SUN DOWN

“That Jarret Carter is a good kid.” Aricel said to no one in particular. His armor snorted and rolled over. Aricel reached down and scratched behind both ears on the massive maned head. “I know you like him too. And I know you like pretending not to like him because you like how he’s nervous around you – that’s okay too. There is value in learning proper fear and respect at a young age.”

Aricel turned, sat on the floor and leaned back into the soft fur. “We love them so much that we tend to want to protect them from everything. There is no better formula for ruining a child.”

He opened a window in the space above him. In it he could look at dozens of things at once, hundreds if he chose but that was unnecessary clutter. An assortment of scenes played out before his eyes; children at play in one spot, a herd of animals in another, jellyfish rising to the moonlight in yet another, and a comet speeding through the dark away from a star next to that.

“You know, I’m thinking about going home.” He said. The armor didn’t respond. “I like being on this ship and enjoy every mission we go on—I go on, yeah—I’m sorry if I don’t always take you with me. There are just times when fear and intimidation are counterproductive, okay?” That warranted a flick of the ears. “Next time we go home, what say you join me on the Dog Run with the boys? I know they’d like that.”

That did it! The armor bucked hard enough to straighten Aricel in a seated position. It stood up on four massive paws, talons flexing, shook its entire body from shaggy mane to long tawny tail. It walked away to curl up in a ball again in its personal cubby hole. Aricel didn’t notice all of that, he was too busy laughing. Aricel knew that whenever the armor was around the dogs it became their favorite plaything. It detested the way the dogs chased it continuously whenever it moved, climbed on its back when it didn’t and never stopped barking. How is a cat to get any rest in that kind of noise?

Aricel started to close the screen when a star caught his eye. He looked at it and noticed a marker in the corner. That red flag meant something worthy of investigation was happening in that region of the universe. He tagged his name to the flag letting all of Eternity know he was on the case. That didn’t prevent anyone else from getting involved; it simply gave them the option to bypass the notice knowing someone was already involved.

“I’ve found something interesting if you want to follow along.” No movement from the corner and no sound, “Suit yourself, buddy; I’ll call you if I need you.” Aricel stepped into the bridge from his spacious cabin. A low growl leaked past the closing door. Aricel laughed. He enjoyed having armor with a personality. It made life more interesting every day.

Life on the bridge remained busy as well. The regular crew monitored communications and handled a great deal of information related to anything their captain might take an interest in. In the process they learned a great deal about how people viewed the world. The concept of questioning reality was foreign to their kind before the birth of Man. From the beginning there was only the Creator who knew everything and made everything and those who served the Creator.

The one time any of their kind questioned the order of existence resulted in a great war in which one in three of their number had fallen. Those who remained swore to be ever loyal. They ministered to Man all through the unfolding of his story—that is what “History” means—because that was their duty. Since man had ascended through the sacrifice of the Son of Man everything has changed. As soon as Aricel tagged the red flag his crew began looking into the situation around the star.

“Deck officer, report.” Aricel took his seat so he could look over all the screens at once.

“All we have now is a decrease in stellar luminosity about seven hours ago. There are eleven planets orbiting the star, four are gas giants, four are ice balls and one is a scorcher. We set course for the system and will arrive early in the morning.”

That was standard for his ship. Aricel could be anywhere in the Universe anytime he wanted. He just preferred to arrive early tomorrow morning; whether Earth to the Moon or Milky Way Galaxy to the Kirill Nebula, 7 trillion lightyears away. Since time is irrelevant in Eternity they never arrive “late.” More precisely, they are always a bit earlier than they need to be – better to assess the situation properly.

“Sir,” the Host watching their particular star spoke up. “The star has dimmed 1.8%.”

“That’s another 0.9% in a matter of hours.” Aricel began to calculate the change curve in his head.

“No sir that is an additional 1.8%.”

Aricel did not need to finish his plot, “Increase speed to flank. I want this ship in close orbit of that star in 30 minutes.” Aricel stepped off the bridge into his cabin to prepare for his investigation. The deck beneath his feet rumbled as the engines strained to meet the new demand.

None of that was necessary. Aricel didn’t need a ship and he didn’t need engines—he actually didn’t have engines. He didn’t need any of the trappings of his office – he just preferred it this way. His life in Eternity suits him. His existence is endless and could easily be stressless – and boring. Living in this fashion, with a purpose, with companions, and with consequences is really everything he ever wanted. Even though he didn’t know it, he was born for this.

His fierce armor was another part of his personal flair. All the abilities in the mound of fur came from him. Aricel simply externalized some of his aspects, concentrated them in a location, and gave it an appearance and a basic personality.  He is not the only one in Eternity to have an independent companion. Mortals called them “spirit animals.” In reality, the Eternal were simply expressing an unconscious affinity for a particular species.

“I’m going down to look at a star, do you want to come?” He asked the mound of fur. He opened a closet door and selected a few gadgets he also didn’t need but liked to have. Each one fit neatly into a pocket of his tunic without adding bulk or weight to it. “If you’d prefer, I can just go down in a bubble and leave you here to get some much needed beauty rest.”

As he turned to find something else on his desk a massive weight fell on him. Flat on the floor, face to face with a snarling face, he smiled. “I guess this is your way of volunteering to go along?” He hugged the massive neck, feeling the soft fur against his face. “I wouldn’t want to be without you buddy.” When a lion purrs it is a deep, frightening reverberation. And it feels pretty good.

***1***

Walking on the surface of a star in an experience like no other in the universe. It is both exhilarating and frightening and most of all the closest thing to being in the presence of the LORD you can imagine. One should take that walk at the earliest possible opportunity. Aricel had walked on the surface of several stars before. Thanks to those experiences he could see the problem immediately. This star was dying.

He could estimate the life remaining to the star and from there predict the effect on the surrounding system. He didn’t have to do that, though. “Bridge, ask for the services of a Creation Engineer, if you please.”

A brief moment later the form of a giant mechanical humanoid approached from Aricel’s right side. It did not walk on the two legs but thrust forward on four bright jets of plasma-white flame. Its sudden stop created a wave in the star that vanished in the distance beyond Aricel before running out. Aricel recognized the blue, red and yellow suit as belonging to an old friend going all the way back to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb.

Aricel did not need to explain the situation to the Engineer. Being another Eternal he had access to the same source of Infinite knowledge that Aricel accessed at will. Engineers had a different bent, a different perspective on Creation that they analyzed. Where Aricel was more interested in things that affected the lives of creatures, the Engineer was more interested in the evolving nature of Creation and the underpinning mechanics.

The Engineer Tamas planted a long slender probe into the roiling surface of the star. No doubt it extended to the deepest core in no time. Raising two arms created a translucent display screen that should not be visible in the presence of so much light, but there it was.

“Well, Aric, what do you need me for?” Tamas said without turning around. “This star is well past dying on its own. I’ve got iron in the core already and it’s accelerating.”

“That’s big trouble Tam because I’ve got an inhabited planet over there.” Aric indicated a region above them invisible from their current position. Immediately a swirling, blue-green sphere appeared on the display. Data flags in dozens of colors covered the planet in the next instant.

Tam’s armor stroked its slender chin. “That’s a whopping load of beasties. Not to mention the sentients. What do you want to do? Let ’em fry or move them?”

“Letting them die is not an option.” Tamas nodded in agreement as Aric looked into stellar chart still floating in the background. “I was hoping you could reset the core back about a few thousand years. Give these creatures a chance to develop space drive and evacuate themselves.”

Tamas pulled out a scroll from a pocket of his suit. He set up a desk below the display on the probe. In no time he was scanning tangle of equations intently. Aricel stood speechless, not willing to believe his eyes.

