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 |
“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.
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