with doing the same thing to you. You humans are pathetic little creatures.”

“And hurting helpless people makes you great?” asked Christopher.

Those words made the demon’s anger boil to the surface. He stepped forward and backhanded Christopher, sending him flying at least eight feet. He landed flat on his back. Much to the demon’s amazement, Christopher didn’t cry. In fact, his eyes had taken on an icy cold stare. “And this makes you great?” he asked again, sitting up. “I had a different term in mind to describe you.”

The demon approached him, fire in his eyes. He seemed an unstoppable force.

“Leave him alone!” demanded Jerry, stepping into the demon’s path.

The demon pushed the youth out of the way as if he were no more than a rag doll. A second later he stood towering above Christopher.

“No, Grenlak,” warned the other demon. “You’re exceeding our mandate. We are not to harm the humans.”

“I haven’t harmed this little one yet,” laughed Grenlak, “I’ve hardly even started.”

“You should listen to him, Grenlak,” said Christopher. “You’ll live longer that way.”

Grenlak laughed again. “Oh, is the little one threatening
me
now?”

“Believe what you want to,” replied Christopher. “But don’t put a hand on me again. You have no right to touch a child of God.”

Grenlak reached down and grabbed Christopher again, this time by the wrist. That is when it happened—the burning glow. It radiated out of Christopher’s hand and into the greyish flesh of the demon’s arm. Grenlak immediately stumbled backward as his entire arm was engulfed within a burning red glow. He drew his arm to his chest, trying to extinguish the flames, but this was no ordinary fire. It spread quickly from his arm to his torso. Grenlak shrieked in agony as he tumbled to the ground. The fire spread to his other arm and then to his legs, yet it didn’t ignite the dry leaves on the ground.

Within 20 seconds Grenlak was fully engulfed within the fiery glow. His flesh and armor disintegrated in the intense heat.

The other demon rushed toward Christopher, his sword drawn, but he didn’t get very far. A second later, he too was engulfed within the fiery aura that had leaped from Christopher’s open palm. He too tumbled to the ground. He writhed in total agony, shrieking in a shrill, inhuman voice. Within a minute, piles of dark gray ash were all that remained of the two demons.

By this time, Jerry had made his way to Christopher’s side. There was a nasty, deep gash in Christopher’s cheek where the demon had struck him, but already it was healing. Christopher seemed totally exhausted, only about half conscious. Jerry held him in his arms, not sure what to do.

“That really took the life out of me,” murmured Christopher. “He really shouldn’t have hit me like that.”

“How did you do that?” asked Jerry, glancing back toward the two piles of ash that had been demons but a minute ago.

“I didn’t do anything,” said Christopher. “It had to have been the hand of the Father that saved me. I was simply a willing vessel.”

It was several minutes before Jerry was able to help Christopher to his feet. By then the gash on his cheek was almost completely healed. “Come on,” said Jerry, “it won’t take us long to reach my house.”

“No,” insisted Christopher, “we’ve got to get to my place. We’ve got to help the other children.”

“I don’t think you’re in any shape to help anyone,” insisted Jerry. Jerry concentrated for a moment. A blue mist formed before them, alive with what looked like twinkling stars. “Come on, we’ll take the shortcut.” Jerry helped Christopher into the misty cloud, where they vanished.

They walked through a short corridor of cool mists, emerging only a few seconds later a dozen feet in front of Jerry’s front porch where his parents were standing. They were relieved to see the two boys safe and sound.

Jerry’s father, Bill Anderson, had the appearance of a man in his late 40s, although his real age was well over 130 years. His mother, Sarah, was nearly as old, though she looked no older than her husband. They could easily have taken on a younger appearance if they had wished, but it just wasn’t their style. No, this was the proper appearance for the parents of a son in his late teens.

“What happened?” asked Sarah, running to the two boys. She noticed the almost-healed scar on Christopher’s cheek.

“We ran into a pair of demons in the woods,” said Jerry. “One of them hit Christopher. I reckon he didn’t much care for the way Christopher spoke to him. But you should have seen what happened to the demon after he hit Chris.”

Jerry was interrupted as yet another cloud of blue mist formed nearby. A man dressed in farmer’s overalls stepped from the glowing, sparkling phantasm. It was Cy Davis, a neighbor from over in the next meadow.