He finally said, “Hey Tam is that paper?”

“Uh-huh.”

“You know where we are, right?”

“Uh-huh, right – about – here.” Tamas pointed to a series of squiggles on the scroll.

“I just wanted to remind you of one other little detail, not very important right now, but paper is flammable.”

Tam checked some more figures before answering. “You’re right there Aric; it’s not important. The main issue we have is the star has got to go on time. There is a gravitational alignment passing through here in a matter of hours. If I delay this star by as much as a day it could throw the entire galaxy off balance, threatening a billion times more lives over the next 50,000 years. No this star has got to give up its energy soon.”

“So that means Plan B – we move the population to a new world.” Aricel logged in to his ship’s records. They had several candidates for resettlement worlds capable of absorbing an established biosphere with minimal adjustment. Aricel rejected two that would need Moons placed in orbit. One had too many radionuclides in the soil. The best candidate only needed adjustment to its magnetosphere plus a few minor changes.

The distance from this star was no problem. Moving a sentient population numbering over 100 million can be a daunting task. You can’t just drop out of the sky one day and yell, “Everybody get on the ship right now or you’re dead!” They had to be prepared well in advance.

Tam offered a solution. “Do you work with any Comforters?” Aricel nodded; he knew quite a few. “You could have them go back a thousand years ago and plant a legend.”

Aric paused before breaking into a wide grin. “That usually works with people who respect the past. We can foretell of a day when ‘space arks’ would descend from the heavens to rescue the people from their dying Sun. All they have to do is look for signs in the sky to know this time was coming.”

“No doubt they have seen the flare-ups and the death of the inner planets. That alone would be enough to make the population think they are going to need outside help.” Tam produced another scroll with script and sketches on it. “We’ll suggest the size and shape of the ships and tell them where to gather on their world. Not everyone will want to go, however.”

Aric shrugged. “Choice is always a factor in important issues. Some are going to reject our help out of fear or suspicion. Some will blame us for messing with their star. Some are simply skeptical of our type of life existing at all. That can’t be helped. There has never been 100% consensus among sentients on even the most obvious situation. We’ll only save those willing to go, plus enough of the biosphere to quickly reboot the environment.”

Tam pulled up his probe and tucked it away on the back of his suit. “He said, “I’ll get started on prepping their new home. By the time they arrive it will look like a paradisiacal version of their homeworld.”

Aric said, “Thanks for the scroll, Tam. I’ll get together with an old friend and get this planted in their past. The script might need adjusting, though.”

“Tam checked his suit over out of habit. “No it won’t. It’s written in Protoscript. It will fix in an old but translatable language for whatever region you plant it in. Just keep it dry.”

“Yeah, we wouldn’t want anything bad to happen to the paper we created on the Sun.”

“Is that sarcasm, laddie? Because it sounds an awful lot like sarcasm to me.”

“No way, Tam. I just had gas from something I ate . . . last year. Um, bye!”

The two Eternal blasted from the star. Hundreds of thousands of miles from their launch point below their feet the core finally collapsed. A wave of energy surged in all directions bringing doom to most of the worlds in the system.

***2***

The Day of Deliverance arrived exactly as foretold in the ancient Scroll of the Elden Valley. The name derived from the location where the scroll was found among other documents from a past civilization. The modern people had argued about the accuracy of the scroll for nearly 150 years after it came to light. The debate intensified when a radical archeologist unearthed the first “landing pad.”

The scroll predicted the locations of the gathering points more than a thousand years ago. Incredibly, it had calculated the precise location of the all of the world’s major population centers. Over 90% of the population lived less than a day away from a pad; yes, there was more than one.

After the first one emerged from the soil the rest were easy to find. If one followed the Golden Mean in either direction from the first lead to the second. Knowing the distance to the second lead invariably to two more. Soon all twelve were cleared off and ready for use—by whatever “others” who dropped by, in giant space ships.

Not everyone agreed with the prophesies as interpreted. Some opposed clearing the launch pads without proper scientific study. Others simply objected to spending significant funds preparing for an event told in old fables that may not have been properly translated. Less than half of the population expressed even moderate beliefs in the scroll.

That number shifted sharply higher as the foretold signs in the sky began to occur on schedule. As many as 3 in 4 sincerely hoped the scroll was true once official palace ministry admitted their sun had entered a terminal phase. None of their available technology could save even a token percentage of the population. Even if they could get a hundred or a dozen into space, where would they go? Their entire species and all the life they knew would soon burn and the ashes carried away on a solar wind.

Four days before the End of Days, three days before the Day of Deliverance a new star appeared in the night sky. The next day telescopes the world over determined there were several large vessels in a line, possibly more. The following day they were visible to the naked eye.

Most of the population streamed to the launch pads. Governments emptied the hospitals and jails; no one deserved to be left behind. Low levels of chaos broke out as some took advantage of the emptying and unguarded treasures of civilization. Others refused to leave their homes while still more fled to the mountains determined not to be “abducted by aliens.”

Twelve massive space arks settled on the launch pads. Despite their size they could never hold more than one in twelve. Before the populace could panic a voice full of hope and authority calmed them as if by magic.

“Dear children, fear not,” it said as if it were speaking to each one in their own language. “By means beyond your understanding we will carry all of you away from that which is to come. The ramps on either side and to the rear all lead to different levels. They are wide and can handle many people at once.

“Gather together in families or whatever groups you desire. This is important; if you get separated from anyone just tell your host on the ramp their name and a brief description. We will reunite you to them. Do not worry or fear; we will help you.

“Now as the ramps descend walk in an orderly fashion, don’t rush, we have enough time and room for everyone here and more.”

Despite the admonition more than a few fairly sprinted up the ramp the moment it neared the ground. Every person attempting such action stopped as if by some magical force and carried to the ground, kept aside from the rest. People quickly realized haste would avail them nothing. Nervous panic dissipated before it could spread into a dangerous stampede. The feeble and infirm went up together followed by families with small children.

Atop each ramp a line of very tall, oddly “foreign” men moved the groups through ten doors. Once inside people found themselves in a room of reasonable size for the number of people present. There were drinks provided, large comfortable seats, and several comfort rooms. A large screen displayed the nearly endless lines of worried faces waiting to board, skeptical they’d ever find room.

Hour upon hour the people flowed into the twelve ships. Radios broadcast pleas for the holdouts to come and join the rescue. By midnight in their capital city it was

clear that possibly six percent of the population would never come in. By dawn the ramps retreated into their recesses.

A few desperate stragglers veered into each of the landing pads. Odd flying pods took those people aboard. Everyone who wanted to go could still make it – until the sun flashed.

***3***

Aricel stood on the pad below his ship. It appeared to be 700 meters long, 220 meters wide, and 95 meters from the ground to the upper deck. He could have made it bigger but he had orders to “make it look like a miracle” that so many people fit inside. Against all common sense more than nine million people sat in comfortable compartments that in total should hold no more than ten percent of that number packed in tight.

“These people don’t even realize how many animals occupy the lower two levels.” Aricel permitted himself to smile. “This is truly an ‘Ark’ experience that will become legend before long – especially when no one will ever find evidence of our presence in their new home.”

Above the sky flashed then became dim as the sun collapsed. The Host looked around and saw more vehicles approaching at dangerous speed. “Do we wait for them to arrive, Captain?”

Aricel could hear the engines laboring to go faster. “No, my friend; decisions have consequences. Give the order.”

The host blew his shofar. The sound carried on the aether to all of the ships at the same time. Flaring bright cyan flames twelve space arks rose as one. Aricel could speak to any of the twelve ship commanders, all Eternal like himself, but they already had clear instructions. They will travel for six days to their new world many light years away.

On the seventh day their spiritual leaders will consecrate the new world. The next day the animals will be released. On the next day the able bodied people will begin constructing shelters for their people from the kits the Eternal provided. Plus they will all land on the same large continent near plentiful fresh water and fertile fields.

Tamas made sure to engineer the planet to support their life quite well and to have numerous sources of food to give the people a good start.

Back on a dying world Aricel stood vigil with the dozens or hundreds who gathered too late. Some wailed, some cried, others prayed. The shock wave started small when the ships rose up in the blazing sky. It filled half the sky when the ships disappeared. Minutes later the first moon burned. The second moon exploded. Then the air began to burn. The screams of the hopeless did not last long.

Aricel looked around at the once vibrant planet, now bare and toxic to life. The Host walked with him in silence. “I wonder,” Aricel said more to himself, “I wonder if the Engineers have any plans to salvage this world?”

The Host answered anyway looking at the red dwarf sun swelling above. “Possibly, the Engineer said this world had to die – or more precisely the star had to die. They have now a sterile system to work with again. I’m sure they will enjoy the challenge of restarting the world.”

Aricel kicked something hard from a crack in the ground. Against all odds a

child’s toy survived the scorching heat. Aricel decided to bring it along as he prepared to rejoin his ship in flight. “It’s possible; with Hope all things seem possible. Shall leave the dead and join the living?”

Two bright lights burst out of the smoke shrouded orb heading off into deep space.

**END**

CHRYSALIS

Jarret Carter ran to his room after school. He had homework from classes but he also had the entire weekend to get it done. He certainly would when his helper arrived – if he chose to come today. Jarret hoped he would.

He needn’t have worried on that day. The wall next to his desk shimmered gold whenever his “best friend in the entire universe!” waited to receive him. All Jarret had to do was knock and it would open. He fairly dived to that wall with one small fist preceding him. He tapped three times and the door opened—to an empty room.

Jarret peered in. No light switches on the walls, no lights for that matter. It was lighted nonetheless, from—somewhere. Jarret almost stepped inside when a voice sounded from behind. His mother said, “Be careful son. You know the armor doesn’t like surprises.”

Jarret froze; afraid to answer, afraid to turn around lest the massive cat pounce on him. The captain assured him the armor would never hurt him but it’s hard not to be afraid of something so big, so fierce and so – alien to normal reality. Men have worn armor of some sort into battle almost as soon as they figured out how to wage war. But nothing in all Creation prepared a mind to process sentient armor. It is protection in every sense of the word, from everything a mind could conceive of—from rocks to missiles to everything beyond that.

Finally a hand grabbed his shoulder. Jarret instantly knew it was not a massive razor-clawed paw. He relaxed and turned to face his captain and friend. “Aric!” He threw his arms around the big man.

His mother gave him a stern look. “Now, Jarret, I’ve told you over and over you must refer to the captain by his proper name.”

Before he could respond he felt a squeeze on his arm. Aricel said, “Not a worry, Lana. Jarret and I have been friends a long time, practically since he was born. He knows as long as no one else is around he can relax. Right, Jare?” The boy nodded. Aricel continued, “Out in public he always calls me captain and that’s good.”

Mamma Lana shrugged lightly, “As long as you don’t mind, captain, I won’t either. But in all my three hundred years on this Earth I have never met a man like you.” She let herself out of the room on her way to do whatever magic mothers do when children aren’t watching.

Aricel called out to her, “You look good for your age!”

“Shut it!” Came the swift reply from down the corridor, which made Aricel laugh. He walked over to the desktop scanner. “What type of work do you have for the weekend, Jare?”

Jarret was crushed. “Oh man! I thought we were going to do something fun first. Can’t this wait until tomorrow?”

“Actually no. I took a look at your assignments before I came in and a couple of them will require some time to complete.”

“Hey, no fair! Why do you always ask me stuff when you already know the answer?” Jarret complained.

“Yeah, that’s cheating a bit. But we are not here to see what I know, but to see what you know, what you understand. Now what do you want to tackle first?”

Jarret sat down in front of the open screen. “”Well, I like Math so I’m saving that for last. Communications is just a lot of writing; I can do that in parts before bed each night, so that’s no big deal. Let’s do this science project. Is that okay?” He turned around to see Aricel sitting on a large furry chair. He did not hear the thing move into the room. He shivered involuntarily. If either of them noticed they did not let on.

Aricel scanned the list of projects (that he probably already knew by heart, Jarret thought). He picked the one entitled “Metamorphosis.”

“I figured you’d pick that one; it takes the longest time to complete.”

“Yes it does,” Aricel smiled, “but there’s a reason it’s on your list. Your teacher asked me to help you get through the first run this weekend. I promise you it will be completed quicker than you think. In fact, you can get all of your assignments done in time to meet your father’s ship tomorrow afternoon.”

“Really? Awesome! I miss dad. I wonder how far out they went this time? You know—I know you do—but you’re not going to tell me – as usual.”

“Yes I know; no I won’t tell you, and no I won’t explain. The one thing you need most is patience. Besides, if I answered all of your questions about your dad’s trip, what would you two have to talk about in the coming days?

“Now hurry along to your mother; give her a goodbye kiss while I upload your assignments. We have much to do and plenty of time to do it in.”

Jarret stopped. “That doesn’t make any sense. It’s supposed to be ‘we have much to do and no time to do it in’, or something like that. The way you said it makes no sense at all.”

“Are you sure? Well in that case, don’t worry about it. Move along now; the garden waits.”

Jarret gave up trying to make heads or tails of the captain’s words. Most of the time he tells you things ahead of time this way but it takes a while before you understand what he meant – usually after the time when you wanted to know. He found mom in the kitchen talking to his great aunt Winnie while she cooked. The woman in the screen was older than his mom by at least 20 years but they looked more like sisters.

Nobody seemed to ever get old – not as old as the people in his history book. Come to think of it, he had never once met a grey-haired person much less old and wrinkled. He would have to remember to ask Aricel about it some time. Jarret politely interrupted their conversation, greeted Aunt Winnie and then scooted out the door before his mother could kiss him. He didn’t hate the kisses, mind you; he just liked teasing his mother more.

***

Aricel stood outside in his formal uniform. The one Jarret had seen it before and liked the most. All in the purest white imaginable with special adornments. Jarret liked the gold trimmed boots that go up to his knees. The gold belt over the tunic also looked pretty nice.

That necklace was the most colorful thing about the captain. Jarret tried to recall what the different jewels meant. The "name jewel" was obvious; everyone at that level had one to identify their person. The Name jewel, the Name above all names that gave the captain his awesome authority and powers was also impossible to miss. That lion head clasp was his tribal identity.  The rest he would have to learn about later.

They took the long way to the Garden. This was the first time they had walked the corridors since he was a child of about six. He was much older now and could see more things and understand more than he did four years ago.

Like how you can walk along the corridors and see the glow of the Throne above your head, all of the time. It didn’t matter if you were on the north side, west, east or south. Everyone knew that. This time he noticed that it did not matter which floor you were on. Go up four floors or down three or more and when you stepped out the view was the same. It was as if the floors above you did not exist.

The highest floor a normal person could go to was the Garden. That was the biggest park in the world. It was miles and miles across. If you wanted to meet people like the captain, that was the place to take a seat. Jarret followed along as Aricel greeted one or another. It looked like a big family reunion for him. Once he hugged a fellow for a very long time. They spoke quickly in a language Jarret could not understand then hugged again before the other one left.

“Who was he, Captain?” He asked.

“She.”