“Bill, we’ve got problems,” said Cy. “I swear to you, my daughter and I were visited by demons, the kind straight out of Hell.”

“We’ve seen them too,” confirmed Bill, “and I guess the boys ran into some in the woods.”

Cy turned to Christopher and Jerry, a look of concern on his face. “You boys OK?”

“Yeah, we’re OK,” replied Jerry. “One of them hit Christopher…but not hard. He’ll be fine.”

Cy noticed the nearly healed gash on the youth’s cheek. “This is crazy. I just don’t understand how those demons could possibly be here. I thought that the Father would have prevented them from coming.”

“I’ve got to get over to my house,” said Christopher.

Cy shook his head sadly. “I’m afraid it’s not there any more, son. The demons burned it. Don’t worry, all of the children got out. A few got burned a little, but they healed pretty fast. They were just scared, that’s all. My daughter and I took three of them in. Other neighbors took in the rest. Still, that place is crawling with demons right now. I really wouldn’t go over there now. Maybe tomorrow.”

“I reckon we’re at war,” said Bill, walking over to Cy.

Christopher leaned over to Jerry. “Please, Jerry, don’t tell anyone what happened to the demon after he hit me. Let’s just say they flew away. Don’t tell them what I did, not yet.”

Jerry looked at Christopher, surprised at his request. “Why?”

“Please…just trust me,” whispered Christopher.

“I think they’re going from house to house,” said Bill. “They told us to stay in our homes, not to interfere. They said that they would tell us when it was safe to come out. It looks like we’re right in the middle of a war zone. They’ve been commanded by the Father not to harm us so long as we don’t interfere in this war of theirs.”

“Look, Bill…me and some of the other men are going to make our way to Zion to see the Father. He’ll know what to do,” said Cy.

Bill glanced over at his wife. She nodded.

“We’re going to meet over at Lester’s place in about an hour,” continued Cy. “There’ll be about six or seven of us going. We’ll gate out to Zion from there.”

“OK,” confirmed Bill. “I’ll meet you there.”

Cy nodded. The mists formed once more. He stepped into them and vanished.

Bill turned to his wife. “I’ll need to get ready.”

“OK,” she said, as Bill headed for the house. She quickly turned to Christopher. There was still a trace of blood on his cheek, but the scar itself was gone. She reached down to have a look. “No permanent damage,” she said. “But the demons who came here to our home said that they wouldn’t hurt any of us. This war was between them and the angels.”

“I guess you just can’t trust demons,” said Christopher, smiling slightly.

“So, what happened after he hit you?” asked Mrs. Anderson—Sarah.

“The other one stopped him,” said Christopher. “He said something about hitting me was beyond their mandate or something like that. A minute or so later they were both gone.”

“I’m just thankful that you two boys didn’t get seriously hurt,” she said.

“Well, if we would have, it would have healed in a few minutes anyway,” continued Jerry. “Remember when I broke my leg jumping off that rock down by the creek?”

“How could I forget?” replied Sarah. “You were scared for a minute or two until the bones came together and healed. You were afraid that your leg would stay broken and twisted. But that doesn’t happen, not here. The Father takes care of us.”

Sarah hesitated. “But why not now? I wonder if there is something that we may have done to bring this thing on ourselves.”

“I don’t reckon I know what it might be,” said Jerry.

“I don’t either,” said Christopher. “I just talked to the Father a couple of days ago and He didn’t say anything about being upset with us.”

“Well, we should know more when your father gets back from the Holy Place,” said Sarah. “Then we’ll know what to do.”

A few minutes later, Bill returned from the house. He was wearing a long, white robe, the sort that most people wore when they made a journey to the Holy Place at the very heart of the City of Zion. The Father never said this was a requirement. Still, it had become a tradition among most of the saints. People wanted to look their best when they came before the Creator of the universe.

“I don’t know how long this is going to take,” Bill said. “I don’t know what the conditions are in Zion. I guess I’ll know soon enough.”

“Be careful,” cautioned Sarah, taking Bill’s hand in hers.

Bill chuckled. “I always am.” A blue mist filled with twinkling stars appeared before him. He stepped into it and faded from view.

“Well,” said Sarah, turning to the boys, “no point in waiting out here. Why don’t we head into the house? It’s getting kind of warm.”