Jarret looked back at the departing being. “No I mean him, the guy you were talking to.”

“Jarret, that is no ‘guy’; she was a woman and we used to be married.”

That took a moment to sink in. Aricel stood by waiting for the small mind to process the imponderable. Turning first one way and then the other, Jarret looked at the other beings in range of his view. Not one looked like a woman – well not completely. They were all the most handsome of people, not a mark on them, nothing that looked like a blemish. Here and there one would unfurl a pair of wings and take to the air. That one has two pairs. And two over there just vanished!

Jarret sat down in the soft grass. He felt dizzy and sick to his stomach. He closed his eyes tight trying not to get sick. Aricel told him to just look up at the light; everything would be fine. Jarret did and he immediately felt better.  When he stood up he felt rested all over.

“Captain, you are more confusing the more I know about you.”

Aricel laughed. “I know it’s a bit of a conundrum – a mystery. Gender doesn’t work the same way in the Eternal. We are never going to die so we don’t have children, so there is no reason to get married. Just understand we don’t need to marry or fool around but we do still have feelings; we love each other and love to be around each other. Much the same way as you long to spend time with your family, we rejoice when we are reunited. Now, let us be about our business here.”

Every plant in the Garden flourished in the undying light. Their branches and leaves lifted up in lifelong praise. Jarret found a cluster of tiny silvery spheres under a low bush. He walked around the bush looking for just the right set; a cluster of three or four eggs on a single leaf as Aricel instructed him. He plucked the whole leaf carefully when he found one. He then had to find a bush of the same type with no eggs. From that bush he gathered a number of clean branches close to the trunk. He carefully tied the bundle with a vine and cradled the single egg leaf in the palm of his hand. Mission accomplished, they walked back home together chatting along the way.

The standard game in the Carter home began at the door. Jarret had to make his way to his room without being captured in a motherly embrace and forced to submit to kisses and grooming. He never understood his mother’s obsession with combing his hair. It would only fall back into its usual tussled state a moment after she finished.

Sometimes he skirted by with speed, other times he would try stealth. This time he tried a little of both, to no avail. Mother stood inside his room, smiling with arms spread wide. It was cheating, yes, but not against the rules. Eventually satisfied with his hair and a few extra kisses she left him to his work. A stray lock fell over his eyes before the door closed.

The far wall opened into Aricel’s room as expected. Jarret did not expect to see what was inside.  The captain stood grim-faced in his closet hanging up what looked like work clothes or a uniform of some kind. It was the only thing Jarret has ever seen him wear that wasn’t shimmering white or metallic gold. The smell of smoke and burning hair touched his nostrils for an instant, no more. The armor curled up in its usual place a bit ruffled and licking something red off its massive claws.

Worse of all, the Captain’s face exuded – a “darkness”; nothing evil, just a hard-edged scowl of danger. His eyes flashed fire and lightning, the room felt cold and hot at the same time. Jarret felt afraid of his friend for the first time. He had never seen this part of the Captain and never wanted to see it again. He took a slow step back.

Quiet as he thought he was, Aricel heard him. He turned to look at his small friend. Just that quick his face was normal. The room seemed lighter then, and as comforting as ever. Jarret tried to remember why he was scared but the thought fled away from him faster than the wind. He said, “Where have you been, Captain? I only saw you a moment ago in the hall and it looks like you’ve been away for a long time.”

Aricel smoothed his hair with one hand, “Time doesn’t work the same way in Eternity, my friend. One of your seconds could be a thousand years for me. I can’t explain it accurately until you’ve had your classes in multi-dimensional transformations. And that won’t be for another oh, nine years or so. Meanwhile let’s get started on your assignment, shall we?”

Jarret stepped into the room. The armor must have finished its grooming as it was curled up asleep in the usual spot close on the bed. Jarret laid out his bundle on the clean desk; the leaf floating in a suspension field to the right, the branches in a tube to keep them fresh off to the left. Jarret reviewed his assignment, which was not very precise. “Study the butterfly.”

That was all. Just one short sentence—nothing to tell him what he was to learn or what to look for. He scratched his head and turned to Aricel. “What am I supposed to do, Captain?”

“Well, from what I can see, you have to study the butterfly.”

“I know that!” Jarret became irritated in his confusion. “I don’t see any butterflies around here. Unless you’re hiding them somewhere.”

“They are right where you left them, Jare.” Before Jarret could answer he turned back to see where the Captain was pointing. The leaf floated in the same place he left it, for sure. But it was not the leaf he needed to pay attention to, it was the tiny silver eggs.

Aricel placed a flat metal box on the desk in front of him. It opened to reveal a space deeper than it was thick on the outside. Jarret Was long since accustomed to the weird things the Captain had access to. “Any tools you need are inside of the lid. The branches will be fine in that tube and will never dry up. Now take one egg from the bottom side of the leaf and place it on a clean leaf by itself. Use the tweezers—carefully. Good, now place it in the basin and watch.”

As soon at the leaf touched the lower plate, the egg hatched and a small caterpillar crawled out. It began to munch on the leaf with neither thought nor care for its strange environment.  The leaf quickly shrank as the little bug grew.

“He has quite an appetite, doesn’t he?” Jarret nodded. “Keep him under observation and keep feeding him leaves. I’ll be back to check on your progress after Temple. A word of caution my friend; do not try to leave the room. My ship is a dangerous place for folks like you. If you need anything ask the armor, he’ll get it for you.” The mound of fur didn’t answer just snorted in a way that made it clear it did not want to fetch anything and did not want its sleep disturbed.

Soon the Captain was gone, the armor still slept and the bug began to slow in its eating. Already it stretched to a solid inch in length. It sat in one place for a while not eating. Jarret thought there might be something wrong with it when it turned whitish and dry.  Suddenly it burst out of a dried shell of its former self. It began to eat with all the gusto it had at the beginning.

This happened twice more and Jarret began to think about having something to eat as well. He dared not disturb the cat-like thing behind him. Perhaps it wouldn’t harm him, but Jarret was not willing to chance it. He eased out of the chair over to the wall connecting to his own room. It remained open so he went to the kitchen. He wanted a snack and a drink. His mother worked in her office on something and Jarret did not want to disturb her either for a minor task he felt good about doing for himself.

He returned to his room with a glass or water and one of mom’s great sandwiches she seemed to have stocked for just such emergencies.  Jarret stepped through the wall into a very different place than he had just left a moment ago. It was colder somehow. Aricel came in the room at the same time.

“Didn’t I tell you that you needed to watch the little creature closely?” Aricel did not look happy. The little basin held the dark shriveled form of an obviously dead caterpillar lying next to a dry stub of a leaf.

Jarret was shocked. “But I was only gone for a moment. I stepped out, and went straight to the kitchen and came straight back. It could not be even a whole minute!” Even as he said the words Jarret felt the hollowness of each one. The best excuse in the world could not put life back into the little insect.  Jarret no longer felt hungry.

“Well, that’s done and over now; let’s move on Jarret, have a seat. Take another egg and another leaf, place them in the basin.” Jarret did as he was told. Aricel placed the other body out of the way in a cylinder up at the top of the desk where Jarret could still see it.

The new egg hatched. The little caterpillar began to eat as the other had before, only faster. The first leaf disappeared in a flash and a half. Jarret hastened to get the next one in before the tiny fellow finished the first. The cycle of Eat-Grow-Molt then Eat some more proceeded as before just so much faster. In no time at all the caterpillar exceeded the size of the first one. Jarret remembered that time works differently on this side of the wall. He thanked the King for the fact that he did not have to sit through the same exercise again. There are many benefits to living in Eternity.

“I wish I were dead.” Jarret spoke so softly he wasn’t sure he had spoken at all. The look on Aricel’s face assured him the thought had escaped his brain and betrayed him through his big mouth.

“Don’t you think your mother would miss you?” Jarret expected to get a scolding for making such a stupid comment—he knew it was stupid; though he wasn’t sure why it was stupid. Aricel’s soft demeanor hurt more than any rebuke. The question demanded an answer, as do all questions from the Captain.

“I don’t think so, Captain. Once I have a body like yours she could see me any time she wanted, forever. And I wouldn’t have to do all of these lessons. I’d already know all of this stuff like you do.”

“Hm, interesting; hold on to that thought. We’ll discuss it later. Meanwhile, how is the little guy doing?”

The caterpillar finally stopped eating. It sat on top of the last partially eaten leaf, casting its small head from side to side as the plump green body pulsated to its own rhythm. Aricel showed Jarret how to select the right sort of branch for the caterpillar. Before the branch stood fully erect the bug began its clumsy journey. It found the perfect spot under the junction of three leaves and began weaving a cocoon. This part did not go quickly. Jarret had the pleasure of watching the entire process from beginning to end.

Aricel stood up. He moved to the bed and spoke into the ear of his armor. At last he turned and said, “I have another errand to attend to. There is no telling how long I’ll be gone but I should be back in time for the next phase of the assignment.

“The rules are the same; do not leave this room, okay?” Jarret nodded without turning so the Captain could not see his crimson flush. He felt a large gentle hand on his shoulder. “If you need anything I assure you, Mr. Grumpy will get it for you.” This time the great cat made no sound. “In the meantime you can do other lessons or read if you want.”

The Captain left quietly as he always did. He could be next to you one moment and vanish back to his own world before your next heartbeat.  Jarret sometimes wondered why he spent so much time back in the dull human world if the rest of his world held greater wonders than this room; with its changing furniture, its immeasurable size and marvelous food and drink instantly provided with a single thought. Just this one room is a wonder! Can anyone imagine the world beyond that door?

Jarret Carter’s mind always filled with questions whenever he interacted with the Captain. He set those aside this time, determined to not fail in his assignment. The cocoon might be a boring thing just hanging from a twig but Jarret remembered, “Time works differently this side of the wall.” Jarret suspected Aricel didn’t like to waste time any more than he did only his friend could do something about it.

Colors swirled inside of the thin shell. Toward the end it was almost like watched food in a processor turn from almost entirely green to reds, orange and purple. In no time at all the casing cracked and the little creature struggled to emerge into the wondrous world. The small head was the same as before size but completely different. Almost beautiful in a buggy sort of way, the large eyes and feathery antennae looked almost elfin.

The new bug-form seemed to get stuck after the wings slipped out. Jarret took the tip of a tiny knife and helped to spread the crack in the seam a little wider. Only a thick strap held the two parts of the clamshell capsule together. Once cut, the top sprung open. The butterfly climbed out on the stem for a well-deserved rest after the struggle for rebirth. The bloated abdomen pulsed in an effort to transfer blood to the wings. Here Jarret noticed a problem.

The insect kept pumping its base but the wings would not spread. Jarret reached in and took the butterfly on the tip of one finger. Drawing it closer to his face he could not figure out the problem.

Aricel returned about that time. “I see you have a puzzle on your hands young man. Do you mind if I take a look?” Jarret passed the bug over and watched Aricel place it in another cylinder opposite of the basin and next to the carcass of the previous failure. He then sat next to Jarret, looked at him gently and said, “Do you know what went wrong?”

Jarret thought everything over carefully. He never left the table, never took his eyes off of the insect and observed it through what Aricel called “pupation.” From egg to emergence the project proceeded naturally—right up to the part where Jarret picked up the knife. “I was only trying to help him out of his shell.”

Aricel nodded. “That was good thinking, but you know; sometimes we do bad things in an effort to do good. This particular species of Empress Butterfly has a natural block in their wings that keep them from being inflated before they clear he chrysalis. It keeps them from being damaged in the process. After the wings are out the lower part of the body is forced through a narrow band. That breaks the block and allows the wings to unfurl properly.”

They worked together to reset the experiment. It all went very smoothly this time since Jarret knew what to expect at each stage now. He fed the caterpillar like clockwork until it was ready to pupate. The chrysalis developed quickly. In what felt like ten minutes they had a fully developed, shimmering butterfly fanning new wings above a leaf.

Aricel passed the butterfly to Jarret’s finger. “Jarret, you now have a complete picture of the life-cycle of this single species. A lot of insects go through something like this in their turn. The details vary, but they process from egg to adult stage is usually the same.”

Jarret nodded. Aricel went on. “What you have not yet connected is this cycle of life applies to more complex lifeforms, too. Most creatures start out as an egg of some sort. There is a developmental period in which the body grows in size and cells become specialized. Then there is some sort of transition—whether hatching or birthing—when a fully developed body emerges.

“The same thing happens with people, even you my young friend.’ Aricel swiped Jarret on the nose which made him smile. “You were an egg and someday you’ll be an adult.”

“Like mom and dad.” Jarret concluded.

“Yes and no, Jarret; life is more than you know it to be.”

A revelation like that is too much for a child’s mind to completely grasp. They had to be introduced to it gently as they matured. In the past they were not told at all until they were adults and even then not everyone got the full, unadulterated truth. The presence of the King on Earth changed everything.

And people like Aricel who did the amazing and miraculous everyday with ease had to be explained. “Jarret, in the past people believed in different theories of where we as a people came from, and where we as individuals came from. We all needed to know what we were here for and what the purpose of life was.

“Over the next few years you will learn a lot about those ideas and why they were wrong. This particular lesson is to lay the foundation for those lessons. Simply put; you were once an egg in your mother’s body. Knitted together with a cell from your father, you became a new being. Right now you are a caterpillar taking in nourishment and growing. Your body will change in different stages, like when this caterpillar molted.

“Eventually you will stop growing in the ways of childhood. As a chrysalis you will learn to be a butterfly. Your parents aren’t butterflies yet but in their own chrysalises. At the right time they will emerge from their own shells into Eternity. They will either fly like this last one or fail like the others. There is no guarantee that every egg will survive to be a full butterfly.”

Jarret inhaled sharply, “You are a butterfly!”

Aricel stood smiling. His four wings burst forth spreading from wall to wall. The full glorious shine around him banished all shadows. Heavenly singing poured from the walls, the floor and everything in it. The armor roared loud enough to crack the walls of a normal house.

Aricel scooped up the insects and Jarret. They flew through walls and sky, through mountains and waterfalls. As far as they went they were in the Garden as quick as if they just stepped into the next room. Aricel touch the two failed experiments and restored them to full health. All three flew off to join their kind in search of food and companionship.

Aricel took Jarret on another short trip to the Northern Gate of Judah. The launch pad was usually busy with people-made spacecraft going to and fro. It was always a special time when one of the grand intergalactic ships returned. Humans could not match the speed of the Eternals but they have made strides undreamed of before the Millennium began. Science yielded up fantastic secrets when tethered to the truth of Creation.

Jarret’s father specialized in exotic lifeforms. He always had a few specimens with him when he returned from his trips. This time Jarret would have a few stories of his ow to share. “Oh, I can’t wait to see my dad!” He gushed.

“Why wait?”

Jarret looked up smiling. “Yeah!”

In a flash they were 480 thousand kilometers above New Jerusalem. Jarret found Doctor Esteban Carter supervising the placement of cargo pods. He was surprised to see his young son appear from nowhere tightly hugging his waist. However, he felt no real shock as he had long ago become accustomed to the ways of Eternals. If there is any way they can intervene to make a child even that little bit happier, they would gladly do it. With a wave of a hand and a flash of light the Captain departed the ship.

***

Lana Carter walked the lonely halls of their home. Her time in this place drew to a close. Shortly after her “husband” and son returned she would make a “voyage” of her own. She knew where she was going and what awaited her there. The comfort offered by these strong walls, these cool walls, did nothing to ease the dread of the fires to come. “Sometimes I wonder what sort of Hell is worse?” she said to no one.

Someone was listening. “It is only a matter of perspective.” Aricel said to her.

Lana didn’t turn around. She knew she was being watched; she was always being watched. She could always see the Host hovering over her, she could always feel their mind in her mind keeping her from saying the one thing she longed to say so much to her son. “I’m sorry.”

“I know how you feel, Lana but you must never let Jarret know what you did. It is important that he only know you as the loving mother he always wanted.”

“Will he ever know the truth, about the operation …?”

“The abortion. The choice you made that took away all of his choices. Never forget that. And yes, I already told him and Esteban – but they won’t know it for a number of years.”

“I hate your ungodly sense of humor.”

“It’s not a joke. You know quite well that time is not the same after the seventh dimension of existence. The past is the future and the present is the past. The question of ‘when’ loses all meaning. Esteban still doesn’t know you died during that plane crash or who you were with. As for Jarret, he is a special case.

Children who returned to Eternity without having been born are always children. Since the King returned, He gave them a choice to remain a child forever (which is a great thing) or to come into the world and grow into adults before going home again.”

“I just wish I knew why I’m being tortured like this. I can’t look out of a window and I can’t rest in a chair. I can’t eat anything because it disappears the moment I swallow, not that it has any taste. No drop of water even touches my tongue. I can’t even feel my son no matter how hard I squeeze him!”

“So why hug him at all?” Aricel stood waiting.

“Because it’s the only time I’m not in pain. The burning stops for a little while when I hold him in my arms. I can’t feel him but at least I know he’s there. I just don’t know why this is the way it is.” Lana wound down. If she could cry she would. Not a tear fell to cool her cheek or soothe her shattered soul.

“This life is part of your punishment. You can see the life you should have had with your son but not enjoy it. It was your choice. But I’ll give you this one thing; the time when you have no pain is a gift from your son to you. His love is what cancels out your suffering for a time. Love overcomes all.”

Lana slumped over. “I wonder when this is all going to end?” she walked to the only door she could open. “I had two abortions, you know.”

“I know.” said Aricel as he closed the door.

THE END

WHY BE AN ETERNAL WHEN YOU CAN BE A SUPERHERO?

**1**

What is it like to be an Eternal? The closest thing that a normal mind can relate to is being a superhero. Not like a minor hero with one or two powers doing the best he can while hoping to survive. An Eternal is more like that Super Entity that even the most powerful heroes hope to get through the year without meeting. Yep, that powerful.

An Eternal is never going to get caught by the arch villain; he is never going to have to escape at the last second by a lucky break or a villain’s mistake. He is never going to lose and never going to die. Not because the comic book writers need him to survive but because the Lord GOD almighty wills it so. Consider the following scenario:

Somewhere, someday a small, helpless young girl will be abducted and dragged off by a group of men. That happens in the real world with tragic results in virtually all cases. There are not enough heroes in our world.

In a comic book story, the winged hero swoops down from the sky holding vengeance in his or her hand. Lightning illuminates the perfect features of the face; the wind barely musses the hair. A skin-tight colorful uniform hugs the flawless, powerful body. A few swift blows dispatch the ne’er-do-wells, scattering their bodies hither and yon. The hero scoops up the victim and carries her through the sky to a place of safety. Police take the girl as she waves a tearful farewell to the flying hero vanishing in the sky.

All in a day’s work for the forces of justice and righteousness. It is great when it all works out. What lends drama to fiction is mistakes and ill-timed appearances. What happens when the hero arrives at the scene of the crime after the deed is done and the villains have fled? What must follow as he clutches a lifeless body, tears running down his face, silently vowing revenge?

Such scenes are far too common in fictional stories and in real life. An Eternal is not likely to face the same situation. He is equipped to handle things properly every single time. What does that mean?

An Eternal does not have a superpower or some superpowers; he has all super powers.

·       Immortality – an Eternal is what his name says, eternal. He will not die, he will not age and he will be around when Heaven and Earth pass away.

·       Invulnerable – kind of like the Superman of old, he cannot be injured. There is no force in the universe that can cause him harm.

·       Reality Creation – not “altering reality” and not “bending reality”; the Eternal creates reality in a way that “it is what he says it is.”

·       True Sight – he can perceive all there is to see as desired.

·       Energy manipulation – fire, light, radiation of any form is under his control.

·       Limitless speed – he can be anywhere at any time regardless of the distance.

·       Timeless – he can move forward and backwards through time and space at will without the need for a TARDIS™. and even stop it, for himself and for those he chooses.

**2**

Wow, that is a lot, and it is not even the whole list. This only gives you the beginning of the person dealt with under the title of Eternal. Is there nothing he cannot do? Well, no. So what does he do? The short answer is “Anything he wants.” But that tells us very little about his existence. Let’s take a look at the above scenario with an Eternal in the place of a superhero . . .

A frightened girl is abducted and taken to a secluded place where a group of men are about to assault her. Everything she can imagine is about to become a reality and worse. She doesn’t even suspect that she is not going to live through it. One of the men means to kill her when they are all done. The others don’t know about that since they are all drunk and would not be here at all if they were sober.

Suddenly a light fills the room. All is silence as everyone turns to see a mighty figure coming toward them on wings like a rushing wind. All strength drains from the men and they are just as swiftly sober. Any thoughts of fleeing are wasted as their bodies will not obey. The girl is as frightened of the new arrival as any of the men surrounding her. The winged man is armed and armored yet he makes no aggressive moves. He walks among the men examining them with eyes that flash lightning.

The first one, closest to the door and farthest from the girl, is young. A touch to the forehead tells the Eternal he was not drunk, he pretended to be to fit in with his friends. He does not want to participate in this activity. In fact, he hopes he can avoid it, that when the rest are done they’ll pass out drunk and he can get the girl away from them. There is hope for him. Go. Go home and make better choices in the future. One issue solved, four more to go.

The next is bigger and not all that bright; a simpleton who has the habit of following whomever is in charge. The next two are merely too drunk to exercise good judgement. A minor adjustment to their brain chemistry and they will never drink again without remembering why.

The fourth is the problem. Here is evil in a man’s heart. Here is the one who carries the foulness of hate. There are demons residing inside of him but they are not the ones driving him. He dwells in darkness and would be a bitter spirit on the Earth without the demons making suggestions. He is a taker; a taker of life, a taker of souls, a taker of innocence. He desires not only the desolation of this girl but to taint the lives of the men he brought along. Their bitter fate only adds to his pleasure regardless of what it brings to him. The Eternal has decided.

He puts a shofar to his lips and blasts a note to shake the foundations of the city. He has summoned a Judge. As an Investigator he could pass judgement on his own authority but he leaves that task to one best suited for the task. Behind him the light and rumbling herald the approach of a Tribune, which consists of a Judgement seat, a Judge and at least one Enforcer.

The Eternal gathers the frightened girl and flies away leaving the three remaining men to the righteous judgement befitting their deeds. He informs the girl she is safe now. He delivers her to a Comforter. This is an Eternal who prefers to ease the burdens of the suffering mortals and heal their broken spirits. Nothing is left to be done here. There are no broken bodies, no blood shed – yet – and no damaged buildings to be repaired.  Aside from a few flashes of light, the city slumbers on.

**3**

Now, it could be that while this Eternal was helping this one girl, a little old lady across town was being robbed of her meager life savings and the few remaining days of her life. In another part of town a young person has accidentally overdosed and might not survive the night. There are crimes with terrible consequences every single day. There are people doing evil to others and to themselves. There are accidental deaths and tragic falls, fires, and crashes. What about these other events?

In the list of powers above are two answers to that question: limitless speed and timelessness. The same Eternal can be in each of those places simultaneously without effort. He could be but he won’t.

An Eternal may wield the power of GOD but he is not GOD. People die. People make bad choices and choices have consequences. So the one limitation on the power of an Eternal is the authority of Almighty GOD. The Investigator in this example was dispatched by the LORD to this place. He used the Wisdom GOD gave him to come to a resolution of the situation. He did enough to solve the problem without unnecessary disruption to the world.

When Thor fights the HULK in a comic book, they shatter buildings, tear up roads, and grab random vehicles and throw them at each other. They hit a population center with the devastating force of Hurricane Katrina without the days of forewarning to evacuate.  Imagine the cost of frequent super entity battles on a city like Metropolis. Billions of dollars in damage, uncountable lives lost and the “hero” flies off victorious leaving craters and rubble behind.

An Eternal would stop the fight before it started. He could put the HULK to sleep and ask Thor to take his attitude somewhere else. Any broken pavement can be fixed without people even knowing it happened. Carrying the dozing HULK under one arm he flies off to a secluded desert spot where Banner can wake up alone and at peace.

Or he could even cure Banner of the accursed creature. That would be something to leave up to GOD’s Will.

Life as an Eternal is never boring. There is always so much to do and so much to investigate. So many creatures in all creation and so many wonders to be explored that it will take Eternity to get through half of it; and that is exactly as GOD intended.

**END**

THE PATH OF MOST RESISTANCE

One of the most amazing things about being an Eternal is the ability to explore Creation in ways thoroughly impossible before. Humans in mortal bodies were ridiculously fragile by comparison. Aricel understood now more than before just how much God had to intervene just to keep mankind alive.  The universe was dangerous enough. Man made things worse with his constant attempts to destroy himself.

People longed to understand the nearest star since the sun first touched them at birth. The best we could ever do is study it from millions of miles away with heavily shielded satellites. No one would believe Aricel stood where he now did; the flat, boiling plane of the Sun itself.

He could see much farther than he ever could in his old life. However, the horizon is millions of miles away from any point on the surface. The Sun was so big it displayed no curvature to the naked eye.

The swirl of plasma over there, thousands of miles away; besides being lethally hot must measure wider than the state of Texas at the base and spring higher than the orbit of the Moon from Earth.  Here it is little more than a hair on the face of the Sun yet it contains more energy than Mankind has ever used and could ever use in a billion years.

This sun is one of many in Creation. The universe holds many such wonders multiplied by numbers too big to imagine. And yet, the entire universe is just a pocket of existence. No, it’s just a ball of lint in the pocket of Eternity. If one did nothing else but explore it would fill eternity with work left undone at the end.

Alas, Eternity has wonders galore but it also has duties. Being able to serve the Most High adds more joy on top of the unspeakable joy He has already given us. This far down in the maelstrom, He speaks and His own hears His voice. Aricel received a request to go assist the Host in rescuing one of their own. Such missions are rare because the Host is rarely over-matched. Aricel doubted they were in this case thus it was likely an opportunity to teach him something – or the Host. Everyone in Creation needed a lesson now and again.

***

Aricel arrived at the latest planning meeting for a rescue mission. He did not interfere with the mission leader – an impressive angel, taller than the others with massive arms – who was assigning roles and setting the timing using a scaled down projection. A stronghold sat wedged between two sheer cliffs as if it had been driven in with a great mallet. The approaches were deadly to a human force but a mere inconvenience to an angel. The challenge was approaching unseen.

Strongholds are not mere fortresses; they are fiercely defended by legions of imps and other unfriendly types. Usually a greater Mardukim built and commanded the strongpoint but it could be any of a dozen entities sitting on the throne. A massive gathering of the Host could overwhelm the strongpoint eventually but it takes time—and time is an issue for messengers.

Somewhere a person prayed earnestly to the LORD. The King dispatched a messenger with the answer to the supplication. Most missions went smoothly since the close of the Second age. With the Adversary and his fallen ones cast into the lake of fire most of the resistance had ended. For some reason, an entity had chosen to interfere with this delivery. The messenger was seized and taken to the Pit in the Pentrarch; a cell as far down as the tower is tall. Getting to him would take a great deal of time and energy, or stealth.

Aricel shrunk down to the appropriate scale to fit the projection. He looked around, seeing the plan as described and read the terrain. He could see the challenges they faced more clearly from this vantage point. He could also hear the one flaw in their plan. If they were spotted too soon the raiding party would also likely be captured and put into the Pit alongside the messenger. That would trigger the major campaign they sought to avoid. They needed a diversion.

“I need one thing from you, if I may ask?” The leader nodded. The Host would do anything Aricel told him to do without question. Still he appreciated the courtesy. Aricel highlighted two areas on opposite sides of the canyon narrows above the stronghold, “on my signal I’d like you to have these sections dropped on the front gate, maximum force.”

“No problem, sir. And what shall the signal be?”

“”It will be unmistakable, I assure you.” Aricel smiled. “As soon as your forces are in place let me know. I’ll be on that peak,” he indicated a rocky crag up thrust alone some fifty miles away. “Everything will proceed from my mark.”

The meeting ended and the raid began.

Time and distance are not the same in Eternity. Aricel never had to walk to get from ‘here’ to ‘there.’ Neither did he have to wait nor prepare for his role. To be an Eternal is to always be prepared, always rested and always in the right place at the right time. One moment he was in the Host briefing hall, the next he is standing on a ledge 200 meters below the spiked summit.

The mission was a success even though it had not started yet. The Host believed they would succeed and so did the defenders. The only one present who was certain of the outcome was watching from a distance. The Raid tactic would fail and the subsequent battle was assured because the Host failed to anticipate the potential resistance.

The messenger was overwhelmed by a strong force. The two angels sent to assist him were likewise overcome. This rescue party faced a larger force than anticipated yet proceeded just as they always had; trusting in their own abilities to prevail and trusting in their leaders to come to their rescue no matter the odds. Such battles had always escalated along the same lines countless times since the beginning of time.

“It’s time someone shuffled the cards.” Aricel said. He tapped the rock face with one hand. A crack extended the full distance to the opposite ledge. He could see one of the Hosts raise a hand to signal all was ready. Aricel lifted 7,000 cubic meters of stone above his head. The actual mass was irrelevant to his Eternal body as he could change that at will. He could even hide the image if he chose, but where’s the fun in that?

His diversion depended on getting the defenders in the stronghold to focus on him. It’s hard to find a better way to do that than carrying the entire peak of a distant mountain to their front door.

 The stone weight trembled in the first of the energy defenses. The plasma hot shields scoured and shaved the stone as Aricel forced his way through each one. He arrived at a gap in the defenses less than a mile from the main gates. The rough stone lump had been compressed and polished in the intersection of strained magnetic fields and Aricel’s will.

He leapt high into the air carrying the spike with him. He turned the needle tip down in a straight line towards the base of the tower. In a blast of light he sent the stone speeding away. The Host took that as the awaited signal and sent the cliffs crashing down. Their combined weight strained the defenses but did not have enough power to force their way through. The spire did that.

Thunder roared as magnetic lines parted releasing incalculable energy into the air. Sheets of lightning flashed up and out in series, blinding all foolish enough to look in the wrong direction. The Host filed quickly into the chaos. Organized defense was nigh impossible as shattered stone and exploding crystals rocked the foundations of the stronghold.

The messenger and the other prisoners tumbled out of the bottom of the toppled Pentrarch. Four of the five pillars crumbled in the path of the direct hit, the other could not support the tower on its own.  The Host cleared the way until the messenger could fly away out of sight in their particular haste.

The fighting came to a sudden end. Once the messenger escaped the stronghold had no more purpose. Unless the ruler commanded them, the minions were free to escape as well. This ruler would not give any more orders this day. Aricel did not simply aim for the tower. He aimed to crack the throne in the same shot. That the throne was occupied only simplified his task.

A female form lay prone on the throne room floor. Her black, smoking armor covered her seven meter body from her feet to her neck. Her larger, upper pair of arms struggled in vain to dislodge the broken spire from her chest. The lower arms lay limp and unmoving to either side. Aricel sat on the spire observing his enemy.

“It has – it has been a long time – since,” the great demon gasped. Tons of stone in one’s chest does impede speech. “A very long time since I felt pain. It is not pleasant.”

“I am certain of that.” Aricel said looking up. The nameless Host leader entered the throne room to report.

“Sir, the prisoners are free. If you have no need of further assistance, we will return to our bivouac.”

Aricel blinked at him. “Are you satisfied with the outcome?” The Host nodded. “Then you have no mysteries to solve, no unanswered questions?”

“There is one question. Given that you knew our plan was to sneak into this stronghold, I am at a loss as to why you chose to attack in the most aggressive, non-stealthy manner possible.”

“Simply completing the mission would not serve my purpose, Host leader. It is not enough for us to win and her to lose; she must be seen to lose and lose big. This incident is meant to send a clear message to the power behind this trap. From now on, it will have to plan for us and it won’t be easy.”

The Host nodded. His brief curiosity satisfied and his mission completed he was set to return home.

The demon croaked a hoarse sound that might have been a laugh. “You cannot expect him to grasp subtlety; he understands the ways of power more than the ways of art.” She might have said art or she might have said war. The word came out gurgled.

Aricel agreed. He probed the angel further. “Do you not see how the strategy gave you so much difficulty this time? Usually the Host did not require this much effort to overcome an obstacle. This enemy,” he pointed down, “anticipated each of your moves and had a counter in place as if she were present at you briefings. Does that strike you as odd?”

The Host seemed unfazed. “No. We prevailed and that is sufficient.”

Aricel felt a clawed hand on his foot. The demon stopped trying to pull the spire out and tried to pull it through. Aricel kicked the hand aside. He had time—he always had time. “What about this stronghold, my friend.” he waved a hand around the ruined citadel, “What was so important about this messenger that would demand so much force to be uprooted from a prince’s domain and committed to the middle of nowhere?”

“We have prevailed. And we shall always prevail. That is the purpose and that is our honor and duty. If you are satisfied I shall join my brothers.” He departed with a formal bow and a flash of light.

A close representation of a Marduk

Aricel looked into the face of the demon. She might have been considered handsome to someone unaware of her nature. Aricel looked into the depths of her soulless eyes and knew her. She was a creature of pain, a mistress of suffering. She toyed with victims the way a cat amuses itself with its living prey. Nothing good ever came from an encounter with her or her sisters. “Why are you here?” He asked.

“I am sent so I go, strange one.” She said simply.

“As deep as the Host, I see.” Aricel frowned.

“Never!” The word caused more pain to wrack the body. Every twitch and spasm only made it worse. Eventually she forced herself to remain still. She spoke more quietly this time. “Never compare us to those granite-headed robots. Their lack of curiosity is only exceeded by their devotion to doctrine. Fooling them is easy, once you grasp their tactics.”

“And yet you still lost.”

“Who said I lost? I was never going to defeat them all, that is true, but that was never my objective…”

“I won’t ask what I already know, demon. You were sent here to waste time – waste the messenger’s time. Whatever the reason it has passed now. I must track down the reason why.” Aricel let out a long whistle on a special frequency exactly equal to the vibration of the cosmos. Anyone listening for it would hear it instantly no matter where they were at that moment.

“What was that, strange one?”

“Just calling my Brother—not a ‘family’ type brother, you know. We were closer than most families for a long time before we transitioned over into Eternity. I can’t tell you how glad I was to see him again.”

“You lost him before.”

“Yes, I’m surprised you noticed.”

“I hear the pain in your voice, the pain that will never fully go away. Pain is something about which I know much. This is pain born of guilt. You did something or failed to do something that resulted in your friend being lost. I like that.”

“You would, demon. Pain for you is what love is to us. For that I should pity you, but I won’t. Ahh, here he is now.”

An armored form streaked in from the high heavens at the speed of light. He came to a silent halt beside the downed giant. Obviously the battle was long over from the state of the fortress.  Aricel jumped down from the spike but felt an iron grip on his ankle before he could land. Only iron – he grasped the thick thumb and turned it out. The rest of the hand followed as expected. He took out a sharp neutronium blade and pinned it to the ground.

The old friends embraced. Aricel did not need long to explain the situation. As Eternals they both had their new names given to them by the Father, but in private they still used their old names. Aricel said, “Once the rescue was done the Host had no further interest in this place. I’m telling you Terry, there is definitely something going on here beyond a simple interdiction. There is a strategy in play that goes deeper than the chess board.”

“”I see what you mean, Jim. I’ve noticed something similar in my region too. Things slightly out of place or shadows that don’t quite match the object casting it; stuff like that. So, do you want to go ask the King?”

They looked at each other in silence. The simplest thing to do is to ask the One on the Throne, the One Above All who holds the span of Creation in His hand. Without a doubt He knew what was going on. Together they laughed and said “Naaah!” in their old, familiar synchronicity. Terry added, “Where’s the fun in that?”

Aricel/Jim said, “Right, the first thing to do is find that messenger. Whatever he was delivering was important enough to be our first clue.”

Terry walked over to the massive impaled arm. He drew his own blade and sliced off the tip of a claw—not close enough to do any damage but enough to catch a few skin cells.  “While you do that I’ll find an Inquisitor and interrogate this flesh. Call me when you know something new.”

Just as they were set to leave the demon spoke again. “My clever ones, what is to become of me?”

Aricel came close. “By all rights you should be dead already. Demons aren’t easily slain, I guess. I have also summoned a Judge. He will be here very soon, but before then you are likely to meet at least one of his Enforcers. He will be more than a match for you. Your fate will be decided by them.”

“Who are you creatures that carry so much power and do such things?”

Terry took that one. “We are Eternal. We once were born, born again, and then died to live forever.”

“A riddle? I give you one and you give me one in return. Depart from me Eternals, I wish never to see you again.”

In the far distance the sky boomed, then boomed again louder. “Judgement approaches, demon. It is very likely your wish will be granted this day.” The two departed without a backward glance.

Pure light filled the hall. Where once there was rubble and ruin now there was order. One hundred meter columns supported the ceiling of purest jasper. Two figures stood apart, barely shorter than the columns. With a slight gesture of a hand the Enforcer to the left plucked out the spike. The other Enforcer seized the demon in a grip to rival a black hole. There would be no escape; not as vapor, not as energy. Even trans-dimensional doors were shut away.

A throne of gold appeared on a high dais between and behind the Enforcers. A being of light in the form of a man composed of everything and nothing sat upon it. He spoke with a voice that sounded of flowing water. The demon opened up her mouth and her entire existence poured out to be seen by all. Judgment day had indeed come for her.